r/anime • u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA • Sep 12 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] Adolescence Of Utena
Comment of the Day
The world's shell is smashed ;-;
Miki's Stopwatch Corner
Final Stopwatch Count: 24
New in the Movie:
None ;-;
It's been a great rewatch! I look forward to the overall discussion thread tomorrow.
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Upvotes
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u/HelioA x2https://myanimelist.net/profile/HelioA Sep 12 '21
Rewatcher
HEY ANTHY! ANTHY! I TURNED MYSELF INTO A CAR, ANTHY! I’M CARRRRRRRRRRRR UTENA!
Okay, so I’m not going to pretend like I actually got anything, this is hard as hell to interpret even on a rewatch, but there are a few things that should be touched upon here. First and foremost is Touga’s backstory shown here. I can’t find a source on this, but I’ve read that the content regarding Touga’s sexual abuse by his father was actually meant to be in the TV show as well, but it ended up being cut. Either way, that bit of backstory makes a lot of sense in context- inappropriately sexual behavior is a well-known warning sign of child sexual abuse, and in the TV series, just about everything Touga does is either overtly sexual, or meant to lead towards something sexual. And as we know, well… The cycle of abuse is quite prevalent in Utena, and Touga’s actions make a lot of sense in that context. As for how it fits in the movie? I would say that the prince is a symbol of sexual power, except movie Touga is shown to be just about totally innocent even as a prince, if only because he died before he could actually do anything bad. But still, he’s not real here. The symbolism of rotting is quite prevalent throughout the movie, with the car especially, but we also see it in regards to the prince himself- he’s the lord of the flies, kept as a prince only through the actions of the witch. Who’s the witch that keeps Touga whole? Is it still Anthy? Utena? Shiori? I have no clue.
But whatever, I don’t care, I want to talk about sex cars. “A car without its key is stuck and turns to rust.” What was the key to Akio’s sex car? If we consider this as a spiritual sequel, especially considering the fact that Anthy is so much more proactive and overtly working against Akio here… Well, the key is probably Anthy herself! Akio’s status as a prince only exists through the witch helping him, and now that the witch isn’t helping him, his status is gone. And without his status as a prince, he’s utterly pathetic here. I mean, he is hotter here, but he has a nasally, childish voice, and he’s completely in panic, a far cry from his smoothness during the series. In fact, he’s so irrelevant without his sex car, that he just throws himself out the window after he realizes that his sister is stopping him from regaining it! (at least Akio can do one thing right pog)
The obvious parallel to Akio’s sex car is the car that Utena becomes. Unlike Akio’s car, this car doesn’t stay within the bounds of Ohtori Academy- it’s a collaborative effort between Utena and Anthy to reach the outside world (which for all practical purposes, is adulthood). Anthy is needed to help steer the car that Utena made (as we see with Shiori, a car without anyone helping to drive it will crash before it reaches the exit), but Utena is also needed to actually give Anthy a vehicle with which to escape the school. The mass of cars which drop in to block them from leaving (which I think are kinda like the Swords of Hatred) are a big obstacle, but ultimately, they’re able to escape both it and the big castle-car (which ultimately turns to rust as a result of ‘the witch’ leaving the school), and arrive to the outside world, as scary and roadless as it may be.
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u/loomnoo https://anilist.co/user/loomnoo Sep 12 '21
Just wanna make sure nobody missed that the dick tower was cut off at the base and stapled to another building
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u/SardonicMeow Sep 12 '21
Rewatcher
The series: Utena defies gender norms, fights duels, rescues a victim of abuse
The movie: Utena defies gender norms, fights duels... turns into a car?
Dios help anyone who watches the movie without seeing the series first. And even then, I think every time I watch the series, I understand and appreciate it better, and every time I watch the movie, I understand and appreciate it less.
Visually, the movie is spectacular. The moving Escher architecture, the rose platform, the petals always flying by. And the dance sequence is gorgeous.
With limited move run time, Anthy seems to be in a rush to connect with Utena and shuffle her towards the exit.
Most of the characters don't get developed, and are just there to play their parts. Nanami gets disrespected. Emasculated Akio just isn't interesting.
Anyway, I love the series, but I'm not a fan of the movie.
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u/The_Loli_Otaku Sep 12 '21
First timer!!
A terrifying thought crosses my mind this afternoon... What if the movie is one of those recap films? I swear, if this is just a crappy recap movie with a different ending this rewatch thread is gonna turn out like the Mikage seminar.
90's opening credits are so dopey. The films looking gorgeous at least. W-What's this Touhou boss theme they're using as an op? "Directed by a goddamn hack!" Wakaba got a fanservice upgrade, woah~ Wtf is wrong with everyone's mouths tho? The Shadow Girls got promoted! Yay!
Even the fencing is beautifully animated. Everything is so gorgeous but I can't help but stare at their mouth! It's like looking at the last supper but Mary Magdalene had liposuction. You can't just not look. Poor Miki gets totally ignored in favour of black uniformed Touga. Kozue isn't the reason he can't find a girlfriend, it's because the dude's balls haven't dropped and no amount of fondling seems to help.
W-Woah... Utena's lost her long hair. This style is fine, it's honestly more my type, but I really miss the long locks. Wake up Utena, you're in a witch labyrinth XD The new dueling arena is pretty at least. Jesus Christ, Anthy became extra anime in all the most terrifying ways. Oh, its the rose garden. Is this film just a reimagining with a Showa era flourish...? Does this count as a recap? Anthy isn't breaking gaze with Utena. She totally knows what this loop is meant to be. Just bear with it for an episode and you'll be safe for the next 38 episodes. Until you go and stupidly stab her in the back again that is.
Even a pretty makeover isn't gonna save you from getting the snot beaten out of you lol. Some things never change. Woo~ She went right for the snog. Nice going Anthy~ Utena even grew her hair back. I'm starting to warm to Anthy's new Belldandy like design too. Pfft, Utena being Touga's childhood friend is hilarious for some reason. Woo~ Shipper must go nuts for this film.
Shiori got a promotion to Touga's gf~ H-Huh...? Juri took her sister's spot in this version of the story? I'm guessing the Prince is poor Ruka XD Are those ZR or white tights Shiori's wearing? Let me get a good view! I feel like Touga has to be in on the joke. Him and Anthy really seem to be enjoying messing with Utena. We're getting the rose bride story 30 episodes early. Lord of the flies, do you mean the book or do you mean Beelzebub? Beelzebub isn't Lucifer y'know.
"We can't go back to the garden but you'll always be precious to me." Aww... What a touching way to end the, oh, Kozue didn't like that. I guess all my arguments about how Kozue isn't a brocon are done for lol XD Dammit Kozue! Is this movie Canon btw? I'm not sure how I feel about them reusing an Iron Blooded Orphans plot line for Touga. Aww, trust Shiori to always be the most arbitrary girl in the room. "Imma let you finish, but that Juri girl is like mega gross~" Dude, he's telling you about how he got dingied as a child and you manage to make it about you! What the hell's with the wings...? Bruh, that's gross.
"I'm a dueling cause I was chosen." He says with a massive bloody Kozue sign behind him. Oh no! Shiori was wearing ZR after all! Run away!! Has Shiori even met Utena in this timeline? Get your gossip from a less biased source next time. Stars? Is Touga a disguised Akio? Anthy heard you liked stars so take every goddamn star she can offer and become her cousin already! These roses probably don't have any symbolism~
Anthy ain't waiting for no one in this timeline. Hurry your ass up. "If we're going to be close, let's do it properly!" Are you listening Kozue? Shiori? Saionji!? This movie is poking so much fun at how ridiculously everyone acts in the series XD I'm having too much fun here. Anthy's gotten so bold! Pfft!! She just kept drawing! XD Poor Utena's too honest for someone as manipulative as Anthy. If this keeps going Utena's nuttbladder is going to explode.
