Attention Utena fans.
Nov. 10th, 2005 09:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
I got that Utena community up. It is
nemuro_hall. Please take a look around and see if it is to your liking. I want to get this place rocking. Join up and get involved in the first discussion. You know you want to.
It saddens me to see this fandom die out. This is my all-time favorite anime, and it is sublime. I just re-watched the final two episodes (of the old-skool Utena Translation Fansubs, long live! and fuck Software Sculptors) for the first time in over a year, and I notice new things every single time. When I watched that ending for the first time when I was thirteen, I understood it very differently. I was seeing things from Utena's point-of-view; this time, I saw things more from Akio's point-of-view.
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It saddens me to see this fandom die out. This is my all-time favorite anime, and it is sublime. I just re-watched the final two episodes (of the old-skool Utena Translation Fansubs, long live! and fuck Software Sculptors) for the first time in over a year, and I notice new things every single time. When I watched that ending for the first time when I was thirteen, I understood it very differently. I was seeing things from Utena's point-of-view; this time, I saw things more from Akio's point-of-view.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-10 10:24 pm (UTC)That and since the characters are largely symbolic, just like their experiences, I found it difficult to get attached to them.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-10 10:37 pm (UTC)Regardless, the Ohtori Akio and Apocalypse Arcs still ruled over all.
And, hell, I thought the characters were meticulously realistic and beautifully-written. They were my imaginary best friends back in the day. They still have a special place in my heart.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-10 10:47 pm (UTC)I have always been taught, and generally agreed with the exception off exceptional circumstances that 'it was all a dream' is a plot device that should be rarely, if ever, used. Simply going through the arc but having the characters remember the experience would have been a much better way to go about it.
The characters were beautifully-written, I agree; perhaps it's the literature courses I've taken, but I could not help but equate the characters with what the represented every time I thought of them. And the world itself, though captivating and intriguing in its own way, I found impossible to go anywhere with, because it is intended to exist symbolically and not as reality.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-10 11:16 pm (UTC)True, though, that the Black Rose Saga may have been more profound if all the characters had remembered their experiences during that arc, and had changed accordingly. I’m pondering that now. What did annoy me was Touga sitting around feeling sorry for himself for thirteen episodes. That was lame.
I think the Utena universe is ripe for expansion. There is a lot to be said about the outside world relative to Ohtori Academy, and what the characters would experience once they had to leave, or once the Academy's illusions ceased to exist. There is a lot to explore regarding the end of the series. I personally think Wakaba would have been the next 'Utena' and that there would have been a revolution on behalf of the 'normal' people--sort of a reprise of her Black Rose duel. There is always a way to expand on something; the trick is finding just the right way to do it to make that expansion meaningful. Imagination is unlimited.
The characters always existed first as themselves to me. What the characters symbolized seemed more arbitrary and simplistic, like something in the background. True, their respective symbolic meanings contributed greatly to the meaning of the work, but when it comes right down to it, they seem like people to me.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-10 11:36 pm (UTC)With regard to the rest of the world in relation to the Academy: since the school represents for the most part adolescence, I would assume what lies in store for all of the character when they escape it is adulthood. In which, of course, they would revel in their freedom and newfound knowledge for a few years before entering and entirely different kind of Institution, wherein all freedom of thought and expression is crushed for most by endless repetition of the same acts and a sense of powerlessness that ultimate leaves them back where they started: caring only about themselves, their belongings, and their close friends and family.
All those who speak out against it are ridiculed for their lack of understanding of Reality and That Which Must Be; fear and ignorance of the outside world is as rampant as in the Academy.
The only way to leave this Institution is through death, and this time the death is without end.
/cynicism
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 12:13 am (UTC)Reality is reality, yes; nobody should be ridiculed for trying to point out common sense. And people are always prisoner of some system or device, regardless of the stage of life. But there is a mental freedom that can be achieved despite that. It is not ideal, and with wisdom and age comes a sense of one's transcendence, and from that jadedness, but people do have control over their own mental freedom. It is not easy, but it is a choice everybody has. And, in the end, it can be the difference between a happy life and an unhappy life.
I’m determined to be about sixteen at heart the rest of my life.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-10 11:04 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-10 11:17 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-10 11:26 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 12:24 am (UTC)Stevveweeeevee
Date: 2005-11-11 09:48 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 05:16 am (UTC):3
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 10:14 am (UTC)I honestly don't know whether or not you'd like it. It's a hit-and-miss show for a lot of people.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 08:52 am (UTC)I prefered the fansubs, too. Same with X and about a million other anime. Sailormoon's a good one to site where fansubs were better, too...
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 10:16 am (UTC)I never saw the fansubbed version of X.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 10:41 am (UTC)OMG. YOU SHOULD. And if you get one of the really good ones, around episode 12 or so, the subs screw up and are like, "!1asdk q fb" when it has an exclamation point after a word.
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 11:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 11:57 am (UTC)I can't tell you how much that amused me. My sides hurt.
Okay
Date: 2005-11-11 09:47 am (UTC)Re: Okay
Date: 2005-11-11 10:19 am (UTC)Are we doing anything today?
(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 11:23 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-11-11 11:54 am (UTC)You're the first member!