Revolutionary Girl Utena – Gougai Gougai Gougai! [Eps 1 - 39]
Revolutionary Girl Utena represents everything I thought I despised about anime. Almost to the point of exaggeration, which is ironic because it’s the exaggeration in anime that I hate the most. The melodrama, the tweeness, the utter campness of it all. Utena takes notes from everything I can’t stand (particularly about shojo) and succeeds in such a way that, by virtue of being so conspicuously not me, I love it all the more. So let me tell you something you probably already know: Revolutionary Girl Utena is fundamental to any anime fan, regardless of their tastes. It sits firm in the canon with Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Escaflowne et al as something even a passing fan of the medium has to see. I mean, personally, it was worth it just to get all those FLCL references that had otherwise alluded me.
What makes Utena such a success for someone who is so predisposed to hate it is the unrelenting, infectious energy that drives it through its thirty-nine episodes run. The flamboyant little touches, spinning roses, dramatic flourishes, bizarre music, all seem to be propelled by this amazing sense of fun and adventure. The best I can liken it to is meeting someone so in touch with life, someone who outwardly would be insufferable to a miserablist such as myself, that it’s impossible to dislike them. The opposite, in fact – they remind you of how much fun, well, fun can be. Utena the character is a great demonstration of Utena the show. She wins the admiration of her peers for her unwavering sense of self, even though she defies all convention and challenges normal expectations. The series itself does exactly the same thing. It’s a post-modern fairy tale that skews gender and relishes sexual ambiguity, going against everything you’d expect from a prince and princess shojo series, and coming out on top.
These genre inversions aren’t the only place where Utena denies camp frivolity status, either. Its cast is given an uncommon amount of room to breathe. Even characters that otherwise would be incidental in the truest sense, like Wakaba who in any other show would just be the whacky best-friend, are considered in deep, empathetic ways. Granted this profiling is wrapped up in the procedural format of the show – a duel is inevitable and the drama that precedes it is a pretense of sorts – but Utena rises above this by simply being convincing with its treatment of character. I bought into every single subplot of this show. I felt more for some than others, but every one had the capacity for emotional connection. This depth legitimised the otherwise theatrical design choices and made all the superficial indulgences palatable.
My two favourite characters also seem to fly in the face of what I conventionally go for. Wakaba, for instance, is the kind of character I’d often write off and ignore; the zany comedic relief who shrieks a lot and irritates even more. In Utena she becomes something of a rock of stability, a character you can rely on to maintain a unshakable sense of self and who in turn inspires others to hold onto who they are. She mentions in one of the episodes that she tries to be notable in the company of exceptional people and from an audience perspective she does exactly this by just being herself (spot the moral, kids). She’s our normal girl, our entry point into a world populated by overachievers with uncommon gifts. She’s hurt and marginalised but keeps pushing forward, offering support and advice to those who doubt themselves. When Utena is defeated by Touga early in the series she finds herself in a slump, conforming to the standard gender roles she otherwise looked to defy, and Wakaba is the first to challenge this complacency. She’s relentless about it, never allowing Utena to forget herself. Utena asks her to stop and Wakaba defiantly shouts, ‘I WILL NOT STOP’ and ultimately prevails. It’s this moment when I officially loved Wakaba. She’s the voice I wish I had in anime – someone who says and does everything I think should be said and done without restraint. Her specific story arc later (episode twenty – twenty one) also happens to be my favourite part of the series.
Nanami is the other unconventional choice. Initially, Jury seemed more in line with the kind of characters I love, stoic troubled women with dark pasts and dark secrets, but Nanami turned out to be something of a lovable underdog, a curiously moral centre of the series. Initially she’s the main source of comedy, mischievous and scheming (almost always foiled), she then turns into another truth-teller as the events take a darker turn. She finds out secrets and tries to inform those around her, demonstrating a strange virtue and courage few other characters have. She’s messy, ruled by jealousy and a victim of her insecurities, but again like Wakaba this makes her accessible in ways the others are not. It feels like her scene at the end of the series where she warns Utena to be rid of Akio and Anthy is one of the most important moments, suggesting she knows of the bittersweet conclusion that’s coming.
Utena’s technical accomplishments are a mixed bag. Sorry, stalwart fans, but the animation is fundamentally atrocious. The reuse of sequences gets beyond a joke and I’d often find myself shocked and excited when new footage was actually used, feeling like I was being treated. What’s important to remember, though, is this does not matter. The direction of Utena is so incredibly creative, with Kunuhiko Ikuhara taking full advantage of the freedoms of fairy tale, that scenes are presented with an abstract, symbolic flare rarely seen in other shows. The music too is eccentric genius. I laughed at it a lot when I started watching, still fresh to the vibe that would become so familiar and well-loved, but like the other offbeat elements of the series it wins you over and you can’t imagine anything else in its place. It makes you wonder what kind of series Utena would be if it hadn’t such a shoe-string budget. Perhaps something less creatively accomplished, all things considered.
Revolutionary Girl Utena, then, was a shock to the system. Its visual style suggested the antithesis of what I want from anime but I rapidly became aware that misjudged expectations is exactly Utena is about, superficial or otherwise. It’s subversive and unconventional while still being charming and compulsive. You’re not going to find a series as capable of demonstrating that depth and humour can coexist with each still being incredibly successful. Utena is something that seems quite rare in anime: a completely unique experience.
May 17th, 20094:39 pm at
I didn’t think the animation was that bad for a TV anime in 1997…
But anyway, I’m very glad you enjoyed it, since it’s always nice for more people to recognize the brilliance of what has somehow become one of the most underrated/appreciated shows around in spit of it’s immense greatness. I wonder if you’ve seen Martian Successor Nadesico? I think that’s the direction you should head in next if you haven’t.
I highly suggest reading up on some of the excellent Utena explanation posts around, particularly this one: http://bignanime.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/who-what-where-which/ great stuff.
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May 17th, 20094:52 pm at
@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.
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May 17th, 20096:29 pm at
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.
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May 17th, 20096:55 pm at
I always think the essence of anime is exaggeration. Funny.
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May 17th, 20098:15 pm at
@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.
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May 17th, 20099:04 pm at
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.
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May 18th, 20099:03 pm at
@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…
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May 20th, 200911:23 pm at
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.
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May 21st, 20097:48 pm at
@j.valdez:
My loins are already burning, it’s true.
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June 20th, 20098:18 pm at
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.
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June 22nd, 20096:50 am at
[...] 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. [...]
March 19th, 20109:11 am at
I had fallen in love with Utena even before I had seen the show. I saw the movie first and loved the character designs more there than I did in the series but I love all the platforms of Utena with the core of my soul.
The series does display the multiplicity of the human psyche and the dominations/subjugations of class and gender that permeate very early on in life due to societal expectations. It also displays the thought-processes and insecurities of characters even Utena herself that is so beautifully interwoven in the story.
I agree with j.valdez that Utena revolutionizes your world – akin to Ghost In The Shell and Milan Kundera’s The Unbearable Lightness Of Being though Utena is more fierce than the other two and works more exponentially. Furthermore I connect with the eponymous Utena in so many different levels that I feel she is my anime counterpart to many extents (not an egotistical statement but a realized reality).
This is the one of the BEST SHOWS I have ever seen in my entire life and I Thank Allah Almighty that I got to see it.
One of the best creations on earth.
Oh, Yes, Hige I’m ChimeraFactory on Twitter ^_^
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