[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KNvDNkAN7Ms[/youtube]

End of Utena resonated with me in many ways. It’s message, it’s art, the lives of it’s characters – it did what made the series great and kept it more concentrated, poignant, and blatant, which I appreciated. It is a masterpiece, pure and simple, and I was glad that I could find a way to pay tribute to it’s art and message without sacrificing either. End of Utena will go down as one of my favorite anime, because it fills me with such a feeling that I cannot deny it’s impact. I hope that those feelings come through in this video.

I also wanted to make a special note of it’s ending. Was that the most awesome ending of an anime or what!? Hot, naked lesbians making out while laying on the back of a raging motorcycle? What more could I possibly ask for?

Utena 3 begins with and, plot-wise, more-or-less centers around the fact that Anthy Himemiya has no friends and Utena really thinks she should make some. Fuck that, though, that’s bollocks and I don’t care – the real point of this episode was to introduce and acclimate us to the Kiryuu siblings, Nanami and Touga. Or as I’ve lovingly referred to them above, the Fake-Ass Bitch and the Real Playa.

Episode 3: Duel: 03

After some plot-set-up rambling between Utena and Anthy about Anthy’s lack of friends and Utena’s titling conventions, we get the first really important scene of the episode – we meet Touga Kiryuu, the True Playa and man of men. He is played by Takehito Koyasu (the single most prolific seiyuu of all time, literally) whose unmistakably manly, soothing voice will shake you to the bones and possibly make you gay. Which Touga is apparently good at – I’ve said too much~

There are some things you need to know about Touga. It is mentioned in this episode that Touga is supposedly ‘the biggest playboy in the school’ but we don’t get a real sense of scope on his prospective harem. I am going to tell you right now – it is no stretch to say that he has fucked ninety percent of the total population of this academy. He has fucked everyone. No, that’s not right – the truth is, he’s fucked everyone he’s wanted to fuck. There are a million women who pine after Touga – even his own goddamn sister wont get off of his nuts – but he hasn’t fucked his sister, because she just doesn’t interest him. Touga is a game hunter, and he gets the bitches he wants.

He's got her by the hair right from the start!

So what you need to get out of that is that he knows girls. He knows how to talk to them, what moves to make, and where to go based on their personalities. It’s immediately obvious that he’s hitting on Utena, and almost just as obvious that it’s working. Seconds after beginning his first conversation with her, Touga is running his hand through her hair. She slaps his hand away – but you’ll notice that Touga is smiling as she does so.

He's got her right where he wants her.

Of course, because he expected it. Touga isn’t fiery and direct like Saionji, who gets what he wants through direct force. Touga gets what he wants by discreet force – by pushing things in a direction he intends and watching things fall into place. He’s a schemer, but he’s not dishonest about it. It’s not like Utena can’t tell that she’s being hit on, but it’s working anyway.

Touga plays Utena like a flute. Because he knows she’s a strong-willed woman, he knows that he can get away with touching her hair, and her reaction will be to get aggressive rather than disturbed. That he would be so brazen, and keep going after Utena’s shove-off, shows that he’s a contender. He’s not some cheap sap going for what he can’t handle. And sure enough, he gives her what she needs to start wondering about him – a flash of his rose seal. Utena sees it and starts wondering if he could be her prince. He’s handsome, regal, strong, and audacious – you could really say, he’s her type! She’s falling for it!

Rose-Sealing the deal!

And then there’s some exposition and stuff I don’t care about. Fast-forward to Anthy’s daily routine of getting slapped in the face by someone.

Now, when these ladies slap Anthy and Nanami breaks them up, you should understand the extreme difference between these girls and Nanami – it can be easy to lump them all together, bitches as they all are, but they have different reasons. The girls who slap Anthy are very ‘real’, and not just in the directness of their approach. I think these girls really are huge Saionji fans – they may be stupid as fuck, but they really are upset at Saionji’s state, and they really are pissed at Anthy for it.

Genuinely angry girls.

Nanami is no such thing. She doesn’t give half a shit about Saionji. All that Nanami wants is attention. We will find out the deep reasons why in later episodes, but for now, just know that Nanami is a complete attention whore. She jumps on this opportunity to look powerful and important, and she jumps on the chance to brutally bully Anthy just so that she can be the one in charge – the best girl with the best scheme, tossing acid (or rather, water) on the lowest girl to prove her greatness to everyone else.

Fake-Ass Bitch trying to be cool

Back in the dorms, Utena and Anthy get packages from Touga and Nanami respectively. I want to note the slave boy who brings the packages to the girls. He is another example of the reality of the fanboys/girls at work here. Listen to how professionally he delivers his message in such a dutiful manner – he takes his slavedom very seriously! (I’m curious as to which one he’s a slave of LOL.)

