Take My Revolution

[miko2]

I let Kristin borrow all of my Revolutionary Girl Utena dvds last week, except for the very forgettable movie. Within a few days I picked up a new dvd at my comic shop, so I had some Utena to watch this weekend as well. ^_^

The original 2 dvds that came out contained the complete first story arc, 13 or 14 episodes, I forget exactly how many. The next four discs only have 3 episodes each (or maybe the last one has 4, because it takes you all the way through episode 26). This covers the whole Black Rose story arc.

The dvd I just picked up had 4 episodes on it, 27-30. This is the beginning of a new story arc, but as with the whole series, there are many story elements that remain the same as in previous story arcs. If I remember correctly, this last story arc will continue until the end of the series at episode 48.

I tend to agree with Kristin about the series... there is a lot of symbolism and stylized elements, and parts that repeat again and again. It tends to have a ritualistic or ceremonial feel. Kristin said that she found it soothing, but Tom gets annoyed by the repetition of (for example) the whole journey to the dueling arena animation segment. But it doesn't bother me, and I think it's because, as Kristin said, the whole series has a feeling of ritual about it.

Other series, especially 'magical girl' series (in theory Utena fits into this genre) use repetetive animation sequences, typically during the transformation of the heroine into her 'magical girl' personality. The stock animation of Utena journeying into the secret woods at the back of the school and travelling up to the dueling platform beneath an upside-down castle in the sky is RGU's version of the magical girl transformation, and in fact Utena's outfit does transform at this point.

But unlike any other magical girl show, Revolutionary Girl Utena is filled with repeated scenes and repetetive plot threads. Every time a duel commences, the school bells ring out. The same sort of operatic rock music is played during the duels, and never at any other time. Halfway through nearly every episode is a short shadow play that acts as a Greek Chorus to comment on the plot or provide some sort of strange theatre that mirrors what's going on in some symbolic way.

Episode 27 is one of those strange, funny Nanami tales that occasionally provide a break from the stranger, heavier plotlines of the series. Nanami becomes convinced that she has laid an egg, and her hyperactive imagination produces all sorts of scenarios in which people find out and humiliate her. Each time, the imagined scenario is played out with shadow characters who often are doing bizaare things while they talk, such as pirouetting. These sequences are much like the shadow theatre segements. Also, each of these fantasies of Nanami's end with her being jailed with a turtle, a chicken -- animals that lay eggs.

In another episode later in the dvd, Utena is struggling with the central premise of the series -- does she love the Prince that she met when she was young, and want to be his Princess? Or does she really only admire the Prince and want to be a Prince herself? Yet again, one of the male characters has cast himself as Utena's Prince, and this time much more skillfully than past pretenders ever did. Throughout the episode, as Utena struggles with her diliema, we keep seeing three lit candles, but as Utena slides closer to accepting the idea that she's found her Prince and is in love with him, the candles snuff out, one by one. The final scene of the episode is the last candle flickering in a breeze, about to go out.

This is the kind of repetetive imagery and symbolism that you get with Utena, and it's what sets it apart from other 'magical girl' shows. When Sailor Moon transforms, there really is no purpose to her transformation sequence other than to use up some animation time and save on animation costs. When Utena travels to the dueling arena, there's more to it than just saving on animation costs. It's a kind of ritual, just as the whole show is, and that's why it doesn't bother me that much. It adds to the mystery of the show.

Although I should add, I'm happy that as the series develops the stock sequences are occasionally changed or updated, and new music is added. ^_^