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Pimpage: Revolutionary Girl Utena
I know, I suck at updating this. But since I'm trying to keep my anime-babble out of my blog, it will have to go here.
This is the first installment of what I will call Things Jackie Highly Recommends.
There are no spoilers beyond episode 1.
I should start by saying that Revolutionary Girl Utena is kind of like Neon Genesis Evangelion in its high amount of symbolism. I could probably watch the series many times and notice new things each time. So, if you’ve seen the whole series and find my thoughts ignorant, I apologize. I am truly just a rambling fangirl.
The series is 39 episodes long, and consists of four story arcs. I have watched 16 episodes, and I believe that I have completed one story arc and am in the midst of the second.
The first episode of Utena, as well as many other episodes, begins with the same fairytale. An elaborate frame surrounds the screen, and a swirling white rose is in each corner. As the story is told, the two characters who appear on screen are faceless. The pink hair of the princess, though, makes it unquestionable that she is Utena. For the first 12 episodes, there is no one who bears a resemblance to the prince, although he does bear a striking resemblance to a girl named Anthy Himemya.
Once upon a time, years and years ago...
There was a little princess, and she was very sad, for her mother and father had died.
Before the princess appeared a traveling prince riding upon a white horse.
He had a regal bearing and a kind smile.
The prince wrapped the princess in a rose-scented embrace and gently wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Little one,” he said, “who bears up alone in such deep sorrow, never lose that strength of nobility, even when you grow up.”
“I give you this (a ring with a rose seal that Utena still wears) to remember this day. We will meet again. This ring will lead you to me, one day.”
Perhaps the ring the prince gave her was an engagement ring.
This was all well and good, but so impressed was she by him that the princess vowed to become a prince herself one day.
But was that really such a good idea?
And so, we are introduced to Utena Tenjou, an extremely popular girl at the Ohtori Academy. She wears a boy’s school uniform, much to the ire of her instructors. She defends herself: “There’s nothing in the rules that say I can’t wear this!” Utena plays basketball with the boys, and is quite good at it. She also fences. Many of her female classmates worship the ground she walks on – they are such fangirls that it can get a little annoying, but these are things that one has to take in stride when watching anime. Utena regularly sticks up for her friends, and has a reputation for not taking any crap from anybody. She undoubtedly is trying to embody the prince she'd like to be.
Anyway, Utena Tenjou becomes friends with a girl named Anthy Himemya – a sweet, submissive girl who somehow seems tied up with the members of the Student Council.
There are at least four members of the Student Council, and all of them sometimes engage in duels. The winner of these duels is then engaged to the Rose Bride – our very own Anthy Himemya. The ring that Utena wears on her finger (the one with the rose seal from the fairytale in the beginning – although no explanation is given as to the connection between the ‘princess’ and the high school student Utena Tenjou) allows her to participate in these duels.
She gets in her first duel because Saionji humiliates her best friend, Wakaba. Utena challenges him to a duel after school without knowing the consequences, nor the strings attached.
This brings us to the duel. Every episode in which there’s a duel, there is the same 90-second sequence with Utena walking up an elaborate staircase and water streaming down conduits, all to the techno-choral piece titled “The Absolute Destiny Apocalypse” (and there’s a duel song that has really weird lyrics that conjure memories of Geology 100 - Cambrian / Ordovician / Silurian / Devonian / Stromatolite / bacteria - wtf!) In each duel, the duelists wear a rose and their breast. Whomever’s rose is struck down first by the opponent’s sword loses the duel, and with it, the Rose Bride, Anthy Himemya. Anyway, Utena wins, and Anthy says, “I am the Rose Bride. From this day forward, I belong to you.”
I’m still not really sure what the deal is with the Student Council. They apparently periodically receive letters from “the End of the World.” Also, every episode, before their Student Council meetings, one of them says, “If a chick fails to break through its egg, it will die without being born. We are the chick. The world is our egg. If we don’t crack the world’s shell, we will die without being born. For the revolution of the world!” Yeah. Whatever that means.
I’ll admit that a lot of the DVD covers and various images used to promote Revolutionary Girl Utena make it seem very sexual and slashy. So, I’d like to point out that at least for the first 16 episodes I’ve seen, there hasn’t been any sex. I can definitely believe that there is sex going on behind the scenes, but it isn’t shown, nor is it explicitly referred to. The show definitely has a CLAMP-type problem, but in Utena, it’s brother/sister overtones. There are worse things, I guess. I can handle it without freaking out about it, and I think that you could, too!
