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3.68 AVERAGE
3.68 AVERAGE
Straight-washed garbage!
The "Revolutionary Girl Utena" anime happens to one of my all time favorite animes-hell one of my all time favorite shows period.
Utena is known for it's deep dives into feminism, gender, sexuality, abuse, trauma, mental health, and simply the pains of growing from a child to an adult. And much more that I could write a whole novel on.
This manga adaption (and I fully consider it an adaption) just pales in comparison to the original masterpiece of the original anime.
I have a special dislike of this manga for the simple fact it negatively impacted the anime's development. The true creator of the anime is Kunihiko Ikuhara, and Chiho Saito was hired to do the manga version. The series was the love and brain child of Ikuhara, and it can't be overstated that Saito was suppose to adapt his work into a manga, but sadly she refused to go by Ikuhara's vision.
What happened was that Ikuhara intended Utena to end up in a relationship with Anthy-another woman. Meaning it would have been one of the first explicit same sex relationships to air on any form of television anywhere, and likely would have been a boost to the LGBTQ+ community in Japan and around the world.
However, when Saito heard the news, she had the mother of all homophobic freakouts. She screamed at him and carried on about how a lesbian main character wouldn't appeal to 'girls' (Lol, funny homophobic excuse there)
She ended up screaming and tantruming so bad that the next day that poor Ikuhara had to go to the hospital the next day because of chest pain because she stressed him out that bad.
In the end, the company refused to make the anime without the manga in circulation and Saito was refusing to do the manga that had a lesbian couple end-game, so to make his anime Ikuhara had to leave Utena and Anthy's relationship ambiguous, but did provide plenty of subtext, and even had one outwardly lesbian character (That Saito also completely straight-washed in the manga)
However, if you've seen the Utena movie, you will know that eventually Ikuhara gave Saito the middle finger and made it explicit that Utena and Anthy were a couple. And pride flags waved!
As for the manga itself, it's pretty basic, even with the straight-washing, it's pretty 'meh' not much going on here and knowing how deep the anime was, just makes it even more bland.
Also, LOL, at Utena going from being a complete badass to crying in a dark room because a guy she knew for five minutes didn't like her.
Where is my badass prince-lady at?
Also, what was up with pale skinned Dios? Especially since Anthy is still a dark skinned POC.
But it's kind of funny how Utena's aunt looks so like Mikage. When I saw her I did a complete double take. Hey, this must be where that crack fan theory that Mikage was Utena's father came from!
All in all, please skip this and just watch the anime. Never though I recommend TV over reading, but Utena does bring out the strangest things in people.
The "Revolutionary Girl Utena" anime happens to one of my all time favorite animes-hell one of my all time favorite shows period.
Utena is known for it's deep dives into feminism, gender, sexuality, abuse, trauma, mental health, and simply the pains of growing from a child to an adult. And much more that I could write a whole novel on.
This manga adaption (and I fully consider it an adaption) just pales in comparison to the original masterpiece of the original anime.
I have a special dislike of this manga for the simple fact it negatively impacted the anime's development. The true creator of the anime is Kunihiko Ikuhara, and Chiho Saito was hired to do the manga version. The series was the love and brain child of Ikuhara, and it can't be overstated that Saito was suppose to adapt his work into a manga, but sadly she refused to go by Ikuhara's vision.
What happened was that Ikuhara intended Utena to end up in a relationship with Anthy-another woman. Meaning it would have been one of the first explicit same sex relationships to air on any form of television anywhere, and likely would have been a boost to the LGBTQ+ community in Japan and around the world.
However, when Saito heard the news, she had the mother of all homophobic freakouts. She screamed at him and carried on about how a lesbian main character wouldn't appeal to 'girls' (Lol, funny homophobic excuse there)
She ended up screaming and tantruming so bad that the next day that poor Ikuhara had to go to the hospital the next day because of chest pain because she stressed him out that bad.
