Visual Storytelling: Breaking Down The Adolescence of Utena - Part 6
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 13 ก.ย. 2024
- Today we talk for 30 minutes about a 5 minute stretch of the Utena movie. Anthy's revelation, Ikuni's style and Akio's role here vs the series.
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I think the plane and it’s contrail is just a visual representation of Anthy’s tension as she has decided to do this. This, the engine sound going up is Anthy’s anxiety as she hates herself emotionally. It’s just a way of externalizing the mood of someone with a good poker face
I can't believe you're doing this you are freaking awesome. I listened to your visual storytelling yesterday for about 12 hours and I just could wait for you to put out the next part and I can't believe you already put it out so im super excited thank you for everything that you doing it's definitely going out into the universe and it's so awesome. Fans of anime can connect in this way. 👍
I have so much I want to write here about what you've said and how much I enjoy it, but it's so long and I'm short on time so instead I'll drop a quick thought about Nanami's coda. I do agree that it's Anthy stalling for time, but I also think it's another way that having knowledge of the show can flesh out understanding of the movie. In the show, Nanami was often subject to these absurdist supposed filler episodes, but I think by the end we ultimately come to understand the Nanami-as-animal metaphors as both essential for her character and as a mirror to Anthy's. Nanami being treated like an object or pet, Nanami feeling emotionally usurped by a cat, Nanami's metaphorical parenting of the egg/menstruation/how Touga really puts her down constantly through the egg incident, it all comes together to show you this position that Nanami is in where she's undervalued and objectified, and that the brother she admires and loves is going to be an obstacle in her shift towards maturity and adulthood. The same is true of Anthy. For all that they attack one another, they're really in the same boat, and I think that's the point: these two abused girls are just lashing out at each other as proxies of their siblings, who really don't care much at all about them. This isn't uncommon with victims of abuse. It's easier to attack someone who you can recognize as a fellow victim, as powerless, as opposed to the person who controls your life. This is made very explicit with Nanami finding out about the Akio-Anthy incest and grappling with her own feelings about Touga + the Car Scene, and her rejection of him is a contrast to Anthy's acceptance of her role and perhaps foreshadowing that Anthy can get away. I think that, in much the same way, we see cow Nanami here - the animal that represented her self-absorption and when we first found out that Anthy was subtly bullying Nanami as much as Nanami was overtly bullying her, and the evolved metaphor as Nanami-as-animal/-meat/-tool - and the absurdity obfuscates the point that these girls were objectified and mistreated, and that that's what Anthy is still struggling with. But she's being obtuse about it. It's hard to say directly.
Love this reading, thank you
I read the plane scene like this:
For most people, a plane is something you're a passenger in and not something you pilot yourself, and it protects you from your surroundings. U + A looking to the right, into their pasts, maybe before they were hurt or before they realized the extent of that hurt, back to a time where they were both fully inside the "egg;" protected, but powerless and contained.
A car, on the other hand, is usually driven by its owner. It's less protective and much more susceptible to damage from its surroundings, but you're in more apparent or immediate control of its trajectory.
BECOMING a car then dictates that you yourself take all the potential damage, but also that in order for someone else to drive you, they have to be LET IN first.
So much love for this movie and for this series you made about it ❤❤❤❤
I really must thank you for taking my all time favorite animated movie under a critical eye. This series has really opened me up to some concepts that (despite this being my fave) I’ve never considered before. Ive truly adored re-examining this movie “with you” so thanks for taking the time to gush for hours about this masterpiece. Can’t wait for the next vid
Something I just noticed for the first time: the architecture in the video is pretty normal (for Adolescence standards). If that's Ohtori, then it's Ohtori before it fell apart. But then it gets into what you were saying, how we can't interpret that scene literally. It's a time between Akio and Anthy when things weren't falling apart. I'm not sure what to read into deeper than that, but I thought it was interesting.
