The Revolutionary Girl Utena

[Archan]

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]*Laughs*

Once again in my absence chaos ensues. first ROD and now Utena...I gotta go through more of these reviews and see what else I've conjured up.

but anyways your absolutely right MyrrhLynn....alot of drama. And you point out another potential miss-conception.

Dubbed anime is allllwwwaaaayyyyysssss toned down for Westerners for obvious reasons to usually get a more accessable Demographic rating. PG13 for example. So people might have not noticed so much in the dubbed version while in the original version, it's everywhere because like some people have pointed out, things are not so controversial (SP?) in Japan and other places. don't get me wrong though, this isn't completely true for all anime (Akira for example...tons of blood, I think it's rating is R if I'm correct). So, people whom might have thought my review too harsh or rash, might have viewed the dubbed version of Utena, just an observation though.

PiaSharn

Hi!

I've see you've gone further in dept with the series..thanks! My review was summed up, and I know elaborations could have been made (Which you did wonderfully by the way, now I can observe more of the anime), though the thing with thses types of anime is that for me at least, I spare myself the time of watching the anime and base my views and review off non-christian reviews as to not get a biased view, then I summ up al the reviews into one review and censor it as needed for the discretion of the board. If I had time, I would try to see all the questionable anime and really go in depth with them, but alas i have no time and can hardly get a full nights rest anymore...sigh.

But from what I've seen and heard, my views are still the same. Too bad those links were lost however, it was more of a visual stimulant for why my Censor-O-Meter went off the charts with this anime. Also, to be fair, I always posted links to the reviews I visited and read and used to utilize my own reviews. Rest assured there were links to other secular sites with their own reviews, a practice which should be more fully utilized when posting reviews for anime which such subject matter. But I want you to know PiaSharn and the rest of the Community, I am always fair when i do my reviews, and I always get clearence from the head Texan

Ash,

Again, sorry for any misunderstanding Have another hug!

God bless,
Archan

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[Gypsy]

Quick question. Are you both referring to the TV series or the OVA? From the articles that I've read, one is way worse than the other. If it irked secular anime reviewers, then that sends up hundreds of little red flags. If memory serves me correctly, I've read that the version where Utena is actually more boyish is the completely horrible version.

Hmmm ... maybe I need to make a sticky covering the difference between OVAs and TV series ...

And hey! It's nice to see you again, Archan!

[Shinji]

Can't say I liked it much. Found it a bit boring.

[Gypsy]

[quote="DoubutsuaiEtai"]goodness! ><]
No one said it was hentai, but I think it's obvious that most people here feel like certain elements of a story (the girlxgirl relationship for example) ruin the rest, no matter how good it is. I wish that it had been kept out of the story as well, but it wasn't, and therefore became a title that's not seen in a good light.

[EvilSporkofDoom]

Speaking for myself.. Utena is one of the most profound animes I have ever seen, second to Evangelion. I really liked the astract symbolism, the surreal art and scenery, and the storyline, which is very unique. I can definitely understand why some people aren't promoting it - if you don't think you can handle the homosexual undertones, or you believe it's wrong even to watch, then don't watch it.

[Shao Feng-Li]

[quote="DoubutsuaiEtai"]goodness! ><]You do relize that Homosexuallaity is an abomination and was always refeared to as "The unspeakable sin." Anything that promotes abominations should be cast of of. If it condemned homosexuallity (like the Bible)... that's different.

[shooraijin]

Let's not make this thread a discussion on homosexuality itself, please.

[Shao Feng-Li]

Let's not make this thread a discussion on homosexuality itself, please.

Of course.

[Rocketshipper]

Utena is one of the most unique shoujo animes I've ever seen. It's definitly got some of the best music I've ever heard in an anime. The opening theme, Round Dance Revolution, rocks, and they have a different vocal song for EVERY sword duel in the show. The movie also had the awesome insert song "At Times, Love is..." and some of the best animation ever seen in anime. It's true that it has some questionable content, but as a previous poster mentioned, it's not nearly as prominent in the series. The yuri is blatant in the movie, but I think you could get through the TV series without it getting in the way. The only obviously gay character is Juri, and as the previous poster said, she decides NOT to persue her desires because she knows it will only cause more trouble. Nanami's attachment to Touga is very strong, but I don't really think it was sexual. The most questionable aspect of the TV series is Anthy and Akio's relationship, which is incest, but Akio is the devil, almost literally (in one episode he tells Utena that the name "Akio" is the japanese equivalent of Lucifer! lol). And his actions of controlling Anthy and manipulating everyone around him are not promoted in anyway. He is always portrayed as the villain he is, unless he's acting nice to manipulate Utena. A main element of the plot in the end becomes Utena's attempt to free Anthy from the abusive control of her brother.

