I can read still another metaphor in the choice of othello as the game, with the same flawless art caveat. I don’t buy it I think it’s an example of the effect I was talking about in flawless art. It is possible to read the nonsense of the game as a second metaphor, pointing out Akio’s nigh-godlike powers of manipulation, to the extent that he can achieve the impossible: As he can get away with illegal moves in a game, he can get away with impossible actions in reality, whether by cheating or by skill that surpasses psychology. The game displays a conventional dramatic turnaround.Īnd yet, and yet. It’s meant to suggest that Utena pulled ahead at first. Whether the staff knew othello or not, the audience was not expected to. The disk counts on the board are supposed to tell the audience who is winning at each point, even though in a real game they don’t. What we see on the screen reflects the mindset of the point-of-view character. Like unstable locations, it is a symbol that reality is an illusion. The staff had no reason to make the othello game realistic, and good reason not to. Does it? Doesn’t Utena pay awesome attention to detail? The othello game is a metaphor for Akio finessing the mating game to get his way, and whether it’s valid othello or not doesn’t matter. He won the symbolic endgame, now he is pressing toward the real endgame. In the context of the scene, it’s meaningful: To win, he lured Utena’s attention to him and off the game. The slightly closer view of the board in the third picture implies that Akio has leaned forward a little at the end of the game. ![]() Was Akio using her inattention to cheat? (My answer: No-not on the game board.) I also notice that the trays of disks are empty a little prematurely. Under the rules, there is no way for the three white disks in a vertical line on the right side of the board to have been flipped. This position also cannot be reached from the second. In the third position, black has won, though there are three moves left to play. Could they be playing some other game with the same equipment? (My answer: No.) That is virtually impossible in a real othello game. Besides that, only two of the 13 previously placed disks have been flipped. There is no way for the white disk in the lower left to have gotten there. The second position cannot be reached from the first, no matter how the players move. Once taken by white, black can never flip the corner back, so it’s permanently white, and white can use it as a base to get further permanently white squares. White is winning, because the black disk at lower right gives white eventual access to the adjacent corner square. The first position we’re shown looks like a normal othello position that might occur between novice players. When she places a white disk on a square, lines of black disks are flipped to white according to a simple rule (not that it’s a simple game). ![]() But the board positions we are shown make no sense as an othello game.Įach disk has a white side and a black side. At least, they are playing on an othello board with othello pieces. Then, you both count the number of tokens you have on the board.In episode 33, Utena plays othello (or reversi to use the original 19th century name-there are slight rule differences) against Akio. Play continues like this until every square on the board is filled or neither your nor your opponent can make a legal move. If you're unable to outflank your opponent on your turn, you skip your turn. After your done with your turn, your opponent goes and places one of their tokens on the board to outflank one of your rows. When you outflank an opponent, you flip all of their tokens in between your 2 tokens on the end upside down so they're your color now. In order to place a token on the board, you must place it somewhere that outflanks your opponent, which means it sandwiches one of the horizontal, vertical, or diagonal rows of their tokens between two of your tokens, one on each end. On your turn, place one of your tokens on the board with your color facing up. Then, split the remaining tokens up equally between you and your opponent. Flip a coin to see who gets to be black, since black goes first. To set up the game, place 4 pieces in the center squares on the board so 2 of the pieces are white-side up and 2 of the pieces are black-side up, with the matching colors diagonal from each other. Othello, also known as Reversi, is a fun 2-player board game where players try to trap and collect more pieces than their opponent.
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