>Both of them are repeatedly described as mostly straight, so if that
>physical attraction is there, it needs to be shown, or it will be
>assumed _not_ to be.

So noted.

Funny story, though. A few years ago, when Symphony No. 2 was just wrapping up, we had a visitor here on the boards who took us to task at some length for implying too much. It was really rather amusing - well, here, <http://www.eyrie-productions.com/Forum/dcboard.cgi?az=read_count&om=469&forum=DCForumID1|see for yourself>.

So for a new user to pop in and take us to task for, essentially, not implying enough? Well, you can see why we might've found that... a bit funny, and a bit irksome, at the same time. :)

>Their interactions read `good friend' more than `lovers,' contrasting
>the deep UST of the TV series and movie.

I can't speak to the movie, or what any of the TLAs you've used in your posts mean (I suspect they're artifacts of a scene I'm not into?), but attempting to glark this one from context, I have to say I didn't take a lot of that away from the TV series. To me, Utena seems to spend most of the series going "What in the hell am I doing?" more than anything else.

But then, she does a lot of that with regard to a lot of things, not just her love life. It's her, how you say, idiom. :)

>Page of Swords is the first place _since_ their honeymoon where
>they show anything more than affection and loyalty.

To be fair, most of the intervening time takes place off-screen...

But I see what you're getting at. I have, perhaps, been remiss in this regard, though it was not a deliberate omission. If anything, it stems from my own unconscious assumption that the matter was established and settled to the point where it didn't need to be reinforced - and anyway, I was busy trying to establish other matters to a similar degree (that is, in a way, what the whole Fourth Symphony's "background hum" is about, after all).

So, yeah. Didn't leave it out on purpose, but it can be argued, as you have, that it did get left out.

Unrelatedly, you're on the ground in-country right now? I think that's a first here. We've got quite a few military or ex-military readers, but we only tend to see them on these boards when they're stateside (or aboard ship - we do get the occasional swabbie :).

Stay safe, inasmuch as it's possible over there.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/