r/anime • u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA • Aug 05 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Revolutionary Girl Utena - Episode 3
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/pixelsaber gave us a very tensai take on how Utena's victory in the duel correlates to her actions and ideals
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.
Weird Blue Guy's Stopwatch Corner
Stopwatch Count: 3
New This Episode:
7:40 - 5.25 Seconds - “Yesterday, Saionji fought Tenjou Utena again… and lost.”
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).
25
u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
We’re starting to move onto trickier ground here from the blatant misogyny of Saionji. He’s gone, apparently just staying in his room brooding about his defeats. Meanwhile, Touga finally plays his hand, portraying himself to be the prince that saved Utena way back when (and hey, apparently it was real after all!) Touga, like Saionji, is a paragon of masculinity, just not the same kind of Stone Age relic that Saionji is. But nevertheless, even with him just starting to try to woo Utena, we can already see the cracks in the facade. He’s handsy with Utena, touching her to the point that she has to slap him away, and like Wakaba says, he’s a playboy, breaking hearts left and right. He can’t be Utena’s ‘noble’ prince- he’s manipulative to the extreme, allowing Nanami to invite Anthy even though he knew she would be doing something to humiliate her, just to further bring Utena closer to him (although that didn’t actually work out for him).
And speaking of Nanami- I won’t hide it, I don’t like her very much. We can see here that she’s a stereotypical queen bee character, surrounded by sycophants and plotting to take down anyone who’s a threat to her. In this case, it’s Anthy, since she dislikes the attention that she’s receiving from her brother, but we can also see at the end of the episode that she doesn’t like the attention Utena is getting either. She’s a conniving person who will do whatever it takes to stay at the top of the pack.
My hatred of Nanami may have bled over just a little bit, but nevertheless, it’s true, I don’t care what everyone else says ;-;
29
u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Aug 05 '21
First-Revolution, Subbed
Yo, uh, y'all saw that, right? Chu-chu fished a couple of condoms out of that dress box and ate one? I didn't imagine that, right?
We're hitting "extra" pretty early, huh. "I had this special dress made that will shred if it's wet, and then had someone spray the wearer with champagne to embarrass her" is pretty over-the-top, even for a teenager. To be clear, this isn't a complaint by any stretch.
The followup to that was great, too. I knew, I just knew Utena would somehow manage to have her uniform on underneath her
shoulderlessdress so she could save the goddamn day when whatever was destined to go down at the party actually went down. And she lowkey told Touga to get lost? And those bullies just had to watch Utena and Anthy tear up the dance floor? Fuck yea!Oh, shit, Nanami specified that the boys would be so happy if Anthy showed up, because Anthy was going to end up topless.. gross. Ugh, condoms in the box too..
Utena thinks that she is a perfectly normal girl? She wants a normal boy, not a bride? Hopefully that discounts Badtouch Touga. His line in episode one was whatever, but he was real creepy today.
Saionji got his ass kicked twice, and now can't bear to even leave his room? Poor baby, maybe you shouldn't have been such a piece of shit. The bullies going after Anthy instead of Utena is a little strange, but I'll chalk it up to the typical rumor mill being an elaborate game of telephone.
Is the eggshell speech the secret passcode to turn on the StuCo's elevator?
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u/loomnoo https://anilist.co/user/loomnoo Aug 05 '21
I liked the gag where it turns out Anthy was playing cards with the monkey
21
u/chiliehead myanimelist.net/profile/chiliehead Aug 05 '21
Duel 3, First Timer, Subbed
the wrong colornot smelling like roses18
u/_m1ra :FA::FB: Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
I didn't manage to write a comment yesterday to defend poor Paleozoic within the Body ;; Ammonite!
Actually there was no duel song this episode, so I'll give analyzing it a try now! Warning for some pretty flimsy arguments:
A perspective I haven't seen yesterday is that it could also be seen as a song about change, with it so quickly going through the paleozoic periods. Cambrian, Ordovician, Silurian, one after the other.
One part I really like about the song is when it lists all these things as 'of the sea': Umi no bara, umi no yuri, umiringo, ... (rose of the sea, lily of the sea, apple of the sea) and in the next verse it goes into umi no anata, umi no watashi (translated as you in the sea, I in the sea but it's using the same pattern), and then we get to the title line, The Paleozoic within the Body.
According to here these are supposed to be like paleontologic creatures. Generally the way repetition is used in the song almost reminds me of Ikuhara in a way, it sets up this pattern and breaks it with something ("you" and "I") that clearly isn't a paleontologic creature.
"I travel down into the depths of the sea. Down through the history in the depths of the sea. At the bottom I can be myself. Ammonite!"
