That's a real shame. Had it been subbed, I would almost certainly have bought it. It's also a shame in general that for Brits, Utena seems to be permanently in limbo (especially if a certain company is sitting on the UK rights and doing nothing with it).

Yes, you can either get the episodes individually for £1.49 or the whole series in a bundle for £15. The movie is £5.99 to buy or £2.49 to rent on PSN, I believe.(Still baffling that you have to own a PlayStation of some kind if you legally want to watch Utena in the UK). Still, if these are dub only, then no sale.

Those are all fine suggestions, and I do appreciate your input, barafubuki, but it wouldn't be the same as the series actually being released here, wishful thinking as that is (that, and the US and Australian DVDs are expensive to import). And yes, Nozomi's YouTube upload of the series is inaccessible for me.

Also, I contacted MVM Films (the UK publisher of the Utena movie back in 2008), and here's what they had to say:

'We only had the movie which did poorly [for understandable reasons]. So no plans for the series sorry.'

I'm not surprised by this response, as since they published the movie eight years ago, if they wanted to do the series, they likely would have done so by now. As for the understandable reasons, I've already guessed what those may be in the OP.

(Source: https://twitter.com/MVM_UK/status/749953231120371712)

Last edited by Zerokohai (07-05-2016 01:44:24 AM)

Utena is just one of those shows that doesn't have a large appeal. I've had a hell of a time trying to get people into it. Even here in the States, it is not very popular. Though I have heard it has a niche appeal that has sustained as the years go by. There is a just constant trickle of interest keeping it alive.

I've had many encounters with native Japanese speakers who have inquired about my favorite anime. When I tell them it is Shoujo Kakumei Utena, many of them simply stare back at me with blank faces. They're much more familiar with shows like Evangelion. This is, of course, all anecdotal, but these experiences lead to me to believe that Utena is not an easy show to market. It is more of an art house piece of experimental animation than a mainstream show of disposable entertainment -- most people don't like that sort of thing. It doesn't make very much money, and if it doesn't make money, localization doesn't happen. Hell, the Utena manga has been out of print for years on end here in The States. I really don't anticipate for it to ever be resurrected. I was actually gobsmacked when Sailor Moon was necromanced from the dead. I had bought the Japanese version years ago from Kinokuniya during the PGSM era because I believed we'd never get a reprint. As for Utena, I was lucky enough to stumble across a well cared for, but incomplete set at a used book store...I'm still searching for the rest...

The unfortunate truth is that plenty of things will never be localized. That is just the way things end up being in a capitalist society. I had to order my Lotte Reiniger and Dick Turpin DVDs directly from the UK because I couldn't count on a US localization. Dick Turpin aired in 1979...Lotte Reiniger's work has been around since at least 1926!! Why haven't American's noticed how beautiful her art is!? I'm planning to buy the Horrible Histories and Yonderland DVDs too, especially because I really doubt Yonderland will get a localization here. Lots of British media is not geared towards American tastes and interests. Sure, we'll get the more popular stuff like Doctor Who and Sherlock, and Monty Python...or anything else that plays on BBC America or PBS, but other stuff...it's harder to come by, if not impossible.

We are a global society now. A region-free DVD Player allows you to acquire the media legally without waiting on the localization that may not ever come. I can watch Bijokan and the Sen no Kaze ni Natte Special of Hadashi no Gen and all my Johnny's Entertainment DVDs and Japanese Music Video DVDs of my favorite bands because I have one. I can't expect them to just release these DVDs here. Yes, shipping costs and customs get in the way sometimes, but it never stopped me from acquiring the items I truly desired. Recently, I've been buying many Japanese books through Kinokuniya that are shipped directly from Japan. I'm honestly astounded by how fast they are processed through customs! We're never going to get a localization of the Utena novels, the only legal option in cases like these is to import directly from Japan.

The corporate entities that be do not care about spreading your media, they only care about profit. Disney owns the rights to CrossGen comics, but I'm never going to see the Meridian movie that was in progress with Dreamworks. Why? Because Marvel decided to reboot CrossGen with RUSE and Mystic and sales were abysmal. This was partly their own fault for the exceptionally poor marketing, but that is no fault of the story of Meridian which is A+. To this day, I still believe that Meridian is one of the greatest western comics ever created for girls. Disney has an A+ original story they could reprint or make into a movie, but they would rather just sit on it and reboot all the Disney Princesses (again! but this time live action!) so I've given up hope on a Meridian movie or reprint years ago.

Yes, the American Utena DVDs are expensive, which is the main reason I have not bought them yet myself when the publisher has uploaded them free onto YouTube. I do intend to get them eventually, but I'll have to save up money for it. (I'll probably be shipping them from the US to Japan, because I am heading there soon, so I won't have the privilege of picking them up in a store or having them shipped locally.) There are ways of getting around region restrictions to watch. I guess, you should just figure out what your goal is. Is your goal to own the series? Or to watch it? Are you motivated enough to get it in order to watch it? It might take time to save up the money for the legal copies...but in the end it will be worth it if it is what you truly desired.

Last edited by barafubuki (07-05-2016 06:16:50 PM)

A quick update!

It turns out, akin to the PlayStation Store, the series and movie are both on the UK iTunes Store. Dub only (deal breaker for me), published by Manga UK. This does confuse me as Manga UK have been in the business for over two decades and the iTunes release is dated from 2012, surely they would have known that a dub only release would be a bad idea?

https://itunes.apple.com/gb/tv-season/r … d537980226