All of Shoujo Kakumei Utena's anime stories are the main golden work of Ikuhara Life participation. Even better than Mawaru Penguindrum, Sailor Moon, Yurikuma Arashi, and the 2019 Sarazanmai. Sarazanmai even brings the prince and princess concept again but in a different and 2019 highlife that is very lovely. Utena just was made in such a way that it is very deep and almost did not have flaws or scatter untied things around and a big universal them for humans. In other words, Utena was really thougth on and their developers compromise a lot of there time and made a pretty perfected anime with the budget that they had. The other works did indeed had great visuals and are still great and best animes out there but still, it did not get that perfection that Utena stories did have.
Im so glad you talked about Aiko sliding across the hood of the car(s). It caught me so off guard when i first watched it that i was dying laughing but i was so confused why it was there
And also your interpretation of Utena it is unlike anything I've heard before it's so precise and to-the-point very direct. I feel like you hit alot of points on the right on the nail and it made me notice things in movie that I hadn't noticed before. Also going frame by frame made it easier to understand the symbolism
utena taught me so much and helped me deal with so many personal problems and mature as a person i love these breakdowns and i cannot wait till the next vid is up and to hear your thoughts i cry at the end of this movie everytime i see it!
aw man, it's been more than a year and I realised I never thanked you! I remember watching this and feeling so validated haha, I really appreciate that you took the time to address my comment in the video ^o^ Thanks for making this series, I really enjoyed it and I'll be checking out your Madoka analysis too!
I've just finished my first rewatch as a full adult and I am so happy to have found this series!
Interesting list you have of your favorites clear and sweet.
Another thing I remember from the Ikuhara commentary on the dvd is the things he mentions he added just because he thought it would be funny, which included the Nanami scene and Akio coming out of the Taxi 😂
Yeah also that man lies through his teeth as easily as he breathes so I don't go hard word of God on much of his interviews when the text contradict them.
@@clearandsweet oh for sure! I just find it interesting to see what he says vs what is able to be seen. There’s a lot of joy in interpretation.
@@clearandsweet I gotta say for sure though, I dont remember which part you said it but, I definitely agree that the commentary wasnt super great. Honestly I think the best parts were just the explaining the behind the scenes work on the animation itself. I love hearing about the process behind production work! Like the parts about being grateful on how well the dance scene came out, the how hard they worked with the 3D parts so it didnt come off as cold and almost separated from the movie instead of part of it.
I also enjoyed the kinda monologue thing Ikuhara has at the end of the movie discussing his own feelings as a teenager and how he tried to put some of that at the ending.
There a lot to think about of this Akio in the anime and movie.
I'm not sure you still check these comments I've just recently stumbled onto your videos after rewatching the movie for the 5 bajillionth time. I'm a long time fan of sailormoon both the manga and anime as well as utena. I saw the jet flying away and the awe of it as the dream. Its a simple shot, it looks so easy to just fly off. Theres no other obstacles just blue open sky. I think that this is just showing how when we experience something that becomes so uplifting our goals appear to be so easy to reach, the journey seems so much easier. But its not. So I think as Anthy reveals herself to Utena the sound of the jet engine is bring them back to the reality that the idea of moving forward wasn't going to be easy and without obstacles, and was not real. They weren't going to fly off so easily and that idea was in a way negative because it creates a laziness to continue to push forward.
I think this is contrasted later when the rose garden while Utena transforms goes down instead of up. Their escape wasn't going to be flying off into a cloudless sky, it was going to be going down, in darkness, and deep inside confronting everything thats been holding them back and fighting through it together, believing in one another and supporting eachother.
To add to my theory. The reason Utena goes back to dueling is because its the easiest thing to do, its what both her and Anthy know and whats comfortable for them. But when Anthy sees the Prince in Utena she realizes that while things have seemed to change they really haven't and both are still confined to the rose and the society ideals and the prince so she runs off. Utena while looking for Anthy, is able to break her last barrier when she finally acknowledges Togas death, everything shes feared about moving forward is gone. Anthy on the other hand has reverted back to the role of the rose bride as she tells Utena shes the winner and she belongs to Utena now.
Utena now fearless and free becomes literally Anthys driving force to help guide Anthy to her own freedom from the prince.
