it's a testament to how well Utena does metaphors, because "i cried because a character turning into a car meant so much" is a sentence that is absolutely insane in any other context
I love how the movie made the whole "Utena is a vehicle for Anthy's self-actualization/freedom but Anthy still needs to provide the final impetus/power behind it to achieve it" blatantly explicit.
It took me a while to really "get" the movie, I think, but now I love it dearly. Yeah, it's Weird and absolutely Extra, but I think it takes the show's "the themes are what really matter here" ethos and turns it up to 11. Also I really feel that the movie, regardless of its own merits, helped me understand the series better. Plus it's *gorgeous.*
FYI, in case you didn't catch it: Wakaba is the Jeep that the student council rides in on in the end. Also, can we talk about Utena literally being the vehicle for Anthy's escape? I love the agency this movie gives Anthy.
Both in fact. The name "Wakaba" is written with the characters for "Young" and "Leaf" hence the reason Saionji made it for her in the first place, and it's also what that student driver sticker symbol is called.
I feel like the movie is also a "for the people in the back row who somehow didn't catch on the first time" kind of story. Like, there is NO open question about Utena and Anthy's relationship after this.
Utena literally becomes the vehicle for Anthy to escape from her prison and both overcome the trauma of their respective princes, returning to the outside world. I love that this movie throws subtlety out the window and becomes a colossal allegory.
To me this was always a direct sequel to the end of the show. This is the world Utena is stuck in - away from Akio, but still stuck in his influence. Also Nanami mentions the incident by the river in tv show too in one of final episodes. The memory of that freaks her out and makes her want to change the subject because she feels like something ominous will happen if she lingers upon it. Which likelt means the twist might apply in the show too. Perception is reality. And as long as Nanami doesn't perceive, Touga is there. The movie is where Anthy travels at the end when she leaves Akio and travels to the beginning to save Utena. Its why Anthy is a lot more free and active, its why Utena feels like she met Anthy before and its why they say they already killed Akio - because they did by abandoning him and denying his influence in the show. And its why Anthy has almost exact same hairstyle as at the end of the show.. Now they just need to overcome the lingering trauma of his influence move forward to the future together. Everyone else are just echoes of people at the academy that Anthy already left. Linegring memories and trauma. Their roles flipped and this whole movie is the metaphorical representation of Anthy opening Utena's coffin and saving her. Anthy goes back to the beginning to form a worldview, a perception of the world, where Utena and her can be together, thus shattering last lingering holds Akio has over them.
Thank you for your wonderful reactions. I believe you all live in America, so I will explain the situation in Japan in 1997. When it comes to animated films in 1997, I remember that Miyazaki's "Princess Mononoke'' and Anno's "Neon Genesis Evangelion'' attracted attention, but Ikuhara's Utena did not. There weren't many movie theaters showing the movie, so my sister and I took the train to a movie theater in a big city. I remember that after watching the movie, we left the theater in a daze, unable to understand the meaning of the production at all. In terms of animation, the movie was absolutely gorgeous. In the TV series, many cuts were reused due to lack of time and budget. It must also be the director's taste that there was a direct sexual depiction that could not be aired in the TV series. Unlike America, where there is religious oppression against homosexuality, Japan is not religious, but the social situation at the time was that homosexuality was seen as a ``disease that should be cured'' and there was also social prejudice. I want to write it down. I still can't believe that a quarter of a century has passed since then. Utena's voice actress has passed away. My sister also passed away 10 years ago. This reaction was a good opportunity to remember those days. appreciate.
Thank you for watching "Revolutionary Girl Utena" to the end. As a fan of Utena, I am delighted. Utena is a difficult work full of metaphors and messages, but it is still fun to contemplate even after all these years. In the TV version, coffins often appear, and the Ohtori Academy itself is shaped like a nobleman's tomb that was made in ancient Japan. Considering that the school itself was a coffin to keep showing boys and girls dream stories and confining them, it looks really cool to see Anthy waking up from the coffin and starting out on her own will. Utena and Anthy were separated in the last episode of the TV version, but in the movie version, they leave together for the outside world. The "car" is a symbol of adulthood and a means of transportation to the outside (the real world). The transformation into a car may seem strange at first glance, but I believe it is a rite of passage for the girls to become adults and live in the real world. It is a fascinating film that entertains with artistic images, meaningful direction, and reincarnated characters. I live in Japan and don't understand English (I use a translator app, so sorry if my English is strange), but I still enjoyed watching your two reactions! Thanks for meeting Utena! The power to revolutionize the world!
this movie makes the most sense if it's seen as a continuation of the main series, if only for anthy's development and the way she holds herself in the movie. the fact that right from the start she is without her glasses, hair down, infinitely more expressive, it just feels like this is the anthy who walked out on akio at the end of the series. it's basically all but confirmed by the end with utena saying "I think I understand why you sought me out and I didn't reject you." This is the real bookend to anthy's story that she needed - she only gets what she truly deserves when she and utena can break out of otori together.
