I'm Ayla from Hong Kong, a HUGE fan of Toga!!
(And also a fan of Saionji x Toga...)
My Toga shrine here http://26.to/toga

Hope I can meet more Toga fans here!

Yay, an active Utena forum!

I'm Jude, "heavenscalyx" on LJ.  I love the Utena series, I'm picky as hell, and I'm older than dirt.  Or, well, maybe I'm not older than dirt, per se.  Old enough to mostly know better?  Or something like that.

Well, I always prefer the Beatles reference to the silly nonexistent Cary Grant reference I got so much when I was younger.  You know, the "Ju-dee, Ju-dee, Ju-dee..."

Uhm... Hi.

I'm Shance.  I've sat on Utena panels at Anime North before, so if you've been there the past two years, you've seen me.  Both times, I was out of it, not the best for trying to discuss Utena.

I've been into Utena since 2002ish.  I was active in the fandom for an obscure Japanese animated series no one has heard about called "Sailor Moon" way  back in the day, and we moonies heard a lot about new shoujo anime.  Utena had been recommended to me many times, but it took me a long time to actually find tapes of it.  These were the days when only episodes 1-13 had been released, and the rest (including the movie) were only out in fansub.  We dealt with funny translations like "Heroically, I will throw away my clothes 'til I'm nude..." and untranslated duel songs.

The older I get, the more meaning I find in Utena.  I was only a teenager when I first watched it, but now that I'm an adult (in age only), I'm coming to understand a lot of the meanings about discovering oneself and letting go of childhood ideas.
My favorite characters are Nanami, Shiori, and Mitsuru.  I also have an obsession with the way Kozue looks.

I'm from Ottawa, Canada (born, raised, and currently residing).  I'm just hopping around various educational locations to find my place in the world.  Right now, I'm taking first-year psychology, and I'll be taking sexual psychology in the winter/spring.  My interests are photography, sexuality, astrology, and fish (yes... the ones that swim in water and have fins).

Hi everyone. :D New here, obviously.

Um. I like Utena a lot. I'm not really big on anime in general, however.

I spend most of my time reading and watching old movies with my mother. u_u Also, I like to draw.

...:D

Last edited by Nessy (11-04-2006 11:46:19 AM)

Further proof that SKU is a transcendent series.

I'm an anime fan myself, but I only watch what interests me, not what 'the masses' think I should.  When someone with similar interests recommends a series, I'm more inclined to check it out.

Dare I say it's the depth and intellectualism of SKU that can make somebody a fan of the series, even if they aren't really into animation in general.  Artistic merits know no medium.

Last edited by Imaginary Bad Bug (11-04-2006 04:15:15 PM)

Hello. I'm belladonna. (I also go by the name belladonna trap). I'm really excited about this forum:dance:. I've been a lurker for a while, and this forum is, I think, very impressive. It looked like great fun, so I decided to join.  I really love postmodern fairytales, and Utena is one of, if not the, absolute favorite titles. I could go on and on forever about why and how much I love it. I also I love Neil Gaiman, so it's GREAT to have Neil fans on the board. Neil is hot. I read a lot (when I'm not devouring Neil's work I read a lot of Fancesca Lia Block) and obsessivley enjoy listening to Tori Amos. I love to write poetry and draw, and I drabble in short fiction. When I was little, I played with a lot of dolls. (I still love them.) But I never played with Barbies. I hated them because they were not what real girls looked like. I watched a lot of Disney movies, and oddly enough, I asked my parents why the princess was always saved by a prince, and why couldn't she do it herself? (Or why couldn't she save the prince, even?).

belladonna wrote:

(when I'm not devouring Neil's work I read a lot of Fancesca Lia Block)

Any author mentioned in any context with Gaiman immediately has my interest. On a very brief googling, I came across Psyche in a Dress, which sounds rather like I'd enjoy it. She seems to do primarily young adult work, though, which has a fairly dubious reputation with me. Tell me more about her?

Also, you're right Yasha. We need a Gaiman wank thread 'round here. I'm not surprised in the least to see overlap in SKU fans and Gaiman fans, and those who aren't in the know need to hear the Gospel of Gaiman. (Sandman shows the gods in such a beautiful way it makes me sad it's not real. I'd rather it were.)

Giovanna wrote:

belladonna wrote:

(when I'm not devouring Neil's work I read a lot of Fancesca Lia Block)

Any author mentioned in any context with Gaiman immediately has my interest. On a very brief googling, I came across Psyche in a Dress, which sounds rather like I'd enjoy it. She seems to do primarily young adult work, though, which has a fairly dubious reputation with me. Tell me more about her?

