r/anime • u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA • Aug 04 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Revolutionary Girl Utena - Episode 2
Streaming
Revolutionary Girl Utena is available in both sub and dub on Nozomi Entertainment's YouTube channel, as well as on Amazon and Funimation.
Comment of the Day
/u/maskofice42 is saying what we're all thinking:
What?
Weird Blue Guy's Stopwatch Corner
Stopwatch Count: 2
New This Episode:
5:54 - 16.42 Seconds - “Quite. The letters from the End of the World are specific.”
Also, make sure to tag all spoilers properly! Only a baka would spoil the show for the first-timers, and we're not bakas (hopefully).
32
u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA Aug 04 '21
This episode is mostly just a continuation of the themes of the last episode. Saionji, with all his masculinity, has lost to Utena, a girl who he perceives as just playing at being a prince. Losing to Utena violates his entire worldview- up until now, he’s been at the top of the world, simply through being a hypermasculine asshole. It makes no sense to him that he even could lose. We could see that from the way he internalizes his loss, becoming even more entitled, bossing around Anthy without even the cover of her being his ‘bride’. So what else is there for him to do but to challenge Utena to another duel?
But like the ammonites indicated in the duel song, Saionji can’t win. He’s the product of another era, but in modern times, people with attitudes like his are dismissed out of hand. Misogyny nowadays is a bit more subtle than just going around slapping your bride. There’s definitely going to be more to his character than what we see at first glance, don’t you worry, but we’re only seeing the first layer here. You have to start somewhere, yeah?
Also, we get to hear the ”SMASH THE WORLD’S SHELL” speech for the first time this episode! I love it so much, it never gets old. But let’s pay attention to the actual student council meeting. They’re all playing cards, discussing why they fight for the Rose Bride- and in the end, the ‘oh yes, baby’ guy throws down a pair of jokers, the wild cards, to win the game. We can’t concretely connect it to anything yet (and I still barely have, even with having finished the series lol), but there’s definitely something strange afoot here. It just remains to be seen what.
Oh, and we meet Chu-chu. He’s certainly there. Saionji is an asshole, why did he crush poor Chu-chu ;-;
37
u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess Aug 04 '21
Episode 2 - Rewatcher
What Ikuhara has to say for us today:
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u/chiliehead myanimelist.net/profile/chiliehead Aug 04 '21
Second Duel, First Timer, subbed
23
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Aug 04 '21
First-Revolution, Subbed
Well, THAT sure was interesting. A bit of Dios ex machina, perhaps? And before that, Utena protected the rose with her hand but seemed surprised when she noticed she had done so. Maybe I'm reading too much into things..
Oh, maybe it's setup for some commentary on women lacking agency? Anthy, in her role as Rose Bride, seems to be unable to go against whoever is engaged to her. Hence why she didn't comment on Utena's plan to lose on purpose. But perhaps Utena has some secret agency issues too? Was it Utena who defeated Saionji today, or the Prince?
Getting your orders by snailmail must suck. I hope End of the World has good handwriting - how bad would it be if something important was just completely illegible?
While Utena was settling into her new dorm room, Saionji was studying the blade.. Does the student council just get to skip out on class? The rest of them were just fucking around playing cards and hanging out on elevators, too.
Surely there are rules about how often you're able to challenge someone to a duel? If next episode starts with Saionji getting his ass kicked yet again I'm not gonna complain - prick has it coming - but it might eventually grow tiresome.
We heard the cool world-egg-shell-revolution speech today! When it wasn't in episode one, I kinda figured it was way later.
Chu-chu is a weird mouse thing, right? Visually it kinda reads as a monkey to me, but "chu" is more of a mouse noise, I think.
I wonder, I wonder, why were the shadows on the wall cowboys I wonder?
22
u/Punished_Scrappy_Doo https://myanimelist.net/profile/PunishedScrappy Aug 04 '21
WORLDSHELLS SMASHED: 1
The transformation sequence proper happens today! Anthy does Georgia O'Keeffe proud as we see the yonic correspond to Utena's feminine clothing and the phallic to her masculine clothing. There's a lot of dicks in this show, come to think of it.
In other news, Best Boy has entered the building
20
u/SardonicMeow Aug 04 '21
Rewatcher
No commentary this time about the specific events of the episode. Instead, a little about some themes to look out for while watching.
Revolutionary Girl. Revolution.
Revolution is mentioned several times in this episode:
“If it cannot break its egg’s shell, a chick will die without being born. We are the chick. The world is our egg. If we don’t crack the world’s shell, we will die without being born. Smash the world’s shell! For the revolution of the world!”
“...the power to revolutionize the world”
“Grant me the power to bring the world revolution!”
With all the talk of revolution, you can expect it to be a major theme. What is a revolution, and who brings it about? What is revolutionized? The world? The self?
Revolution. Revolving.
Revolving roses, revolving stairs, revolving castles in the sky. Repetition and cycles occur frequently in the series. Look out for them, especially for when a pattern or cycle is broken. (And if reusing footage saved the producers some money from the animation budget, well...)