This movie was the biggest emotional rollercoaster. I remember crying during Touga's elevator scene and when Utena transforms into the prince during Juri's fight. Having it switch to "Extra! Extra! Extra!" to Kanae screaming "AKIO IS DEAD" all within like 15 seconds together is such a clustered experience and I love it. 10/10 from me both the movie and the series.
EDIT: The boys asked if all of this was a "cycle for the Duelists or if its a cycle for Anthy?" To me it seems Anthy is this movies Diva and this is the promised day where they shine together....blowing up The Castle. Anthy destroying her entire garden to cheer Utena up always takes my breath away. Every time. And Also: Hidden World---Land of the Dead: "Ohtori Academy" Outside World---Real World: Earth The series was based off this too, the duelers forest was always on top of a burial mound, "everybody is still inside their coffins", the movie made this more explicit.
man. you guys have really made my year with this series and frankly i dont know what im gonna do every monday from now on without it! as always your discussion was stellar, im endlessly impressed by the details and nuances that you're both able to pick up on as first time viewers. that being said, utena is definitely one to watch at least twice. im so glad you enjoyed the movie on a first watch tho!! the common trend with utena fans is that we hate the movie on a first watch and then become diehard defenders of it after a couple more viewings (this was certainly me). if i had a bit more energy right now id probably write a very gushy essay in the comments about every single aspect of aou that i adore and how it compliments the show and blah blah blah, but im just kind of struck rn by how enjoyable all of your utena videos have been, and how much fun ive had engaging with your ideas and commentary on this show. always happy to see new people experience utena, especially when they get as much out of it as you guys have!! so thanks for that :)
I’ve always liked how utterly disrespectful this movie is to Akio. I mean, he’s obviously evil and disgusting in the show-no one likes him. But he has the appearance of control and suaveness in the show, and the movie just portrays him as really pathetic. I think both portrayals make a lot of sense, because of how Akio was able to successfully prey on the students as an attractive, worldly older man, but in the sense that the movie shows a lot of the characters more mature and further along in their arcs, I think it really works that they’re better able to see through him.
The series was a collaboration between the Ikuhara (the anime director) and Saito (the mangaka), and apparently Saito was against explicit depictions of Utena and Anthy having a romantic relationship. Ikuhara had full control over the movie, so he was able to put all that stuff back in.
Thank you so much for the past 40 weeks of crazy reactions and wild discussions. I already watched this anime beforehand but it was great re-watching weekly with you guys especially with the type of discussions you do making me appreciate things I didn't notice beforehand. I will say this was my first time watching the movie and man watching that was wilder then I expected. Now you know Kunihiko Ikuhara's style it be interesting reacting and discussing his other works in the future such as Penguindrum. Not sure which anime will be next week but I'm never the less excited for whats to come.
@birdplushie I love your reflection on how the series is Anthy leaving the relationship and the movie the lingering trauma. I love how RGU keeps me reflecting and gives more and more through the years. You never stop having this world and these archetypes spinning inside your head.
This is one of the biggest reasons I loved Utena. The Manga is different from the anime, which is different from the movie. It’s a canon collection of AU’s.
YAAASSS i love this movie so much. You guys have made the year of the crazy utena people. I ate all your commentary about this series up. There's so much that you can catch listening to different interpretations, even if they are watching it for the first time. And, well, if i had to say how i reacted to this movie, let's just say i cried in the elevator moment and at the end with the race, for sure
The first time I watched this movie, it was a huge WTF, but I still enjoyed the alternate retelling of the themes of the TV show. I loved the new rose garden, the beautiful dance sequence, the short poignant and sad love story with Touga, the epic sword fights with Juri, Anthy’s lack of her heart, Akio’s car hood flips, and that epic car chase escape (though, yeah, it was a bit long). Though they had Nanami as a cow, I wished she could have appeared in human form as she is one of my favorite characters. But yes, that would have led to more complications to the story. I have to say, no matter how many times I rewatch the TV shows or this movie, I still enjoy them and you can pick up things you missed in previous watches.
