gorgeousshutin wrote:

Oooh . . . this could either be the darkest or the funniest fic evar . . . or it may actually manage to be both, if done right.  You wanna attempt? *hopeful*

I don't think I'd have the sensitivity to do something like that. Done right, I think it could be both hilarious and dark, but it would be very easy for it to become racist/classist caricatures.

Still, it's interesting to imagine how much you'd have to change. The fencing would have to go because there ain't no way some punk-ass kid walking around with a toy sword and a blinged-out uniform is gonna survive the streets. It may be the Sword of Dios, but I don't think the Dios Rush could block a Glock. Perhaps knives could be used instead? Utena could be the one who believes that by sheer willpower, she can escape the dire situation around her and change everyone's lives~ but white!Akio's not gonna let that happen. It could actually be an interesting deconstruction of the whole "white savior" trope. You know, a well-meaning white guy goes to an all-black school/village/whatever and through sheer goodwill manages to fix everything! Obviously doesn't work like that in real life, but it's a persistent trope since the colonial days. We could look at modern fairy tales and myths that, while more recent, are no better than the myths of old.

I'm not sure how street gangs are organized. If they were anything like the mafia, that could be a way to organize it. The seitokai would be the upper branches and Akio is the shady boss (although in that case he probably wouldn't be white). The fact that Utena's going around being all goody goody and Akio hasn't offed her yet is proof there's something special about her. We need to keep it surreal, of course - there'd still be some sort of dueling arena that can only be accessed by wearing the proper bling. After all, is it really Utena without that ridiculously long staircase? Not quite sure what to do about Anthy.

Gah, now I want to see it. If the English dub weren't such hideous garbage, I could probably mine quotes from it, autotune it, and put it over a hip-hop beat, which would be the closest we'd ever get to Revolutionizzle Bitch Utena. Unfortunately, not even autotune can help the dub.