All these arguments over homosexuality remind me of something. There was an actull scene in Utena where Touga condemned Homosexuality!! I think it was in an Apocalypse Saga episode, I can't remember which (and I don't have time to go fast forwarding through them all) but Nanami and Touga were talking together and Nanami asked him a question about love or something and he ended up saying something like "God intended men and women to be attracted to eachother. Women and Women is an unnatural combination". I'm serious!!!!! The first time I heard it I was like "O_O", because he was saying Homosexuality was bad AND he mentioned God.


Hey, I found it!!!!

Touga: Listen, Nanami, God created men and women for a reason. That reason being because they join in the best sort of way. No matter how good something may feel, going against god's plan is...
Nanami: Big brother, what in the world are you talking about?

lol, Nanami is soo dense. So anyway, the Utena movie is a seriously weird head trip and I can see why some of you would wish to avoid it because of the blatant Yuri, but I don't think the TV show is nearly as bad. I'd recommend it because of the awesome music, the gobs of symbolism, the modern fairy-tale story, and lots of humor. It's like...Shoujo Evangelion but not nearly as contriversial ^_^.

[Azier the Swordsman]

Hmm.... still not something I would be willing to indulge in anyways.

Yaoi/Yuri is just something that crosses the line for me. I just don't consider watching a series where homosexuality plays a somewhat prominent role as 'entertainment.'

It's just stomach churning for me to sit and watch women hitting on each other (or worse) during what is supposed to be my personal 'entertainment'.

(Although Ayeka and Ryoko's kiss in Tenchi Universe didn't bother me due to the fact that it was intended as a joke episode to begin with without relationship to the rest of the series.)

[Arnobius]

There's a lot of ambiguous stuff there. From what I recall, there was one episode Unfulfilled Juri which was rather troublesome. This was especially so, because the homosexual orientation was not revealed until the very end

[spoiler]In this episode, we learn that Juri once had a friend, with whom she split up over this friend dating a boy. Throughout the episode, we are led to believe that Juri's anger is a result of this friend stealing the boy away from her. At the very end, we learn that she was hurt because this friend chose to love this boy instead of her [/spoiler].
While this did show that homosexuals do have real feelings, it is kind of troublesome from the perspective of Christian morality.

From what I've seen (and I admit that I haven't seen it all), I'd say that homosexual themes are prevalent, and not really negative. IIRC, the Utena movie was included in a gay film festival a year or so ago, with the blessings of the Japanese company that released it.

[Arnobius]

[quote="DelugeOfRoses"]I own the full series and movie and have to say the series isn't all that bad. It's really one of my favorite anime. Utena even tells Juri that her relationship with Anthy isn't -love- like Juri's 'love' for Shiori. That really only comes in the movie, which I dislike ^^]
It did . I'd only seen discs 1-2 and the movie, but from what I saw, it was like Haruka and Michiru in Sailor Moon S-- ambiguous. If they toned it down in the rest of the series I didn't see it.

[indyrocker]

This is one of the few that I actualy wished that i hadnt watched I meen ug.

[Kisa]

beware indeed... the whole plot may sound appleaing until you realize its total yuri... yech!

[shooraijin]

Wave bye to the nice troll. We don't appreciate that kind of tone leading off.

[shooraijin]

Then this thread is locked, and no one will be expressing their opinion.

We don't particularly care for the membership being insulted here as ignorant for having a moral stance. While you have the right to your own beliefs, signing up for this forum means you'll respect ours, and we mean it. You think leading off with ad hominem accomplishes anything?

The blunt crux is, if you dislike censorship, there's the door. No one makes you come here.