Attention Utena fans.

[trenchkamen]

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.

Comments

[trenchkamen.livejournal.com]

I've never been too bothered by the 'it was all a dream' concept in this instance, though, yeah, in most others it is a rather annoying echo of a deus ex machina cop-out ending. I think the 'dream' concept had some meaning in Utena; once illusions are gone, or princes, or martyrs, or people forget about them. The same thing happened to Utena at the end of the series that had happened to Mikage; she became a 'dream' because she left the illusory world. And that train of thought is getting close to becoming a long, detailed discussion…

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.

[ariseishirou.livejournal.com]

Indeed, imagination is unlimited, but mine wasn't piqued by the series in the slightest - it felt very much like a finished piece, and that the writers of the series had said all they wanted to say. Thus it follows that since the characters impressed themselves upon me as symbols rather than people, once the story had ended there was nothing left to be said about them.

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

[trenchkamen.livejournal.com]

What you say about the transference to 'adulthood' is very true; it was more or less what I had in mind about what happened to Utena once she was in the 'outside world' long enough. She had still retained a great deal of innocence by the last episode of the series; it would be heartbreaking to see that idealism destroyed, and it would be very painful for her, but I think she would also be liberated in the long run by losing some of her immature perceptions and hang-ups.

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.