>2204 If I regret anything about the way the Fourth Symphony
>came out - and that's debatable in the extreme - it's that the final
>outcome of this arc does tend to retroactively blunt this scene
>somewhat.

... To be honest, what happened in the Fourth Symphony between Corwin, Utena, and Anthy is what completely wrecked my ability to enjoy the Symphony after the end of the early part of the Third. There are other things that I dislike in UF in general, and in the Symphony specifically, for various reasons (some personal, some because I think they're poor choices), but it was the execution of the culmination of this particular character arc that ruined it for me.

The tension between Corwin and Utena is right at the emotional core of the Symphony. Right up until Interlude on Titan and Vortigern No. 2, their relationship progressed organically, naturally, changing shape from time to time, usually due to changes in the character's lives, or to a deeper understanding. There's nothing unnatural about things heading towards a full, romantic relationship; as I said elsewhere, the things Corwin does for Utena in Symphony 1 and in Symphony 2, prior to KotTW, echo, in spirit if not in form, the kind of things Utena does for Anthy in RGU.

But how it was done -- I still can't quite figure out what it is about "Interlude on Titan," specifically, that sets my teeth on edge and makes the little author-voice in the back of my head scream things like "CONTRIVED!" and "YOU'RE DOING IT WRONG!", but that's exactly how it feels to me. (And I find the story the exact opposite of enjoyable, so I'm not planning on rereading it to figure it out.) "Interlude at Vortigern's Lake No. 2" is only moreso -- I mean, Jesus, Corwin and Utena have to fuck to prevent Akio from driving a wedge between them? Akio? Christ, could this be any more of a betrayal to the characters, and the emotional arc that's been developing up until then?

Akio is the last person in the Ten Worlds to be credible as a threat to Utena and Corwin's relationship (I won't simply call it a friendship, because after "Interlude at Bancroft Tower" the word "friendship" became too simple, even if they weren't technically romantically involved). That this becomes the... the justification for this makes them taking the next step feel rushed, cheap, contrived, and a betrayal of the natural, organic way their relationship had developed until then. To even imply that because they don't call each other by a particular label (boyfriend and girlfriend, or lover, or whatever), and because they're not having sex, that they could therefore be driven apart by someone like Akio -- who is, I suppose, a reasonably complex and competent villain by UF standards, but that's not saying much at all -- is insulting to the readers, to the characters, and, I'm sorry to say, is rather a disappointment in the Symphony and in Gryph's writing skills, because I know it can be better than this, because it has. As I said above, that relationship stands at the emotional core of the Symphony, and for it to reach its consummation at any point other than marking the end of the Symphony cycle/subseries... it feels dramatically very, very wrong.

At the absolute best, when I read those stories, I felt like a little kid who just got told, quite authoritatively, "Three," and handed a bare Tootsie Roll Tootsie Pop stick. Something that should have been executed with care, patience, and an even hand was, suddenly and abruptly, short-circuited, leaving me feeling cheated and betrayed.

- Sean
"All tribal myths are true, for a given value of 'true.'"
-- Terry Pratchett, from _The Last Continent_