Sweet! Thanks for analyzing the Mikage scene. Hmm, I guess Mikage is pretty much a pedophile after all, then.

Tsuwabuki is more interesting to him at this point than Nanami, though Nanami is going to the greater length for his attention.

Of course he's staring at him, he doesn't care about Nanami, he doesn't really want Nanami to join to his seminar. What he wants to obtain with that conversation with Nanami, is to frustrate even more Tsuwabuki with the desire of being an adult.

Tsuwabuki is more interesting to him at this point than Nanami, though Nanami is going to the greater length for his attention. This is probably the most damning shot, because even within the context of the conversation, this stands out. He should be looking at Nanami. It's even more strategically sound to be paying more attention to Nanami to push Tsuwabuki's jealousy. Instead, he's watching him, with a small, relaxed smile on his face.

But that's so badly true too... oh god, Mikage's a pedo after all...

OR I CAN CRASH OUT OF OPERA. We're going to skip the pleasantries today because I don't have time to write it twice. The naughty pictures poses have been cut up into groups based on similar body language. Keep in mind each of these is specifically meant to convey sex. It's not exactly about capturing the character's personality, but their sexuality, or to say something through a sexual depiction.

(Nanami was excited I think because she felt all OMG MATURE, like she really was totally doing what her brother does wowowowow.)

(Saionji with Anthy and Saionji with Wakaba might as well be completely different characters. )


The only boys in this group; Tsuwabuki and Tatsuya. As you can see, what they have in common is the positioning of their arms, coming down, pressed hard against their fronts, ending in rather explicit genital contact. Both characters are also concealing, though in different ways.

Tsuwabuki is facing us, covering his genitals. There's no expressed sexuality here, his shoulders are raised, and his arms come together sooner than they have to. He's trying to hide himself. However he's also one of the only two that are looking at the viewer. His expression is embarrassed, his lips turned down in a frown, his eyebrows coming together, curving up right where they meet. His eyes are looking toward us, but they're shining (the white that in this style suggests how glassy they are is drawn larger). Though looking, he seems on the verge of turning away, or as if the point of his gaze is to implore the viewer to not look anymore. Why is he embarrassed? Is he ashamed of his sexuality? Certainly not; given his BRS duel, the problem here is more that he's embarrassed at his lack of sexuality. His youth. He's a boy, and when we see him naked this way, we know that. He wants to be a man, but he knows his body shows no evidence of that process yet. His arms come together earlier as if he's meaning to cover both his penis and where his pubic hair hasn't grown in yet. He hides himself because he's not yet the man he wants us to see.

Tatsuya conceals himself more creatively in the direction he faces; he doesn't face us head on, and doesn't even look at us. Though his arms similarly come down his front and end at the genitals, this is not meant to conceal as he accomplished that by facing away. His shoulders are also raised, but they're not raised with tension. We don't see any bashfulness in this pose; instead, it's the same basic set turned rather openly sexual. His eyebrows come together, his shoulders are raised, his arms come down his front. But his back is arched hard, his ass is pushed out, his head is thrown back, and his mouth is open. He looks like he might very well be in the middle of jerking off. However, his pose is exaggerated, and if this were, say, Touga, or Akio, I would be arguing it's out of enjoyment (and it would look a little different), but this is instead frustration. His back arches especially hard, his neck is craned especially hard, as though he's trying desperately for something that's not happening, forcing the motions in hope they'll inspire what should have led to them. Now in a sexual context this is obvious, but it's also descriptive of his character's situation. Tatsuya is frustrated, he wants Wakaba's attentions and doesn't get them. It's almost like we're looking at him masturbating himself and getting frustrated because it's just enough but not what he wants.


In this batch, the common thread is they're all going to great lengths to conceal their breasts, though not necessarily their sexuality.

Wakaba's posed introspectively. She's the most covered, going to the greatest length to hide her body, curling it up into a tight ball. However, her fingers curl over her knees, her chin almost resting on them, her eyelids lowered, but thoughtfully and without direction, as if she's staring blankly at something while her mind is occupied with other things. Her pose reminds us of the fetal position almost, she looks like she's trying to make herself safe and hidden. There is no evidence here that her effort to hide herself is motivated by shame or discomfort with her sexuality though; her face is calmly set, and she doesn't appear to be avoiding the viewer so much as disregarding them. If we assume her thoughts are occupied with the reason she's closed her body so, the result is that she seems to be closing herself, saving herself, and thinking about who or when or why she would open up. She seems to be waiting, trying not to be vulnerable in the meantime, though she can't help but be so in her nudity. The name of her duel episode is Wakaba Hath Flourished Verdantly. Here we see she hasn't done so yet, or she has, was cut down, and is now closed off again, trying to regroup and make sense of it. There is debate and confusion here for her, sexuality she doesn't know what to aim at. Remember Wakaba has a rather wild list of suitors for herself, between Saionji, Tatsuya, and Akio, no wonder she doesn't know what to do with herself.