And Touga, what a playa. He knows that Utena will end up at the ball one way or another, so he plays her into his hand. Maybe he figured Utena would see the dress as a challenge and wear it just to show that she wasn’t a coward. Maybe he knew she’d take Anthy and knew she probably didn’t own any dresses of herself. Whatever the case, he knew she’d come, or else he wouldn’t have probably bothered to stick around at all.

Touga is stricken with WANT.

When Touga sees Utena in the dress, he is genuinely mesmerized. He has already been thinking about how much he likes Utena, but now he’s really getting into it. Is he shocked by her beauty? Or is he reveling in the fact hat she is really following his line? He definitely is full of WANT. As the scene progresses, he moves in on her. Like a beast stalking pray! There is a moment where he tries to get very close, and it looks like she’s in his grasp, but she moves away. Touga has a very perplexed expression at this moment.

"...so, that's what 'rejection' means..."

It’s not so much that he didn’t expect Utena to move away. This is not an unreasonable action, and it’s not a stumbling block. Once he recovers, he gets right back on the prowl and even closer still. But in that one moment, Touga experienced something he never has before – rejection. He doesn’t give up, and it’s not like he’s failed, but this is the single strongest girl he’s ever witnessed – the first girl to put up such resistance. It makes her that much sweeter. After all, the tougher the pursuit, the more worthy the prize, right?

Their moment is cut off by a rude interjection of plot, but Touga remains entranced in what he’s just been through. He realizes that the distraction is the work of Nanami – Nanami who he is less interested in than any other girl, not because she is his sister, but because she is so easy and so fake, unlike the brutally difficult and real Utena. He decides to use his sister to aide him by telling her about how much he admires Utena, knowing full well that this attention whoring bitch will do anything in her power to set Utena up – put her in dangerous situations where Touga can really get in there and show off something special. He is setting up for the ultimate kill – an arrow through the heart!

Utena looking particularly boyish

A couple other notes about this ep: First, the shadow puppet scene – not the most meaningful one, but I LOVE the joke with the dogs!!! It sounds like they are saying ‘one, two’ but they are saying ‘wan, two’ with ‘wan’ being the sound that a dog makes in Japanese. What a great cross-language joke! And then at the end, I want to make a note about the dance sequence. I like how there are images where Utena’s hair is straggly like a young man’s to add to her princely nature. Clever little things like this save the show from being so painfully bad to look at (seriously, the animation in this episode was just shit!)

Welcome to the second post in the “100 Characters for 100 Otaku” series in which I, upon request, take the list of my 100 favorite anime characters and state what I like about them, how they are mirrors of the nature of otaku, and draw a parallel between them and my own otakudom as well as the first episode of Crest of the Stars (yes, this was part of the request!) Today I’ve got numbers 95 down through 91, so let’s see what they’re all about!

95. Edward Elric (from FullMetal Alchemist)

Why I Like Him: Ed had a singular goal and he would walk through hell on his path to it. In his youth, he didn’t truly know how cruel the world could be, and no matter how often he thought he’d reached the deepest suffering, things managed to get worse and plunge him further into despair. But he never gave up fighting even if it meant he may have lost his humanity. Ed had to grow up, and he had to learn what the world really is; but along the way, he’ll always hold fast to his conviction.

A Mirror For Otaku: Like anyone, an otaku will have to bear up under immense pain in their lives. When you face such a crippling pain, you may want to give up. Many wouldn’t be able to take it. Ed gives a message to those who suffer – never give up. Be strong and persevere in any suffering. This kind of message can bring hope to the ever-difficult life of an otaku.

Reflecting My Otakudom: I have come to face a lot of brick walls in my quest through otakudom. There have been times where I wondered if anime was still doing anything for me – if watching it was amounting to anything. There are times when I feel like I’ll never see everything, or times when I feel like I don’t want to. However, I always continue in light of my ultimate goal – to perfect my love, and to finalize my favorites list – an undying desire that will push me to the end.

The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: Much like Edward has to do time and again, Jinto faces a life-changing experience early in his life. When the Abh invade, he is suddenly made into a prince, and doesn’t really know what to make of it. However, Jinto keeps a fairly positive outlook. He doesn’t get weepy or emo or hate his dad, but looks calmly and optimistically at an undefined future.

94. Roronoa Zoro (from One Piece)

Why I Like Him: I had the choice between two badass characters voiced by Kazuya Nakai, and while Date Masamune has twice as many swords and an awesome knack for the English language, Zoro has more heart and reasons to care about him. Sure, he got the short end of the sword in terms of One Piece backstories (usually great, not his), but his admirable goal of becoming the world’s greatest swordsman makes him win; Especially because he’s a pretty serious guy, so when you hear him say it and see him fight, you really believe that he has no intention of failing in this goal.

