The radio playing Miki's song doesn't bode well (though I think the teaser already gave that away). The radio seems awfully retro (though maybe not quite so much when this was made), emphasizing that this is a classic car not a practical one. Also I guess it's specifically American especially since the steering wheel is on the left? The allure of the cool/sexy, rather than a way to get around.

If Akio mostly wants the sequence of duels to proceed, what's in it for him for someone to actually defeat Utena? Or does he need one of his enlightened to win in the end?

Hmm, Anthy's been reporting back there conversations to Akio? It's not surprising that she would, but why does Akio care so much? Is it that he has to set up the right emotional dynamics to get duels with the right names/themes, which is why he's puppet-mastering more than just brute forcing duels?

Poor Anthy.

It's interesting that the theme this season seems to be people not wanting to fight duels, but doing so anyways. I feel like there's some symbolic potency there but I'm not sure what it means exactly. It's like Utena has to duel three aspects of each Student Council member, something like their ambition, their toxic bond, and now some sort of false enlightened car core Akio is bringing out. But what makes the student council members so special to begin with? I guess maybe Akio/End of the World gave them their rose crests because he identified their emotional baggage as the raw material he needed?

Today the Student Council room is chairs?

Did Miki and Kozue always have bird-themed headboards? Last season it was Juri's plot that had a bird theme. But it makes sense for the abandoned, homeless birds to represent Miki and Kozue here.

Huh, but I wasn't expecting the father to appear on-screen. And he's marrying another Anthy-coded person? Does Akio just mass-produce Anthy-coded folks to help his puppet-mastering?

I suspect the Daddy Long Legs bit will make more sense after I read Faye's post. It's interesting that Nanami seems to be the student council person actually figuring things out here since she often seems pretty hapless.

Real power play from Akio here. But I guess power means not having to respect those below you.

The shadow play framing dueling as a naive person addicted to gambling is interesting. You keep playing a rigged game hoping this time you'll win and get the prize that's being dangled before you. And the house always wins.

Hmm, it's interesting for Kozue to be drawing a sword from Miki again in a very different dynamic from her Black Rose duel. They're sorta being framed as cooperating rather than at odds this time around, but at the same time the alliance feels sorta hollow with them sorta being at odds emotionally pre Miki's enlightenment, so it feels like Kozue's involved for Akio's sake rather than her own.

Ok, never mind, that alliance lasted thirty seconds. Is Kozue going to all this trouble just to get a rise out of Miki, or is Akio setting her up to sabotage Miki for some reason despite telling Touga he wanted Utena defeated?

I'm really curious if the bit with Miki and Kozue's dad is going to go anywhere. It does seem to continue emphasizing Akio's power and ability to manipulate events, but it doesn't seem necessary to the plot here at all or the bird symbolism so I'm not sure exactly what I should be taking away from it.

I've heard strange and wonderous implications about Nanami's Egg, looking forward to it. ^_^