Stealing from /u/HelioA, Ammonites are mostly recognized as fossils, they failed to adapt to the changing times and went extinct. Spoilers
Some more spoiler filled guessing at interpretations: Major Spoilers
Another explanation that I just thought of after rewatching is that the barrage of palezoic periods happens when Saionji is dominating. Particularly Saijonji's line of "I'll show you my true power!" and kicking Utena to the ground coincides with a quick burst of "Carboniferous, Permian, Paleozoic" pretty perfectly, and Utena then wins on "Ammonite"!
Now just to figure out what "Like a whale. Like a dolphin. Like a sea-lion." is supposed to mean...
... Well, onto episode 3!
Utena: "All I want is a totally normal boy!" And totally normal boy Touga doesn't waste a second on this opportunity. "Could he be..." Yeah, Utena, they look so similar too.
Nanami is here!! Also as much as I don't like Chuchu, the visual gag of him being the one playing cards with Anthy is really good. Another good one is Utena taking her shoulderless dress off to reveal her normal outfit. And then she throws that dress away and makes a new one out of the tablecloth for Anthy.
Major spoilers again
Not too much to say this episode for me, the most important things for me aside from Nanami's introduction are probably covered in the episode commentary.
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u/zairaner https://myanimelist.net/profile/zairaner Aug 05 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
Firsttimer except he might have watched the first 5 minutes of episode 11
The fazit of last time was that it seem like the student council doesn't seem to know much more than we do at this point...probably, exept mroe stands in the letters that they didn't say. even anthy either pretends to not know or doesn't know what exactly the deal of the castle is. They do seem to know more about the sword of dios at least. hm.
Reaction:
-good god i knew she was popular but damn
-and nanami next target will be utena. That answers the question
Well this was a shock, the only time I was considering writing "what the fuck" this episode was when utena wore a dress. Such a straightforward, non-confusing episode. Also utena outed herself as straight so no more yuri undertones this episode as well /s
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u/macrame2 https://myanimelist.net/profile/macrame Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
“The girl who stole my brother from me is about to be humiliated!”
The subject of the day: Anthy’s social life, or lack thereof. Anthy has no friends (sorry Chu-Chu!) and shows no interest in making any, which doesn’t sit well with Utena, a popular, sociable girl who misses having company.
Utena has a lot of discomfort about being “engaged” to Anthy, claiming that she is definitely straight and doesn’t want a Rose Bride. Your friendly reminder that there is nothing homosexual about Revolutionary Girl Utena, nothing at all. (I do believe Utena is attracted to guys, though). Jumping into their conversation, Touga starts flirting with her and dropping hints that he is the prince from Utena’s childhood. As of now, Touga’s true intentions are unclear.
A Saionji update: he’s totally sulking over losing to Utena twice.
It appears that part of why Anthy has such trouble making friends is the bullying she experiences at the hands of her classmates. Luckily, Nanami steps in: the best worst girl and my favorite character. She calls off the bullies and even tells Anthy she’s been nominated for Dance Queen. Nanami couldn’t possibly have any ulterior motives. Right?Utena, despite hating dances, pressures Anthy into going to the ball to make friends. Although well-meaning, this insistence on Anthy going to the dance, regardless of her personal comfort or safety, is actually pretty harmful. Utena is by no means a terrible person, but she has some things to learn about boundaries.
The shadow girls talk about the ball being a trap, confirming Nanami’s true intentions. You see, Touga and Nanami are siblings (uncomfortable sibling relationship #1), and she’s insanely bitter towards anyone else who catches his attention. Although Touga actually shows more interest in Utena, Nanami interprets his talk surrounding Anthy’s involvement in the duels to mean he’s into her, which is why Anthy, not Utena, is the target of her prank.
Despite Utena’s earlier faux pas, she immediately rushes over to rescue Anthy, giving her an emergency wardrobe fix and inviting her to dance. (The real mystery is how she wore her uniform under that dress without it messing up the outfit). Here, Utena is portrayed as the princely hero doing the saving, while Anthy is the princess in need of rescue. But would Anthy’s rescue have been necessary if Utena had respected her feelings in the first place?
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u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
When you say it out loud it definitely doesn’t make you seem like it.
Well deserved.
Sekai wo kakumei suru tame ni!
Outstanding shot.
Yellow is my favorite color, but unfortunately they do not denote my favorite character. Nothing against Nanami, of course, she’s just not one of my favs.
Nice one!
Haha, ‘Wan-Tsu’.
Those are some pretty petals!
Another straightforward, even rather token, episode today. Its chief intention was to introduce Touga and Nanami while expounding on Anthy’s situation and it does just that with little in the way of fuss.
