Someone on Youtube did a *very* good mashup of Utena clips with a
trailer for a Tarantino Grindhouse film:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bloFJyzQX4c

I found the creator originally for a sillier Teen Girl Squad mashup
which I'd posted to my Livejournal, but I figured y'all weren't
StrongBad fans so it wasn't worth passing along. This one though I
don't think needs much explanation even if you're not into these kind
of movies (I'm certainly not, and thought this was still funny).

Anthy: Boo-yah!

I've had Utena on the brain lately... been watching it with some
friends of mine. We just finished the BR arc...One of them
encapsulated Mikage's situation very well/interestingly: "I see. He
was so obsessed with holding onto his memory, he never aged so he
could keep living that memory. The Duel with Utena freed him from
that, so now time has corrected itself, hence why the hall is now
ruins and he's graduated."

I like that, and I like his suggestion that Nemuro is actually
graduated now, an adult living in the "outside world" now (and not
dead/a ghost/nonexistent). Not that I think even that is a "happy
ending" for Nemuro, but it's interesting.

Another thing... my friends I've been watching it with are blind, so
I'm narrating the visual elements to them. It's become interesting to
see which elements I describe and which I leave out...... I've
realized in some cases, as beautiful and visual as the series is, some
of the visuals really are a distraction from the meaning of the
dialogue (my friends are picking up on character stuff REALLY FAST,
and I think it's in part because they're not being distracted by
constant twirling roses and pointy fingers). I've realized a lot of
the time all the weird stuff going on in, say, Student Council
meetings is cool but not that important to describe in detail (though
I will mention the imagery). I also usually don't describe the shadow
plays in detail as they just go too fast--but the dialogue and sound
effects actually tell the story excellently on their own.

Which is not to say of course that the visuals aren't important--it's
such an artistic show, of course they are. But more commenting on the
direction here.... that the visual symbolism is sometimes essential,
and sometimes providing some trompe l'oeil, keeping us from seeing the
truth behind the illusions....

And also the musical cues are really, really essential to the story
telling even more than I realized before.

Random thoughts....

Death Quaker
Shiori is less in need of a Prince these days, but I'm always there
for her.... :)