(no subject)

[damselfish]

After years of "if you like Princess Tutu, you'll like Utena!" I finally watched Utena, and I can safely say: all y'all are on crack.

There's a lot I can say about Utena, but I won't because none of it's very nice. In sum, I went into episode 39 and said "show, you have 23 minutes to get good and/or interesting!"

It did not.

I was steaming, screaming mad with frustration at the end of it. Gross gender bullshit, completely unsatisfactory deconstruction ("ultimate fairy tale deconstruction"? I saw this posted in response to a Princess Tutu post, and I feel like they watched a completely different series), obnoxious Randian "special people!" nonsense, really skeevy things about adoption (I honestly don't give a shit about the incest bit), and such intense navel gazing that the Duelists' character bios should discuss their lint. Seriously, interrupting the action for yet more jibber jabber? TOO LATE, DON'T CARE. Oh wait. I never cared. I never cared about anyone. Utena never stopped being an annoying cipher, the only characters I ever felt any spark of interest in were Anthy, Wakaba, and Kozue.

I wanted girly romance and deconstruction! Or I wanted something that's purportedly "better" than Princess Tutu, or at least, something in a similar-ish vein. It's unfair to compare two radically different series, but I just... don't see how anyone can make that statement with a straight face.

I'm kind of surprised by all the people who recommended it to me and are baffled that I didn't like it, it pretty much had nothing in it that I enjoy in a series (though I guess on paper I could see why you might think I like it), and anything that I might have liked was grossly overshadowed by things that throw me into a flaming rage. And everything people warned me that might bother me didn't. No, I never wanted to slap Anthy or even felt a glimmer of frustration with her, but I did want to throw Utena out a window.