I think the biggest problem with that movie is that it tried to compress a complex story like Utena into 1 and a half hours.

It just felt like they just rushed things through and left out too much.

I am having a hard time thinking of better ways to explain myself but as it is almost 2 in the morning, my brain is running on sloooooow!.

Movie Pros:
Great music and visuals.
Utena looking more boyish.
Anthy with her hair down.
More overt lesbian overtones.
The dance scene.

Movie Cons:
Movie Akio is too pathetic to be the Big Bad.
If you didnt know the Utena story, the movie would have lost you completely.
Not enough duels.
It was for most part, a bit of a wank.

I think the car part is probably the most confusing part. I made my friend watch it too and later she asked me about the car part, hehe.
But the movie is very different from most things I've seen. That's also the reason why I like it, plus the surrealism. Must have surrealism.
When I first watched it, it actaully made some sense to me. Up to the Juri's duel part, that came out of nowhere and then it was followed by the car scenes.
I think it's definitely worth watching because of the visuals and symbolism. ^.^

Tamago wrote:

If you didnt know the Utena story, the movie would have lost you completely.

I dunno. I saw the movie before I ever saw the series, and I was able to make some sense out of it.

It just makes more sense if you see the series first.

(Although the car part still baffles me. But I can rationalize it away by thinking, "....okay. This is Utena. What do you expect?")

Kohaku wrote:

Tamago wrote:

If you didnt know the Utena story, the movie would have lost you completely.

I dunno. I saw the movie before I ever saw the series, and I was able to make some sense out of it.

It just makes more sense if you see the series first.

I think I concur? Haha. ;;; I saw the movie after watching only the first season so... I'm not sure what that means, really. ...*shuts up*

Man, but I the movie~! I like the look/design of it more, the crazy campus, the rose-field-arena, Anthy's Bride Dress... *.*

And, of course, The Utenamobile That's probably my favourite part of the movie. ;;; It's fun to watch that with people who aren't expecting it.

Probably the most fun I've ever had watching the movie was at my old uni anime club. We had just watched the last three episodes, and then the movie and it was just...awesome.

Sey wrote:

...WHERE ARE RUKA AND MIKAGE, EH? EH???.

My inner Mikage fangirl would've liked to see him around, if only for revamped character design. Superficial like whoa? Haha. ;;; Seriously, much love for Mikage but it would've been too much to cram into a 90 minute film.

Razara wrote:

"*Evil giggle* Are you surprised? It was a big mistake to think you're the only one who can turn into a car... I'm a car now too!"

Probably one of my favourite quotes from the movie. It just makes me laugh.

And being as I'm terrified of series Akio, I'm all manner amused by frilly Movie!Akio. The little flippy-over-the-taxi-hood kills me every time.

The movie.. well it's very.. uh.. I don't know whether to say I like it or I don't like it. It's really pretty though, and some of the crack symbolism is great. I understood it a lot better after reading the movie manga, and realized what was up with Touga in the movie and more of the.. you know, plot. XD In comparision to the series, I don't like it nearly as much, of course, but it's still fun to watch. (After all, the series is much longer and that's a ton to cram.)

Just the other day I was telling my little sister about it because we were thinking of anime to watch when we visit our friend, and I brought up the Utena movie and tried to explain it a little. (I've already corrupted her to the Utena series, and while she likes it, all the symbolism and lack of an obvious, straight-forward plot turns her off from it for the most part. Plus the Kozue/Miki thing, since Miki is her favourite. XD I think the characters are too tainted and sexual for her too.) After I explained how different it was from the series and all the huge amounts of weird symbolism and changes from how the characters are in the series, she said something like "Well, we can watch it and spork it." and then I said "Well, it's not bad.. just.... it's... Uhm. Different."

All and all, my favourite part is Utena and Anthy's rose dance. It's beautiful.   I especially liked the part where Utena was sleeping and Anthy picked up an axe and it looked like she was going to hit Utena, but instead she hit the water pipes.

Razara wrote:

Above all, she got one of the best and most memorable deaths in anime history. "*Evil giggle* Are you surprised? It was a big mistake to think you're the only one who can turn into a car... I'm a car now too!" She died in a car crash, and she was the car... Then again, the fact that my favorite characters death makes me laugh is kind of sad...

That reminds me when she was driving in a car during Ruka's duel and she crashed when Ruka lost.. xD But yes, the idea of her being the car in a car crash is very funny.

Last edited by SleepDebtFairy (10-17-2006 02:24:47 PM)

Nariel wrote:

As ever, I maintain that my first reaction to the Utena car was: It's a giant raw lobster. Thats it. Although it was really pretty compared to the Shiori car.

...um, am I really the only one who saw the Utena Car and thought "OMFG UTENA JUST TURNED INTO A GIANT PENIS. IN A CAR WASH."

