#duel 39

[tournoi-des-femmes-de-vos-vies]

Monya (Yoko Tsuno) vs Nora Abadie (Détectives)

Monya

Nora Abadie

Voting ended onApr 23

[sailormoonsub]

I love that Utena acknowledges that she's only meeting the REAL Anthy for the first time. Everything else was a lie spoon-fed to her by figures of authority, or facades put up by Anthy herself. But if you get past the stone door and the wall of thorns? The true self is waiting.

[totally-normal-boy]

“Wow, I HATE familial-caused stabbings!”

-My sister

[sailormoonsub]

If we're confessing questionable Utena takes, I'll admit that I was originally disappointed by the final episode because Utena doesn't become a prince. I wanted her to prove Akio wrong and beat him at his own game. It wasn't until I revisited it later that I realized "Wait a minute. This is a terrible game. What would it say about Utena if she DID beat him at it?"

I can’t blame you for this because I felt this too!!! Even though at this point I am intellectually aware that achieving princehood is a terrible goal, a very fundamental part of me is still like “yes girlboss smash that glass ceiling”

[sailormoonsub]

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY BRUTAL AND TOTALLY WORTH WATCHING THE ENTIRE SERIES JUST FOR THIS MOMENT

[sailormoonsub]

Akio: I don’t see why you bother. Nobody’s as good as me at opening doors so if there’s a door I couldn’t open then it’s probably not worth trying to open that door

Utena, channeling within herself all the collective power of the entire viewing audience: SHUT UP. SHJUT THE FCUK UP

[sailormoonsub]

First time when I watched Utena, I was 14 years old? Probably? I didn't understand shit. It was so bad, that I was actually angry that Anthy stabbed Utena and the whole betraying thing broke my heart. So I decided that RGU was stupid and I would never ever watch it again.

I'm glad that I did tho, with all analysis and everything (in english, sadly, it's not my native language). God, I was so embarrassed that I actually hated Anthy. Still am.

Anyway, all your post made me laugh so hard and reminiscent anout those times when I was younger. So thank you for that.

I’m so glad you gave it another chance! Looking at the same thing from two different perspectives in time is a valuable experience. I’m sure if I watched this when I was 14, I would have focused on that surface level too: Anthy is manipulative and creepy and makes bad choices. WHY she makes those choices wouldn’t have been important to me at the time. And with this perspective, I think you have insight about how characters WITHIN the Utena universe perceive her as well. They’re only seeing part of Anthy’s story (the actions, not the motivations), and make judgments based on what they observe. So in fact you might have had the truest experience of RGU haha

[sailormoonsub]

Why did I spend so much time reading feminist theory in undergrad when I could have just watched RGU? Just the image of Anthy being repeatedly stabbed while Akio lounges on the floor with a fruity cocktail saying “she deserves this” summarizes like 70% of the texts I had read.