Revolutionary Girl Utena Archives - deus ex magical girl

Anime Review: ‘Princess Tutu’

You don’t know real pain until your waifu turns into a bird.

I am continuing to salvage content from my previous, now-defunct blog. This is a lightly edited version of a post that originally appeared over there: I am not entirely happy with it and may revisit this title at some point in the future, but in any case, this is my review as it presently stands.

Princess Tutu, directed by Shogo Koumoto. Starring Nanae Kato, Noboru Mitani, and Takahiro Sakurai. Story by Ikuko Itoh. Hal Film Maker (2002–2003). DVDs produced by AEsir Holdings. 26 episodes of 25 minutes (approximately 650 minutes). Rated TV-14.

After I got an Amazon gift card for Christmas, I thought to myself that I could use it to buy some edifying, uplifting literature, or I could use it to acquire more brain-rotting magical-girl junk. It’s no mystery which choice I made, and I have no regrets: I picked up a complete DVD set of Princess Tutu, which I knew by rumor and reputation but had not previously seen.

The first time I heard of Princess Tutu, the tale of a clumsy girl who receives the power to transform into a magical ballerina, I assumed it was a saccharine, fluffy, and disposable story on a par with something like Lilpri. I would have been cool with it if that were the case—since I’m totally into that—but in fact, my assumption was entirely incorrect because it is so good. This is easily one of the best anime series I have ever seen. It is the best magical girl series I have ever seen. This is an anime that rises, at least at times, to the level of high art.

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#memes

Grown-Up Stuff: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 18

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 18: “Mitsuru’s Impatience.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, Japan, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free.

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Hmm, haven’t done one of these in a while. I think it’s time once again to dive into that greatest of LCD-laced art-house-style anime from the 1990s—and, of course, to do with copious helpings of Texts from Last Night.

Continue reading “Grown-Up Stuff: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 18”

A Thorny Problem: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 17

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 17: “The Thorns of Death.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free.

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After one of the worst filler episodes in the show’s entire run, Revolutionary Girl Utena is now back on track.

This episode finally introduces Shiori, the nameless purple-haired girl we had earlier encountered in flashbacks as the unrequited love of Juri. Shiori stole the man she thought Juri was in love with.

Shiori smiles as she sits near the open window in her room — Shiori.

Shiori has enrolled again at Ohtori Academy after having attended another institution through middle school. The unnamed boy she though she had swiped from Juri is now out of her life for reasons we never learn.

Continue reading “A Thorny Problem: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 17”

More Cowbell: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 16

Nanami’s got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

—Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 16: “The Cowbell of Happiness.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free.

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This is, hands down, the worst episode in Revolutionary Girl Utena. It’s also one of the weirdest, which is saying something.

We have reached another of the so-called “Nanami episodes,” that is, filler episodes starring Nanami, the spoiled little sister of the student council president Touga. Nanami, just as a reminder, is not even a character in the manga version, but she gets lots and lots of screen time to herself in the anime.

Nanami smugly wears a cowbell — And I hear they’re free.

Most of the episodes focused around Nanami involve her trying to show off or get the better of someone else, and getting owned for it. This is in that same vein.

Continue reading “More Cowbell: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 16”

Theme and Variations: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 15

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

—Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 15: “The Landscape Framed by Kozue.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free.

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The second arc of Revolutionary Girl Utena is like a variation of the first: it repeats the previous arc’s themes, but alters and develops them. The first arc focused on the members of the student council, dealing in turn with each of them and their psychological issues. The second arc focuses in on second-tier characters related to the council members, thereby further developing the characters we have already met.

This episode, “The Landscape Framed by Kozue,” is a variation of “The Sunlit Garden,” a two-parter that introduced the character of Miki.

Deep in their underground lair, Mikage and Mamiya, after the failure of the previous episode, hatch a new plan to install Mamiya in Anthy’s place as the Rose Bride. Since their “makeshift” duelists lack sufficient power to defeat Utena, they decide to tap the fighting skills of student council members: according to Mamiya, the council members have “swords” that have “crystalized” in their hearts, and which can potentially be extracted and used by others.

