Geeze, I'm awake for when this goes live, decline to post then when NOBODY's around, and I get back a day later and there's all this.

Well, if I cover treaded ground, at least it'll be smooth. :) Also likely to be tangenital as I wonder from point to point as they occur to me.

* EVE and WALL-E's situation was frustrating from an in-story point of view, but I really liked it for the odd reason that...well, sometimes things just don't go your way. Not in catastrophic torrents of hellfire, ships burning, wars breaking out, and other assorted nastiness and psychological trauma sort of ways, but just because someone Doesn't Get It.

* The descriptions of the wedding garments are incredibly detailed, and while my mental image is....elaborate....do tell, are you looking to get those particular bits illustrated? Imaginative minds want to see. :)

* Nall's continual sputtering with Corwin, who's probably more cognizant of this moment than the dragon, was charming. He came across as the backup teacher that was certain that he'd finally gotten his protoge' raised all good and proper....and then found out that, no, Corwin's still Corwin. You can buff out the rough edges, but grease stains are forever.

* On the subject of Akio, there are several subpoints. His arrival here was such a big part and really made me enjoy it for that.

"... Shit."
Boba Fett, who had missed the byplay with Anaximandra, turned
and arched an eyebrow at Tsuwabuki. "What?"
"Over there," said Tsuwabuki, gesturing with his chin.
Fett looked, blinked, and said in a disbelieving tone, "-No.-"
Tsuwabuki nodded glumly. "Yup."
"-Shit,-" Boba growled

This part was priceless. The lack of dialogue, the perfect setup by Anaximandra...all to reveal that the crowning villain of Symphony(and a case might be made, behind only Surtur and the Mysterons in UF proper)has made his play.

- Akio's arrival with Freyja is unsurprising. Akio's a master manipulator bar none, and Freyja must look like a "HEY! PLEASE SOMEONE TAKE ADVANTAGE OF MY GLARING PERSONALITY WEAKNESSES!" sign to him. Even a Duke of Hell would presumably be on his toes around Freyja, but Akio not only gets his invite, but clearly has her strung around his finger. While this emphasizes how far Freyja's fallen, it also, to me, pointed out how fucking dangerous Akio still is. He has a powerbase. He's not desperate. And the skills that REALLY made his plan at Ohtori Academy are still with him. And he just suckered a big fish as his latest pawn.

- Akio's internal dialogue. As much as I'm on Corwin and Utena's side....Akio's evaluation of the situation, and cognizance of the huge disturbance his very presence makes in the entire wedding really elevates him to the level of Magnificent Bastardy. You hate him, but it's just so FUN to watch him earn that hate, because he's so smooth at it. Interestingly, having watched through his eps in the series proper, canon Akio doesn't have that level of magnificent bastardy. He's not quite as SMUG about it as he could be, and UF Akio really is. It's a certain sense of oozing charisma...or just oozing...that comes across whenever he's around in Symphony.

- The cantina scene. So...perfect. The fact it was the beagles just made it better.

- The fact that he got away with it. Sure, Ivanova's parting shot stung his ego, but from a framework of Objective A: make wedding distinctly more unpleasant than it should be, he got the job done. He's not disappointed that he failed, but rather that he merely succeeded instead of hitting a home run.

Frey shook his head. "Not this time. What she's done today,
it's... it's -obscene.-" He clenched his fists and hung his head,
clearly filled with shame. "Corwin, I've... It's true I've abetted
Freyja's wrongs against you before. I'll confess these things even
before the All-Father, right here and now. But this is too much." His
formal facade cracking under the weight of his frustration, he looked
up, met Corwin's eyes, and blurted, "I've had my -fill- of Freyja's
crazy shit. This madness must end... " He looked down at the floor
again. "... for now I truly fear that's what it is."

* When the local god is actually reduced to the phrase of "Freyja's crazy shit", you know she's gone over the coocoo's nest.

* Kosh being....well, Kosh. Certain lines from his previous scenes have required needing to imagine Kosh's voice saying those things, which made them funny. His confrontation with Akio had Kosh's voice coming to mind without any effort. It's something he'd say, something he'd do, and it had a little Kosh the 2nd flavor to it too that really worked for the scene.

Once, Anthy might have felt fear at the knowledge that her
tormentor of so many years, the revenant thing that wore her beloved
dead brother's face, had come to this place.
That was a long time ago.
Today, she felt only...
... what was this feeling called?
Oh, yes. -Rage.-

* This is another of those scenes that the wording just works. She's not boiling. It's the fact that it's so...Anthy-like to say it that way. "What's the word I'm looking for? Oh. Right. Rage."

* The Roman legion was a surprise. I'm not sure exactly where they came from, meta-textually, though my suspicions would be a little village off Cimerora. :)

* WALL-E and EVE's interaction throughout this story was spot-on, now that I've seen the movie, especially EVE's attempts to get WALL-E to recognize certain more...subtle concepts. The "I get it now" voice from him was priceless.

* The cliffhanger with Nanami. We've seen in Sympathy For The Devil that Corwin's relationship with her is....complex. Where this goes isn't quite as obvious as it'd be with, say, Touga.

* Oh, and Sivar was perfectly classy, by the way. Wonderful subversion of the Kilrathi's view of him.

All in all, a great installment. Lots of momentum and great character moments.

It was written, and it was Good.