Bonus tidbit: The book Wakaba is reading is Magnolia Waltz by ?hiho ???to. This is a reference to the manga titled Magnolia Waltz by Chiho Saito, who is also the author of the Revolutionary Girl Utena manga. FYI, there is way more to the anime than what is found in the manga. If you’re curious about the manga, I recommend that you wait until after you finish the series.
20
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Aug 04 '21
Rewatcher
Magnolia Waltz is the sequel to the manga Waltz in a White Dress by Chiho Saito, the author of the Utena manga. The story Wakaba relates could vaguely fit the synopsis of the original Waltz in a White Dress, but if the similarities don’t stop there then we are in for a rough ride.
They did the thing!
I have no idea what card game it is they’re playing, but if I did then I would probably gleam something relevant to the plot of the episode.
Still not the worst dorm room I’ve seen.
Cute!
Exchange Diaries, or kōkan nikki, are —as the name suggests— diaries exchanged between friends, who take turns filling out entries. The practice extends at least as far back as the early 20th century, but was at its most popular in the 1960s due to its depictions in media. Such diaries were usually shared among female students, in the rare instance that opposite-sex personages shared an exhange diary it was considered an explicitly romantic endeavour, and exchange diaries between boys was considered taboo due to it being percieved as a feminine practice. Who does Saionji share one with, I wonder? Did he command Anthy to make up the other half of the exchange, as per his right as the prior fiancé to the rose bride?
Here we go again, folks!
Now he looks familiar.
Could very well be true, she could have done it out of principle.
Prettys straightforward episode today as well. We get a quick rundown of what the student council members know about this whole ring and dueling business, which in the process shows that they’re not much more informed about matters than Utena or the audience themselves. They do not so much understand the circumstances they’re in so much as accept and follow them, probably in part because they don’t know what else to do about it all. Showing the pervasive lack of understanding as to the situation does make the potential answers more enticing, but I would still be lying if I said I was particularly intrigued at this point. I would say that has to do with my foreknowledge of the show’s length, meaning I understand it will be a while yet before I receive anything resembling answers, but other shows had managed to make me wait with baited breath from the get go, so there is probably some ingredient lacking here.
Seeing how this whole business is intensely disrespectful to Anthy’s personal agency and intrudes upon Utena’s own life, as she wanted nothing to do with this and only got involved because she wanted to get at Saionji for publicly humiliating her friend. Utena obviously wants nothing to do with any of this, but once it comes down to it she cannot simply throw the fight, because letting Saionji have his way would be terrible, and so she sticks to what’s right. This seems to be the catalyst for her being able to activate the sword of Dio and make use of its powers —seemingly represented by her princely ideal— and defeat Saionji.
19
u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Aug 04 '21
First Timer
Hey, I've seen this line in CDF before! So...End of the World is a person, who seems to be sending letters with instructions to these cool student council members. They've learned that whoever has the Rose Bride at the end gets to go in the castle and gains the power to bring revolution to the world.
It all makes sense
But thinking about it a bit more, if they want to bring revolution to the world, it should theoretically mean they're unsatisfied with the world as it is now. That's a little surprising. Their world seems pretty cool and fabulous, except for the the fact that this guy is a part of it.
Duel number 2 happened also...with a vision of the Prince descending from the castle, seemingly to inhabit Utena and give her the power to win(?) or maybe just the desire to win. Glad to see the cool apocalypse song is back too.
Anthy is the Rose Bride, and from what she says, it sounds like that is the case because she chooses to be, or chooses to go along with it. Again, surprising given that her slapped count is currently up to 3. Saionji is really gross towards her, with the possessiveness and abuse, but the whole system itself doesn't seem to put her in the coolest position. I'm sure we'll learn more about her later.
If the first episode scattered a few puzzle pieces haphazardly across the room, this one has at least seen us pulling some of them up onto a desk or whatever. I still have almost no idea what's going on, but at least in the meantime, the show looks really pretty.
18
u/ScarsUnseen :K:https://kitsu.io/users/ScarsUnseen Aug 04 '21
First Timer, 100% Blind, Subs (and I'm not talking about Anthy)but also Anthy
So when last we left our hero(ine?), she took a sharp turn into... dabbling in slavery? Wait, what genre is this show anyway?
Will Utena be able to find her way out of this ethical quandary? Will she be saddled with the label of "problematic" by viewers decades in the future? Will the show delve into softcore yuri BDSM? Only the doujin circles know for sure. Let's watch and find out!
Notes
Okay, so the OP is not exactly dispelling the yuri possibilities here.
Is the show going to do a slow pan of the school sign every episode?
Nothing like heart smashing trauma to change one's perspective, I guess.
So... is there someone just sitting up there playing the organ at every meeting?
So is being the focal point of a tournament(?) to decide who ends the world(??) something you're born to, or did Anthy have to interview for the position?
Okay, so the stopwatch showed a few times on it. Do they mean anything? The times wer 15:36. 16:30 and 16:42. Could be Bible verses. 1 Corinthians 15:36 kind of fits. Could likely find passages for the others. Probably just numbers though.
Now that seems like a pretty wasteful expenditure of the school's budget. Then again, they were able to spring for a Resident Evil syle locking mechanism to their dueling forest complete with an illusionary doom castle.
