226 The Mini was an icon of its time, immortalized in such films as the original The Italian Job (1969). Though tiny, it was both nimble and surefooted, and dominated the international rally racing scene in its class for many years. The "Cooper" in "Mini Cooper" refers to British racing legend John Cooper, who created the racing version of the Mini for the British Motor Company (which made and sold Minis under the Austin and Morris marques) in 1961. Bell's is a 1966 Austin Mini Cooper S Mark I with the 1275cc engine.

236 In Revolutionary Girl Utena, it is implied in a couple of flashback scenes that Utena's parents were well-off, and that they perished in a car crash when she was quite young (five, I think).

381 Perhaps because she is so normally placid and kind, Belldandy tends to be terrifying when she's angry.

408 It may not be entirely accurate - the Valkyrie are not themselves gods - but I couldn't resist the phrase "conduct unbecoming a divinity".

479 "Legend: The God's Name is Abraxas" is the short organ toccata that plays whenever we see the Student Council doing their elevator thing in the early part of Revolutionary Girl Utena.

536 Oh, to have this scene animated, or effectively comic-drawn. Anybody got an animation house that can work to spec, cheap? PJM

567 Which, as we will learn in another corner of the UF universe, is not so far-fetched either.

602 Corwin's not the only one who could use a "BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR" forehead tattoo. PJM

609 The color of the light shows that this is the Prince's power, not Bell retrieving her.

672 I think it was at around this juncture that I noted ruefully to Anne and Truss, "You know, for such strong, upbeat young people, our heroes spend an awful lot of time crying in the dark."

684 Near the end of the first TV arc. After losing a duel for the first time (to Touga, who cheated), Utena rather loses heart in the whole "dueling" thing and resigns herself to try and live an ordinary life. She even puts on her standard-issue girl's uniform. Wakaba, horrified, whops her one and tells her to get her ass back to work. (And Juri, though remaining maddeningly inscrutable throughout, loans her a sword for the re-match.)

700 A passage from Ernest Hemingway's A Farewell to Arms:

If people bring so much courage to this world the world has to kill them to break them, so of course it kills them. The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially.

Also quoted by DJ Croft in an episode of Neon Exodus Evangelion. Like Kate, I'm not overly fond of Hemingway, but I've always found this passage evocative. I first encountered it in, of all places, an issue of the 1970s O'Neil & Adams Green Lantern/Green Arrow comic.

711 Mock fried rice is baked in a roasting dish, not fried, but is seasoned with soy sauce and makes a surprisingly effective substitute (with considerably less fat) in many applications.

729 I like this little moment a lot. Not only does it reinforce that Saionji and Utena are friends now, it shows that Saionji is actually begining to understand her.

752 Later the inspiration for the Crush of Love song "Sport Fishing".

813 Festival Overture, "1812", Op. 49 by Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. An outdoor-concert favorite, since it involves artillery.

900 Another, shorter word beginning with c.

947 Anne Springsteen, the model for Jedi Master Atin-Vae Springsteen, actually made me one of these, just as described.

950 The joke is, of course, a play on the immortal Raggedy Ann doll (created by Johnny Gruell in 1915), who is similarly yarn-haired, soft, and huggable. PJM

992 Raggedy Anthy (and the image of an entire Duelist cast of ragdolls) was inspired by the ending credits sequence of the You're Under Arrest! OVA series, which features yarn-haired ragdoll versions of the show's cast sitting in the back window of a police car.

993 They'd probably have trouble keeping the Juri dolls in stock too; at least if their stern expressions didn't scare customers away. PJM