This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
Does anyone else have a favourite skit by the Shadow Play girls? I've always enjoyed the monkey catching robot skits myself!
I've also been trying to figure what some of them mean. Presumably the monkey catching robot is meant to represent Nemuro. Robot = computer-like man. I guess?
Offline
Either that or it's a more general metaphor about a person trying to find happiness by chasing after and obtaining another person. If I remember right, the robot talks about being happy because it has the monkeys to chase and not being alone because the monkey is with it. I always thought about the possible connection to Nemuro too.
(I also really like the monkey skits~ )
Another skit I really like was the one about the fisherman and the mermaid. I cannot get through watching that skit without thinking about the romantic metaphor, "there are other fish in the sea."
Offline
Oh, I love the Shadow Girls plays! They're both funny and an interesting peek into the minds of the characters they (usually) revolve around.
I'll have to make a small list of favorites, I can't possibly name just one. I find that the ones I like the most are usually a combination of what I found were most funny, interesting and that I felt I could actually understand the meaning of to some extent.
Episode 9, "there's no such thing as UFOs". Or Santa Claus, or wizards, or fairies, or princes on white horses, or true friends.
Episode 17, "woolen underwear". And three at once, no less!
Episode 21, "any bad bugs here?". Snik-snik-snik-snik... run, run!
Episode 30, "red shoes". And you also have your own pair.
Episode 35, "the playboy fisherman". Definitely the easiest one of them all.
Rotten Mooring wrote:
Another skit I really like was the one about the fisherman and the mermaid. I cannot get through watching that skit without thinking about the romantic metaphor, "there are other fish in the sea."
I don't know how commonly known this is, so I might just be saying something obvious, but you know how at the end of that play when the fisherman asks the mermaid "what kind of fish are you?" and she answers "koi" and he goes "what's a koi doing in the ocean?" Well... koi in Japanese also means love.
Offline
Rotten Mooring wrote:
Another skit I really like was the one about the fisherman and the mermaid.
I skipped a few episodes on my rewatch...which one's that from?
My favorite shadow play is the one from episode 23! It's so, so relevant to everything.
Episode 23 wrote:
C-ko: Your pop was a class rep at your age.
C-ko: Wow, that's great, Pop!
C-ko: Hey, you, what's with this paperwork? It's terrible!
C-ko: Shit, even though I was a class rep back when!
C-ko: Honey, you can't just leave your socks here when you take them off, it's terrible!
C-ko: Shit, even though I was a class rep back when!
C-ko: Well, I'm off to school, Pop!
C-ko: Wait! Give me that school backpack! Your pop'll go to school!
And I don't get the one from episode 14:
Episode 14 wrote:
Cko: Extra! Extra! Extra!
Cko: At last, at last, at last!
Cko: At last, that which I feared has come to pass!
Cko: Earlier than for other people.
Cko: My big sis is advanced for her age.
Cko: Okay, say "Ahh."
Cko: Ahhhhhhh!!
Cko: What should we do about this wisdom tooth?
Cko: Ahhhhhhh!!
Cko: Oh, what should I do?
Something about not dealing with problems until they bubble to the surface, like with Kanae's hatred of Anthy?
Offline
Atropos wrote:
I skipped a few episodes on my rewatch...which one's that from?
It's from episode 35.
shadow: I wonder I wonder, do you know what I wonder, Miss?
shadow: Oh, what is it I wonder?
shadow: I'm the cool sailor, the nice-guy genius Cassanova!
shadow: The incomparable Playboy Fisherman!
shadow: My!
shadow: How wonderful!
shadow: I can't move!
shadow: Boil me!
shadow: Broil me!
shadow: Slice me!
shadow: Make me into sashimi!
shadow: Hah, all fish are like that.
shadow: All fish exist for me to use.
shadow: I don't mean to brag, but there's no fish I couldn't catch.
shadow: Wow, is that so?
shadow: All the fish in the sea are at my beck and call.
shadow: Oh, I caught another.
shadow: What's this? It's not doing what I want it to.
shadow: Is this some new breed of fish? This has never happened before!
shadow: What the hell are you-
shadow: Shh. I'm a "koi" [Japanese for "goldfish", and for "love"].
shadow: How could a koi be in the ocean?!
Offline
Louchan wrote:
I don't know how commonly known this is, so I might just be saying something obvious, but you know how at the end of that play when the fisherman asks the mermaid "what kind of fish are you?" and she answers "koi" and he goes "what's a koi doing in the ocean?" Well... koi in Japanese also means love.
I have no idea whether that's commonly known or not, but it's one of the reasons I like the skit so much . Easily my favorite double entendre in the entire series.
Offline
I have a several favorites but I can easily pick one.
Episode 7: "So, you wanted to go that badly."
Simple, touching and very Arisugawa.
Ok, one more,
Episode 10:
B-ko: But why wouldn't the lord release us after we succeeded once?
A-ko: Don't make me think!
Oh, Utena, you're too precious for this world!
Offline