I love your theory! I also think that scene is kind of the soul of the movie, very pure, for the reasons you've described.
I hope you continue to share your ideas. It does really sound like you understand the genre and what Ikuni wanted to convey.
@@clearandsweet actually I really would love to see Monkey/Anthy and Frog-Crocodile/Dios-Akio resemblance but I think you may miss that. In the TV series Anthy's Monkey is Anthy's true self. And the frogs, reptiles etc. are basically the male characters. Especially Akio and Toga. It's basically the tale of Frog Prince. Frog Prince as Akio or Toga tries to convince all the young girls to he was actually a Prince but some evil Witch (Anthy) turned him into a Frog. If they give him a kiss he will turn to Prince again and then also he can turn them into Princesses.
What a beautiful tale! Miserable innocent Prince, greedy evil Witch and pure poor Maiden. In real life we can read as "A jealous bad woman calumniates or assaults or abuses an innocent, decent man. Man needs a Maiden with a pure heart to be healed and begin a new life. He might be damaged in his past but he still has the amazing power for giving any woman value, purpose, prestige, happinness and a fulfilled life. Like, you know, all men in the world.
But is it the real story? May we miss something?
The whole Utena story, manga, TV show, movie, all of them about the demolishing the Tale of Frog Prince. Anthy never was a Witch and Akio never was a Prince as named Dios. Akio abused Anthy for ages and he always played the "Because of you..." card to her to make her feel guilty. Akio was a fraud who was seducing, fooling, cheating and abusing young girls as his sister Anthy. Anthy tried to stop him once and she probably tried to tell his real self to people. People got angry to him, and then they tried to kill him. Anthy didn't know that the things could go that far. Even she was abused too Akio was the only family for her. She ran away with Akio or Akio pulled her with him in his running away.
Akio denied his faults and crimes and keep blaming Anthy for his horrible actions. He made her belive that he was actually Prince Dios. Dios means in Spanish: "God", "Deity". He was the God and Anthy caused to his falling from the Heaven. She believed in that she killed him or at least dishonoured his name for centruies. She forced for acting like flawless Maiden who is obeying all the rules and actually a Princess.
Also Akio believes in his lies since the beginning. That's the reason his unbeliaveble charm. He never acted as Prince. He 'became' the Prince. At least as the image of Prince.
In the end of the TV series Anthy leaves from Academy with her Monkey. In that scene the Frog starts to begging Monkey to stay in there with him. Like Akio's hopeless and failured last try. But Monkey rejects him and goes with Anthy. Because like Anthy she is accepting her true self right now and no more trying to be a flawless, gorgeous Princess. No more being ashamed of herself being Monkey. Being Monkey isn't a thing must be fixed or must be more beautiful, more excellent. Being Monkey is being Monkey. Fraud Frog is tricking himself at first. Because he isn't Prince and he isn't even a Frog. He is actually a crocodile and his tears are fake, like his emotions. He will do anything to capture his prey as all reptiles.
In this video you will see the Monkey's left earring and Akio's left earring. Anthy figured the Frog Tale thing out but she is still confused who was who and she misunsertands Akio as Monkey and herself as Frog-Crocodile. Because of killing him (probably switched the glasses) she started to feeling guilty again. Cow Nanami is a repression mechanism to could keep the truth as secret.
And Cow Nanami. Cows, chickens... (Nanami's egg episode, remember.) They are farm animals and a lot of feminists are thinking that they are similar to women in patriarchal system. Patriarchal system dominates and abuses both of women and farm animals in similar ways.
Man thank you very much! The amount of work you put in this is obviously ❤️🙏🙏🙏 loved the film bit it really gave me too much at once that it left me confused af.
That rape scene of the movie and the rape/sexual coercion scene in the show really stuck out to me! I didn't understand when I was younger, but I have a more nuanced view of it. I really love your analysis!
Another nice Video thanks man really appreciate what your doing.
thanks so much for this the series is a mind blower
Very happy you're enjoying it.