And seriously, the Shiori car was like something out of That Seventies Show crossed with an explosion in a Belgian lace factory. Oh, the humanity...

I can't say for showing the movie to other people, but as far as the movie goes...  if I had to sell off every last bit on anime I owned save for one disc, Adolescence of Utena would be the one I'd keep.

It's magical spell of symbolism, abstraction, general weirdness, and a phenomenal soundtrack that makes it my favorite anime movie by a huge margin.  I could try deconstructing it in my mind for decades and I'd never tire of it.  Ironically, it's also because of this that I shy away from reading interpretations of it.  I even can't bring myself to finishing the manga version of the movie because I'm afraid it will color the movie too much for me!

I also make sure not to watch it too often.  I go for a long time between viewings so it can retain its mysterious aura each time I watch it.  I last watched Adolescence of Utena this past Spring, so I imagine I won't watch it again until this coming spring, late winter at the earliest.  It must be savored!


Almost forgot... favorite scene?  Illusion ~ Malice's Pupa and Touga's ordeal/Shiori butterflies.  Best. Scene. Ever.


So yeah, I love it to pieces.

Last edited by Imaginary Bad Bug (10-17-2006 04:54:12 PM)

Giovanna wrote:

I recall vaguely Ikuhara saying in an interview that Shiori in the movie was Ends of the World. (Also that Shiori is his favorite character...) I KNOW I heard this somewhere, for god's sake someone confirm it. I guess it makes some voodoo form of sense since she's seen to communicate with a dead guy. (And sleep with him!! Is sleeping with Touga a rite of passage for EotWs?) Also she does rather nudge Juri into dueling. (As opposed to Saionji, who vaguely true to form, needed no help picking a fight.) Still, it's not like we get any indication as to what's in it for her.

The first time I saw Akio in the movie, I didn't even believe that it was really him. The hair was gone, the clothes looked stupid, and the voice... Gah, I hate the new voice they gave him. They ruined everything good about him.

I can't help but wonder if Shiori was actually acting on Akio and Touga's behalf. Someone must have given her the tape, and what not. If she was in communications with End of the World, as well as sleeping with Touga, who has a lot of influence over the main character, then could these two people have affected her actions? If not, then her motives seem to be surrounding the fact that Juri was the cause of her prince's death.

As for the design of the Shiori Car, the overuse of frilly accessories always amuses me. They've got it on the steering wheel, the seats, and even the gearshift. (Could you imagine if Akio's car was like that...? o _o)

Fluffy wrote:

Very very quick reply, but -- I'd always assumed movie!Akio and Anthy were /earlier/ versions of themselves. Akio looks way more like Dios than series!Akio does, Anthy is far perkier and less beaten-down, and he's capable of remorse/torn between pure joyous evil and being the prince. So it screws him up and he's a dork and is tipped by Anthy admitting to being awake/responsible for her actions/not needing or having to submit to a prince to realising his own badness and uselessness and, well, jumping out of the window. He neither has the key to the Akio car nor to a Dios-car. So he's all frilly, and sucks.

Shiori's banal human evil, Touga's the cost of having cruelty inflicted on you and the price of true princehood, both representing what happens to him by the end, what he does to himself (wait, that implies that scene is older Touga raping younger Touga no wait what?) and what Utena has to do (die to escape/help others escape). Also, remember Juri's story about her sister and the man whose name she forgot? Drowning? Has to link in somewhere.

PLUSU! How come super-capable Juri FAILS at swimming?

Wow, I really like this idea. Akio in the movie definitely did look a lot more like Dios. And when he poisoned Anthy to sleep with her, which is not like series Akio at all, it could have been Dios growing into Akio and coming to terms with what he's becoming and not liking it at first. In the series, after Anthy took the sword of Dios and Dios was talking to Utena (in her real memory) he still looked like Dios but he certainly didn't act much like a prince.

azuresquirrel wrote:

I always laugh when I see the tower for that exact reason! I always say to people, "Look at it! What happened to the tower from the series! IT'S AKIO!" They never seem to get it. Glad I'm not the only one who looks out for every penis or castration of said penis.

I'm all about the Freudian symbolism () and my god does SKU deliver. When I figure out what the carrot Touga had was all about...I mean, it's obviously a penis but whose?

azuresquirrel wrote:

To say that she's more evil than Touga or Akio really pisses me off and just reeks of misogynism to me.

Hmmm. While I agree it's kinda stretching it, perhaps people see it that way because she's so pointlessly cruel. Touga's a jerk, but he's fueled by a desire to obtain something. Akio is on thinner ice there, if you delve deep enough into his motives for doing, well, anything at all, but on the surface, he has reasons for his behavior as well. Why is Shiori such a bitch? Akio and Touga use their heartlessness to get things they want, but Shiori doesn't stand to profit at all from the things she does.

