[ooc] Crit Post / Headcanon Discussion

[sighoftheorz]

This is my personal crit post! I eagerly await your feedback.

So, Utena is, as anyone who has seen it knows, a highly, highly subjective series, with massive amounts of it open to interpretation. This is fascinating and awesome! But it also means that my interpretation of Anthy is most likely going to not line up exactly with those of others.

Comments

[bishounenhuntrs]

Are you taking her from before or after the end of the series?

[sighoftheorz]

After the end of the series. However, she will be sticking to many of her old mannerisms and habits while in Camp, primarily as a safety measure; Camp is, in some ways, very similar to Ohtori, and she imagines that for the time being it's better if people underestimate her. Camp may even cause her Rose Bride powers to manifest, especially if other Duelists show up, because Camp is screwy like that.

[laserdragon]

I'm wondering why you chose to take her from post series. I really do love the ending of SKU, but it seems like a strange choice to me. Like you said, it's a very vague series with a whole lot of wiggle-room and interpretation involed, but Anthy is already the (arguably) most complex character. Things are pretty confusing when you're working with thirty-nine episodes of canon; the five minutes you get of her post-canon leave a huge number of unanswered questions. On what are you basing her behavior once she is free from the definition of "witch?"

[sighoftheorz]

I suppose it's because the end of the series is one of the few times we get to see her making her own choices, which is something she'll be doing a lot of in Camp, since Akio isn't here and she doesn't have to be the Rose Bride. Her role in canon is so circumscribed by the role she has to play within the school; it's honestly hard for me to imagine her existing outside of the school prior to her choice to leave it; the series makes quite clear that no force on earth can make her leave Ohtori, short of her own will to do so. So frankly I just found it hard to envision how Anthy could exist within the context of camp, if she were not yet capable of leaving her own coffin. While in Camp, she may act much like she does in canon (since Camp is, in it's own weird way, not so different form Ohtori). The main difference will be that she will be acting that way for her own sake and of her own will (even if other campers don't know that

[laserdragon]

OK SO I AM TORN HERE. I totally see where you are coming from, and can respect that choice, but also want to argue with you because it's Utena and thus must be argued about. So do you mind if I rebut that keeping in mind that I think you have made a valid and justifiable choice just not the choice I personally prefer?

[sighoftheorz]

SURE! XD Rebut away.