>>Holy crap, that list looks awesome. I have questions, of course, but I
>>will hold my tongue--some questions might be answered when S5M3 is
>>released.
>
>Feel free to ask them anyway, if you want; the worst that can happen
>is that I'll confirm that you have to wait for the story. :)

Well, I have lots of questions, but I'll limit myself to one right now: We haven't seen Mia Ausa in -quite- some time...in fact, I'm not sure she appeared any time between the latest Symphony piece and the one where they're all at Utena and Anthy and Kaitlyn's house, discussing Anne Cross. Seeing her in Oriphos was a bit jarring, since before now there was no indication the Anla'shok know anything about the Nine (Ten) Worlds. Will we see in the next piece how she got there and what she's actually doing there? I can't imagine she's actually helping Akio any more than Saionji is.

>>One of the big ones (whether Nanami will keep knuckling
>>under to Akio and Touga)
>
>Looking at her track record so far, I'm not sure that's entirely fair
>comment. I mean, for someone facing a truly spectacular level of
>force majeure, she hasn't done such a bad job so far...

Hm, fair enough. You know, I almost hate to say this, but after she regained her sanity just as she was killed, Nanami seems to have remained amazingly sane after waking up and finding herself a -succubus-. Part of me wonders if the translation into demon inures the mind to the kinds of things that must have been required of her. Especially considering what drove her insane in the first place. I wasn't entirely sure she wanted to rebel against Akio and Touga, but it appears she was just biding her time, waiting for a chance. Good for her, she deserves MUCH better. (Also, is she still physically 14 or so? Cause, -ick-.)

>
>>But I'm most looking forward to finding out what Utena's third weapon
>>is all about...
>
>As noted by others already, this is largely covered in S5M2 (although
>the sword's name is not revealed in the text). That's Utena's
>wedding-sword, which, according to Ęsir tradition, is an
>heirloom of her husband's family. Theoretically, the heirloom sword
>presented to a Viking bride by her groom is intended to be held in
>trust for their eventual son, but then again, married Viking women
>were expected to wear a white kerchief on their heads at all times,
>and Utena's not going to do that either. They're not
>ultra-orthodox Vikings. :)

Aha. Yeah, I didn't know the name of the blade and it'd been some time since I'd read that piece.

Not that this makes a damn bit of sense or anything, but she's picking up swords quickly enough that I wonder if she won't eventually be able to do Cloud's Omnislash from Advent Children eventually. =)

--------

this world created by the
hands of the gods
everything is false
everything is a LIE
the final days have come
now
let everything be destroyed

--mu