The relationship between Anthy and Utena (both females, in case you missed it) also is advertised as sexual, etc. This isn’t really the case, though. And while they could develop a different relationship, the vibe that I get from Utena thus far is that she is definitely heterosexual. I think she’s holding out for her prince. Anthy is just really weird and submissive – she is completely and utterly submissive to whomever she’s engaged to, whether it’s Saionji, who slaps her every five seconds and gets no response from her besides an aversion of her eyes, or Utena, who encourages her to stick up for herself and make some friends. Utena is confused by the whole “engagement to the Rose Bride” deal. She basically tells Anthy to stop talking about “being engaged” and to just act normally.
There is something really weird about the character Anthy Himemya, and I’m just waiting for us to find out what the hell is going on. There’s no way somebody is that submissive. Even random classmates who are jealous of the male attention she gets from the Student Council will slap her a lot, and she still does nothing – even though she’s under no obligation to let them do whatever they want, and she’s definitely not engaged to them (not that THAT allows someone to do whatever they want, but that’s an entirely different matter!).
Louise's assessment (without having seen any, I don't think) is that the series has "a lot of pink" (Come on! You watch Ouran Host Club!). This is true, but we're talking about a series in which characters regularly pull swords out of each others' chests. Plus, Utena Tenjou is definitely not a wispy shoujo character. She kicks ass.
Every episode, there is a conversation between the “shadow puppets.” It is always related to the plotline, but in a parable-type style. It’s kind of weird at first, but I like it now very much.
I haven’t talked about lots of things yet, like other members of the Student Council besides Saionji – Touga, Miki, Juri. I really like Juri, even though we don’t know much about her yet. Utena’s friendship with Wakaba seems really annoying at first, but now I like her a lot too. Juri gets a screenshot because I am in love with her curls.
I guess that’s kind of a good way to look at the whole show. On the surface, it seems a bit run-of-the-mill, and I definitely understand how the DVD covers could make one think the plot revolves around something it definitely doesn’t. But, I’m only 13 episodes in right now out of 39, and I love it. Huge statements on friendship, love, and gender roles. I have a feeling that once it’s revealed to me what’s actually going on, I’ll want to rewatch the series.
Even the filler episodes are so funny that they’re totally worth it. Case and point would be the explosive curry episode, which I think was episode 7 or something.
In short, Jackie’s opinion is that Revolutionary Girl Utena is GOOD SHIT.
If you are still unconvinced, here are some trailers for the second arc (no real spoilers for the first arc, except that nobody dies, :O) I recommend the first two – the second one has English voice-actors, which aren't too great.
This is the first installment of what I will call Things Jackie Highly Recommends.
There are no spoilers beyond episode 1.
I should start by saying that Revolutionary Girl Utena is kind of like Neon Genesis Evangelion in its high amount of symbolism. I could probably watch the series many times and notice new things each time. So, if you’ve seen the whole series and find my thoughts ignorant, I apologize. I am truly just a rambling fangirl.
The series is 39 episodes long, and consists of four story arcs. I have watched 16 episodes, and I believe that I have completed one story arc and am in the midst of the second.
The first episode of Utena, as well as many other episodes, begins with the same fairytale. An elaborate frame surrounds the screen, and a swirling white rose is in each corner. As the story is told, the two characters who appear on screen are faceless. The pink hair of the princess, though, makes it unquestionable that she is Utena. For the first 12 episodes, there is no one who bears a resemblance to the prince, although he does bear a striking resemblance to a girl named Anthy Himemya.
Once upon a time, years and years ago...
There was a little princess, and she was very sad, for her mother and father had died.
Before the princess appeared a traveling prince riding upon a white horse.
He had a regal bearing and a kind smile.
The prince wrapped the princess in a rose-scented embrace and gently wiped the tears from her eyes.
“Little one,” he said, “who bears up alone in such deep sorrow, never lose that strength of nobility, even when you grow up.”
“I give you this (a ring with a rose seal that Utena still wears) to remember this day. We will meet again. This ring will lead you to me, one day.”
Perhaps the ring the prince gave her was an engagement ring.
This was all well and good, but so impressed was she by him that the princess vowed to become a prince herself one day.
But was that really such a good idea?
And so, we are introduced to Utena Tenjou, an extremely popular girl at the Ohtori Academy. She wears a boy’s school uniform, much to the ire of her instructors. She defends herself: “There’s nothing in the rules that say I can’t wear this!” Utena plays basketball with the boys, and is quite good at it. She also fences. Many of her female classmates worship the ground she walks on – they are such fangirls that it can get a little annoying, but these are things that one has to take in stride when watching anime. Utena regularly sticks up for her friends, and has a reputation for not taking any crap from anybody. She undoubtedly is trying to embody the prince she'd like to be.
