This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
As the title of the thread suggests, I'm curious as to who else mistook Miki for a girl until they explicitly said he was a boy. I was watching my super special awesome new SKU box set one DVDs and my mom came in and watched the end of the fourth episode and the fifth episode with me. She also mistook Miki for a girl and I'll share the amusing conversation with you guys.
Mom: So what's that blue-haired girl's name again?
Me: Actually, he's a boy. But he's like 13 so his voice actor is a woman.
Mom: Seriously?
Me: Yeah, Miki's voice actress is the same woman who plays Sailor Mercury.
Mom: Oh, I like Sailor Mercury. Well, this anime is pretty weird, but I kind of like it.
So now I must convince my mom to watch the whole series. Of course, that would entail her actually paying attention to the TV instead of falling asleep to the Food Network, but it might work. Hopefully. Plus, it's kinda fun to watch anime with my mom. Especially since she seems to think that Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter are closeted bisexuals or lesbians and would make a good couple together.
Back on topic though, who actually figured out Miki was a guy right away. Be honest! Oh, and feel free to discuss the implications that Miki's gender being mistaken have on how gender is portrayed in the show, ect. ect.
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I thought he was a boy right away. Then he talked and doubted for a moment. Then I thought of Kenshin and all was well.
Sometimes I think to myself, he really is a girl, isn't he? A girl so disgusted with her twin she went the other way.
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This reminds me of the Utena fandub by Naji.
Juri: Wait you're a boy? Does that mean I'm straight?
Touga: No he's still a girl. Just not in the vagina way.
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I read the manga first then watched the English dub so I never got to have that experience.
(Your mom sounds really cool, CausalityStar. I could never convince my mom to watch anime.)
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Maybe I was used to anime guys by the time I watched Utena, but I knew Miki was a boy as soon as I saw him. To me, he looks boyish (by anime standards, anyway. XD) I would have actually been more surprised if he was a girl.
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I went through almost all of his introduction episode thinking he was a girl, although I did wonder aloud why he had no boobs
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As far as I'm concerned, all Miki has between his legs is a faintly jingling Dior cowbell.
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I’ve had enough experience with anime to be able to tell Miki was a boy.
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CausalityStar wrote:
Me: Yeah, Miki's voice actress is the same woman who plays Sailor Mercury.
wow! I knew his voice was familiar, but I didn't look it up..
Plus, it's kinda fun to watch anime with my mom. Especially since she seems to think that Sailor Mercury and Sailor Jupiter are closeted bisexuals or lesbians and would make a good couple together.
your mom is awesome, and I always thought the same thing, Mercury & Jupiter belong together
I thought Miki was a girl at first too, but I caught on pretty quickly I think (from what I remember)
I love Naji's fandub too
Last edited by artemis88 (06-15-2011 05:07:09 PM)
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Yeah, Miki's voice actress is the same woman who plays Sailor Mercury.
In the English or the Japanese dub ?
I've never watched the English dub and never thought he was a girl.
Last edited by VictorVVV (06-18-2011 03:08:26 AM)
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I did think he was a girl when I was little... I think my sister corrected me or something.
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When I saw the movie for the first time, definitely.
In the series he looks more manly (for anime standards ). If anything, he's like tswabuki... a little bit androgynous because he's too young.
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He could very easily be mistaken for a girl at first (or second) glance, you're right... but when I was watching, I noticed pretty quickly the same thing BlackBeforeRed did, that none of the girls have flat chests. Not even Nanami, and I think she's actually younger than Miki. So I set him in as one of the guys.
Last edited by Gainel (06-18-2011 07:00:58 AM)
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I thought he was a girl. In my defense, Utena was the third anime I ever saw. The first two were Boogiepop Phantom and Excel Saga, which are situated at opposite ends of some kind of spectrum, but neither of them did much to prepare me for feminine-looking bishounen. (Il Palazzo is too tall.) Nor did I know yet that Ohtori evidently uses female cup size as an admission criterion. I think the subtitles eventually tipped me off that Miki was a boy before the narrative did.