Meanwhile, the student council still exists, but is in a sort of standby state: Touga is still sitting in his room and wallowing in depression because ~~his voice actor went to another anime~~ Utena defeated him in the arena. His spoiled sister Nanami, with her banana-colored uniform, is now the acting president. But the council has received no new letters from World’s End, and no letters means no duels.

Nanami presides over the council — Nothing to do.

Miki, you may recall, is a boy genius from the middle school who is a championship fencer as well as a virtuoso on the piano, and who has a troubled relationship with his twin sister. He carries a stopwatch that he clicks compulsively, apparently representative of a desire to stop time or leave time entirely, and find his “shining thing,” an idyllic eternity he believes is waiting for him in the hovering castle above the dueling arena.

Continue reading “Theme and Variations: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 15”

That Creepy Feeling: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 14

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

—Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 14: “The Boys of the Black Rose.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free.

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We return now to our irregularly scheduled, leisurely walk through that trippy classic, the Evangelion of magical girls, Revolutionary Girl Utena. This series of posts was on hiatus because of issues with my DVD player, both its increasing unwillingness to play DVDs and my sudden, inexplicable inability to take screenshots from it.

I’ve turned instead to the free and legal upload on YouTube from Nozomi entertainment. This is less than ideal, as it means a downgrade in picture quality, and I also see that they’ve cut out the end-credits animation, the bastards. But I will tolerate all of this for your sakes. Don’t ever say the Deej didn’t do anything for you.

The previous episode was a recap of the first arc, with a few tantalizing details thrown in. This present episode is the full-on start of a new arc, and thus it gives a lot of new details … creepy, creepy details.

Continue reading “That Creepy Feeling: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 14”

The Recap Episode of Doom: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 13

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

—Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 13: “Tracing a Path.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free here.

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This technically begins the second story arc, the “Black Rose Saga,” though that story won’t really get started until episode 14. This arc is perhaps the most intriguing in the show, as it has a clever mind-screw plot, and it’s the one that most impressed me when I first watched the series in spite of some clumsy editing and a lot of recycled animation. But it’s also the most frustrating arc, since the elaborate storyline it develops never gets mentioned again afterwards and the apparent revelations it delivers turn out to be mostly misdirection. It’s like twelve episodes of tease.

Every once in a while, Utena does a recap episode. This is common in anime, but Utena is screwy with recaps just as it is with everything else: it embeds important plot developments in the recap episodes to prevent you from skipping over them. Continue reading “The Recap Episode of Doom: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 13”

Oh the Irony: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 12

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

—Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 12: “For Friendship, Perhaps.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free here.

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We have now reached, at long last, the final episode of the “Student Council Saga.” We’ve had a complete story arc and an introduction to most of the major players, though exactly what’s going on remains a mystery (and will until the very end).

Having lost to Touga, Utena is feeling low. We already saw her questioning her goal in life, and now she’s considering giving up entirely. She changes into a girl’s uniform and acts generally mopy.

Oh, and for this essay, I am once again going to steal images from Utena: Texts from Last Night. I’m struggling against the temptation to post some of the NSFW ones.

Continue reading “Oh the Irony: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 12”

Master Manipulator: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 11

The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.

—Herman Hesse, Demian

Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 11: “Carefully Cruel – The One Who Picks That Flower.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free here.

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We have now reached the penultimate episode of the first arc, the “Student Council Saga.” This is the third (fourth?) time I’ve watched this series, and I remain impressed by how well-constructed this first arc is. Although the ideas stay interesting, the animation and editing will take a hit in the next arc, and then the grand finale will be so dang goofy that mileage will vary, but this first arc, in spite of some flaws, is unquestionably good.

Since this is the second-to-last episode, it’s only fair to throw out a spoiler warning, though we have not, of course, been spoiler-free before now.