Revolutionary Girl Utena: Episode 34 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2025-02-23 14:00:05 +0000 UTC*STAGED HEADPHONE WARNINGS*
We FINALLY get some answers, exposition, and connections - but the question is: how much of this is fabricated? What is real? Are these memories reliable? And when will Utena start to remember things correctly?!
I had a lot of frustrations with this episode, but don't worry, I've already sorted out my thoughts for next week as well - at least we're getting somewhere now as we move into the final act!
LINK TO REACTION: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/qMamgvxUKRLTsaUhzazrhZ?
Thank you for watching with me and for all the support!
Comments
Roy Mustang, I would LOVE for him to have a field day in this show, honestly. Riza would stand for NONE of these shenanigans, so true! This show is a TRIP. And yes, I’m glad I’ve made this decision about SA moving forward with shows; it’s just for a healthier me with these reactions and discussions. I’m sorry your daughter has had to see this - and yeah, the men in this show are for the most part…not great characters. I’m so nervous about the movie, but we’ll cross that when we get to it. Akio is just the WORST. The worst. I really would love the school just to burn at this point, honestly. Yeah, there’s not really any adult in this series worth writing home about. There is so much to theorize from this episode - and yeah, I love the shadow girls are real people! I can totally see PMMM taking inspiration on the “witches” part for sure! I would like to think that Dios might be a different person; if it’s just Dios “becoming Akio” because Anthy was able to defend herself and didn’t need him? That’s…a choice. But yeah, I’m sure it doesn’t seem that way now - or this coming week - but I am excited to see where this goes! Thank you for the comment and kind words!
Romaniablack
2025-02-26 17:07:26 +0000 UTCYes, thank you! You said so much of what I wanted to say in this! I’m sorry you had an experience like that, but I can appreciate you understand my frustrations with her acting in this! That was my frustration in this episode, and sadly in episode 35’s discussion, as you all will see, and I unfortunately did some lashing out and projecting my anger onto Anthy and Utena, so I’m apologizing in advance. And I agree that the unreliable narration is definitely present. I agree, there is a lot left up to interpretation, but I definitely agree with your theories and will have to talk about them in a later episode! Thank you so much for the comment and kind words!!
Romaniablack
2025-02-26 17:01:57 +0000 UTCOh yeah, it's really gross to see Akio propaganda being shoved to Utena and her not realizing that this is all probably a lie - also, I would at least give Utena that she seems much more...oblivious (because of her memory issues) than Hamlet! I would argue Hamlet is maybe more proactive in the play than Utena...or at least, maybe more nefarious than Utena? :P
Romaniablack
2025-02-26 16:58:50 +0000 UTCOh, the PMMM influence is STARTLING in how present it is! And glad to know the shadow girls are real women! "BEWARE" indeed! Thank you for the comment!
Romaniablack
2025-02-26 16:56:50 +0000 UTCCharacters watching a play of fictionalized versions of themselves in order to catch what their reactions would be really gave that feeling of Hamlet's Moustrap Scene; Akio quoting "all the world's a stage" makes me think it was totally intentional. Squinting I can see a parallel to King Claudius using Ophelia who loves Hamlet to entrap him, just very different circumstances. And of course Utena & Hamlet spend most of their story being ambivalent and not doing the thing they need to do.
Alex Kornejo
2025-02-24 06:44:57 +0000 UTCHahaha the "burn it all" was so satisfying, I'd love to have Roy Mustang show up and dish out some fire! Even better let's get Riza too and lay down order at Ohtori Academy! I have never seen a bad dog trained quicker in my life than by Riza!! Thank you for the corrections in the opening discussion - I did not expect to find out the very next episode that Touga lied and Nanami and he were actually related by blood, I just can't trust anything on this show! I'm happy to hear you take a proposed stance with SA - I totally get it, and it sounds like a good plan which will be good for you, and I much prefer seeing reactions to series I can look back on and love the entire series of, even the worst parts, and that's just not possible with SA. I'm still watching week to week along with my daughter - but she's been angry at the show for a while now, and not just for Nanami haha, that was the first straw, almost all the men have her hatred. I'm afraid to even know anything about the movie as well! I'm also going in totally blind when we get to that, and I REALLY hope the movie is able to benefit from a more condensed length - I am looking forward to seeing what they can do. I just knew it was going to be Akio photographing Anthy and Utena! He needs to burn in hell, really - we're way past due for a Chris Hansen cameo. Can we end this show with the school getting shut down and the faculty getting thrown behind bars? Even a lot of the teachers we've seen are pretty gross. And all the additional scenes after the play with Akio and Utena - you cover that all well, so no need to go over it more. We do get a bunch more to theorize from this episode - the curtains are pulled back a bit on some topics - the shadow puppets turn out to be schoolgirls putting on a play, and the new sides to the story of the girl and the prince and now witches. I'm glad if Madoka took inspiration from this they just leaned into the concept of witches and little else! For now, I'm going with Dios and Akio as two separate people, it would be weird if Anthy created Akio by locking away Dios. I am definitely a bit confused at the moment, I agree we're missing a piece of the puzzle! Thanks for the reaction and discussion!
L Freya
2025-02-23 22:18:11 +0000 UTCI can praise utena all day but you can definetly tell that it was written by a man with no experience with SA. I agree with your points about Utena's reaction. I imagine that Utena is repressing her memoreis as much as possible and either victim blaming herself or justifying what happened to her under the pretense that she has feelings for akio. But even if thats true as you mentioned she would probably be in a daze or behaving irregualry. When what happened to me happened I was around Utena's age and even though i repressed everything and victim blamed myself i was in a daze for months and lashed out at people for seemingly no reason. I imagine Utena would realisticly be acting more like that. There is definetly some unrelaible narrration going on. I don't think the narrative is trying to make you pity akio. I personaly view it that Akio took advantage of anthy's love for him and used her as a scapegoat to avoid responsibilty for his action like when he tells her to stop tormenting him despite assualting her. The reason she smiles after he says that is unclear but my personal interpertation is that she is feeling some vindication from the idea that she's causing him pain even if it comes with him blaming her for everything. You could also interpurt it as her playing her role as the witch to follow along with the narrative of the play. This episode leaves a lot up to interpurtation these are just my own theories.
Zachiel
2025-02-23 21:01:25 +0000 UTC"Girls who can't be princesses are doomed to become witches" and the imagery in this one definitely went on to become Madoka. I adore the shadow girls so this is one of my favorite episodes. Their play is so creepy. "Beware...beware..." Indeed.
Lynden
2025-02-23 18:38:22 +0000 UTC
