Utena is without a doubt the greatest anime series in history, don't (You) me. >narrative and direction so mind-blowingly amazing it transcends the standards of anime and reaches very far into art-house film/literary fiction-tier. >constantly keeps the viewer engaged by provoking their psyche into reading between the lines and deciphering the abstract visuals, never a single dull moment. >has a wealth of valuable, profound lessons to teach to people of all ages, drawing upon religions, folk tales, fictions, and quite especially, real life, as inspirations. >top-notch animation. smooth, creative, and there are literally zero "QUALITY" moments throughout its length. every single frame has so much love and care poured into it. >top-notch aesthetics, rich with motifs, symbols, and colors. >excellent, unforgettable music, every choice of which fit their corresponding scenes perfectly. >very high rewatchability value thanks to its abstract and surreal nature, every single viewing will be different from the last depending on how and what you interpret.
It's not flawless, mind you, but what few flaws it has are utterly towered over and swallowed by all of its good qualities. If you haven't watched this show, start right now, but prepare yourself to flare up all of your neurons while doing so, or else you'll get lost very quickly and everything will fly over your head. It also helps if you have a vague familiarity with general semiotics beforehand.
I'm worried about it being boring strong themes, hidden meaning and nice looks (animation, design, music etc) can't NEVER be the meat and potatoes of a story. A good story can't be good only with the stuff that's supposed to be between the lines, the "what does it mean?" must be behind an actually engaging story
Everytime I hear people talking about Utena they never talk about the actual story and characters, what must be the meat and potatoes of any book, movie or anime. They say a lot of all this intellectual stuff, which is extremely concerning
Jaxson Morales
Unironically based.
James Green
Nothing you said is unique to Utena, even having all of these
Camden Diaz
>Everytime I hear people talking about Utena they never talk about the actual story and characters, what must be the meat and potatoes of any book, movie or anime. Because you're really not supposed to if you wanna introduce someone to it, you must let them experience everything with zero knowledge beforehand.
>I'm worried about it being boring At the very, very, very least, even if you don't understand anything, you'll pretty much just be like "What the fuck?! what is this?!" every step of the way. Trust me, it's literally impossible to be bored watching it, at least on first viewing, it's that provocative.
Kevin Hall
My favorite thing about Utena is how it tackles very serious themes like gender identity and living up to society’s expectations without taking who would be the “abuser” down. Akio, Touga, Saionji and Nanami are dominant figures that manipulate people around them yet all of them have such sad stories. Akio struggling with not being good enough as a prince and relying on his sister’s magic, eventually becoming just someone able to take advantage of his status (and eventually breaking down crying when he realizes that not even that will keep him dominant forever) Touga starting as the most stereotypical playboy character and later on catching feelings for Utena and wanting to help her. Saionji acting like an asshole because of his insecurities and feeling intimidated by others around him (and probably doing so to convince himself he doesn’t have a crush on his best friend). Nanami being pretty much just a school bully with brother issues until she losses her innocence and learns the truth of this world, being in the position of the “generic” instead of the chosen and in the end being far more mature and helpful (and over his brother). It’s something so weird, when a creator gives a voice to everyone in the same system. Every time I rewatch it, I notice more and more subtle details of the characters’ feelings. Going over the same events with a different vision of them is so weird, the narrative changes a lot. I felt as bad for Akio as I did with Utena in episode 33. I completely got Saionji’s motifs. Episode 3 becomes one of the most hurtful towards Anthy considering her trauma and the moment she became the rose bride. Utena is so nuanced and well planned, it’s scary. I saw a bit of myself in every member of the cast.
>they never talk about the actual story and characters >characters I get it with the plot because it’s mostly episodic but... Oh my God not this when the show’s biggest strength is the study of different people’s real feelings besides how they feel they are obligated to act by society
What character would you guys say has the best arc besides Akio/Anthy/Utena? For me, it has to be Nanami.
Jaxon Hill
I'm still worried, "what the fuck?" can become the same as "I don't know what's going on" in a extremely bad way
no, terrible to talk about psychology of characters and sociology of the groups they move in is not by a mile the same as to talk about characters, what their personality and growth is in a more direct level, putting the psychology as what should be enjoyed behind what makes them comprehemsible
let it be known, I want to enjoy Utena, I'm just trying to explain why it looks daunting and why I fear it may be boring and why "as deep as the ocean and as wide as a droplet" is still a terrible thing. Its always imperative to have a story to tell first and foremost, and then behind it all the deepness and themes
Jackson Davis
For me, I love all of these things, but the one is the treatment of growing up and becoming an adult being equated with abandoning illusions and grasping reality for what it genuinely, which is a constant theme in every single character's personal arc. Akio in particular is the most interesting case IMO. Fans typically interpret him as the adult to Utena's deluded "child", but to me, Akio is a manchild. He is an adult that FAILED to grow up. He's still locked in his fantasy world of illusions, chasing a long-gone past that will never return. He's emotionally stunted, only able to interact with people and get anything done through abuse, manipulation, and rape. This is reflected even in how he tries to open the Rose Gate (vulvar), by attempting to bash it violently with a sword (phallic), only for it to break, symbolising his fragile masculinity/sense of self behind his mask.