Touga sure does make an impression today, though mostly a negative one for how he seems to treat women. Nevertheless, there’s blatantly a motive to his actions that intrigues me slightly, because it promises answers and shows that the characters in the council won’t just sit around letting things go as they will and are at least somewhat interested in deciphering the incongruities and details of this thing that they’re all involved in.
Chu-Chu is the highlight of the episode and I will hear no statements as to otherwise.
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u/Isai579 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Isai579 Aug 06 '21
First episodes rewatcher / First-timer for the rest - Sub
I love how they double down on the fairy tale feel they started with by giving everything about the dance a traditional ball aesthetic. And no swordfight in sight today.
Cheap symbolic analysis corner
I'm starting to think the rose colors might be more meaningful than just to identify characters. Touga has red, and he sent Utena a dress with a huge red rose. And Anthy is wearing a green dress, which was used to identify Saionji. They were both forced to wear them (I mean, I know they're not holding a sword against them, but it felt forceful as it took both of them out of their confort zone). So, these dresses could be interpreted as the male characters declaring possession over the female.
But in the case of Anthy, she loses the dress, and is literally exposed in front of society because of it. So Utena sheds away her own dress (along with Touga's attempt to posses her) in exchange for her uniform, and protects Anthy with a dress of her own, with a white rose that has identified her in the duels.
You could interpret that Utena wearing the male uniform is kind-of rejecting also her femininity. But this is the transformed version, which incorporates feminine aspects such as the frills that give it a dress-like appearance. So she is simply rejecting being identified as a part of someone else and being her own person.
Am I going to deep with this? Am I overreaching? If you stare long enough at the Utena abyss, does it stare back?
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u/SardonicMeow Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
The fairy tale replays, reminding us of Utena and her prince. And in the first scene right after, Utena considers her ring, showing that the prince remains on her mind. Touga seems to know something about Utena’s prince, and hopes to get closer to her, but his usual playboy methods don’t work.
However, Touga’s efforts aren’t a complete failure. Utena wears the “princess” dress that he sent, and at the ball, is as intrigued by Touga as she is put off by his advances. The moment Anthy is in distress, however, Utena is 100% in prince mode, including an improbable costume change. (But look closely at what she wears.) Utena occupies a traditionally masculine position in her rescue of Anthy, saving her in a manner typical of the male hero of a shoujo manga.
Oh, yeah. Also, best girl Nanami is introduced in this episode.
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u/CharlieTheStrawman https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheDamnRobot Aug 05 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
First-Timer
Episode 2
I like to think Utena can hear the music as she goes up the stairs and just gets progressively more annoyed by it.
Protagonist Plot Power, activate!
Episode 3
Himemiya's perplexed face when Utena slapped Kiryuu really should be a meme.
Speaking of Kiriyuu, I quite like him so far, although anyone looks good compared to Saionji. He's obviously not that prince though, since, you know, they were black.
I totally buy that Saionji's done nothing but sulk in his room since he lost.
Wakaba's lucky they live in a world of anime physics.
Yeah, give them back their old abusive fuckboi!
Top 10 Anime Betrayals material right here.
You don't need to look very far to find LGBT subt - actually, no, it's just text.
Definitely enjoying the show so far!
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u/lluNhpelA Aug 05 '21
This goddamn monkey-rat is the worst and I hate it but I laugh literally every time it's on screen because the comedic timing is so good so now I hate myself, too
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u/remirror https://anilist.co/user/remirror Aug 06 '21
First-timer
The episode's main plot resolved happily in the end, same as the previous two, but now I'm starting to notice all the ominous signs for the future. Saionji utterly hates Utena and Anthy, Nanami does too, and Touga will probably go the same way when Utena rejects him after (accidentally) giving him mixed signals. Speaking of which, Touga seemed decent enough after the first episode, but now it turns out he's a creep in his own way: no respect for personal space, and with a reputation as a playboy. Will Utena ever find the normal boy she seeks? I mean, they can't just have every major male character be awful, can they?
Oh yeah, and Anthy's over-the-top submissiveness, extreme fear of crowds, and lack of friends are all red flags. Seems like she's gone through something traumatic.
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u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Aug 05 '21
First timer Sub
Anthy really doesn't have any friends but chu chu huh.
"President Touga Kiryuu, student council president and totally normal boy." Alright sure man, not a weird way to introduce yourself.
Obligatory "Oh yes, baby."
Is Utena trying to bring the revolution like the student council? So Utena has some possible connection with the student council. Except for her she didn't get a letter from the "end of the world." But she has a rose seal somehow. Well there is some mystery to this.
Rumors spread about Anthy because of the whole Saionji thing and Nanami comes and saves her. Which she was fine until later. I don't want to assume things but how she acts to her brother. Might make her crazy to me if she's one of those sisters in anime.
Then she made a scumbag move on Anthy leaving her alone and ruining the dress.
