Should I get into Revolutionary Girl Utena if I didn't like Sailor Moon?

[Chuplayer]

Yeah, that's a simple one. I really hated Sailor Moon despite liking shojo stuff, but I just saw the Utena Rose Collection at FYE for a reasonable price, 40 bucks. I haven't gotten any new anime in a while, and I need something to hold me over until the first Gundam Wing box later this month.

Is the Sailor Moon influence really felt in Utena? I know about the whole "from the director of" deal, and that's what put me off from buying it right there on the spot. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[JackProton]

I confess I don't have much interest in magical girl shows at all and really never paid SM much attention. Just not my cup of tea you know. Having said that, I will say that Utena ranks as one of my top ten series. Ever. Its multi-layered with surprisingly deep characters and a surreal setting and sensibility. Think David Lynch does shoujo. In Utena, appearances are deceiving. The series may appear to be a magical girl show and the hero may appear to have a simple mission but don't believe it for an instant. Like David Lynch films, even the most innocent seeming scenes and characters may hide darkness and corruption. You'd be doing the show and yourself a major disservice by taking the series at face value and considering it just another magical girl show. Its so much more than that.

[ohtori_akio]

Considering how different Utena and Sailor Moon are, there's more than a millions chances that you will enjoy Utena. If you're looking at a Shoujo it resembles, you would get closer to Rose of Versailles than Sailor Moon.

I have a friend who can't stand Sailor Moon but really likes Utena. I can't actually recognise a way in which Sailor Moon resembles Utena, except maybe in its "monster of the week" beginnings. But even those are done with purpose that completely surpass the format.... You should definitely get it!

[Dragon_Shiryu]

I don't like Sailor Moon and I love Utena. They're very different, so don't worry.

[itsuka]

I don't like Sailor Moon either, and I adore Utena, so try it out. Just don't watch the movie ahead of the TV series /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[LimePie]

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Chuplayer said:
Is the Sailor Moon influence really felt in Utena? I know about the whole "from the director of" deal, and that's what put me off from buying it right there on the spot.

[/ QUOTE ]

The two are very different. It's like sticking "From the director of 'Now and Then, Here and There'" on a volume of Kodocha.

[aquapermanence]

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shounen kakumei akio said:
I can't actually recognise a way in which Sailor Moon resembles Utena,

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Start with Haruka and Michiru. And Haruka's bike. And later, Haruka's car. And finally, Haruka's very nicely creased pants.

Nephrite's infiltration of the school system and his method of targeting individuals from a cavernous mansion and altering their personalities also seems somehow familiar. I also found it amusing that both his alias, Masato Sanjouin, and his first victim, Rui Saionji, share surnames with Utena characters.

Also, Queen Beryl moves her hands a lot when she talks. What they never bothered to explain in the show is that between her and her minions, there's a little screen and they're actually taking their orders in the form of a nonsensical shadow-puppet play.

[Chuplayer]

I'm going to get it tomorrow. It seems like I'd like the series a lot. Thanks to everyone who replied!

[AbeChinchilla]

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Chuplayer said:
Yeah, that's a simple one. I really hated Sailor Moon despite liking shojo stuff, but I just saw the Utena Rose Collection at FYE for a reasonable price, 40 bucks. I haven't gotten any new anime in a while, and I need something to hold me over until the first Gundam Wing box later this month.

Is the Sailor Moon influence really felt in Utena? I know about the whole "from the director of" deal, and that's what put me off from buying it right there on the spot. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.

[/ QUOTE ]

Uh... just because it's "From the director of Sailor Moon" doesn't mean it's like Sailor Moon.

It is nothing like Sailor Moon.

In fact, it's not nothing like you've ever seen before...

[Chuplayer]

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AbeChinchilla said:
In fact, it's not nothing like you've ever seen before...

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You got that right.

I ignored Itsuka's suggestion on holding off on the movie until I watch the whole series first. I watched the movie first. I really wanted to watch something dubbed right away. Most of the lesbian references in dialog supposedly are stripped from the TV series's dub, and I didn't care about them being stripped from the movie's dub. That's why I chose to go with the movie first. I gotta have my hot lesbians!

<span style='color:#dddddd;background:#dddddd'>Right up until the washing machine car thing, I was really enjoying the movie. Even after that point, I enjoyed it, but it made about as much sense as the Pink Floyd The Wall movie. I found the shojo-ai/yuri/lesbian content to be to my liking. I especially liked the final scene where Utena and the Rose Bride kissed. That shot was just so beautiful /images/graemlins/happy.gif I look forward to more lesbian love in the TV series. I'll definitely keep up with Utena no matter how much WTF I feel as I watch it.</span>

So, is Utena really the pinacle of shojo-ai/yuri that has been released in America? If so, I hit the jackpot, but I think after I finish Utena, I'll be disappointed that I won't find much more of it.