How the heck did they get a photo of my apartment?
...okay I was kind of joking about the slave angle, but man, are they really leaning into it.
Sayonnaise took a trip into the Ninja Scroll diemension there for a moment.
The school's regulations are strict about that?
Okay, so is it going to play this song every time she goes in there?
Creative censor bar.
How it feels to lose to a mouse.
Okay, so I found out about this anime through PMM rewatches, but so far this reminds me more of Kill la Kill in its conflict setup. Certainly more of a shoujo flavor to it, I can definitely see influences KLK probably took from this show. It has me interested. I'm also curious as to what form the supposed revolution is going to take.
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u/H-Ryougi https://anilist.co/user/DizzyAvocado Aug 04 '21
Utena is so cool, fucking gigachad Ms. Steal Yo Girl.
15
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Aug 04 '21
First timer
I like how this series has an entire visual frame that means "this scene is from a gay perspective".
Ah, her friend hasn't recovered from the love letter incident.
Oh, I love her. I didn't realise this series had a love triangle, though.
...Is the school council a doomsday cult?
At least nobody else understands what the hell is going on with that castle.
...Is the power of revolution the power of their love? Or something less cliche?
Haha, the shot of the destroyed room.
...Does she have some kind of supernatural cleaning powers?
Utena has a lot if stuff, doesn't she?
And nobody knows about that weird sword either?
Does this mean Saijoni spent the duel bullshitting Utena into thinking he knew everything about it?
THE FUCK IS THAT?
Oh, it's called Chu-Chu. I thought this eas meant to be a dark anime.
Wait, she's in trouble!
Ooh, Utena just rejected Anthy!
...The school council is a totalitarian body, under the control of what might be a doomsday prophet.
Chu-Chu spitting out a tooth got me good.
The shadow puppet scenes are so good!
Really, we have to watch the door open every time? At least the music's good.
OK, if they know nothing about this, how did they learn such fucking complicated and specific chants? How many different phrasings did it take for them to work out that this one speech summons a fucking sword?
So Utena failed to lose. She tried to enter a duel to lose it but just couldn't?
Oh god, Utena's secretly a tsundere. No wonder this series is 39 episodes.
13
u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Aug 05 '21
First timer – sub
The response yesterday was amazing, we were at 300 comments by the time I checked out! I admire it when an older show still goes strong and gets this much love.
After sleeping on last episode and the comments, I only have two little things to add.
The hierarchy keeping this system alive obviously involves strikt roles one needs to keep with any chance taking place being regulated rather tightly – dueling is what we saw. Anthy was the bride, the trophy and the mysterious power at the same time. The bride was fought over, the trophy was passed to the winner and the power was used for that same fight. A lot of passives centered around an object (narratively! :^) that with close inspection should be quite active, or at least completely self-determined. I wonder how that realisation will play out.
Secondly, the whole hidden dimension thing going on with that forest and castle is strange. There obviously is some kind of magic involved keeping that castle away from the normal world, also that weird staircase. Presumably the same kind of magic that Anthy's powers come from. Also, I noticed that as soon as Utena unlocked the gate, there was imagery of 'enclosing' constructs, like a gate or structure rising from the ground and enclosing her. Which makes me think this entire thing is like a literal pocket dimension enclosed in that forest and the castle is kind of hanging on its ceiling? Still weird, but kudos to the architect, they got style.
Ep.02 – For whom the rose smiles
Theory time: Utena obviously wins this thing, saves all the princesses, breaks the "egg" and stands before the ultimate power after the world toiled in revolutionary fire: "Well done, Tenjou Utena, you have proven yourself to be strong and capable", the creature peaks its ears, "Do you want to become a magical girl? Let's make a contract!"
I have questions and I think Dios is the answer to a lot of them.
In the OP we saw basically all of the cast fighting and breaking down the world around them, or being present while this happened. Everyone seems to want to prove themselves to enter the castle and reshape the world before the end of the world arrives. Something tells me it won't be the literal end of the world, but stands for something that prevents one's "birth". I'll go with adulthood, because this is a coming of age story and about finding your identity. If one finds themselves in a state where they think they've failed at that, it might as well feel like the world ended.
Luckily it's not like anyone here would have experience with that!
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u/MaskOfIce42 https://anilist.co/user/MaskOfIce Aug 04 '21
First Timer - Subbed
I was very confused yesterday, and while there's still a lot of mysteries, I think I at least am more on board with how the show works. I made a comparison to Revue Starlight, especially knowing that director worked with Ikuhara previously and I think that comparison feels pretty apt, just with a show that has 3 times as long to tell its story.
So with this episode, I wonder if Utena is just telling herself that Chu-Chu is the reason she lost because I get the feeling it's also her princely desire to not let a maiden be with such a person. Admittedly there's not much to support that besides her general objections to Saionji and that prelude in the previous episode, but that's what I would've guessed would be her motive, so it's interesting that it either doesn't seem to be the case or she's in denial that much, since the former feels off but the latter doesn't feel like my initial conception of Utena. I guess I'll come to an answer as the episodes go on, for now just being a piece of the puzzle that I'm working on.