A Mirror For Otaku: Every otaku wants to be a badass voiced by Kazuya Nakai. If you disagree, search your feelings – you know it to be true. If you don’t want to wield a minimum of three swords and go on adventures and kick ass and sound awesome doing it, then you may have a problem somewhere in the ‘awesome’ quartex of your brain.

Reflecting My Otakudom: I want to be a badass voiced by Kazuya Nakai! But leaving behind that fantasy, I could say that I am like Zoro in my unwavering desire to be the very best at something. And like him, my goals are always way too lofty and ridiculous sounding, but when you see the effort I put forward and the madness in my eyes, you know I might be on my way to the top! (this post is an excellent example!)

The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: The Abh are without a doubt a race of total badasses. They have entire solar systems under their control and can destroy whole planets for trying to fuck around with them. If they had existed in the pirate age, all of them surely would have wielded three swords and been voiced by Kazuya Nakai (yes, even the women.)

93. Mei Etoh (from Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!)

Why I Like Her: Besides being my favorite Aya Hirano role, Mei is a great and brilliant girl held back only by her past. She never wants to open up to people because of the way she was used in the past (as described in a stunning backstory sequence), but once Manabi unlocks her heart, we see her true genius. Tactical, calculating, orderly, and with a commanding presence, Mei is an excellent leader and would be on my ballot for president.

A Mirror For Otaku: Mei’s story is practically ripped straight from the pages of an otaku diary. Many, many otaku close off their hearts emotionally because of the way they have been treated in the past, and refuse to open up to anyone that approaches them. Some of these otaku (take No Name as a case in point example) are great people with amazing talent and kind hearts who would be a gift to anyone that could actually befriend them.

Reflecting My Otakudom: I’ve been like Mei before – closing out the world and not letting anyone in. However, I eventually became like Manabi, and did for some of my good friends what she did for Mei – reintroduced them to the world. I’ve similarly sought to reopen the hearts of people to works that they decided to shun in the past, such as those who watch a single episode of something and hatde it, only to come to love it after my concinving them to try again.

The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: When Jinto’s dad becomes the ruler of their planet in a treaty with the Abh, his own best friend feels so betrayed that he seethes with hatred, much as Mei did to her classmates when they abused her kindness. We can only hope that like Mei did with the people around her, Jinto’s dad’s friend can overcome his feeling of betrayal.

92. Tenjou Utena (from Revolutionary Girl Utena)

Why I Like Her: Ah, adolescence. Utena is a very strong-willed but very confused young woman. She has a lot of principles and beliefs that she is forced to throw into question as her self-assuredness is continuously put in check. We watch Utena gradually come to terms with the adult world and her own adolescence as she decides what’s really important in the world and what she wants to become.

A Mirror For Otaku: Otaku wade through life without a clear idea of where they may end up. If you ask an otaku why they are so obsessed with anime, you can get any number of answers, but it’s hard to find a convincing one. It comes down to the age-old arguments of what is morally correct and what kind of standards we should give ourselves. Otaku are almost like a litmus test of the moral compass, as they have very gradient ideas of what’s acceptable.

Reflecting My Otakudom: As an otaku, I’ve faced many a moral issue and had my beliefs thrown into question. Is loli okay? is there such thing as an incorrect opinion? Do my favorite shows suck? Like Utena, I think I’ll spend a lot of time coming to terms with my answers to these questions.

The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: Humanity has a hard time deciding what to make of the Abh invasion. Do they want to live in servitude? Can the aliens be trusted? Will they really be spared? Should they fight? These overwhelming and difficult questions reflect those posed to Utena throughout the series.

91. Ginko (from Mushi-shi)

Why I Like Him: Ginko is ‘ice cold‘. He’s a quiet, contemplative traveler with lots of experience and knowledge that he uses to help people as well as satiate his interest in seeing all of the world’s true colors. Ginko isn’t just an observer, though – he has principles, and he will not stand for violence that could be prevented. He doesn’t choose sides, either, as he would hate to kill man or mushi. However, he is also an adult, and knows what must be done when the time comes, even if the results are unfortunate.

A Mirror For Otaku: Ginko is almost like an idealized version of an otaku. He is a man whose seen everything and knows all there is about his subject of interest, but he is never pretentious and always willing to defend both sides. You could say that if all otaku had a mature, sober outlook on anime, they’d all be like Ginko.

Reflecting My Otakudom: I want to be like Ginko. I want to be the guy who knows everything and doesn’t try to abuse it. Ginko is cool, worldly, and respectable – traits I’ve been developing slowly with all my effort.