Katzenklavier wrote:
As far as I'm concerned, all Miki has between his legs is a faintly jingling Dior cowbell.
QFT, and I commission you to draw the manga of it.
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satyreyes wrote:
Utena was the third anime I ever saw. The first two were Boogiepop Phantom and Excel Saga
The obvious question is--did you enjoy Excel Saga if it was only your second anime?
It probably didn't occur to me to gender Miki early enough to ask the question.
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KaleMarsh wrote:
The obvious question is--did you enjoy Excel Saga if it was only your second anime?
It probably didn't occur to me to gender Miki early enough to ask the question.
That's a great answer. I can only wish to be so enlightened! As for Excel Saga, I actually enjoyed it more then than I do now. I'm not sure why.
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I can see Miki as fitting in the whole male lesbian concept.
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satyreyes wrote:
I thought he was a girl. In my defense, Utena was the third anime I ever saw. The first two were Boogiepop Phantom and Excel Saga, which are situated at opposite ends of some kind of spectrum, but neither of them did much to prepare me for feminine-looking bishounen. (Il Palazzo is too tall.) Nor did I know yet that Ohtori evidently uses female cup size as an admission criterion. I think the subtitles eventually tipped me off that Miki was a boy before the narrative did.
I know I've already rambled about it to you before but considering Boogiepop is one of my all-time favorites I will once again say that it makes me so happy that you were broken into anime by such a wonderful series. Completely off topic I know but I had to gush a little bit.
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satreyes wrote:
That's a great answer. I can only wish to be so enlightened.
Thanks. Unfortunately, I'm less that way now than I was then .
I can see how Excel Saga might have more charm if it isn't obvious that every single aspect of it is meant to poke someone in the eye. It makes for a much better gateway drug than DBZ (guilty).
spoon-san wrote:
I can see Miki fitting in the whole male lesbian concept.
Nah. Just a eunuch in denial.
Last edited by KaleMarsh (06-22-2011 12:24:26 PM)
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I mistook Miki for a girl in the first episode he was in. I wasn't spending much attention yet at that point because I thought that the series was just a minor passtime back then, and only got into it several episodes later.
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I forgot to mention in the post thread that I though Miki was a girl too. It was mainly the voice acting I think. And I was a bit disappointed to find out that he was a boy since I heard Utena had yuri and when Miki was jealous of Saionji being engaged to Anthy I was thinking, "Alright, it's the first episode and there's already some implied yuri." But I guess it counts a little bit since as they say in that fandub, "Miki's a girl, but not in a vagina way."
I'll tell Mom that you guys think she's cool for liking anime and Mercury/Jupiter. (She also likes Uranus/Neptune) She's not as hardcore of a fan as me, but she'll watch it with me and she likes Sailor Moon a lot. My Dad usually goes and hangs out in his room and basically avoids it at all costs.
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One of the first editions of SKU here was pirated as hell. The poorest quality I've ever seen. Everything: the video, the sound, the translation - but getting a better release could be tough (and some people were just lazy), so the viewers had to accept the situation. And of couse, the translators did mistook Miki for a girl. Everyone calls him "ona" ("she" in Russian) and Miki himself uses feminine endings of verbs.
Last edited by Mellow Morte (08-02-2011 09:54:57 AM)
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Before watching Utena, I already knew who the seiyuu of the characters were and the gender of the characters - I was interested in hearing what Miki's seiyuu sounded like as a boy upon seeing the cast list; after playing female roles for about 10 years.
When I first watched the episode 5 of SKU, I had second thoughts of Miki being a girl rather than a boy. My mind was 'Is that really a boy? He looks so feminine upon first glance'
Last edited by Maya-chan (08-02-2011 05:48:10 PM)
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Nope, never. When I first watched Utena I was already used to seeing super feminine boys in anime, I had already learned to distinguish them.
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