damselfish | (no subject)

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.

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I have no idea what Princess Tutu is like, so I certainly can't compare anything to it, but maybe this is a case of Seinfeld is Unfunny? Like perhaps the deconstructions which were revolutionary (sorry, this pun was unintended but I'm not changing it) back in 1997 just seem commonplace these days. It's been a while since I've seen the series, so I can't comment too much otherwise.

As for the romance thing, Adolescence of Utena (the movie) was much more overt about Utena & Anthy. I'd recommend it, but I don't know if you'd have any interest in watching it even with all the changes it makes to characters.

For me, the deconstruction thing stemmed from the constant comparisons of Princess Tutu to Utena-- specifically what made me watch was a comment to scans_daily about Tutu that said "Utena is the ultimate deconstruction of ALL TIME" and a huge comment love-fest for Utena. I was expecting, you know, the best of all time. Or something that at least merited the constant comparisons any time someone mentions Tutu, but the series are SO wildly different that I simply do not understand why the comparisons come up except in the most superficial ways (they're both about deconstruction and character roles, which... damn if that isn't common as dirt).

The deconstructions are more common now, but still not in the same way Utena does them. I think the problem is that I almost went and became a folklorist, so Utena didn't have anything to say to me that wasn't "...okay, and could you have spit that out sooner?"

The series could have been 15 episodes long, and nothing of value would have been lost.

I might watch it anyway, because I did like the bits and pieces that I've seen of it, but it'd have to make a lot of changes. Like... make everyone likable.