Before I watched the show, I got a brief glimpse of which characters the fans loved the most, and I saw a lot of people choose Juri as their favorite of the cast. I had that in mind for the past few episodes, as her role in the student council seemed more brooding than any of Touga’s attempts at leading their plans. She resonated with a more mature feel than her cohorts, not partaking in Touga’s womanizing, Saionji’s abrasions, Nanami’s…
A big part of me wants to say that this is a great time for “adult animation”. Archer and The Venture Brothers are frequently finding new depths to late night animated affairs, while Bob’s Burgers and Rick and Morty have made up some of the most consistent laughs of any shows on TV. Yet at the same time, The Simpsons will never be as good as it was in its prime, Family Guy will never be as good as your…
As the show has previously shown, Nanami is the school bitch. She has her own posse, makes plans to humiliate Anthy, and really wants to get in the most popular guy’s pants. She’s like Libby from Sabrina, but with 20% more incest. Even in moments of seeming kindness, Nanami makes a point to ruin it within a second, and this episode is her moment to shine in that regard. Sure, the school bitch trope has become a tired cliché in…
Back to what I said about desire, desire does not always have to come from wicked or even merely questionable intentions in order to be a destructive force. Here, Miki’s fight with Utena is driven out of a desire to free Anthy from the shackles of being a Rose Bride. Abolition? That ranks highly among noble goals, but good will doesn’t immediately translate into good actions. This seems to be what Ikuhara’s doing in this two-parter by showing that someone…
I’m reading a book right now called Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann, a re-imagining of the Faustian legend by making the person who sells their soul for more power a piano composer instead of a sorcerer. It goes further into the concept of sacrificing one’s essence for talent, and showing that we wish for can disrupt what we already have, like relationships with other people. The change that Mann makes by replacing Faustus’ alchemic circles with Leverkühn’s piano keys begs…
Legend has it that there was once an animation studio called Toei Doga which was the finest in the land of the Rising Sun. Stuffed with funds from the booming Occupation-era bubble economy, they produced such classics as Hakujaden, Animal Treasure Island, and their all-time classic Puss in Boots. Yes it truly was the golden age of Japanese animation. …yeah we don’t know what happened to that company either. Since at least 1971, Toei Animation has been the absolute toilet…
One of my least favourite things in animation and entertainment in general is when something with a lot of potential fails to meet even a fraction of the greatness that I personally feel is meant for it. In fact, shows with missed potential irk me more than just plain bad series; it’s easy for me to chuckle and move on from the Breadwinners or Fish Hooks of the world, because I don’t expect too much from them and don’t feel…
I remember citing repetition as the chief reason why I dropped this show a few years ago, of the opinion that marathon viewing doesn’t combine well with scenes that appear every other episode such as the story of the orphaned Utena. Then again, the show was made before producers knew about marathon viewing. The DVD market wasn’t even alive, and it seemed impractical for a decent amount of people to buy a crateful of videotapes just to watch all of…
A lot of ‘memorable’ anime emerged from the year 2013 – Free!, Kill la Kill, Gatchaman Crowds, The Flowers of Evil, the names are presumably endless. But from the titles I’ve namedropped, I can only see one anime becoming truly ‘memorable’ – that being Kill la Kill – and soon the rest will be lost to the cults. One anime from 2013 guilty of being forgotten in the future is undeniably Attack on Titan, a show so hyped up it…
Last time, Utena beat Saionji, attaining a position as a leading student as well as a love interest within Anthy. On this episode, she has to do this all over again. Duality 101 strikes, where Utena becomes the princely upstart all the girls swoon over and Saionji swings his sword alone when nobody but Touga can console him. But that difference in status clouds their similar treatment of the woman in front of them. Sure, Utena may not slap Anthy…