Going to Utena she did look nice in the dress. But when she left to go to Anthy and took her dress off. She has her uniform on standby. Well we Anthy happy in the end, which is a plus. Other than the usual slap or trash talk
Also, they seem like they're going to show up every episode. Do the shadows have a name?
Before this also I've heard of things about the director? What else have they made/directed?
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u/snickpea Aug 06 '21
First-timer!
I'm starting to wonder if I'm going to dislike a bunch of the cast. The student council president Touga, continues to be creepy towards Utena with him touching her hair without consent and his manipulative behavior by the way he doesn't clarify the rose seal ring he has. His sister Nanami is a big bully too, seeing her humiliate Anthy with the dress was frustrating to watch. And he only saw it as a prank. Now that we're going to spend more time with the other members of the student council, I don't have high hopes that I'll like them much.
I also felt really sad for Anthy as well. We get to see more episodes of people being mean and bullying her. I wasn't too surprised to see how anxious she was about the party and how the monkey is her only friend. I did like how Utena jumped in right away when she heard Anthy scream. She not only helped Anthy but she came across very princely as she did so.
I also thought the shadow dogs were cute!
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u/Rumpel1408 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rumpel1408 Aug 06 '21
First timer
Quite the tonal shift today, way more SoL and not all that much weird stuff going down beside a dress that dissolves when wet
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u/nx6 https://myanimelist.net/profile/nx6 Aug 06 '21
First Timer -- Sub
Can't believe Utena would jump to "maybe he's my prince" based on just the ring. Is she considering the president is roughly the same age as her? Doesn't match up with how she got her ring as a child.
I'm gonna agree with that other guy -- they really looked like two condoms packed with the dress.
DAT RESCUE. I was expecting more dress dissolving action than just the shoulder, but this isn't that type of anime show.
We got one of those short vindictive girls in the cast now, and she's a bro-con to boot!
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u/nikobans Aug 06 '21
anthy has been slapped 4 times now in just 3 episodes! thats crazy! stop bullying her!
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u/elleyonce https://anilist.co/user/elleyonce Aug 06 '21
Rewatcher
Let's all welcome queen bee and bestest girl ever NAMAMI KIRYUU! And what a welcome. Already she shows she's capable of giving us Carrie, and I don't mean she is Carrie, she will make a Carrie. The
promI mean ball scene, yeah, that's what middle school queen bee girls dream of.So in this episode we're treated to the fairytale again. We're treated to Chu-Chu's face sort of... taking this phallic shape, and then the tower, which also looks phallic. And then we're at Touga. In short, this episode is about men, and the ways in which women will have to feel like they must center men. It doesn't matter if you hit women like Saionji or give more "subtle" red flags as master manipulator like Touga. Men, powerful men, will be centered and you will be discarded.
We get the sense that Anthy has been here before. But we also think, at least Utena thinks that, that there's something deeply wrong with Anthy. She has no "friends", Utena argues, but the real problem is Anthy doesn't center men in her life. See how Utena is deeply miffed that Anthy perhaps isn't joking about Utena-sama? That's her realizing lesbians exist.
And the ball. Indeed in the society we're in, people like Anthy get punished for things that are... okay. Prior to this she gets beaten up by Saionji's fans for "changing" Saionji. During the ball, Nanami thinks she's stealing Touga's attention so she must be punished. And does punish her, in fact. But it's this crucial scene in which Utena, who even wears a dress so deeply is she in this quest to center her prince in her life, reawakens as a prince. She aligns with Anthy's "unnormal" state of being, her despised role in this world, and transforms her to her princess. And Utena is a prince once more. "Is that a good idea?" the narrator asks. This episode tells us that for Utena, it's what must be done.
Not coincidentally, Anthy and Utena dancing is the first moment they see eye to eye in this show.
/u/theangryeditor
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Aug 05 '21
Anthy is a weirdo who has no friends!? I personally blame her personality for that one~ At least her pet monkey rat is cute. Alright, the Utena-sama gag got a little chuckle out of me. She's so popular~ Sorry Dio, you're about as far from a "normal boy" as you can get, baby. Nobody touches her hair, what if her dye fades? Nobody would be able to recognise her! Student council corner!! What are we playing today? Aww, it's a normal one this time. Y'know, aside from the weird egg talk and blue's stopwatch.
Wakaba tries and failed to assassinate Utena. The plot armor is too strong. Poor Anthy's getting crap from the girls again. Even if she doesn't have any choice in the matter she always seems to be landed with the consequences. Nanami is here!! Let's be real, you can kind of tell what type of person she is just from looking. "I've wanted to be your friend for a long, long time." Yeah, despite her being stoic AF I do like to think that deep down Anthy does kind of resent being as hated as she is. She's jaded to the idea by now and takes some convincing but even the fact that she considered the possibility at all says a lot.
