well, Its mostly imposible to get people to watch it. I got 1 person to watch volume 1 of the dvd but thier not interested on watching it anymore. only on drawing it since it was some sort of big thing for them. it never works for me

haruka wrote:

well, Its mostly imposible to get people to watch it. I got 1 person to watch volume 1 of the dvd but thier not interested on watching it anymore. only on drawing it since it was some sort of big thing for them. it never works for me

Volume 1 sucks a whole bunch. Ask them if they're interested in allegory, mythology, psychology, and incest. If not, go directly to jail, do not pass go, do not collect $200. If so, beg them to wait for the good stuff because it starts in episode 9.

It might be better in some ways to start by showing Episode 13 as its a recap episode to gain a crude idea of what happened beforehand, then get them to watch episode 14 onwards, if they found SKU intreging after watching a few episodes, then show them episode 1 onwards.

Well, I know some people get so disturbed by something that even just being reminded of it will make them mentally shudder.  So even though intellectually he may be able to discern the difference between canon and non-canon, emotionally he's still reminded of the disturbance. 

But yeah, whatever it was couldn't have been too disturbing, at least nothing compared to the actual series...

Hmm... maybe a better analogy is to be used if you say that SKU is like a combo of Eva, Princess Tutu, and Rozen Maiden.
I always felt that it's in that happy medium. But, in essence, I think SKU is closer in resemblance to Rozen Maiden in that both stories involve protagonists attempting to reach to their respective "Gods".

Not to mention that there's also the "Break the eggshell" motif from Rozen Maiden, too.

Last edited by Hiraku (09-11-2007 04:46:33 PM)

haruka wrote:

Still, it isnt as great as Utena even how much it tried..not to offend any evangelion fans here...

To be fair, this thread is about how to best expose SKU to those who don't know anything about it, not deciding whether or not other series that share some of its characteristics are as good or not in the eyes of the beholder.

Seeing as Evangelion is likely one of the most seen series even by anime newbies, and that it shares enough of the same qualities, this is why I decided to use it as an example of how Utena can be exposed to those who have never heard of it, or have heard about it but don't know what it's about.

I have not seen Tutu or RM myself, which Hiraku mentioned above - though I will be adding Tutu to my collection before the year is out - so I can't speak for those... except to say that having heard about Tutu's similarities to Utena is what motivated me to check it out.  And there you have the idea of this thread in reverse.  Utena was successfully used as a comparison to enlighten me to a series I may not have otherwise checked out.

Someone who doesn't like a show that looks on the surface to be flowery and 'girly' might change their mind and give it a chance if, assuming they've seen and enjoyed Evangelion, they find out that its really a series that plays games with perception and delves into the psyche with imagery and metaphor, despite looking all frilly on the surface.

Haruka's quote: "actually I watched a couple of episodes of it and looked at the manga. so your saying it isnt any fun because theres no bisexuals or hentai? well, evangelion has hentai too, right? Still, it isnt as great as Utena even how much it tried..not to offend any evangelion fans here..."

Well, I never said it isn't "any fun" I just said that I did not like it because the ending ruined it for me (or at least, that is what I meant to imply). Evangelion teases you with all these random morsels and when you're so excited to get to the end of the series....! It's an f'in joke. I felt so jipped. That is what I most associate Evangelion with. Utena did not evoke this kind of emotion in me. It brought about a strong emotion, yes, but I didn't feel shafted. In fact, after I thought about it, I learned to like the ending. It's really the only ending that would have suited it after all

As for the "bisexual/hentai" part of your comment, that was a joke....thus the: ""

And for the record, hentai is porn (which may contain incest but is not exclusive to that.)

Yasha wrote:

Imaginary Bad Bug wrote:

To be fair, this thread is about how to best expose SKU to those who don't know anything about it, not deciding whether or not other series that share some of its characteristics are as good or not in the eyes of the beholder.

This statement endorsed by the administration. Make a thread about Eva gripes in General, or hijack one there that seems more appropriate. Thanks, guys!

I was only disagreeing, I don't really care about discussing it. Although, I don't know if this was aimed at me or not. Either way, I'm done with my rantings about Eva.

I actually tried to make my best friend to watch it, but to no avail...

She'd always been a huge Sailor Moon and Versailles no Bara fan like me, so told her about SKU and I hoped that if she watched at least some episodes of the Seitokai arc she'd get to like the scenery and the characters - but it didn't work, because she just had a look at the OP and a read at something on Wikipedia and...
Well, she didn't say it loud but she just was not interested
he just told me, "Well, I'm glad that you found something you like so much that is not on air on TV" and that was all.

I got one person to watch the movie today. She's interested in watching the series now. When we were done, I explained all the metaphors presented and she actually thought it was really cool. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I converted someone! She never heard of Utena either. I think what attracted her was the fact that I mentioned everything in the movie was hand drawn.

EDIT: Okay, maybe not EVERYTHING ... but the fact that Utena was one of the last anime series/movie to be cel animated is something really amazing.

Last edited by Rae (09-29-2007 08:54:54 PM)

Ah,I've "convinced" three people to watch utena. 4 maybe? I dunno.

Hint: When I say convinced,I meant tey didn't do it of their own free will.

There's a few new people that I've been showing SKU to. I let one of my friends borrow the manga, and tomorrow I'm going to let her borrow the anime. I also showed "Ruka" (yeah, let's keep calling him that,) the movie, and we've watched up to episode 5 of the series.

More recruits to the Utena fandom...

I finally got my only other friend who likes anime to come over and watch SKU last night!!!

She liked it so much that she borrowed my DVDs to take home. My friend is a music major, so she kept commenting on the wonderful candinces(??) of the organ during the Chick Speech, and trying to place the period of Nanami's classical theme, and actually a person FROM THE GETGO, who loved the duel songs. So, to share the love, I'm burning J.A.Seazer cds this instant! Score one for SKU!!!