Where I watch Revolutionary Girl Utena, Episodes 35-39

[cypsiman2]

Anthy is free. After all of her brother's lies and deceits and selfishness, she is finally free from her burden, finally able to escape the coffin that Akio created for himself, and it's all because of Utena. Utena, who even after being (literally!) stabbed in the back, risked everything for Anthy, and has now disappeared. Both Akio and Anthy insisted that Utena, being a girl, could never release the power to revolutionize the world, but Anthy saw that she was wrong, and so revolution was brought to her world. But Akio is blind to it, too caught up in his faux-cynicism, his faux-maturity, to see what Utena managed to accomplish through self-sacrifice, as opposed to sacrificing others.

And might I add that Anthy is a snappy dresser? XD

Well, at this point, all that's left for me and this series is the movie...and to write Juri/Miki fics to correct fandom's egregious oversight! Any and and all ideas are welcome!

Comments

[oneplusme.livejournal.com]

...and it was awesome.

The scene where Utena finally comes to rescue Anthy from her coffin is just tearfully beautiful in every possible way. "We finally meet..."

I think you're dead on about the revolution, too. The power is very much the power to change Anthy's world. And the way she leaves Akio is so utterly perfect.

"Someday, we'll shine together." <sniffle>


Of course, now it's safe to recommend that you read all manner of wonderful Utena fanfic. Like Chris Davies' Ten Years After and everything Alan Harnum ever wrote (particularly Sonata, Chess and As Others See Her).

[cypsiman2.livejournal.com]

Indeed. If it had ended any other way, any way other than Utena inspiring Anthy to release herself from her learned, self-imposed suffering, it would not have been a satisfactory ending.

I'll have to give those fics a look!

[oneplusme.livejournal.com]

There should be a good week or two's reading in just that lot.:) (Especially if you decide to tackle Jaquemart...)

I look forward to seeing what you make of the film. Be sure to find the biggest screen you can, and crank up the volume, because it's stunning to look at.

[elle-white.livejournal.com]

After episode 34, this show certainly keeps you hooked!

The finally was beautiful epic. Utena reaching for Anthy was such a powerful moment.

I have never seen anything that explores gender roles so thoroughly and poignantly. And I agree, the power of the revolution was about the power to change Anthy's world. Utena saved her from the toxic gender roles that dictated her life for so long. I love Anthy and Utena so, so much! <3

Oh, and the badminton scene will always be a favourite of mine! It was great to see Utena's last moments with the duelists!

And I'm so glad you enjoyed this series!

[cypsiman2.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah!

It's definitely given me plenty to mull over and think about in regards to gender; good shoujo is awesome like that, isn't it?

Yep, it was definitely a fun final scene before all the drama kicked in for good.

I would be very worried if I hadn't!

[oneplusme.livejournal.com]

Oh wow, yes. That badminton match is lovely. For me, though, it's Utena's parting riposte to Touga that really encapsulates her character so perfectly: "Didn't you know? I am a fool."

[elle-white.livejournal.com]

It's rather rare to find amazingly good shoujo like Utena and Princess Tutu.

Just beware of the fandom. Anthy gets quite a bit of hate; she's even been called the real villain of the series, which is ... beyond ridiculous.

[cypsiman2.livejournal.com]

Well, I did preface it with the "good" qualifier; what I more meant was that good shoujo tended to have more to do with gender issues than say, good shonen.

Yeah, I noticed that issue on the TVtropes page, and...yeah, Anthy is plenty manipulative, but seriously, the fuck???

[elle-white.livejournal.com]

Ah, of course. Sorry, I'm feeling a bit drowsy today.

Yeah ... misogyny lurks in fandoms where the show itself actually calls out that bullshit. -_-

I am really looking forward to you doing Miki/Juri fic because there really isn't enough out there and they're my second favourite couple in Utena (Utena/Anthy being my first). Though, I really enjoy fic about Juri and Shoiri's relationship, because there's so much to explore there!

[cypsiman2.livejournal.com]

Is okay.

Fortunately, the consensus on the TV tropes page is that the mysogony is bullshit and misses the point completely besides.

Well, I don't much care for Shiori, but I will endevor to handle her relationship with Juri with maturity. Of course, it will invariably take the backstage to all the Juri/Miki! ^_^

[sakanagi.livejournal.com]

The movie is good, but it can't beat the series. It is, however, on much, much more crack than the series is.

I'm glad you enjoyed watching Utena! It really is a beautiful series. It has one of the best endings of any anime I've seen.

[cypsiman2.livejournal.com]

Something about someone turning into a car, I've heard that much.

