It's better with the typo.

lol each time I come back to this thread, I'm reminded (as though I could forget) how awesome this whole thing is.  Not only is the game awesome, but we've found a group of quite funny people for commentary.  I can't wait to see what's next.

Hmm, now that I think about, Anthy prolly didn't tell Utena about Touga banging us because she and Akio are still at the point in the series where they want Touga to test Utena by courting her. It's one thing for Utena to know that Touga hangs out with a lot of girls; princes are supposed to do that. But finding out that Touga randomly nailed her friend and roomate would probably have turned her off completely.

minervana wrote:

Thank you for doing this Dallbun.

You're welcome. What's the point of studying Japanese if I don't use my powers for awesome?

On that note, I present the next section of the game. I'm looking forward to the discussion on this one.

D-ko:
Yeah, I should go talk to Chigusa-san.
(In this situation), there's no choice but to ask her directly...

There's always a choice, D-ko. Just say "no" to imprudent decisions.

Wakaba:
Hey, what's wrong?

D-ko:
Have you seen Chigusa-san?
There's something I want to ask her...

Wakaba:
Chigusa-san, huh?
She left with Anthy earlier.

D-ko:
With Anthy!?

Wakaba:
Yeah, I thought they were a pretty unusual pair, too.
Right, right... it looked like they were heading towards the rose garden.

D-ko:
Okay. Thanks, Wakaba.
Chigusa-san and Anthy?
That's seriously an odd pair.
(Does that mean that Chigusa-san isn't just a Duelist,
but has some other business with the Rose Bride...?)

Anthy and Chigusa: Odd Couple. Now someone needs to write a fanfic where they share an apartment in New York City.

D-ko:
Oh, Anthy!
Are you here alone?



Anthy:
......

D-ko:
Have you seen Chigusa-san around?
There's something I want to ask her...

Anthy:
Here you go.

D-ko:
A letter... from who?

Anthy:
From Sanjouin Chigusa-san.

D-ko:
From Chigusa-san...

(she opens the letter)

Chigusa (Letter):
At four o'clock PM,
(bring your saber and come to the white fencing hall.)

(Bells suddenly start ringing. They might be metaphorical.)

I'm not sure why Chigusa couldn't just tell us that herself, but I guess anything becomes creepier when you add a blankly-smiling Anthy to the mix.

(Later. The sound of footsteps.)

Chigusa:
It seems you gave her the letter.

Anthy:
Yes.
But that's as far as my help extends.

Chigusa:
I understand that, Rose Bride-san.
It's fine. I won't lose to any princes or princesses any longer.

Anthy's help doesn't extend very far at all.

D-ko:
Chigusa-san, so it's you after all?
The person I first met at the fencing hall.
And who stuck that message card to my back.
What do you mean, I'll disappear?
Chigusa-san, what the heck are you trying to accomplish by dueling?



Utena:
Hey, you're back.

D-ko:
Uh, yeah.
Utena, are you going out?

Utena:
Yeah, the duel will be starting soon.

D-ko:
The duel... I see.



Utena:
Don't worry about it.
We're not going to kill each other.
It's just the same as usual.
I've gotten used to it recently.

That's not a very reassuring facial expression there, Utena. It doesn't say "don't worry, this duel is in the bag" so much as "I have half a mind to skip this goddamn duel and take a nice, relaxing bath instead."

D-ko:
So here I am at last.
Or I guess I should say, here I am again.
To settle what began on my first day here...
Mom, dad... protect me...



D-ko:
Where are you, Chigusa-san?





Chigusa:
So you came. Princess.

D-ko:
Chigusa-san,
I came to ask you something.

Chigusa:
I also have some things I want to tell you.
Come with me. I have something to show you.
It might be faster than talking.

Incidentally, they give us a save point here! I guess it's time to rearrange our party and equip all our best items.

...unfortunately, we don't have any party members, and our only equipment is our lame starting weapon. If only we'd stolen Juri's locket... at least then we'd have a good accessory.

(Location name: Stairs to the Basement. There's the sound of footsteps.)

D-ko:
Chigusa-san, how far do these stairs go?

Deeper, D-ko. Go... deeper.

Chigusa:
We're almost there.
Here, look.



