Been watching
Utena recently. Actually it started with me reading the manga, which I was lucky enough to purchase for $1 a volume at the local Book-Off, and suddenly I was overcome with the need to see the TV series again.
Inexcusable, I know. But it is an excellent series. More so because it seems so very. . . bad, on first viewing. I mean, really awful. I began to wonder at what point it became obvious that there was something more to it than the duel-of-the-week, and I eventually decided that it was when they introduced Miki, episodes 4 and 5.
You can tell right from the beginning of episode 4 that they're serious. Utena and Miki are poised
in media res, at the beginning of a duel, and the rest of the story is an extended flashback. Over the course of the story, you can see Miki growing attached to the Bride, until he challenges Utena and they end up in the dueling forest.
But the crux of the episode, for me, is in Miki's characterization as the first sympathetic member of the student council. It's in how Miki goes from the beginning, when he wants to abolish the duels, to the end, when he's determined to make Anthy his "so that she can be free." (Bizarre? Consider that Utena's doing the exact same thing.) It's that Anthy breaks character and cheers Utena on, and that becomes deeply sinister in light of future events. It's Miki's frequent visions of a shirtless Touga in a rosy haze. This is the episode where
Utena's ambiguity comes to the foreground.
And even if some of this only makes sense after having watched more of the series, there's still enough there to pull you in and make you wonder. Trust me. I remember.
words from chris, 2009-03-18 02:05:08, los angeles
