![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
narcasseYesterday I was browsing and came across a comment someone had made in regards to the duels in Revolutionary Girl Utena, about Juri never actually losing her duel with Utena. Now I can see why you could argue that but she does rather own goal herself with the fancy sword twist that sends Utena’s sword flying out of her hands. It’s probably to reinforce the Juri theme of miracles and their existence against her insistence that there are none but it is interesting never the less.
I’m not going to get into the Shiori debate since I’m well aware that I most likely have a distinct bias against her character which may or may not have anything to do with having watched the Utena movie after the first fourteen episodes. I never liked Shiori’s take on revenge by wanting Juri to ‘play the prince forever’ but that’s just me.
But anyway, in thinking about that duel where Juri technically does and doesn’t lose depending on how you look at it, it got me thinking about Meine Liebe again and not the silly analysis ofgender-coded romance yaoi stereotypes that I was going to do before.
The issue in Meine Liebe being that we never get to see Orpherus lose a duel, ever. The first time, when he’s fighting for Eduard’s sake, Naoji breaks up the fight though Orpherus and Ludwig seem to be fairly evenly matched. Or at least as evenly matched as they can be when one is taking things very seriously and is rather grim about it while the other seems to have a slightly more relaxed attitude at the start. Actually, in comparison to the duel in the opening sequence, Orpherus seems quite grim while Ludwig looks fairly amused at it all, though I shan’t divert into discussions of Order versus Chaos at this point, nor of how Chaos always seems to be having more fun.
In the fourth episode we have the simulation tournament where Orpherus is due toget his ass beat by Naoji’s superior duelling skills fight Naoji, who is off having Japan-angst soul-searching at the time, so he ends up stalling by duelling Ludwig instead and this is the point where I’d draw the comparison to the Juri/Utena duel somewhat. Because there is nothing to suggest that Ludwig honestly loses rather than just stops since he doesn’t need to fight any longer with Naoji’s arrival.
It’s interesting that Orpherus and Ludwig simply are allowed to duel to the very end or at least duel fairly in either situation because regardless of contrivance and so on, the anime does set things up so that they are pretty much equal without any obvious imbalance.
I suppose you could imply in a roundabout fashion that Orpherus might actually be physically stronger that Ludwig if you wanted to but Ludwig is more likely to see the few opportunities required to tip that advantage off its axis anyway. Besides, look at their seconds’; Eduard is the sort who’d normally duel for sport while Naoji would be far more likely to strike to kill, that is what he’s training for after all.
It’s not about elaborate battles or artistic movement but capitalising on an opening and ensuring victory as quickly as possible because the longer you take the more of an advantage you give your opponent, as your tire and they begin to see how to anticipate your actions. Strike quickly and cleanly and withdraw; that’s it in essence. There’s no glory in a long drawn out battle when with both correct perception and action you could finish it swiftly.
"...the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence."
- Sun Tzu "The Art of War"
I’m not going to get into the Shiori debate since I’m well aware that I most likely have a distinct bias against her character which may or may not have anything to do with having watched the Utena movie after the first fourteen episodes. I never liked Shiori’s take on revenge by wanting Juri to ‘play the prince forever’ but that’s just me.
But anyway, in thinking about that duel where Juri technically does and doesn’t lose depending on how you look at it, it got me thinking about Meine Liebe again and not the silly analysis of
The issue in Meine Liebe being that we never get to see Orpherus lose a duel, ever. The first time, when he’s fighting for Eduard’s sake, Naoji breaks up the fight though Orpherus and Ludwig seem to be fairly evenly matched. Or at least as evenly matched as they can be when one is taking things very seriously and is rather grim about it while the other seems to have a slightly more relaxed attitude at the start. Actually, in comparison to the duel in the opening sequence, Orpherus seems quite grim while Ludwig looks fairly amused at it all, though I shan’t divert into discussions of Order versus Chaos at this point, nor of how Chaos always seems to be having more fun.
In the fourth episode we have the simulation tournament where Orpherus is due to
It’s interesting that Orpherus and Ludwig simply are allowed to duel to the very end or at least duel fairly in either situation because regardless of contrivance and so on, the anime does set things up so that they are pretty much equal without any obvious imbalance.
I suppose you could imply in a roundabout fashion that Orpherus might actually be physically stronger that Ludwig if you wanted to but Ludwig is more likely to see the few opportunities required to tip that advantage off its axis anyway. Besides, look at their seconds’; Eduard is the sort who’d normally duel for sport while Naoji would be far more likely to strike to kill, that is what he’s training for after all.
It’s not about elaborate battles or artistic movement but capitalising on an opening and ensuring victory as quickly as possible because the longer you take the more of an advantage you give your opponent, as your tire and they begin to see how to anticipate your actions. Strike quickly and cleanly and withdraw; that’s it in essence. There’s no glory in a long drawn out battle when with both correct perception and action you could finish it swiftly.
"...the important thing in a military operation is victory, not persistence."
- Sun Tzu "The Art of War"
