In the Rose Garden / Introducing Utena to others

Nebula · Back to Top

So, I'm showing Utena to a few friends of mine. One of them never got a chance to finish the series during the CPM release, another saw a handful of pirated episodes before the Nozomi rerelease was announced, and another hasn't seen it at all yet. And I have to say, their reactions have been some of the best parts of rewatching the series. One friend went from adoring Touga to wanting to shove him off a cliff. Another was fairly nonplussed about the weirdness, up until the part where he found out that Anthy kept a mongoose in her desk (and then the elephants came. Everybody lost their shit at the elephants, and I mean that in the best way possible). And everybody's wondering what the heck is going on.

So! What about you guys? Have you gotten a chance to introduce Utena to anyone? What do they think of it so far?

Dani · Back to Top

A few years ago, a friend of mine was laid up after surgery and needed something to do while bed-ridden. She had watched a few anime series before but not too many. We ended up watching all of SKU in ONE day. emot-gonk I think it blew her mind for a few days after that. Since then, we frequently have friendly debates on who is the most f-ed up anime character of all time: Rei Ayanami or Anthy. I think Anthy totally wins.

voltianqueen · Back to Top

My best friend asked, "What is it about, anyway?" the other day, probably after seeing my 10000000000000 facebook posts about it this week (I just watched it this week emot-tongue ). I tried explaining, but he said he was confused and maybe he should watch it. I think that's a great idea... Of course, he'll never do it. emot-gonk

My sister's watched bits and pieces with me, and the last few episodes as well, but.. Yeah. I wanna convince someone (besides my net friends, who have already seen it) to watch it so I can blab to them about my latest anime obsession :c

RhythmFusion · Back to Top

This guy I know has been giving me drawing lessons recently. He's the kind of person who likes to consider things on a deeper level and I've had some interesting conversations with him. Yesterday I mentioned the June 7th release of Revolutionary Girl Utena and he said he'd be in line to get that. I'm not sure if he was serious though. emot-confused

artemis88 · Back to Top

interesting topic! it might definitely be awkward to introduce it to someone... it's such an amazing work of art, but maybe too intense for some people
and then there are those who tune out as soon as the word "anime" is even mentioned emot-gonk

artemis88 · Back to Top

Dani wrote:
A few years ago, a friend of mine was laid up after surgery and needed something to do while bed-ridden. She had watched a few anime series before but not too many. We ended up watching all of SKU in ONE day. I think it blew her mind for a few days after that. Since then, we frequently have friendly debates on who is the most f-ed up anime character of all time: Rei Ayanami or Anthy. I think Anthy totally wins.

I think Akio is definitely far more f-ed up than Anthy.. if by f-ed up, you mean horribly disturbed and unsympathetic
Anthy is a fascinating character, definitely messed up, but I find her very easy to be empathetic towards, she had been through so much..

Dognog · Back to Top

artemis88 wrote:
interesting topic! it might definitely be awkward to introduce it to someone... it's such an amazing work of art, but maybe too intense for some people
and then there are those who tune out as soon as the word "anime" is even mentioned

Gahh, yeah, it's hard for me to share my interests sometimes because of that D:

But um my sister decided she would watch all of it with me, and I think I made our friend want to watch it because I was talking about Akio and how he uses sex for his purposes or whatever.. We're in the Black Rose part now. My friend keeps asking when she gets to see more of Akio, who she calls Dognog.. I dunno if she thinks there's gonna be some crazy sex scene or what, but hey, I got her to watch, too emot-tongue

tuomastahti · Back to Top

A friend of mine studies architecture and construction engineering so I showed him Adolescence of Utena. The spectacular architecture caught his eye as soon as the movie started, but he also paid attention to the storyline. Soon afterwards he watched the TV series and read some analyses. It's a pity that he doesn't have a user account on this forum, for he has noticed several interesting details in RGU that my mind has completely missed.

Then there's also an old classmate who likes Azumanga Daioh. I once showed him this video and he got instantly interested in RGU.

Last edited by tuomastahti (06-10-2011 05:42:09 PM)

chrisb · Back to Top

Always start off at the Black Rose saga. That's how I got people interested. I just show them episode 12 to give them a little info and then the insanity of episode 13 does the rest.

Dani · Back to Top

artemis88 wrote:
Dani wrote:
A few years ago, a friend of mine was laid up after surgery and needed something to do while bed-ridden. She had watched a few anime series before but not too many. We ended up watching all of SKU in ONE day. I think it blew her mind for a few days after that. Since then, we frequently have friendly debates on who is the most f-ed up anime character of all time: Rei Ayanami or Anthy. I think Anthy totally wins.
I think Akio is definitely far more f-ed up than Anthy.. if by f-ed up, you mean horribly disturbed and unsympathetic
Anthy is a fascinating character, definitely messed up, but I find her very easy to be empathetic towards, she had been through so much..

I did not mean unsympathetic at all but, yes, totally agree Akio is more f-ed up in an evil sense. I do not see Anthy as evil. My friend just likes to debate the female characters that have extreme psychological hang-ups. emot-keke But yes, on the male side...Akio...un-redeemable.

Also, I just gave SKU to a friend at work who has only been watching anime for a year. He's an art major and loves deep, cryptic and thought-provoking. So in two days, he's watched Student Council and is totally hooked, win! emot-dance

Dognog · Back to Top

I just finished watching Utena with my 9 year-old sister. Man, some parts were so awkward. I think a lot of it was lost on her, but she had a general idea of what went on... Oh well, she can watch it again when she's older. She still really liked watching it, though, and I'm glad! She loves Miki and Chu-chu emot-tongue

I feel proud for some reason XD

KaleMarsh · Back to Top

I introduced it to someone once. She objected violently to the shadow play girls, Nanami, and the spinning roses.

To this day, she thinks I'm talking out of my ass when I point out instances of symbolism.

At least she watched the whole thing with me.

I was introduced by a friend myself. For a while, I was convinced that the punch line was that Utena is in a state of drug-addled hallucination.

IT WAS THE ONLY LOGICAL EXPLANATION.

I don't know if I'd have made it past the first episode without a friend urging me on.

Gainel · Back to Top

I actually just introduced one of my best friends to the show... all I had to do was talk about it on the bus for a while, and I eventually got a "that sounds cool, where can I watch it?"

Now.........

I have transformed her into a Utena disciple.

It's quite an interesting phenomenon actually. It happened really fast.

#1 | Back to Top05-31-2011 07:14:00 PM

Introducing Utena to others

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