Keiko is also covering herself. She's turned away from us though, her arms crossed over her chest, her hands curling around her body. She's both covering her front and embracing her own body, attempting to provide comfort. Now, attempt this pose yourself. Your right arm will come under the left instead of crossing, because you're holding your left side instead of both shoulders. In either case you are covering your breasts, but in hers, you are covering more of your body, concealing your whole upper front half, and hugging yourself at the same time. There's more emotion in this pose, it's not so much about the attempt at physical concealment as it is to hide both body and, literally, her heart. That she's willing to expose her entire back, as well as her buttocks, supports this; it's not just her body she's concerned about. And yet, as she covers her heart, her head is turned toward us. Her eyebrows are lifted a bit, eyelids lowered. She looks like she's in the process of glancing behind her to see who it is. She hasn't completed the gesture yet, so we see her before she finds out. She is, like Wakaba, waiting to open herself, but she knows who she is waiting for. She just doesn't know yet whether he will be there behind her.

Utena's arms are posed exactly the same way Keiko's are, but looser. The implied embrace is present, as is the concealment of her breasts, but she's not attempting to cover her heart, and her head is lifted, exposing her neck. This is the most openly sexual of the three; though she's hiding her nipples, we still see a great deal of her breasts, and she is making no effort to conceal her shoulders, which are not lifted, but rather relaxed. Her eyes are narrowed, her pupils dilated, her head tipped back. She looks decidedly feminine, and all the least conscious ways to express that femininity are accounted for. The one effort she makes to dilute it is that covering of herself, and even it is incomplete. There is no shyness here, but there is discomfort. Her eyebrows look tense, and she hugs herself protectively. The signals she sends are confused; she is confused. She appears feminine, sexual, almost maybe physically aroused, but that fact baffles her. The feminization of Utena is a major plot point in the series, and we see repeatedly that though she isn't exactly ashamed of herself when she's feminine, she finds it confusing, as though she isn't sure she's being herself, or that it's okay to express herself this way. She feels feminine and sexual here, but at the same time she seems to be wondering 'Is this really me? Is it alright?'

Yikes, I have like...work to do. You know, job and all. I might get a chance to finish the others today, if not, maybe tomorrow, or I'll break these up with other things, since it's a rather large batch to be going through.

brian wrote:

In olden times Japanese men regarded the back of the neck as especially erogenous and women with long necks very provocative. A lot of those old woodcuts showing bare-necked women were actually semi-pornographic. I don't know if that is still true.

Geisha's wore their kimonos more open at the neck, and with a slight dip in the back that allowed the junction of the neck and shoulders to be seen. That was considered pretty racy, as I recall.

Edited because apparantly I suck at speeling.

Last edited by morosemocha (01-19-2007 09:21:47 AM)

hyacinth_black wrote:

I know that Utena can be a little dim sometimes BUT IS LUNCH ALL YOU REALLY CAN TALK ABOUT WHEN YOU'RE DOIN SOMETHIN UNDER THE COVERS WITH THE ALMIGHTY SEXLORD AKIO???

I always took that as her showing guilt and nervousness to what she did, trying to make small talk to distract herself

Tamago wrote:

Iris wrote:

UTENA TALKING ABOUT FOOD AFTER SEX

Well Akio was supposed to be engaged to another girl and she did do the horizonal tango with him after all, so its a combination of guilt and after-workout appitite(sic) that caused her blavering on about food.

(sic) = Spelling Incorrect, its what you put next to a word when you know that particular word is spelt wrong but don't know how to spell it correctly.

Gio and/or Yasha wrote an essay on the very topic of Utena's body language while she's talking about food during sex: http://www.ohtori.nu/analysis/05_sex,_t … nguage.htm

Also, because I'm in an anal mood: The more usual/"literary" use of (sic) is when you're quoting something someone else wrote, and they spelled it wrong, used poor grammar, or something similar.  You put (sic) there to clarify that the error is theirs, not yours.  Believe it or not, it doesn't stand for "spelling incorrect," either; it's Latin for "thus," as in "don't blame me, it was written thus when I found it!"

Edited to add: "Appetite," by the way

Last edited by satyreyes (01-19-2007 05:03:43 PM)

Such a pain-staking analysis but I have never agreed with the basic assumption of the timing. It makes more sense to assume that the whole thing is post-coital remorse. Anthy showed it by staring blankly at the wall while Utena glowered at her, but Utena babbles to herself.

