While I totally understand why Mark might not have made the inference it still allows for ALL THE NUNS! :)

Oh no! If we do the whole book then there are a whole host of characters that I would love to act - Flovy is clearly the best but I am SO GREEDY, I want to play them all!!

So excited about this - this was the first discworld book I read :D Also, if a dramatic reading of this actually happens - I totally call dibs on Brother Watchtower! :D :D :D Also, DRAGONS!!!!!!!

YES YES YES - this is one of the few series on MarkReads that I will be able to go into unspoiled (since somehow I never got round to reading this, shameful I know!) - now that I have the books for an amazing price the only problem is going to be restricting myself to a chapter by chapter reading once Mark starts! :D

But isn't it *Jimmy's* craving for meat that affects Cas during My Bloody Valentine?

V npghnyyl oevrsyl unq n urnqpnaba jurer Nqnz'f fbhy tbg gb tb gb urnira fvapr ur'q qbar uvf cneg - nsgre nyy rirelobql ryfr tbg ng yrnfg n fbeg bs erfrg ol gur raq bs Fjna Fbat, jul abg uvz? Gura Nccbvagzrag va Fnzneen unccrarq naq rira gung jnf gnxra sebz zr! Vg nyfb znxrf zr guvax - jung ba rnegu unccrarq gb cbbe Wvzzl Abinx???

This is interesting, as I watched this series so long ago that, apart from the first few episodes, I have little recollection of how this all pans out (V erzrzore gung Nxvb'f gur cerfvqrag naq Nagul vf jnl zber pbzcyrk guna fur frrzf, ohg abg fher ubj) and am avoiding rot13 so as to recreate a sense of coming to this new.

However, I remember vividly my original reaction to this episode. I know Utena doesn't realise her power over Anthy, but it was SO frustrating to see her ask Anthy's opinion and then not let her actually *state her opinion*. While, I know Utena does truly care for Anthy, here she felt very much like that well meaning do-gooder who never actually bothers to check what the recipient of their do-gooding actually *wants*.

That's why I thought she might actually lose the battle this time. Of course Touga has his role to play with his manipulations (JERK JERK JERK), but I think the narrative also suggested that Utena lost some of her original nobility - she went from defending Anthy from those who wanted to own or shape her, to fighting so that she too could shape Anthy, albeit into the kind of person that she thinks Anthy wants to be.

Maybe that's a bit harsh on Utena but basically I just really wanted to be able to hear what Anthy actually felt about the situation and was pissed that I didn't get the opportunity and the frustration was even greater on this second viewing.

I have basically no idea what happens from hereon in though, so am very excited for the rest of the ride.

Oh Lordy, it has been over a decade since I saw this. This was my first exposure to anime of any kind and what a start! It confused the hell out of me and burrowed its way into my soul. Bless you Utena!

They would have to rejoin the world as best they could

I 100% agree with you on how moving this line is. We get only the tiniest glimpse of how difficult it might be for these men to go back when Shifty mentions not being able to talk about it to anybody and Winters saying that Nixon faced some dark times. The veterans too in their interviews from other episodes mention it (and god, knowing that it's Malarkey in the run up to Breaking Point whose voice breaks when recounting his fallen friends makes it even more heartbreaking), but nothing quite sums it up like that line.

[Spoilers for the Pacific] Nygubhtu V qvqa'g rawbl gur Cnpvsvp nf zhpu qhr gb vgf zber fcenjyvat angher, jung ernyyl fgehpx zr jnf Fyrqtr'f fgbel naq gur qvssvphygvrf ur unq hcba uvf erghea ner fb unhagvat.

CONT.

Of course, he can’t use that solution for everybody, and with all the men nervous with anticipation, with too much drink and not enough to do, naturally things are charged and begin to spiral horribly. Liebgott searches out a former German soldier who was supposedly in charge of a concentration camp and convinces the replacement to gun him down.

War’s over. Anybody would have run Whether or not Liebgott’s information was true, to watch someone tracked down to his house and then shot in the back while running for his life, it’s hard to stomach.

Then there is the senseless death of the soldier Webster talked with (don’t know his name, and am doing this from memory!) and Sergeant Grant being shot by a replacement. One thing just piles on top of another and it is AWFUL. Goodness knows how much further such self-destruction might have gone on. I was so tense when Speirs went into the room, I was just convinced the replacement was going to die there and then.

The speech by the surrendering German Commander gives me goosebumps. I still find it hard not to associate him and any senior officers with ‘Why we Fight’ but I appreciate the fact that, for many of the German privates and soldiers, their experience on the front lines was equally miserable and harrowing (hence, them not crossing the river in Hagenau because they too had roofs over their heads).

‘You’ve found in one another a bond that exists only in combat, among brothers…I am proud to have served with each and every one of you. You all deserve long and happy lives in peace’ – no matter what side you’re on, there are some things about war that only those who fought it can truly appreciate.

Oh those interviews! I’d been told before I started that the men were all veterans of Easy but didn’t know who was who. I figured out Winters pretty quickly – there was just something about the way he talked about handling fear in Day of Days that clued me in. It was so moving to finally attach names to the faces, and I just could not stop the tears from flowing.

Not a day goes by that I do not think of the men I served with who never got to enjoy the world without war

We were a close knit group. So brave, it was unbelievable. I don’t know anybody I admire more.

Sometime it makes me cry. The real men, the real heroes are those buried over there and buried at home

SO, SO DONE.