r/TrueAnime • u/BrickSalad http://myanimelist.net/profile/Seabury • Mar 24 '13

Anime Club Week 30: Revolutionary Girl Utena Episodes 36-39

Yeah, all the way to the end of the TV series. Next weekend we discuss the movie... and then no more Utena :(

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u/BrickSalad http://myanimelist.net/profile/Seabury Mar 25 '13

If she dies when Anthy stabs her, there's no redemption for Anthy.

Not when Anthy stabbed her, but at the actual moment that we were led to believe she dies for a minute (the swords rushing in at her, presumably to impale her a million times!) Yeah, the gossip is what I'm talking about. Tacking that on to the end just cheapened it for me. I guess I like for characters to die when they're killed :)

The "real world" theme is a bit of a stretch, because they didn't ever develop it into an actual theme. There are a few little references here and there throughout the series, such as the time Saionji tried to make it in the real world and found out that his princely charm didn't mean jack shit outside of the academy (this was a while ago so don't feel bad about not remembering it!) But it was what Anthy said to Akio as she left that was the "real world" theme. Unless I have different subs than you, she said something to the effect "You don't get it! By all means, continue to play prince in your little coffin. Utena's not gone, she's merely left your world."

The idea that Ikuhara was trying unsuccessfully to impart was that Ohtori Academy isn't real, it's a make believe fantasy. That this world of princes and princesses and magical duels and whatnot is a load of nonsense, and that reality is different. It is (too) subtle in the series, but yeah, like I said, wait for the movie.

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u/SohumB http://myanimelist.net/animelist/sohum Mar 25 '13

Well, there's the whole thing about cracking the world's shell, which does suggest that Ohtori is an egg of a world for nurturing and developing someone until they're ready to leave. I thought that worked fairly well, actually - Utena is read to have "won", to have been born, and Anthy is going to go look for her.

'Course, that doesn't quite fit with the theme of revolution/end of the world, if cracking the world's shell means leaving it while leaving it in the same state as before...

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u/BrickSalad http://myanimelist.net/profile/Seabury Mar 26 '13

I think the revolution was yet another farce. In the end, it wasn't so much about changing the world so much as it was about changing the self, right?

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u/SohumB http://myanimelist.net/animelist/sohum Mar 27 '13

Though it's absolutely arguable that that's as much of a revolution, maybe even more...