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Finally finished the Revolutionary Girl Utena series, and took another look at the movie. Commenting on the movie shouldn't be done in the absence of the series, in my mind; although the two differ in places, you can't really understand the movie without the series.
Providing a review of the entire series would be very difficult for me, but fortunately I've discovered a pretty nice one online.
Although stylistically shoujo anime, Revolutionary Girl Utena is more like Sailor Moon meets Lain. It offers a unique combination of heavily symbolic coming-of-age fairy tale, layered psychological study, and religious allegory. Don't let the colorful and silly initial episodes fool you--the series goes dark and strange places throughout its run, and while it's far too idiosyncratic for some, its storybook style and endless layers of symbolism will prove engrossing for fans of cerebral shoujo and allegorical fables alike.
The whole series has the look and feel of a fairy tale. The settings are grandiose, from huge promenades at the school to the massive dueling arena, and almost everything seems to be taken from the pages of some fancifully illustrated children's book. The story has a fairy-tale theme as well; mysterious letters, duels over the Rose Bride, and a group of diverse people, each searching for power to attain a different goal. Even the formulaic way the stories are told has hints of classic fairy tales--repetition in TV series is usually due to of lack of originality or budget, but in this case it is very much an artistic decision, with each season repeating subtle but meaningful variations on a theme.
The art of the storytelling is quite impressive. The series is constantly dips into flights of artistic fancy that are both refreshing and interesting to watch. For example (and this is also an example of the repetition), each episode in the first season has its halfway point marked by a sort of surreal shadow puppet show symbolizing whatever the theme of the episode's story is. Other arty touches are everywhere--the stylish duels, an odd knife-throwing scene during a conversation, and repeated use of spinning rose borers overlaid on the screen, almost like the illuminated border of an old manuscript. Things like these, coupled with the artistic settings, give the series as a whole a whimsical, storybook feel.
This alone would make Revolutionary Girl Utena worth watching, but it's not the end of the story. Providing a contrast to the storybook setting and artistic flourish is Utena herself, very much a headstrong and lively normal anime girl. There are, similarly, always touches of the mundane--studying, eating dinner, going to class--throughout the story. This contrast is fun, but more importantly it brings a touch of reality to the fairy tale.
It also allows the characters to be more than just their storybook facades. This is quite important, because Revolutionary Girl Utena is more than anything a story of self discovery and a series of character studies. Without somewhat believable (and likable) characters, all the symbolism and art in the world won't make that work.
On that note, Revolutionary Girl Utena is as heavy on symbolism--both subtle and not--as it is on artistic flair. Everything from the clothing to the settings is representative of something, and the whole story is a carefully constructed allegory. But not an obvious one: Part of the fun is figuring out just where it's all headed. Much like Serial Experiments Lain (stylistically opposite but similar in concept), the story definitely seems to be going somewhere, but that destination is shrouded in mystery, and you're left guessing at what's really going on. That, along with all the marvelous artistry of the story and the intriguing characters (Anthy in particular is so much more than is visible on the surface) kept me coming back and wanting more.
Now for the bad news. The biggest issue is that some of the early stories are just kind of silly. I can accept it up to a point, particularly in a series as over-the-top as this one, but when an episode ends in a boxing match with a kangaroo, it's just gone too far. Thankfully, the bad stuff is pretty concentrated--the few clunker episodes keep to themselves, and are all in the first season.
The cute little monkey-thing, Chu-chu, also feels a little too much like a marketing gimmick to me. He is a significant part of the story and an expected bit of comic relief, but having him present in some of the more serious scenes is unnecessary at best.
The bits of silliness in early episodes are particularly odd since the series eventually becomes dark and sexually charged enough that it's not really even appropriate for viewers of the age you'd expect to enjoy that sort of thing. The thematic change from "childish" to "mature" is very much a part of the progression of the story and characters, but the series was quite successful at portraying innocence without resorting to the goofy bits that I'm complaining about.
The one other complaint I have is that, for those not accustomed to shoujo style (or who dislike it), Revolutionary Girl Utena suffers from something of an overdose, particularly early on. This isn't necessarily a negative, however; the series uses every shoujo cliche to its advantage. The over-the-top drama and soap operatic themes characteristic of shoujo are a near perfect fit with the larger-than-life world of duels and ballrooms in which it is set.
