Відео

Great video!! God this makes me love Utena even more.

What makes Utena really special is that while yes, it does deconstruct the childish notions of male princes, and female princesses, and shows how harmful that is, but that the solution is not female princes like Utena initially wants to be. We see time and again the harms of princely behavior, and that the ultimate solution to the problem is not that girls can be princes too, but that we should leave the prince behind and all walk free, as Anthy does

I think the themes in Utena made sense and resonated very strongly with my on my first watch, but that’s because I relate to the subject matter very strongly

I really like the video but the Utena music you chose is making the video so blurry lol. I can’t stop the tears just thinking about when they’ve used these tracks in the series

Finaly finished the show today. Started and stopped around episode 10 a decade ago. I have to say, I think the series would be more digestable if we took episodes 23-29, re-edited them into 2 or 3 episodes just to keep the necessary infos for the relevance of the plot continuity and totally got rid of episodes 32-33-34.

POORLY ANIMATED ????????????? HUH ?

I’m sorry but claiming utena as can be interpreted as heterosexual is just. what.

Shame that this channel did not continue.

Wonderful and succinct description of Utena's themes. The only thing I disagree with is I don't think it actually has much to say about educational institutions. I feel that the school is just a setting that gives us a reason for all these characters to be in proximity to each other.

One of my favourite shows. Great analysis too. I remember watching this in 9th grade, but only a few episodes. Decided to watch it fully a while ago and I think it succeeds in so many ways.

this really helps, i enjoyed utena as an adult, but i was missing the tools needed to properly dissect and analyse the material.

What's the ost at 9:54

Ano like kids.

Wait for Disney to make Nadia live action with the success of One Piece :D

I need some comment on Utena’s music

I have never heard that much emphasis on her name. It makes it sound so wrong to the ear, even though it isn't.

Jean simps for Nadia who is actually an unbearable b-word.

I first saw this on Retrocrush yesterday. I remember when I was a kid seeing art of Nadia and thinking she was really cute. For some reason I thought it be a more mature anime.

Utena is one of my all time favorite animes and I love hearing people talk about it <3

10:36 REY SKYWALKER.

The only three videos available on this channel are from 5 years ago - but I'm hoping that you might post something again one day, if you have anything you'd like to - I really enjoyed this video so much 😭

Thanks it really helped me alot to understand this cryptic but beautiful anime.

Discovered this series through Super Robot Wars X

I have loved your thoughts

Great video overall but I do have to disagree with your refusal to even broach the lgbt themes or role of sexuality in general as its depicted within the show and movie. Yes Utena as a character does not fit neatly into any boxes but I have a hard time seeing how a case can be made for Utena as a heterosexual both with how shes shown to exist in opposition to normative societal expectations and with how Adolescence of Utena ends with both her and Anthy holding eachother in a naked embrace as they kiss and ride out into the sunset. On top of that part of self actualization and discovery which the show is concerned with at length is learning about ones own sexuality regardless of what label its given and the show spends a long time focusing on sex in general.

Any idea on where the intro music is from?

What's the song in the background at 3:38 called?

I respect your interpretation, but to say that Utena could be straight or that the queerness of it is not integral to the story is wilfully ignoring SO many things in the anime and in the movie 😂

lol i appreciate this video, however classifying utena as a heterosexual is blantantly ignoring a large portion of the rest of this universe which is expanded on in the movie and manga. this is pretty disrespectful to be honest, it's an important early lgbt, specifically lesbian media, though i understand you are most likely a heterosexual male who cant get that on your own.

great analysis - thank you! :)

Just a quick question as I can't seem to really ask anywhere else that'd get your attention: What happened to your Kara no Kyoukai video? Would you happen to have an alternative link for it somewhere?

This video got me to read Demian a few years ago.

I like your takes but I would argue with one point. And it's somewhat intertextual, so if that's not your thing then you may disregard it entirely. Spoilers for the movie. I'd argue that, based on how Utena and Anthy's sexual tension and eventual romantic union is portrayed in the movie, Utena and Anthy's relationship was always meant to be present, in every sense of a relationship. But due to the censors they had to skirt while making the show, that read of them kinda went over people's heads, because it could only be very covertly implied. So when Be Papas made the movie, they got to flex creatively and be as obvious and in-your-face about it as they wanted. Utena and Anthy are very clearly sexually attracted to each other, and very clearly romantically interested in each other. They get to have a real, mature relationship, which in a way follows the themes of the show about moving from adolescence into adulthood.

I don’t understand how the idea of officially assigning her a sexuality leads to taking away the characters self-determination or would replace that self-determination as the reason for her being unique.

Such a great essay. It's a shame that you decided to step away from UA-cam. I would have liked to see more of your content, as you manage to narrate your train of thoughts and ideas in such a well structured and appealing way. Nadia mainly suffered from quarrels between Gainax and NHK. If it weren't for that TV station, who would've know what would have become of that show and Evangelion respectively. To my knowledge, Nadia served as a spiritual predecessor to Eva and Anno intended to make Eva a sequel to Nadia. However, Gainax was not able to attain the rights to the show, which at that time belonged to NHK. Needless to say, the show is great and I gladly rewatch it every now and then.