D-ko:
W... what is this?

Chigusa:
What I was wearing fifteen years ago.
Fifteen years ago...
She and I were best friends.
She was bad at both sports and academics,
but she was cute... a very feminine girl.
He was the fencing club's advisor.
Strong, intelligent...
I completely fell for him.
I practiced as hard as I could.
So that he would recognize me.
So that he would praise me...
As hard as I could.
Practice, practice, practice, practice.
And then, in the match to decide
who would participate in the national tournament...

Seriously, what happened to "this might be faster than talking?"

(Music: Nemuro Memorial Hall. I thought that bore a mention.)

Father:
Are you alright?

Mother:
Yes... it's no big deal... uhh.



Father:
(Such cruel behavior towards a friend...)
You didn't have to go so far.
(You were already winning the match.)
And it's only a club activity.
You're really a heartless girl.



Chigusa:
The next day, their (indiscretions) came to light.
Those two... they were doing it behind my back.

D-ko:
That's...

Chigusa:
They were let loose from the school.
And then a few months later,
I received an invitation to their wedding.
(Such an innocent thing.)

D-ko:
......

Chigusa:
And so, on the day of their wedding,
I set fire to this fencing hall.

Well, that seems reasonable.

D-ko:
So, the one in the fire was you after all!

Chigusa:
It seems you've been doing some investigating.
What nerve, breaking into peoples' privacy!

D-ko:
That... isn't what I...

Chigusa:
The one my prince chose
(didn't make any effort.
She was a girl with nothing but simple happiness.)
I, who was trying to hard to become a princess
and wed the prince,
(was called an evil queen!)



Chigusa:
But, thanks to that person,
I've returned to this world.
This time, it's my... the queen's turn to win!
On behalf of all queens and old witches,
who have always lost to princesses who trade in tears and misery...
I'll win!



Chigusa:
With "The Power to Revolutionize the World,"
I'll change the past.
I'm going to change that past where your parents are bound together.

D-ko:
Wait! If you do that...

Chigusa: (with an echo-y voice)
You will disappear.

D-ko:
--!



Chigusa:
Yes, that's right.
(I'll make you disappear.
On your parents' wedding anniversary, here, today.)

D-ko:
I see, so the reason the duel is on the 25th is...

Chigusa:
Now, give me that saber.
With that (fateful) saber,
I'll overthrow Tenjou Utena.

D-ko:
That's not going to happen!
I'm not going to let you go to the dueling arena!

Chigusa:
Well, well.
Are you saying that you want to face me,
Snow White-chan?

"Correct me if I'm wrong but are you asking for a challeeeeeeenge?!"

Chigusa:
Sorry, but I'm afraid I won't go easy on you.

D-ko:
I don't need you to go easy on me!

(the sound of someone being handily disarmed in about two seconds flat)



D-ko:
That...

Chigusa:
Your mother was weak, too...
You're truly your mother's daughter.

D-ko:
I couldn't even see Chigusa's saber moving!
Utena, I'm sorry...
I'm sorry!

Next time, on Let's Play Utena:
the Absolute Destiny Apocalypse.

Last edited by Dallbun (04-23-2010 08:52:50 PM)

She keeps calling us a princess, are we really? I mean yes, we're dumb and weak and innocent, but we're fairly proactive. And is seems our parents were indeed doing the slippery mambo while our mother was a student and father was a teacher, how old was out mother when she gets married? And knowing that Ohtori has a long, illustrious tradition of statutory rape why would you send your daughter to Ohtori, especially when they were both booted out of Ohtori . Another thing, why would Chigusa choose to spend all of her undead eternity in such a stupid outfit?

Edit: WAIT JUST A MINUTE HERE! Chigusa states she was wearing that fencing uniform 15 years ago during the duel against D-ko's mother. The next day they were found out and a few months later they were engaged to be married. D-ko is 14 years old and it takes 9 months for the baby process which means.....

D-ko's dad knocked up a student.

Last edited by Ruggahissy (04-23-2010 02:01:36 PM)

satyreyes wrote:

Imagine, if you will, a fanfic in which Shiori, in a last-ditch effort to beat Juri at something, challenges her to a desperate swordfight for Ruka's love... and wins.

