cokesque

Synopsis

“If it cannot hatch from it’s shell, the chick will die without ever truly being born. We are the chick; the world is our egg. If we don’t break the world’s shell, we will die without truly being born. Smash the world’s shell, for the Revolution of the World.”

Utena is the envy of her classmates at Ohtori Academy. She has beauty, style, athleticism, passion, and a forthright sense of justice. However, she is consumed by a childhood memory of a prince on a white horse who comforted her after her parent’s death and gave her a signet ring with a rose crest. So impressed was Utena that she vowed then and there that she, too, would become a prince someday.

After her friend Anthy is insulted and assaulted by a member of the Student Council, Utena challenges him for Anthy’s honor. The rose crest opens the way to a hidden dueling arena, where a victorious Utena finds that Anthy is the Rose Bride and Utena is now her betrothed. Utena doesn’t understand what this “engaged” business is all about, but to keep her friend safe she is compelled to continue duelling members of the Student Council for possession of the Rose Bride, for Anthy is the key to revolutionizing the world and the doorway to all of Ohtori’s darkest secrets.

Impressions

I’ve loved Utena since before I even watched it.

That’s right. Even before I had seen a single episode, I was intrigued by the character designs and general aesthetic. And by the end of the OP (still my absolute favorite anime opening music) I was sure the series would be stellar. And I was right. It instantly became my favorite.

At long last, I’ve plunked down the cash for the entire set from Central Park Media so I can enjoy it in high-quality and chronical my thoughts as I watch it again for the first time.

. . . wait for it . . .

In the meantime, look at these thoughts on the domestic release:

Random Thoughts

A note about the Software Sculptors/Central Park Media release:

The first story arc of 13 episodes (the Student Council arc) was originally released on VHS by CPM several years ago, but none of the other episodes saw the light of day. Now, CPM has released these 13 episodes on two DVDs, the Rose Collection 1 & 2. Unfortunately, the transfer is mediocre, apparently from their old video master and all songs are subtitled in English using hard subtitles.

The Black Rose Saga, and the Apocalypse Saga are on four DVDs apiece and comprise the Black Rose arc, the Ohtori arc, and the Apocalypse arc. Like many, I am annoyed by DVDs with only three episodes and would gladly have paid the same price for half the discs. On the bright side, these discs feature higher-quality video and sound, plus soft subtitles throughout. While CPM seems to have taken more liberties with the dub translation this time around, they did correct some mispronunciations from the Rose Collection (most notably, it is now correctly “Utena Ten-joe” instead of “Utena Ten-jew”).

One of the best things about CPM’s release is the final disc in the series, which has a commentary track with director Kunihiko Ikuhara and manga artist Chiho Saito. Saito’s recollections of working with Ikuhara are priceless.

The dub itself is tolerable, if not particularly noteworthy. As is so often the case with English dubs, the voices tend to run together, making it difficult to discern one character from another without looking. On the other hand, you can tell female characters from bishounen easily since guys are always voiced by guys, so I guess that could be considered a feature.

The Rose Collection suffers from some horribly mispronounced names. CPM must not have even listened to the original Japanese back then. They did, however, rectify most errors for the new dubs. Alas, the translation is lacking in some instances. A notable example is when Shiori confesses that she tried to like Juri but just couldn’t do it. The dub has Shiori complaining that she couldn’t make Juri like her, which couldn’t be farther from the original intent. Also, the vocal performances fall flat a lot of the time, especially where the Japanese seiyuu has enhanced the comedy with exaggerated expression.

Neko Factor

Chu-chu looks like a mouse and makes mouse sounds, but he's a monkey? That's wack!

- 2004-07-16 23:30 -