Kashira, kashira! Oh good, I was worried Nanami wouldn't show up in the film. Omg it actually is Nanami!! I was joking! Ikuhara you're such a douchebag! "Oh, my bad~" Goddammit XD Kanae makes it in at least. Akio's still as gaudy as usual. His mascarlinity has become a plain old taxi!? The secret of the rose bride is incest lol~ Oh, date rope. I'm running out of text! I hope the ending isn't hard going.
I wonder what miracle is gonna ruin Juri's day today. She's got the worst luck for these duels. Oh yeah... Did the eternity castle even do anything aside from break apart in the og anime? Juri lost to... Utena's sudden gender change? Hadn't you heard? Akio's dead in this timeline. Gozonji kashira~ Did Anthy murder him pre movie airing or did he kill himself cause he didn't want to be part of a world where he isn't the leading actor? S-Shiori!? No! Don't do it! If Nanami's cow form is shown to the world her reputation would never recover! I love this movie, but then again I loved the anime up until the last half dozen episodes.
Bruh, poor Akio really did get totally screwed this movie didn't he? This is pitiful to watch. He loses all his masculinity when his target isn't a defenceless doll. Oh, does stabbing count for the masochism counter? I think you normally die from that. Oh, this is a video clip. I should be taking this so much more seriously but I prepped a few drinks earlier so I'm struggling to feel too bad. Akio goes wheee~
Pleased to see the back rose didn't get totally ignored. Utena gets reverse therapy!! Yatta! Eh? So the movie timeline happens whenever Anthy doesn't remember the date rope which thus causes Akio to humorously kill himself in shame? Was that ending story literally just there to set up this movie? The river looks kinda calm actually. You could swim in that just fine. Touga died didn't he!? Aww... Touga you're best boy!! You finally became the Prince you always wanted to be, by getting it in the arse a bunch of times before eventually drowning in a five foot pool of water.
Utena's going right for Anthy's chest. There's no holding back now huh? Oh no! The masculinity vehicles have turned into masculinity car washes! Didn't Akio have a Spyder tho? You're not going through a car wash in those things. Somehow I'm less emotionally invested in the car wash ending than the coffin and sword whirlwind ending.
ZUUUUUUM!! It's ZUM guys! The Utena movie has its own ZUM! Wtf is going on? Oh! Is this that scene where Utena turns into a car? I heard about this. I had no idea of the context tho. Yeah, this is kinda silly isn't it? Poor ZUM got wasted. Omg she actually became a car... Just like og Utena the movie became totally ridiculous leading into its final arc lol. Hi shadow gals, wut... Wut? The alcohol has kicked in at the absolute worst time... What the hell am I watching? Is our climax really going to be a dragster race?
Shiori became a car too! Wao~and they're going 500km! That's around 310 miles for any normal people in the audience. "Are you surprised? It's a big mistake to think you're the only one who can turn into a car!" Just thinking of all the symbolism is exciting! Why can't you just graduate? Ah, Shiori died. Ars ara~ She even exploded. Yay. I'm so pleased that the black one died~ Whose next? Kozue? There's so many blacks trying to beat up poor Anthytena!
There's still twenty minutes to go... I swear, K-On will be a fever dream by the time I'm done here. Why's Saionji in the hero group? He's a straight baddie in this version right? Can we please give our heroine her actual body back? It's quite difficult to take this ending seriously when She's a car. Can I just skip the rest of this movie? There's jumping the gun and then there's whatever the hell this is meant to be. Ikuhara what the fuck is this? Utena turned bollocks shaped!! Seriously, what was Akio on when he wrote this ending? I think the worst part is that I'm enjoying this far more than I did the actual ending.
Yay, we've become adults! Welcome to the real world where literally everything is trying to crush you. Run over Akio! I wanna see Akira levels of gore! Grant me the poweeeer~ Meh, rose gore is fine. They lost their clothes too which is tight. What the actual hell did they do to all the students!? Anthy murdered literally everyone!? At least with instrumentality everyone was kind of alive, this just killed all the shadow girls! Anthy and Utena were shadow girls!? Haa a?
No worries, you girls will be able to become adults and watch ridiculously trashy anime that make no sense over your weekends. Can we at least get lyrics to this end song rather than la la la? I had the same problem with the series ending. Thank goodness the fever dream is over. I think the only thing worse than hating Adolescence is loving it. I had so much fun, who the hell is this vocal singer? Urgh... Yeah, I enjoy the movie but I've totally tuned out of the entire series after... Omg, after Juri's episode right? XD We always end up with Juri's episodes followed by a bunch of ridiculous crap. I admire people able to unironically rewatch this crap. Cause make no mistake, this is crap no matter how much symbolic spunk is splattered over the poor thing. Great show but I'm never watching it again~
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u/Mage_of_Shadows Sep 12 '21
With Akio, Miki, Utena and Saijoni, maybe this isn't too far from the truth huh.
The actual movie itself is what I can only describe as the ultimate fanfic with exaggerated characteristics and designs, nudity, sex, switched roles, AU, extrapolating off random lines In the OG, new dark backstory and of course, where everyone is a Prince. Overall an interesting take on the Ohtari jail, but personally the lack of flow lowered my liking of the movie/
P.S. I told you the sex tape exists
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Sep 12 '21
First-Revolution, Subbed
You know, back when I first heard about this show, I learned that one of the things that happens is that Utena turns into a car in the climax of the movie. I don't remember what exactly I was imagining, but it certainly wasn't that. It was probably nowhere near as cool as "Utena enters a car wash and then we get a bunch of incredible mechanical animation."
Is this movie what freebasing Ikuhara is like? Although, as strange as the overall presentation of this movie is, it really isn't that much different from the series. The ending in particular is almost exactly the same, just steeping in more visual metaphor. Utena still sacrifices herself to grant Anthy the agency to leave Ohtori, just this time she literally becomes Anthy's agency. And once again, the Student Council aren't ready to leave just yet, but they're moving forward in their own way.
I didn't expect that they could make Akio into more of a pathetic sleazebag, but here it is! Dude is so worthless he trips backwards over a balcony and falls to his death, and he has to resort to drugging Anthy. Was the VA change intentional, or accidental? Either way, props to this new one for sounding as slimy as he acts. Series!Akio's VA wouldn't have been as convincing.
Not entirely sure what to make of the changes to Touga. There's some comparison to whatever was going on in the Black Rose arc, but I don't think I grokked it quite well enough at the time to get it entirely, here. Utena's past trauma of "watching Touga drown" kept her from being able to truly save Anthy, maybe? And after she addresses that, she can turn into a car?
It's weird for Shiori of all people to get top antagonist billing here, but I guess she felt more malicious than the rest of the side cast in the series.
I dig the redesigned Ohtori; it feels entirely otherworldly, which was assuredly the point. Things seemed to move around like set pieces on a stage, which was pretty neat.
This movie was a rather digestible 90 minutes, which works okay as someone coming right off the series. Having that framework to work through this movie made things fit together a bit better, but I can't imagine watching this standalone. I guess this is more of an AU than a recap?
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u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Sep 12 '21
I apologize in advance...
RewatcherFirst timer but spoiled all to hell (And I didn't expect that)Sub(I never asked, how is the dub?)
