Damn Dallbun! if anyone deserves a and some it's you. I really thought I would never see this ending 'cause the sega saturn emulator doesn't work in my computer.

The conclusion.

So, we're backing up a bit. In truth, D-ko has long since given up on figuring out what the hell is going on. Instead, she decides to go for a power play.

D-ko:
I want you... the Rose Bride!
I want Himemiya Anthy to be mine.

Anthy:
I understand.
Then, take this...
There's only one way to obtain the Rose Bride.
And that's to win me in a duel.

D-ko:
Win a duel...
Beat Utena...
And then, obtain the Rose Bride.
I'll do it!

Yeah, because that went so well for your Black Rose Duelist and Akio Car-riding alternate selves, D-ko. Then again, this D-ko has an advantage they didn't have:

...A decent shot of her stylin' dueling outfit.

Utena:
You!?

D-ko:
I'm your opponent, Tenjou Utena.

Utena:
Why are you...?

Anthy:
This is a proper duel.
Utena-sama, the sword...

Utena:
I've got no choice.
Himemiya!



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)



(the sound of a sharp smack with a squeaky hammer)

Utena:
Huh?

D-ko:
Let's fight, Tenjou Utena!

Utena:
What's going on!?

(squeaky hammer smack)

Anthy:
Here, Utena-sama, (take this!)

Utena:
Eh? Eh? Eh?


D-ko:
Alriiiiight!
I've taken the Rose Bride, Tenjou Utena!

Anthy:
Please cheer up, Tenjou-san.

Utena:
But, Himemiya...

D-ko:
Awww, know when to give up, Utena!
Himemiya Anthy is my rose!
A flower that blooms only for me!
Oooooo-ho-ho-ho!

So, I guess that's the point of the "gag" choices... only D-ko is wacky enough to adapt to a sudden squeaky hammer battle? Of course, that doesn't explain why it became a squeaky hammer battle in the first place. vv

Anthy:
I am the Rose Bride.
I will do everything as you wish.
If there's anything you want, please let me know.

D-ko:
Of course, because I'm the victor of the duels!
(Those are my rights.)
So, what should I have you do first?
Well, (I'm looking forward to a lot of things,)
but first, how about you wash my back for me?

Anthy:
How is it? Does it feel good?

D-ko:
Yeah... scrub a little bit more to the left.

Anthy:
Over here?

D-ko:
Yeah, there! That feels so good!

Anthy:
Alright, we're done.
What would you like to do next?

D-ko:
Alright, next I'll wash you!
Sit over there.

Anthy:
Thank you, master.

Okay, it's a little weird for D-ko to suddenly go on a power trip and start ordering Anthy around, and for Anthy to start calling her "master" (goshujin-sama, in this case), but at least this can't get any creepi-

D-ko: (gleefully)
Oopsie, my hand slipped ~!

Anthy: (not sounding upset)
Oh my, master, not there...!

D-ko:
You're the Rose Bride, aren't you?
Are you going to talk back to your fiancee like that?

Anthy:
Ah, please forgive me!

D-ko:
Ehh, never, never!
(Yah, yah, yaaah!)

Anthy:
Ahhh ~!

...there are no words.

(early in the morning; birds are chirping)

Utena:
C'monnn!
I'm here to challenge you to a duel!



(in the dueling arena)

Utena:
(Let's make this best two out of three.)

D-ko:
(yawns heavily)
It's no good.
I was up all night playing with Anthy,
so I'm sooo sleepy...!



D-ko:
Gaaah!
No way...!

Anthy:
Please cheer up, Kageno-san.

(the bells ring)

And that's the Anthy ending. I knew it was a joke ending, but I have to say I wasn't really expecting it to be an over-the-top parody of Utena's lesbian and BDSM subtext. In fact, that might have been the last thing I was expecting.

I reiterate my previously stated offer to have your babies.

Also, I can't decide whether this ending is awesome or traumatic. Awematic? Trausome? Does the obviously rigged duel have anything to do with Anthy just wantin' to get it on for a night before resuming business as usual? Or did the scenario writers suddenly switch from LSD to cocaine? GAH! MY BRAIN!

Last edited by crystalwren (07-14-2010 03:12:55 AM)

Absolutely!    In this ending, we learn that the real purpose of Utena's custodianship of the Rose Bride is that the strong bond implicit in their union imprisons the most pervy tendencies of Kunihiko Ikuhara.  When that bond is broken, Ikuni goes all author-voyeur and must be recontained before he can write more slashfic about his own show!

Beautiful.  Thank you. 

Ragnarok wrote: (That and those pictures of Chuchu in front of knocked out seitokai members; this ending explains all the other crazy screen caps.)

and that one with D-ko wearing Saionji's shirt


Yipeeeeeeeeeeee!!! Anthy's ending!! Wow! I didn´t suspect that text.  Anthy seems pleased after all. Weird... and nice..

I laughed so hard while reading the sudden 180 in tone. It was priceless. Dallbun, thanks for translating it

I can only think the hammers are some horrible pun for "hitting the nail right on the head."   I agree with Dallbun, only D-ko would pick that up and go with it so easily. 

I wonder if Anthy washed D-ko's back with some of her special Canterella body wash?

I WONDER IF CHU-CHU WATCHED.

Dallbun, you are fantastic for translating all of this for us. I must admit the Anthy ending really is both hilarious and traumatizing all at the same time, thanks to D-ko's "Hurr hurr, I'm your master " attitude jump. It's certainly not a bad thing, but definitely came as a shock to say the least.