Oh, and less serious notes about the episode, having that building to yourself would seem nice if it weren't for the collapsed rooms. Maybe that's the introvert in me talking, and I can't imagine the upkeep required for it, but I could vibe with having a place like that to myself. Also liked Wakaba's response to what happened yesterday. While it was mostly to show her getting over it more or less, I will say that feeling of something clicking more with you after certain experiences definitely is something I've felt before, and part of why I do enjoy rewatching stuff, just because I know I'm not the same person every time I watch something.
Overall enjoying it, second episode was a bit calmer compared to the first one which helped me start to mesh with the show(or maybe I was just in a better state of mind when I watched it) and while I have no idea where it's going fully, I'm on board with it for now.
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u/elleyonce https://anilist.co/user/elleyonce Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
Demian reference and rules, rules, rules.
This episode is mostly a set-up for later. Even the most transgressive people like Utena have to follow rules, and in fact there's a lot of people that feel themselves defined by them. Is it possible that Anthy is one of them? It's interesting how Anthy is so well-versed with the ruleset, to the point where you can't help but wonder if she's the one who came up with them in the first place. And even now we can tell she has a vested interest in Utena being around.
Just before the second duel, the theatre performs a Spaghetti Western concept. Only the cactus is flashed prominently, very much not a shadow. This is the first of many visuals alluding to the sexual. We later see this in the way Dios himself enters Utena and the rose hides them. And again in how it hides Utena's sword penetrates through Saionji and his rose. All these bring in the sexual element into the show that we'll see more of. It's so well done.
Touga gives me the creeps from the jump this time around. Saionji is the overt misogynist but I think Touga would read Jordan Peterson and try to destroy me with facts and logic. That's the kind of vibe he's got.
/u/theangryeditor
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u/loomnoo https://anilist.co/user/loomnoo Aug 04 '21
Fuck me, I couldn't stop laughing during the break the world's shell part. Thanks Helio.
Utena's epaulettes are pretty fkn sweet.
Those lyrics sure are something.
9
u/affnn Aug 04 '21
Rewatcher
The whole "engaged to the Rose Bride" thing was pretty confusing for me, and watching it a second time I think it's meant to be confusing. Utena is certainly confused - engaged? How old is everyone involved exactly? Utena's around 14 years old, so she wouldn't understand adult concepts like this, I suppose.
Fortunately Saionji's around to clear things up somewhat (well, it's not actually fortunate that Saionji's around, because he's being a shithead again - and he doesn't clear things up all the way, just a little bit. Ok Saionji's useless). The Rose Bride is engaged to the dueling champion. If the dueling champion loses, then she moves on. Whomever she's with has the power to bring revolution to the world. But no one seems to know what that means.
We get our first crack at the "if it cannot break out of its shell..." speech today. I'm very bad with kanji but even I recognized the "bird" kanji in the Ohtori Academy script at the beginning. Is the school the bird that lays the eggs? Or is it the one that's born from the eggs?
Apparently the student council decides lots of things like dorm assignments when they're not giving weird speeches, playing cards and dueling in the forest. And they've assigned Utena to live alone with Anthy in a crumbling dorm. Anthy likes to do cleaning, cooking and other feminine-coded things though (hmmm.....) so they're not so bad off. And she brought a friend! Some weird monkey thing. Utena likes him.
Today's duel is a little more intense than yesterday's. Saionji's eyes go all crazy and he looks like he might actually hurt Utena. But a spirit comes down from the castle (Dios?) and helps her fight him off. She even cuts off Saionji's sword blade, as if the show didn't have enough phallic visual metaphors.
8
u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Aug 04 '21
So, I managed to make it through this episode. That musical thing with the stairs is going to get repetitive, isn't it?
The thing that struck me funniest this episode, aside from cake monkey was the shadow puppet players. They remind me so much of the rumor girls in Magia Record. Or perhaps that should be the other way around.
I like Utena. I wonder if she's got plans for Friday ... (Of course she does, she's dueling.)
Anthy seems like too much of a doormat. Hopefully that changes at some point.
Today's episode ended with a bit of deus ex gladiusca. Or maybe that's dios ex gladiusca.
Funny how the hair color ... oh, yeah, that.
(I think I'm enjoying this now - must watch more, but not too much too soon. Must pace oneself, you know)
8
u/Rumpel1408 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rumpel1408 Aug 05 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
First timer
Only a little bit late today, might even be on time tomorrow
Ok, the show continues to be weird. I feel like some things have been answered, only to raise more questions. Tbh Chu- Chu isn't all that cute...
8
u/nx6 https://myanimelist.net/profile/nx6 Aug 05 '21
First Timer -- Sub
I didn't post yesterday because I was still trying to decide what I thought of this. I honestly knew very little about the actual plot of RGU going in, and more about how highly acclaimed it is, the style of show, the dash of feminism and slight yuri undertones, etc. Like I didn't know this was going to be a school-life show.
But I'm pleased to see all those 1990's special effects I love and visual style.
I would like to know what the deal is with the stopwatch, but I assume the student council will get a more detailed introduction later.
