a_flyleaf | all aboard the utena train: a very formal prelude

I am under the impression [Revolutionary Girl Utena] is something resembling a diegetic shoujo princess/knight story but it is under a billion layers of metaphor and symbolism and cool silhouettes that had a formative impact on modern cartoons, and also someone turns into a car

^me, yesterday. I was telling myself I wouldn’t start watching this until I checked a couple things off my to-do list (art and replies, namely), and in the name of self-control I… should probably stick to that, actually. Got a busy couple days ahead too, which could throw a wrench in the binging plans, but I have a lil bit of time to kill so I’m going to bang out some current impressions/thoughts. And then later we can see if I’m anywhere near accurate :D

Main reasons for watching: It is problematic, it is gay, it has problematic gal pals™, and I guess it had a seminal influence on people or whatever and it’s always good to be acquainted with the classics. It’s been on my hypothetical To-Check-Out List for a while now, having first heard of it years ago via Steven Universe meta, but I’m in one of those phases where I don’t have any particular strong fannish interests (except my own writing ig*, but that’s perennial), and I’ve been super interested in more symbolic/abstract psychoanalytical storytelling lately. RGU fits the bill like a charm, it seems.
- *Said writing has also, by no small coincidence, been poking around in the psychoanalytical symbolism realm lately. Positive feedback loops, hell yeah. I’ll try to keep my posts reaction-focused and relegate any creative ideas to the dedicated docs, but it’ll prooobably come up a few times so consider this a heads up.
But yeah, Utena! Shorthand of the show, one of the main characters’ names, and the other is Anthy and Anthy has some kind of prince/knight(?? I forget which) complex. I think it’s some kind of riff on and/or deconstruction of that archetype, which is(/was?) popular in this genre of anime, but that entire field is totally new to me so I’m gonna miss all that.
There’s some kind of school and it may or may not be entirely diegetic, as with basically everything else on the show. But there are still some Very Real things that happen, even if they’re allegorical in some way, and some of those things are Bad. Like sexual assault kind of bad. Like Utena-is-some-kind-of-prisoner kind of bad. So that’ll be fun!
There are characters besides Utena and Anthy but I know basically nothing about them, except that I get the impression a lot of the dudes are creeps.
Also Rebecca Sugar did a drawing of Lapis and Jasper as two of the characters and I am dying because I was a righteous little Foole back in the day and failed to appreciate the beautiful trainwreck called Jaspis, and while my SU interest has more or less faded I am verrrrry curious about the dynamic that inspired that 👀
real shit I just wanna see the deconstruction of the hero complex and take in some iconic visuals and go for an absolute Ride

I'll be watching legally(!!) on YouTube(!!!) through this playlist, and oh boy oh shit that description sure is Something. For posterity, in case the playlist ever goes down:

"Never lose that strength or nobility, even when you grow up." When Utena was just a child and in the depths of sorrow, she found salvation in those words. They were the words of a prince, who wrapped her in his rose-scented embrace and bestowed upon her both a ring and the promise that it would lead her to him again. She never forgot the encounter. In fact, she was so impressed that she aspired to be like the prince and also help those in need. Now a spirited teenager, Utena attends the prestigious Ohtori Academy; however, her strong sense of chivalry soon places her at odds with the school's student council and thrusts her into a series of mysterious and dangerous duels against its members.

We divin right into the childhood coping mechanisms, huh. Based on aforementioned Vague Impressions, I already don’t trust this “prince”; guessing it’ll be a misguided-but-well-meaning type of situation at best, broken pedestal at worst?). Take a shot every time I misspell “Ohtori” as “Otohori” because I only just realized I’ve been reading it wrong the whole time. And oh yeah, how could I forget the rose and dueling symbolism.

It also seems notable that Anthy’s being set up as The Protagonist, with no mention or hint of Utena anywhere in this description, and yet the show’s named after her. Don’t know what to make of that, but 🍿🍿🍿

Oh yeah, I should also mention: I don’t have a spoiler policy/preference, since I don’t tend to avoid them in general, so there’s other random tidbits I’ve heard vaguely about but didn’t think to note above. (Something something incest something something.. eggs?? That One Pose with the dramatic sword through the torso. And anything I might recognize from SU.)

But that being said, I’m going in pretty blind as far as the overall plot trajectory is concerned, and would probably* like to stay that way! Vague ominous hints like “oh you’re gonna love this next part” are cool, outright “xyz happens next” nah. (*Well, probably. If I read a wiki or something that’s on me. :P)

liveblog start: in which I actually get Utena and Anthy’s names right →