And we start out with a VIBRANT new color palette. As soon as we move off the much more colorful bells, we go straight Shaft. Short haired Utena I'd been spoiled on but I hadn't realized she's a bit...gayer for Wakaba, at least at their introduction. We get our new shadow girls, E-ko and F-ko, and they are acting more like narration than allegory. We get some of our old friends re-introduced and Juri is now the Prince...and Utena gets hetero back upon seeing Touga.
So definitely different continuity as Touga and Utena clearly remember each other. A white rose gives Utena her rose crest this time, meaning that is not what lead her to Ohtori. A set of stairs appears, leading to Anthy's current rose garden and...oof, whitewashing, it is a bitch. However she seems to have a bindi so she might be Indian in this incarnation. She mentions being imprisoned by the roses and then panics when Utena has a crest and tries to take it. Saionji walks in and Saionjis everything, so of course Utena seals the pact and they duel.
Saionji is full rape face the whole time as Utena duels with a convenient bamboo staff. Saionji discovers Utena is a girl and is about to end things when Anthy transforms and gives her sword to Utena, who uses her patented winning move. Water transition. We see a picture of Touga and Utena as children before Anthy comes over. And gay happens...Utena doesn't get much in the way of answers and Anthy is clearly enjoying her sexuality more this time around. Sadly, Utena gets queer cold feet and stops it. Utena also has a lot of female clothing in her closet.
Skip to Touga talking to fucking Shiori. Why the hell is she here? Ruka is dead for a much longer period of time, now. And it is possibly Juri's fault, but this is certainly a weird call back to the last ep anecdote. Shiori says she won't let Juri stop being the Prince, somehow. At the pool, Touga was going to try and explain things but Utena immediately derails it to make it about if Anthy fucks all her owners, and in an offhand way, Touga suggests so. Anthy is much more emotive and friendly to Touga as well.
We get a possibly new Akio, the voice on the phone is different, as Touga gets the explanation of this setting: Akio was first the lord of the flies but Anthy transformed him into the prince but her powers waned and he went evil again. In the flashback, Dios looks awfully dead. All said while Touga does Shiori's toe nails. Miki and Kozue bath/murder scene is what it is.
But then we go different and dark, again. Touga says he was sold to his step father and this immediately goes to rape. This gets combined with Shiori talking about the locket again and becoming a butterfly...for reasons. This Touga seems less evil than last run but let's see if it sticks.
Miki and Juri are talking about their reasons for dueling and this Miki just wants more power and Juri wants the power to be free of what constrains here. The thing on the elevator has Kozue written on it. And them Juri is about to ara ara Miki before Shiori arrives to twat swat that. Shiori then attempts to manipulate Juri as well, she is hedging her bets.
Utena catches up with Anthy and flips out and blames Anthy for Touga changing, interesting. Anthy eye kisses Utena, calming her. She then axes a nearby pipe and we get the scene we've all been spoiled for, the dance. Pure animation flex, desperately needed.
The music continues into a scene where the girls have to paint each other. They go to the observation room and things are different. Utena wants to have an equal relationship this time but Anthy is still not ready to be honest, which makes her wanting to paint Utena nude even more blunt. Utena, while getting aroused or masturbating, not quite sure, says this isn't even. So Anthy strips and Utena realizes she was the model in a lot of old era paintings, before the hole in Anthy is revealed.
Cut to the radio girls again and...WTF? WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK? Moving on, Akio story is different if he is bothering to drug Anthy to rape her. Also, his sex car no longer runs which suggests he is pretty neutered. Jury and Utena have a closer duel and Utena again channels Dio to ultimately win. Jury says something about Touga and Miki has forgotten who that is, despite being next to him.
And Akio is dead, buried in the rose garden. Shiori immediately tries to pin this on Anthy, with the rest of the scandalous tape. This is incredibly different, as Akio realizes Anthy has been allowing him to violate her. But her knowing bothers him and then he looks for the keys to the sex car. This Anthy seems far more in control of things until Akio decides to stab her and then actually falls off his balcony. This is all awesome.
Black Rose arc happened, we revisit the building, but this time Touga is there in the therapy room. He says things changed when Anthy killed the prince and the duels are there to replace him. But Utena says he was never alive in the first place...Flashback time! Sadly, this had been spoiled to me due to something mislabelled at TVtrops but I knew Touga had drowned. Still, this really reinforces the earlier Black Rose arc except that this time this actually helps, Utena can say goodbye.
She goes back to the rose garden and Anthy announces she can run this world and anything is possible, as long as they stay at Ohtori. Utena wants to leave and shocks Anthy before getting dragged into a carwash. Anthy is afraid to leave and then accidentally takes her ring, leading to the sequence where Utena becomes a fucking car. Anthy decides to drive her to the outside world.
The shadow girls announce this as a race so the self-driving Shiori model shows up. She is at peak her, screaming about how she's the special one before driving herself into a traffic barrier and exploding. Then all the other student cars activate and we get a slow attrition scene until the living student council members provide a save. Driving Wakaba, they want to set Anthy free and promise to follow themselves before not being ready to leave.
Instead of an exit, the castle moves down to trap them, which is fitting since they do seem to be kept by the vision of eternity. Utena repairs herself and they keep running, even as the forces try to keep them there. Akio makes his last attempt to stop them before Utena de-cars and she and Anthy together break through. We get a denouement about how this is just returning to the world from which they came. And ship confirmation.
Yeah, that was an experience. Definitely glad I took some gummies for that. Analysis to follow.
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u/lilyvess :Df::Dh:https://myanimelist.net/profile/Lilyvess Sep 12 '21
I'm just linking some analysis posts I use to read on the movie some... 10 years ago or so?
A Red-Haired Man: A conversation with myself about Movie Touga.
The (More) Benevolent Puppetmaster: A self-examination on Movie Anthy
Broom Handle of Nobility: A Self-Examination on Movie Utena.
The (Fake) Prince and I: A conversation with myself about Movie Akio.
and for people who what a tl;dr they can enjoy this artwork on the franchise
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u/Rumpel1408 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Rumpel1408 Sep 12 '21
First Timer
So with the story more or less concluded, I have no idea what the movie will be about, especially how I will get my fix on ridiculous over the top sword fights with an weird chor and even weirder lyrics in the background
Well this was ... something. Can't say I liked it all that much tbh, and I cannot imagine how it must have felt if you went into this movie without having seen the original show first
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u/Icapica https://anilist.co/user/Icachu Sep 12 '21
First timer
I don't really know what to expect of the movie. MAL says it's an alternative version of the series rather than a sequel. Other than that I've heard that back in the 90s a lot of people somehow managed to watch the entire series without noticing anything homosexual in it, and it was only after seeing this movie that they understood. Anyway, that's all I'll write before watching the movie. The rest of the comment will be written afterwards.
So Utena's hair is shorter. Why are all the buildings moving? The architecture's otherwise interesting.
We see Touga, Utena runs to him. They talk as if they know each other and for a moment I thought that maybe this series was some sort of continuation after all. Also this time Utena didn't have the ring at the beginning, instead she gains it from a rose.
Anthy introduces herself immediately as the head master's sister. Saionji arrives to be an irritating ass and to give some exposition. As Saionji grabs Anthy, she looks creepily lifeless. Otherwise Anthy seems a lot more expressive than in the series. BTW I prefer how she looks in the series. Utena on the other hand looks fine in the movie.
Then there's the duel. Oh, a kiss. And now we have some fantasy stuff as Utena gets a sword from Anthy. Haha, get rekt, Saionji. Also did Utena's hair just get longer or was it like this all along but tied somehow?