My god, I have so much to talk about regarding this show that I don't know what to say first. I love it so much, and the Gnostic touches are the bundle of sweet cherries on top, since I've actually studied it once.
It's a shame IMO that most of the people who watched it are women, I'm a man and it's my absolute #1 fave show, Utena to me is a story that transcends demographics, it really is for everyone.
Thomas Williams
Only women can deeply understand and appreciate this show.
William Lee
Look, don't fret over it too much, you don't have to get into the side material, just give the OG anime a watch and see how you like it.
oh no, I don't fear not getting it, I fear being bored. Jesus christ, I still remember that literature class where a teacher made us read and understand "her eyes were watching god". It was indeed deep, meaningful, well written and my fucking god I still want to mcfucking shoot myself over that fucking ordeal
Nicholas Howard
>no, terrible >what their personality and growth is in a more direct level Watch the show. ALL of them have growth, the revolution that’s so talked about and that everyone wants to get literally goes hand in hand with being more mature. Just watch it for yourself, I don’t know what to tell you, the fans have been writing character analysis for 20 years.
David Nelson
OK, just watch the first episode then and see if it bores you.
Grayson Reed
20 fucking years writting character analysis might be a bad thing, it might mean that nobody has an actual fucking clue of who the characters are really supposed to be and its all vague clues without direct substance
downloading the torrent atm nonetheless
of course, however only an episode is very often quite unfair, I should watch at least two or three
Levi Cooper
For me, it's Saionji for sure.
Hunter Mitchell
Nope. Women usually hate Akio and don’t understand him. Akio and Nemuro are similar. Both of them stayed for many, many years in their comfy coffins, afraid of getting out of their cave and watching things as they are outside of shadows. Something that isn’t talked about usually is how men are as hurt as women by gender stereotypes. Akio’s story is living hurt by society’s expectations of a prince, feeling like a piece of shit for not fulfilling that traditional image and taking advantage of this title to do whatever he wants in his safe space while living with guilt.
I forgot to add that he needs someone to help him as much as Anthy did... what do you guys think happened after the last episode? Did he just keep on living with this reseted universe with no Utenas to revolutionize the world, or did he decide to step out of the box?
Noah Fisher
Utena is definitely fantastic, one of my top 3 shows, and everything with Nanami is golden. I've rewatched it four times and each time I discover new stuff, since there's so much packed in each episode. I think of all the episodes the Miki episodes are probably the weakest, and Juri episodes the strongest.
>Miki episodes are probably the weakest How dare y- [checks the competition] Damn, you’re right. There are many beautiful shots in his episodes, though. I think his problem was that his last episode was by far the worst out of any duelists (not counting Saionji because you know damn well that the last Touga vs Utena was as much as a duel for Touga as it was for Saionji)
What was the deal with his stopwatch autism anyway?
Owen Wilson
That seems a bit silly but regardless I watched it pretty slowly, an episode a day is about as much as I could take.
Tyler Martinez
Miki is the character that’s probably the most obsessed with the past. This is symbolic of his obsession. Besides that, it’s a very good way to introduce him/end a scene. Okay but now getting into most substantial territory: he is supposed to keep track of the StuCo reunions. This means how much they last, what they say, etc. I noticed that Miki is slowly realizing something, that is that time is fucked up in Ohtori. Here are a few instances: >pic related >many duelists challenging Utena at night but dueling in the day time, and this happens so many times that we don’t actually get to see the dueling arena at night until the Touga and Utena scene in the last arc >Nemuro not aging for many years >Tokiko aging for all these years >Akio being able to change his appearance (as seen in the flashback where he meets Utena) >The place where Anthy became the Rose Bride looks like it’s from at least 200 years back >We coincidentally never see the highway in the daytime Miki is the first one out of any main character to notice this, that’s why he usually looks at his stopwatch in shock. He is our introduction to the themes of the passing of time in relation with growing up.
Yes! not many people see the Nemuro/Akio parallel, it makes the latter's manipulation of the former all the more sordid, as Akio fails to see the similarities between, meaning that he is blind to his own blight.
>Something that isn’t talked about usually is how men are as hurt as women by gender stereotypes. Akio’s story is living hurt by society’s expectations of a prince, feeling like a piece of shit for not fulfilling that traditional image and taking advantage of this title to do whatever he wants in his safe space while living with guilt. Well said. This is why I say Utena is a story for everyone, it tackles these issues on both sides of the fence, while also providing general commentary that everyone can benefit from regardless of gender.
Akio and Anthy were both mind-broken by the roles imposed on them.
Akio, now deprived of his role and power as Dios, projects his resentment and self-hatred into negative channels to seize power once again in the only other way he knew how: abuse. After all, a prince who constantly saves damsels in distress must have witnessed them being subject to various forms of abuse, he has gazed ugliness and cruelty in the eyes. "If I can't have their affection with nobility I no longer have, then I will do so with control". It's his way of re-asserting himself as a subject of affection to people, only it took a very, very dark turn.
Of course, our main villain being a man(child), and a very nasty one at that, it's hard to see it from his point of view on first watch, you'll have to go through the series again to understand what he's going through.
In the end however, Utena is a criticism of fairy tales. Just as the world doesn't need women being categorised as either obedient princess or evil witches, it doesn't need men being categorised either as white knights or evil dragons.