Razara wrote:

As for the design of the Shiori Car, the overuse of frilly accessories always amuses me. They've got it on the steering wheel, the seats, and even the gearshift. (Could you imagine if Akio's car was like that...? o _o)

They don't show you the inside of movie Akio's car.

SleepDebtFairy wrote:

Wow, I really like this idea. Akio in the movie definitely did look a lot more like Dios. And when he poisoned Anthy to sleep with her, which is not like series Akio at all, it could have been Dios growing into Akio and coming to terms with what he's becoming and not liking it at first. In the series, after Anthy took the sword of Dios and Dios was talking to Utena (in her real memory) he still looked like Dios but he certainly didn't act much like a prince.

Okay fine, I'll grudgingly allow such a blasphemy to be spoken of series Akio. Just know you people are ON NOTICE.

Even so it's at best representative of their youths, not an actual catalogue of events. Is an interesting thought though, in the movie, Anthy is the one that comes across as a sexual creature. Akio...well...we all went through that period (usually in middle school) where we tried to find who we were and ended up finding what gigantic fools we could make of ourselves, right?

Yasha wrote:

It makes their relationship so self-explanatory. You can put it down to love. It was far more interesting in the series when you didn't really know what to think about it; I thought it was a bit... off not to keep up the ambiguity. It's not like you couldn't have done that in the movie-- just leave the nudity, the weirdness, the dancing, even the bedroom scene sans zipper noise, and take out the kisses

True, but you can only dance around ambiguousness and ignore the sexual tension for so long, right? Besides, the movie was clearly a pro-lesbian <3fest.

Yasha wrote:

Giovanna wrote:

I recall vaguely Ikuhara saying in an interview that Shiori in the movie was Ends of the World. (Also that Shiori is his favorite character...) I KNOW I heard this somewhere, for god's sake someone confirm it. I guess it makes some voodoo form of sense since she's seen to communicate with a dead guy. (And sleep with him!! Is sleeping with Touga a rite of passage for EotWs?) Also she does rather nudge Juri into dueling. (As opposed to Saionji, who vaguely true to form, needed no help picking a fight.) Still, it's not like we get any indication as to what's in it for her.

I CONCUR.

I heard that somewhere too. It might have been from my dear Giovanna, though. Take that for what it's worth.

I heard about it in one of the rant's in Blade's lovely Shiori gallery. Is that where you heard about it as well?

As for the kissing, I agree with you on that. I loved Anthy and Utena's relationship in the series, and the movie ruined it. I can't really say I'm completely oppossed to it, though. Every once and a while I'll be rewatching the series, and I just can't help but wish they would just admit their feelings, kiss, and then live that happy ending that they keep promising us, but never really happens.

Fluffy wrote:

PLUSU! How come super-capable Juri FAILS at swimming?

Maybe there's something in the water? I mean, if water symbolizes Shiori in the series, (or at least that's what I assume, what with Juri's need to be around water whenever she's depressed, and Ganymede,) then perhaps a "tainted" Shiori affects the water? :0

But seriously, I've always felt that water has a connection to Touga. Could it be that water and red roses symbolize the two princes in Toki ni Ai wa? Touga, who drowned, and Akio, who Anthy burried in her rose bed to hide her brother dead? (Sorry, it's catchy.) The stars are undoubtedly a connection to the prince, so could water and red roses be a connection as well?

Giovanna wrote:

Razara wrote:

As for the design of the Shiori Car, the overuse of frilly accessories always amuses me. They've got it on the steering wheel, the seats, and even the gearshift. (Could you imagine if Akio's car was like that...? o _o)

They don't show you the inside of movie Akio's car.

That's probably for the best. Movie Akio's car would probably be as frilly as his clothes are. And he probably wouldn't even drive a stickshift.

Giovanna wrote:

azuresquirrel wrote:

To say that she's more evil than Touga or Akio really pisses me off and just reeks of misogynism to me.

Hmmm. While I agree it's kinda stretching it, perhaps people see it that way because she's so pointlessly cruel. Touga's a jerk, but he's fueled by a desire to obtain something. Akio is on thinner ice there, if you delve deep enough into his motives for doing, well, anything at all, but on the surface, he has reasons for his behavior as well. Why is Shiori such a bitch? Akio and Touga use their heartlessness to get things they want, but Shiori doesn't stand to profit at all from the things she does.

Edited: Once I stopped depriving myself of sleep, I realized that a big explanation about Shiori's motives is not suited for a topic about the movie. (Sorry 'bout that.) I'll just leave a tiny, bitesize explanation.

Shiori is the way she is because she was living a miserable life in the shadow of Juri's brilliance. Stealing that boy from her was the only way she could put herself on the same ground as Juri. (Wow, two sentences.)

Last edited by Razara (10-18-2006 08:02:59 PM)