So I'm finally watching more of Utena and I'm on the 12th episode and just got to the scene of Touga creeping on Utena and Wakaba getting more and more upset and - wow. That's a pretty clear parallel to last episode, huh. Wonder if it'll lead to Utena figuring out some of Anthy's situation... and of course, Anthy is the one who gets the majority of the anger/water, because Touga moved out of the way and let her get hit, and. Wow that's some victim blaming. Though it's blaming Anthy that works Utena up - and even then, she actually attacks Wakaba. Very interesting.
Reminder that (for an explanation of sorts, see: http://some-triangles.tumblr.com/post/150754682174/snarp-inklesspen-snarp-because-i-wanted , http://snarp.tumblr.com/post/86161807131/inklesspen-asked-you-im-sorry-but-im-unable , http://some-triangles.tumblr.com/post/150749236309/i-love-mapping-utena-symbology-onto-other-things )
So there is this theory that Kanae was a duelist in the pervious round, but instead she became Akio's Princess, and I kinda love it
Dreamt half a plot for an Utena fic last night. The central idea was Akio having a flash of insecurity (I think Utena asked him a straight-up factual question that he didn't know the answer to, and he had to BS her away from the topic) and then playing it off in classic fashion by projecting his flaws onto everyone around him and undermining their self-esteem until he felt superior again by comparison. There was a scene where he was having a the-masks-are-off, we-both-know-what's-what type discussion with Anthy about the duelists, and he said something like "You know they don't exactly want you for your brains". It was pretty interesting - basically an exploration of Akio being a fucked up prick in a very unpolished, human way.
I finished watching the anime! It was good, and when I rewatch Princess Tutu next I'll have to think about how they compare. I definitely spotted similarities between the two, in terms of visual motifs (the fairytale at the beginning of episodes, some of Tutu's lighting and art is deliberately made to look fake and how that might relate to some spoilery parts of Utena, the Prince and the Princess and the Witch) and I think Tutu came out a few years later so it was almost certainly deliberate.
Incidentally, I checked, and Anthy actually cuts her hair from unreasonable floor-length to, well, what we see when she leaves the school at some point! that's probably symbolic of something, new beginnings, casting off markers of princesshood, idk.
revives this thread to let you all know that i just watched the utena movie, and i feel like my brain went to hell
I think it was narratively coherent for the first half and then it was like ikuhara took a running leap into nonsensical hell around the time Spoiler: Spoiler to be polite shiori sprouted bedsheet wings Or about cow nanami which is the singular mention of her I will say that the dub I watched had really really good voice acting at times
I still haven't watched the movie, or finished Utena itself, god. I was watching with a friend who stopped being comfortable with it for various reasons (not, actually, related to the super fucked up plot elements) and I really want to get back into it but have a much harder time watching things alone.
