I'm okay with most these really. Especially 2 and 4. Not sure on 1. But yeah, I was pretty much gonna say 2 and 4 too.

What would I change if I directed SKU?

The rating.


For Serious: I've got enough of the fan-bug that all I really want is more screen time for most of the characters. I don't really care about Kanae, but I would want to see more of the Black Rose duelists, especially Shiori (right back at you, Orikan). Though frankly, if I were directing SKU, it would probably hedge closer to being a standard shoujo anime . I admire the original staff for being able to cut themselves off where they did, showing us enough to be intrigued, but never enough to sink ships or spell things out.

I'd like to see a bit more of Anthy and Akio's past. Not a whole heap, but at least a few more hints than we get in the anime.

I guess as a nit-picky thing, I'd like better animation, especially for the duel scenes. I felt the the duels in the movie were done much better and I wish we had less stock footage for the duels and more variety. Actually, less stock footage in general would make the show nicer.

I guess another thing I'd like is if Utena lost at least one other duel after the one she lost against Touga. I think Jury is probably the person who could do it. Plus, it got a little boring because Utena had such a big winning streak.

I would've told Saito Chiho to take a hike and made the end of the series more like the end of the movie, if you get what I mean.

Notebook Darling wrote:

Nipples.

This. But only for chests that already appear in the show. I gotta go with Davine on the rating. As much as I'd personally enjoy watching Akio pounding Touga's ass in for half an hour, the show would lose a lot of the emotional power if the taboos were made less taboo by showing them. It's kinda like lingerie. Most people will say initially that they'd rather see women naked, but once you've seen it, the curiosity and the interest is gone.

^ Was it really that bad? I only really had issues with Akio, Tsuwabuki and Miki.

Atropos wrote:

Never having read the manga, I've never understood the Saito-hate.

And getting rid of her would mean living with Big Nose Utena for 39 more episodes!

The manga is dull standard shoujo stuff where everyone is straight (even Juri), but that's not actually my main problem with her. It's also because of her that Ikuhara wasn't able to be as explicit with the Utena/Anthy romance as he wanted to be in the series. She was threatening to quit the project if he pursued it.

Originally from the Central Park Media release, this commentary has fortunately been reproduced on the Nozomi discs:

[Ikuhara's Remarks]
[Saito Chiho's Remarks]
[Moderator's Remarks]

-----

"This series is very popular among people who are gay. What's your opinion towards that?"

"Gay people all over the world like this series."
"Really? You want to say that so definitively?"
"I mean when I say around the world..."
"It's true that there're various types of couple pairings, but you can also say that there aren't any really. I guess there are many different ways to read between the lines."
"This series is the only series of its kind. Hm, how do I explain what I'm trying to say? There're tons of anime with [homosexual] eroticism, but...I'm pretty sure there isn't another anime that tells the story of two girls so innocently. In that respect I think it's popular because this is the only one that does that."

"Was that your intention from the beginning?"

"Yes. I didn't tell Ms. Saito but I was planning on it."
"Initially I wasn't told anything about that. He asked me to draw something where the two were close, so I drew a piece where the two were next to each other looking rather friendly. He was extremely happy. I had no idea in the beginning what he was thinking but...I figured it out at the end that his goal was to make me draw the two girls looking friendly."
"In the beginning, I brought it up lightheartedly during a meeting...she got really angry and said, 'If that's the case, I'm out!' I realized it was something I wasn't supposed to say and I decided to keep it to myself."
"No, that wasn't it. If I recall correctly... We started a debate about how we should make it more entertaining for girls. We were on a workshop trip and the debate turned into a fight. Mr. Ikuhara wouldn't give any consideration about enjoyment for girls. As a professional manga artist, I couldn't offer such a joyless story to the target audience. We had this huge clash of opinions, which created a lot of friction between us."
"When that happened, the entire Utena project was almost scrapped. It was such a big fight, the entire project was in jeopardy. It was such a painful fight I got carried into the hospital the day after."

[Long digression about not getting any work done during the workshop trip.]

"...That's because Ms. Saito vetoed my idea from the get-go about Anthy and Utena being lovey-dovey. I was too shocked to do work. She said, 'I quit if you're taking that route!' I figured I'd have to hide it from her because I was gonna do it anyway."
"Really? You decided that after such an internal struggle?"
"It was such a struggle."

So, although Ikuhara maintains that he "did it anyway", he wasn't able to be as overt with it as he wanted. Thankfully, he somehow managed to be able to do what he wanted with the movie.

(Even in the movie manga though, Saito still pushes Touga/Utena as hard as she can, and you can feel her great reluctance to concede that position to Anthy. Even at the end, when they've escaped to the real world and are undeniably a couple, Utena's still having dreams about him.)

Last edited by Aelanie (12-26-2011 11:48:47 AM)

I'm not intelligent enough, nor creative enough, nor visionary enough to direct something like SKU...

...but if I had edited the series, I'd definitely be one of those grumpy folks who'd cut out all of the Nanami gag episodes.

That, and I'd be sure the sword-drawing scenes worked the same way in the TV series as they do in the movie.

I would have done something with Saionji's "revolution" at the end of the series lay hints that he was going to be less of a woman-beating a-hole.  Love the guy and all that, and what you do see before and during that scene implies he's overcoming a lot of his own personal demons and flaws -no more obsession with eternity, friendship with Touga, genuine confidence with himself and acceptance of his own happiness, etc etc.  But still, some iota that he regrets his actions with Anthy, that like Touga he's learning that gender traditions are kinda bullshit and he's getting a handle on the physically violent aspects his acting out.  I dunno.  Maybe rekindling his friendship with Touga is supposed to be what is going to lead to those other revelations.  Like, they continue to teach and help each other now dat dey bros.

Still.

Just.

:C

godsofthecopybookheadings wrote:

And those poor boys look like walking tubes of toothpaste

Omigod you're right!

Love wrote:

I would redraw the faces on several scenes--particularly the men's faces towards the end, and the misaligned eyes and epic pointy chins of doom that happen randomly. And several hands that look more like paws/claws than hands. I remember one scene with Anthy on the phone and her hand looked really wonky to me.

But that's part of the charm of the show! It's not Utena without those. It would be like Morrowind without cliff racer attacks, or Touhou without girls, or 40K without Spess Mehreens.