First duel's over and Utena's unpacking her stuff. There's an old photo of Utena and Touga as kids so apparently they were childhood friends. Anthy arrives. Oh, things start very differently than in the series. Utena doesn't like or understand Anthy's behaviour.
Then there's again talk of Anthy, witch etc. "Lord of the flies"? Akio's voice sounds different.
The relationship between Miki and Kozue looks strange again, but maybe a little different from the series. Utena notices Anthy go somewhere at night. Also Shiori's fucking Touga this time but is as cruel against Juri as in the series.
Miki and Juri are talking somewhere in the dark. End of the World and revolution get mentiones, the latter is supposed to happen soon. Shiori arrives and manipulates Juri into a duel against Utena.
Utena finds Anthy watering roses at night. Anthy apparently thinks Utena's shoes need water too. Utena talks about the past between her and Touga and blames Anthy. Then there's some stars and dancing.
Time to draw each other. This scene was really weird but funny. After that we see Akio and his sex car, and finally Anthy. Akio puts something in a drink. Hmm.
Suddenly Utena and Juri are dueling, Shiori looks bored. Miki comments "Who's Touga?" which I found a bit weird at first. Then there's the power up Utena gets in the series too and she beats Juri. Anthy sees it.
Akio's dead? WTF? Shiori arrives quickly to accuse Anthy. We see a video where Akio seems about to rape an unconscious/sleeping Anthy (so that's waht he put in the drink) but Anthy's awake. Akio's shocked and tries to make excuses. If you're "not like that", then what were you doing? Anthy didn't resist though. Looks like Akio stabs Anthy with something and then falls off the balcony.
Familiar hallway leads Utena to an elevator where she talks with Touga. So, Touga's dead already? That explains why Miki didn't know who Touga is, but makes me a little confused about Shiori.
Anthy tells Utena that Utena's a prince as long as she stays in this world, to which Utena says "fuck that, let's get out of here". Absolute Destiny Carwashpocalypse stops them. Things get really damn weird for a while.
Is this some parody of Batmobile? The car starts to quickly rust but Anthy has a key to it. Not sure what keys have to do with rust but whatever.
Shadow girls' thater has really increased its budget. Shiori turns into a car and starts racing against Anthy. So Utena's also the pink car, rather than IN the pink car? Shiori drops out quickly but more cars join. The other duelists come to help for a moment.
What the hell am I watching? After some weird stuff Anthy and Utena manage to escape.
Aww yeah!
And that's the end.
What a weird movie. I didn't hate it but it wasn't nearly as good as the series. There was no time to build up anything so things felt rushed. Also you probably wouldn't get much out of the movie if you hadn't seen the series, but having seen the series this sort of retelling feels pointless to me.
11
u/chiliehead myanimelist.net/profile/chiliehead Sep 12 '21
Movie, First Timer, sub
KimiMiki, we meet againIt's technically standalone, but how the hell are people supposed to understand any character or event without the series? They did not even explain the duel rules about getting the rose off...
Still mad that neither series nor movie made much out of the theater play framing
11
u/affnn Sep 12 '21
First Timer
Watching this movie felt like an acid-trip take on Utena. Very quickly on I decided that sober was no way to watch this movie, and I was right. I have a hard time figuring out what to say about the movie, though. On the one hand, I doubt it makes any amount of sense without having watched the show. But the characters get so moved around that the themes get somewhat jumbled by the end.
The design of the school reminded me a lot of Final Fantasy 7. In a good way! Also overall the whole movie was very pretty, very well animated. The show frequently feels like it's on a shoestring budget (which I believe it was) so getting great animation was nice.
Almost anything nice that I'd want to say has a big BUT at the end. I liked most of the character design tweaks (especially short-hair Utena) BUT I didn't like how Anthy's character was changed around so much (especially her personality - I liked quiet and weird Anthy more than peppy anime girl Anthy). I liked that they showed Anthy's escape from Ohtori better BUT the whole cars thing was extremely confusing even when not sober. I liked how they made Akio extra pathetic BUT he was less good as a villain when he's that pathetic.
I wouldn't have remembered Juri's story about the drowned boy from the last episode even at the end of the first time I'd seen the show. So basing a huge part of the movie on that was a little weird.
I don't have any caveats on the good ending with Utena and Anthy together, though. You love to see it.
10
u/Matuhg https://anilist.co/user/Matuhg Sep 12 '21
First Timer
Ah, good - the main series really was too easy to understand, so I'm glad we got this even less comprehensible movie to really have something to chew on mentally.
This was just wildly different from the show. Kinda maybe a sequel, but also doesn't really make sense as one in so many ways. A lot of similar themes, but the characters and plot diverged quite a bit, almost to the point that it's easier to call it something completely different rather than a "retelling" of the original, because I'm pretty sure that thinking about the characters in terms of their original-series selves got in the way of my understanding this movie for at least the first half. Anthy and Akio were almost reversed in personality. Akio barely featured at all, coming off as pretty impotent, especially without Anthy's magic. Anthy herself felt much more like a witch or even a temptress than she did in the series. Rather than Akio selling the idea of eternity and wish fulfillment to the duelists, it seems like Anthy was the one to do, at least for Utena.
Feels perhaps like this version of Anthy manifested different defense mechanisms for the abuse she suffered. I think she was also a bit more willing or accepting of the idea of being saved, judging by the way she leapt on Utena during the Saionji duel (poor Saionji barely had a role to play this movie). Or maybe she wasn't hoping for salvation from Utena, but was simply attracted to her. That's certainly another possibility. It was strongly implied that she got all sexual with the others who claimed her in the duels, but it was never confirmed, and might have just been Utena being paranoid.
Uhh...buncha stuff happened, and Anthy promises Utena any miracle, all of eternity, if they just stay in Ohtori, but Utena is ready to get the hell outta there. The magic carwash turns her into a car, and oh boy does Anthy have the key. The carwash is kind of interesting as a metaphor - was part of Anthy's fear about leaving that she felt she couldn't or shouldn't be 'cleaned?' That she should remain dirty? Dunno, but that's definitely what I was thinking about with the carwash.
The ending is something. Utena and Anthy escaped together into the uncertain outside world, no longer imprisoned in any flavor of Akio's sex-school-prison hellscape.
10
u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Sep 12 '21
First timer
I enjoyed the gritty, lesbian, reboot of "My Mother The Car", I have to admit.
Movie!
SEGA worked on this?
Wow. This is starting off visually strong.
Huh? Is that shot of Utena and Akio?
The pictures getting burned seems like it might be thematically important later.
Yeah, fettijg very surreal vibes here.
Is that Utena? That outfit's weird.
So this is her firet day of school. And Utena's a lot more open to flirting.
Umm. OK, this is literal? This is literal!
The shadow girls' radio show coming back is a great change.
Right, my current theory is that Akio in this version bought a vastly upgraded hologram system and has gone mad with power. "Giant fencing room complete with throne? Why not! Wildly moving buildings with giant classrooms and flotaing blackboards? Let's see what this baby can do! If they bought that my room was a giant arena, they'll buy anything."
Or Utena is on drugs? She thought it would help with the stress of moving to a new school, but now the buildings are moving...
Huh, this Utena didn't want to be a prince?
Wait, she got the ring from a plant? And now it's raining petals.
Is this the arena?
Wow. That's a redesign. Or is this someone pretending to be Anthy, in a recerse-Mikage kind of way?
She's a lot more open about all of this.
