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reedmessa 's review for:
Revolutionary Girl Utena, Vol. 1: To Till
by Chiho Saito
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.