Well, i preffer the anime in general, but the Mikage story. I don't like at all the fact that Mamiya "doesn't exist", not at least as we see him like the Anthy male version. In the manga, Mamiya was dead, that's true, but he was like that cute little white-haired boy, i preffer him in that way than like Tokiko's brother. And, isn't so cruel.

Xu Yuan wrote:

Mamiya, doesn't do anything cruel, s/he leads Mikage down the path of the Black Rose, even Mamiya calls Mikage a cruel man, when he intended to use Tsuwabuki in his plans. It's been suggested though that Anthy herself may have been trying to escape from her life, in hopes that a Black Rose Wearer would defeat Utena and kill her. Though that's just speculation of couyrse.

I don't mean Mamiya is cruel in the anime or not, i mean Mikage's tragedy isn't so cruel. He was in love with someone who died, and he acted according to a flase imaginary reality, but nothing more. I find the anime story much more cruel and sad.

I wish i could see Nemuro or Mikage or whatever, once more, after he graduated. Just once, maybe to meet Utena again, as Nemuro (no longer as Mikage) or... something.. i don't know, Nemuro's end in the anime is so confusing, i don't know if he is dead (or if he has been dead since the begining and everything was a pure illusion...) or what age was him from the begining, for example (cause he was 17-18 as Mikage, but Nemuro?) ... and such stuff. What i mean, i'll like to see Nemuro after being Mikage, again.

I don't know, i don't really think he is dead, it would be nonesense. I preffer to think that he had a similar end like Utena's, finally free from Akio. He called Akio after all, out of the school, i don't really think he was dead from the begining.

Back to the topic, i preffer anime in general, but about Nemuro/Mikage, i preffer the manga. Is not that confusing, is not that cruel.

There are some things in the manga that I really like, and even prefer over the series. However, there is also some things that I dislike about the manga.

My first and foremost complaint is that Shiori does not exist. Not to mention what they did with Juri...

My real problem is with Kozue. In my opinion, Manga-Kozue is to Series-Kozue as Movie-Akio is to Series-Akio. It's hard to believe that Kozue's character evolved from that from her. Everything good about Kozue is gone. She's not even crazy, no, she's just clingy and annoying. Rather than pushing people down stairs, she yells out bad test scores for everyone to hear. She's just so... Boring.

What bothers me the most is her relationship with Miki. In the manga, she, like several other characters in this series, is in love with her older brother. "My twin brother and I were born together and so we should stay together forever." While I'm sure that this is a problem that some twins go through, it's a problem that can just as easily spawn from any sibling relationships. Though the same is true for both versions of Kozue, the series covers much more problems that twins face, some of which most people who watch this anime might not realize. The situation is the same as Nanami's, where having an older brother that amazing makes all other guys a waste of time, but there is one major difference... Miki and Kozue are twins. Having a twin brother like Miki would be enough to make anyone go crazy, making the way Kozue turned out in the series seem much more realistic.

Right... This is getting a bit off topic. Maybe I'll make a thread about Miki and Kozue's relationship when I get the chance. But my point is that I dislike Kozue because her character just does have the same effects as she does in the series.

Manga Kozue is a lot more psycholigically realistic, as is almost everyone else. In the anime no one ever really thinks. They are all running on pure id, as someone said in a different thread. That's fine as far as it goes, it gives them grandeur and power but Saito's characters are more like real people.

Juri is still Juri no matter who she is in love with.

Take a good look at manga Utena's face, especially in the scenes where she is walking onto the arena. She glows with both humanity and noblity in a way far surpassing the anime.

Last edited by brian (12-01-2006 08:00:51 PM)

brian wrote:

Juri is still Juri no matter who she is in love with.

Take a good look at manga Utena's face, especially in the scenes where she is walking onto the arena. She glows with both humanity and noblity in a way far surpassing the anime.

Actually, now that you mention it, I think I do like manga-Utena a wee bit more than anime-Utena. I also enjoy the manga's beginning a lot, I think it does a better job of introducing Utena than the anime does. She seems more princely when you get the pre-Ohtori portion of the story.

But I really think Juri is much less of a complex character in the manga - older, beautiful girl jealous of younger, cute girl who steals the attention of the school's favorite male student? Those are a dime a dozen.

Oh, and while I mention Touga, I like his manga character more than the anime version, too, actually -  but I think anime-Touga definitely serves an important purpose in the anime. What I'm trying to say is that, while I find manga-Touga more personally likable, I think anime-Touga is exactly what he needs to be.

Romanticide wrote:

IN MANGA THERE IS NO NANAMI

SAY IT ISN'T SO!

Razara wrote:

Tamago wrote:

SAY IT ISN'T SO!

We see a picture of her inside of Touga's room, and that's all. At least that's better than Shiori. She doesn't exist at all.

Well, at least movie-Shiori exists as a human being (and, really, her having such a large role makes up for her non-existence in the manga) - after all, movie-Nanami is just a cow in a bizarro video tape the SPG have.

Nessy wrote:

Maarika wrote:

But then again, the series is much more complicated even though it's based on the manga and because the manga came out earlier (I assume it did, anyway), the series had more chances to be improved upon and made better. And that they certainly did.

The series was not based on the manga, actually. The entire thing was basically a collaborative effort (although Chiho Saito had more-or-less full control over the manga and Kunihiko Ikuhara had more-or-less full control over the anime, which is why they are so different) and they came out simultaneously.

Ok, thanks for clearing that up for me, I wasn't sure about it.


Also, the inital version of Utena.... pink uniform.
Saito has a strange taste in clothes and colours...

Last edited by Maarika (12-02-2006 12:48:27 AM)

From what I have been hearing the anime is better than the manga in many ways... that concept alone scares me and proves once again how unusual SKU really is.

I always thought the manga suffered the common pitfall of manga, in that it tended to focus solely on its main character and surround them with a hoard of potentially-interesting supporting characters who are rarely touched upon.  What I love about the series is that everyone gets their time in the spotlight (Black Rose, anyone?) and is granted some development; the manga just seemed rushed and, frankly, vanilla.