pixiv, why do you ruin my life?!: "Revolutionary Girl Utena" Edition

[greywing]

Oh god, I've discovered the Shoujo Kakumei Utena tag at pixiv.

Why is so much of it so pretty? Delicious ensemble pics. And cute?! ;_; Argh, we can't pretend this was a happy show!

Too. Many. Lush. Utena. Anthy. Pics. Really. For reals. On and NSFW on. Sigh. Never this happy canonically. Who tops? Neither (NSFW) in defiance of gravity!

Even

Comments

[shanejayell]

DAMN that is nice art....

I've always figured EVERYONE in utena is bisexual. Other than Juri, anyway....

[greywing]

The SKU art is kind of ridiculously beautiful. It helps that the fanartists try to stay true to the aesthetics, which was stylistic and ramped up to gorgeous in the movie. I love that the fanartists capture a lot of the thematic and symbolic elements of the show: the play of light and shadow, the light and the dark aspects of the show being present in just about every character

[ifuritka]

...can't focus with all these pixivs...
Utena... the best yuri kiss ever... and they climb these looong stairs most of the series to acknowledge at the end that there is an elevator :D But Utena/Anthy subtext? They make out in said elevator. Naked. ;P If ShizNat had such elevator scene, fandom would go wild XD
I think teh yuri powah comes from... uh-oh... the level of romance... romantic storyline... That's why Juri is out of picture. She is un-likeable and so un-romantic and her love interest is such a bitch. So bye bye Juri/Shiori :D. The problem with SKU is that, except for anorexic art (:P), this series is too weird and unduly cruel. But with a happy ending, unlike NGE, and it matters ;). Shizuru compared to people from SKU is saint, even when gone berserk. In a great part she was just doing what Natsuki wanted to do so badly. So romantic :D

There are some [almost]~yuri from back then I totally forgot about. Like Cheeky Angel for example. Or Kazemakase Tsukigage Ran. Or many many more :)

[greywing]

Oh my God, I forgot about that ending song. But all the opening and ending credits had them straddle subtext. In the show itself, it's a lot more ambiguous.

It's interesting because Juri's archetype and Shizuru's archetype are different. While both try to keep their feelings bottled up, as far as I remember, Juri never comes on to or assaults Shiori or is implied to have done so. If anything, Juri gets assaulted by Ruka, who tries to force himself on her to, uh, break her of her Shiori obsession. She's angry and bitter as a defense because her dynamics with self-esteem crippled Shiori are so . . . wonky, to say the least. Juri is the poster girl of "Argh, this person I love, why do I love this person?!" Because Shiori actively tries to hurt Juri in order to diminish her own sense of inferiority (since she sees Juri as being so effortlessly the things she is not: popular, talented, graceful, powerful).They're stuck in this terrible, terrible passive-aggressive dynamic in which Shiori thinks she's hurting Juri in her one weak spot (her

[ifuritka]

A wall of text :D

In the show itself, it's a lot more ambiguous.
... like other sexual things... :3

Juri is the poster girl of "Argh, this person I love, why do I love this person?!"
And this is something I don't get, but SKU is not a story to definitely and completely understand ;)

SO DEPRESSING. EVERYONE'S STORY IS DEPRESSING
EXACTLY! Ugh. I am not a fan of angst, especially adolescent, what can I say? ;D And SKU is deceiving: you start to watch something else (ligh childish comedy?) and end with something else (WTF?????). If your brain doesn't explode while trying to accomodate to changes, then you are a pro ;D

When her illusion shatters, she snaps and decides to just take it all.
But she doesn't. Believe me ;) Hello Chikane-who-took-it-all

And we're not quite sure what she gives up on: Shiori, the idea of miracles, hope, illusions?
Wasn't she always against miracles? Didn't it make her a looser from the begining?

