Category: Revolutionary Girl Utena

Okay! Now it all gets clear. The previous episode was just a big prologue of this one. As expected, it’s a Yuri episode, but this one’s damn intense. Probably one of the most intense episodes so far in the series. We get to see yuri break down, Ruka being a bigger asshole than he already was and a climax that you certainly will not expect. It also Appears that Ruka was just meant to give Yuri some more character development. I wonder if we’ll see him again, as the ending of the episode shows some sign of character development on his side as well…

It’s also clear to me that this show doesn’t really have a main character. Yes, of course there are Utena and Himemiya, but they don’t really get more airtime than the other characters, probably even less. Especially in the latest episodes. It’s great to see a variation like this, especially when it’s so well carried out.

Anyway, we’ve had Sayonji, Miki, Ruka and Yuri. All that’s left is Nanami, Touga and the school presidend whose name I forgot. This gets more interestig by the minute.

Somehow, I’ve got the feeling that this episode was shorter then the other episodes. However, when I checked the timing, it appeared just as long as any other episode… strange…

Anyway, this time, we see the introduction of another new character, who’ll probably get to play some kind of badguy-role. We first get the impression that this will be a Yuri-episode, but after a while it seems that this episode will be focused around the new guy and his new found girlfriend, Shiori. I liked the climax at the end. It shows that this new guy, although annoying as hell, can prove to be an interesting character.

…

Okay, this was by far the weirdest episode I’ve ever seen in anime. It’s a filler, and a Nanami episode. One day, she wakes up, and discovers an EGG in her bed. She then HONESTLY believes that SHE was the one who laid it. I swear, I laughed for the entire episde about all the weird fantasies and thoughts Nanami had about her egg. Especially the curry guys and the shadow-play girls nearly killed me from laughter. I’m still wondering why the egg ended up in her bed in the first place…

There seem to be an aweful lot of recycled scenes in this season: the car scene at the beginning, the bed scene, the student council scene, the second-car scene, the yaoi-ness of Touga and Akio (>.<), the weird-girl’s scene, the battle opening, the cars again, the defeat scene, and I probably missed a few. It’s a good thing that these cells are used perfectly, and are either full of elegance or brilliance (most often a combination of those two), I can just stare forever at Utena and Himemiya lying down simultaniously and symmetrically. The cars also seem a bit weird, but they do work.

This show follows a clear path for each serious episode. You can always predict this will happen, except in a filler episode. We get an introduction, the person who will fight gets a bit explored, and that person and Utena fight, Utena wins. With in between Utena and Himemya talking while in bed, the student council having a talk, the two weird girls being weird and every recycled cell mentioned above.

The beautiful thing is that outside of these rules mentioned above, that you definately will never be able to predict what will happen. It’s sort of like a human body. We have the skeleton, but around the skeleton happens so much more. I really enjoy this. So many tiny pieces are hidden in this show, it’s impossible to notice all of them.

It’s also great to see that the student council, while discussing, is always busy with something else (mostly just unimportant to pass the time). This time Nanami was exploring a massaging chair. The overall effect was brilliant. My favourite up till now is when Touga is practicing his knife-throwing.

The walking ducky also was a nice touch, and I was startled a bit when the car was suddenly driving on one side, with people in it…

Overall, this has been an awesome episode. I’m really looking forward to the next one.

Like I said before: it’s been a long time since I saw the last episode of this. I believed that I’d seen up to number twenty-three. Just now I realize that I made a slight error in my calculations, making me miss the twenty-third one. It would probably have featured the downfall of the boys of the black rose. (note to self: track that episode down)

Anyway, this episode featured the start of a new season. If you’d ask me to describe it in just one word, I’d reply with "refreshing". The boys from the black rose were good in order to show some in-depth character development of some of the major an minor characters. It really felt like I got to know the personages more and more. However, it also felt a bit empty. The black rose had nothing to do with the main story and I also felt like some important characters were neglected a bit.

Therefore it was nice to see that this season will revolve around the members of the student counsel again. Sayonji and Touga are back, in all of their bishounen-ness. We also get some very obvious hints that Akio is some sort of bad guy. In what ways and how, when, why which and where are still a mystery. The recycled cells are replaced with old ones, Utena gets a new sword, the music gets even more awesome, and the shadow-play-girls are back against the walls where they were in the first season.

The story certainly takes a twist in the good direction this time. I liked the overall plot twists. I’m really curious now who End-of-the-world might be. It also seems that Anthy finally acts beyond her role of the rose bride, the student counsel meetings are just as awesome as ever (this time with baseball!) and the shadow-play-girls are as weird as ever. The stairs also seemed to have made way for a modern elevator (don’t you love the modern-day sciende?). All the desks and body outlines shown on the battlefield also got their modernization, as they were repaced by red sport cars, sticking out of the arena, literally (do NOT ask me why). My only complaint is that I almost couldn’t take yaoi-scented scenes.

Yes, I know. This anime is nine years old. Everybody must’ve seen this by now. Well, make that everone but me. Blame Holland’s crappy anime-industry.

The reason why I decided to blog this series is simple: because I like it. This anime is pure style and elegance. The drama scenes work really well, and even the minor characters get their development (okay, maybe not the curry guys, but you get the overall idea). I’ve also got to say that each comedy episode is laughing me to tears.

I am also very interested in the shadow plays, which happen every episode. Okay. It may be to save some budget, but it really works. This episode was also full of it and it really gives a certain feeling to the scene. Oh, and I just love the two girls behind the curtains who appear every episode.

Anyway, it had been a long while since I saw an episode of this show, due to the fact that it’s so friggin’ hard to find. A recap episode, therefore, was a pleasant surprise. The episode is about Tsuwabuki and Nanami. Utena and Himemiya get to know Nanami’s secret plans of the first couple of episodes through the help of Tsuwabuki’s diary, and it appears that she’s been stalked everywhere she went by him, in rather funny ways. This was entirely performed behind a curtain and those moments really had me laughing. Then Nanami found out some secret fantasies Tsuwabuki had. Those were a little painful to watch.

Overall, if you compare it with other recaps from different anime, I’d say this is a pretty good episode. It really is a bit more than just a repeat of some previous important scenes.