Revolutionary Girl Utena

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Postby DevRei17 » Sun Oct 17, 2010 12:16 pm

I've been meaning to see/buy this series for awhile. The opening is visually stunning.
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Revolutionary Girl Utena

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Postby EvaCub » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:07 am

I just finished watching all of Revolutionary Girl Utena and quite enjoyed the ride. I felt similar to when I was watching Evangelion for the first and the character drama reminded me it as well, especially the Rose Arc.

The ending of the series threw me off however. I got the impression that a lot of what is shown is not actually there
SPOILER: Show
kind of like the big ilusion machine that akio keeps in his chambers


Utena thread!
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Postby Azathoth » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:09 am

Watch the movie yet?
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Postby EvaCub » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:17 am

View Original PostAzathoth wrote:Watch the movie yet?


yes, i feel like a lot of the stuff happening in the movie was an illusion or a symbol or a metaphor as well
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Postby Azathoth » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:30 am

View Original PostEvaCub wrote:yes, i feel like a lot of the stuff happening in the movie was an illusion or a symbol or a metaphor as well


Well, everything in Utena is kind of metaphors. What we the audience see is quite often at one remove of surreality from what the characters understand to have occurred: we are visually shown a bunch of trolling during car rides when what we're meant to realize happened is that Akio fucked literally almost everybody in the show. It's not like Eva, where you can ask of the more surreal parts, "At what point did the events of this scene stop happening in the physical world, at what point did we switch over to a view of pure interaction between souls" because Utena is in many ways an entire show of pure interaction between souls - albeit with random wacky comedy filler injected to perpetuate the illusion of the reality of its world.

There were more things I was going to say but talking about Utena for too long makes my brain full of fuck so I forgot.
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Postby EvaCub » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:41 am

so it's not like they're are duels actually happening its more conflict and interaction between the characters?

Utena also seems like a show that when you watch it the second time you notice more
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Postby Azathoth » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:46 am

View Original PostEvaCub wrote:so it's not like they're are duels actually happening its more conflict and interaction between the characters?


To us, the audience of Utena, it's not a meaningful distinction. The characters clearly think that duels are actually happening, though.

View Original PostEvaCub wrote:Utena also seems like a show that when you watch it the second time you notice more


Yeah. And the third time, and so on and so forth.
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Postby Xard » Mon Jan 31, 2011 3:17 am

Ahh, Utena aka nearly the best anime ever.

Good times, good times. I loved Akio's car scenes the best. Dat editing, dat music, dat atmosphere. It's a show that really just keeps getting better and better in my memory. And yes, it's worth rewatching again and again

Of course, DAT FINAL ED ;______;

and you can't top the second "transformation" sequence. You just can't.

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Postby kuwisdelu » Mon Jan 31, 2011 3:41 am

I'm ashamed to admit I haven't seen Utena yet.

That said, does anyone know when it's supposed to be re-released this year (in the US)? I haven't been able to find anything more specific than "sometime in 2011".

I look forward to seeing it, and it sounds like it's worth owning, so I hope I don't have to wait too long for the remasters?

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Postby NemZ » Mon Jan 31, 2011 3:49 am

An excellent anime, no doubt. I did get rather tired of watching the dueling tower into bits over and over again even with the changes each plot arc, though it's absolutely astounding how many sexual metaphors they managed to sneak past the sensors in those sequences.

Let's see... she take a trip to the secret garden to play with the dewy flower until the whole place is wet, climbs the magic tower, competes in a battle where the object is to deflower her opponent with her mighty blade, and ends every duel in the last act with a ring of erect, angry red cars firing their milky white headlights into the night at the moment of climax.

Yeah, that's totally harmless. If you see something sexy in that clearly you're the one who's perverted.

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Postby child of Lilith » Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:05 am

Utena was a damn good show from what I can remember. Although it's been so long I've forgotten much of what happened.
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Postby EvangelionFan » Mon Jan 31, 2011 4:12 am

It's on my to-watch list. I'll probably see it in September-ish.
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Postby symbv » Mon Jan 31, 2011 5:08 am

This anime gave me much brain damage when I watched it >10 years ago, trying to figure out what the hell had happened. Really burnt me out. Not sure when I will want to go over that brain fuck again. Anyway I hears that the story and ending are all different for tv anime, movie, manga, and novel...which means more mind fuck if you watch and read all of them and try to figure what is what and why there's such difference.
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Postby Xard » Mon Jan 31, 2011 5:25 am

Film and series have pretty much same ending. Film is just way more LOLSYMBOLISM. Actually that whole film is nothing but symbolism, symbolism everywhere

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Postby symbv » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:29 pm

I forgot what the details I heard about differences in movie (boy, it's been so many years ago..) so I just did a brief dip at wiki. Seems there are quite a bit of differences?

