utena 3: baller

[a_flyleaf]

We now resume our gay anime watching.

• ooh, starting out with a fairy tale agai—wait is this the same one
• okay so prince is dark-skinned dude, I forgot if that was in the first version
• is the bit about the “engagement rig” also new or is my memory just Bad
• Utena wondering if the ring led her to all this is raising a few Questions about the diegetic nature of this place, and those are not questions I thought would be answered/addressed 👀
• we sure are drawing attention to how empty this place is despite clearly being built to accommodate a group
• anthy “i have no friends but look at this subconscious mirror monkey-rat :D” himemiya
• love how the walking sequences are blatantly just moving the foreground characters up and down at a conspicuously smooth framerate. valid though, all the budget clearly goes into the symbolism and/or fight sequences
• “despite appearances, I’m a totally normal girl” you are the One person in this entire school with an outfit like that and also seem to attract every generic girl in the everywhere, don’t kid yourself pinkhead
• “All I want is a totally normal boy!” noooo utena not the heteronormativity
• “I’m Touga, totally normal boy” still don’t trust this dude but between this and the “baby” earlier he’s hilarious
• ohh yeah, Utena hasn’t seen basically anyone else involved in this Council and dueling stuff besides Saionji, has she
• world’s most dramatic slap
• aaand yup there it is, “behold, I have a very conspicuous item in common with you :)”
• “so I could meet you” >:(
• huh, I’m guessing we’re not supposed to put too much weight into the “what if he’s the prince” idea since we can clearly see They Are Not The Same (since, besides the anime “only one character per hairstyle/color” rule, they blatantly do not have the same skintone), so it seems odd that Utena considers it
• the dramatic pipe organ elevator strikes again, quote and all sjdghsdjgshgs
• I am watching the right episode yeah? then again I’ve been told the spiral-ascending scene is reused a lot, guessing this bit is too
• “Saionji’s been in his room since yesterday” F. #wasted
• very conspicuous framing of the Council trio in the rose symbol, nice. love me some unconventional shots like this:

• oh hello, the Council meetings are on Conspicuous Phallic Tower. I thiiiink that’s new?
• i see Utena leaning out the window i predict wakaba in 3… 2… 1…
• I am a prophet
• “I hear lots of bad rumors about what [Anthy] did to a popular boy” 👀 which boy… what was Done and why am I already willing to bet it’s twisted somehow
• so over the “Rumors?” line we cut back to the shot that usually precedes the shadow crew, except it’s three randos ganging up on Anthy instead. that’s, uh, quite a juxtaposition
• said “randos” have Conspicuous Hairstyles although I don’t thiiiink they match the shadow people? I’d have to recheck though
• but ohh, the rumors are about what Just happened. Saionji talking trash and No One is surprised*
• is Nanami the one with the Classic Anime Laugh™… interesting entrance in any case, thought for a second there it was Utena
• I like how one scene Anthy’s against a white wall and the next is dark/under the arch, in a way that wouldn’t really work in 3d space. that’s not a sarcastic “I like how xyz” though, it’s an interesting visual choice 🤔
• “freshmen class” what grade are these people in again
• the conspicuously english “dance queen” sdjhdsjs
• “I’ve wanted to be your friend for a long, long time” I… am not 100% sure I trust that. partly because it begs the question why it took til now for Nanami to show up, and also because I think she’s in the intro real quick as one of the Council people?? (though clearly she’s not involved juust yet)
• we also did just introduce her character… “saving” Anthy in a sense, and it’s also after Utena asked Anthy to back off (and is herself focused on the “prince” again). it’s an interesting little narrative tension
• goddammit they’re playing that card game again, taking the joker must Mean Something
• she’s playing cards with chuchu gjdhsfj
• goddammit I think I recognize the piano song here, some classical piece? or a melody similar to it?
• did I already make a dancing queen [song] joke? I feel like I’ve made a dancing queen joke already
• weird cutting choice with the delivery dude’s voiceover played while they’re looking at the boxes, sudden cut to them standing at the edge of the property(??) and we see that he Actually Did Say That (and it wasn’t just an attached note or something), then back to the opening. idk maybe stuff like that isn’t supposed to stick out so much but everything’s been so mundane so far (not in a bad way, we’re just not going ham on 50000 layers of symbolism) ig I’m noticing little sequential/framing things like that more??
• Extremely Conspicuous Rose on that dress
• “Everyone’s face begins to look the same, and I get scared” is… interesting phrasing. possibly reading too much into it but maybe this will have Implications for background people at some point
• “You have to go! You need friends!” sdjgsds I love Utena not having Any of this “we’re engaged now I belong to you, and my only friend is a mouse and that’s fine :^)” schtick
• something about the “If you say so, Miss Utena :)” smile seems very Fake
• Touga’s drawn [kissy-face-emoji] thing sdfsjgdsghsdgsdfs
• oh jesus that was an ominous fucking cut
• alright so the shadow people don’t reaaaaally resemble the trio from earlier
• what do the dogs Mean what does the cut to the girls in different outfits dancing Meaaannnnn
• “man trap” is uhhh Phrasing considering the gender fuckery in this show
• also “How shameless can they be?”. zero days since our last headtilt-inducing comment
• I do not like anything about how Nanami and Touga being siblings is introduced
• ^this is also directly following the “shameless” comment from the previous scene so. uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
• wait wait fuck I’ve also been told there’s at least one character with Incestuous Relations here (or, well, multiple; takes two to tango) so. Uhhhhhhhhhhh 8(
• ok so like, did Utena actually agree to go because she did not seem to have an onscreen change of plans at all. (also that outfit was totally the inspiration for Rose Quartz Stevenuniverse’s dress wasn’t it)
  • >rose
• once again the scene takes like two seconds but there is So Much to unpack in Nanami framing this whole invitation like a jealous spiteful gf (and then Touga not responding at all to her assumption it’s about Anthy, he’s just looking at Utena sjgfds)
• okay yeah nanami does Not have anything nice in mind for anthy here
• “She has a friend after all!” Utena I do not think you are reading this room well… (also following that with a shot of Chu-Chu disgruntled, conspicuous)
• Touga why you gotta
• aaand there’s the Sameface of Anxiety
• okay so the shadow girls might not be the Same characters as Nanami’s crew but they’re certainly being framed in shadow, that’s gotta be intentional
• the hell did you do to that dress nanami

