Spoiler i've noticed that this black rose arc has a pretty clear additional theme that the first lacks all the black rose duelists thus far seem to be dealing with various forms of inadequacy i'm a bit low on spoons rn, but i think this might have something to do with self ideals or something, i guess? i'll hold this thought, for now
Spoiler also, i am just now noticing that the butterfly in the mikage seminar confessional booth regresses with the occupant's mental state nice touch
Personally I kinda like the fact that it's keeping the thread alive and bumped, but Alch is the op, so I guess he gets the biggest say in it. @alchemicalheart do you think one post per episode would be okay?
Yeah, I like it too. Nanami is my favorite character and her filler eps are actually not really filler imo, they're essential parts of her character arc but wrapped in additional layers of silly surrealism so that they're not taken seriously at first. Much like Nanami herself!
Like, I don't think Nanami is literally turning into a cow or anything, but... Okay, given what you know about the kitten, consider the implications of the fact that every animal Nanami is shown interacting with since then hates her on sight, and that no matter where she goes, dangerous animals will find her and hurt her. What could that symbolize? There's more I can go into, but I think it's best analysed when you've finished all the episodes and thus know Nanami's full character arc. :) Also, there's something about Touga that's explained in the movie, but was confirmed by the writers to also apply to his anime counterpart. I think it's fairly important for understanding some actions he takes, but it's pretty squicky. Spoiler: Adolescence of Utena Touga was groomed and molested by his father. Spoiler: Late-anime spoilers Which, given that the Kiryuu siblings were adopted, and Touga was old enough to remember this but Nanami wasn't, it's pretty heavily implied that they were adopted by their adoptive father specifically so Touga could be molested, and their wealth and social class is bought with his childhood in that manner.
Spoiler: Late anime spoilers, Kiryuu siblings I also think that plays heavily into Nanami's attention-grabbing, tbh. Touga was adopted and molested and probably adopted to be molested, and Nanami was just the extra kid the Kiryuus had to take in to get Touga. Even though Nanami is clearly clueless about what happened, she's not stupid, and I think she picked up on their parents, or at least their father, paying more attention to Touga than to her, without knowing the full implications of that. If Touga was the only one who paid genuine attention to her as a child, it seems reasonable that she's fixated on him now and engages in self-destructive, toxic behavior to get attention from others.
i'll definitely keep all the non-spoiler stuff in mind, but Spoiler this got me really thinking, and is actually blowing my mind now a little anthy she's not actually taking all of the abuse she receives sitting down, is she? the cow bell, the curry, and the animals in her dorm room that was all her so what if the rest is all her, too besides dios, who might be an illusion for all i know, and the black rose groom, who is basically a genderbent version of her, she's the only character i've seen that seems to actually be capable of magic so what if all this is anthy's revenge in retrospect, it would make a lot of sense for her to be extremely petty and vindicative
This is great because the thing I was deliberately hinting at was a lot more general, but I also like that you can spool all that out, even if I'm not going to confirm or deny anything.
i'm gonna try a different format of liveblogging next episode to try to make @alchemicalheart more comf
Spoiler heck yeah wakaba is getting an episode i love her ...they wouldn't would they? oh my god they are actually doing this please tell me it isn't her YES, WAKABA IS OKAY SORTA wait, but then does that mean oh. OH. oh? ... d'oh.
Spoiler: Late realization The reason the Red Car Of Dubious Consent keeps showing up as a motif in the arena isn't simply because the arena is set up by Akio. It's because the arena is symbolically/literally linked with his bedroom in specific.