In the end, the company refused to make the anime without the manga in circulation and Saito was refusing to do the manga that had a lesbian couple end-game, so to make his anime Ikuhara had to leave Utena and Anthy's relationship ambiguous, but did provide plenty of subtext, and even had one outwardly lesbian character (That Saito also completely straight-washed in the manga)
However, if you've seen the Utena movie, you will know that eventually Ikuhara gave Saito the middle finger and made it explicit that Utena and Anthy were a couple. And pride flags waved!
As for the manga itself, it's pretty basic, even with the straight-washing, it's pretty 'meh' not much going on here and knowing how deep the anime was, just makes it even more bland.
Also, LOL, at Utena going from being a complete badass to crying in a dark room because a guy she knew for five minutes didn't like her.
Where is my badass prince-lady at?
Also, what was up with pale skinned Dios? Especially since Anthy is still a dark skinned POC.
But it's kind of funny how Utena's aunt looks so like Mikage. When I saw her I did a complete double take. Hey, this must be where that crack fan theory that Mikage was Utena's father came from!
All in all, please skip this and just watch the anime. Never though I recommend TV over reading, but Utena does bring out the strangest things in people.
I had no idea what was going on the entire book, and maybe that’s just me being dumb. But ultimately I didn’t enjoy the book because I was confused.
Revolutionary Girl Utena, a series I have been meaning to watch, and read, for ages. Now I finally have the chance with the Complete Box that VIZ brought out.
I already had at least 1 or 2 volumes of this manga, but the old volumes are hard to find, so I thought I wouldn't be able to read it. And then there was VIZ! Thanks to VIZ for releasing this one in a complete box (which is stunning and gorgeous btw).
Yep, this is pretty much as weird as I thought it would, and from what I remember reading about this series (research!). There are awkward lickings of tears from faces (whut?), there is a Rose Bride who can become someone's property (and thus that person can do whatever they want with said Bride), there is some sort of weird duel thingie going on and Utena is now involved, we have some sort of prince and Utena desperately wants to meet him, oh and lets not forget to mention how the characters look (some look normal, but wow, those council members). But I just love that craziness. Though I do hope we will be getting some answers about the World's End, the duelling, Dios, and all the other things that were mentioned soon.
Utena is an absolutely fabulous character, she is brave, fun, smart, she will kick your butt if needed. I just love that she went to protect Anthy even though she doesn't know her at all. She saw injustice and just went for it. Go girl! Many people would just have turned away, but not Utena.
I love her uniform and what she did with it. Too bad we can't really see the colour of it, I wouldn't have minded seeing that bright pink uniform of hers.
There were some things that were a bit too convenient. Like Utena's aunt having to move thus creating a situation in which it was possible for Utena to transfer to her first love's school. Or that Utena is the one Dios is reacting so strongly towards. Or Utena's ring.
I am not sure what team I am on in the shipping department. I am floating between two camps. Utena x her prince. Utena x Anthy.
I already have found a character I dislike, Saionji. My word, what a sexist pig. Bah!
And I am glad that Kaido is out of the picture, I didn't like him and his pushiness. I get that he likes Utena, but he just goes too far to show his love/interest in her.
The art is absolutely amazing (but I knew that already). I had a laugh at the illustrations at the beginning of the book though. Most of the characters stay in their colour scheme with the exception of Utena and Anthy. Utena's hair in two illustrations are blonde, and the rest is her normal pink hairdo. But Anthy.... Her hair switches from blue to brown to purple, and her eyes go from green to blue to purple to brown. :P
Now I could talk some more about this awesome volume, but I want to continue reading, this volume ends on a cliffhanger and I am dying to know what will happen! So all I will say is that I would recommend this one to everyone!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
I already had at least 1 or 2 volumes of this manga, but the old volumes are hard to find, so I thought I wouldn't be able to read it. And then there was VIZ! Thanks to VIZ for releasing this one in a complete box (which is stunning and gorgeous btw).