15:50 its a cult catering to unhappy children that know they deserve some authority, unlike what they got as children

I would argue by saving anthy she also severely weakened the institution

Something you didnt mention is if utena is about adolescence, then adolescence doesnt only happen once. Mikage participated in adult society and was somewhat of an adult yet he needed to transform once again because when we become adults we replace old ideas with new ones, and theyre not always good the second time either. Some would call this a midlife crisis but i just think humans constantly change. The neverending cycle of death and rebirth or somethinf

Low budget? But its so well animated...

sorry if I did already mention this. the stairs utena needs to climb up to the dueling arena and the pillar pairs are similar to the masonic alegory of king solomos temple. (broadly speaking symbolising siritual maturation/adolescence.) and in masonry, its also about rescueing someone trapped in a coffin who is in the end identical to yourself. The masonic journey starts in a coffin (just like utenas.) But utena quite shockingly subverts the masonic alegory. Your masonic journey reaches its goal with step 33. Episode 33 in Utena is infamous because "something" happens there. (interestingly, in german, "Jungfrau" means both "young girl" and "virgin".)

7 = number of cycles in judaism. 7 days of the week, after 7 years, there is a so called schemitah where all debt is erased, among other things. after 49 (7 x 7) years, historic changes should occur which change the world fundamentally. By the way. The last 49th year of their calendar was 2016. where donald trump became president. this is one reason why some people think trump holds a kind of spiritual significance most people do not understand.

today, I found out something interesting. In the show, utena resides in a certian house. this house does exist in real life and belonged to the nobel price nominee yukio mishima. this guy is one of the most prominent authors of homosexuality depicting works in japan. More importantly is, he unsuccessfully tried to do a revolution but none in the name of progress but in opposite, to restore the king/emperor to his fomer power. he tried to rescue the ideals of knighthood in times of societal change. These things resonate with certain themes in utena.

Never before have I heard so many words used so elegantly to convey an idea so painfully obvious to me that it feels as if it shouldn't have needed saying at all. This world is an odd place.

Similar to your theory, i think a core component to Utena's setup is that all of the duelists are totally capable of being adults, but they are each holding onto a "fairytale" that they refuse to abandon, like a kid child refusing to give up sucking their thumb. They desperately want to not have to give up their fairytales, which have begun to fester into complexes, so they decide to "revolutionize/change the world" as an alternative to changing themselves. To use the same metaphor again- they'd rather create a world where an adult CAN suck their thumb, rather than give up the habit. The anime, I believe, also works to explore in great detail how holding onto childish delusions can fester into toxic behaviours and mindsets, which then lead to abuse AND being abused. In S1 we see how each of the duelists is willing to hurt others, rather than give up their delusions. in S2 we see how their abuse has effected and poisoned those near them, and then in a S3 we see how the duelists and vulnerable to BEING abused by others when their delusions are used to manipulate them. This is also the core to Akio and Anthy- both would rather try to change the world, or accept living perpetually in their cycle of agony, than give up their delusions. Their fairytales turned into delusions, which became coffins. In the most childish, selfish, and final defiance against accepting their reality cannot be, they say "i'd rather die than give up on my fairytale"

What is the name of the track that plays at 9:48?

Nadia is a Gemini with her birthday on May 31st

I don't know much about this anime but this is low budget?! It's beautiful!

Geeknights never did finish their utena series and im so sad. Its really good!!

I think what you said about Utena’s sexuality actually misconstrues the message that Utena was trying to portray. Her sexuality IS important, at least the aspect that she’s a woman who loves other women is. After all, it’s her love for Anthy that lets her revolutionize her and Anthy’s world (recall her saying the only time she was happy was when she was with Anthy, I mean, it should be clear to anyone that she’s declaring her love). It’s only until she recognizes the role that dominant gender schema plays in heteronormativity (to be a man/prince it to be with a woman/princess and vice versa) that she truly becomes self-determinant once again, but in a way much different than she did before. Realizing your sexuality is also, in a way, a revolution. It’s a recognition of the self that destroys the world, the things that she’s told, that a prince should be with a princess, and the prince always saves the day. But along the line she loses sight of what she wanted to do (which was to save Anthy) and what she should do (become more traditionally feminine and submissive, to be a princess). For Utena, her role never really mattered; it was the fairytales and the things Akio said to her (which gave her validation and the feeling that she’s loved; note that she doesn’t actually love him, but rather loves the affection and the feeling of being wanted that an orphan could only dream of. There’s a difference between wanting male validation and being attracted to a man) that made her think it should. In order for her to bring a revolution, she had to go back and remember what she decided for herself, long ago (which is literally a revolution in the sense of going back to where you started, wow). Putting what she knew then and knows now, she could truly choose for herself. But if she was straight, she couldn’t possibly have brought revolution (I mean, imagine bringing revolution to Akio, I don’t think that could ever happen). In her choice to finally decide that she wants to love and support Anthy and genuinely be a vehicle/catalyst to her own revolution (because fighting for someone’s revolution is pointless unless they choose revolution for themselves; to choose revolution for another person by saving them like a prince is to enforce that fairytale narrative that was never really true. A man can’t truly change the agency of a woman by fighting for it, as this is exactly what takes her capacity to choose away from her and is therefore redundant). Eh, sounds like a pretty healthy relationship to me. And that’s exactly what gives Anthy the courage to act, because now she sees that she has VALUE, that she can be LOVED (without all that power imbalance shit), and that she can make her own choice to be FREE. So she does exactly that. She brings about her own revolution, following Utena in suit. If Utena wasn’t at least attracted to Anthy in the slightest, she wouldn’t have gone so far as to do this. I mean, it’s also clarified in the movie so her liking women is basically canon. Without Utena’s love and support but ALSO respect for Anthy, their revolution wouldn’t have been possible.

tf do you mean utena can be interpreted as heterosexual?? had to click off after that line yall weird as hell