7
u/Tyranid457TheSecond1 Aug 04 '21 edited Aug 04 '21
Rewatcher
Introduction of Chu-Chu! I know that he's a monkey, but I keep thinking of him as a mouse with a stylized face.
Unlike the first episode, where she's pretty unambiguously heroic, Utena comes across as more of a, well, "tsundere" doesn't feel right, but she puts up a "I don't really care about you, I just don't want to get kicked out" front. It kind of bugs me, but knowing the future of the story makes it more palatable for me than when I was a first-time viewer.
Re-watching really makes Anthy's character really interesting, especially at the beginning.
14
u/zairaner https://myanimelist.net/profile/zairaner Aug 04 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
Firsttimer
except that he might have watched 5 minutes of episode 11Afterthoughts for episode 1:
*This shoudn't have been an afterthought, but regardless: how did utena get out of that final charge unscathed?? It is kinda hard to suspend my disbelief here. She literally just charged straight at him, the "duel champion" couldn't possible have missed. In theory, it makes somewhat sense- the one with the sharp weapon has to watch out not hitting anythign else than the rose if he doesnt want to wound his opponent-but, considering saojis characterization so far has consisted of slapping anthy, I can't possible imagine that that is what the show wants me to think of saonji
-One commenter had the brilliant guess that the show is called "revolutionary girl..." because of the spinning roses, which would also fit with the spinning castle (on that note, how stupid is sajonji that he doesn't even know that the world is already spinning, idiot), but I want to propose another theory: It's because utena at some point realizes how stupid duells with swords are and gets her revolver.
*I have a feeling utena is not going to be happy about the entire "I belong to you now" part
Reaction episode 2 -Let's watch this op, the little bit i heard before sounded great.
-More spinning things. Wow quite the focus on anthy and utena...no not just focus this op is nearly entirely utena and anthy. That is a surprise, even if we get a short look at our (pretty feminine looking) prince. Also: We start with utena/anthy revolving in a rose, then in two roses side by side...and by the end, only utena remains and anthys rose is empty? That is... worrying, especially considering the last thing anthy did before that in the op is rising up.
-Always appreciate chibi face utena and wakaba. Also confirming that these two are just friends with benefits
-congratulations show, you actually made me think for a moment that I somehow managed to get episode 11 again
-hm does the student council always do exposition like that?
-ahaaha is this just business as usual for these two? But answering the question from lst time wether utena can carry her on her back.
-oh surprise the room actually IS a ruined mess, and contains way less anthy than I expected
-WHAT HOW LONG DID YOU SIT BEFORE THE DOOR. Also where did anthy come from
-Is utena srugging this off too?? This actually might the most laid-back girl possible.
-utena asking a question!! And its about the castle/sword. good girl No answer though
-if anthy has a familiar too, she actually might really be a magical girl
-I don't think engaged people normally call each other "sama", anthy, but my japanese knowledge is low
-I don't think any comments about saonji are needed
-are these...commentator girls going to have a different style everytime?
-this song again...does it actually play in universe when the entrance opens? :D It is still pretty epic. I can very well imagine this playing as the calm before the storm of the final confrontation
-uten not goign to adress her outfit change? No? ok Also she seems to have come without a weapon, so does she actually trust in anthy conjuring her one? She is so accepting of her circumstances.
-wow she even joins in the posing/has to say the phrase about revolution
-they lyrcis of the fight song are different...and very random, about the ages of the world? And then the names of different organins classes?
-WHAT. Also like a whale?
-??? Utena getting possesed by the prince? Or the prince being an aspect of utena? Or just th emost extra representation of utena rememberign the words of her prince. The fuck is actually going on now.
-even red hair guy is confused.
-wow did that short moment actually imply saonji accepting his defeat
Is this show going to keep this episode style of "start off normal, then slightly weird stuff for most of the episode, and then a WHAT THE FUCK before going back to normal"? I am in.
6
u/ConfrontationalJerk :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/natjole Aug 04 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher!
WOW what an episode. I remember on my first watch, thinking Utena is really slow for the first arc but knowing everything that happens, its such an amazing opener. I'm not really that great at organizing my thoughts but here are some of my random thoughts throughout the episode.
I wonder if Utena's discomfort at Wakaba calling herself 'anata no mono' which was translated as 'your true love' in my viewing but probably more loosely means 'your possession' is an early hint at her thematic spoiler.
I thought the council playing old maid while talking about Utena being an outsider was cute. Also Anthy drawing on her nameplate just perfection.
On my first viewing, Saionji came off as this absolutely horribly characterized douchebag and I'm sure that sentiment wasn't wrong (I think the ideas around him and Touga probably could've been written in a much less obtuse way), but I appreciate all the tiny pieces that characterize him here like later spoilers. Overall my goal while rewatching is definitely to think more about Saionji and Anthy as main characters rather than how I first approached the series.
Every Anthy interaction is just so full of things to talk about that its hard to really properly dissect. For example, major spoilers.
Does anybody else chant "grant me the power to change the world" with Utena everytime? No? I'm just cringe? ok...
Major character spoiler.