Yep, this is pretty much as weird as I thought it would, and from what I remember reading about this series (research!). There are awkward lickings of tears from faces (whut?), there is a Rose Bride who can become someone's property (and thus that person can do whatever they want with said Bride), there is some sort of weird duel thingie going on and Utena is now involved, we have some sort of prince and Utena desperately wants to meet him, oh and lets not forget to mention how the characters look (some look normal, but wow, those council members). But I just love that craziness. Though I do hope we will be getting some answers about the World's End, the duelling, Dios, and all the other things that were mentioned soon.
Utena is an absolutely fabulous character, she is brave, fun, smart, she will kick your butt if needed. I just love that she went to protect Anthy even though she doesn't know her at all. She saw injustice and just went for it. Go girl! Many people would just have turned away, but not Utena.
I love her uniform and what she did with it. Too bad we can't really see the colour of it, I wouldn't have minded seeing that bright pink uniform of hers.
There were some things that were a bit too convenient. Like Utena's aunt having to move thus creating a situation in which it was possible for Utena to transfer to her first love's school. Or that Utena is the one Dios is reacting so strongly towards. Or Utena's ring.
I am not sure what team I am on in the shipping department. I am floating between two camps. Utena x her prince. Utena x Anthy.
I already have found a character I dislike, Saionji. My word, what a sexist pig. Bah!
And I am glad that Kaido is out of the picture, I didn't like him and his pushiness. I get that he likes Utena, but he just goes too far to show his love/interest in her.
The art is absolutely amazing (but I knew that already). I had a laugh at the illustrations at the beginning of the book though. Most of the characters stay in their colour scheme with the exception of Utena and Anthy. Utena's hair in two illustrations are blonde, and the rest is her normal pink hairdo. But Anthy.... Her hair switches from blue to brown to purple, and her eyes go from green to blue to purple to brown. :P
Now I could talk some more about this awesome volume, but I want to continue reading, this volume ends on a cliffhanger and I am dying to know what will happen! So all I will say is that I would recommend this one to everyone!
Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/
funny
mysterious
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
a few things! a long ramble!
-Revolutionary Girl Utena is probably my favorite anime; it's beautiful and complicated and profoundly weird, and meant so much to me during the formative years of Growing Up, and now still means a lot to me in the flavor of female friendships and girls with swords and an incredible amount of complications in emotions
-There are like ... 4..ish versions of RGU, that are all connected and came out at the same(ish) time. The manga and the anime of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" came out together, as a collaboration, and then the sequel/redux "Adolescence of Utena" did the exact same thing. And now there's an actual sequel coming out this .. month?? For a 23 ish year old creation?? Wild. Totally wild. (I mean, it's been out in Japan; it's hitting the american market via Viz soon. Just (just) a manga (for now) (as far as I know.)
-I absolutely read the manga in like 2013 and remember being devastated about the ending; I thought there was a missing volume. I bought myself the box collection and went "oh look there's clearly room for 6 volumes in this 2-book smoosh" but In Fact it's Adolescence filling out the last volume. I am looking forward to re-reading this and seeing if I find it more palatable in 2020!
-The trouble with the anime being so formative and having seen it at least 3 times before I read the manga means that I have difficulty reading the manga on its own terms! In some ways, it's almost exactly the same story; a lot of the character beats are the same, a lot of the plotlines are the same (done a lot faster); I tend to skim by accident, or hum the non-existent battle music. The anime does a lot with grandiose repetition; the manga skips the fluff but also skips a lot of the really ambiguous character moments in favor of straightforward, stated motivations.
-And there's so much more Touga
-There's still an incredible amount of cognitive dissonance from Saionji being an abusive asshole and no one warning Wakaba, who has such a crush on him, away - or even saying anything about it at all. He gets some narrative comeuppance, and more people call him on his shit (which is so nice) but it's not about him! It's about girls protecting girls! which is what the series is about! Utena girl you don't have to kick his ass in a secret dueling forest (or at least not ONLY that) you can just - say something! This is a theme that repeats but in other cases it feels actively malicious, which is jarring.
