The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 17: “The Thorns of Death.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
After one of the worst filler episodes in the show’s entire run, Revolutionary Girl Utena is now back on track.
This episode finally introduces Shiori, the nameless purple-haired girl we had earlier encountered in flashbacks as the unrequited love of Juri. Shiori stole the man she thought Juri was in love with.
Shiori.
Shiori has enrolled again at Ohtori Academy after having attended another institution through middle school. The unnamed boy she though she had swiped from Juri is now out of her life for reasons we never learn.
Made in Abyss, directed by Masayuki Kojima. Written by Keigo Koyanagi, Hideyuki Kurata, and Akihito Tsukushi. Starring Miyu Tomita, Mariya Ise, and Maaya Sakamoto. Kinema Citrus (). 12 episodes of 23 minutes and 1 episode of 46 minutes (approx. 322 minutes). Rated TV-14.
When Made in Abyss appeared in 2017, it was the biggest hit of its season, if not the year. It also quickly became one of the most polarizing titles on social media. I was already praising it before it appeared in English simply because I’d caught glimpses of its creator’s art. Then I started to hear … rumors … that made me squeamish—mostly about the manga being a hairsbreadth from lolicon.
I’ve not had a chance to read the manga, which if I’m not mistaken is still ongoing, but I have finally sat down and watched the thirteen-episode first season of the anime. I can say nothing substantial about its source material (my info is mostly hearsay coupled with some amazing panel art), but I will say that, whatever the manga is like, the anime is really, really impressive. This is one of the best cartoons I’ve ever seen, hands down.
Nanami’s got a fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell.
The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
—Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 16: “The Cowbell of Happiness.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
This is, hands down, the worst episode in Revolutionary Girl Utena. It’s also one of the weirdest, which is saying something.
We have reached another of the so-called “Nanami episodes,” that is, filler episodes starring Nanami, the spoiled little sister of the student council president Touga. Nanami, just as a reminder, is not even a character in the manga version, but she gets lots and lots of screen time to herself in the anime.
And I hear they’re free.
Most of the episodes focused around Nanami involve her trying to show off or get the better of someone else, and getting owned for it. This is in that same vein.
I was into Made in Abyss before it was cool … sort of.
The creator of Made in Abyss is one Akihito Tsukushi. I first learned of his existence when I discovered some stunning fan art he made for Fairy Musketeers, one of my all-time favorite magical girl shows. I thereafter learned that he had created a web serial called Made in Abyss, which was gaining some popularity because of its stunning artwork.
The Abyss.
Not long after that, the anime adaptation was announced, and it was simulcast on the (now defunct) Amazon Strike. Around the same time, Seven Seas Entertainment nabbed the manga for a translation.
During its run, Made in Abyss was about all anime fans were talking about. I watched as the talk in my Twitter timeline slowly evolved from “Made in Abyss is amazing” to “whoa this is dark” to “exactly how perverted is Made in Abyss, anyway?”
Scandalizing Twitter since 2017.
Much as I wanted to, I was unable to watch Made in Abyss during its run, because I was in graduate school and working two part-time jobs, and I simply couldn’t justify the frivolous expense of a streaming service. Now that I’m gainfully employed, however, I’ve been exploring the anime available on Amazon Prime, but I hadn’t yet made it to Made in Abyss because I was working my way through some of the available magical girl shows first.
The heroes of Made in Abyss.
I’ve now seen two episodes of the show and, I must say, it so far is living up to the hype. Although perhaps not quite on the level of the intricate designs from its source material, the background art in this anime is freaking amazingsauce. I almost don’t care about the story because I’m too busy drooling over the artwork.
But the story is really cool, too. The premise is that there is this enormous pit, of unknown depth, full of dangerous monsters as well as powerful relics, and a city with an entire culture based on its exploration has grown up around its rim. The protagonist is one twelve-year-old Riko, an excitable girl who wants to live up to the reputation of her mother, who was one of the Abyss’s great explorers. Living in an orphanage where she is a “Red Whistle,” an apprentice cave-raider, she discovers a robotic boy who possibly came from the Abyss’s deepest and unexplored levels.
