Tuesday, August 30, 2005

Utena meta-thoughts

I've watched the first 28 episodes of this series so far. A few thoughts. No real spoilers here, or it would be a lot more thoughts.

The first 7 eps are great as we are introduced to Utena's world, meet Anthy and the school council / duelists. The shadow girls are surreal and helpful in realizing that not everything is always what it seems to be. Towards the end of the first season (eps 8-13) things start to get a little more serious.

The 2nd season is a bit rocky. The goals of the "black rose" folks means that Utena cannot lose (or the show would be over), which makes most of the duels rather boring. The first season duels ("self", in particular) were more interesting from that aspect. Utena *could* lose and we got to see her deal with that loss. Still, the last episodes in the 2nd season are well worth watching because the explain some of the background.

OTOH, the 2nd season starts to really hint at some of the messed up interactions between the key characters. You'll also find out who is behind the "end of the world" missives.

The first few episodes in the 3rd season are interesting. The art takes a different tone (Utena's eyes become bright blue, and you'll see Anthy let her hair down).

Overall the art in Utena is great, but there are a few sections (like ascending the spiral stair) that don't "mesh" with the rest of the artwork. Similar to the problem in Dual! when you see the giant mecha being launched (they use a full CGI sequence for that). It (the stair sequence) probably looked alright for the time period when the anime was being produced, but today it looks stilted.

Character designs, colors, and the dynamics of the images are very good. There are some wonderful sunset / sunrise shots that are very vivid, or things like the "shadow play" girls which are very unique.

Labels: 2005, Anime

posted by Wuphon's at 3:16 PM