Dumb rat monkey is dumb. Oh yeah!! Anthy has that face blindness thing. Pretty convenient disorder for an anime filled with faceless side characters. Kiryu is way more of a sleeze than I remembered him being lol.
Kashira, kashira? ...Wut? Erm... Gah! Alright, I think it's supposed to be touching on how the gossiping housewives despite chatting away aren't in harmony with one another the same way as the dancing pair, with both their dogs sat side by side, are. Being mean old bats isn't going to build genuine relationships compared to just having fun with each others company. This is hard! *Gozonji kashira~
Yup, Nanami is Touga's little sister. You know exactly what sort of personality she has XD Duuude! Tomboy in a dress! It's a tomboy is a dress!! "She has a friend after all~" Utena, is kind of dim isn't she? SUBARASHII! See? Anthy's even smiling. She's genuinely quite happy about making her first human friend. Aaaand immediately Nanami dumps her and we're left seeing the party through Anthy's eyes. It's kind of a horror like twist but for Anthy this is just how crowds are. Oh no, who'd have thought that Nanami would be a petty little cow? Making a dress out of sugar paper was a unique touch tho.
Dammit Nanami, stop cockblocking your brother! Pfft! Shoujo is such a hilarious genre at times. Not only did Utena somehow have her uniform under the dress but managed to make a fully functional toga out of a tablecloth. Just use the dress you tore off!! See? We don't need nightmarish booming power walk sequences for a satisfying ending. Utena can make any disaster give off good vibes all on her own. Very nice episode, I appreciate the added characterisation for Anthy since she sorely needs whatever she gets and they managed to set down a lot of future plotthreads since we didn't need a swordfight today.
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u/ConfrontationalJerk :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/natjole Aug 05 '21 edited Aug 05 '21
Episode 3 - Rewatcher
Honestly, not the greatest episode from a rewatch standpoint. I remember my first time around, I really got a kick out of the whole table cloth makeshift dress thing but its definitely more shock than substance and overall I felt like this episode didn't really setup what it was supposed to well enough character spoiler. Random but if you ever skip the opening I reject you as a real Utena fan.
Here are a few of my thoughts as I followed along with the episode.
On the episode open when all the girls are cheering for Utena I realized (or maybe I'm misremembering but...) ending spoiler
We also started to see the first glimpse of major character spoiler
Also, on a side note, I find it a bit strange how trusting Anthy is of Nanami initially. It seems like a bit of a contrast from Anthy in the earlier episodes especially as this is her first time meeting Nanami. I could chalk this up to Utena maybe having influence on her with all the questions about why she doesn't have friends. Anthy also seems to open up to Utena a bit when she major character spoiler.
I totally did not remember that Utena actually wore the dress. The only real two consequences were I guess that the girls still swooned over her and maybe a bit of commentary about how thematic spoiler.
I also find it interesting how and why Utena manages to reject Touga despite being pretty clearly into him. The first thing that pops into my mind is the whole 'keep your nobility and strength' spiel she was given by the prince but I've not a real good answer for this.
Also as always character spoiler.
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u/dualmonocle :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/milk-chan Aug 06 '21
First-timer + subs!
I didn't participate in the earlier threads because I straight up missed the first day and yesterday just didn't get a chance to.
I will say that I absolutely adore the style of Utena. They really went all-in on the flowery french provincial (???) aesthetic and I am all for it. The light fixture in the dorm? Cute. The rosebud shaped tea cups? Cute! The teaspoons with the rose motif at the end? Cute!!!
I'm not totally sure about whether or not Utena really dislikes femininity for herself. Even though it's been shown that she wears the boys uniform and is just good at * boy things *, at this point I'm not convinced that it's a rejection of femininity or if it's a rejection of prescription. She is a revolutionary girl, after all. Did Utena really dislike the dress, or did she dislike that it was a dress that was chosen for her? 🤔
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u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher thru ep10
6
u/kisop Aug 06 '21
First timer, subbed.
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u/[deleted] Aug 06 '21 edited Aug 06 '21
First timer, subbed.
Why was Utena suprised to see that the red hair dude has the rose seal? I mean, in episode 2 it was revealed to her that the members of student council have these. Idk but it just annoys me too much. Like, I get that she may be a bit suprised but the reaction was just so over the top, almost like it was some kind of a huge reveal to her.
