speckled rose wrote:

I didn't see such a thread.

It's true each duel is awesome, but which is the one that excites you most?? Gets your blood pumping? Mind racing? Heart thumping??

As for me;

ep. 29 "Azure Paler Than The Sky"

UTENA v. JURI

First off, I love every Juri duel. She's stunning; awesome; agile. Amazing!

This duel was incredibly intense for me, for some reason. Maybe it was the scenes flashing of Ruka and Juri. And Shiori's presence didn't calm things down. The very end of the duel was astounding, with the rain and the broken locket, to Juri merely forfeiting. Not only that, but I love the song "Watashi Banbutsu Hyaku Fushigi".



Your turns! Discuss!

damn i have to second that TT; that was the most touching moment for me

She would definitely be a worthy challenger (and she would win. Too bad that her heart is clung on... well... special things. Her obsessions are holding her back from victory)

Touga vs. Utena ( both duels )

I'm a Touga fan, ok? Wakatta? Good. *chuckles*

Last edited by Seitokaichou (07-29-2008 11:16:32 AM)

Juri's second duel. Juri=

So many!

First would probably be Miki's second duel, just because it was so bizarre. The whole end of the world, dueling in an arena of cars hadn't really set in yet, and the lyrics to the duel theme were totally crazy too ("Stop! The egg and the bed are cheating each other!"). And then there's that whole moment where Kozue has her way with Anthy...

Wakaba's duel was probably the most emotionally intense for me, because it was just so sad to see her so corrupted, and I really could relate with her reasons for dueling. Every time I listen to the theme from that episode I get a bit emotional

I loved Nanami's second duel, because I really felt like she had finally surpassed (haha) her character during that episode. I think that of all the duelists, she's probably the one who grew the most throughout the course of the series.

I love Utena's final duel with Touga as well, though mostly because the theme is named "Allegory, Allegorier, Allegoriest!". Amazing.

I'm weird, because Juri's duels never moved me much. :/

It was actually Nanami's duels that rocked my wee world.  The first duel has that beautiful song, and the lyrics in it are quite haunting.  And yeah, Nanami's hidden dagger was a neat little twist.  Her Akio arc duel is just as passionate, or not, or just in a wholey different way.  Despite appearances, it's not really Nanami's anger that shines through, it's her rather compelling desperation and struggling independance.   In addition to that, the moment Nanami loses the duel, and does not get hit by the Akio car is one of the big moments in the series that redefined and shed light on who Nanami was.  (For me at least.)

A close second is Saionji's duels.  One reason is that, cha-YEAH, I love Saionji, and alot of what I love him for is pumped into his duels.  The frustration, the uncontrolled emotion, the dilusion, and Saionji playing the fool once again.  You get to see alot of Saionji's attempted bravado and pride in the place it matters to him most.  ;__; He comes in second though, because like the eternally shafted character he is, alot of his duel's screentime and the episodes including them's screentime is eaten up by Utena and Anthy, and most of his duels are meant to look basic and easy to decipher, because they are the first in their respective arcs and are used to layout guidelines for the more complicated duels that follow.

In third it's a tie between Kozue, Wakaba and Shiori's Black Rose Duels.  Kozue and Shiori both because it shed a new and drastic light on their character's, and because of how goddamn deliciously twisted they were.  It wasn't just pure pain and longing there; there was real complexity of character there.  Wakaba's is too, because I feel damned sorry for her, not because she doesn't feel special, but because Utena seems to exacerbate that in the duel itself, and doesn't really understand what Wakaba is saying/ dueling for.  You can't really blame Utena for not truly understanding, but still, sometimes what a friend really needs is understanding more than anything else, and Utena's lack thereof only reminded Wakaba of how alone and unimportant she feels.  Also, unlike with the other Black Rose Duelists, Utena prevents Wakaba from hitting the ground after she removes her rose, and so Wakaba does not fall asleep afterwords.

So, is why Wakaba appears to remember Saionji's stay after the duel, and does she still remember the duel itself?

Nanami's second duel, Wakaba's duel, and the final duel are my absolute favorites. Then comes Touga's second first arc duel. Guess I like the ones that end in tears.

The most "kick ass" duel I would say was Touga's last duel. I mean, holy hell! Utena holding up the sword of Dios, cutting numerous pimpmobiles in half while her woman holds her tight.



Touga and Saionji on their sidecar, ready to fight.



And then that little romantic scene in the middle of all of it; Touga takes Utena's hand, they look deeply into each others eyes, and then she pulls away and a driverless car speeds between them.



It. Was. Awesome. Epic to the greatest extent. All it was missing was the boxing kangaroo.