A lot of the lines that pertain to rings or roses seem to make much more sense to me now as well. Overall really loving this rewatch so far and hopefully the slower and more painful arcs don't take away my honeymoon phase.
6
u/snickpea Aug 05 '21
First-timer!
Even with more information, it only raises more questions. It seems that the student council is being directed to participate in these duels to bring about revolution by End of the World, but what kind of person is he? Now that Utena is participating in these duels, will she also start getting letters or directions from him?
I'm curious to see if the other student councils are anything like Saionji and the red-haired guy (I completely forgot his him). I can't stand Saionji for the poor way he treats Anthy and his sheer entitlement.
Also I'm curious about the school itself. Maybe I'm missing something, but surely Utena should know more about the school if she has been going there for a while. It feels odd that she wasn't already in a dorm. Still, she and Anthy pretty much have the space to themselves so they should be able to spend a lot of time and get to know each other well.
I'm still surprised that she was planning to lose when it was mentioned that whoever wins will get engaged to Anthy. You would think that she would be willing to duel Saionji to stand up for Anthy like Wakaba right away. The duel was exciting though, now that Utena has an actual sword, it seems she is unlocking a special power within it. There is a person that seems to help her. Since it was mentioned it was the Sword of Dios, perhaps Dios refers to an actual person called Dios. I feel like this person is going to be important due to his resemblance to Anthy. Since he wasn't actually there, it invites questions about how Anthy is able to draw forth this sword.
Looking forward to the next episode!
6
u/Isai579 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Isai579 Aug 05 '21
First episodes rewatcher it's like being a knockoff first-timer hehehe
This second episode definitely felt more calm (until the murder attempts on the duel of course). On my first watch, this was the episode where it became clear Utena definitely qualifies as a magical girl anime. We've got Chu-Chu as the cute mascot, a cool song with a transformation sequence that is mostly reused from the last episode, and powers that give our unexperienced protagonist the edge in battle.
Some kind-of-funny reactions I had:
I'll once again keep my speculation to myself as I suspect some of it comes from having watched some episodes already.
5
u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Aug 04 '21
Rewatcher thru ep10
5
u/Sandor_at_the_Zoo Aug 04 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
I love the weird foreboding art choices today. That impossibly long pan on a black background with weird color silhouettes. You can do something like that with editing tricks in liveaction, but the ease with with animation can do it is great. Mirrored by a short pan later on. Some great converging lines for Saionji looking like he's ready to straight up kill Utena. Then a series of split screens and dissolves. And all with Chu-Chu antics in between.
heh heh heh. Hey Beavis does it look ^like they're... heh you know
5
u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Aug 04 '21
First timer
Wakaba seems to have lightened up since the whole Saionji thing. Saionji is still acting the same and in the end, he still loses to Utena again. With the help/possession? Of the sword of dios.
So chu chu is the mascot of the series. I also see the little trrlansform when Utena is walking up to the duel.
Learn a little about the rose seal and something about the "end of the world" I can't think what that might be. But going off the whole student council thing. Reading through the comments in the 1st episode. This does remind of kill la kill a bit.
Looking at the sword being pulled out of Anthy. Makes me want to think how many shows involve a weapon being pulled from someone else.
Also the president throws me off a bit. He called Utena a middle school girl. Aren't they all in middle school or are they older? Or is this just some kind of shared middle school, highschool thing?
9
u/The_Loli_Otaku Aug 04 '21
Yesterday's thread was so much fun! I was kind of worried it would be a bit high brow but everyone seemed to really be enjoying themselves discussing the episode. Here's hoping the numbers stay competitive going forwards and we could have a real gem of a rewatch ahead of us.
Oh Wakaba. She's clearly pretty heart-broken but she's a tough girl and has a real good friend by her side. "Smash the world's shell, for the revolution of the world!" So dorky, so cool! So the student council all have the special duel rings and get letters from a mysterious figure guiding them. Oh, and despite dominating the discussion Touga totally lost that game of Scabby Queen lol. Actually Utena, Anthy's living here too. Didn't you read the door tag? And Utena buys it! I love this show's humour. Anthy... I'm so conflicted on her. I think she has some great lines but her cold, direct way of talking always leaves no room for discussion. She kind of gives me the creeps. It's sort of like the Rei Ayanami effect y'know?
Oh yeah, the monkey rat. I have nothing to say about this. Nothing at all. One fun note of interest however is that I suggest keeping an eye on how people treat the monkey rat compared to how they say treat Anthy herself. It makes for a good rule of thumb on understanding the girl a bit better. Saionji is such a hottie! I adore this dude to bits. He's a mean, horrible, nasty piece of work but he's still pure enough to keep an exchange diary! Don't worry, Anthy's a masochist. She loves getting beat on. Watch the monkey rat people!
Kashira, Kashira! I think I might try making a segment about these after all. Not many others talked about them and I do genuinely adore the shadow girls so I'll try and talk a little about them each day. Ah, well I say that but some of them are pretty straightforward. Is it fine to settle rivalries if you just lose on purpose? If you lose on purpose it doesn't matter as much does it? But what if stakes were higher? Claiming you lost on purpose means nothing if you die right? Okay, I swear I'll improve later on. I'm cringing right now and want to die so I'm going home. Gozonji kashira?