The First Episode of Crest of the Stars: Ginko knows how to kill a mushi, but he doesn’t want to if he doesn’t have to. Similarly, the Abh don’t have a desire to wipe out humanity. If the humans refuse to go along with their rules, they’ll drop the hammer of God on them, but in the end, the Abh just want us all to get along.

There’s 95-91, tune in tomorrow for five more! We’ll have a serial rapist, a little girl who’s keen with firearms, and who knows – maybe your favorite character!

BOOM BIATCH!

Episode 2 of Utena has less to talk about because it is mostly exposition. This means I will not be doing the episode summary-style with annotations like I did the last one, but will just be pointing out some highlights, as it would be better that you watch the episode to get the exposition. I will also talk about one of the first Utena moments I ever saw – the slap heard ’round the world.

Episode 2: For Whom the Rose Smiles

Utena carries her 'girlfriend' on her back

God I love Renbu Revolution. Great song, great lyrics, and an awesome video – everything an opening should be. Very 90s.

Episode 2 of Utena introduces us to many more of the recurring things we will see throughout the arc, or even the rest of the show. One of the first things to crop up is Utena’s legion of fangirls. Fangirls are all over the place in Utena, to the point that it’s easy to say that any female who isn’t one of the main characters is a fangirl of one of the main characters. The first purpose for this is a parody of shoujo manga/anime wherein the popular characters, namely those of the student council, tend to have a mass of followers. Keep an eye on the fangirls (and fanboys for that matter) in this show – they play bigger roles than you will expect.

We also see Touga, Juri, and Miki riding to the top of the student council tower in their fancy elevator for the first time. Touga gives a speech relating the way a baby chick has to break the shell of it’s egg to be born to their own needing to break the shell of the world to revolutionize it. While the council sits around, they discuss their letters from a mysterious benefactor called ‘End of the World’ who has set up this whole rose bride/duelist thing. Supposedly, at some point, a champion duelist will gain the power to revolutionize the world.

2 time 'Sexiest Man Alive' award winner Touga Kiryuu playing cards

This scene also gives us the beginning of my favorite running gag in Utena – the inane activities of the student council club. In this episode, they are simply playing cards, but each time we’ll see them doing some kind of activity that is almost always completely out of place with the dialog. I won’t spoil the more bizarre ones, but simply warn you to keep your eyes open!

The episode goes on with Utena and Anthy moving into the same dorm room, Utena wanting nothing to do with the Rose Bride and dueling business, meeting Chu Chu, the adorable mouse/monkey hybrid, etc. At night, Saionji comes over and calls out Anthy. This is a relatively important scene for gathering a little bit of sympathy for Saionji (and then mercilessly loosing it.)

You must understand how completely betrayed Saionji feels. Sure, he was a total ass to Anthy, but that, to him, was love. He honestly cares for Anthy in his own twisted way, but of course, Anthy never loved him back (for good reason.) For Anthy to completely abandon him must have come as a much-deserved shock. Saionji is none to happy about Anthy’s attitude towards him, so he does what any true pimp does and slaps the living fuck out of the bitch (pictured above.)

I'm so glad Saionji can't slap the fuck out of me anymOSHIT-

Okay, we saw Saionji slap Anthy in episode 1, but this slap is in a whole new class of it’s own. It’s beautiful. Saionji looks down, relaxes his shoulders, then all at once snaps his body like a whip and slaps the ever-loving shit out of Anthy – so hard she falls to the fucking ground. This was one of the first scenes I ever saw from Utena. We had just moved into my last house where we got the Funimation network, and my brother and I were flipping through the channels when we happened upon this episode just as this moment was approaching. We rewound and rewatched this moment upwards of thirty times, ad-libbing it for our enjoyment (‘this… is… SPARTA!’ and other such cultural references largely involved).

Saionji challenges Utena to a duel, and she accepts, revealing after he laves that she intends to loose the match on purpose and be through with this rose bride business (how cold.) We get another development moment from Anthy here – she tells Utena to ‘do whatever you like,’ even though we see her face sink. Obviously, she’d rather be with the pleasant Utena than the abusive asshole Saionji, but because of her passive nature and adherence to the so-called ‘rules’, she goes along with it. You know that this is a psychologically beaten-down young woman.

Today’s shadow puppets re-enact a western-style film, and they warn that “loosing may be harder than you think!” Kashira kashira, gozonji kashira?!

Utena at her most... 'handsome.'