Thanks again to all of you who suggested Utena for me. I couldn't be happier /images/graemlins/happy.gif

[ohtori_akio]

The Tv series probably doesn't have as explicit lesbian scenes as the movie. It's got sex but its a little more subtle and a whole lot more disturbing! But also very very cool!!!

[jecca-neko]

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Chuplayer said:
I ignored Itsuka's suggestion on holding off on the movie until I watch the whole series first. I watched the movie first.

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The good thing is, it won't really spoil the series for you since it's a retelling of the story. The reason people give that recommendation to watch the movie later is that it's kinda trippy and confusing even IF you've seen the TV series, so it sometimes makes people not interested in the TV series if they've seen the movie first.

Like akio said, the TV series still has the shoujo ai/yuri stuff, but it isn't as obvious as the movie is. If you enjoyed the movie, I think you'll enjoy the TV series too.

[AbeChinchilla]

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jecca-neko said:
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Chuplayer said:
I ignored Itsuka's suggestion on holding off on the movie until I watch the whole series first. I watched the movie first.

[/ QUOTE ]

The good thing is, it won't really spoil the series for you since it's a retelling of the story. The reason people give that recommendation to watch the movie later is that it's kinda trippy and confusing even IF you've seen the TV series, so it sometimes makes people not interested in the TV series if they've seen the movie first.

Like akio said, the TV series still has the shoujo ai/yuri stuff, but it isn't as obvious as the movie is. If you enjoyed the movie, I think you'll enjoy the TV series too.

[/ QUOTE ]

Remake?

The mvoie's a sequel!

[aquapermanence]

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AbeChinchilla said:
Remake?

The mvoie's a sequel!

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed. But it's a sequel that's been designed to be watched by an audience that doesn't necessarily realize it's a sequel. Thus all the confusion.

It's like how it's not immediately apparent that Knights of Ramune is a sequel. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif And no, that's not the first time I've compared Knights of Ramune to Utena. (Takeshi Kusao plays a sympathetic character in both of them.)

[Njr Scrawl]

Strange, the other way round for me. Utena leaves me cold, but BSSM was good all 200 episodes, 3 movies &amp; several specials.

Having forced myself to sit through all RGU eventually, I could not really feel any sympathy or caring for any of the characters in the show - some I actively disliked. It was like watching remotely with no emotional involvement. (Similar to how watching 12K is compared to FY, or watching Noir compared to Gunsmith Cats.).

Perhaps it was all too fantastical, too remote. Maybe the character designs didn't help. Sailor Moon is cuter &amp; the characters seem more everyday &amp; friendly.

[DeVeliCious]

Revolutinoary girl Utena was weird! But overall a nice story! Keeps you hanging with a lot of weird things going on. Very sexual though (lol). Well thats the theme that it mostly gives out to me.

[Evangelist]

I do NOT consider the movie a sequal, because I believe that would totally destroy the message of the TV series ending...and I actually think it's kind of disturbing that people would actually think that.

Anyways, yes the two series are very different even though they (for the most part) share the same director. In fact, it's well known that the director actually used Utena to express his frustrations of what he could and couldn't do while working on Sailor Moon (he wanted to kill off Tuxedo Mask SO bad...)

[Shsway]

Sailor Moon's influence is definitely there, but I tend to think of Revolutionary Girl Utena as Sailor Moon's annoyingly brilliant younger sister.

As for this being "the pinnacle of shoujo-ai" anime? Well, I'm hard-pressed to think of something, anything that I enjoy more with similar subtext/undertones. It doesn't go where the movie goes, but somehow I feel that it makes for a much better impression/effect to that end. Plus, the show gets dark and creepy and strange in a way that SM doesn't, IMO. The sybolic stuff ranges from the teasingly subtle to sledgehammer-like blatant, though not as "crazy" as what is found in the movie.

[Isuzu Inugami]

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aquapermanence said:
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AbeChinchilla said:
Remake?

The mvoie's a sequel!

[/ QUOTE ]

Indeed. But it's a sequel that's been designed to be watched by an audience that doesn't necessarily realize it's a sequel. Thus all the confusion.

[/ QUOTE ]

Pay no attention to these heretic Sequelists! They will turn your brains to goo! The one true path is that of Orthodox Revisionism. Lo, they shall be flattened beneath the treads of an angry Akio Car!

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It's like how it's not immediately apparent that Knights of Ramune is a sequel. /images/graemlins/sdsmiley.gif

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If only someone would license the original series... if they could only remember the full title....