Best part is that even with context you still have no idea wtf is going on. Most confusing show i've ever watched. Still love it even if i'm too dumb to understand it.
its not really that confusing at all, it just has so many themes that it can be overwhelming. there are clear feminist narratives and critique. for example you'd think the episode where nanami turns into a cow is just that, some random filler ep, but it actually tackles her dehumanization & themes of grooming (by her brother). ppl who say utena doesnt make sense should honestly just read some feminist literature
I think that with a show like this, and Ikuhara's works in general, there's definitely plenty to find under the surface if you're willing to decipher it, but ultimately it's less about what it all means and more about how it makes you feel.
Everything represents something. Half the fun of the show is figuring out what it all means. (The other half of the fun is pretending you're Utena's wife.)
@@caramel7050 You don't really need to read any feminist literature at all to understand the theme of that episode. Or any episode, actually. It might help, but if you're already inclined to be able to read between the lines, it should be easy to pick up themes. The themes are probably some of the easiest parts to understand. Overarching themes should be no problem. It's the _way_ those themes are represented that's confusing people. The characters react to weird things happening, it's not just a quirk of storytelling, and I think that's the part that is getting people all turned around. These things are a commentary, but they're also literally happening in the story. Nanami actually turned into a cow in lore, not figuratively, and that's pretty easy to get hung up on.
I'm sad about this joke which got lost in translation: When Juri talks about her BALL, she says "tama" in Japanese, further confusing Nanami about her own tamago... (which, by the way, literally means "ball-child")
utena transforms into the car immediately after declaring her desire to take anthy to the outside world because in that moment utena becomes the vehicle that anthy can use to escape, just like utena was what allowed anthy to decide to escape ohtori in the series. anthy always *could* leave, but she didn't ever want to take that step until utena shows up and pushes her to do it. so anthy using utena to drive to freedom is just a very literal interpretation of this. utena is the car because all she can do is *offer* anthy a better life. nothing will actually get better for anthy without anthy herself taking the wheel and deciding for herself that she wants a better future
@@knoxs8th Anthy has been freed since the anime; that’s why you can see her real self and her true personality in the movie. Kunihiko Ikuhara talked about it in an interview. Utena was the one who freed her in the anime (making the revolution) and he said “it would be interesting to reverse the roles, Anthy saving Utena this time” and the whole “girl turns into a car” part is just some kind of his fantasies 😒 he wanted to do it in sailor moon but didn’t get the chance so he did it in Utena 😒
I'm not ashamed to admit Nanami is one of my all time favorite characters. I think her design is one of the cutest, her episodes are always bonkers and her English va is just adorable and perfectly extra. She's one of the biggest reasons I switch between English and Japanese when I'm rewatching the series.
The manga is completely different from the anime and even the movie. It's written by a completely different writer with little relation to the anime. The anime original was the first work and not the other way around.
its not for everyone thats for sure; if youre not the kinda person who enjoys a series that makes you do homework and analysis to understand it, then i really dont recommend it. but if you ARE that kind of person then its perfect, thats why it became such a staple. its a very specific niche basically
@@G_de_Coligny People who can find the meaning in it see it's value, that's all. If you can't that's fine, it doesn't have to have value to you to have value to others. Honestly the Eva comparison KIND of makes sense but utena is a lot more well put together and coherent with its themes, it knows what it wants to say and isn't just all over the place despite it's trippyness- it's consistent, not aimless. I honestly don't even think it's a very hard show to understand if you just pay attention... That being said it's not as if I don't see the worth in the ramblings of eva either, it's just a different kind of lens you gotta look at it from, almost like a case study. So yeah art has meaning even when it's hard to gleam for one reason or another, who knew! No clue what naked lunch is tho 🤷♀️
@@G_de_Coligny lol okay I'll try it drunk sometime, but personally I do gleam a lot of meaning a purpose from utena. Eye of the beholder and all that, but to me it seems like it's a very intricate and intentional thing unlike Eva- but like you said it still has value. (btw ignore the other reply I thought this was something else mb)
@@e.9874 Meh. I've been a long time fan of this show, but it can get a little pretentious with the symbolism, sometimes at the expense of coherence. While I have somewhat enjoyed learning more over time about the writer's intentions, I feel that the show is better if I don't overthink it.
Sword lesbians trapped in high school purgatory duel for control of a schoolgirl who's also an immortal witch who's also a scabbard who... In short; it is pure 90's crack and it's wonderful.
@@reviandelumiel2833 it’s way better than DIC/Cloverway dub of Sailor Moon and it’s one of my favorite dubs along side with the 4kids dubs of Pokémon and Yugioh and the VIZ redub of Sailor Moon!