ZETTAI! UNMEI! MOKUSHIROKU!!! Now we see the next addition to Utena’s stock footage escapades. As Utena reaches the top of the spiral staircase and the music fades, her uniform magically gains extra pieces. This is an obvious jab at the transformations that magical girls undergo, only instead there are only some very slight changes (by the way, I think I neglected to mention how Utena’s director did a season of Sailor Moon, and Utena was his way of doing what he’d wanted to do with that show.)

When Utena draws the Sword of Dios from Anthy, we see some of her manliest facial expressions yet. Fitting for someone drawing their huge dick out~

In the heat of battle, I think is where Utena makes her decision not to let Saionji have Anthy. After the duel is over, she’s won, and everything is wrapping up, Utena claims that she won the match because Saionji would have been a jerk to Chu-chu. Whether or not Anthy is aware of Utena’s true thoughts, the answer is enough to give her a smile. Now, what I think happened is that Utena felt Saionji’s visceral nature in the fight. Saionji fights brutally and viciously, even kicking Utena in the ribs at one point. More so than even her pride, which I’m sure was a factor, I think Utena realized that this person was not worthy of Anthy, and even if she wasn’t interested

This was too fun not to use

herself, he couldn’t have her.

That’s all for episode 2~ Tune in for the next one whenever my time permits!

EDIT: I realize I mentioned nothing of Wakaba in this post, if only because I didn’t have much to say about her scenes. I just want to give a Tip of the Hat to her great moments at the episode’s beginning. These scenes are what make her endearing despite her relative lack of plot importance.

Related Posts:

Utena episode 1

The Revolution Begins – Schneider enters the Utena blogging circle

The recently released remastered edition of Revolutionary Girl Utena has been subbed and is being torrented by hundreds as we speak. What better reason does the blogosphere need to engage in a massive series-viewing? Utena is one of the favorite anime of virtually everyone who’s seen it, and is only waiting to entertain everyone who has yet to do so. Love Utena? It’s time for a rewatch! Haven’t seen it? Now’s your chance! Utena has been the starting point for no shortage of brilliant posts on all kinds of blogs, but the talk of it is sporadic and uncommon. This is as good a chance as we’ll get for those of you who’ve wanted to discuss the show for a long time to do so with relevance, and for new fans to mingle in and get acquainted!

So here’s what you do – for however long you need, you watch the show through and do your posts on it. If you want to blog it episodically, or do a post after each arc, or even if you just flat-out marathon it – do what you gotta do and then make a post about it! Let Utena be a blogosphere revolution! As for me, I’ve decided to blog it episodically, so I’ll be doing so below!

Episode 1: The Rose Bride

the signature rose prints are there from the get-go

Our story begins with a tale from the long past of a girl who is all alone. A prince on a white horse comes to her and gives her a ring with a rose crest on it, telling her never to loose her courage and nobility even when she grows up. So impressed is the girl by the prince that she decides to become a prince herself! “But was that such a good idea?!”

For those who’ve never seen Utena, there are some things you need to know right off the bat. First of all, this show is not meant to be taken seriously, and yet it is meant to be taken hyper-seriously. The show puts great purpose into being as ridiculous as it can, and it lampshades this fact around every turn, but it also plays the drama straight off of this, leading to overblown but very real and purposeful drama. The next thing to know is that the show is rife with symbolism. If something seems odd, it’s probably because it is either symbolic or parodical. Finally, you should know that this is not a kid’s show. If something seems like it might be taken sexually, chances are the show wants you to take it sexually. You will see some of that in this episode.

Right of the bat, Utena gives us a great way to learn what the difference is between ‘art’ and ‘animation’ in an anime. All throughout the episode, the background art is stunning. Art director Shichiro Kobayashi is a legend, and he is fully displaying all of his talent

the school with it's penis tower

and love for cels here. However, the actual moving bits are not so great. There are a good number of off-model shots and a distinct lack of detail at parts, but this is somewhat made up for by the better looking dramatic moments.

During the first few minutes, we are introduced to Utena, the prince of all tomboys. Much to the lament of the school’s disciplinary attendant, Utena parades around unashamedly in a boy’s uniform. What I find interesting is that even though everyone including Utena refers to it as the school’s uniform for boys, it is in fact completely different from that of anyone in the school. This a way to really emphasize how much Utena stands out.

Utena being hot~

Utena’s best friend is Wakaba, who is just a normal girl, but an excellent friend. She refers to Utena as her ‘boyfriend’ and talks about how much cooler she is than any guy, but you can pull off the yuri goggles – it’s important to remember that Utena is shoujo, and the actions of girls is expected to be more realistic, as is the case here. Wakaba has a crush on ‘Saionji-sama’, the vice-president of the student council, who she and Utena observe from the school’s second-story balcony as he discusses something with Anthy Himemiya.

