In my desperate search for new things to watch these past few months, it completely slipped my mind that I started watching Utena in 2002 and never finished it.
I watched the first two episodes this evening, and it's even weirder than I remember. (Giant rose insignia flashed on the screen mid-fight scene = WTF?) But then, I'm used to getting a lot of weird in anime. As long as I figure it'll get explained eventually, my tolerance is pretty high.
Um. It won't really be explained. A lot won't. And it will get soooo much weirder. But you sort of catch onto the symbolism and accept the weird, and I really liked what they were trying to say at the end. It's reaaaaally not for everyone I think, but I ended up really liking it for some reason. If you like, after you finish, I can link you to a site where they analyze stuff, it cleared a few things up for me.
Yeah, I sort of figured that might be the case. Utena has kind of a reputation. (Most of the reactions I got from my anime-watching friends and coworker when I said I was going to watch it related to how weird it was.) But I'm used to that, too, and even to series with highly-questionable internal logic. I just might wind up ranting about it for a bit. ;-P (When I'm done, I'll probably be wanting that link.)
Way back in the day, Cowboy Bebop was the first anime I saw that really impressed me. The art and fight scenes were of a much higher quality than was typical at the time (especially "Ballad of Fallen Angels", which was the episode that really sold me on the series), it was funny, and I loved the variety of the music. (Yoko Kanno is probably the best soundtrack composer in all of anime.) But over the years, my inner feminist has started to take issue with Faye, and I think that's part of why it fell out of first place for me.
Yes, I definitely loooove the music and the fun sense of style.
My inner feminist takes issue with Faye too. But hey, at least I like Ed (funny how the androgynous female children always escape the feminist!fail- actualy not funny at all, makes total sense, and noooow I'm sad) so far.
I'm watching Bebop right now, btw. (My Friend let me borrow his DVDS)
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How're you liking Bebop?
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Um. It won't really be explained. A lot won't. And it will get soooo much weirder. But you sort of catch onto the symbolism and accept the weird, and I really liked what they were trying to say at the end. It's reaaaaally not for everyone I think, but I ended up really liking it for some reason. If you like, after you finish, I can link you to a site where they analyze stuff, it cleared a few things up for me.
Reply
Way back in the day, Cowboy Bebop was the first anime I saw that really impressed me. The art and fight scenes were of a much higher quality than was typical at the time (especially "Ballad of Fallen Angels", which was the episode that really sold me on the series), it was funny, and I loved the variety of the music. (Yoko Kanno is probably the best soundtrack composer in all of anime.) But over the years, my inner feminist has started to take issue with Faye, and I think that's part of why it fell out of first place for me.
Reply
My inner feminist takes issue with Faye too. But hey, at least I like Ed (funny how the androgynous female children always escape the feminist!fail- actualy not funny at all, makes total sense, and noooow I'm sad) so far.
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