Visually, I've already mentioned the storybook style; detailed but loosely painted backgrounds and fanciful settings. The distinctive character designs are classic shoujo with thin, leggy physiques and sharp, angular faces, and are quite attractive. There is a little less variety in the costumes than you'd expect, since everybody is wearing school uniforms (creative ones, but still uniforms) for the most part. The animation is impressive for a TV series of the vintage, with fine action sequences and quality character animation. Of particular note is the opening sequence--there's some really cool looking stuff there. The series makes heavy use of re-used animation (every season features several sequences that are nearly identical in every episode), but for once it feels as much like an artistic decision as budgetary constraint. Further, subtle changes in these repeated parts are symbolically significant.
The Japanese acting is topnotch and well cast. Although it's not the kind of role I've heard her in before, Fuchizaki Yuriko (probably my favorite voice actress) does a fine, subtle job as Anthy, and Utena is full of infectious energy. The student council is mostly quite good, with one exception: Although Hisakawa Aya is a skilled actress, she's not known for her portrayals of boys. She does a good job dramatically as Mickey, but whenever he's talking to Utena or Anthy he sounds too much like a girl. Not a major issue, but kind of a shame.
The English dub is generally well done, and the casting fits quite well. Utena sounds a little less spunky than she does in the Japanese, but turns in a good performance in general. The real standout, though, is Anthy--her voice and acting fits the mysterious character perfectly.
Finally, no discussion of Revolutionary Girl Utena would be complete without bringing up the music, which is masterful. The background music throughout the series fits perfectly with the fairy tale feel: Grandiose, classical music evoking everything from the beautiful schoolgrounds to a fanciful ballroom. The music also plays a significant part in the story; each duel is accompanied by a unique and appropriately apocalyptic chorus hinting at... something. Two early episodes also center around Mickey's quest for feeling in his piano playing. Rounding it out, the opening and end themes are much more standard but still unusual and catchy anime themes, completing the mix of tradition and art that is visible throughout the series.
In all, Revolutionary Girl Utena is a unique piece of anime. The story is a tale of self-discovery and exploration of the darker corners of the human heart told through a mix of down-to-earth characters, mysterious forces, and grand fairy tale themes. The whole thing comes packaged in a whimsical, artistic, beautifully constructed world filled with fantastic places and storybook images. It might sound like another magical girl series, but there is so much more to it, and I'd recommend almost any anime fan at least give it a look.
Christ! What a mouthful. But that's pretty much the most lucid and encompassing review of the series I've found so far. It doesn't mention much of the show's humor, which is subdued but present. Favorite lines of mine include:
Utena (upon first glance of Akio standing underneath an enormous projector): Is that your brother?
Anthy: No. That is a planetarium projector.
Earlier, when Utena grows tired of the dueling:
Utena (to Anthy): Will you stop with the "Bride" and "engaged" stuff!? Despite my looks, I'm a normal girl, and all I want is a totally normal boy!
Touga (Stepping out of the shadows): Glad to hear that. I'm Touga Kiryuu, student council president, and totally normal boy.
The jokes are few and far between, at least in the serious episodes (each season has at least one zany, comedic episode) but they are mostly well placed and keep the story from getting too stifling.
Last night, after finishing the series along with an entire bottle of chardonnay, I was nearly convinced the whole series was an allegory for Gnostic Christianity, with Akio as a blind Ialdaboath born from Anthy's mistake. Akio rules over a kingdom with great power, but the kingdom is really a prison that he can never escape from, depsite him and everyone else trying their damnedest. After Utena's demonstration of the Knowledge of Christ, her sacrifice allows Anthy to leave the prison.
But there are problems with this interpretation. Utena plays a pilgrim who discovers the knowlege of Christ and is able to do great works with it, but what about Anthy? Can her splitting of Dios be viewed as a metaphor for Sophia's unattainable quest to uderstand the Father, resulting in Ialdoboath (Akio)'s accidental birth?
Or is she Zoe (life), Sophia's daughter trapped by the swords of man's hatred, set free only by the Utena's display of the love of Christ? Sounds great, but as far as I know in Gnostic literature there is no mention of Zoe being trapped directly. Her daughter Eve, yes, but Eve was only a physical manifestation of Zoe.