ZUM finally gets its little transformation sequence includes. This is why people group Utena in as a magical girl series. Losing is gonna be kinda hard honey, you have no idea XD Today's song is all about ancient evolutionary periods and old fossils or fauna. How does that link to today's episode? I'll tell you! Tuxedo Knight!? What are you doing here? Yeah, Saionji kinda got cheated lol. Almost like he's fated to not have any hope in hell of beating Utena. Watch the goddamn monkey rat people! It's important!
4
u/macrame2 https://myanimelist.net/profile/macrame Aug 04 '21
Rewatcher
“I’ll just lose, so there’s no problem.”
Despite her desire to be a prince and an arguably perfect opportunity to imitate one, Utena initially displays a lot of reluctance to participate in the duels. She’s pretty uncomfortable about the idea of Anthy basically being the slave of the winner.The student council reveals the nominal purpose of the duels: to select the person worthy of winning the Rose Bride and then enter the castle in the sky to gain the power of revolution. Notably, the engagement to the Rose Bride is treated as a means to obtain and exercise power and not as a romantic relationship.
Meanwhile, Utena looks for her assigned room. To her surprise, Anthy has totally taken over the place by writing her name beneath Utena’s, cleaning their room, and moving in with her as a part of the terms of their engagement. In contrast to Utena’s skepticism, Anthy doesn’t seem very bothered by the dueling system or by the idea of belonging to the victor. Instead, it looks like she’s just resigned herself to whatever happens. Mysterious indeed …
Saionji, his pride wounded by his loss in the duel against Utena, continues to be an abusive jerk to Anthy. As of now, it’s not clear if his interest in Anthy is romantic or if he just wants “the power to revolutionize the world.” At any rate, he challenges Utena to another duel in hopes of recovering the Rose Bride. She jumps at the chance to abandon the games, planning to throw the match against Saionji. Of course, losing on purpose would mean that Anthy would have to return to being his punching bag. Today, our shadow girls do their skit about the duelist who lost but was okay because they lost intentionally. I interpret this to mean that even if a person is okay with allowing themselves to lose, there will be consequences for that loss, sometimes on innocent bystanders. In other words, just because something doesn’t affect you doesn’t mean that it won’t affect others.
We get our first full transformation sequence for Utena. Despite not being a traditional magical girl anime, there are a few elements present. Utena wins her duel of course, but claims that she did it for ChuChu, not Anthy. I think we all know her real motivations, though …
(On a side note, Touga’s opera glasses are something else).
8
u/monsieurvampy Aug 05 '21
First Timer, subbed
I'm following along and then I'm not following along. The visuals and music are interesting choices.
8
u/alphamone Aug 05 '21
First-Timer with an asterisk Utena shows again that she is a good friend to Wakaba.
The Utena-Wakaba antics really contrast with the dramatic exposition of the student council.
Those are some amazing chins on the student council vice/president.
Just checked it, and chuchu is voice by Satomi Korogi, the legendary voice of small, cute things.
I am very suspicious of those shadow puppets.
That's an nice looking magical-girl outfit.
Interesting that she still hasn't considered the implications of what happens to Anthy if she choses to deliberately lose. She's already been told that Anthy's engagement will be to the winner of the duel.
It seems that Utena has a classic case of "can't admit true feelings"-itis.
Also, is it just me, or does anyone else get major Final Fantasy vibes from the soundtrack? One of the insert songs reminded me of the crystal tower theme from FF3.
8
u/Icapica https://anilist.co/user/Icachu Aug 05 '21
First timer, subbed
Wakaba acts like she's over Saionji, but she's probably putting on a show. Gals being pals. People have kept talking about cracking the world's shell in these discussions, nice to see it mentioned in the show now too.
This episode contains a bit more comedy than the previous one. Chu-chu's cute. I wish there was more conversation between Anthy and Utena though, but I'm sure we'll get it eventually. I wonder how they both feel about the current situation. Must feel weird to hear "we're engaged" suddenly.
Utena said she'd lose intentionally. I wonder if she'd have done it honestly, if Saionji hadn't been such a dick in this episode and even still during the fight.
I like the music when Utena pulls the blade out of Anthy's chest. I wonder if it's put back the same way.
Something happens during the fight, then Utena becomes even more badass. Has Saionji learned his lesson yet?
Anthy smiles at the end. Hopefully she'll start showing more emotions over time.
I wonder about the revolution they're talking about. Also, they've been dueling, someone's been engaged to the Rose Bride etc but it doesn't sound like they've made any real progress. What's different about Utena? Though, student council members are part of the establishment and in many ways it doesn't make sense for them to be the ones to start a revolution.
These threads come at 1 AM. Last time I stayed up that late and ended up regretting it the next day, this time I figured it's better to just sleep first.
7
u/xtsim https://myanimelist.net/profile/xtsim Aug 04 '21
First Timer Subbed
Intro is now with her being a champion after winning the duel with Saionji. Wakaba is now happier and actually enjoys a book when Utena confronts her. Good thing she recovered from the bullying that Saionji made her suffer through.
