This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
A simple simple one here. What is/are your favourite duel song(s) and why?
One of my favourites is Utopian Past-Tense Incantation. However that's not related to much other than the fact that I met and bonded with a friend during Nanowrimo by sitting in a pub singing it (among other Utena duel songs ). How's that for dorky?
Also favourites are the two movie duels. But I'm just a movie fangirl so....
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The duel chorus version of Virtual Star Embryology, which is where 'Empty Movement' comes from. This might have just a tiny bit to do with the kinda nerdy scientific theme and the rather planetary chorus. Or liking Saionji a bunch. Similarly, I really love Internal Clock, Municipal Orrery. I won't attempt to justify it on terms of lyrics, but I will say I was blasting it on my discman long before I even knew whose duel it was, though it did seem to have a finality to it that hinted.
But actually, if you include OST 7, my favorite Utena-related Seazer tracks aren't duel choruses. (Please, don't shoot me!!) That whole CD makes me happy in my tummy, I really think it's a largely ignored gem. I seriously urge anyone who really likes the choruses for their own sake to look into it. Sweet, sweet Seazer.
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I'm a bit hooked on "Earth as a Character Gallery". It's got that heavy rock underlayer and it has the sense of being slightly out of control. Perfect for Shiori's duel.
And then there are the choir bells right in the middle.
I'm also a fan of "Angelic Creation, Namely Light" as well as Juri's duel song from Adolescence. Then again, I am a Juri fan. So there you go.
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For me, "I Am an Imaginary Living Body" and "Internal Clock, Municpal Orrery" tie for favorite - the first because Mikage's duel is one of my favorite moments in the series, and the second for the eerieness of the lyrics, especially the first verse. Juri's choruses also have a special place in my heart, simply because her duels always manage to bring the awesome.
And OST 7 is probably my favorite of all the OSTs - I think I must listen to it about twice as often as any of the others. It definitely deserves more props.
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OST 7 does have a special place where my heart goes, now that you mention it. I generally prefer Revival Record of Rose Egg to Rose is Rain. Same for the two movie duels. Though my first love from 7 is actually Oceanic Moon Dies In Indigo.
And now I'm sitting around retagging/fixing all the tags for my Utena music collection. ;
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BakaElf wrote:
OST 7 does have a special place where my heart goes, now that you mention it. I generally prefer Revival Record of Rose Egg to Rose is Rain. Same for the two movie duels. Though my first love from 7 is actually Oceanic Moon Dies In Indigo.
Oh god, Oceanic Moon is one of my favorites. Was the first one I looped for hours at a time like an idiot.
I also really like We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside Become Fallen Angels, but yeah, throw a song like that at someone with an interest in apocryphia and angels. I'm also hooked on Absolute Delusion, but it reminds me of Akio, so go figure.
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Giovanna wrote:
Oh god, Oceanic Moon is one of my favorites. Was the first one I looped for hours at a time like an idiot.
I also really like We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside Become Fallen Angels, but yeah, throw a song like that at someone with an interest in apocryphia and angels. I'm also hooked on Absolute Delusion, but it reminds me of Akio, so go figure.
Haha. I dig the dancing smiley~
We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside... is a fun one. I knew a girl who was really into angelic lore. Whenever anything depicted angels she () would always go on about all the particular details that were WRONG. ;;;;
....I have to say, this disk is particularly guilty of Giving Our Songs Obscenely Long Names.
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Giovanna wrote:
BakaElf wrote:
OST 7 does have a special place where my heart goes, now that you mention it. I generally prefer Revival Record of Rose Egg to Rose is Rain. Same for the two movie duels. Though my first love from 7 is actually Oceanic Moon Dies In Indigo.
Oh god, Oceanic Moon is one of my favorites. Was the first one I looped for hours at a time like an idiot.
I also really like We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside Become Fallen Angels, but yeah, throw a song like that at someone with an interest in apocryphia and angels. I'm also hooked on Absolute Delusion, but it reminds me of Akio, so go figure.
from ost 7 i like Water Drop That Means Universal Origin. i found this awsome site that has all of the utena osts it is called utena.darkless.net
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Garnet wrote:
For me, "I Am an Imaginary Living Body" and "Internal Clock, Municpal Orrery" tie for favorite - the first because Mikage's duel is one of my favorite moments in the series, and the second for the eerieness of the lyrics, especially the first verse. Juri's choruses also have a special place in my heart, simply because her duels always manage to bring the awesome.
