This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)

#26 | Back to Top12-20-2013 10:32:26 PM

Riri-kins
World's End
From: Cloud Nine
Registered: 09-22-2008
Posts: 2354

Re: Media with similar themes?

Shugo Chara is what I like to call Utena Lite. It's also a coming of age story.  Both heroines are trying to overcome labels. Utena's defying gender roles and Amu's trying to find her normal girly side. Plus there are eggs and incest.  That's all I'll say without spoiling too much.


Proud Saionji and Mikage fangirl
My Utena fanfiction: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2000115/Riri-kins

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#27 | Back to Top01-04-2014 09:36:01 PM

Kita-Ysabell
Covert Diarist
Registered: 11-18-2012
Posts: 829
Website

Re: Media with similar themes?

So I've been continuing my tumultuous love affair with Pathologic- I know I'll never play it, but I've spent enough time with it to have beaten it several times over if I had- and I just noticed how the characters keep raving on about how eternal and miraculous and shiny and what-have-you the Polyhedron is.  Hrm.


"Et in Arcadio ego..."

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#28 | Back to Top01-04-2014 11:15:36 PM

crystalwren
Dark Whisperer
From: Brisbane
Registered: 04-21-2009
Posts: 1172
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Re: Media with similar themes?

Anyone ever played Rule of Rose? I haven't, but it sounds very like in a lot of ways.

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#29 | Back to Top01-04-2014 11:23:12 PM

Kita-Ysabell
Covert Diarist
Registered: 11-18-2012
Posts: 829
Website

Re: Media with similar themes?

Yeah, there was a short discussion about that in the videogames thread.

Although... I rarely play videogames.  So no, I haven't played it.  But I've seen most of the possible content, sometimes more than once.

I'm trying to make the connection between it and Utena and Rule of Rose, and... nope, still not clicking to the degree I'd like it to.  Would you care to outline the thematic similarities, as you see them?

Although, whenever "coming of age" is listed, I always mentally cross it off.  That's, like, one of the seven major conflicts or something.  Unless it's explored in a similar way, I really don't see the mere presence of a coming of age narrative as a thematic link to Utena.


"Et in Arcadio ego..."

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#30 | Back to Top01-05-2014 12:30:39 AM

Yasha
Bitch Queen
From: Edmonton, AB, Canada
Registered: 10-15-2006
Posts: 6031
Website

Re: Media with similar themes?

Rule of Rose has a few similarities with SKU, but not many or enough to be a for-sure hit with an SKU fan. It's atmospheric, it's psychologically rich, it has to do with many different ways and kinds of growing up.... but ultimately, the two are their own pieces of work.

Not to say that everyone shouldn't play Rule of Rose. It's just that it's thematically closer to The Path than it is to SKU. All three have some things in common, the major part being the psychological and emotional depth, but they're not at all the same sort of thing.


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#31 | Back to Top04-06-2014 01:29:35 PM

Decrescent Daytripper
Best Disney Princess
Registered: 04-09-2007
Posts: 2791

Re: Media with similar themes?

Here's a good write up of the relationship between Hana no Kishi, SKU, and The Song of the Wind and Trees that's quite nice and whose approach/conclusions/tastes I disagree with almost completely.

I think it's quite on when  pinning SKU as elegiac and an "Orpheus story," but can't groove on "I want an Utena who is bloody and weak and desperate" at all. But, it gives a good sense of influence and reaction against, between the three.

Something I like about Hana no Kishi is that, while yes, it's rife with lifts from Utena and other things, the characters that look like kids  are kids. The "Touga" may try to pose like  Touga, to  tower sexily over everyone, but  his way of doing it is stupid kid bravado like "I can chug a whole two liter of  Coke just watch me!" It's not are peat of Utena, but plays off the same structures and themes in a different fashion, with different ethics or social expectations. So, too, Song of the Wind and Trees.


My Brain is the Wakaba and Shiori Funtime Hour. With limited commercial interruption.

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#32 | Back to Top04-30-2014 07:12:52 AM

FabulousMax
New Student
Registered: 07-19-2012
Posts: 5

Re: Media with similar themes?

Has anyone ever read Tokyo Babylon, one of CLAMP's earlier manga? It's really hard to talk about the similarities without spoiling the manga (and it's one of those stories that you to need to go in without spoilers), but I got a lot of Utena and Akio vibes from the two main characters. It's one of my favorite stories, and I feel like quite a few Utena fans would enjoy it too.

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#33 | Back to Top06-02-2014 09:37:03 AM

Decrescent Daytripper
Best Disney Princess
Registered: 04-09-2007
Posts: 2791

Re: Media with similar themes?

FabulousMax wrote:

Has anyone ever read Tokyo Babylon, one of CLAMP's earlier manga? It's really hard to talk about the similarities without spoiling the manga (and it's one of those stories that you to need to go in without spoilers), but I got a lot of Utena and Akio vibes from the two main characters. It's one of my favorite stories, and I feel like quite a few Utena fans would enjoy it too.

SKU would've been really painful if Utena had pulled the same move to buy Anthy some time to get free of her brother. (Or, um, if Anthy did it for Akio, since they are siblings.)

