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1. Tell me one thing you love about me.

2. Tell me two things you love about yourself.

3. Look through the comments ~ when you see someone you know, tell them three things you love about them.

4. Do this in your journal so I can tell you what I love about YOU - and if you've already done it, tell me so, so that I can go back and give you some love. (Optional, of course.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

rashaka.livejournal.com

Little Miss Readman is so very, very me. "I haven't finished READING it yet!!!"

Me too. I totally understand loving a book that much. Loving any book that much.

As for Utena... I'm sad to say that I quit out rather early, just after the recap episode-- the first one, in case there's more. At least, I think so. It's been a long time-- 9th or 10th grade. But I never liked it to begin with so I congratulate myself on getting even that far.

About the only thing I liked was the fucked up egg speech. But even that got boring once the repetitive absurdity lost its amusement factor. The rest-- pretty much every thing else about that series put me off in some way. I mark it as one of the worst anime series I've ever seen for the episodes that I watched, both for my personal distaste and for just being so bad that I couldn't watch any more of it. I'd list the reasons, but... you probably don't want to hear them, given that you enjoyed it. I know some other people that enjoyed it too, but I just... I don't even want to say "I didn't enjoy it" because that makes it sound like it's worth enjoying and just didn't fit my tastes-- I really think it's the other way around: it's not worth enjoying despite the fact that it has many aspects that normally appeal to my tastes. It just... ARGGH!

I'm gonna stop talking now.

From:

octopedingenue

(There are 3 recap episodes, IIRC. *g*)

And I am on the opposite space again: I really think "Utena" is ultimately enjoyable despite the fact that it has many (so very, very many) aspects that normally do not attract me at all. Everything that you could/will probably list as a frustrating flaw in it, I would probably agree with you.

I have a really odd relationship with "Revolutionary Girl Utena": I watched over several months at a rate of about a disc week, it was not to my tastes at all for almost the first half of the series, and I had to make myself watch it because I promised

zebeckras I would. Then I hit the second half of the series, and with it the Black Rose Saga, which is probably the strongest yet least comprehensible storyarc of the series. And while the stuff that had grated on my nerves about the first half hadn't gone away at all (because Utena is all! about! repetition!), I'd slowly gotten used to it. But I still didn't know whether I liked the series or not! Because everything hinged on the series finale in my head. Even episodes I loved, my brain would go, "This is going to be a really great episode in retrospect if the series finale works."

And then I watched through the series finale, and loved it and was satisfied with it and whatever questions instead of answers it left. And I allowed myself to love the series at that point. Which is soooo fucked up.

I have an incredibly difficult time recommending "Utena" to people. It is hard even describing it to people, as a plot summary describes pretty much jack what it's about. My recommendation to people? Would be worded something like, "Find a convenient three-day weekend and a ruthless friend, then have the friend tie you to an armchair in front of a DVD player and make you watch the entire series in two days & not let you go, no matter how much you whine." Which is not going to make a lot of people skip out to find it, which I can't blame them for, because anyone who watches the entire series and then doesn't love the finale as much as I did is going to be MONSTROUSLY disappointed.

Now, as an English major and a media whore, I ask myself what is the value and significance of a fictional property that I had to force myself to partake of? Is that like being forced to read works of literature in school, and is that method ultimately damaging? What does it mean that I had to watch the entire series before deciding for sure if it were good or not? And what does it change that I ended up loving it? It is very interesting to me, and I'm not quite sure how to answer.

I don't mean this to be as pretentious as it accidentally sounds, but: "Utena" reminds me of Shakespeare, in the storytelling style, and on a personal level, in the way that Shakespeare bored me painfully and often until I read "Macbeth" and a giant blinding flashing lightbulb flicked on in my head. And now I'm in my third Shakespeare class in college.

I do now have to do a post tracking the two FMA/Utena finales side-by-side. Maybe this weekend. I don't think you'll ever like Utena any better, and I don't blame you, but I do think you'll find the parallels between the finales interesting.

From:

rashaka.livejournal.com

I didn't truly like Shakespeare until I saw it performed live by a professional theater. I didn't truly love Shakespeare until I read Hamlet.

Your description of Utena sounds a lot like my reaction to Cowboy Bebop-- only I didn't force myself to watch CB (it was quite a bit more enjoyable than Utena), just that I was rather indifferent to the show as a whole for 90% of the time that I watched it. And then I watched the finale, and I went from thinking it was just ok to loving it retroactively.

I'll look forward to your FMA comparison. Did you read my FMA essay about father/mother figures and symbols earlier today? I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts about that.

I got a fairly rough run-down of how the series ends and the whole black rose arc from a conversation sometime within a year of what parts I did watch of it, closer or further I don't know.

I've forgotten most of the details, but I consider myself fairly spoiled for the whole thing. That alone should tell you how I feel about it-- if I, Rashaka The SpoilerPhobe Of New And Unmatched Levels Of Extreme Paranoia And Resistance, am willing to be spoiled for 2/3 of a series then I don't put much stock in it.