I'm glad I did too! Oh, and by the way, I'm gonna stare at your icon for a bit. *stares*

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

Ahh, and here I am without an Utena icon! (icon space is very dead)

This ending made me cry. It still makes me cry. It will make me cry for the rest of my life. Fortunately, it's the good type of crying.

But of course, even the opening theme makes me cry. "If the two of us become separated...let go of me...take my revolution."
You see, I'm a sap and I'm crying right now!

It's an amazingly inspiring series. Perfection is a myth, but this is one of those rare stories which comes about as close as one can get to it.

'Girls can't be princes' and 'girls who aren't princesses are witches' is so fairy-tale like, and also perhaps the best and most succinct description of gender roles as they relate to women that I've heard yet.

It might just be me reading into things too much, but both Touga and Akio seemed to place a lot of emphasis on seducing/weakening Utena by making her more feminine (because of course, a woman can't be feminine and still strong >>).

One thing I love is that there's so much darkness, yet at the same time, it's beautiful, too. Sometimes soft, sometimes painful... It's a great balance. In a way, both Utena and Anthy betray each other, and they both hurt each other, but there's still something bright and almost...idealistic that shines in their relationship.

It's also a relationship which blurs the lines of friendship and romance. Even though there isn't anything overtly romantic or sexual between them in the story, it's still very sensual, and the intention of them as a couple is quite clear. It's a sort of tone (no love confessions and no kissing/sex, but intended to be read as couple) which I've never seen outside of shoujo, and I always love seeing it. Some romances really do work like that, but it's rare to see them in fiction.

Oh, dear, I went into tl;dr fangirling mode. I'm sorry!

And ooh, Juri/Miki fanfic is definitely something I'm looking forward to!

Don't forget, there's also the manga, and a one-volume manga adaption of the movie ;)

[cypsiman2.livejournal.com]

God, that opening, I've listened to it hundreds of times, so that part definitely leaped out at me.

Definitely as far as Gender Roles in fairy tales operate, and given how those fairy tales inform modern attitudes...

The one thing I really wanted to see was Utena using the sword, while still wearing the dress, saying screw you to the dichotomy of it all. But while that didn't exactly happen, the show plainly said "screw you" to that bullshit, so I'm a happy camper.

It takes a balance for a proper story to be told; too dark or too light, it makes for a bad story. True fact, and the relationship between Utena and Anthy exemplefies that beautifully.

Plus, it doesn't feel like a cheat, or a cop-out, doesn't feel like the writers took the coward's way out, which always annoys me.

Hey, I'm usually in fanboying mode plenty of times, so fangirling is more than welcome in this journal!

Considering how little I've been able to find, I look forward to it too!

Hmm, I don't know, I've heard that the manga isn't as good...

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

And that is how you write an opening tailored for the series (all right, I didn't check, but it's too spot-on not to be!).

Dueling in a dress! Yes, that would have been awesome. But there was still a very wonderful 'screw you' in there, as you've said.

SKU definitely hit the right balance. The dark and tragic aspects of the tale are luck a punch to the chest and leave you crying for the characters...not just falling under a general malaise which makes it unpleasant to read/watch. So many series that involve darkness and angst end up being the latter, sadly.

Hey, there was enough romantic imagery in the opening and the second ending to make things very clear! I think that it feels more intentional in anime/manga because, well, they don't seem to have the same pressures that lead to cop-outs. I may be wrong, since I don't even keep up with the news where I'm stuck living, but...for all the issues in Japan (as there are everywhere, I say snidely), I've never heard of there being opposition to romantic portrayals of homosexual relationships in manga/anime (sexual, on the other hand...). So when I get massive 'couple' vibes between characters (not just accidental subtext, but the point where they basically are a couple, just not traditionally confirmed) I tend to assume that it was left that way intentionally, rather than as an attempt to hide it.

Now that I think of it, there's a 'het' portrayal of that which I've also seen- in Crest of the Stars, Jinto and Lafiel develop a bond which makes them seem very much like a couple, but there's never any kissing or talk of love between them. It's that point that I'm talking about: when the devotion between two friends is virtually indistinguishable from the devotion between a romantic couple.

Oh, no, babbling again...

Right now my only SKU plot bunnies involve Wakaba, but I'll poke about for some Juri/Miki ones for you ;)

I wouldn't know, since I haven't read it yet. All I know is that the artwork is very pretty *points to icon* ^^;

[oneplusme.livejournal.com]

The manga isn't (IMHO) really as good, no. It certainly doesn't have the emotional impact of the TV series, or the same indelible imagery. That said, the one-volume movie manga is really quite lovely (and different again from the plot of the film itself) and well worth tracking down.

And yes, whilst Utena and Anthy's relationship is mostly subtextual in the TV series, there are a lot of hints, and the artbooks are... somewhat less subtle about things.