I'm in the amazing business.

Perhaps a sister company of Cowstian Dior?

Watching Ken Russell's Crimes of Passion and for some reason tonight, it's all Utena. The flowers. The blinking lights pacing scenes. The sexual and seduction anxieties. Shifting from cheesy comedy to emotional horrorshow. Weird play-acty spoiling of a high school virgin in a fancy car. The inflated toy surprise. And, delaying an important reveal with a weird bit of tv broadcast.

So, actually, I'm wondering why it hasn't reminded me of Utena before.

I'm watching a show called American Genius which is a miniseries of heavily dramatized stories about various scientific and industrial personalities. This one is about Samuel Colt and others, and I just watched someone portraying Sam Colt tell an investor that his invention "is going to revolutionize the world."

I have to wonder if sword kissing is a thing in Japan? Symbolically? I mean, given the presence of the swords and its culture of humility/etc, it would follow.

BUT BUT BUT



OMFG

Giovanna wrote:

I have to wonder if sword kissing is a thing in Japan? Symbolically? I mean, given the presence of the swords and its culture of humility/etc, it would follow.

I wonder about that as well. Especially in Maiden Rose's context, in which Klaus, the one kissing the sword is non-Japanese but Taki, the swordwielder, is very much the essence of a Japanese notions of honor and duty. In this scene Klaus is pledging himself as Taki's knight anew and making something of an act of contrition so it'd make perfect sense to invoke something very meaningful to Taki's culture.
On the other hand, it might originally come from Western courtly rites. A more erotically charged version of kissing the lord's ring when vowing fealty. Klaus has given up on his nationality entirely in order to serve Taki and lives for no other purpose but he could be drawing from his own cultural background. Interestigly enough, the manga never mentions Japan by name. It has to be deliberate and probably to create a greater sense of alternate history but it's very clear that Taki's 'Eastern Island country' must be Japan. The Heian imagery that pops up regularly clinches the deal.

Inariya-sensei probably knows about Utena and might very well be channeling it here.

YamPuff wrote:

EDIT: I think I saw a Maiden Rose OVA once....the manga looks fab, nice art. Will check out.

About the OVA, as it so often happens with anime adapations it is far inferior to the original manga. I could forgive the low budget production values but Taki's seiyuu was a complete disgrace. He makes Taki sound like the typical whiny uke and that is nothing short of character assassination. One of the things that makes Maiden Rose so amazing is precisely that it does not follow the usual 'seme/uke' dynamics. Taki may be the bottom in the relationship and he does struggle with his attraction to Klaus but he is a competent military commander and a very brave leader.

I'm sure it was unintentional but it was a horrible voice casting choice.

I recommend the manga but keep it's been in hiatus hell for so long now that I'm beginning to despair.

Now you can join me pining in hiatus hell for god only knows when or even *if* Maiden Rose will be resumed. Misery loves company.

Inariya-sensei also wrote Zion no Koeda, it makes Taki and Klaus come across as very well-balanced couple by comparison.

Last edited by Nocturnalux (07-07-2015 09:00:01 PM)

I'm re(watching) Majokko Megu-chan, an old magical girl from the seventies, and stumbled on this:



It does not look all that much like Akio's tower but I was still reminded of it right away. Probably because this is the bad guy's lair and it overloooks the heroine's house. Then there's the fact that SKU is so self-aware of shoujo tropes, some of which were set (or greatly spread) by Megu-chan. And Megu-chan was quite subversive for its time, it does not enter dark territory like SKU but it was one of the first shoujo to present adult situations including domestic violence.

Every villain needs a cocktower. It is known.

@Snow: I spy a Nemuro-chan

Giovanna wrote:

Gio: You forgot jumping over the car.

Anytime i see a well dressed person in a suit, fancy shoes, and well put together, i just imagine a nice little flip over the car, just like the movie.

Today for me, I was  upset with a few things at the office and stepped outside. I had no idea the bushes outside could produce flowers! Lo and behold, little purple and pink guys springing up. It was lovely and put a smile on my face. http://imgur.com/8dhvmN6




But now, thanks go Gio, i think i'm going to try that car slide today.

An interesting reversal: take a look at my signature. It's a quote from Umberto Eco's novel The Name of the Rose (which if you haven't read, you should, post-haste). In fact, it's the final line of the book. I read it earlier this year, and changed my signature soon after.

Today, I was bored and listening to some of the SKU soundtracks on CD—something I haven't done in a while; I've been in more of an Evangelion mood this year, for obvious reasons—and flipping through the liner notes. In the booklet for "Angelic Creation, Namely Light", there's a section that gives brief summaries of some of J.A. Seazer's plays. Caspar Hawser features this line:

Seazer wrote:

(the name of the rose = there is nothing but a name left for a withered rose, there is only a fruitless name left behind now).

Which is, obviously, the line from my signature, slightly (?) mangled in translation, from Latin to Japanese to English.

Always interesting to find these little threads between works that I hadn't previously noticed.

Recently, I got into music by Melanie Martinez.

A couple of her songs, I feel, would make for amazing Utena AMV:

"Alphabet Boy" can be Anthy's disdain toward a lot of the duelists, and also her brother. It can also be about what Utena thinks of Touga whenever he's being patronizing (even though he probably thinks he's not):

"Carousel" feels more like the general motif for the series of chasing after something that seems unattainable, but it can also be easily attributed to Utena or Anthy chasing after the prince (or at least the concept of the prince) on the white horse:

Last edited by Hiraku (08-29-2015 05:24:31 AM)