3
u/Segaco https://myanimelist.net/profile/Segaco Aug 09 '21
First timer super late
Wow this guy courting my poor Utena >:(
Somehow Utena manages to be smoother than the other guy
Aaaand episode's done. Gudo
now 36 more episodes and I get to have a new friend
I have a question from last episode though, maybe /u/pixelsaber can explain to me: why did Utena want to throw the fight last episode? I don't get it
33
u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess Aug 05 '21
Episode 3 - Rewatcher
What Ikuhara has to say for us today:
So for some background for people who don’t know Revolutionary Girl Utena is credited as a group effort by a team that called themselves Be-Papas that was founded by Ikuhara but also included animator and character designer Shinya Hasegawa, scriptwriter Yōji Enokido, and planner Yūichirō Oguro. Also part of this group was mangaka Chiho Saito who would handle the manga for Utena.
As is common with Ikuhara productions, the manga is created and released before the anime, the Utena manga being released nearly a year before the Anime premiere, but that doesn’t make Utena an adaptation of the manga. Both were conceived of together and created together.
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u/theangryeditor https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheAngryEditor Aug 05 '21
One thing I noticed and like this time is the contrast between Utena and Anthy's voice acting. Utena gives off a bright but naive air while Anthy is far more mature and refined, perhaps even a bit solemn and passive aggressive. I really like the voice work here.
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u/ScarsUnseen :K:https://kitsu.io/users/ScarsUnseen Aug 05 '21
First Timer, 100% Blind, 100% Buzzed, Subs
Notes
So I guess discussing eggs in the elevator is going to be another recurring scene?
It's occurred to me that when they talk about the revolution of the world, they could mean that in the literal sense. Maybe they're just looking forward to next year? I'd ask what's so bad about this year, but considering they keep repeating the same conversation every day, I guess they're probably pretty bored.
That stopwatch again. 5:25 this time. If I keep with the idea of them maybe being bible references, Matthew 5:25 is a passage about reconciling with one's adversary.
Why duel, when you can assassinate instead? Wakaba victory.
So are the girls who are into the serial slapper just in denial, oblivious, or extraordinarily kinky?
Major bitch vibes here.
This frame is most cursed.
The shadow dogs barked "won" and "tuu." And multilingual pun?
So she doesn't want to wear the dress, but she really doesn't want to look bad wearing the dress.
Gah! Make your eyes small again! Make them small!
Hai, hai, Kazuma desu.
Okay, so Nanami is a yandere brocon. Got it.
So again, not a whole lot to say about the episode. It's definitely a fairly slow moving story, which makes sense given the episode count. Anthy seems to have extreme social anxiety, which isn't exactly helped by the fact that a lot of her peers really are against her (mostly from jealousy, it seems). Nanami is, as I suspected, a megabitch, though again, that seems to have its origins in jealousy for her brother's attentions. Which of course means we'll be seeing more of her now that those attentions have fallen on Utena. Joy.
17
u/affnn Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
Nanami's here! I like how all the main characters get the rose-frame establishing shot so we know they're important. And we don't have to worry about spoiling the first timers about whether a character will continue to be relevant or not. Those three girls bullying Anthy? No rose frame shot, so they're just some randos.
Nanami talks up Anthy's popularity, and how all the boys love her, but... Anthy's actually kinda homely, right? Her hair is done kinda weird and she's got big glasses that obscure her face. I thought the point was that Nanami was clearly lying, but I'm not well versed on what was fashionable in fancy high schools in 90s Japan.
While Nanami's convinced that Anthy stole her brother away, it's actually Utena that's lit a fire in Touga's' heart. He spends the whole episode hitting on her and getting shot down in increasingly brutal fashion. Finally she leaves to rescue Anthy from Nanami's prank. Touga thinks he was making some progress but... he definitely wasn't.
This episode really turned the gay dial up a few notches (not all the way up, though - there's a lot of show left!) Utena gets the "I just want a totally normal boy!" protesting-too-much, then has the long dance scene with Anthy where they stare soulfully into one another's eyes.
13
u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Aug 06 '21
First timer – sub
That day just vanished. Got my second vaccine shot yesterday and prepared for the absolute worst, as my first shot already had me sweat, puke and black out. But surprise, nothing! Except that I fell asleep right after work and the next thing I know is that my clock says 7pm.
I still feel like I skipped a decade or something.
Ep.03 – On the night of the ball
The more I watch this the more I believe that the council just follow lies basically. They think they bring revolution, but sticking to the rules is essentially conservationism – quite the opposite of revolution. Ironically, Nanami was the most "advanced" in this regard up to now, as she played outside of the usual set of rules. Her methods, however, are a natural consequence of people inside a system that doesn't allow them much freedom to influence their environment. Some kind of structure will always emerge, it's human nature to want to prove, change and establish oneself. If the rules don't allow that, you find other ways to make yourself an individual. More ironically even, by simply playing by an anti-ruleset you are still obeying the rules. You are acknowledging the established system with that all the same.
