its just embarrassing when you make a fandom related post and it doesnt get any notes like okay. so no one want to play tuoys with me. no one wants to play with our little guys together. okay thats fine. yeah its cool... puts my hands in my jacket pockets. kicks a beer can that was on the side of the road a little

So about those prices

Happy Women's Day to all the Rose Brides of the world.

i read something about chuchu and how he could be an extension of anthy, like a manifestation of anthy's true personality and emotions seperate from the persona she displays to everyone

i also saw someone else say that when anthy can be her authentic self when she's visiting akio. i agree with this to a certain extent; yes, she leaves behind her glasses (her persona) when she visits akio, BUT she also leaves behind chuchu (her "true" emotions)

and what is left? well... nothing. she's dissociating

"because i am a doll with no heart... i thought that no matter what befell my body, my heart wouldn't feel the pain"

It's not enough! IT'S STILL NOT ENOUGH! Why do you always look at me like that? Why? WHY WON'T YOU ADMIT HOW YOU REALLY FEEL!

I retouched a bit this rgu piece I did for the black rose zine for fun (print still at: inprnt.com/gallery/astrumumbrae )

touga's story in adolescence of utena was a clear parallel to the story juri told to the student council members in episode 39 about a boy drowning from trying to save juri's sister who almost drowned in a river. but, i find these little parallels to be interesting too.

the chapel and the castle being in the background of the scene where the girl was drowning.

@pentimint pointed out this painting being similar to the scene of the girl drowning in the river! thank you! i considered adding this detail, but i worry it would seem belaboured.

revolutionary girl utena (1997)

episode 12 / episode 34

episode 12 / episode 37

there were several similarities i noted between the two episodes (12 and 34):

within the specific scenes: both touga and akio reached out and touched utena's left hand with their left hands, but touga covered her hand with his, while akio took her hand into his. in episode 12, utena and touga were accompanied by anthy and wakaba (during the day, out in the open cafeteria), while in episode 34, utena and akio were alone in akio's room (during the night); anthy was aware of it, but she was in her and utena's room and couldn't do much about the matter. anthy also couldn't do much for utena in episode 12 due to the rules of the rose seal (she was engaged to touga). also, the two scenes in episodes 12 and 34 took place after very tragic incidents happened to utena: losing the duel to touga, and consequently, losing anthy as her rose bride versus akio raping her (unarguably even more tragic).

correlation with utena's sense of self: in episode 12, utena tried (and succeeded) to take back who she was via a rematch (losing to touga made her doubt who she was as a person). who utena was as a person at this point may be referring to the role of a prince that she was able to truly embody due to her engagement to the rose bride (e.g., utena saving anthy in episode 3 from anthy's dress incident and then dancing together, utena saving anthy who was trapped in a coffin in episode 9). or, more like how the engagement with the rose bride allowed utena to be more/most like herself, one of which would be largely comprised of the princely ideals she adopted/learned and idealised (as told in her monologue of meeting the prince; utena also said she wanted to be a noble prince who saves princesses in episode 1) (i'm not sure for this part).

in episode 34, we learned the real reason utena had the rose crest ring, the real reason utena wanted to become a prince: to save a little girl suffering a fate worse than death. ultimately, in both situations (episodes 12 and 34), anthy influenced utena's sense of self, to an extent. regarding the prince, taking into account the context of episode 11, i'm quite sure utena still believed that touga was her prince in episode 12. meanwhile, episode 34 gave us (more) indisputable confirmation that akio was the prince that utena met in her past (this fact was heavily hinted at since episode 25). however, i don't think utena made the connection yet at that point. nevertheless, as a whole, in both situations, touga and akio were framed as utena's prince (to utena [episode 12] versus to the audience [episode 34]).