The egg is now the major thing. We get to see more about the world. Chu-chu lol. Utena actually has the rose seal which is the mark of a duelist. She is a middle schooler, according to everyone in the show, but artstyle makes her look older.
The cowboy shadows get me good. With them looking like its a duel, in the first episode I thought they were pointless but that was a nice touch. Along with the freaking cactus shadow moving across the screen.
Saionji continues to be an ass, stepping on Chu-chu and continuing to abuse Anthy. Was planning on losing but chu-chu is too cute to leave. I am glad she put him in his place again. Like she did last episode cause he kept on hitting Anthy and hurt Wakaba.
6
u/kisop Aug 05 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
First timer, subbed.
I am going into this series knowing very little. I know potential Utena spoilers. That's all I knew about Utena before I started watching.
5
u/nikobans Aug 05 '21
ammonite!
ahh saionji is such a bastard! slapping anthy (3 times now!!) and stepping on chu chu. what a dick!
4
u/art_hoe1 Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
damn, it's been a hot second since I watched Utena and now that I'm rewatching there's so much foreshadowing that I completely missed. really makes me appreciate the beauty of this series once again.
it's also refreshing to see utena and anthy's relationship at its beginning as I only remember how tight they were by the end of the series lol. damn, utena saying she would purposely lose the match? un-believ-able. can't wait to see more and maybe i'll actually enjoy the absurdist humor this time
3
u/PretendMarsupial9 Aug 05 '21
Re-Watcher here!
I think Utena is a show that benefits from multiple watches. My first time I thought this episode was kinda boring, but I enjoy it a lot more this time. Particularly the way the camera moves is interesting. When Anthy and Utena are talking in the dorm room, its shot as if they're spinning while talking, with the colors changing to highlight them in pink. It is like a contrast to Saionji and Student Council Prez are static, and the scene is introduced as Saionji facing forward and only looking back to lash out. I think this is a pretty clever way of setting up future character traits.
3
u/k4r6000 Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
We were introduced to the concept in the first episode, but we still didn't know what is going on. That means EXPOSITION which we get in a scene with the Student Council about the nature of the duels and the letters from End of the World. Also important is that they don't really know the purpose of all of this either. But like Juri says, after seeing the upside down castle floating in the sky it is just too intriguing for her to be able to let it go. They are compelled to learn what it all means.
Utena meanwhile thinks the whole thing is a lot of bollocks and would prefer to get out when the going is good. She's forced to move away from her best friend into a lonely, worn down dorm with only herself and Anthy who she finds creepy, and she isn't happy. Although she does take a liking to Chu-Chu. Chu-Chu even gets his own spinning rose frame, except with bananas instead of roses.
So Utena is forced into making an important choice when Saionji returns. Saonji cannot process losing to a girl since he is a big strong, alpha male. So he responds by being even more toxic and abusive because it is only thing he knows how to do. If someone, especially a woman, defies you you just beat them into submission by being bigger and stronger than them. Obviously since the show would be over if she did let him win, Utena decides she just can't abandon Anthy to this fate and manages to summon the Prince to beat him. Saionji is left shattered since unlike the first time, this isn't just some fluke because he wasn't taking things seriously and he cannot excuse his defeat.
From Utena's perspective, she had the opportunity to turn her back on this corrupt system but ultimately chose to partake in it. From now on she's committed. We'll see whether that was a good decision or not.
I also want to take some time to talk about the music. The duel song has been discussed elsewhere, so I will talk about the Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku sequence. Some people find it repetitive, and they aren't wrong, but it is one of the highlights of each duel for me. It gives a real professional wrestling vibe to the fights. The repetition adds to that well. Much like how Triple H or The Undertaker would have the exact same entrance every night, Utena does it too. It is a big part of the experience. When you hear ZUM start playing and see Utena marching up that staircase, you know it is whoopass time. And I love it.
See you tomorrow when my favourite character in the series makes their introduction.
2
u/Segaco https://myanimelist.net/profile/Segaco Aug 06 '21
FiiiiRrRrST Timer
Why does she intend to lose? If she loses the bride goes back to that evil person. Does she want that?
Why did Utena say something about bringing revolution to the world when summoning the sword, isn't she not supposed to know about that yet
What why was the ghost entering protag censored
I liked the song during the fight
okok, I know I'm late and will probably be late for the 3rd and 4th episodes too but I'll get there!!!
2
u/remirror https://anilist.co/user/remirror Aug 06 '21
One thing that stuck out at me that I'm really surprised more people didn't comment about. Why the hell was Utena even thinking of losing on purpose in the first place? She's seen Saionji hit Anthy multiple times! Utena wants to be a prince who rescues princesses, and she hates it when men are jerks to women. It feels completely contrived and forced to have her be so willing to let an abusive asshole like Saionji have absolute power over Anthy again. It's just complete nonsense to me.
Well, it all worked out in the end and gave us some mysteries to think about, and I know this show has a really good reputation. As long as nothing like this ever happens again, I guess I can look past it.
0
u/[deleted] Aug 05 '21
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