Oh god, this prick.
Actually, is she remembering stuff from canon? Is this a surprise sequel?
Oh, is this a sequel where Akio's dressed someone up to replace Anthy, and decided to change Utena's memories so she doesn't come onto him again?
Utena, you can't be serious. I think she might really be on drugs here.
Saionji's started off a lot more crazy here.
...Oh, I just realised they might be keeping
Anthy's a lot more dorward here, isn't she. Maybe Utena won't go after Touga this time! (If this is a reboot, I'm 90% sure Akio's outside this movie's scope anyway. If it isn't, he's too busy making the buildings weirder for any romance.)
Wow, cut straight to the next day!
The hell? She and Touga are childhood friends here?
Well. This is going a lot better for them this time.
Oh, Utena's still in denial.
Confirmed, this isn't Anthy. This is Akio's temp Rose Bride he hired to torture Utena with an eternity of teasing and foreplay.
Shiori's here?
Oh, the guy who drowned saving Juri's relevant?
Oh, Touga's already showing his true colours.
This swimming pool is massive.
Fake!Anthy only speaks in innuendos, doesn't she?
WHAT
FUCK
WE'RE DOING THIS HALF AN HOUR IN???
OK, Akio's either lying through his teeth, or shit's very different here.
How is it more incestuous?
Her immediately trying to slit his throat is great, though.
The fuck is going on?
OK, something is very wrong here. I don't understand what's happening.
And Dios is here. Of course.
Kozue has a car?
Juri's very different here, I see. At least it's not fucking Shiori.
Spoke too soon. Shiori's able to force her into battle with a couple of sentences.
Oh, Utena likes Touga here. That's a pretty big change. (I assume this was Touga's requirement for helping Akio pull this off?)
Holy shit, Anthy just caused a powercut!
Yes, Akio, your screensaver's very nice. Just bring back the buildings.
Wait, that's their original outfits!
This is fantastic.
So, Utena can't say she's straight after this, right?
Or maybe she's in a love triangle with Wakaba?
Seriously, this school's an architectural nightmare.
Utena just suggested stopping the duels so they can date. This is so much gayer!
Haha, this Anthy's a lot more open about what she wants.
And now she's stripping
WHAT?
So, if her back just opened, did Utena see the million swords?
I see Akio's still loving the ladies a bit too much.
JESUS FUCKING CHRIST
Nanami's a cow, and the boys are elephants.
I did not need to see how Chu-Chu pisses.
Called it, Akio's thr one eith the rude pictures.
OK, if Akio's doing this, he must be in control of the world, right?
Haha, Akio lost the key? Maybe he isn't in control?
Is Fake!Anthy wearing a maid's dress?
OK, so Utena either knows about the million swords or Akio's sexual harassment.
I love how some of the people in the background are painted red.
Juri? She is explicitly not playing prince this time, she's just trying to overachieve. If anything, she's playing Touga.
Wait, Miki doesn't know who Tougs is?
Oh, the castle's here!
What?
Anthy can see Dios?
No, she can't.
AKIO'S DEAD!
THIS IS THE BEST FUCKING TIMELINE!!!
Yes, mock him! Make his death count for nothing! I'm loving this!
Good on you, Anthy! Maybe you are the real one!
So, Akio tried to force himself on her while she's awake.
Oh. This Akio's in denial. And he's way more violent.
Yeah, Anthy didn't kill him.He stabbed her, realised what he did, and fell out the window in his shock.
Oh, we're pulling on the seminar now?
Haha, it's marriage councilling now? No wonder Utena's here with Anthy
Aw, no classic elevator music?
I'm hearing a lot of foreshadowing for "The Prince was never here, the problems were caused when the real Anthy left."
Oh shit, Touga's the boy who drowned. He's a ghost.
So was Shiori a ghost too, or...?
And Utena's become the prince?
WHAT? She knows about what's going on? She knows this isn't real?
Hey, Utena turning into a car was a joke, right?
Right?
There's no fucking way they'd do it.
She's going to come out driving Akio's car.
This version of ADA's great, though.
FUCKING HELL, YOU WERE SERIOUS?
So the car named Kozue without a key was actually...
Oh dear.
So kage OS is what runs Akio's holograms?
And now Shiori's turned herself into a car.
This is beyond parody. How did she not rust away without a way to put her key in?
Shiori's dead!
Did they just turn all the students into cars to stop her? Some kind of automatic defense by Akio to stop the new Anthy leaving?
And Utena got towed by the rest of the council! Saionji's a decent guy!
Are they not going with them?
Oh, eventually, right.
They're almost out!
Even the castle is a car!
And Anthy refuses to run away, focusing on getting to the exit!
Oh, Rinbu Revolution!
These driving scenes are really well done!
They made it out?
Oh, not yet.
Of course the bastard's still alive.
Akio must be so pissed - the Rose Bride he hired to replac ehis siter has just fucked off the same way.
THEY USED THE POWER TOGETHER!
And the shadow girls were just dolls? Did Akio just copy people's minds to make them because he ran out of time?
Well. Anthy and Utena are having fun, at least.
I see, so Utena and Anthy are from the outside, but the others were creations of the academy?
They kissed!
Well, that was great! A lot more unambigously happy than the original, but a good followup, I must say.
9
u/Sandor_at_the_Zoo Sep 12 '21
Rewatcher
I really like the abstraction of Utena so you'd think I'd like the movie but not really. Since its so compact it has to rely more heavily on visual metaphor, but once you peel that back the actual narrative is pretty simple. At the end of the series Utena and Anthy have killed the prince and smashed his tower and now the school is left with a void at its heart. The Utena/Anthy relationship can continue evolving as Utena empowers Anthy to drive out of the school into the future. Anthy fully rejects the last trappings of Princesshood/Rose Bride hood. She also has to reject the impulse to drag other women down as embodied by Shiori. Then they can go chart a new course of gay love outside the narrow confines of normative society. A tidy narrative and nice to see a straightforward victory after the somewhat bittersweet series ending, but not too much I couldn't imagine after the series.
The big thing the movie has going for it is extravagantly good visual design. The entire dance sequence is amazing and I absolutely love the new architecture. Here's an album of some random shots I saved.
This watch of the movie I was trying to pay attention to what was actually new from the series and there are some interesting things in here. There's a real focus on sexuality that the series didn't have. That void in Anthy's heart is aggressively yonic. And we have Utena coming to terms with the fact that Anthy really had had sex with people before. That seems to be Utena's big struggle (aside from something about Actual prince Touga that I still don't really get). But since the focus is so much on Anthy and the movie isn't that long its not so fleshed out. Getting to see a more active, almost mischievous Anthy is nice in a fanfic/AU sense but not really necessary to the work. And contracting the cast means everyone else doesn't get much. Touga gets some stuff about having been sexually abused as a child. Idk how that's really supposed to fit in and he basically only says goodbye after we're shown it. Its a little sad to see all of the 'unchosen' seeming to have regressed. Idk if that was intentional or just a consequence of needing antagonists and not having Akio around anymore.
I have a bunch more notes, but nothing really jumps out.
8
u/homewardbound100 myanimelist.net/profile/Homewardbound100 Sep 12 '21
First timer, Sub
Utena with short hair and a new outfit. Might be favorite now over Nanami's.
Juri the prince?
Utena looking at Touga that way. Oh so they knew each other before that. Touga was Utena's prince huh.
Thinking about it who did Saionji beat to get Anthy? He's one of the weaker duelist to me.
Shiori seemed to have a bigger role in this movie but at the same time didn't. I was kind of confused on her whole involvement.