a common conflict/theme underlying both scenes was the pressure of conforming to ideal gender identities and presentations. this was evident in the scene with touga (complimenting utena's girl uniform and asking her out). however, it's infinitely more severe with akio because he was actively grooming utena to that end; some events of this episode were just parts of the long process (in the specific scene: asking if they're friends, mentioning that she didn't take off her ring "that night," trying to kiss her). in addition, the visuals of both touga and akio somewhat covering utena's rose crest ring with their hand gestures could be seen as analogous to them trying to suppress/diminish her princely ideals/role (touga said that losing the duel gave utena a chance at being a normal girl; he then actively tried persuading utena to this end, i.e., the compliment on the uniform and the ask for a date. moreover, touga critised utena for not knowing about the true power of the rose bride when she "fancied herself as anthy's prince." also, to reiterate: akio brought up the fact that utena didn't take off her ring when he raped her while stroking the ring; he expected that that event would be sufficient for utena to take it off [give up the role of the prince]).

i think episode 12 is an interesting foreshadowing/parallelism of some kind for later events in the final arc, with regard to utena/touga/anthy and utena/akio/anthy dynamics.

in episode 1, utena defeated saionji with only a wooden sword, without any help from prince dios (i believe this was the case) as would be observed in later episodes. saionji was using the sword of dios against utena in the duel. i find this to be very impressive on utena's part because saionji was a skilled swordsman. it reminded me of how utena managed to pass through the rose gate without the sword of dios in episode 39, with only bare, bloody hands and a heart overflowing with love for anthy. unlike akio who failed to cut through the gate even with the strongest soul sword, the one pulled out of utena.

to commemorate the 28th year since revolutionary girl utena started airing (02/04/1997), here are some parallels between the first and final episodes of rgu (per chronological order of episode 1):

utena and anthy's hands slipping away from each other's grasp both in the opening and episode 39.

the duelling arena being destroyed as prince dios wakes up in the opening versus the duelling arena being destroyed by the swords of humanity's hatred in episode 39.

prince dios on his white horse, looking over a ledge with bare trees in the background from episode 1 versus akio looking up to anthy being stabbed by millions of swords representing humanity's hatred in midair in episode 39.

prince dios and baby utena with bare trees in the background in episode 1 versus anthy walking away at the ending of episode 39.

prince dios putting on the rose crest ring on baby utena's finger in episode 1 versus prince dios trying to kiss the ring in episode 39, as utena lies helpless on the floor in the rose bride dress.

baby utena watching prince dios riding away on his white horse in episode 1 versus anthy walking down the same path at the ending of episode 39.

baby utena wanting to be a prince in episode 1 versus utena apologising to anthy because she couldn't be a prince as she hangs over the ledge in episode 39.

utena and anthy respectively, emerging into the corridor in episodes 1 and 39.

utena, anthy, and the rose garden in episodes 1 and 39.

part 2

utena (accompanied by wakaba) and wakaba (accompanied by tatsuya and another girl) looking through the open window in episodes 1 and 39.

the members of student council meetup in episodes 1 and 39. nanami in the scene from episode 39 can be likened to anthy in episode 1.

the unlocking of the duelling arena entrance in episode 1 versus the unlocking of the rose gate in episode 39.

utena's first time entering the duelling arena in episode 1 versus akio facing the rose gate in episode 39.

i think the perspectives for these two specific scenes are similar; utena seeing the projection of the castle for the first time in episode 1 versus the view of anthy being stabbed with millions of swords of humanity's hatred in midair, witnessed by the planetarium projector.

saionji showing off his rose crest ring to utena in episode 1 versus him trying to take it off in episode 39.

utena in episode 1 persisting with a broken wooden sword versus utena in episode 39 persisting with her own strength, despite being injured.

anthy panicking over utena's safety in both episodes 1 and 39.

the bells tolling at the end of the duel in episode 1 and after anthy walked away from akio in episode 39.

anthy waiting for utena at the end of episode 1 versus anthy asking utena to wait for her at the end of episode 39.

utena and anthy at the very ends of episodes 1 and 39 :)

What have they done to her

this picture of britt lower and adam scott is SENDING MEEE

i made a beautiful collage

“I have many stories I want to tell you！”

curious about how the price announcements might be affecting people's opinions like I was considering buying until i heard the game pricing and now I'm just not going to bc we can't let them think that's okay