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Quote:

The film can be interpreted either as the end of the story initiated by the TV series, or as a condensed retelling with the same themes and characters, although it goes in a very different direction. Its structure is in many ways parallel to that of the series, but the roles of the leads are subtly switched. If the television series riffs on themes from theater and mythology, it could be said that the movie riffs on themes from the series. Familiarity with the television series is assumed, and the movie version is even more visually bizarre than the original Utena, enough so that it earned the good-natured nickname "The End Of Utena", after the similarly abstract but much less cheerful The End of Evangelion.

Adolescence of Utena was released in theatres in 1999. It was first conceived by director Kunihiko Ikuhara when the final episode of the television series was broadcast on Japanese television. BePapas reconvened and created a new vision of the Utena universe. The resulting film is ambiguous in its place within the Utena universe; though it functions as a separate continuity, much like the manga, it also refers to events in the television series frequently enough that it is confusing to those unfamiliar with the show. Ultimately, the film is plotted in such a way that it could be seen as a continuation of the series or an entirely new vision. Central Park Media licensed Adolescence of Utena and released it to a dubbed only VHS and a bilingual DVD in 2001 under the title, Utena: The Movie.[14] The film was also screened at several anime conventions, and had a very limited theatrical run. Right Stuf acquired the North American rights to the movie in 2010.[15]

In a loose retelling of the Revolutionary Girl Utena TV series, Utena Tenjou arrives at Ohtori Academy, appearing to be a boy. She is accidentally swept up in a series of duels for the possession of the Rose Bride Anthy Himemiya and the power she supposedly holds. At the same time, Utena reunites with Touga Kiryuu, a friend and love from her childhood. It is later revealed that Touga died long ago. A belief among some fans is that the movie takes place in the land of the dead. Other key differences between the series and film include the absence of Nanami (save for a brief cameo in her cow incarnation) and the revelation that Akio is also dead before the film begins.

The film takes many themes from the series and either ramps up their intensity or turns them on an ear. For example, the latent sexual tension between Utena and Anthy in the series is far more overt in the film; it is made clear to the viewer that Anthy is not only a "bride" by name, but that she will sleep with the person to whom she is engaged, regardless of whether they are male or female, including her brother. The concept of Ohtori as a prison is made clearer, and Utena's empowerment of Anthy to escape is given physical manifestation as Utena literally transforms into a car for Anthy to ride to freedom.

===

SPOILER: Show

And if I remember correctly, in the movie Utena turned into a car at the end?
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Postby Azathoth » Mon Jan 31, 2011 1:40 pm

View Original Postsymbv wrote:
SPOILER: Show

And if I remember correctly, in the movie Utena turned into a car at the end?


SPOILER: Show
Yeah, along with pretty much everybody else in the school.
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Postby EvaCub » Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:41 pm

what was up with Miki and his stop watch?
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Postby Xard » Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:46 pm

View Original PostEvaCub wrote:what was up with Miki and his stop watch?


The clock holds answer to all the secrets of the world

/Ikuhara troll answer

seriously speaking, I think this was figured out by fandom but I can't remember

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Postby Azathoth » Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:47 pm

View Original PostEvaCub wrote:what was up with Miki and his stop watch?


Ikuhara claimed "nothing, lol" in one interview (paraphrased) but then again this is Ikuhara and he also makes some vague-ass commentary about it somewhere else. Miki seems to click it to take note of major climactic points in the plot; I've heard that the times it stops at are also related to episode numbers or something but I've never checked.

I guess he's also the secretary (and highly OCD) so it makes sense for him to be timing.
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Postby Merridian » Mon Jan 31, 2011 3:33 pm

kuwisdelu wrote: That said, does anyone know when it's supposed to be re-released this year (in the US)? I haven't been able to find anything more specific than "sometime in 2011".
there haven’t been any further announcements to my knowledge. But it’s Nozomi Ent, so it’s definitely going to happen. Just keep a watch on RightStuf’s homepage. CPM's releases are still hanging around (though the last set is outrageously expensive), but last I checked, you can still get the film at reasonable rates. Although given that it's due for rerelease, I wouldn't bother, since Nozomi nabbed the remasters.

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Hey don’t forget: all the chicks were hot, too.



And I thought we already had an Utena thread somewhere


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