In the Rose Garden / Role of Words in Utena Fandom

Clarice · Back to Top

brian wrote:
It also seems that one has to have had a particular kind of childhood to appreciate Utena but I'm not even a bit close to be able to develop that idea.

I'll have to pull myself out as the exception to that rule as I had a very normal childhood -- I only went strange as an adult. emot-tongue The only thing that differentiated me as a kid, I think, was that I lived in fantasy worlds...I read, I wrote, I played extensive and indepth games with friends and dolls and family. But I wasn't doing it to escape from anything...it was just magical make-believe worlds were so much more interesting than the real world. And really, that's why I like this show -- it's the real world turned upside down and pulled inside out. And then pasted inside a fairytale annal all higgledy-piggledy. Totally my kind of screwed up. emot-dance

Like_Autumn · Back to Top

You know, this thread reminds me of the comments on the Tv-links.cc website for the Utena episodes. Most people just don't get the symbolic nature and get too freaked out by the creepier elements of the series and only truly analytical and interested fans would like it enough to participate in fandom (this forum, for instance, is both one of the most intelligent and humorous ones I've come across). Kids were like, "Eww why are Anthy and Akio having sex? Anthy's a slut who lets people slap her around and doesn't stick up for herself! Why the heck are there balloons all over? Eww Juri/Anthy/Utena/Wakaba is a lez! The shadow girls make no sense! Don't analyze it so much! Why isn't there more shoujo/shounen-ai? Etc." And I think that just goes to show that immature people only interested in cute characters and fluffy storylines will not get Utena.

I also am a very curious and fanciful person and I liked to play make-believe when I was young too. I've always been a fan of good fantasy.

Thank you, Rose Garden, for being so awesome.

P.D.M. · Back to Top

Like_Autumn wrote:
And I think that just goes to show that immature people only interested in cute characters and fluffy storylines will not get Utena.

You know, I coped with all those things, yet sometimes, when I read these forums, I still feel immature.
It goes away when I log off, but still... emot-frown

But yeah, I think what says the most about this fandom is that we are all more than willing to debate the personality, morality and sexuality of ourselves and others in relevance to a ten year old piece of feminist propaganda that eventually, by the end, I doubt was intended to make any sence, even by Ikuni. emot-biggrin

Mishi · Back to Top

I think for as long as I've been into anime, I've been searching for a fandom with exactly this kind of focus on analysis. I could write an essay on how Knives from Trigun is the weaker, more innocent brother, but no one would care. Here, I can read and write all the analysis I want, but I'm not confident enough in my interpretation of the series to write it quite yet. Still, it's better than sitting around GaiaOnline trying to convince brain-dead fangirls that Sesshoumaru would not win against Vampire Hunter D in a fight because he's prettier.

#26 | Back to Top01-30-2007 03:18:13 PM

Re: Role of Words in Utena Fandom

brian wrote:

#27 | Back to Top08-17-2008 07:09:26 PM

Re: Role of Words in Utena Fandom

#28 | Back to Top08-18-2008 08:22:13 AM

Re: Role of Words in Utena Fandom

#29 | Back to Top08-24-2008 02:04:16 PM

Re: Role of Words in Utena Fandom

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