CLAMP and some members of BePapas seem to have certain older anime talent in their inspirational cache, beginning with Mr. Haunting Symbolism Style is Substance, himself, Rintaro.


My Brain is the Wakaba and Shiori Funtime Hour. With limited commercial interruption.

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#34 | Back to Top06-03-2014 03:34:05 AM

Pratyeka
Tenjou Tilter
From: Japan
Registered: 06-02-2013
Posts: 88

Re: Media with similar themes?

Obviously, what people interpret as "similar themes" to Utena varies, but if someone was looking for recs, I'd say Buffy the Vampire Slayer. They both star young women who have a a violent otherworld thrust upon them. Both characters would rather have a normal life, and begin by treating the supernatural situations that show up as a nuisance. Both series use magic/supernatural things as metaphors (more and less subtly per show/episode) to deal with deeper issues. Both series use these metaphors as part of a coming-of-age journey for the main character (and friends). Magic, gender roles, identity, homosexuality, and growing up are some keywords I would list for similar themes.

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#35 | Back to Top09-11-2014 10:23:44 AM

Snow
Troublesome Insect
From: under the dogstar sail
Registered: 09-30-2013
Posts: 643

Re: Media with similar themes?

Not so much the similarity between franchises (although, a group of dysfunctional people dueling for a mysterious, wish-granting artifact, a red-clad magical girl and a girl-knight/prince, the strange powers of sex, self sacrificing hero with a traumatic childhood with rolemodels who's pedestals end up broken, hmmm...), but much more the similarity, or the similar feel at least, that I found in two characters, namely Fate/Stay Night's and Fate/Zero's Kotomine Kirei and SKU's Akio.

Both are characters who have evil in their nature, and despite struggling to overcome it by blindly adhering to lofty ideals and severe self-punishment, end up failing, leaving them no other choice than enjoying their twisted nature to the fullest. Just as the idealistic heroes of both stories are inherently good and morally sound and as such cannot comprehend evil, their opposites cannot comprehend good, try as they might. And both Akio and Kotomine are quick to point out the holes and flaws in the protagonist's ideals and manipulate them, and also quick to point out that the hero and villain are not so different after all. Also they are both freakishly tall and have badass baritones. And they both evoke a similar, strange feeling of sympathy in me.

Also, if Akio is interpreted as an Antihero rather than a villain by nature, a better parallel would be (SPOILERS if you haven't read or watched F/S N)
[Archer/Emiya Shiro himself. They both start of as idealistic, self sacrificing youths who place little value in their own lives and desperately try to save everyone, only to have their ideals crushed. They become bitter and mock the protagonists, while at the same time seeing their youthful selves in them (literally and figuratively), even though Archer is more snark knight and jerkass than villain. Then there's the slight visual similarity (hair, red outfits, the field/storm of swords and sword symbolism in general), and their seeming detachment from the concept of time.]

I'm enjoying F/SN immensely, and I tend to compare things I enjoy with SKU a lot, so...

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#36 | Back to Top09-22-2014 11:40:04 AM

Nocturnalux
Qualified Duellist
From: Portugal
Registered: 09-10-2007
Posts: 741

Re: Media with similar themes?

Princess Tutu is the obvious example that springs to mind, so much so that they seem to complement each other. Not only are both about fairytales gone terribly dark as they play overtly with the idea on the importance of assuming (or even becoming) a role in order to exist in a world that is structured around 'princes' and 'princesses'. Both protagonists embody this to a T, Utena strives to become a prince while Ahiru must become a princess. Add to this the fact that Mytho is basically the second coming of Dios, even down to the disastrous effect his selfless conduct ends up having, and that Rue might as well be a Black Rose duelist and you're all set. Even a superficial comparison shows that PT owes a lot to Utena.

Not half as reviting as either of the shows is Akuma no Riddle. We have a girl assassin joining an absurdly large school and ending up protecting a weak girl that is being targeted by a whole class of assassins. The way the assassination attempts work include a formal declaration very much like the duels in Utena, the relationship between the two girls does not exactly mirror Utena/Anthy but has some of the same vibes, even down to their rooming together. There is also the fact that while other assassins are a bit 'the monster of the week' type of character they get a lot of character development in the shortest of times; and the lesbian vibes are not missing either: one of the minor characters even include an officially 'princely' girl who cross-dresses as a one during the school play, and she also seems part of a canon lesbian couple. Unfortunately, it's not done all that well and has none of Utena's genius.

I am probably alone in this but I thought Sakura Gari has some Utena vibes. For one, it does for sakura flowers almost what Utena does for roses as a theme. Then we have the idealistic young man who enters into the service of an apparently very passive beauty nobleman who is known as the 'Western Doll' because of his mixed descent. Just like Anthy is an outsider in terms of racial identity, so is Souma immediately set apart in Taishou era Japan. Childood trauma plays a huge role and sibling complex is taken to a paroxysm of insanity. Everything in Sakura Gari is varying degrees of extremely messed up. The lead reminds me of Utena and Miki's lovechild, he has a strong sense of right and wrong coupled with disgust over all things sexual. Souma is a hybrid of Anthy, Shiori with hints of Akio thrown in for good measure. It's a recipe for disaster but deliciously wonderful in its absurd cruelty.

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