Reg, the robot boy.
Exploring the Abyss is not only hazardous in itself, but it comes with a “Curse”: the lower you go, the greater sickness you face when you try to rise again to the surface. Anyone who explores deeply enough cannot leave the Abyss again without dying or losing his humanity.
The characters of Made in Abyss are drawn in a style sometimes called “puni plush,” an exaggerated anime style in which everyone looks like a prepubescent child—like, moreso than usual, I mean. The character designs accent the sense of wonder and adventure, but belie some of the story’s grimmer themes.
She looks so darn huggable.
The look and feel of this show is much like something that would come out of Studio Ghibli. Again, I’m only two episodes into it as I write this, but it is so far one of the best things I’ve ever seen. It’s has that sense that you’re watching something larger than itself, a story that was told around campfires long ago and that will still be told even after this particular version of it has been long forgotten. It feels timeless.
And the art! I sometimes just want to turn off the sound and stare at the pictures.
Shut up, Made in Abyss. I’m not paying you to talk.
Flowering Heart, directed by Lee Woo-Jin. Written by Lee Woo-Jin, Kim Hyoung-Kyo, et al. Starring Nancy Kim, Jacqueline Youn, and Dami Lee. ICONIX Entertainment (). 26 episodes of 11 minutes (approx. ). Not rated.
What we have before us is a magical girl title from South Korea. Being a magical-girl franchise from outside Japan, this arguably falls into the same category as such other non-Japanese titles as Winx Club, LoliRock, or Star vs. the Forces of Evil. But, of course, you’ve likely seen plenty of South Korean animation already, as both America and Japan outsource a lot of animation to that country.
Our heroine.
As of the time of writing, this series has two seasons, but as far as I have been able to determine, only the first is available in English. I originally found it on Amazon Prime, which hosts the English dub, but you can also watch for free on the show’s official YouTube channel.
Now here’s the confusing part: There is a dub of the whole season available, as well as a Korean version. But there are also at least a few episodes that have been left in the original Korean but subtitled in English. However, they haven’t been set aside in their own playlist, and their descriptions are entirely in Korean. Here’s the first episode with subtitles. After that … good luck. I’ve been struggling to figure out where the rest of the subs are; at least the second episode is there, and some later ones too, so possibly the whole subtitled series is buried in there someplace.
I have some important things to discuss, but I spent this evening writing Jake and the Dynamo and listening to Rammstein instead, so I regret nothing.
But I am also at present making my way through the Korean magical girl series Flowering Heart, a simple and sweet show for kids that makes for a good palate cleanser after Magical Girl Site.
I’m watching Flowering Heart on Amazon Prime, but the entire show is also available on the official YouTube channel, so you can join me in watching it if you like.
There is both a Korean version and an English version available, but, alas, there appears to be no Korean version with English subtitles, so I’m watching the dub.
The story features a trio of fifth-grade girls who form an after-school club to help people with their problems. They get a magical boost from a flying, talking hamster who grants them magic rings that can turn them into adults. They have to do good deeds to gather “hopeful energy” to replenish the Heart Tree in the Flowering Kingdom, but nefarious forces are working to gather “hopeless energy” to make the tree wither.
It is reminiscent of LoliRock, probably because Flowering Heart and LoliRock both take their influence primarily from Minky Momo, though Flowering Heart appeared in 2016, so it may take influence from LoliRock as well. For reasons I can’t quite explain, however, I found LoliRock to be a slog, whereas Flowering Heart is quite pleasant.
I’ll deliver a full review when I finish the first season. For now, I’ll simply recommend it as entertaining yet undemanding—though keep in mind that it is very much a show aimed at little girls.