And OST 7 is probably my favorite of all the OSTs - I think I must listen to it about twice as often as any of the others. It definitely deserves more props.
Who dosent love the internal clock? Whenever i hear it, i get like mad images of anthy and what may be going on inside that crazy head of hers
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I'd have to say Allegory, Allegorier, Allegoriest, the musical version of No One Has Anything to Tell and Deforme Deja Vu are my absoute favourites... Though I love all of them anyway.
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Simple? I'm racking my brain here trying to figure out my favorite!
Utopian Past Tense Incarnation is a good one, I like the "10, 2, 1, 0.. take off!" bit, just because it's so goofy. Inside the Body of the Paleozoic Era and Supira Mirabirisu Theater are good ones too.
I've also got a soft spot for the two movie choruses... Resurrection! Never Ending History of the Middle Ages and Constellations αψζ Galaxy. That whole movie is an audiovisual feast for me.
I like the duel version, but the Maki Kamiya version of Virtual Star Embryology is one of my favorite theme songs too.
OST 4 is one of my favorites, and I desperately hope Geneon gets at least #7 over here (and #3, that was a glaring omission).
And wow... typing the chorus titles really does take a while.
Last edited by Imaginary Bad Bug (10-16-2006 09:23:24 PM)
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Imaginary Bad Bug wrote:
(and #3, that was a glaring omission)
No kidding! What is this skip OST 3? It's an absolutely awesome CD, you can't argue with the greatness that is the Akio arc duels.
This is one of many things I need to beat Ikuhara for. He still owes me a lung for not making a Saionji UFO doll.
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Imaginary Bad Bug wrote:
Simple? I'm racking my brain here trying to figure out my favorite!
Utopian Past Tense Incarnation is a good one, I like the "10, 2, 1, 0.. take off!" bit, just because it's so goofy. Inside the Body of the Paleozoic Era and Supira Mirabirisu Theater are good ones too.
I've also got a soft spot for the two movie choruses... Resurrection! Never Ending History of the Middle Ages and Constellations αψζ Galaxy. That whole movie is an audiovisual feast for me.
I like the duel version, but the Maki Kamiya version of Virtual Star Embryology is one of my favorite theme songs too.
OST 4 is one of my favorites, and I desperately hope Geneon gets at least #7 over here (and #3, that was a glaring omission).
And wow... typing the chorus titles really does take a while.
I love all the songs that are like 10 2 1 0 take off! you know vanish fade away and tsuwabuki's duel ( did i spell his name right)
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"Earth As A Character Gallery" has always always been my favorite.
I've really enjoyed the duel songs from an ex-choral singer's perspective.
The chords change from the line "Ah, Hito wa nashi" to the line "Ah! Yami no Naka..." just breaks out so nicely; I listen to that soung specifically for those lines. When they're done, I start the song over again, because I'm such a dork...
Also, "Magic Lantern Butterfly Moth &c &c..." is a close second. The lines "Kiran to ageshi/Tsurugi wa sora ni/ todomarite" progress soooo dramatically it gives me chills! Its like the line builds up and then you exhale after! Sigh!
I wonder if anyone else experiences these songs this way. Its for reasona like these that I love so much sacred choir music... these haunting chord progessions really excite me!
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I'll always hold a special place in my heart for Mikage's duel music. It hits me harder than the others and is one of the few duels I might actually listen to in the company of my friends (no offense Seazer, your music tends to earn me strange looks sometimes ;;;). Plus, it totallygets your adrenaline pumping. If Utena was an RPG, then Mikage's would be the traditional "boss" music. /geek
I also really like Juri's second chorus. It feels "grungier" than the others, and it also always reminds me of the awesomeness that is her duel. I even bop to the repetitive looped drumming at the very end.