Except that in this case, Chigusa, the uber-competent one, "lost" at love, and D-ko's mom, the Shiori figure in all other ways, got her prince. That seems key.

Oh, our choice: Find some hot iron shoes.  Apply to Chigusa's feet.

One could argue that she's already dancing in pain for the rest of her life... at Akio's behest.

Ruggahissy wrote:

She keeps calling us a princess, are we really? I mean yes, we're dumb and weak and innocent, but we're fairly proactive.

Sure. But what's more important to Chigusa is that our mother was a princess. To some extent, she's doing the Utena=Tokiko thing and equating us directly because of whatever similarities she sees. (Maybe the fact that we look exactly alike helps. After all, she's also equating Touga and D-ko's dad.)

D-ko's mother, from what we've seen of her, is pretty much what Chigusa describes: a cute girly girl. And she was apparently more than happy to fall into the arms of a strong, handsome, creepily older prince and become a true princess. It's her that Chigusa really resents, and the gender tropes of romance that reward girls for being weak and coquettish while discouraging them from trying to directly take what they want. (Speaking of which, I always thought that D-ko's father's line from the beginning, "Girls don't have to be strong," was a little ominous.)

I agree that she's still totally doomed, though. You can't win as the Evil Queen by embracing your role, because the Evil Queen just doesn't win. At best, you're in a nice modern fairy tale, and the princess gets to kill you instead of the prince. At worst... well, like satyreyes said, hot iron shoes.

(By the way... I like the idea that Akio has a selection of crazed, resentful, or obsessed souls (or echoes of people, or whatever they are) available to call up whenever he needs one. Who knows how many personal tragedies have ruined people's lives at Ohtori over the years, just to provide him with backup pawns? The odd thing is that both Mikage and Chigusa have this weird influence over other people... and although it seems to resonate with me in both cases, I'm not entirely sure why.)

Another thing, why would Chigusa choose to spend all of her undead eternity in such a stupid outfit?

Apparently she was wearing it in her class picture, too.

D-ko's dad knocked up a student.

It certainly seems to fit. It would also help explain why D-ko's dad was such a jerk to Chigusa just for knocking D-ko's mom down in their duel.

Load up your favorite music program and rock out to some ZUM, because it's stock footage time!

Utena:
So it's you after all.



Chigusa:
Don't (some word I can't catch), prince.
I won't lose this time!



Anthy:
Roses of the noble castle,
Power of Dios that sleeps within me,
heed your master and reveal to us...



Utena:
The power to revolutionize the world!



(the bells ring)

Huh, I thought Chigusa had taken D-ko's father's sword, but that... doesn't look much like a practice saber. Not really sure what's going on, but I don't think I made a translation mistake...

(Music: Gertzen's (Gertsen's) Head. Translation by Verthandi.)

D-ko:
U, uh...



D-ko:
Where am I...?
That's right... I... and Chigusa-san...
Oh no!
As it stands, Utena is in danger...
But, what should I do?
Utena's dueling... is there anything I can do to save her?
Anyway, I've got to get out of here.
I can't do anything from here.



Miki:
Thank goodness, you're safe!

D-ko:
Miki-kun! Why are you here?

Miki:
Sempai, you told us about the white fencing hall, right?
I got kind of worried, and came to take a look. And then...

D-ko:
Thank you, Miki-kun.
You really believed me.

Miki: (embarassed)
Yes, well...

Juri:
My, you have quite a thing for older girls.



D-ko:
Juri-san!

Miki:
N, no, I don't particularly...

Juri:
Don't look so serious. It was a joke.

Miki:
Well, even for you, Juri-sempai, it's in bad taste!
That kind of joke...

Juri:
(chuckles)
More importantly, let's get moving.
Tenjou and Sanjouin's duel should have already started.

D-ko:
About that... actually...



(scene cut)

Juri:
I see, so Sanjouin is...

Miki:
(But then, will Tenjou-sempai even be able to win in the usual way?)
What should we do?

Juri:
Hmm...

Touga:
There is a way.



Juri:
Touga!?

D-ko:
Touga-san, why...?

Touga:
The same as them.
I was worried about you.

D-ko:
Touga-san...!