Honestly, it's so interesting how the student council + Wakaba don't physically help Anthy (and Utena) but they show Anthy that if she succeeds, that it won't just be for her, but an inspiration to others who were trapped like she was. And that's all she needed from them in order to keep going. It's all her, but it's just a little extra motivation that she can use
This movie is wild and I love it! I was so obessesed when I first watched it, I was in forums and websites reading pages and pages of discussions and theories and what every little thing meant. Also the music is amazing!
I can't believe the journey is finally over. It honestly felt like yesterday when you guys started the show and now we have made it to the end. I really hope you react to the creator's other show, Penguindrum which was actually my first exposure to his works.
in my opinion this movie is definitely the kind of thing that you need to rewatch a couple of times to really get a full appreciation for. that’s also kind of the case for the show, though to a much lesser extent. rewatching the show makes it better (which is saying something because it’s already amazing the first time), but isn’t really as necessary as i feel like it is with the movie. i didn’t personally like the movie that much when i first watched it, outside of a couple of really great scenes, because i didn’t fully understand what it was trying to be. it was only when i read some analyses and then rewatched it that i realized it’s not a retelling, but in fact a kind of sequel, the true ending of the story, which made me like it a lot more. we literally know for a fact due to the black rose arc that there is weird time/memory alteration stuff going on at ohtori. this is just the latest (and last) cycle, loop, revolution if you will. the last iteration of the dueling game. but it’s anthy’s this time. she’s setting the game up again specifically to change the ending to one where her and utena escape together. suddenly it makes sense why, for example, akio’s role is so different and so much lesser. in the movie he’s been dead from the start, there never was a prince, because anthy is free of him and has decided to leave him behind, just as she does in the final episode of the show. he’s unimportant because she has decided that he is, though of course he still haunts her (the show ends with anthy physically escaping her abuser, the movie is about the lingering trauma). the main thing that made me not like the movie as a retelling was the fact that it feels like it’s entirely missing the complexities of akio, anthy and utena’s relationships. i mean utena doesn’t even meet him in this. but it makes a lot of sense when you look at it through the lens of this taking place after the show, after he has lost his control over both them and the school itself. this also accounts for the change in their personalities; anthy is more open due to utena’s influence, while utena is more cynical and less trusting because… of course she would be after everything that happened to her in the show. utena obviously doesn’t actually remember, but i honestly don’t think there’s any sufficient explination for how active a role anthy plays in the movie compared to the show if you don’t believe she remembers at least some of it. there’s no way anthy would break from her role as the rose bride to literally kiss utena if she didn’t know her and didn’t know she was in love with her. (i am just. not going to get into touga and how he fits into the whole thing. i think i kind of understand it a little, but nowhere near enough to put it into words. something about princes and how they always end up dead or were never alive to begin with.) i still love the show much more than movie, but i think it helps not to think of them as two tellings of one story, which would kind of make them compete for your preference, but instead as two connected parts of the same story. then there is of course the whole utena turning into a car thing, which confuses and amuses everyone equally when they watch this for the first time. but i honestly think it’s a pretty straight-forward metaphor when you get down to it. there is only one car in revolutionary girl utena the show, which is akio’s. it symbolises a couple of things, but most prominently power, adulthood and sex. he’s the only who has a car, and the only one who can use it, because in the show he’s the only adult and the only one with any real power. though ironically in the movie he can't use it because he has no key, because he is dead and thus has no power at all. meanwhile anthy does have a key. utena’s. the power is literally in her hands. and utena-as-a-car is i think similar to akio’s car in symbolism, though of course the difference is that she embodies these things in a way that isn’t violent or destructive or hurtful. she literally and metaphorically becomes anthy’s vehicle of escape into a life that she has power over, into adulthood and out of the eternity she spent in ohtori unable to grow up. and of course it represents their relationship, the ways in which they help and rely on each other, as well as sex that isn’t abusive or coercive or any of the things that akio made it be for them. it’s a sweet and beautiful metaphor about love, wrapped up in symbolism that is just a bit silly, and i love it so damn much.
