Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie.

[dposse]

I've been hearing alot of good things about Revolutionary Girl Utena. And for the first time, i'll be able to see the movie. Its coming on tonight (6/18/05) on AZNTv, also known as The International Network at 11:30pm eastern.


From the [URL=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=91]AnimeNewNetwork[/URL]:

[QUOTE]Plot Summary: In a loose retelling of the Revolutionary Girl Utena TV series, Utena Tenjou arrives at Ohtori Academy, only to be immediately swept up in a series of duels for the hand of her classmate Anthy Himemiya and the power she supposedly holds. At the same time, Utena reunites with Touga Kiryuu, a friend from her childhood who seems to know the secrets behind the duels. Utena must discover those secrets for herself, before the power that rules Ohtori claims her and her friends, new and old.[/QUOTE]

It sounds interesting. I think i will tape it tonight so i dont fall asleep in the middle of it, lol. :animeswea

So, what do you think of Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie?

[Dagger]

Oh boy. I'd better warn you about this one... :animeswea

It is theoretically possible to understand the Utena movie without having seen the TV series. It is also theoretically possible to connect to & sympathize with the characters without having seen the TV series. But the actual likelihood of that? Quite slim.

Which is a real shame, because the movie is a stunningly gorgeous anime, and it functions perfectly on so many levels--as a serious piece, as a parody of the TV series, as a meaningful examination of gender roles, as pure eye candy. Yet when people see it before watching the TV show, their main response is usually an emphatic WTF.

(In fairness, parts of the series are bound to elicit a similar reaction, but it's generally more drawn out. And over the course of 39 episodes, Utena does a lovely job of conditioning you to its weirdness.)

Alternatively, first-time viewers end up enjoying the movie for its visuals, and are subsequently disappointed by the more limited animation of the TV show.

If it interests you, I suggest that you watch a little of the movie--since it's a retelling of the TV series, it contains a lot of slightly skewed spoilers, so you might not want to see too much--and then rent the first disc of the series. The movie is fun and a strong accomplishment in its own right, but the television show is the heart and soul of the franchise.

~Dagger~

[PWNED]

My sister owns the movie and I suggest that you watch the series first, I once watched it without watching the series and I was just confused. I guess that I wasn't too familiar with the franchise ti begin with.

[J2Assassin]

Same here. I first looked at Utena through a couple chapters of the manga, then I grabbed the movie. The movie was good, but just like the End of Evangelion, unless you watch the series, you will find yourself confused and a little taken aback once you see the other scenes of the movie. Of course, even after I watched the series, I was still a little confused.......

[dizzy_otaku]

Yeah... Unfortunately I was one of the people who saw the movie without watching the series first. I read the all of the manga though! >.<
I thought it was a good movie but it did, in fact, confuse me a lot. -_-
That sucks for the most 'cause I was really looking forward to learning more about the series.
I kind of did, I guess, but I need to watch the series.
Damn! This sucks *****.

[KarmaOfChaos]

[color=deeppink][size=1]As Dagger and others have said, it's probably a good idea to catch at least some of the series, before watching the movie. I still am of the belief that while the series, especially towards the second half, was highly the result of some major acid trips, the movie takes it to a whole new level of bizarre. And, again as Dagger said, while the series gives you the weirdness/LSD-induced scenes in smaller portions, slowly building your ability to look past the 'what the crap are they even doing?' and see the symbolism, the movie is like a straight glass of vodka all at once, and you're left with a distinct feeling of "WTF."

I was fortunate enough to watch the entire series (all at once. in one day. not the brightest idea my friends and I have ever had but.) before seeing the movie, but one of my other friends was not, and the only way she was able to make sense of it was to think of it in what she calls "dream sense", where you take for granted that none of the even slightly normal rules apply and nothing makes sense and it's all symbolic.

But it really is a great movie, and has some of the most gorgeous artwork I've ever seen, and if it's just not possible to watch the whole series first, it's still worth seeing, if just for the eye candy.

-Karma

PS: Don't watch this series if you have gender issues though. :)[/size][/color]

[Dagger]

I re-watched the movie a few nights ago, and it reminded me to bring up a theory (two theories, actually) I've read elsewhere and that I at least partly agree with.

1) [spoiler]Utena and Shiori are actually the same person.[/spoiler]

This makes a lot of sense to me, although [spoiler]I'm not sure I would say they're literally split personalities or anything... rather, I think Shiori represents the part of Utena that still wants/wanted to rely on the real prince (Touga) rather than becoming a prince herself. It's arguable that this part of Utena is, like Touga himself, dead and has come back at Ohtori in the form of a kind of ghost. Alternatively, you could say that this desire in her doesn't fully vanish until Shiori's car crashes toward the end of the movie.[/spoiler]

Any takers?

2) [spoiler]Utena, Anthy and Shiori are split personalities. By the end of the movie, Anthy and Utena reunite while Shiori is discarded.[/spoiler]

I just can't buy into this concept, although it's intriguing and it's definitely interesting to watch the movie while keeping it in mind. There's a site somewhere with a really detailed and interesting explanation of possible evidence for the theory.

One other thing I noticed during my latest viewing is how much Akio's seiyuu sucks. I mean, the guy's performance is laughably bad, even from the perspective of a native English speaker... it's a good thing he doesn't have too many lines. I guess next time I'll watch the dub again for comparison purposes, haha.

~Dagger~

[Guest MrMingan]

I see this movie. Good! :)