Actually, (if I may interject, considering that this question wasn't addressed towards me ,) her work goes way beyond most young adult fiction. She's smart, talented, and her stories are very well-crafted and beautiful.
All of her stuff is basically an ode to LA. It's all sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, glitter, fairies, and unhealthiness, with this weird love behind everything...kind of hard to explain. Almost draining. It's delicate, but harsh at the same time. Very poignent.
As far as plot content...mostly her stories are these melodramas that involve broken people becoming whole again, with some kind of magical undertone. (But not mages and fantasy worlds--more like reality-based magic or the kind of magic really young children dream about. There's a childlike feeling to her writing in general, actually. It's written in a very careful, descriptive, and stylized manner--sort of A.A. Milne-like at times [short sentances, not a lot of pronouns, not a lot of contractions]--it kind of dances around character's emotions and talks about how they think and what they eat a lot.) Her work is also very character-based and there's always some kind of adventure to go on.

There are times when her writing style can get tiresome, and it definitely isn't for everyone, but if you can get into it it's hard to stop reading her stuff. If I'm in a mood, she's definitely one of my top choices.

With all of that said, I personally recommend Girl Goddess #9 or the Weetzie Bat books as starting points.

Last edited by Nessy (11-04-2006 09:56:53 PM)

Nessy wrote:

Giovanna wrote:

belladonna wrote:

(when I'm not devouring Neil's work I read a lot of Fancesca Lia Block)

Any author mentioned in any context with Gaiman immediately has my interest. On a very brief googling, I came across Psyche in a Dress, which sounds rather like I'd enjoy it. She seems to do primarily young adult work, though, which has a fairly dubious reputation with me. Tell me more about her?

Actually, (if I may interject, considering that this question wasn't addressed towards me ,) her work goes way beyond most young adult fiction. She's smart, talented, and her stories are very well-crafted and beautiful.
All of her stuff is basically an ode to LA. It's all sex, drugs, rock'n'roll, glitter, fairies, and unhealthiness, with this weird love behind everything...kind of hard to explain. Almost draining. It's delicate, but harsh at the same time. Very poignent.
As far as plot content...mostly her stories are these melodramas that involve broken people becoming whole again, with some kind of magical undertone. (But not mages and fantasy worlds--more like reality-based magic or the kind of magic really young children dream about. There's a childlike feeling to her writing in general, actually. It's written in a very careful, descriptive, and stylized manner--sort of A.A. Milne-like at times [short sentances, not a lot of pronouns, not a lot of contractions]--it kind of dances around character's emotions and talks about how they think and what they eat a lot.) Her work is also very character-based and there's always some kind of adventure to go on.

There are times when her writing style can get tiresome, and it definitely isn't for everyone, but if you can get into it it's hard to stop reading her stuff. If I'm in a mood, she's definitely one of my top choices.

With all of that said, I personally recommend Girl Goddess #9 or the Weetzie Bat books as starting points.

Listen to Nessy guys. Her summary was much much better than mine.

I'm jealous of all you guys who've used the same name on the internet for like 11 years. Things I thought I were cool back on the Sailormoon forums of yore don't even interest me, so I have a bad habit of changing my mind constantly.

Luckily, this also means nobody can trace me. ;D

And I think I know what you're talking about and I have a bunch of the episodes on my computer right now so I'll try going through them and see if I can dig up a good shot.

Welcome new forum members, too.

And I am a girl, 19 and living in an obscure little country called Croatia.

I was an obsessive manga/anime fan back in the days, but ever since I've stepped into college I've cooled off dramatically. Which doesn't mean I don't visit ohtori.nu every now and then and rushed to subscribe to this forum the second I saw it, though. Utena is... special.

I don't expect to post a lot here (and I'd better not because my collegework shall suffer greatly), but I'm sure I'll stop by to reeeeeead. Seriously, the only other forum I'm on is pretty much like, well, /b/ so this is a pleasant change indeed.

Arki wrote:

16 year-old girl from Croatia

zomgwtf!!!1 Hi.

Hi new people!
Aww, I'm jealous! There are already two Finns here and two Croatians, but I'm still the only Estonian.
OR maybe I should be glad 'cause I have no rivals!
(not that there is any rivalry here >_<)


Oh, and shouldn't this topic be sticky? It tends to get lost in the forum at times :/