I just got done watching the next four episodes of
Revolutionary Girl Utena and the series has yet to falter.
Episode 6 was a highly entertaining watch that centered on what is growing to become a favorite character of mine,
Nanami. The first frame reacquaints me with the play like nature of this series, the camera is focused on an empty alleyway as
Nanami fades into view, entering the stage and walking towards the camera with the light from the lamppost being the only source of lighting in this otherwise dark setting like a spotlight on a stage, directing our attention towards our star of the episode. It’s a motif that exists throughout this series but one that feels even stronger here in this episode. Each scene begins with an establishing shot and the framing eloquently introduces each character. The episode is chock-full of medium close up shots which allows for the exuberant facial expressions to take center stage, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t get to gawk at some of the nice backgrounds throughout the 24 min episode either. Some interesting camera angles and tonnes of flower imagery continue to find their way in this series with some nice uses of color and silhouettes peppered throughout. It’s a pretty silly episode that I really enjoyed, the ending sequence was pretty hilarious and out of left field. My love for
Nanami continues.
Episode 7 is a more thoughtful episode, moving the plot forward and developing the characters and their relationships with one another further. It focuses on a character that we haven’t really seen much of, the illusive
Juri. A fencer, she wears an epee mask to protect herself but maybe that mask serves another purpose.
Juri seems to inhabit multiple personalities and hides her feelings, and with the switch of a mask she goes from soft and delicate to sharp and powerful. This feeling is embodied and perpetuated through the pacing of the episode itself thanks to the fantastic music direction. Soothing tracks and quiet moments snap and turn violent at a drop of a pin which mimics
Juri’s snap personality. Speaking of which, I haven’t really talked about the soundtrack for
Utena but it’s phenomenal. The episode is very condensed with information both spoken and visual interspersed in each and every frame. It’s a fantastic episode, one that demonstrates the writers’ abilities to depict meaningful relationships between the cast with ease. With tonnes of strong moments including a weighty dual, it’s a standout episode among standouts. Fantastic storytelling and characterization.
Episode 8 was just hilarious, straight up, unadulterated hilarity. I never would have expected
Utena to be a show that nailed comedy and yet it does. A lot of the gags are just straight up silly and this combined with the facial expressions and music kills me time and time again. The plot:
Anthy cooks a curry so hot and spicy it creates an explosion that for some reason makes
Anthy and
Utena switch bodies.
Nanami is blamed due to her switching the normal curry mix with a special super-spicy Indian curry as a means to sabotage her cooking out of spite not knowing what would happen. To get the two to return to their normal bodies
Nanami sets off to India in order to acquire some more of that Indian curry, only to be met with a rampaging elephant in the most bizarre of scenarios. It’s so dumb on paper and even dumber on screen and it was incredible. The ending made me spit all over my screen. Needless to say, I loved this episode.
Nanami is the queen of the noblewoman laugh, she was born to Ohohoho.
The next episode was a more serious push at developing the story. I really appreciate the tick-tock nature of this series; serious episodes are book-ended with comedic ones as a means to create a smoother viewing experience to not overbear the audience with info dumps.
Episode 9 featured some fantastic shot composition and uses of shadows, shadows that depict the gulfs forming between each character as they grow further apart, clawing for their own eternal thing. It also works as a means to depict just how shrouded in secrecy these characters are. Not everybody is who they seem to be. All in all it’s a very interesting episode with lots of backstory, religious undertones and tonnes of cool and stylish imagery.
Plenty of episodes left, but needless to say I'm enjoying this show a whole lot and as early as it is, it could become an all time favorite.
