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 Top12-15-2006 10:42:45 PM
- A Day Without Me
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Re: How old are the characters?
They're older in the movie - Utena, as I recall, is supposed to be 16 in the movie. I forget how old the other ones are supposed to be (well, besides Wakaba).
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#28 | Back to Top12-16-2006 12:38:09 AM
- ShatteredMirror
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Re: How old are the characters?
I don't know how old anyone is in the movie. I didn't even know that Utena's supposed to be sixteen instead of fourteen. She looks the same age in both the series and the movie anyway.
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#29 | Back to Top12-16-2006 10:36:45 AM
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Re: How old are the characters?
ShatteredMirror wrote:
I don't know how old anyone is in the movie. I didn't even know that Utena's supposed to be sixteen instead of fourteen. She looks the same age in both the series and the movie anyway.
Well, I could be wrong - for some reason I'm pretty sure she's supposed to be at least a bit older - I'll have to go dig up my Utena-movie-manga, 'cause I think they had character profiles in that. Lord knows, I could just be talking outta my ass.
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My HMO might just pick up the tab. (Yup)
I got the tremors and I need a nap. (Yup)
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#30 | Back to Top01-02-2007 09:15:24 PM
- Raven Nightshade
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Re: How old are the characters?
Apologies for raising this from semi-consciousness(it ain't dead yet!), but there's an important detail we're missing here. Japanese children start 1st grade when they turn 6, just like we do. They have to be 6 when school starts on the first Monday in April.
That said, at the start of the series, Utena, Anthy, and Wakaba just turned 13, not 14. Other than that, all of the other ages listed are the ages they become at unmentioned points during the series(with the exception of Touga, who gets a 17th birthday party in ep 8 or 9).
Kanae, however, is kind of confusing. Her birthday is April 2nd. If we assume that the series takes place in 1997(making Anthy's birthday more plausible to the mortals), then she was born in 1980 or 1979. This means that she was 6 in 1985 or 1986. This is the part where I get a little anal-retentive. School started on April 1st in 1985, but it started on April 7 in 1986. If she was born in 1979, then she started school in 1986 because she missed the deadline by a day...unless we play the "Chairman's Daughter" card to get her in earlier. So I think it's up in the air, and subject to debate.
But Akio's a lot easier. If I read this right, the kanji says that he's a 3rd year university student, which makes him 20 at the start of the series.
As for the movie, I assumed it was an AU during the same year. I make that assumption with any movie that basically redoes the series it's based on.
Not that we're guaranteed that Ohtori exists within a material plane where things like this bear significance, not to mention my unsubstantiated idea that the whole series takes place in some kind of Hell or Purgatory. After all, if Akio is Lucifer...
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#31 | Back to Top01-03-2007 04:06:55 AM
- Lightice
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Re: How old are the characters?
But Akio's a lot easier. If I read this right(insert link from EM when I remember where it is), the kanji says that he's a 3rd year college student, which makes him 20 at the start of the series.
I believe that is only a manga-fact - not related to the series, at all. There is no mention in the series that he'd be in college of any kind. Seriously, series Akio simply can't be that young, even physically speaking - his real age is, ofcourse not related to his physical appearance, at all.
And in any case, if I remember correctly, the term even in the manga was university, not college.
Kanae, however, is kind of confusing. Her birthday is April 2nd. If we assume that the series takes place in 1997(making Anthy's birthday more plausible to the mortals), then she was born in 1980 or 1979. This means that she was 6 in 1985 or 1986. This is the part where I get a little anal-retentive. School started on April 1st in 1985, but it started on April 7 in 1986. If she was born in 1979, then she started school in 1986 because she missed the deadline by a day...unless we play the "Chairman's Daughter" card to get her in earlier. So I think it's up in the air, and subject to debate.
Putting any year-dates is rather futile for an anime series that makes a point of being somewhat detached from the matters of real life. Utena's adventures don't happen in any specific year. Indeed, animes or other TV-shows or movies, for that matter quite rarely make a point of being set in a specific date, unless it has some numerological signifigance or is set in some distant future.
As for the movie, I assumed it was an AU during the same year. I make that assumption with any movie that basically redoes the series it's based on.
The movie doesn't even happen in what we perceive as the normal world. The association of that enviroment with real-world dates has even less point than in the series.
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