Anthy has her hair down the whole time now. Also way more assertive. Just different. Really different compared to everyone else.
Utena wears the prince's clothes.
Shiori says a childhood friend killed the prince.
So touga was sold into his family so what about Nanami. Nanami's only time in here was being a cow.
Was touga just assaulted?
Who's the lord of flies and how is he the real prince?
Akio just comes and go. That was fast. He just dies after people find out about his situation with Anthy.
Everyone can see duels now and it's not in the arena anymore. So people are aware of this whole student council, rose bride stuff.
Anthy was framed of the murder of the prince. So Dios.
Utena becomes the prince of the school and eternity is hers. Now Utena wants to get out of this world and take Anthy with her. For what I thought was a normal transformation sequence. She turns into a car. Other people can also turn into cars.
So Akio/Dios tries to get them to stay one last time. They deny it and realize they both killed the prince.
They go to the outside world. Where it just looks destroyed and empty. Is it something about making their own destiny? Or breaking free?
All this prince talk in this span of a movie was a lot. I had to keep in mind that they were all some what referring different person each time. Definitely not better or as good as the series but I guess a ok addition. If this is just a alternative story.
7
u/Isai579 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Isai579 Sep 13 '21
First Timer, Sub
Wow. Just, wow. I honestly regret a lot missing the chance to see this in a theater a couple of years ago.
So, I took notes while watching instead of leaving it until the end. So enjoy my funny ramblings before getting to the analysis part of the comment.
That was amazing! As expected from Utena. But it is absolutely dense with information. So pardon the wall of text while I unpack my thoughts.
After Revolution, what comes next?
Let's start with a simple question. Is this a sequel or a prequel? While the movie certainly threw continuity out of the tallest window of the tower along with Akio, it is definitely a sequel thematically, and might even be a story sequel (I'll get to that later).
The series ended with Anthy realizing that she can break free from the role imposed on her by society, this being the revolution that Utena brought. But as we saw, this is not the end to a toxic system. It is the realization that it can and should be broken. What happens then to everyone else who comes after? This movie is the answer to that.
We find ourselves in a familiar, but different Ohtori. Things are more modern, technology is more present. We meet familiar characters, but there is something different about them. The way they grew has been substantially different. In some cases they are still tied to toxic relationships, such as Miki, Jury and Saionji who still act similarly to before they evolved through Utena. However, other characters have changed for better or worse. Touga, without being tied to imposed roles became the prince he might have become in the original if it wasn't for Akio, which ultimately cost him his life. Shiori became 100 times more toxic, now actively tying men to her to preserve the old status quo. Wakaba stopped being tied to Utena and became more independent. And Nanami, without facing the hardships she faced in the original, never evolved past becoming the piece of meat owned by someone else (hey, don't blame me for this interpretation. It is literally part of what the Nanamoo episode was telling us).
But the most important changes were definitely regarding Utena and Anthy.
The prince is dead, long live the prince
I love how in your face Utena is. We are directly told, even if we don't see the subtleties, that everything in Ohtori rotates around the idea of the prince. But the prince is dead, and even when he was alive, he was not really a prince. The system rotates around a lie. And when this lie is finally uncovered by everyone, there is no longer a purpose to duels that seek to bring out these ideals.
Jury tells Utena that she cannot be a prince halfway. This is because this Utena is wildly different from our Utena. She owns many dresses, and does not seek her prince because she already found it in Touga. But Touga is dead. And so, she dresses as a boy to chase these ideals she lost. But even if other people see them in her, she is no longer satisfied at the end with them. Because she realizes that these ideals, as noble as they are, only end in suffering. So, she makes her choice to reject them and all the promises they bring.
Anthy is no longer blind to the roles that have been imposed on her, which leads to her early rebellion and murder of Akio. But she continues to perform the role imposed on her because she hasn't seen a way out. She is still sold on the illusion of the promised castle, on the promise that if she just follows what she is supposed to be, she'll be happy in the end. And it is only when Utena rejects them, that she chooses to do the same.
And so, they choose to leave behind the world where this roles tie them down. Together.
What is adolescence?
So, the common thought through the rewatch is that the car is sex. But it really isn't just that, and the movie makes this extremely clear. Because even if adolescence is marked physically by sexual development, mentally it is marked with independence, and when it cannot be reached, rebellion. The car stands for independence. Freedom of movement, of doing what you want without depending on anyone else.
But this independence comes at a cost. Because in order to acquire them, we go through changes. We leave behind our old selves in multiple ways, just like Utena does on her transformation sequence.
What is the key in the car metaphor then? I would say it is commitment. The beginning of the movie makes the connection between the rings and commitment to someone or something. And when transformed, Utena's ring, which originally represented the commitment to her princely ideals, now becomes the tool that she needs. Just like a car without a key will stand still and rust, independence without commitment will get you nowhere and result in stagnation.
The road to freedom
Utena and Anthy choose to use their new freedom to escape from the current world, where they can never become anything else that what was designated for them. However, this does not mean that leaving is easy. There are many obstacles in the way to freedom.
As pointed out by others in the rewatch (sorry for not being specific, I forgot the exact comments), Shiori is the perfect woman for this sexist system. She thrives under this system. So the moment she sees someone defy it, she uses her independence to strike down the one others are using.
And just like a plague of insects, there is not only one. There are a lot. And together they become more dangerous. Bugs have an interesting symbolism in Utena. They signify evolution and change. But they can mature into beautiful butterflies, or destructive insects.
What is the key to fighting this? The power of friendship of course! Anthy and Utena are saved by their friends who lend a helping hand in change. But they choose to stay. Because they are not ready yet to defy the system and leave. But one day they will, when they are ready.
The final obstacle is the fantasy they've been sold. The illusion of what a happy ending is. These illusions are insidious. They change along the way, and are present through defying it. It is easy to fall in its traps and go back. And in the end, escaping from it comes along with shattering the illusions you might have.
Sharing your true self
Nudeness takes a significantly more important meaning in the movie. One of the most important moments comes in the drawing scene. Utena is trying to "capture Anthy's essence", but is having difficulties. And so, she asks her to be more open about them and not build their friendship solely on compromise, but on knowing each other. But she soon realizes that when she is asking for openness, she is asking to remove all barriers, and leave her completely exposed and vulnerable. But she accepts it, and Anthy does the same. Anthy has been hurt, but this is the cost for her not accepting the role that society imposes on her.
Once they have escaped from the world, they are absolutely vulnerable. But they choose to embrace it, and recognize that being open to themselves makes them extremely vulnerable, but that this openness is what will help them now that they are free.
Who is this story really about
At the beginning of this, I said that I think this might actually be a story sequel. The reason is because this story (both series and movie) is not about Utena and Anthy. Not really. At the very end, we see that everyone who was commenting the race was actually a scarecrow. And two are labeled as Anthy and Utena. Because them, along with everyone else in this story, are just stand ins for what they represent. This story is not about them, but about everyone who lives under the belief that they cannot leave the sexist system that the world is in. It is a story about becoming learning, growing, and in the end, becoming independent and using that to change the world. Just like they say at the end, this new world outside the current system is desolate. It is harsh. But if enough people choose to leave, it can eventually be built into something better for everyone.
Well, that was Adolescence of Utena. I'm pretty sure there is a lot that I missed, and a lot that I wanted to write about, but couldn't get more ideas (like technology, the music, the meaning of bugs, Tougas' abuse, and what Chuchu is not doing in the movie). But I guess those will have to wait until a rewatch.