Great write-up. I agree that when you think about it, it's actually quite clear how ep39-Anthy is the basis for confident and outgoing movie-Anthy. I also didn't know what to think of the movie on my fist watch, with all these very sudden and sometimes strange scene transitions, and only really appreciated the interpretation as a 'sequel' after finishing the Evangelion Rebuilds and realizing how similar their story was structured in terms of repeating cycles or loops. Just like in Eva, we have some characters like Wakaba, Juri or Miki who have barely changed through these iterations. On the other hand we have Akio and Touga who aren't even alive anymore, and even Shiori who is now crucial in connecting Juri's, Touga's and Utena's backstories.
I see this as the next Karmic Wheel after the end of the show. Nearly everyone has moved a step foward. Touga's behaved more like the actual ideal of a prince as inspired by Utena in the last-go-round, Miki, Juri and Saionji even say "We plan on following eventually" - Anthy cracked her egg at the end of the series (with Utena's help), and this time she pulled Utena along with her. Nanami's moved a step back, into animal childhood. Shiori's become a full witch with a familiar of her own (the gator thing).Anthy has active and overt agency instead of passive-aggression and manipulation. She's "awake." The prince is dead, the birdcage was shattered and now it's a graveyard. Anthy is open with Utena and fully proactive from the start. But, Utena (and Juri) still believe in trying to BE the prince - up until the end, for Utena, when she and Anthy shed their costumes. Utena is the vehicle for Anthy's liberation, but Anthy's the one driving, she's the one with the key to Utena, and they escape together. (I love how hype the guy were at the transformation sequence. "Oh! Let's go! Turn into a mech!" is both such a wild take and so close to what actually was about to happen that it made me shout-laugh.")
19:20 That's my take on the movie as well. It's not linear to the series, and the characters are the same, just in different stages/circumstances. This was an amazing series, and this movie hits so fantastically. A hell of a ride, in every sense, and I am extremely grateful for these reactions for both spurring me to watch it and for providing such fantastic analyses.
I'm a fan from WAYYYY back. When we found out there was an Utena movie, the world turned upside down. the discourse and community, back then was crazy! Fanfiction, cosplay, zines, radio drama, art, Utena was everywhere. And she was OURS. You couldn't hide it. You couldn't call them "cousins." They were OUT FRONT. And they were ours. A lot of things started popping off in the late 90's-early 2000's. From trading tapes of the JP version of Sailor Moon, to home-burned DVDs, to making unholy screeching noises, when we found out Maria-Sama Ga Miteru was getting a U.S. release, this series just came at the right time and opened a lot of eyes to the possibilities. If you're hungry for more, check out Ikuhara's other works: Mawaru Penguindrum, and Yuri Kuma Arashi.
It has been so fun watching Utena for the first time alongside y'all, listening to every discussion before I would watch the next episode. This kind of experience of watching 1 episode a week for more than 2 seasons back to back is mostly lost with modern anime, with the few notable exceptions like One Piece. It's very much become a nice habit to spend a chunk of every weekend or Monday evening watching "the new episode", and I'll miss it. I watched the first episode of Mawaru Penguindrum a couple months ago, by the same Director, and anime-original, and I'm interested to continue it at some point, as off-putting as it was.
fun fact: nanami was only ever mentioned in the manga (which was developed concurrently with the anime, but went in very different directions and was a more clearly "shoujo" series), but wasn't a fleshed-out character. i believe movie!touga is said to be somewhere between anime!touga and manga!touga in personality.
It’s funny that the End of Evangelion was followed up a decade later with the Rebuild movies when Utena essentially did it a little more than a year after the original run. Yes, my theory is The Adolescence of Utena was the original Rebuild of an anime that Deconstructed its genre! EVA, Wack! Madoka Rebellion, Wack! Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Wack! UTENA IS TIGHT AS FUCK!
And Ikuhara did it so much better tan Anno too, unlike Rebuild it's obvious it was a work of passion. I don't get the Rebellion comparison since it's a straight-up sequel with nothing even remotely Rebuild-like about it, but it was a masterpiece that elevated MadoMagi's overall quality by a landslide, whereas Utena was already practically perfect but Adolescence gently complemented it with a sense of justice for Utena's character by showing her explicitly leaving behind the 'curse' of the prince figure.
