Femslash February Challenge: Day 25
Feb. 25th, 2021 09:34 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
flo_neljaDay 25 of female-centered stories with canon wlws!
Shoujo Kakumei Utena by Studio Be-papas, Kunihiko Ikuhara and Chiho Saito
Length: 39 épisodes of 24 minutes. There are also a movie and an manga of 5 volumes. Both are alternate stories. I will talk about the anime series here.
Happy ending or not? It's so symbolic it's hard to say, I vote for yes. I'm sure the fandom is still fighting about it.
Who is the wlw? technically, the canon wlw is Juri, who's in love with her childhood friend.
But Utena and Anthy get so much subtext that at one point it gets stupid to say it's not canon.
Is there other representation? Anthy and her brother look South Asian, even if there is never talk of ethnicity for anyone.
Warnings? Let's see, incest, underage, dubious consent, mentions of death, some fairy tale horror...
What about the plot? Utena is a girl going to a high school for rich people. She loves sports and wants to be a prince, not a princess. So when her best friend is humiliated by the guy she asked out, Saionji, she provokes him into a duel. But he then believes that she's from the mysterious organization he belongs to; their duel becomes quite supernatural and when Utena wins, Saionji's girlfriend, Anthy, comes to live with her saying she's her bride now.
Also, Utena has to fight again if she wants to keep her. The revolution of the world is at stake.
How good it is? It's my favourite anime. It's alternatively beautiful, hilarious, sad, and intellectually satisfying. I love the use of symbols, the references to fairy tales, and the weird surrealism sometimes. I love the themes and the characters.
Length: 39 épisodes of 24 minutes. There are also a movie and an manga of 5 volumes. Both are alternate stories. I will talk about the anime series here.
Happy ending or not? It's so symbolic it's hard to say, I vote for yes. I'm sure the fandom is still fighting about it.
Who is the wlw? technically, the canon wlw is Juri, who's in love with her childhood friend.
But Utena and Anthy get so much subtext that at one point it gets stupid to say it's not canon.
Is there other representation? Anthy and her brother look South Asian, even if there is never talk of ethnicity for anyone.
Warnings? Let's see, incest, underage, dubious consent, mentions of death, some fairy tale horror...
What about the plot? Utena is a girl going to a high school for rich people. She loves sports and wants to be a prince, not a princess. So when her best friend is humiliated by the guy she asked out, Saionji, she provokes him into a duel. But he then believes that she's from the mysterious organization he belongs to; their duel becomes quite supernatural and when Utena wins, Saionji's girlfriend, Anthy, comes to live with her saying she's her bride now.
Also, Utena has to fight again if she wants to keep her. The revolution of the world is at stake.
How good it is? It's my favourite anime. It's alternatively beautiful, hilarious, sad, and intellectually satisfying. I love the use of symbols, the references to fairy tales, and the weird surrealism sometimes. I love the themes and the characters.