Anthy is described by Wakaba as a ‘strange girl’ who evidently keeps to herself all the time. There is something immediately noticeable about Anthy, being that she is dark-skinned, unlike anyone else we’ve seen in the school. Anthy wears a regular uniform like a facade of normalcy, while her dark skin seems to represent the fact that she is definitely abnormal, and even if she wears a normal uniform, everyone can tell how abnormal she is.

As Utena observes Anthy and Saionji, she sees Saionji slap the fuck out of Anthy and prepare to do it again before his wrist is caught by Touga Kiryuu. This image of Touga stopping Saionji, and Utena’s relief at him doing so, sets a good precedent for how Utena will come to view Touga as the show continues – that is to say, she sees him as very ‘princely’, having rescued the damsel in distress.

Touga rescuing the damsel in distress

Later on, in the student council room, we meet the other members of the board, Juri and Miki. Touga accosts Saionji for his treatment of ‘the rose bride,’ saying how he can’t just do as he pleases with her. There is a hilarious moment here where Miki whispers ‘do as he pleases?!’ with shock at the implications of possible sexual deviancy, and Juri smirks and repeats the phrase, almost as if to scare Miki. This is another good precedent, as it sets up Miki’s very naive personality.

Back in the regular part of the school, someone has posted an embarrassing love letter on the bulletin board and all the guys are laughing about it. Utena busts up this ruckus, declaring that ‘a real man wouldn’t read it!’ (You go girl!) We can see here that Utena has a strong honor code and adherence to her princely nature. We learn that this is Wakaba’s letter to Saionji, and she runs off crying. Utena is gunna get that bastard for this! After confirming with Saionji that he was the one to post up the letter, Utena challenges him to a duel, and while she is unaware of it, Saionji mistakes her as a competitor in some kind of contest we’ve yet to learn about. He invites her to come into the school’s off-limits forest for a duel.

Utena at the arena entrance

We then get to see two of this show’s staples – the shadow play (“Kashira kashira, gozonji kashira?!”) and the entrance to the dueling arena (ZETTAI! UNMEI! MOKUSHIROKU!) You’ll get very acquainted with these seemingly-absurd things as the show goes on.

Up in the arena, we learn the nature of the duels from Saionji and Anthy. You wear a rose in your pocket, and if the other person’s sword destroys your rose, then you loose. This is the most obvious symbolism in the show, as well as the most important. To spell it out, the sword is a dick, and the rose is your chastity. The duels are a direct parallel to deflowering.

We then learn the true nature of the ‘rose bride’ as Saionji summons the ‘Sword of Dios’ from her body. One thing I love about this scene is how there is what sounds like porn music playing as Anthy’s body is thrown back and Saionji pulls his big sword out of her. The Rose Bride is the ‘possession’ of the current champion of duels, and contained within her is the biggest sword. I leave that one to you. Saionji takes up the sword and asks for the power to revolutionize the world from it. I could make a case for ‘revolution’ being ‘birth’ which is something you give with your ‘dick’, but I’ll save it for later episodes.

So anyway, Utena rapes Saionji (symbolically.) And she get’s the Rose Bride. And Touga, watching, says “ii, BABY”, causing massive lulz on my part. So that about covers this great first episode of this revolutionary series. I look forward to seeing if anyone responds to my call and does a post of their own!

Below are some extra screen-shots since I took too many~.

Anthy in the flower garden

The epic arena

Awaken the revolution!

"My dick go like the chargers, the whole team, your shit... look like you fourteen"

Oh man I lol’d. Being a fan of either woul dmake this rock, but being a fan of both makes it gold.

People not included: Reformers, Environmentalists, and Sympathetics

look at that fucking evil face

1. Dilandau - This is what I call a classic villain. He’s a sadist, insane, and has a bone-chilling laugh. He’s mentally unstable and quite full of himself. He’s also extremely powerful and fundamentally deviant. He doesn’t sit around behind the scenes, but is in the action. There is a classic scene where he gets cut and starts screaming ‘MY BEAUTIFUL FACE!!!’ in rage. Unfortunately, like everything else in Escaflowne, Dilandau is ruined by shitty plot twists in the second half.

HERE IS YOUR MESSENGER!!! A BLACK CORW - ON A TOMBSTONE!!!

2. Vicious - Vicious is a mean mother fucker who can take on a gunman with a sword on equal grounds. his crowning moment of evil was probably cutting a man across the eyelids saying ‘you will cry tears of scarlet’. Oh, and he’s voiced by Norio fucking Wakamoto.

3. Akio - This guy could be called something like a sex demon. He literally fucks every single character in Utena. Male, female, family members, he fucks everything in sight. He truly does not give a fuck about other people beyond using them and getting in their pants. He’s also an epic-level badass who drives better than anyone alive.

