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Utena Episode 14

Utena, still in weirdness overload, "Oh, of course your brother would be a planetarium projector, that must be symbolic or something."

Akio gets a Utena-pink rose border, despite white roses on his elevator? And Kanae does too? Are the roses going to be used differently this season?

Akio does seem surprisingly good at acting like a reasonable person. Presumably he's going to be the Touga of this season?

Newspaper dude has a photo of Dios on his desk. What's that about? Presumably he's one of the black rose boys that have been alluded to? Ooh, and he's recruiting Micky? I'm glad that we're not being totally "so last season" about the student council.

So does Anthy really not think her brother knows about her being the Rose Bride, in which case what was the deal at the end of the last episode, or does she have a higher-level geas against telling people about his involvement that she's expressing in this way?

100 ghosts dramatic sting attack! Is this where Nobilis chancels got the 100 deaths thing?

I see, the Black Rose has understood that winning duels is about emotional baggage and thus you must prove yourself to the Reverse Butterfly Metaphor Elevator.

Mikage and Evil Boy Anthy are pretty creepy. But is Mikage referring to End of the World as a place now? Or is End of the World a stationary person, the way Dios is trapped high up? Is End of the World a Satan metaphor? It sorta fits, if we assume Satan has phone service. Then is Utena special because she's the only duelist chosen by Dios and not End of the World?

(Is Evil Boy Anthy related to Anthy/Akio/Dios, and is that bloodline an eligibility criteria for Rose Bride?)

Meanwhile this season seems to be doing the sort of magical girl antagonist people make bad wishes and then get evil powers sort of deal?

Utena's all "none of the jerks last season were trying to murder Anthy, let's use my superpower right away". I guess you can't just murder Anthy at some other random time or else Mikage couldn't make that other person the Rose Bride?

If End of the World has high hopes for Utena, does that mean Mikage is not allied with End of the World after all? Certainly something's hellish around there.

Does Chu-Chu not going with Anthy imply that Anthy doesn't really like her brother? Was Kanae seeing that in Anthy and misinterpreting it as directed at her? Is Chu-Chu Anthy's volition, which she doesn't have with Akio because he's got some sort of monster-esque deal going on? Certainly something unhealthy going on there.

If Utena has to fight 100 random secondary characters making bad wishes to get their hearts possessed by rose ghosts, she's going to be at it for a while...

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xenofem
@xenofem

I guess the deal with who End of the World is favoring might be like, they've got high hopes for Utena, but they're still willing to give other people a chance to impress them even more, and they recognize that Mikage's crew has potential? or maybe it's more just a manipulation tactic – "you're really good, but not quite as good as this other person, if you could beat them then I'd know you've got what it takes to Revolutionize The World"?

I see, the Black Rose has understood that winning duels is about emotional baggage and thus you must prove yourself to the Reverse Butterfly Metaphor Elevator.

oh I love that lmao – all these fools on the student council are practicing swordfighting like a bunch of chumps, while the Black Rose boys are busy doing evil therapy

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xavid
@xavid

To be fair, based on what we've seen so far the Black Rose approach seems to be not working well at all. But I assume given all the build-up that it will eventually be a big threat.

I guess what I don't know is, it seems like Akio and Dios want there to be a lot of duels because you need to run through the list until you get to the duel named Revolution. Does the End of the World want the same thing, given the continued talk of revolutionizing the world? And if so, what actually is the difference in goals between Akio/Dios and the End of the World, given that they all see promise in Utena, if they're seeming like opposed forces with Dios being high up and seeming to have worked against Touga and End of the World being underground and also seeming to have at least previously been allied with Touga.

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xenofem
@xenofem

oh yeah, the thing where Mikage says that the underground morgue "leads to the End of the World" is interesting... I guess if we interpret "end" in a spatial sense, like the edge or the furthest extent, then there's ends of the world in every direction if you go far enough, and Mikage might be saying that this chamber is at the world's lowermost depths, just as the castle might be at its uppermost heights? which sorta tracks with how we saw that coffin retract into the wall and then just fall out into an abyss of flame... I guess that raises the question of whether End of the World represents every end, or whether there are multiple Ends of the World with not necessarily aligned goals? especially given the lack of a singular/plural distinction in Japanese "End of the World" to begin with...

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