I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm not sure I can learn. I can't tell the difference between an acceptable comment and an unacceptable one. For all that I can discern, this comment could be saturated with condescension. It doesn't look that way to me, but what do I know? I couldn't see it in any of my others, either.

So if my commenting privileges rely on my being able to promise that I'll keep the condescension out of my comments... well, I don't know that I can promise that in good conscience.

I can avoid using individual words. But judging from recent history, condescension in general in my comments seems to be totally invisible to me. And there's no way I can have someone else go over every comment I make before posting it.

So maybe it'd be best if I only posted the Ikuhara commentary from here on out? Or even just sent someone else the file with the edited Ikuhara commentary, so they can post it instead, and dropped out altogether? I don't want to make this comments section less enjoyable for anyone else.

Uncle.

And he could the first time?

So how do we explain Touga's face being blank when Saionji flashes back a second time? I never got that.

So if "feminisuto" means something other than "feminist", what means "feminist"? Does anything?

A dumb meaning.

So when was that loanword adopted, and how did it get so mangled?

My understanding is that Japan treats religion in general differently from America. Over there, religion is more like a shirt you put on and take off (mainly for special occasions) than something carved into your body. So you might be -- to probably mangle an idiom -- Shinto when you're born, Christian when you marry, and Buddhist when you die.

Why a church and a Christian funeral here? Probably just to set the scene for the coffin.

MY COMMENTARY:

And here we have it. The biggest episode yet. The one where we finally learn more about Saionji, about Touga, about their relationship and history... and the biggest surprise of all, about Utena and her origin. Because when Saionji tells his story of his endless rivalry with Touga, and his search for "something eternal", it begins with a story, and in that story, the two boys' path crosses with a girl about their age, who'd just lost her parents to an accident. We've heard a story like that before.

And indeed, it's the same girl. We still don't see the encounter with the prince, but we get a new angle we hadn't gotten before, and it's a pretty damn unnerving one. Utena wasn't just "very sad", she was broken. She was suicidal. She literally wanted to curl up into a coffin next to her parents' and never come out. I mean, what do you even say to a kid in that state?

And the weird thing is, Utena doesn't seem to remember any of this in the present day. Not the pain, not the coffin, not the two boys. Just the prince and the ring. She hears the whole thing from Saionji and apparently doesn't recognize it. Despite having built her whole identity around what happened when her parents died, time has rounded off the rough edges of her memory. The whole incident is even more mysterious than before.

Funny how she identifies the prince as her first love, later. Not a lot of fairy tales that have princes marrying other princes. Nyfb jbeevfbzr orpnhfr Qvbf uvzfrys jnf ABG gur ernfba fur jnagrq gb orpbzr n cevapr -- fur'f trggvat pbzcyrgryl fvqrgenpxrq jvgu gur "ratntrzrag evat" guvat.

Note on Touga's words in the flashback, echoed in the present day: He calls himself "chivalrous", or so it's translated, but if you listen to the Japanese, you can clearly tell he's calling himself "feminist".



And speaking of his words in the present day, that was a hell of a scene. Saionji actually tries to abduct Anthy, only to find himself playing with forces far beyond him, and losing control of the situation. And when he makes his way to the arena with Anthy? "♪ Someone wasn't worthy. ♪" The Utena's-the-hero-not-you cluebat proves too much for him, and he snaps -- leading to Touga's hospitalization and Saionji's expulsion.

Touga's a savvy, coldhearted bastard, and he's in cahoooooooots with End of the World. He doesn't seem to bleed, though. Guess there's just no visible blood in this show. Blood doesn't have the "allure" Saito likes to speak of.

Miscellaneous notes:

Juri's told the student council that Utena once met a prince. Hmm.

Anthy references "something eternal" in flashback, then turns up curled up in a coffin. Looks like Love Mirror is still in full force.

Saionji calls for the castle to fall while he's standing under it. Genius. Quoting my RPGnet thread again: "Y'know, Viserys, it might not be a good idea to keep harping on about that crown."

And speaking of my RPGnet thread, here's something I said about Touga that's hilarious in retrospect: "[Gur pbssva vapvqrag] qbrfa'g frrz gb unir orra gur sbezngvir vasyhrapr vg jnf sbe Fnvbawv." Jebat. Gur bayl erny qvssrerapr vf gung ur xarj jub unq fnirq ure.

"WHAT" MOMENT:

The castle suddenly being intact again, without a scratch on Saionji.

Look, I don't care what he says. The arena can't all be a "trick of the light"!