Form 2 - much hotter.

4. Medusa – I didn’t like Medusa at first, but she’s gotten to be an interesting character. She’s got a lot of Joker-style planning several steps ahead of everyone else. She gets major bonus points post-loli for showing just how evil she is and taking on an entire new world of creepiness.

5. Hansel and Gretal – I know I said no sympathics but dude… just dude. Just seeing a picture of them gives me chills.

So, I finished Ouran. I think it’s probably the most surprised I’ve ever been by a show, and I’m kicking myself for having been so homophobic of it for so long. This easily ties with Utena for my favorite shoujo ever – surpassing it in certain areas even (though not enough to push out ahead, after all Utena is classic.) This is definitely an example of getting everything right. The characters were all great, well-developed worked well together, and were just fun to watch. The constant making fun of shoujo was just too perfect. Scenes like in the first episode where they instantly realize the girl is a bully, or when Honey-sempai’s brother is immediately identified as having a complex made hilarious triviality of annoying shoujo cliches. The pacing in each episode was perfect as well, which to me is a rare thing since most episodic shows end to be sometimes good and sometimes bad in my opinion. The overall series pacing worked perfectly, too, since we delved slowly deeper into the characers past with the more dramatic things coming out more as the story progressed. The writers did a god job of mixing plot, comedy, and random adventures in a way that made none of them take over too much (a lot like Utena did.)

Onto the characters, I loved then all, even Mori despite his miniscule dialog. As i mentioned before, they just worked perfectly together. From their personal relationships to their relationship as a group, they felt like people who naturally belonged together. What’s interesting is that a lot of shows feature a group as they come together, while Ouran takes a group that’s been together for a while and figures out exactly why they are together (with the exception of the new member, Haruhi). There are certainly other shows that do this, but I think of the ones I’ve seen, this one does it best. As for my favorite, excluding the obvious choice of Haruhi, it’s gotta be Tamaki. Loveable idiots are always fun, especially when they have the (I daresay) Captain Tyler feel to them. I was also a big Kyouya fan since smart people with a manipulative side are always a plus for me. Mostly because I’m a smart person with a manipulative side XD There were also awesome touches like Haruhi’s crossdressing father and Renge the otaku girl. Their recurring appearances were always extremely fun.

And of course, lets not leave out the most important thing – trippiness! love unique visuals, and Ouran has them! They may not have been layed on as thick, but it was obvious that Utena was some kind of inspiration for this. I mean come on there were spinning roses and an ever-present fucking clock tower XD Touches like the lightbulbs when people realize that Haruhi is a girl (especially their triumphant return at the end) just gave the show that extra heaping dosage of awesome. And episode 13. Fucking perfect.

So, this will easily make the honorable mentions in my favorites, right under Utena. Even at 26 episodes, the show felt like it went by fast as hell and I’m sad that I won’t be watching it anymore. I look forward to a rewatching sometime. (has this been licensed yet? I should just get the DVDs)

[UTENA SPOILERS]

So I just finally finished Utena. Right after it ending, my first thought was ‘I wish there was more’ simply because I’d spent so much time with it, but honestly, i’m glad I get to move on now – 39 episodes was a lot in under a week ^^;; Ah, where do I begin in talking about a show like this? Well, a lot of it I like to compare to NGE. Mostly because it starts as a rather lighthearted show with very serious moments, and gradually becomes darker and darker until it reaches te point of being disturbing. Disturbing in a way, though, that I love so very much.

The things that will stick with me after watching Utena are the characters, the imagery, and the ending. And, of course, that everyone fucks everyone in this show. Seriously. The chicks did the dudes, the chicks did the chicks, the dudes did the dudes. I’ve never seen such a hive of STDs in my life XD Nevertheless, the show had some great characters, detestable as many of them were. I find it funny that I ended up feeling a little sorry for Saionji and Nanami, despite both being such utter pricks at times. In the end, there wasn’t really any character who I absolutel hated… okay, I hate Akio, but then again, he’s the bad guy, you’re supposed to. The show showed all the characters in their serious and goofy moments, so that ou really got to know all of them in every way. I like that each of their individual stories is left open almost entirely, leaving you only with the knowlege of how the characters have grown. In that way, I feel there was a spectacular effort in focusing completely on the characters and not the story itself.

What amazes me about Utena is that it can be cheesy, totally formulaic, repeat itself, waste time, and do it all with such utter skill and awesome that I don’t even mind it. That’s what makes the show endearing – while you know what to expect from each episode in that season (a bunch of duels and random Nanami adventures) you still want to see how they’re going to portray it. I also think that the formulaic nature of the series is what strengthened the final saga in a lot of ways. At that point, the plot is all coming together, but it keeps you in total suspense and only reveals it’s hand at the very last minute. There was really no way to predict how it was going to end.