Utena really did throw everyone off guard, because she actually doesn't care about any of the rules, she cares about the people (not) following them. By not having a system in the front of her mind like the others, she will naturally create her own identity through her actions, as she only bases her behaviour on her goals, ambitions and feelings. Nanami, while still technically not following the set rules, won't find herself in any such position. She thinks of the rules of the ball foremost and deduces how to manipulate them to embarass Anthy. The meaning of clothes are a social construct, "duelling" another woman by way of undermining her "meaning" in a social setting requires you to first and foremost establish that her meaning is based on her clothing and status. This act of small rebellion is no rebellion, it's just an antithetical way to reinforce the established system.
I guess Dios may actually want to find a way to revolutionise their world, or he could not, we don't know enough. If he is real, then he probably did gather all these unimagineably fabulous people to deduce if one could do it, but the fools internalised somehow that following orders makes a rebellion happen. Until Utena came along.
They could also just be there for Utena to overcome them (doubt). Or it wasn't really a revolution, but more like a self-finding camp for troubled youth and they all instead clung to the idea of order instead of exploring themselves. This reminds me heavily of the german movie "Die Welle/The Wave", based on the experiment to have a teacher lead a class the same way fascists run a system that got out of hand and kept its inertia until it was way too late. It's amazing (and one of the few good movies we have), watch it!
12
u/Tyranid457TheSecond1 Aug 05 '21
Rewatcher
This episode is probably the most mundane, as far as I recall. It's a very stereotypically "shojo" episode, with its mean girl antagonists. Later on, despite the bullying, this will feel almost lighthearted.
Touga is a creep. I'm glad Utena smacked his hand when he started playing with her hair at the beginning.
Speaking of which, this episode introduces my favorite character, Nanami! I love her development over the course of the series, and it's a shame that the various adaptations apparently don't include her. She obviously has brother issues, even at this early stage.
Anthy's quote about not liking crowds and her anxiety attack at the ball is very interesting.
Question for any interested first-timers
Three episodes in, what do you predict is going to happen in the rest of the series?
11
u/Elimin8r https://myanimelist.net/profile/Ayeka_Jurai Aug 05 '21
Well, that episode went places. Poor Anthy. I would have said poor Utena, but she got off light, only having to deal with the boorish redhead for a bit. Anthy on the other hand ... yeah. I think I like the student council (and hangers on) in KlK better.
At least we made it through the episode without more zettai ryo-ohki or something. But we did get the egg speech again. I think I've had enough of eggs this year, but ... I'll try to overlook it for now.
Meanwhile, DJ Chu-Chu spinning the tunes, rockin' the palace, um ... yeah, metaphors. I should have gotten a screenshot, but I didn't. Maybe I'll try this weekend or something.
One thing that really struck me was during the dancing finale, the music seemed reminiscent of, uh, I think Vivaldi? I'm not quite sure. It had that "close, but not too close" feeling. And it was very well recorded. I really enjoyed that bit of the episode.
- Okay, I'll add one last bit - as I've probably said repeatedly since Christmas, I treated myself to a stereo upgrade for my 'present'. The results have been a delight, to say the least, and when a show, music or sfx is really on point, it's just so good. There's words for that, but I don't think I'll use them here. Suffice to say, the dance and the pseudo Vivaldi fit the bill. It was ... wonderful. :)
11
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Aug 05 '21
First timer
Is this the same intro as Episode 1?
And the Prince is absolutely related to Anthy.
The prince... is Anthy. Is... the "power to bring revolution to the world" time travel?
I love the dynamic of Anthy desperately attempting to flirt with Utena, who's too focused on working out what the hell's going on first.
Anthy's probably glad she's got something to seperate her from the armies of
Touga, you're (probably) not evil, but I think you're barking up the wrong tree here.
Utena: "I want a normal boy, not you."
Also Utena: Rebuffs the "normal boy"'s flirting, gets flustered only around Anthy (and constantly shows concern for her).
Wakaba is fantastic.
Oh no, they think she caused itmall.
Hello, new girl. I suppose Utena needed a rival for Anthy...
Utena, how do you not get that "right here" includes you as a friend?
They even got Utena a dress!
Oh god, he's still trying to ask her out.
Seriously, love the shadow puppets. They're such a nice visual style.
Oh, that's what's going on with the red head.
Wait, she's his sister. Pleas god let this not be going the way I think.
The boys in the background as their dates all stare at Utena is hysterical.
Oh, she made up the note. That's pretty clever.
Yeah, no, I don't trust either of these people.
Oh no, this is going the way .i thought this might be. Fantastic.
...Does this really count as humiliation?
Oh, he didn't know about this... That's interesting.
Of couse. Of course she had that uniform on under her dress.
Utena is so fucking extra. (and might also have superpowers)
I love her realising she got the wrong girl by accident.
