#utena

[maggiecheungs]

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA ↳ EPISODE 23 / EPISODE 29 / EPISODE 39

[silvermoon424]

Disclaimer that I've never watched Utena because I've looked up the trigger warnings and it would be too much for me to handle and most of my knowledge of the series comes through osmosis but... I feel like one of the main reasons people think Utena is this cutesy wutesy sapphic anime is because some of its more romantic moments between Anthy and Utena have been referenced in other material devoid of its original context. The referencing in and of itself is not an inherently bad thing (I strongly believe creators should be allowed to wear their influences on their sleeve) but with a combination of Utena becoming more obscure through the passage of time and fandom playing telephone with references, a lot of the original context of Anthy and Utena's relationship and the show in general is much less known than when it was first published/aired. There was a comic I recently read which I realised very early on was basically RGU but the races of the couple were switched which lead to some... unfortunate implications and just made me think the creator only saw Anthy and Utena as this uwu sapphic couple to be 100% unironically emulated with no conflict outside of paint-by-numbers mutual pining.

Yeah, there's absolutely a huge disconnect between "Utena: The Actual Show" and "Utena: Pop Culture Version." It's iconic as a sapphic series and Utena and Anthy are one of the most well-known lesbian couples in all of anime, but the series itself is very messy and uncomfortable a lot of the time.

Also, a lot of people who haven't seen the series play the whole "Prince Utena" thing straight when in reality Utena's fixation on being a prince prevents her from truly connecting with and understanding Anthy. Only after Utena comes to the realization that she's been using Anthy just like everyone else is she finally able to save her.

[grendelsmilf]

was talking about king lear with my dad (as one does) and talking about how albany is so uniquely inscrutable and i was like “you know i do love a gay misogynist whose violence against his wife is so blatantly unforgivable and yet nonetheless displays a genuine insight into the logic and mechanics underpinning his world, and how the attempt of an audience to morally reconcile that violence with the thematic value they provide to the text reflecting their own attempt to reconcile their internal alienation” and then i had to catch myself at the very last moment because i nearly called him saionji

[theatricalnebula]

thinking about episode 26 when kozue kisses anthy in the car and miki gets so distracted by it that he loses the duel while utena doesn't react at all. and then like two episodes later she asks anthy what a lesbian is in the episode previews

[munamuskie]

back on my anthy x utena bullshit

[memingursa]

*firebombs your dashboard*

[yerifes]

[scarlettrambles]

Anthy Himemiya + the alt Saito palette

[mmelifluus]

epic sword pull sequence

[bixels]

Shoujo proportions.

[dlzdrz]

[calpicoboys]

this idea did not leave my head for a month so i knew i had to draw it or else

[theatricalnebula]

the idea of eternity in utena is so interesting. initially "there is no such thing as something eternal" is the thought that sends utena spiraling into suicidality, which is understandable, since the idea that everything will end someday is terrifying. especially to a child. especially to a child who just encountered one of the most traumatizing and violent "endings" possible, the deaths of her parents. but then she's shown that apparently something can be eternal. and that something is pain, which is even worse, but at least gives her something to live for. and then by the end of the show it's like. no, pain isn't eternal either. "there is no such thing as something eternal" is reframed as a positive. eternity is Not Good. eternity is everything staying the same forever, never changing for the better. it's the opposite of revolution. it's what akio wants, perpetuating the system that benefits him at the cost of everyone else forever and ever. and no matter what utena might have thought, it is not what she wants.

[apocalypsegay]

finally started watching utena with the wife

[kanamesengoku]

DECADES IN ANIME: 1990s

ロードス島戦記 · 機動戦士ガンダム0083 · 幽☆遊☆白書 · SLAM DUNK · 機動武闘伝Gガンダム · 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン · 天空のエスカフローネ · 少女革命ウテナ · カウボーイビバップ · ONE PIECE

[empty-movement]

Chiho Saito's Illustration Collection artbook is the highest-quality visual media in the Utenaverse. Oversized, single-sided, heavy pages with extremely high quality printing. It is the first artbook I ever scanned.

In 2001, the average screen resolution was 800x600, and I delivered a 1250px wide collection that for a while, took $60 A MONTH to host, because no normal website was hosting images of this ludicrous size. It took my scanner almost an hour to capture a third of each page. I spent months piecing the scans together in Photoshop. It was one of my first true Utena labors of love, and the result is that for decades, these copies have been the definitive copies of Chiho Saito's artwork on the internet. For a very long time, even kinda now, if you see these images, they're probably my scans.

But decades have passed, and I've never been happy with these results, because they couldn't capture the fine details, the paint spills, the sketch beneath poking out, the brilliant use of gradients of dark color to pop the image but drive me insane. What I am finishing up now is a true, archival copy of the artbook. One that delivers such high resolution, that these can print posters larger than the originals, and thanks to some truly brilliant descreening tech, (Thank you Sattva) I've been able to dig up fine details in the work that the printing obscured, but undeniably included.

It's been over 20 years, and it shows. 1250px? Nah, my archive copies are 15,000px wide. I can't wait to finish this and share it with the world. <3