The usual Utena mindfuck, even in a gag ending. The shot of Utena konked out and D-Ko looking triumphant is hilarious to me.

Raven Nightshade wrote:

This is what I consider the biggest piece of character development for Anthy in the entire series. You don't really get to see witch!Anthy in full bloom at all during the show itself. If I didn't know any better, I'd almost bet that she gave this same speech to Dios before their Fall From Grace.

More importantly, a rose-tinted bath scene might have been where the Akio/Anthy sexy times were initiated.

I echo all the "woah" and "yay" and "I want your body, Dallbun" sentiments!

With the ways things are going, I'm surprised the ending didn't turn out more like this...

Utena: (loud declaration) C'mooon! I'm here to duel you!
(She draws out her sword and boldly faces off the exhausted D-ko. However, before the victory can become complete, Anthy sneaks up behind her and crushes her brain with the Squeakinator Vibrating Blast, a squeaky hammer of unmatched power.
Anthy: Oh, Miss Utena, always so brave. Unfortunately, I've decided that I want to stay with my new master from now on.
Utena: No...Himemiya...why?
Anthy: Frankly, Miss Utena, you're the single biggest tease to my sword of Dios since I was engaged to the entirety of the girls' volleyball team. The sight of you prancing around in those skintight hot red panties is torturous enough for the millions of people who stabbed me to go, "Oh, that's just BITCHY." I keep putting little hints around here just bending over in front of a conveniently placed baseball bat, and YOU NEVER FUCKING PICK UP THE HINT. Holy Satan, you think I like sweeping your floors? The only reason I get off on that crap is because Saionji is usually running after me, spanking my way the whole time. I know you want to save my soul and redeem my life and you love me and blah blah blah but fuck, my privates are fossilizing here.
D-ko: Ah shaddup beatch and make me a grits sammich. (smashes Anthy over the head with a half-empty bottle of Miller)

Katzenklavier wrote:
    Utena: (loud declaration) C'mooon! I'm here to duel you!
    (She draws out her sword and boldly faces off the exhausted D-ko. However, before the victory can become complete, Anthy sneaks up behind her and crushes her brain with the Squeakinator Vibrating Blast, a squeaky hammer of unmatched power.
    Anthy: Oh, Miss Utena, always so brave. Unfortunately, I've decided that I want to stay with my new master from now on.
    Utena: No...Himemiya...why?
    Anthy: Frankly, Miss Utena, you're the single biggest tease to my sword of Dios since I was engaged to the entirety of the girls' volleyball team. The sight of you prancing around in those skintight hot red panties is torturous enough for the millions of people who stabbed me to go, "Oh, that's just BITCHY." I keep putting little hints around here just bending over in front of a conveniently placed baseball bat, and YOU NEVER FUCKING PICK UP THE HINT. Holy Satan, you think I like sweeping your floors? The only reason I get off on that crap is because Saionji is usually running after me, spanking my way the whole time. I know you want to save my soul and redeem my life and you love me and blah blah blah but fuck, my privates are fossilizing here.
    D-ko: Ah shaddup beatch and make me a grits sammich. (smashes Anthy over the head with a half-empty bottle of Miller)

Utena: but...Himemiya...I thought the mysterious person you see every Saturday satisfied those need.

satyreyes wrote:

In this ending, we learn that the real purpose of Utena's custodianship of the Rose Bride is that the strong bond implicit in their union imprisons the most pervy tendencies of Kunihiko Ikuhara.

Giovanna wrote:

But when you consider Ikuhara's idea of omake is obvious lesbianism and implied bdsm, well....

Trench Kamen wrote:

I'm glad Saito did not have veto power over that scene. I like Ikuhara's... take on things.

I know you guys are just joking around talking about Ikuhara's influence, but I was curious and did some poking around. I am ready to shift this thread into EDUCATIONAL GEAR. (It's like high gear, but boring!)

Much as we love to blame^H^H^H^H^H praise Ikuhara for everything weird about Utena, he apparently wasn't directly involved with the game. It was supervised by Hiroaki SAKURAI (who also directed the Kodocha anime? I love this guy!), and written by Ichiro OKOUCHI. (Apparently he also wrote the screenplays for RahXephon, Wolf's Rain, Code Geass, and... Azumanga Daioh, among others? Also the two Utena novels. He gets around.)

It appears that there were co-directors: Shingo KANEKO and Toru TAKAHASHI. They both directed various episodes of Utena throughout its entire course, and were clearly as involved in the project as anyone. (Among others, Kaneko directed episode 38, and Takahashi episode 39. Props!) Series and movie animators Akemi HAYASHI and Keiko KAWASHIMA were also there for animation and visuals.

Some wiki-ish web site I found that I don't know anything about lists all four of the preceding people as members of Be-Papas alongside the first five. Of course, It also lists a raccoon named Iroiro-kun as a member of Be-Papas. I have a feeling there's a lot of information about Be-Papas out there that the English fan community hasn't been able to comb through.

As far as "core five" Be-Papas members go, the character designs were by Utena character designer Shinya HASEGAWA and Yuichiro OGURO was on-board for planning and editorial supervision. (Oh, Yuichiro Oguro. We the fandom are barely aware of your existence, because your job in Be-Papas was planning and publicity. Ain't no glory there. )

Sorry for derailing the thread away from more interesting stuff.