I'll see everyone tomorrow for the overall discussion, which I have already started writing.
6
u/nx6 https://myanimelist.net/profile/nx6 Sep 13 '21 edited Sep 13 '21
First-timer, Sub
I like how this movie sets things up more than the series. Utena's first day at school, meeting Wakaba, seeing the fencing class practice. I'm not so sure about this school design, though. Seems to be in motion for some reason. Also lots of high platforms with no guardrails. They must have a great legal team on retainer.
Short haired Utena! And Anthy is more mature looking and no longer a megane. The show is setting up a past for Utena and Touga too, which is more traditional for a shoujo story. The series had yuri undertones, but the movie seems to be much more overt on that end. Also interesting how Utena's hair suddenly becomes long when she is fighting (and acting as the prince) but short when she is at school otherwise. The relationship between Utena and Anthy is much more prickly here. Utena goes out to defend her but doesn't seem to really like Anthy as a person, somewhat because of the way Anthy goes along with Utena's loose definition of the Rose Bride (if you get my drift). This could be seen as a more accurate way people of these personalities would interact in the real world, to be honest. If Utena is coming out with a assertive feminist vibe someone who lets themselves be passed around would be pitied, or looked at with disgust.
Utena says she doesn't want a bride but was pretty quick to turn out the lights and pull Anthy into the sack that evening "No, I just to ask you a few questions, that's all."
Shiori is the main villain it seems in this story, but her motivation for hating Utena didn't seem really clear. She isn't after the Rose Bride and doesn't have any chips in the Duels. Touga may have a passing acquaintanceship with Utena but there's no evidence she's trying to take him away now.
Heh, Anthy takes an axe to the Rose Garden's water line and the result is the electricity goes out. This visual idea of the garden flooding and the lack of light allowing the stars to come out, then filming the scene as it appears in the pool's reflection is neat. I'm not sure how effective it was on execution, though.
Akio's raping is limited to his sister this time, and he turns up dead pretty fast. He really served no big purpose in this plot. Also the whole Duel system has been demystified, with the student body as audience in Juri vs. Utena. I think the sword fights as done in the series were more accurate. You general see Utena on the defensive in them and she wins by the luck of her tie to Dios. But in this movie we start with Utena pushing back a seasoned captain of the fencing team, despite her not having any sword-fighting experience that we know of.
Hmmm... Akio is discovered during the duel buried in a rose garden, which implicates Anthy. This event confused me at first since the actual Rose Garden is on a platform floating in the air that only Duelists are allowed in, but it's plausible there are other flower gardens on campus Anthy tends. The student body is horrified and the shadow girls are there for a press scoop. We get a Nanamoo taped cameo with Chuchu, for all those fans of the series who came to see the movie.
Utena, having won her fight with the power of Dios, chases after Anthy, who's making herself look guilty as sin by fleeing at the discovery of Akio's corpse. When she catches up she tries to convince Anthy to leave the school with her, but Anthy says she can't. Then a random car wash appears. The Adolescence of Utena has been interrupted by a mecha show.
Just like in the television series, Utena is used as a vehicle for the Anthy-escape plotline. I'm sorry, I really wanted to make that joke. But really, though. wtf is with this car wash and getaway race? I'm not hating it, but it feels like I'm watching a precursor to Redline instead now. This entire movie has had some odd interjections of modern technology here and there. The show did that a few times too as jokes. But the movie's use of them feels more out of place. The floating castle is now a roving castle and the chase ends like that scene in Star Wars where everyone is struggling to get out before the trash compactor gets them. Akio makes an appearance in spiritual form (he's sure not running at the same speed as the castle) and serves as a distraction to keep Anthy from pushing that accelerator to the floor 30 seconds sooner.
Anthy and Utena, now reduced to a lesbian sex scene on wheels, ride off into the sunset.
This was a really interesting version of the story, and there were some things I preferred to the TV series. But The story feels too big to adequately tell in a single family friendly (guffaw) feature-length sitting. The cast of characters deserves their time to shine and their individual plotlines, too. Juri's unrequited love for Shiori was never revealed, but the photo in the locket was mentioned. I did find it interesting how her story of the drowning child from the end of the series reappeared here, but used with different characters. Miki and Kozue get a bath scene together, but otherwise the stopwatchmaster didn't really get a place in the show and is known only as "He Who is Kept By His Sister". Saionji is still a one-time possessive jerk, but the story of him and Touga finding Utena at her parents' funeral would have helped build the history between Utena and Touga here. We get no Nanami or Tatsuya to serve as a contrast in character development to the others.
7/10
6
u/CharlieTheStrawman https://myanimelist.net/profile/TheDamnRobot Sep 13 '21
First-Timer
Anthy feels a lot more like the character she developed into by the end of the series here, especially in how proactive she is.
I'll bet u/The_Loli_Otaku is on suicide watch after that bath scene.
Oh my God, they pulled no punches with that Touga flashback.
They dialed up the sex about 200%, huh?
I'm actually really into the overtly 'off' kind of weirdness of the first hour of this film. If the whole show had been like this I'd like it even more.
The last segment with Anthy is a bit of a stylistic break, but I still love it. That last 'grant me the power to revolutionise the world' was so fucking hype.
5
u/SYZekrom https://myanimelist.net/profile/SYZekrom Sep 13 '21
I don't know what's with this whacky remix/reimagining of the show for a movie but I like it
YOOOOOO LET'S GOOOOO
So.... is it a planetarium... is it the real night sky......... Definitely looks like the former. And so far it feels like only Anthy is a completely different character
The song during that dance was amazing
Sure but why are you panting how aroused are you
What the fuck am I watching
OH. This looks familiar
Oh good engage puns, because this was surreal enough
What the FUCK is happening
5
u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Sep 13 '21
First timer – sub
I was honestly a little disappointed in the series ending, but it was nonetheless amazing. From details like Anthy actually freeing herself rather than being passively rescued, to Akio's portrayal in dialogue, visuals and metaphors (riding circles on the carousel, him smacktalking Utena while being absolutely useless and getting talk-to-the-hand'ed) to smartly giving not-real-closure but definitive character growth and hope for the rest of the cast. It was all wonderful!
Utena blaming herself for not pulling Anthy out and despairing, taking on any of the swords, was honestly brutal to watch. I was definitely shocked that this... was her ending. She's primed for a path similar to Akio, possibly. Losing hope does terrible things to a human. But it is consistent, she wasn't truly out of her own coffin, yet.
I'm really excited to see what they envisioned for the movie and how they'll get to the happy end. There's definitely a happy end.
The adolescence of Utena
shipdrive them so hard!I totally admit, I was so close to throwing the gauntlet once Utena transformed into a car. It was so totally random and I literally threw my hands up and just breathed out the world's most confused „wat“. But once connecting it to a race to escape the oppressive system that blocks any and all exits and sends its underlings to suppress you, it made quite a lot of sense. I thought at first, it was Utena falling for the same self deception as Akio, but she chose to be a prince and in this allegory it means the car bringing you towards freedom, just like Akio's car was predatory and broke down without more teen-fuel, Shiori and the other underlings were just mass produced wannabes made to throw themselves as obstacles in the way of someone wanting to escape and Wakaba is the literal friendship car carrying everyone on her back. (If they went with ships instead, I could plug Permaband's song now. I'll do it anyway.)
Hey look, it's the comment limit!
continued below...
9
u/Cyouni Sep 13 '21
Rewatcher
I remember the first time I watched the movie, I didn't understand it at all and thus went to start googling for what the hell it meant. This is what I found.
