This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
Don't forget that Akio doesn't necessarily have to use himself to seduce people.
He also chooses/likes to seduce people through his tools! (No, no not that tool you naughty things! )
Eg. Anthy is directed to take on the role of Mamiya to seduce Mikage.
In a way Anthy herself is also seducing Utena (concurrently with Akio) under Akio's orders.
Mikage as another of Akio's tools/pawns manipulates the black rose duelists by seducing them with the seducers that would work the best. Aka Shiori re-seduces Juri, and Ruka seduces both Shiori and Juri (or at least tries to).
In some sense every seduction at Ohtori (and boy are there a LOT of them) is at the hands of one Ohtori Akio.
So he is the master of seduction, and doesn't seem to mind if he doesn't do it all personally. Although of course, I'm sure he'd be up for the task...
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sharnii wrote:
Don't forget that Akio doesn't necessarily have to use himself to seduce people.
He also chooses/likes to seduce people through his tools! (No, no not that tool you naughty things! )
Eg. Anthy is directed to take on the role of Mamiya to seduce Mikage.
In a way Anthy herself is also seducing Utena (concurrently with Akio) under Akio's orders.
Mikage as another of Akio's tools/pawns manipulates the black rose duelists by seducing them with the seducers that would work the best. Aka Shiori re-seduces Juri, and Ruka seduces both Shiori and Juri (or at least tries to).
In some sense every seduction at Ohtori (and boy are there a LOT of them) is at the hands of one Ohtori Akio.
So he is the master of seduction, and doesn't seem to mind if he doesn't do it all personally. Although of course, I'm sure he'd be up for the task...
A very valid point. The way I see it, the guy doesn't need to have any viable reason to personally seduce people. I mean, who doesn't like a good sexin up? Manipulation through other people is also something that Akio is very good at as well, as you stated. Honestly, I couldn't see him working his way into my pants.
On a side note, by watching SKU and paying attention to what tactics Akio uses in his methods of seduction, I'm managing to win over a girl that I'm talking to at the moment. Call it what you will. She's got a thing for her ex. Well...Ha...USED to. If people pay attention to what he does, then they'd realize how fucking awesome he is at what he does if the person you're attempting to seduce is the typical girl looking for her "Prince on a white horse", like my current fling is. But don't get me wrong, I love her. I think the situation was once similar with Anthy and Akio. Well, before Akio went all "Bastard King of Ohtori".
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sharnii wrote:
Clever things
You have a real point there. So, following that idea, there probably isn;t anyone in Ohtori Akio couldn't seduce...
Oh, wait. How about the Shadow Girls? I always saw their role as a sort of Greek Chorus, reflecting the truth of Ohtori in different ways...so really, if their purpose is just to tell the truth, Akio probably couldn't bend them to his will because he has nothing to offer them.
(Assuming the Shadow Girls are real and not, like, a metaphor or a narritive device or something. God only knows )
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Unless of course lies can seduce the truth... make them wish for what they didn't have... and that would be Akio in their non-existent pants....
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Melancholic_Soul wrote:
Unless of course lies can seduce the truth... make them wish for what they didn't have... and that would be Akio in their non-existent pants....
Nice one.
And to build on what Miss Bluesky said, the Shadow Girls are pretty much independant from the actual sequence of events in the series. They are, as MB said, a sort of "Greek Chorus". It's obvious in the episode towards the end of the series when Utena, Anthy and Akio go the play that the Shadow Girls know EXACTLY what's going on. They tell the story of Dios' fall from grace and how Anthy sealed him, then became the Rose Bride. Obviously they're beyond Akio's control if the blatantly say "Hey, Anthy's the witch, Akio's not the Prince anymore, but he used to be until Anthy sealed him away...blah-de-blah". That shows that if he [img]has[/img] tried to seduce them (which is probable considering the fact that he knows that they know and he's a general horn dog) that it failed miserably.
Also, it may be the fact that they are, in my opinion, aliens.
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