Tag: Nanami

More Cowbell: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 16

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+.”

Watch for free.

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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.

Nanami smugly wears a cowbell
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.

Continue reading “More Cowbell: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 16”

The Spicy Episode: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 8

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 8: “Curried High Trip.” Directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. Character designs by Chiho Saito. Be-Papas, 1997 (Nozomi Entertainment, 2011). Approx. 24 minutes. Rated “16+.”

Watch for free here.

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Seriously, anime? We just had one of the best episodes in the series, but with episode 8, “Curried High Trip,” we’re right back to … that’s right, another filler episode starring Nanami. That means two out of the last three episodes have been Nanami-focused filler.

Even worse, “Curried High Trip” is based on the Freaky Friday premise, which was already more than played out by the time this episode aired. Fortunately, the next episode will be a major plot-mover.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is famous for being dense, convoluted, and kinky. I knew all that before going in, but I was unaware before I sat down to watch it that it is also extremely goofy. This is one of the goofy episodes. The story of “Curried High Trip” appears entirely gratuitous, though it does at least highlight one possible angle of interpretation, and it also emphasizes an important plot detail.

Continue reading “The Spicy Episode: The ‘Revolutionary Girl Utena’ Rewatch, Part 8”