It may be happening while Akio is getting the car, perhaps even the next morning.  She is in the twilight zone of starting to slowly talk to her brain.  What's banging at her at that point is guilt. It just does not seem like that Akio had to slowly pry her open while she protested, it's just as likely that she jumped him and tore his clothes off (all according to his plan of course.) People like Utena and Akio would have broken a couple of bedsprings whether she was willing or not.

The purpose of that scene was to emphasize that her heart, brain, and body don't communicate well with each other.

Last edited by brian (01-19-2007 05:52:46 PM)

brian wrote:

Such a pain-staking analysis but I have never agreed with the basic assumption of the timing. It makes more sense to assume that the whole thing is post-coital remorse. Anthy showed it by staring blankly at the wall while Utena glowered at her, but Utena babbles to herself.

It may be happening while Akio is getting the car, perhaps even the next morning.  She is in the twilight zone of starting to slowly talk to her brain.  What's banging at her at that point is guilt. It just does not seem like that Akio had to slowly pry her open while she protested, it's just as likely that she jumped him and tore his clothes off (all according to his plan of course.) People like Utena and Akio would have broken a couple of bedsprings whether she was willing or not.

The purpose of that scene was to emphasize that her heart, brain, and body don't communicate well with each other.

Oh I would certainly agree it's a conflict of communication, but it can't be when she's alone, since Akio is there (we see him holding her hand), and over the course of the episode it's pretty well established we're seeing her from his POV. It's probably not morning, since they're driving at night. I would agree it could be post-coital except she's very tense for that, and that sudden change of tempo for her at the end would have no explanation if the act has been completed. Either way, it boils down to RAWR SOMETHING R RONG WITH YOU PEEPEE IN ME, I'MA BLABBER OK THX.

What a wuss.

brian wrote:

Such a pain-staking analysis but I have never agreed with the basic assumption of the timing. It makes more sense to assume that the whole thing is post-coital remorse. Anthy showed it by staring blankly at the wall while Utena glowered at her, but Utena babbles to herself.

It may be happening while Akio is getting the car, perhaps even the next morning.  She is in the twilight zone of starting to slowly talk to her brain.  What's banging at her at that point is guilt. It just does not seem like that Akio had to slowly pry her open while she protested, it's just as likely that she jumped him and tore his clothes off (all according to his plan of course.) People like Utena and Akio would have broken a couple of bedsprings whether she was willing or not.

The purpose of that scene was to emphasize that her heart, brain, and body don't communicate well with each other.

The scene is most certainly there to demonstrate Utena's internal disunity, as you say.  But I would be astonished if Utena jumped Akio.  In fact, I'd be surprised if she even said "okay" during their encounter; she would be willing to proceed only passively, lust overcoming common sense only through inertia.

Utena is uncomfortable with her sexuality.  Lust is a scary emotion for her; she's not going to act on it unless she can convince herself that she's just watching the stars/going on a car ride.  After all, she's supposed to be saving herself for her prince, and well she knows it; we've seen her do the "hot boy vs. philosophical abstraction" internal debate several times prior to this incident.  At no time has she ever seemed unconflicted about romance in general, much less Akio in particular.  That's quite aside from the fact that he has a fiancée.  She wants him, but she's not going to jump him; all she's willing to do is submit.  If Akio wants her, he's going to have to do the work.  True, Akio is a master manipulator, but he manipulates with soft energy.  That is, he doesn't make his targets do anything they wouldn't normally do; he just puts them in a position where their normal behavior plays into his plan. 

Besides, if Utena had such a positive, dynamic desire to screw Akio that she jumped him, she wouldn't spend five minutes blabbing about lunch in post-coital regret.

HURRY UP AND POST THE NEXT INSTALLMENT, BITCH.

morosemocha wrote:

Yasha wrote:

HURRY UP AND POST THE NEXT INSTALLMENT, BITCH.

YEAH! Or we'll get medieval on your hiney.

Alright, who's been listening to Wierd Al?

Fascinating. I never noticed the similarity in the poses of Anthy and Kanae. More evidence of the things they have in common; both privileged, both born to privilege, both enjoying it, both sort of happy, both vaguely miserable.

But Kanae is wearing the same expression she always wears, simultaneously aristocratic, glamorous, and puppy-dog pleading for affection. It's very alluring. I'd never seen it before but Kanae comes closest to being a second Rose Bride in the same way Touga comes closest in being a second Akio.

Kanae believes that she and Anthy ought to be close to each other and she's right. They do have unique bonds.

Last edited by brian (01-22-2007 12:55:28 PM)