• ^neat coloring on the people here :o
• “The girl who stole my brother from me” nanamiiiiiiii….
• [ominously plunks piano]
• Does The Exact Form Of Humiliation Remind Anyone Of Anything
• dude you are not even in the vicinity of having been subtle about that
• the dress does what now
• the animation on that bit is neat but >8(
• I kind of love that Touga’s completely clueless about Nanami’s whole thing. like, still a creep, but also dumb and Not-As-Much-Of-A-Creep-As-You-Could-Have-Been.jpg (so far, anyway)
• Utena wearing her uniform under the dress the whole time
• bro she was not, that thing had no shoulder cover—actually y’know what I just nominate utena for World’s Fastest Strip-changer or whatever that thing is where people change clothes really fast
• (ik ik it’s not That diegetic probably but still. what a sequence)
• oh hey, isn’t this the music that plays over the commercial break padders
• utena you did Not need to trampoline off that table that is so Extra. love her for that
• and then the tablecloth gjdghsfs, everything about that was several layers of Extremely Gay
• Conspicuous Rose Petals (and you don’t even notice they’re not moving at all)
• oh hey, looks like an actual genuine smile on Anthy’s part
• the closeup on nanami’s “wtf just happened” face
• “show some restraint with your pranks” between this and basically just giving Saionji a tap on the wrist (for, uh, repeatedly slapping Anthy around in public) I think Touga has some very skewed.. priorities? morality issues?? idk but Sir,
• this is so fucking gay I don’t even care about the shot recycling
• oh dang, we’re ending on that note? we’re ending on that note!
• well!
• considering that the first two episodes were.. What They Were, that was surprisingly grounded?? not complaining though, it was nice >:o
• good to get some character development out of Touga, and Nanami sure is.. A Character. rechecking the intro she isthere for a brief bit, right before the bro, but with a noticeably different outfit so idek what happens with her later
• oh hellooo we’re focusing on blue next ep?

^thanks youtube this is very readable

oh wait has Utena been narrating these outros the whole time? aww, it’s like the fanfic thing where the characters banter before the next chapter

• of tangential relevance I think Osomatsu-san did this too. so like, between that and the fanfic, the whole convention feels super playful. (and other weirdly lighthearted things I was not expecting from this show!)

ooh, nice, next ep’s a two-part arc. which looks unique to that one, oddly enough; I’m used to the “episode part 1/2” thing being used for finale stuff >:0 was tempted to watch two today since it’s been a while but maybe I’ll save that for next session instead

as-is this ended up being one of the wordier liveblogs (took about an hour at the time of writing, plus I gotta format for posting) so

I have no concluding commentary but here’s another youtube comment:

*wait actually I thought of something while formatting the post: we don’t know what happened to Saionji, after all? just that he’s been in his room like a hermit, supposedly. which seems mildly odd tbh; if he was just moping about losing twice, why are the rumors about Anthy “doing something” to him?

I mean, it’s extremely possible he’s just being a sore loser about it. I’m just like 99% certain there is More to Anthy than she’s letting on, and not fully discounting the idea that More might involve… whatever Saionji’s up to. alternatively this will be blown out of the water next ep but She Has A Conspicuous Intro Destruction Shot, I Am Looking

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