And when it did end, it did so with the sort of epic flair I was hoping for. The ultimate sacrifice of Utena and everything about the final stage, namely when the swords came down and destroyed the entire structure was simply awesome. It even had a nice conclusive aftermath that leaves enough to the imagination but still tells you what’s happening.

Now, to get down to the juicy stuff. The symbolism in this show was simply awesome. All the rose and sword stuff, the constant power struggle and right down to the tower (I love when Akio says ‘a child can never understand the importance of this tower.’ He means what you think he means!). There was so much damn sex in this show, to. Even the implied Utena losing her virginity or whatever. This part was a little over-the-top for me, actually. When Akio went down on his fiance’s own mother (and neither character shows up again either) I was thinking they might be pushing it a little. Then again, at some point, sex really lost it’s maning in this show. (that point was probably when I realized that Akio and Touga were sleepin together, despite Touga chastising lesbianity earlier, lol).

Still, it was all cool in the end. I’d say my favorite part of Utena is just all the trippy stuff that goes on. From the shadow theater representing each episode’s concept, to the extremely odd stuff going on in the student council room (my favorite was the invisible train), right down to Miki’s stopwatch. The show takes so many libertes with reality, and that’s what made it so much fun. Again, there was a time when I had a problem with this. Namely, when it turns out that Souji’s entire reality was an illusion – it made things a bit difficult to comprehend for a bit and just seemed a little too extreme. mkostly because the whole 2 episodes that spent a lot of time on his backstory were a total waste.

In any case, this was definitely a fun, interesting, and cool show that I’m happy to have seen, even if it did take up 18 1/2 hours of my life, lol. i guess now I need to hunt down the movie. Though, like with end of eva, I think I’d like to let the series sink in a bt before I go for the film.

Every ew days the view count freezes on a number, and right now it’s 666 and since I’m listening to Number of the Beast at the moment, I figured it was post time. Today, I’m going to be talking about 3 works that, as an anime fan, it is my duty to watch and that, as an anime fan, you have probably already seen. Since one of them I have completed, I will save it for last, but the other two are both classic shows that it’s about time I saw. Interestingly enough, it was a coincidence that I am watching them both at the same time, but both are important to me because of who I heard about them from. The first being the legendary Omoikane who listed one as his favorite anime of all time in the designated thread on Megatokyo. The second was the even-more-important Dagger of Otakuboards who’s favorite is the other.

Oh, and if you don’t care about classic, there’s Hayate stuff too >_>

I rented the first DVD of Martian Successor Nadesico and my my, this series is already so much fun. Especially Yurika (you know I like a character when I can actualy remember her name!) who’s just plain adorable. I probably have to watch the whole show to understand the hype about it, but with a beginning such as this it won’t be hard. This one’s not as important, though…

Every single thing about Utena screams ‘show digitalboy would like’ so I’m more than ready to watch it through. Lests compare it to my checklist of awesome:

Yuri? check
Great drama? check
Awesome fights? check
Unique directing? check
A great cast? check
Playas? check
Realism while taking liberties with realism? check
Subtle comedy? check
Crazy incest? check

Honestly, I can’t think of anything to add to this show. I’m not sure how or why I haven’t already seen it (actually I am – i’m very new to anime >_>) but now I’m addicted. Since I started to get the Funimation channel, you’d think I’d be watching it there, but the schedule on that channel is such a load of convoluted bullshit that I can’t possibly follow anything, so I’ll just watch the subs (since everyone seems to hate the dub anyway.) I’ll be sure to give an extensive review of this series when I’m done, which will more than likely take for-freaking-ever seeing as how it’s so long.

Much as I love Paranoia Agent, Perfect Blue made me nervous about checking out anything Satoshi Kon does. I’m glad, though, that I decided to check out Millenium Actress, because the movie is absolutely amazing. You can check out the basic story on ANN or whatever, but beyond that, it’s really difficult to explain just whats so amazing about this movie. It twists the real past, movies, and storytelling all into one continuity with such fluidity that it is amazing. The pacing for the film is great – it gets into things quickly and is downright fun. My cheeks actually hurt from smiling so much at the film’s many charms and attention grabbers that carry you through the emotional story.

It feels very whimsical in the sense that the plot is fairly simplistic – it’s a straight-up fairy tale love story about a woman chasing a man all through her life, but represented in such a unique and interesting way that it adds layers to the simplicity. It’s endearing and memorable and fun for anyone.

Hayate is now officially the only anime of the spring season that I am cought up on. high-five.