I'll admit that Utena hosts the biggest psychological messes in anime. As for jerks, no way! I find that the characters represent real kinds of people ... yes, these types of people do exist. Their internal struggles are something we all share. Calling the cast a bunch of jerks is just an ignorant response. You have to understand (or get the gist of) the whole meaning of why the characters are the way they are. Utena's not a shallow anime ... which is what the result of that list is.

Whoever compiled the list is really too used to general anime themes. Well, friends, there's nothing general about Utena.

Razara wrote:

In an anime magazine called Anime Insider, they rated the ten biggest jerks in all of anime. Who was number one? The results?:

1.) The Entire Cast of 'Revolutionary Girl Utena.'

The article wrote:

And then there's the mastermind behind the show's "Black Rose" series of battles: Mikage, who turns innocent and troubled students against Anthy

*AHEM*



....well, in some way they ARE right. You know why? I realized that Utena is the most humanizated series ever made. That means, they are the biggest jerks in the universe, just like us. They are people.

Alithea wrote:

I think I could kind of agree with that he seems to have forgotten that Juri, Ruka, and Kozue are all jerks too. I don't care what anyone says (and I love her dearly) but Juri is jerk (she has her slapping Anthy monents too you know). Shiori is a jerk , but it's unfair to single her out when Juri is a jerk too.

You read my mind. Shiori is a jerk, but you can hardly leave Juri and Ruka out of it. (I didn't even think of Kozue. How could they forget her?)


For the most part, I do agree with this article. SKU does have a lot of jerks. Almost everyone does have at least one moment where they could do something that could be considered the behavior of a jerk. However, the thing that sets this apart from other anime is that they all have a good reason for behaving the way you do. These characters aren't jerks simply because it helps the plot along.

Look at other animes... They're always filled with characters who are jerks just for the hell of it. A lot of times those characters exist so that they can make the main character look like a hero. The villans are usually just born as jerks, making it seem horribly unrealistic. "I'm a jerk because I can be," is the worst kind of jerk. Though the number of jerks in SKU is rather large, none of them behave in the stereotypical manner of a jerk in other anime. If SKU was filled with those kind of jerks, I'd probably hate it, because watching people like that pisses me off.

I wish that I still had the magazine with the other jerks in it, but my friend just showed it to me while she was visiting for a little while earlier today.

Razara wrote:

"I'm a jerk because I can be," is the worst kind of jerk. Though the number of jerks in SKU is rather large, none of them behave in the stereotypical manner of a jerk in other anime.

Word.

I wonder if the guy who wrote it had watched SKU, or only had googled it.

Last edited by Asfalolh (08-17-2007 04:52:15 PM)

Everyone can justify their actions, but if the peers refuse to try to actually understand where they came from, then those people are just as big of a jerk as the SKU cast.
I mean, even Akio has his reason to lash out against the world. His sister did something to protect him, and people branded her as a witch for doing so. If anyone's the jerk, it's the close-mindedness and foolishness that lie within society because THAT is what twisted or even destroyed whatever could've been wonderful and beautiful in people's heart and soul. (Those goddamn swords at the end of the series)

Last edited by Hiraku (08-17-2007 05:35:25 PM)

I think it's overly simplistic to call them jerks. This is just like people calling Sasuke from Naruto "emo." They lack the capacity to analyze a fictional character beyond what they can describe using a single word.

Alithea wrote:

Heck even Utena has a moment or two when she's being a jerk. It's rather subtle and perhaps it's just more being stupid, but there you go.

I was going to mention this, but you beat me to it.

The article says "The Entire Cast of 'Revolutionary Girl Utena" so why does it go into detail on some people and not others? It's as if someone wrote the title and then someone else wrote the explanation for it. By selecting a few characters to talk about it undermines the concept that everyone is a potential jerk in the series. Plus the little summaries aren't entirely accurate, either. C'est la vie.

Look Razara! I'm posting in the forums all by myself! You must be so proud of me!! X3

For those wondering who the other "jerks" that made the list were,

10: Mugen - Samurai Champloo
9: Ilpalazzo - Excel Saga
8: Genjo Sanzo - Saiyuki
7: Katsuhiko Jinnai - El Hazard
6: Sae Kashiwagi - Peach Girl
5: Byakuya Kuchiki - Bleach
4: Char Aznable - Moble Suit Gundam
3: Gendo Ikari - Evangelion
2: Vegeta - DBZ

Kinda amuzed that SKU beat out Vegeta...  Also amuzed by the kinda unknown series. I thought no one remembered El Hazard. ;;  And I'm pretty sure there are a LOT more jerks out there. Those that have seen Trinity Blood: Cain? Dietrich? For pete's sake, "I 'love' you. Oh, and by the way, that vampire you're locked in the cell with, who is a good friend of yours now, is going to go crazy with hunger if you don't kill him. Kthxby."

Yeah, most of list is really just personal opinion. I'm sure there are bigger jerks out there.

Shelleh wrote:

Look Razara! I'm posting in the forums all by myself! You must be so proud of me!! X3

Yes! Very proud!

I'm rather surprised that the cast of SKU beat Vegeta, as well. I mean, didn't he once save an entire planet from enslavement, triggering a happy romantic scene between two people, and then destroyed the entire planet just for the fun of it? And he's among the 'evil for no reason' group of people.

Once again, Anthy gets away scot-free.  Of course.  She's never bad.

Utena is a character-driven anime.  Characterization is what makes the anime as great as it is.  If people have no interest in character depth, it's probably not the anime for them.

Apparently, the author thought that Anthy was an innocent victim and didn't feel right to include her with all those jerks.

Also, I'm hoping this article will make more people watch Utena. There are probably people who think that "Wow, I gotta see this anime because the entire cast is made of jerks!" and then they watch it and after that they'll either be "Why didn't they include Anthy in the jerks list!??! She stabbed Utena!!! " or "Why didn't the article mention anything about the depth of the characters and symbolism? ". But that depends on the viewers anyway.

I'm also starting to believe that whoever wrote that article hasn't seen all of Utena. Otherise I'm pretty sure they would've included Anthy too.