Also troubling is the director's placement of Akio in the role of Lucifer. His name is taken from the Japanese word for the Evening Star, also known as the Morning Star, and as Akio points out, "Lucifer" was the morning star. Sort of a clunky connection, but the writers purposefully made the connection, so I feel like that's what Akio is supposed to be, or at least is trying to be.
That sort of works, though. I mean, the dude's a king (prince, rather) and rules this wacky kingdom, but he wants freedom more than anything. He just doesn't understand what it takes to get it. The same is true for all the other duelists. Their desires are what is holding them back: Miki is chasing the past, he wants things to go back to the way they were with him and his sister; Jury wants to be freed from her painful love for her former best friend who only abuses her now, her desire to simply to escape from her pain; Saionji is obsessed with possesing Anthy, his desire is dominance; Nanami wants to...um...have sex with her brother; and Touga, well, I'm not really sure what Touga was after. Whatever it was, I think towards the end he realized that he loved Utena and he just wanted to escape with her.
Anyway, all these duelists are trying to gain the power of Dios, the power to Revolutionize the World (as they claim every fuckin' five minutes), but their motivations can't match up to Utena's, who is able to summon Dios at every duel and defeat them all. Her motivations do not really involve herself in anyway. She simply wants to free Anthy from all this Rose Bride business; she senses pain in Anthy and wants to help her, even at the cost of her own life, even after being betrayed first by Akio, who seduced her and convinced her that princes are real and "dreams can come true", and then Anthy, her best friend, the girl she is trying to save.
So there's all sorts of religious imagery, but putting together a picture is going to take some work I think, and it may not be the picture the writers were going for. But they may not have had much in mind for that direction, so perhaps we're allowed to take a little liberty with the story here and there. I feel like I'm this freakin' close to putting something amazing together. I dunno, maybe I'm just seeing connections where there are none.
Now on to the movie. The first time I saw the movie, I had never seen nor heard of the series, and so like many people upon completion I was left feeling purged, in the Aristolian sense, and very confused. I knew I had just witnessed something big, something huge and grand and sad, but for the life of me I could not tell anyone what it was. I had the vague notion that the entire story took place in the world of the dead.
Looking back, this was a decent intuition. Indeed, Akio is already dead in the movie, and his relationship with his sister is even more fucked up--they're not just sleeping together, he is/was doping her and then raping her (or so he thinks). Touga is dead too--and has been dead for a while now, although nobody seems to notice this. In the movie, it's him and not Dios/Akio that gives Utena her Rose Crest ring, telling her that it will lead her to him. There is a much more moving story between Touga and Utena in the movie, which makes Utena's decision to leave that much more heartbreaking. She's leaving behind her quest for her old love, leaving Ohtori academy entirely (which, when seen from the "outside", is a decaying, empty shell with straw people filling out school uniforms).
This sort of fucks with my Gnostic interpretation of Utena. Also worrisome is the subtle change in the lead of the movie. From wikipedia:
The movie, Adolescence of Utena, can be seen as the end of the story initiated by the TV series, although it goes in a very different direction. Its structure is in many ways parallel to that of the series, but the roles of the leads are subtly switched. Utena remains the duelist, and while Anthy's liberation by Utena is key to the conclusion of the series, it is Utena's freedom that is at issue in the movie, and Anthy who must free her. If the television series riffs upon themes from theater and mythology, it could be said that the movie riffs upon themes from the series. Many aspects of the movie are completely incomprehensible without familiarity with the series. It is even more visually bizarre than the series, unusual enough that it earned the good-natured nickname "The End Of Utena", after the similarly abstract but much less cheerful The End of Evangelion.
"Riffs on themes from the series". That leaves me with fuck-all, I think. Anthy's freedom by the hands of Utena is key to my interpretation of the series, but in the movie it's switched. It's a whole different story, really. Utena is being freed from her past by Anthy. I'm sure there's a religous interpretation for this as well, but I'm now far too drained to delve into it.
Conclusion: Utena the series and Adolescence Apocalypse are both fine examples of what anime is capable of, and definately worth a look if you like absorbing, layered, symbolic and allegorical fairy tales. Before I really delve into the movie proper I'm going to have to chill out a bit. Maybe I'll watch the audio commentary on Mallrats, which is ten times funnier than the actual film and a good way to clear my mind. Dude, who knew Ben Affleck was that funny? |
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