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I've always been a fan of the BR Arc duel pieces - they're powerful and sad. Most especially - Wakaba's - "Magic Latern Butterfly Moth 16 C" - it's haunting and dark - it absolutely fits that entire storyline w/ Wakaba - *huggles Wakaba*
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Counting only the tracks that appeared on screen, "I Am An Imaginary Living Body," "Allegory, Allegorier, Allegoriest" and "The Angel Androgynous" are my top 3.
If you count all the OSTs, though... for one, I find the Universal Gravitation versions of earlier songs so much better than the originals, so add a good part of OST4 to that list. "Adolescence Apocalypse" especially, while not strictly speaking a chorus, is one of the greatest things I've ever heard. It gets insanely funny looks from people, too.
And I'll add to the love for OST7. It's made of win and awesome.
Then again, I'm a sad, sad fangirl who worships the ground Seazer walks on.
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I own an iRiver T10 MP3 player cos the very idea that you would have to post your iPod away and pay $100 just to replace a battery, frankly repels me.
Anyhow, I have several Utena tracks stored in my MP3 player and offhand I would have to say that Astrolagous Chikyuu Sugoroku is by far my favourite duelling track despite the fact that it was never actually used in the series.
It's hard to explain why I it so but it just has that going for it.
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Tamago wrote:
Anyhow, I have several Utena tracks stored in my MP3 player and offhand I would have to say that Astrolagous Chikyuu Sugoroku is by far my favourite duelling track despite the fact that it was never actually used in the series.
I hereby vow to go through the translated tracks on OST 7 and post a thread wherein we all assign characters to them!
It can be the Utena OVA that never happened.
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My favourite duel songs are: Watashi Banbutsu Hyaku Fushigi and Watashi Kuusou Seimeitai, I like both lyrics and music of them, like the symbolism of the human body in the first.
However, the real master piece in my opinion is We Who Have Cast Ourselves Aside Become Fallen Angels, when I hear this I really see the angel
Also nice is Reikishi Bourou 'Moji Sabaku' , namely Historical Watchtower 'Desert of Letters.
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Imaginary Bad Bug wrote:
I like the duel version, but the Maki Kamiya version of Virtual Star Embryology is one of my favorite theme songs too.
Though it's very hard for me to make my top favourite songs list, I'd have to agree with the statement above.
My other favourites include the duel songs from the Student Council arc (especially Juri's and Saionji's), I also love "Yomigaere! Mukyuu no Reikishi Chuusei yo" and "Tainai Tokei Toshi Oruroi". OST 7 is very interesting, if my winamp would show me the English titles instead of the Japanese ones (which are hard to memorieze), I could list my favourites from that too. But it doesn't matter so much, since Seazer's music is very very good.
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FYI
For track titles to the OST's - in Romanji and English - refer y'all to DQ's SKU site where she picked up Anj's SKU OST page -
http://www.deathquaker.org/utena/ost_index.html
Anj put a lot of work in trying to get the best translation, so I'm glad, when she was going to lose her host - it was saved.
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Giovanna wrote:
Tamago wrote:
Anyhow, I have several Utena tracks stored in my MP3 player and offhand I would have to say that Astrolagous Chikyuu Sugoroku is by far my favourite duelling track despite the fact that it was never actually used in the series.
I hereby vow to go through the translated tracks on OST 7 and post a thread wherein we all assign characters to them!
It can be the Utena OVA that never happened.
Astrolagous Chikyuu Sugoroku has that duelling with the Big Bad feel to it, well thats how I feel about it at least.
It would be interesting to see which unused 'duelling songs' are matched up with whom.
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Spira Mirabilis Gekijou, Tainai Tokei Toshi Oruroi, Missing Link, and Tenshi Souzou Sunawachi Hikari. In that order. XD
...and Virtual Star Hasseigaku, although I like the ED version of that song more than the duel chorus.
Last edited by Kohaku (10-17-2006 12:04:31 PM)
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Sephigirl wrote:
FYI
For track titles to the OST's - in Romanji and English - refer y'all to DQ's SKU site where she picked up Anj's SKU OST page -
http://www.deathquaker.org/utena/ost_index.html
Anj put a lot of work in trying to get the best translation, so I'm glad, when she was going to lose her host - it was saved.
You have totally made my day.
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