Oh Goodness Mith, TV Tropes. I spent the whole day there the other day trying to understand Revolutionary Girl Utena as I finished the series.
Code Geass is very heavy on the drama but that is a part of what makes it great. Then they amp it up at the end of season 1. I will never ever forget that. I think thaty was one of the most daring season enders I have ever seen, animated or live action. Also I think it solidified for me Code Geass' unpredictability which is what I love about anime (even if it's unpredictability frustrates me sometimes).
*shakes head at remembering end of season 1 of Code geass*
Have you heard there is a new project for Code Geass? It's sort of like this new manga story based on an original charater.
Since I just finished Utena I have some comments. Although I ended up frustrated with the end of the story I am still pleased I watched this older anime. Although it's very symbolic and some of the stuff I wasn't sure if they were making fun of certain tropes and stylings (is the spinning rose overload supposed to be funny? I think it is), I think the anime is very very worthwhile and people should watch it. I especially appreciate it as it's not a typical shoujo. (Also I realize why Anthy had that awful frumpy hairdo).
Here is some of my comments from just finishing the anime
*Crossposted from B77*
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(The creepy quasi sexuality is now freakin creepy overt sexuality, with incest no less!!!
Why do the Japanese like the incest!!! Not to mention most of the characters are extremely under-age!!! In the later half of the series it gets so sexually charged and disturbing. The lead is freaking 14 years -old!! Jury is like in grade 10!!! She looks almost 30!!! The art for the movie (which I have heard is pretty bad, so I am not going to watch it), seems even more overtly sexual to the point where everyone looks slutted up. Many of these these characters are in middle school!!! Gah!! )
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END SPOILER
OK now that that rant is over, other comments.
After being quite confused (and frustrated) by the ending, I did some reading (on TV tropes), and some thinking, and I do understand a little bit of the symbolism now.
In general I am a very literal person and symbolism usually goes over my head, so if I have to interpret symbolism to understand stuff (like the ending of an anime), I usually get frustrated, confused and dissapointed. (The whole reason I marathoned the show was to avoid those feelings!!)
I do understand now that Utena is about deconstructing fairy tales, and I think there is some femininsm in there and I did understand that during the show. The stuff I did understand were quite interesting commentaries on fairy tales. Makes me wonder why people tell their children fairy tales when looking at it from the perspective of RGU. Both males and females are stuck in very very restricted roles and I am now realizing it says a lot about the roles men and women are stuck in today. Also RGU is in the same vein as Shrek!! *giggle*
Most of the other stuff I am really lost. SPOILER
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(Although I do think Anthy is an evil character, she is also a victim deserving of some sympathy. (The shining glasses/candle scenes I did not notice certain things until it was pointed out, and it majorly creeped me out. I still do not know what the candles symbolize though ) )
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END SPOILER
I did realize the shadow play girls give a simplified version of the episode . I think I will pay more attention to them, when I re-watch the show, since I have heard it's very good on the re-watch. (I love shows like that.) The more I talk about the anime I realize how deep it is.
I think though that before I rewatch the show I need to get over how sexually charged the series is and how freaking disturbing some of the characters truly are. (Also I need to get some assistance with the symbolism, the whole cutting the rose off the duelists symbolism was totally lost on me, but I get it now though.)
Thanks to TV tropes I now know what a shadow archetype is!!
Going back to Neon Genesis Evangelion, I heard that the symbolism drove people nuts and some stuff simply does not make sense and was not worth analyzing. Considering my track record with overly symbolic stuff, I had actually avoided NGE and had I known about the symbolism and creepyness of RGU I proabably would have avoided it too.
(This is why I majored in sciences rather then arts.)
I think though that when all the new NGE movies come out and if I hear they make some sense I may give the movies a go. Like I said in another post I am slowly realizing how great older anime is and how there is some really good shoujo that people should take a look at. (I find some people write off shujo altogether) They were 11 and Revolutionary girl Utena are really cool examples of how great shoujo can really be.
EDIT to fix spelling.