(no subject)

[alexmegami]

So I've been rewatching Utena.

You guys, do you know how many fucking trigger warnings that show needs nowadays?

Oh sure, on the surface it looks like a standard shoujo anime, with you know a little DV in the first episode but that's so we know Saionji's an asshole. Oh and the bullying, too. That's ep 1. Oh, parental death. That should probably be on there.

Then we get into the, like:
-incest
-depression
-statutory rape
-child rape (is that the TV series too or just the movie? I'm pretty sure both)
-your best friend turning on you like a motherfucker
-animal abuse/animal death
-fucking terrifying swords

...and I'm sure I'm missing several things.

Probably a TW is unnecessary for abuse of the English language though, right, Touga?

Comments

[theeternalmind.livejournal.com]

Was there bullying in ep 1? I thought that didn't happen until ep 3. Prior to that it's just ("just") Saionji's DV. Also, I'm pretty sure there was only child rape in the movie. I don't actually remember any animal death either, though thanks to Chuchu there's a fuckton of animal abuse; when does the death happen?

[alexmegami]

Arguably him posting the letter counts as bullying, and that's in ep 1.

I might be misremembering, doesn't Nanami drown the kitten? Or is that only implied?

[theeternalmind.livejournal.com]

Ohhh riiight, I forgot about the letter. Technically, that Saionji posted the letter is a common misconception; the way it got translated was "Oh yes, now I remember," but he says, "Shikashi, naru hodo na," which is closer in meaning to "Still, I get why it happened," which is still a dick move because he completely doesn't care about the letter, but it's a different brand of dickishness than actually posting it himself, which is cruel but in an indirect way, and Saionji is very in-your-face about his cruelty.

But you know who does do indirect cruelty, and would have had access to letters that Saionji had thrown away?

Anthy.

As for the kitten, that's another thing I completely forgot about--yeah, she does drown it by putting it in a box and then shoving the box in a river to get washed away, though she almost immediately regrets doing it (which doesn't help the poor kitten any).

[alexmegami]

Fair enough. (I've been rewatching in Italian with no subtitles, so nuances of the translation are a bit lost on me.) It seems to me that the effect of it on Wakaba is still there, though, so who's doing it might be slightly unimportant in the context of warning for it. ;)

[theeternalmind.livejournal.com]

Oh yeah, no question; this is just a side discussion.

[alexmegami]

Of course! That is an interesting note, though; I'm trying to remember how it was translated on my copy. (One of these days I'm gonna get a VHS-to-computer thing going... really... of course that even assumes the VHS tapes are still viable...)

[oneminutemonkey.livejournal.com]

Utena was a spectacularly fucked up show by anyone's standards.
Fascinating, even mindboggling, with interesting gender commentary, cool visuals, and an interesting premise... that whole "break the world's shell" thing and all.
But like you said, so fucked up.

[alexmegami]

It delights me *way* too much. :D

[sasuran.livejournal.com]

Although it's even more old-school than Utena, I think you would really like Oniisama-E... less surreal, but similarly full of all sorts of depressing. (It's also by the author who wrote Rose of Versailles. ^_^)

[alexmegami]

I will look into it!

[cythraul.livejournal.com]

"Oh sure, on the surface it looks like a standard shoujo anime,"

When I think of words to describe "Utena", the word "standard" never, ever comes up. :P

[alexmegami]

That's why it's only on the surface!