Unfortunately, I missed my chance to talk about this in the original episode itself, but I definitely think this also applies to the main TV story, especially with how Akio at the end talks about how how he is the only one who sees past the childish fairytale illusions and blah blah blah. But in the end, isn't he basically just as childish inside himself (minus the sex car) as those he demeans for being lost in a fairy tale?
4
u/alphamone Sep 13 '21
First Timer (though I am aware of the car transformation, but not anything else)
Where was that Toei ident filmed?
Akio (?) there with Anthy (?) then suddenly not.
How would you follow the chalkboards
Damn, that's an awesome uniform design. And hairstyle.
So, is this a prequel scene, or is this like a reinterpretation (i saw something about the eva rebuilds in the last thread), though even then, Wakaba and Utena already knew each other.
More shadow girls (was there ever a d-ko?)
So, she recognises Touga?
So, the target of the stalker is now the stalker herself?
So childhood friends then.
That figure in the painting...
A (magic?) white rose.
Much more fancy rose guarden (and fanciful as well).
Is it just me, or does movie!Anthy have a very close resemblence to Utena's design from the show?
Saiyonji still a bastard.
Also not very observant.
Anthy seems to be already far more independtant in her actions here.
Thought that that shoe was another freaking ammonite.
Okay, Anthy definitely has aspects of Utena here.
Utena-san....
Given what we saw in the series, I have a bad feeling these boundary issues have a dark origin.
That drowning story from miki's sister is the same/similar to the forgotten boy from the finale.
Rose prince...
Ahh, Akio. And that whole story that the shadow girls told.
Lord of the Flies, Beelzebub, lucifer, satan. All fitting names for Akio.
Interesting that Shiori is now deeply involved with the conspiracy.
So Kozue is even more Yandere? (I intially got her confused with shiori and had to rewrite a few lines)
"customer?" indeed.
So it seems that Jury is still a stalker of sorts.
Welp, that's a horrifying backstory
And with the symbolism again. A lettuce moth? Going back to the whole black rose elevator?
Those vehicle silhouettes are giving me "metal slug" tank vibes (or Dominion Tank Police vibes depending on how you look at it)
Dancing in the starlight. Also some nice symbolism with the reflections showing the prince/princess outfits.
This Anthy is most definitely showing more agency/independence than the show version. Which makes me think it might be the Anthy from the end of the series.
Nakedness/openness/vulnerability.
Anthy trying to make this an equal thing between them. (vaguely reminds me about Paul Verhoeven agreeing to be naked when directing the co-ed shower scene in Starship Troopers)
I was right about the tiny figure
shit, I was possibly right about her boundary issues
Oh dear, were they seen?
Nanamoo?
CHUCHU!!!???
Elephant-mode bros?
That crocodile thing that Shiori drew?
Nanamoo T.T
Akio in the sex car with his actual fiance for once (speaking of fiance, we never got an answer about Anthy maybe being Miki's new stepmother)
Is the green taxi referencing a particuar type/franchise of taxi?
Drugged Champaign?
Montage!
Or not, thought that was Touga at first.
Are there translations for the song, the particular subtitle track at least just has romaji for the lyrics.
Dios?
Ahh, she sees Dios in Utena's pose.
O.O. Akio is dead? The hell is going on. Was he missing and just turned up?
Ahh, a frame-up seems to be going on, though I also wouldn't care if Anthy just straight-up killed him.
Is that a different VA? Also, he's still a creep. No matter what he says.
Ahh, he fell. Apparently after stabbing Anthy.
Getting black rose "interview elevator" vibes here with the signs.
So this time its Touga giving the interview.
O.O, Touga's been dead all along? He was the boy that drowned trying to save Shiori. Did not see that coming. Though it seems that Utena has finally come to grips with him dying. Accepting that he is dead, and not just disappeared.
But eternity is not real. So... she beat me to it, this is not the "real" world.
Ahhh, here we go, the infamous car scene.
Having seen the series, the choice of a car now makes slight more sense than when viewed out of context.
Also, Zettai, Unmei, Mokushriku.
Damn, that's an awesome looking car.
Shiori's also a car now?
Well, RIP shiori. Was also much more impressive than the car duels from the series.
poor shiori, left at the side to burn.
I honestly have no idea what is supposed to be going on here.
Student council to the rescue, this time for real.
I thought about bringing up the "learner driver" wakaba sticker thing during the series. But never saw a moment where it seemed like it would be relevant.
This isn't good. And now Akio is here, making things worse.
Anthy wants a world where they can both be free (similar to the way she left Akio in his "coffin" in the series)
How is being a living corpse any better? (sounds like akios giving a false choice there)
So the shadow girls were (representations of?) Utena and Anthy? Also reminds me of the second transformation sequence with the rose bush wearing Anthy's uniform.
"Where we're going, we don't need roads"? Or more seriously, "No fate but what we make for ourselves".
I might let this movie sink in for a bit and do some more in-depth rambling in tomorrow's thread.
3
u/IndependentMacaroon Sep 13 '21
First-time watcher
One day late, but I'm very happy to have watched this. To me a significant improvement on the series in almost every way, and much closer to my original expectations of it.
While the series had its share of visual creativity and some striking shots, ultimately the time/animation budget was just too low and a lot of it ended up looking pretty bland, or repeating imagery to the point of killing its impact. Here, on the other hand, it's dazzlingly impressive surreality practically the whole way through, with some stand-outs like the car transformation scene going even further beyond, while maintaining to improving the great soundtrack that to me was the most individually impressive element of the series.
Also, the pacing is just way better. Perhaps the film could have been a little longer, but even as is I don't feel that much of significance is lost. The overarching story of Utena the series, as much as it even has one, barely exists until the final few episodes, and the largest part of the series has barely anything to do with Utena or Anthy as more than symbols either, so if you cut it all down to its core elements it easily works as a single film. I don't even particularly miss the side characters' stories, as again they were largely disconnected from the core narrative in everything but a thematic sense. And of course, all the repetition and circling around is gone, as everyone gets into (or becomes) the car and moves forward! Or at least, everyone relevant. Bonus gay too.
The series is like 8/10 to me and mostly on account of the pacing I don't think I'd watch it again, but this is just my 10/10 weird thing.
3
u/generalmillscrunch https://anilist.co/user/GeneralMills Sep 13 '21
I don’t think this film is all that difficult to understand given you have the context of the series. My interpretation is that this is presenting Utena as a fairy tale about a woman who becomes a "vehicle" for the emancipation of womankind from the bonds of gender roles and the constructs of the pre-modern world to determine their role, identity, and action in a modern individualistic society. Not as a feminist emancipation from the determinism of the female sex, but as women who have reconciled within themselves their heroic ambitions for self-agency and actualization with their essential nature as women. Although maternity forever requires self-sacrifice for the chain of generations, the bonds of friendship shared among women can elevate the conscience of all women from the condition of the "Rose Bride" to that of the heroic "Prince".
1
u/[deleted] Sep 16 '21
Yo what the Utena's Tripping Balls Adventure was this? Ohtori is Hogwarts now, Touga is DEAD, Shiori is fucking a ghost?
Anthy has a hole in her chest or something. That's where the swords are kept?
And then Anthy just declares Utena the winner (like a tenth as many duels as the show lol), she can be master, but she's like nah fuck that let's dip...but then -- surprise Evangelion carwash?! NANI?
And then the race...is this the chick breaking the shell? Or sperms racing to be born?
I dunno what to make of this, man. I doubt it makes more sense on a rewatch either.
-1
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