Anyway, Utena Tenjou becomes friends with a girl named Anthy Himemya – a sweet, submissive girl who somehow seems tied up with the members of the Student Council.
There are at least four members of the Student Council, and all of them sometimes engage in duels. The winner of these duels is then engaged to the Rose Bride – our very own Anthy Himemya. The ring that Utena wears on her finger (the one with the rose seal from the fairytale in the beginning – although no explanation is given as to the connection between the ‘princess’ and the high school student Utena Tenjou) allows her to participate in these duels.
She gets in her first duel because Saionji humiliates her best friend, Wakaba. Utena challenges him to a duel after school without knowing the consequences, nor the strings attached.
This brings us to the duel. Every episode in which there’s a duel, there is the same 90-second sequence with Utena walking up an elaborate staircase and water streaming down conduits, all to the techno-choral piece titled “The Absolute Destiny Apocalypse” (and there’s a duel song that has really weird lyrics that conjure memories of Geology 100 - Cambrian / Ordovician / Silurian / Devonian / Stromatolite / bacteria - wtf!) In each duel, the duelists wear a rose and their breast. Whomever’s rose is struck down first by the opponent’s sword loses the duel, and with it, the Rose Bride, Anthy Himemya. Anyway, Utena wins, and Anthy says, “I am the Rose Bride. From this day forward, I belong to you.”
I’m still not really sure what the deal is with the Student Council. They apparently periodically receive letters from “the End of the World.” Also, every episode, before their Student Council meetings, one of them says, “If a chick fails to break through its egg, it will die without being born. We are the chick. The world is our egg. If we don’t crack the world’s shell, we will die without being born. For the revolution of the world!” Yeah. Whatever that means.
I’ll admit that a lot of the DVD covers and various images used to promote Revolutionary Girl Utena make it seem very sexual and slashy. So, I’d like to point out that at least for the first 16 episodes I’ve seen, there hasn’t been any sex. I can definitely believe that there is sex going on behind the scenes, but it isn’t shown, nor is it explicitly referred to. The show definitely has a CLAMP-type problem, but in Utena, it’s brother/sister overtones. There are worse things, I guess. I can handle it without freaking out about it, and I think that you could, too!
The relationship between Anthy and Utena (both females, in case you missed it) also is advertised as sexual, etc. This isn’t really the case, though. And while they could develop a different relationship, the vibe that I get from Utena thus far is that she is definitely heterosexual. I think she’s holding out for her prince. Anthy is just really weird and submissive – she is completely and utterly submissive to whomever she’s engaged to, whether it’s Saionji, who slaps her every five seconds and gets no response from her besides an aversion of her eyes, or Utena, who encourages her to stick up for herself and make some friends. Utena is confused by the whole “engagement to the Rose Bride” deal. She basically tells Anthy to stop talking about “being engaged” and to just act normally.
There is something really weird about the character Anthy Himemya, and I’m just waiting for us to find out what the hell is going on. There’s no way somebody is that submissive. Even random classmates who are jealous of the male attention she gets from the Student Council will slap her a lot, and she still does nothing – even though she’s under no obligation to let them do whatever they want, and she’s definitely not engaged to them (not that THAT allows someone to do whatever they want, but that’s an entirely different matter!).
Louise's assessment (
Every episode, there is a conversation between the “shadow puppets.” It is always related to the plotline, but in a parable-type style. It’s kind of weird at first, but I like it now very much.
I haven’t talked about lots of things yet, like other members of the Student Council besides Saionji – Touga, Miki, Juri. I really like Juri, even though we don’t know much about her yet. Utena’s friendship with Wakaba seems really annoying at first, but now I like her a lot too. Juri gets a screenshot because I am in love with her curls.
I guess that’s kind of a good way to look at the whole show. On the surface, it seems a bit run-of-the-mill, and I definitely understand how the DVD covers could make one think the plot revolves around something it definitely doesn’t. But, I’m only 13 episodes in right now out of 39, and I love it. Huge statements on friendship, love, and gender roles. I have a feeling that once it’s revealed to me what’s actually going on, I’ll want to rewatch the series.
Even the filler episodes are so funny that they’re totally worth it. Case and point would be the explosive curry episode, which I think was episode 7 or something.
In short, Jackie’s opinion is that Revolutionary Girl Utena is GOOD SHIT.
If you are still unconvinced, here are some trailers for the second arc (no real spoilers for the first arc, except that nobody dies, :O) I recommend the first two – the second one has English voice-actors, which aren't too great.