Revolutionary Girl Utena (The tv series)

[sqbr]

So, penchaft lent me Revolutionary Girl Utena (The tv series).

It was way better than the movie. Which, ok, not hard, but I actually really enjoyed it. In fact I'm wishing "Fairytale about rescuing a princess where both protagonists are women and there's lots of stabbing of arrogant misogynistic men with swords" was a more popular genre. I have a better appreciation for the movie now too, and it was odd having it in the back of my head while watching the tv show since it has a lot of the same imagery but is also quite different.

Overall I'd describe it as being to magical girl schoolgirl anime what Neon Genesis Evangelion is to giant robot fighting anime: it uses the tropes, and most episodes have a superficial resemblance to the traditional structure (ie romantic tension, humour, cute animals, and a big battlescene with transformation and costume changes etc) but it's actually about the nature of human existence and the desire to create meaning and get control in an empty and unfair universe. Also it messes with your head.

It has pretty (if a little dated) visuals, angst, allegory, mythic archetypes and subversion of same, slashiness, femmeslashiness, swordfighting, duelling, bishounen taking their shirts off, fluid gender roles, and lots of layered imagery. I can see why people tell you to watch it nico_wolfwood , all it needs to be your perfect show is vampires and spaceships :D *gdr*

It's also rather repetitive, both in the sense that most episodes involve a duel which tends to be much like the ones before, and in the sense of re-using a lot of footage (the walk to the duelling area, for example, as well as a few flashback episodes) This does add a certain emphasis, I guess. Also most relationships are unhappy, unsatisfying, or downright disturbing (the whole brother/sister thing gets a bit..weird)

Still, overall, I really liked it. Even if it does give me an unfortunate desire to go searching for more yuri, which can only end badly.

Comments

[penchaft.livejournal.com]

And I bet you never thought that GIRL TURNING INTO CAR WHAT THE HELL would be understandable!

[alias_sqbr]

I don't know that it makes any more sense to me now than it did before, actually (ie a metaphor about the fact that Utena is the "vehicle" which allows Anthy to escape). But the whole "Give me the key!" thing makes more sense.

Still totally confused about the cabbages.

[heavenscalyx.livejournal.com]

We concluded that the movie was the cast party for SKU. The scary part is that now, when I recall watching the movie for the first time, the turning-into-a-car thing wasn't freaky -- the CASTLE on WHEELS was what my companion and I nearly fell off the couch over. Maybe I'd had warning about the car sequence -- it was so long ago, I can't remember.

It's a wonderful addiction really, even if it does make life more complicated in finding something similar. There are some excellent fics over at Erica Friedman's Worldshaking Fic (http://worldshaking.net/), and there's a really active Utena forum at Empty Movement (http://ohtori.nu) where you can find fic recs and such.

The SKU manga does not have as much shoujo-ai, I'm afraid. For one thing, Juri is straight. (aauugh) Just to warn you.

[alias_sqbr]

Yes, I've found I'm generally happier not reading the manga for anime I've enjoyed. Anyway, thanks for the recs!