Oh yes, I meant to say as well - in rewatching the series, I found that the sound effects for when show-Akio turns on the planetarium and the trail racing across the sky in the movie are extremely similar, and we do see that trail cutting up to the castle of eternity later. Utena and Anthy staring longingly at this trail could indicate their childish desire for eternity that still exists to some degree, or the way in which they are beholden to Akio's ideals/have been used by Akio (if we take the series and film as going hand-in-hand, which I very much do). The sound of the plane taking off/the planetarium flicking on when Anthy exposes her wound to me ties into the fact that Anthy has been damaged by Akio compelling everyone to race towards the castle ("there is nothing higher than this planetarium, but you couldn't see the value in the headmaster's tower"/"a child cannot understand the value of this space" "what is the value of a space used to manipulate people?" from the series), and that Anthy has also been hurt by the degree to which she bought into it of her own accord, outside of Akio. After all, this film heavily implies that Anthy had a hand in constructing the prince to begin with. Clearly there was a time when Anthy believed in princes and wished that someone would act as a prince to her - she also believed in that castle in the sky, before it came crashing down around her and she hid in her coffin, another, more cynical form of eternity. Also we can't disconnect the visual of the hole in her chest from the fact that that's where duelists draw the sword of Dios from. This hole hasn't just been made by Akio stabbing her, or humanity stabbing her; every time a would-be prince turns to Anthy and uses her power for violence, they are widening that hole. So it's tragic that in the next scene between Utena and Jury, Utena again rips that sword right out of Anthy. She should know how much that hurts, and I love that it's followed up with Utena pushing it back in and denying it in their talk afterwards up in the garden, after she's again seen how much pain Anthy is in with the unveiling of Akio's grave.
I was always puzzled by Akio's "Why must you torture me" line but one idea I have is that it is meant to be responding to Anthy addressing him completely normally despite what just happenned.
Also is it just me or his whole speech in that episode about the star he found that nobody knows about might be a sort of allegory for Utena?
Great analysis
What are your thoughts on Ikuhara's new show Sarazanmai and would you consider doing a similar analysis to this but with Penguindrum??
Nice
Also I just watched Sailor Moon Season 1 and I'm kinda bored by it but I wanna ask should I hold on until I get to R, S & SuperS
I heard that those seasons are the best ones in the show and it was directed by Ikuhara should I skip season 1 or should i still watch it until the finale??
4:09 - ooh can't wait.
5:50 - I think I've always seen Nanami as a purposeful distraction. almost like, in the style of a theatrical stage play, this is an intermission. But you've really taken it to a deeper level, like what's happening to Nanami is a very childish telling of a m*lestation.
10:00 - I'm saying; Shiori is an agent of Akio/The Prince/the World. There is no other reason for her to have that video.
12:00 - I've sort've come to interpret the first tape a tell-tell that Akio/the World is working in the shadows even though he's not physically present. For his presentation to be so meta (he's looking at the camera for the first half) and him framed in a princely manner with servants and a red carpet, it's like he's saying to us viewers, "Yes; I am still as present in this reincarnation of the world as I've always been." But it's a farce; he's never really had the power to drive change (the car) by himself. Anthy is who gives him that power as she always has. And, yessss, 15:03 and 17:25 , that transition -- it's like the first half was the show Akio/The World wants to showcase, but now that it's over, we're getting the truth. And that truth being revealed is so dangerous -- like a world revolution -- it's hidden.
23:19 - I always wonder if it's really Akio there, or is it a lie the world is telling to keep things the same?
The duel between Utena, Juri and, in a way, Shiori feels very Touga-centric. Almost as if each girl is having to reconcile their idea of what a prince is and the projections they've all placed onto Touga as a representative of that idea.
13:13 i would also like to note that akio here has an earring in his left ear, which has been historically used as a symbol of homosexuality... not sure how it ties in with his character, but still an interesting stylistic choice
Well considering he seems to sleep with almost every character in the series no matter their gender, I think you might be on to something
doesn't the red little animal look like it has an umbilical cord instead of a tail?? I don't know what to make of it
YOooooo he made a nier video FuCK YEha
can someone fill me in, i dont understand this, what is this?
Analysis on utena the movie