Because they all need therapists.
Nope, watchers need a good weed and everything is all right ;)

Is there

[greywing]

In the show itself, it's a lot more ambiguous.
... like other sexual things... :3In this case, it's just like everything else in the show. The show as you watch it unfold is pretty horrific as pieces fall into place, but then you start looking back at things in retrospect and everything ambiguous starts taking on shades of greater and greater horror. It's almost worse because it's all inference and allusion. We're never told outright just how horrific and monstrous everything was . . . again and again and again. You can't even begin to imagine the number of lives Akio and Anthy have ruined or the number of ways Anthy and Akio have ruined each other's lives. When you think about Utena simply being the latest in a line of Duelists . . . Some fanfics really start unraveling this, like Archimage, where Anthy talks about some of the previous failed attempts and it's just sad

[arbitrary_greay]

Marimite doesn't merit a mention?

I have Word of Gay listed for Mai Otome on TvTropes: the Drama CDs.

SKU is a show that stuck in my head. Everyone's story makes you think and pause. Because they all need therapists. They live in this Lord of the Flies playground where they've been told that if you want something, you have to take it--by force or by wiles. With everyone playing that game (within a larger game), any cracks or fissures you had in your personality are just guaranteed to worsen. The point is to break them and see who doesn't break. It doesn't help either that they're all teenagers with raging hormones. And yet people don't hate on the characters as much as they do Evangelion's, which is the other infamous Everyone Is Fucked Up show. Is it because Evangelion put on airs of "journey of teenage self-discovery" in the first half of the series, so the backlash against any perceived push to like the throroughly unlikable characters is greater

[greywing]

Marimite is also a strange beast in that everything is subtextual but for Sei being canonically into girls. All the seour relationships are arguably intense Romantic Two Girl friendships. Never mind that the novels are ramped up with luscious physical descriptions from Yumi's POV. It just . . . doesn't quite cross that line. You can pair off Sei but her "partners" are just as dubious--and it's not clear that she'd hit on any of them openly but for her teasing of Yumi. Because it's Yumi

[ifuritka]

I still have no inclination to watch KnM
Watch. You'll see why Fujino is good peoples XD

[greywing]

That gives me even less desire to watch it!

[jen_chan_shaw]

Hopefully it's not too late to comment on this post? :) It's not too often one gets a chance to talk about these characters and these couplings anymore, and weirdly enough, I just finished re-watching Mai Hime, KnM and was working my way through RGU last month, and have been itching to talk about them! I haven't watched these shows in several years now, so I'm really happy that this came up

[greywing]

It is never too late to comment on any post!

Oh, all these (neo-)classic yuri series names popping up. XD So far this post has mentioned Sailor Moon, SKU, Mai HiME/Otome, KnM, Noir, and even Read or Dream. It's like the ghost of anime yuri past.

Their story though, is less a 'yuri' story than it is an empowerment story. I feel like Utena is gay only because Anthy happens to be female. The yuri is less of a 'cause' and more of an 'effect' to me.I agree. This kind of ties into the "World of Bi" that is SKU, but also the very powerful feminist messages in the show. In the last episode, when Akio has put Utena into the Rose Bride's dress and later Anthy whispers into Utena's ear that she can't be her Prince because she's a girl, it's heartbreaking because everything has pointed to the contrary. But there's little doubt that Utena was strongly attracted to Touga and Akio--which is the one nitpick I have with "Archimage," which envisions Utena more as an all-out lesbian rather than a bisexual woman whose partner just happens to be female

[jen_chan_shaw]

Ahh.. I don't quite remember Archimage, but I really really liked Jaquemart. I remember listening to a webcast once in which Alan said he was re-reading his own work and surprised by how close he actually was to the end for Jaquemart... *sigh

[arbitrary_greay]

My enjoyment factor for KnM wasn't Chikane, which was probably the only character arc given ANY writing thought, but Himeko, who was bland, unimpressive, unlikeable, and then forgave Chikane within one episode of the act, as well as reacting to Chikane's creepy-as-fuck (and obviously meant to be taken as romantic, blarg) confession with acceptance. (again, casting the creepy aspects of the relationship as positive, romantic, and even admirable) The consequences of everything were basically hand-waved. The plot would remain intact, even better off, if the rape and any scene directly referencing it were cut out, (chalk Himeko's shell-shock to abandonment issues or something) and that says volumes about the fact that the writer put it in anyways. Without the rape, Himeko is just Bella Swan. But with it, Himeko's actions through the end of the series take on seriously disturbing implications