Forum - View topicShelf Life - Dueling Djangos
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PurpleWarrior13
 Posts: 2024 |
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Utena was probably one of my first not-so-mainsream titles. I picked up the first VHS at my local Kroger for only one dollar when they were having a video blowout sale, which included many CPM titles (I saw a LOT of Slayers in the bin). I was only 12 or 13 at the time! It was a good series. I watched most of the rest of it later. I honestly don't think it's a show that's supposed to be taken too seriously. I like relaxing and watching it, and try not to think hard about every little detail. The show has a lot of symbolism, to the point where there's so much of it, you get confused as to what stuff IS and ISN'T real symbolism. I just like watching the show for it's story, and it can actually be really funny sometimes, in addition to being very dramatic. I like the characters, I like the art, there's really nothing NOT to love about Utena. Even my non-anime loving (anime hating?) little brother admits he enjoys Utena to some extent.
Now the movie... yeah the movie was a little weird... I had AMAZING art, music, and animation, but it did cross a little too far into the weird for my tastes... I was thinking of shelling money for the expensive CPM DVDs a couple years ago, but screw them! I'm so thankful for Nozomi for saving this series! My god! These box sets are fantastic! The booklets, the extras, the art and packaging... they are almost perfect! The picture quality is a hundred times better than any of the old CPM releases of the series (especially the first 13 episodes' "Rose Collection...) I also like that they included all the CPM extras. The interviews with the voice cast are interesting, especially since it features some of my all-time favorite voice actors (Rachael Lillis, Crispin Freeman, Lisa Ortiz, Dan Green, Liam O'Brien, among others). It would've been nice if FUNimation did the same thing for the Slayers box set... |
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Aylinn
 Posts: 1684 |
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It depends I watched few episodes with my non-anime fan friend and she fairly liked them. Now, I just need to get the dubbed version to show her the remaining episodes. 
I have noticed that some Madoka fans praise PMMM for deconstructing the magical girl genre, so maybe you should point out to them that that Utena does the same with the classical fairy tale. It seems that no one likes the movie.  Is there anyone else who, like I, absolutely loves the awesomely high level of weirdness?
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Nayu
Posts: 676 |
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QFT. Utena is totally the Madoka Magica of the late 90s/early 00s. So overrated. And to the person who brought up Wandering Son, that show is tainted by the fact that it starts off somewhere in the middle of the manga. I wish they'd skipped it and made more Aoi Hana or Sasameki Koto. Or hell, Girl Friends.... |
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Aylinn
Posts: 1684 |
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No, Utena is much better than Madoka Magica. It's not overrated. |
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Veers
 Posts: 1197 Location: Texas |
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Crisha
Moderator
 Posts: 4290 |
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I just watched it for the first time last night, and I loved it! I loved the alternate take on the series, and I loved the overt sexuality between Utena and Anthy (instead of the heterosexual girlfriend romance 'no-really-I'm-straight-even-though-I-love-you-because-I-don't-love-you-that-way in the series). I could easily rewatch it, which I will soon. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I watched the movie before I'd even heard of the series. Yeah, big mistake. My girlfriend at the time wanted to watch it as she was a big fan of the show, so that's why I got it in the first place.
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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I liked the movie a lot. It's not as dramatically solid as the TV series, but for me personally, it's the most visually gorgeous anime film I've ever seen. |
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Aylinn
Posts: 1684 |
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I'm glad that I'm not the only person who loves the movie
Of course oranges are much better than apples. 
Seriously though, Utena deals with problems like gender roles, how society imposes its ideas on people etc. Not to mention that characters from Utena have depth that characters from PMMM lack and SKU can been seen as religious allegory. Madoka Magica doesn't have complexity of this calibre, but I admit that PMMM is a fairly good mix of elements that are present in other magical girls series. |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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Typo. ****! My list starts with Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, but My Neighbor Totoro isn't on it, so we might be in trouble.
I enjoyed Adolescence of Utena. It didn't quite hold together narratively, but it looked wonderful and it was so strange and freewheeling that I enjoyed it tremendously. In a way it was the joy of, "what the ****?!" but with Kunihiko Inuhara, for all I know, that was the idea. The sheer strangeness and audacity of some of the imagery was too fantastic to not be great. I have to love any film with the line, "you're not the only one who can turn into a car," in it. Especially if it is spoken by somebody who has turned into a car. I'm not surprised that some people didn't quite care for the Black Rose arc. It wasn't really narratively essential to the series, but I found it so emotionally compelling that I'm glad that it was there. "Wakaba Flourishing" was particularly intriguing and heartrending. I also really like it because I find it more interesting and intricate the more I think about it. I'll probably watch the whole series again without the months-long gaps that waiting for the releases required and I'm actually looking forward to examing the Black Rose arc again the most. I'll concede that the physical action in the duels was mostly dull and repetetive, but for me the wonderfully strange song lyrics, visual symbolism and context of the duels was what made them, although it wouldn't've been a bad thing if their fighting choreography had been the equal of everything else. Last edited by Surrender Artist on Sat Jan 14, 2012 6:36 pm; edited 2 times in total |
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Aylinn
Posts: 1684 |
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I agree that the Black Rose arc is certainly interesting. I like it that the story becomes darker during this arc and the eerie similarity between Mikage and Utena. They both have a specific memory, which drives them to participate in the duels. They both delude themselves that they play a hero who tries to save a certain person (Utena has Anthy and Mikage also has Anthy, but he thinks she is Mamiya) and as a result they are both manipulated by Akio. Mikage's words that they are the same are so true. I think it's safe to assume that Mikage is an example of what would happen if Utena failed. |
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bravetailor
Posts: 817 |
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Yes, "Wakaba Flourishing" is probably the most heartrending single episode of the series. Seeing her have her 15 minutes...and then having it come crashing down as she becomes a "minor character" again has to move anyone who's ever felt like a supporting player among peers.
It always puzzled me too how the duels in the Black Rose Arc were curiously unsuspenseful. But then again, it provided the larger overall purpose of buffing Utena up into someone the audience considered unbeatable for a while...so that when Akio started chipping away at her invincible aura in the third arc, we were all the more worried for her, thus creating an added layer of suspense. |
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Blood-
 Bargain Hunter Posts: 23743 |
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NGE vs. RahXephon is my litmus test. If you prefer the pallidly derivative BlahXephon (or MehXephon) to the inspired train wreckage of NGE, then I know you've acquired your anime taste from an unflushed toilet bowl. |
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dtm42
Posts: 14084 Location: currently stalking my waifu |
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I guess that means we can't be friends Blood-. And here I was about to invite you to a bar-b here in wet-but-warm New Zealand so you could escape the harsh Canadian winter . . .
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Blood-
Bargain Hunter Posts: 23743 |
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Hey listen, for a free invite to gorgeous Kiwi-land, I could friggin' learn to love RahXephon ... a lot. |
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