The way I see it, if Revolutionary Girl Utena the show is about breaking out of abuse, then Adolescence of Utena the movie is about moving beyond trauma.
Now that you are done with Utena, do you think you'll cover the other animes of the same author ? Mawaru Penguin drum ? Yuri kuma arashi ? Sarazanmai ? If so I'll be there !!
Yes!!! You watched the movie! Im ao glad you did. Had a blast seeing you guys experience one of my favorite series of all time. The expressions on both your faces during the building of the car scene were golden.
A really interesting way that some fans think about this movie is that it's not just an AU, there is direct continuation from the lessons learnt in the series. Another big thing people like to imagine is that Anthy has more know-how now and has retained all her remembrances from the series, and thus needs to guide Utena out of Akio's last trap in this film. Which works fairly well with her characterisation in the movie, where she's meant to be the less entangled/entrapped one this time.
I'd recommend checking out Gundam Witch from Mercury, the writer for the Utena light novels and Code Geass worked on it, and they share a few common story beats and themes. Not really even recommending Witch from Mercury as a reaction, since you guys are busy with a lot of shows on the channel, but recommending it also as a show that may be worth watching in your free time. There are also some Utena references in the show itself
If you want to see our reaction to the first episode of the new show right now, go check out our Patreon and get on early access: www.patreon.com/semblanceofsanity
I took an interest in Utena after watching Kill la Kill, but I didn't want to devote myself to 39 episodes up front, and I heard the movie was an AU, so I watched the movie first. You can imagine my confusion. It did convince me to watch the show, though, so I guess it did a good job.
This movie had no reason to exist tbh. It feels like a prototype of the Tv anime. It's an abridged, less nuanced, less impactful, overall weaker version of the story.
First it's always hard to compare different mediums. Series and movies are such different formats they aren't really comparable in my book. A series is always going to have the opportunity to do more than a single movie ever could with themes, characters, and story. Utena the show does A LOT. On the other hand the animation budget for a movie is going to be higher per minute than a series. To compare the two forms is sort of like comparing a single Star Trek movie to 38 episodes of Babylon 5. It is okay to not care for a movie and prefer the series that came before I just believe they shouldn't be judged against each other. Unless I was just trying to get a kick out of a friend's confusion, I would not recommend blind watching the movie to anyone who isn't into surrealist film. The original title of the movie is actually title Revolutionary Girl Utena: Adolescence Apocalypse and it is a darn shame whoever made the English title just decided to call it "Revolutionary Girl Utena: the movie". I feel like the latter inclines people to look at it as a movie version of the series rather than in other ways. I think of the movie as treating Revolutionary Girl Utena as a fairy tale. All you need to be a Cinderella story is a prince, an overworked commoner named Ella, with antagonist step mother and sisters, a ball, and at the end a happily ever after. The tale of Revolutionary Girl Utena, only needs duels, surrealism, and themes on how archetypes and societal roles can be unhealthy, hurt, and used to entrap. Then at the end you need Anthy to free herself with help from Utena. All other details can change. The world in the series is an illusory prison for Anthy and other victims built by Akio that takes advantage of their belief in fairy tale archetypes, pain, and desire to obtain the unobtainable. He is also trapped in the world of his own creation though and remains there while Anthy leaves it behind. The world in the movie is a prison based on those same unhealthy archetypes. Except instead of being maintained by Akio, this prison requires no jailer, anyone can end up in it due to trauma, seeking something eternal, and believing in the archetypes. Most of the prisoners want to want to break free but also terrified to break free (some aren't ready yet). When they are attempting to escape some of their fellow prisoners cheer them on and help, but others try to stop them like crabs in a bucket. They literally had the mythical castle be the second biggest obstacle after the specter of her abuser. The series laid out slowly how to recognize and break free of false ideals and abusers through forming loving connections. It included how easy it is to become trapped and how hard it can be to remove yourself from such situations. How only you can do it but you can't do it alone. The movie is about the step that comes after the traumatic events are over, you've recognized how harmful the ideas were to you and the abuser is gone. It's about the behaviors and cycles victims can get stuck in and using connections to help power yourself through breaking those barriers in your mind. tldr: bugs me to compare vastly different mediums, Adolescence Apocolypse is an adaptation of Revolutionary Girl Utena in the same way that any of the thousands of takes on Cinderella are to the original myth. Requires you to know the original to fully understand a lot of references and symbols but simultaneously is it's own thing.