That part where Touga rides on the motocycle gave a whole new meaning to the term "jousting".
If only Anthy and Utena were also on a motorcycle :/

My favorite is, of course, Miki's second duel.  EPIC.  It's so sad and vicious in so many ways, and, of course the KozueXAnthy.  And the words spoken beforehand.  And, that entire episode.

My second favorite is Touga's second duel as well, with her slowly being disrobed and how utterly callous he proved himself to be underneath it.  Oh, and Utena being so kickass and unafraid.  Both of them where just so amazing, any time I watch that I fall in love with Utena Tenjou again   Not to mention the Rose Bride.

Touga's final duel is outstanding. So many things happen in it, from the touching to the crazy, and let's face it: jousting Touga is just full of win. That's the kind of vehicular combat that should have been the climax of the Utena movie, IMHO.

Oh, and Wakaba's duel deserves praise. Pure, concentrated, heart-breaking drama.

For my favorite, though, I have to say the duel with Akio just edges out the others. You can just feel how desperately and furiously Utena is fighting, using every technique she's learned (or inherited from Dios), all the while the projector is changing the scenery to reflect each arc of the dueling game. It's so evocative, and as a nerd, I'm reminded of the archetypical "final boss stage" of many a great video game. Utena's mashing buttons and missing with her best super moves, but the big bad is getting worn down, and maybe, just maybe there's hope... Epic.

One duel not mentioned yet is definitely Mikage's. I liked his style. He was very graceful and precise. But, of course, it was the emotional impact more than anything. His past, after all, is the darkest of all the characters short of Anthy's (and maybe Akio's). Touga may seduce a lot of women. But Mikage brutally slaughtered a bunch of young boys, giving them all horrible deaths. He's the only confirmed murderer in the whole series. At the end of his duel, he realizes how horribly pointless it all really was. The picture frame cracking and then falling, the moment of silence...I think it was definitely the most heartbreaking of all the duels.

In terms of badass, Juri's first duel. She seemed like she could beat the crap out of Touga. And she would have won! On terms of skill alone! Where Touga relied on cunning, she pretty much directly kicked Utena's ass. It was only through a sheer freak intervention of Dios that she won. In the second, she conceded the duel. Furthermore, she was the only one who managed to protect her rose from the strike of Dios. That's far more than anyone else did. However, I wasn't such a fan of the second one because it seemed like a Ruka wankfest than anything.

Wakaba's on the list for me, definitely. Watching her get corrupted just makes your gut twist. Furthermore, there was so much potential and development there. And then she just gets blown off for the rest of the series. I know it would have broken the pattern, but they should've given her another duel. Or at least another episode.

Akio's duel seemed a bit anti-climactic. I mean, he shoved a 5'3 girl in front of him for protection. While his manipulative and sexual abilities may be exceptional, he didn't exactly show a lot of physical prowess in a direct fight. I pretty much felt like most of the other characters could have kicked his ass there. I personally would have laughed so hard if Touga had just randomly jumped him and beat him to a pulp.

But I'm sadistic that way.

Edit: Oh wait. Mikage was mentioned. Seconded, then!

Last edited by Jellineck (07-30-2008 08:35:59 PM)

Jellineck wrote:

Akio's duel seemed a bit anti-climactic. I mean, he shoved a 5'3 girl in front of him for protection. While his manipulative and sexual abilities may be exceptional, he didn't exactly show a lot of physical prowess in a direct fight. I pretty much felt like most of the other characters could have kicked his ass there. I personally would have laughed so hard if Touga had just randomly jumped him and beat him to a pulp.

But I'm sadistic that way.

I really think that's more Saionji's style, don't you? Touga's problem is he plays the same game Akio does, but not as well. Have Saionji foaming at the mouth chasing down Akio with a katana and it's no contest. But, as I'm sure we'll be reminded at some point in Naji's dubs, Akio's a lover, not a fighter. Frankly he sucks at swordfighting given the edge he should have by experience. But maybe that's the point; you can only be truly skilled with one type of sword.

Which is actually making me think of Mikage. Definitely a kickass duel, and he's a surprisingly good fighter, but he approaches it the same way he approached manipulation (Akio's game). In both cases, treating them as a calculable science meant he was highly skilled, and really quite capable in them, but when push comes to show, Akio and Utena had intuition and intent, and that trumped the academic take.

Which actually makes me think something about Mikage...maybe I'll necro the thread about him, though.

I vote for both Juri's duels. They end waaay different than the other ones.

But if i had to chose, Juri's second duel, with Ruka. With the rain.