-anyway
-The opening prologue is totally wild - the anime completely skips it, but it's the story of how Utena had been living and why she came to Ohtori. It also utilizes the phrase 'prince licky-lick' which is... the worst (translation (?)) choice.
-Anyway I'm not done with my reread, but this is a pretty generic ramble through volume 3, which is when I remembered to come back and mark them.
-Touga has a secret dueling closet shrine and that's INCREDIBLY amusing
-I finally understand the Miki/Mickey translation thing (his name is miki, his 'nickname' is mickey, both are apparently valid and not exactly interchangeable)
-I've truly never gotten the hang of reading comics/manga/GN; I can do it, but I never give the pictures their proper weight over the dialogue unless I'm /really/ trying. This is such an annoying flaw.
-Revolutionary Girl Utena is probably my favorite anime; it's beautiful and complicated and profoundly weird, and meant so much to me during the formative years of Growing Up, and now still means a lot to me in the flavor of female friendships and girls with swords and an incredible amount of complications in emotions
-There are like ... 4..ish versions of RGU, that are all connected and came out at the same(ish) time. The manga and the anime of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" came out together, as a collaboration, and then the sequel/redux "Adolescence of Utena" did the exact same thing. And now there's an actual sequel coming out this .. month?? For a 23 ish year old creation?? Wild. Totally wild. (I mean, it's been out in Japan; it's hitting the american market via Viz soon. Just (just) a manga (for now) (as far as I know.)
-I absolutely read the manga in like 2013 and remember being devastated about the ending; I thought there was a missing volume. I bought myself the box collection and went "oh look there's clearly room for 6 volumes in this 2-book smoosh" but In Fact it's Adolescence filling out the last volume. I am looking forward to re-reading this and seeing if I find it more palatable in 2020!
-The trouble with the anime being so formative and having seen it at least 3 times before I read the manga means that I have difficulty reading the manga on its own terms! In some ways, it's almost exactly the same story; a lot of the character beats are the same, a lot of the plotlines are the same (done a lot faster); I tend to skim by accident, or hum the non-existent battle music. The anime does a lot with grandiose repetition; the manga skips the fluff but also skips a lot of the really ambiguous character moments in favor of straightforward, stated motivations.
-And there's so much more Touga
-There's still an incredible amount of cognitive dissonance from Saionji being an abusive asshole and no one warning Wakaba, who has such a crush on him, away - or even saying anything about it at all. He gets some narrative comeuppance, and more people call him on his shit (which is so nice) but it's not about him! It's about girls protecting girls! which is what the series is about! Utena girl you don't have to kick his ass in a secret dueling forest (or at least not ONLY that) you can just - say something! This is a theme that repeats but in other cases it feels actively malicious, which is jarring.
-anyway
-The opening prologue is totally wild - the anime completely skips it, but it's the story of how Utena had been living and why she came to Ohtori. It also utilizes the phrase 'prince licky-lick' which is... the worst (translation (?)) choice.
-Anyway I'm not done with my reread, but this is a pretty generic ramble through volume 3, which is when I remembered to come back and mark them.
-Touga has a secret dueling closet shrine and that's INCREDIBLY amusing
-I finally understand the Miki/Mickey translation thing (his name is miki, his 'nickname' is mickey, both are apparently valid and not exactly interchangeable)
-I've truly never gotten the hang of reading comics/manga/GN; I can do it, but I never give the pictures their proper weight over the dialogue unless I'm /really/ trying. This is such an annoying flaw.
adventurous
fast-paced
This was...weird. A lot remains unclear. I flew through it though and do want to continue the series. If only to possibly find out what all the fuckery is about. RGU always comes up on lists of Yuri and is often labeled LGBT, but so far it's not really gay at all (though the potential is there I guess?). Womp womp. Apparently the manga is a lot more straight than the anime, so I think that means I need to check out the anime.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Misogyny, Sexual harassment
fast-paced
*ripensando a Madoka Magica*
I think I've seen this film before
I think I've seen this film before