Comments on: Revolutionary Girl Utena – Gougai Gougai Gougai! [Eps 1 - 39]

By: Link Categorization Exercise | hontou ni sou omou?

Link Categorization Exercise | hontou ni sou omou? — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 06:50:03 +0000

[...] Shoujo Kakumei are blogs by female writers. I think my current list is a little short because quite a few of the female bloggers I follow come under the final category. Named after the series Revolutionary Girl Utena. [...]

By: John Mora

John Mora — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:18:31 +0000

While the animation in Utena is often used to the point of overuse, I think it lends itself a ritualistic quality, such as the ascension preceding every duel. And although the footage is stock footage, they went through the trouble of making it lusciously animated the first time around, so it’s always a pleasure to look at.

And everyone else has already said what I was going to. The symbolism is mysterious and alluring, the visual panache and campiness is endearing and it has some deep, complex stuff to say about not only feminine adolescence, but adolescence in general. If you haven’t seen the movie yet, please do.

Utena is Evangelion for girls.

By: Hige

Hige — Thu, 21 May 2009 19:48:11 +0000

@j.valdez:
My loins are already burning, it’s true.

By: j.valdez

j.valdez — Wed, 20 May 2009 23:23:54 +0000

It’s been a long while since I last watched Utena. Yet, through many other shows, I’ve not found anything that quite matched it in visual style and story telling. It is unique. Admittedly, as you mentioned, there are many things about the animation that “are a mixed bag.”

I hope you realize that in the future, you’re going to mark this moment as a milestone. You’ll realize that you were so empty before experiencing this show. You think back and wonder what life was like before this time, but you are simply incapable of understanding an existence without knowledge of Utena. It’s a curse and a blessing.

By: Hige

Hige — Mon, 18 May 2009 21:03:48 +0000

@coburn:
Yeah, I think people have to find Utena for themselves. Very early on I had loads of people recommending Utena. At the time I was at my most braying/teenage, so I wrote it off without much thought. I’m happy I watched it now that I’m not longer a twattish teenager; my tolerance these days is much higher for things outside my spectrum of taste.

I’m surprised too that the underdogs won out. I think the more grounded basing of their personalities is what I really latched onto. I loved the spectacle (good choice of word, by the way) but I needed something a bit more humane to hold to while all the pink sparkly bits blitzed the screen…

By: coburn

coburn — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:04:30 +0000

I also got that feeling of finding myself adoring a spectacle comprised of what could have been irritations. In fact that aspect makes it difficult to talk other people into watching without simply refusing to explain anything about the show and demanding that they damn well do it for their own sakes.

That said, as far as favourite characters go, I didn’t share your interesting attraction to this show’s take on the most potentially unappealing archetypes – with the possible exception of Utena herself. I still found Nanami’s episodes to be among the less satisfying (even though she turned out to be so surprisingly interesting), and predictably found myself rooting for flowered-up fancy-superior versions of the same old virtues and failings I’m so fond of watching (i.e. Jury). But those things were made special again, somehow. Which I guess is the whole point.

By: Hige

Hige — Sun, 17 May 2009 20:15:59 +0000

@IKnight:
Hai, ‘if it’s good then it’s good’ is the ethos to have. There’s something worthwhile to be seen in most genres.

@omo:
I wouldn’t say it’s the essence of anime. There are too many examples demonstrating the contrary. But still, I don’t have a blanket problem with exaggeration. When it’s done for parody or satirical reasons then I’m down with it, but when it’s just an obnoxious replacement for a lack of thought/creativity then not so much.

By: omo

omo — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:55:46 +0000

I always think the essence of anime is exaggeration. Funny.

By: IKnight

IKnight — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:29:55 +0000

I rather liked Nanami too. I’m partial to characters who are initially figures of fun but eventually demand the audience’s respect. Maybe there’s a clunky moral there, but it’s not a bad one, and (if you ask me) it echoes reality. I’d nominate Mai-Hime’s Haruka Suzushiro as an example of a similar character movement, albeit on a smaller scale.

Utena is definitely not what I would normally consume either. I like to think that its success proves that, most of the time, it doesn’t matter what an anime series does provided it manages to do it damn well.

By: Hige

Hige — Sun, 17 May 2009 16:52:59 +0000

@digitalboy:
Heh, Nadesico was the first TV anime I actually saw on television. Combined with buying Eva on VHS at the time it’s when anime became srs bsns for me. And thanks for the link. I’m not desperate for Utena to be explained – the mystery felt more like a motif rather than something that had to be understood to appreciate the show – but I’ll check it out anyhow.