Should I be feeling bad? Should I be feeling good?
Magical Girl Site, written by Takayo Ikami and Kentaro Sato. Directed by Tadahito Matsubayashi. Starring Yuko Ono, Himika Akaneya, and Aina Suzuki. Production DoA, 2018. 12 episodes of 24 minutes (approx. 288 minutes). Not rated.
If Magical Girl Raising Project was a poor man’s Battle Royale, then Magical Girl Site is a poor man’s Magical Girl Raising Project. It starts out by trying too hard, though it gets interesting in its second half. In spite of my initial distaste, I found myself getting into it.
Me, while watching Magical Girl Site.
I’ve previously discussed my reaction to the first episode. That initial hot take, unsurprisingly, contained a few speculations that turned out to be incorrect. But I stand by its overall conclusion: This is a show too desperate to be on the edge, an edge that so many shows have been on already, it looks clichéd rather than groundbreaking.
I finally managed to get through Magical Girl Site. Although I was not impressed at first, I kind of got into it. It’s reminiscent of Magical Girl Raising Project, except with (in my opinion) a more interesting storyline.
Action sequences definitely not as good, though, and it breaks its own rules, and it’s trying too damn hard, tossing in gratuitous sadism for no other reason than to be “edgy.” It does have a few redeeming qualities.
I’ll see if I can write up a full review tomorrow.
The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
—Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 15: “The Landscape Framed by Kozue.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
The second arc of Revolutionary Girl Utena is like a variation of the first: it repeats the previous arc’s themes, but alters and develops them. The first arc focused on the members of the student council, dealing in turn with each of them and their psychological issues. The second arc focuses in on second-tier characters related to the council members, thereby further developing the characters we have already met.
This episode, “The Landscape Framed by Kozue,” is a variation of “The Sunlit Garden,” a two-parter that introduced the character of Miki.
Deep in their underground lair, Mikage and Mamiya, after the failure of the previous episode, hatch a new plan to install Mamiya in Anthy’s place as the Rose Bride. Since their “makeshift” duelists lack sufficient power to defeat Utena, they decide to tap the fighting skills of student council members: according to Mamiya, the council members have “swords” that have “crystalized” in their hearts, and which can potentially be extracted and used by others.
Meanwhile, the student council still exists, but is in a sort of standby state: Touga is still sitting in his room and wallowing in depression because his voice actor went to another anime Utena defeated him in the arena. His spoiled sister Nanami, with her banana-colored uniform, is now the acting president. But the council has received no new letters from World’s End, and no letters means no duels.
Nothing to do.
Miki, you may recall, is a boy genius from the middle school who is a championship fencer as well as a virtuoso on the piano, and who has a troubled relationship with his twin sister. He carries a stopwatch that he clicks compulsively, apparently representative of a desire to stop time or leave time entirely, and find his “shining thing,” an idyllic eternity he believes is waiting for him in the hovering castle above the dueling arena.
The bird is fighting its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Whoever wishes to be born must destroy a world. The bird is flying to God. The god is named Abraxas.
—Herman Hesse, Demian
Revolutionary Girl Utena, episode 14: “The Boys of the Black Rose.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”
We return now to our irregularly scheduled, leisurely walk through that trippy classic, the Evangelion of magical girls, Revolutionary Girl Utena. This series of posts was on hiatus because of issues with my DVD player, both its increasing unwillingness to play DVDs and my sudden, inexplicable inability to take screenshots from it.
I’ve turned instead to the free and legal upload on YouTube from Nozomi entertainment. This is less than ideal, as it means a downgrade in picture quality, and I also see that they’ve cut out the end-credits animation, the bastards. But I will tolerate all of this for your sakes. Don’t ever say the Deej didn’t do anything for you.
The previous episode was a recap of the first arc, with a few tantalizing details thrown in. This present episode is the full-on start of a new arc, and thus it gives a lot of new details … creepy, creepy details.