Juri:
Hey, Touga. How about you cut that out
and tell us how Chigusa can be brought down.

Touga:
Have patience, Juri.



Touga:
If Sanjouin's soul still persists,
there should be some object that binds it to this world.

Juri:
I see... a yorishiro, right?

Thank you, Touga, expert in the supernatural.

Anyway, obviously we need to deal with this thing, because if her phylactery isn't destroyed, she'll reappear 1d10 days after her apparent death.

D-ko:
"Yorishiro..."?

Miki:
An object that a spirit uses
as a sort of medium when they manifest.
To put it simply,
it connects the spiritual world and the real world,
like a gate.

D-ko:
So, if we destroy that...

Touga:
Exactly. Then Sanjouin will have to return to her previous world.

Juri:
But surely searching for Sanjouin's yorishiro won't be easy.

Miki:
True. After all, we don't know what it is, or where it is...
we don't know anything about it.

Touga:
Right. That's your cue.

D-ko:
Mine...?

Touga:
Sanjouin must have something precious to her.
Something from her past... or somewhere... or someone...

D-ko:
A thing from her past...
Something important to her...
What could it be?

CHOICE:
The name tags on the wall
The locker
The calendar

Well, this took an... unexpected turn. I'm kind of shocked that Juri hasn't just thrown up her hands and left these crazy people. Ghosts. Pshaw.

Making the correct choice will end the game, so obviously we're going to be choosing the wrong ones first. However, I'm curious to see if people (who haven't already had it spoiled) can guess what Chigusa's yorishiro is. I scouted ahead a bit, and between this game and the previous one, we have all the clues we need.

Last edited by Dallbun (04-24-2010 06:56:48 AM)

Question, has anyone been saving the game captions from this and the first play through? I'd like to add them to my Utena Game folder, some I'll be going through and doing so I believe.

Dallbun wrote:

(By the way... I like the idea that Akio has a selection of crazed, resentful, or obsessed souls (or echoes of people, or whatever they are) available to call up whenever he needs one. Who knows how many personal tragedies have ruined people's lives at Ohtori over the years, just to provide him with backup pawns? The odd thing is that both Mikage and Chigusa have this weird influence over other people... and although it seems to resonate with me in both cases, I'm not entirely sure why.)

I refuse to believe that Mikage is a ghost or echo who actually died in the Nemuro Memorial Hall fire, regardless of how verifiably dead Chigusa is.  I am going to persist in believing that he is one of the few students in the series who graduated and went out into the real world...  And hopefully, wasn't promptly picked up by the police for that whole arsonist/mass murder thing, and thrown for the rest of his life into an asylum. 

Also, wow!  This game suddenly took a turn from dating sim to actual Utena-style plot!  And it's pretty neat, how it's written so that the fact that Chigusa is completely absent from the series itself makes perfect sense.  The fairy tale elements are great too.  This is fun.

Poor Chigusa though.  It's hard to empathize with her when we've mostly known her as someone who's out to destroy us.  It's like the Nemuro storyline if it were told only from Utena's POV; without the backstory, Nemuro/Mikage would be a pretty flat and evil character.  Sort of makes me wish we had a couple of episodes for Chigusa to give her more of a narrative arc, and flesh out her character.  Also, I have to say her dueling outfit is infinitely better than her regular clothes.

Because I haven't been paying enough attention, and because I'm very easily influenced, I'm going to copy Ragnarok and OnlyInThisLight and say, Locker.

(BTW Dallbun, it's been said before, but thanks for translating all this.  It's really awesome of you)

Last edited by Ico (04-24-2010 04:54:29 PM)

I vote for the locker!

Ragnorak has thoroughly convinced me. I say locker.

Wait, Chigusa's a ghost and there's an object that binds her here? They just went out and said that? And Touga is a master at the supernatural.. For some reason I didn't expect them to outright say something like that..

I vote the locker since we never actually got to see that, we were stopped by Chigusa, weren't we?

I'm trying to find sympathy for Chigusa.. Its not that I don't have sympathy for her, I just found her pranks on D-ko too obvious and.. silly almost, its too hard for me to take her seriously. Or D-ko, but anyway. I love the evil witch/princess metaphor.