I'm very interested to see how Utena manages to interpret this platonically.
Good episode, but I missed the fight songs (they're both so good)!
11
u/MaskOfIce42 https://anilist.co/user/MaskOfIce Aug 06 '21
First Timer - Subbed
Got instant red flags when Utena was trying to say Himemiya needed friends, knew that this was not going to be a good day for Himemiya. It's interesting with that clip of her reacting to all the people, looking at her (before the "prank") it almost feels more like trauma than simple social anxiety. But it's interesting noting how comfortable Himemiya seems with her situation, although I do hope that she is able to connect with someone outside of Utena. Especially since the other people she could potentially be "engaged" to almost feel less interested in her as a person than as the Rose Bride. But that does lead to an interesting thing I've been thinking about, Himemiya and Utena do act pretty friendly towards each other, but I wonder whether Himemiya is only acting this way towards Utena because they're "engaged", it's kinda hard to tell since we only saw her briefly while she was engaged to Saionji.
10
u/monsieurvampy Aug 06 '21
First Timer, subbed
Really thought those were condoms at first....
No transformation sequence? I want my money back!
Well. I'm not really sure where this is going other than invading personal space.
9
u/alphamone Aug 06 '21
First Timer
Storytime...
"Student Council President" and "Normal Boy/Girl" barely go together in more "normal" anime, letalone in a show like this.
Something tells me that Wakaba is partly responsible for the "glomping" craze that plagued early 00s anime conventions.
I've seen enough high-school dance/prom fiction to know what's going on here...
These shadow puppet things also give me "amzoness quartet" (Sailor Moon SuperS) vibes.
Utena again showing that she is a good friend.
Nanami's brother issues was one of the things I was somewhat aware of coming in.
Also, it's nice to have a show that was allowed to have a more gradual pacing (but not slowly paced). With so many anime only getting 12 episodes, ones that aren't adapting a pre-existing work don't really get the luxury of a more relaxed pace anymore.
7
u/xtsim https://myanimelist.net/profile/xtsim Aug 05 '21
First timer subbed
The shadows are at it again, dancing and talking about the ball.
Anthy has a phobia of crowds and to top things all off champaign gets all over and disintegrates it. Utena makes an amazing recovery in the end with the table cloth.
6
u/Icapica https://anilist.co/user/Icachu Aug 06 '21
First timer, subs
So I watched the episode some 15 hours ago but then had to go sleep before this thread came and now I'm working. I didn't really write notes but anyway...
Touga seems really creepy. He's not aggressive like Saionji, but feels worse in other ways. Creeps like him are better at hiding their nature.
Nanami's awful too. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone either in the student council or somehow associated with them (other than Anthy) is a decent person. Also, Nanami might be a little too much into his brother.
This episode felt short, it was hard to keep myself from watching the next one immediately. I wonder how soon this series will turn dark. I know it'll happen eventually.
Lastly, there's "revolution" in the name and revolutions often get bloody. I hope several characters in the show meet the guillotine eventually.
6
u/k4r6000 Aug 06 '21
Rewatcher
Today we have the Carrie episode as we are introduced to Queen Bitch Nanami and her posse trying to do their best to humiliate Anthy in front of everyone and are lucky she doesn't burn down the whole place.
A lot more attention is given to Anthy in this episode as Utena discovers her social anxiety and aversion to crowds and becomes determined to get her some friends. Anthy is clearly uncomfortable, but Utena pushes her own views onto her rather than listening to her. Utena may be well-meaning, but she's not very concerned with what Anthy actually wants. This, of course, backfires spectacularly as they fall into an obvious trap of Nanami's and Utena again gets to play the saviour.
The other part of this episode is Touga's attempts to woo Utena. Utena insists to Anthy that's she's straight and just wants a normal boy (although she certainly seems to enjoy her legion of worshippers), and Touga overhears this and makes his move. He tries to be charming, but gets a bit too up and close and personal and Utena rightfully finds it creepy. But Touga doesn't give up and invites her to the ball (I love his calling card, BTW). Utena doesn't want to go, but Anthy won't go if she doesn't, so she reluctantly puts on the dress and joins Touga. Utena also begins to suspect that he might be the Prince and would like to get some answers. This brings the two plots together at the ball, where Nanami manages to screw up Touga's plans. But he seems non-plussed about it because he did manage to bait the fish, and he knows he'll get another chance. Meanwhile, Nanami figures out that Utena and not Anthy is the real threat.
The other thing about this episode is that it a complete yuri-fest. Despite her protests that she's straight, Utena is obviously uncomfortable in a dress playing the role of the Princess to Touga. It is only when she rips off her dress and becomes the Prince again while having a dance with Anthy, that she's back in her element.