Here's all the manga I read, classified by genre, content, and demographics:
♀♀ – The manga is mainly focused on (romantic) relationships between women. This may include works of Yuri, non-Yuri or even autobiographical manga by queer women.
♂♂ – The manga is mainly focused on (romantic) relationships between men. This may include works of BL, non-BL or even autobiographical manga by queer men.
Gender – Stories with portrayal of either of these categories: transgender, genderqueer, x-gender, gnc, non-binary, intersex. Cross-dressing and other tropes used to mock a character's gender won't appear!
Historical – When the story’s settings were set years before the manga was serialised to portray a significant event in which created said history.
Psychological – This manga’s way of narration delves deeply into the character’s mind and their state of emotions throughout certain events.
Supernatural – Has elements in the story that is beyond impossible to prove by science and logic.
Shoujo / Shounen – Demography of manga targeted towards young girls/boys (respectively).
Josei / Seinen – Demography of manga targeted for older female/male readers (respectively).
really? that's weird. I guess you could make the link between the two of them considering they both deal with the loss of the person you're the closes at that age, but they're so completely different that I didn't even considered it before you mentioning. Hotarumachi is very soft, sad and has that sketchy-like quality about it's art, while Hikaru is straight up unnerving and stylistic it feels reminiscent of that type of seinen manga which Asano and Oshimi are the most well know representants of, which is one of the reasons it feels so unique for a BL - there're certainly, uh, "ghost" stories in the BL genre, but this one has such an unusual art style (for BL) and it's so much more focused on it's horror background than "when they're going to confess", which is generally all that matters when it comes to BL, regardless of what it is about, that you can't help but feel positively surprised.
anyway, it's a very fresh title is what I mean.
by the way, have you ever read anything by Natsume Ono (or Basso if it's her doing BL)? there was a time I read a lot of her work and recently I've picked her up again. she does some pretty damn good titles, both BL and non-BL, and I'm currently obsessed with this Lady and Oldman story. I recommend it to you if you ever have the time and will to engage on something new but doesn't know what to chose.
when I say it's like yurikuma I just mean it sucks. idk maybe give him something bigger than a 1 cour series? the talent is obviously there but something about Yurikuma and the episodes i've watched from Sarazanmai feels extremely off. it's not like i expect him to pull an Utena again (and honestly the credit for Utena goes way beyond Ikuhara himself) but he sure can do a Penguindrum one more time
but anyway it's been a long long time since I last saw Utena and I don't even think about it that much these days. I just saw this Sonny Boy thing done by a guy who worked with Ikuhara and it was so so so good and I keep thinking about it........ anime is saved
i didn't know about it. btw did you come around to watch Sarazanmai? i've watched like 3 episodes but really got yurikuma vibes from it and just straight up quit
anyway, i dunno if you're still interested in it, but Kyoko Okazaki's Tokyo Girls Bravo is currently being translated. now we have more than 3 of her works. here's the link: https://berndscans.blogspot.com/
Undercurrent, right? You should read it, it's very good. Slow and grounded. Kinda like Nananan in the sense it's very mundane but without the Josei style. Not sure if it's exactly as high as i put it back then (but then again my score are all messed up), since there's a plot twist that's really out of place near the end, but other than that it's pretty much perfect to me. I read it twice and loved the last chapter so much
I'm rewatching Evangelion again and... it's a really weird show, isn't it? It's like 3 shows in one. There's the beginning, then it becomes a sort of action romcom thing, then it gets depressing. Weird. It's like Utena in the sense it's very unstable but manages to accomplish so much in the end that you don't feel bothered by it
Oh i'm sorry but there's not way the Utena movie can even dream on comparing with what the series managed to achieve. It's fun but that's about it
Can you read JP? My fav Nananan is Pumpkin and Mayonnaise. I think i'll revisit it now, it's been some time since i last read it. If i start taking french lessons this year (and i plan on doing so) i'll buy myself a copy of River's Edge in french, since i already own HS in english
Hey I noticed something today and I wished I knew this sooner: before duels anthy drew the sword out of utena's body for the 2nd half of the series and in the last episode we see her stabbing utena with the sword. I need to find out what this means but I will lie down and think about this emotional discovery first
In the last act every duelist went to the arena with their own rose bride, which then would proceed to drew their swords from the inside. The swords that are taken from inside are what Utena fans often refer as "soul swords" and apparently they represent something about the duelists; refer to this article if you're curious
The sword Anthy uses to stab Utena is a colorless sword of Dios, a powerless corrupted version of what once was the sword of a prince, just like Akio himself. He pulled it from her when she was in pain because of the swords of hate.
Let’s believe that the swords are the representation of what’s inside the duelist for a moment. When Utena or any other duelists are the ones pulling the sword from Anthy in the first act, they'd get the sword of Dios because this same power sleeps within Anthy (since she’s the one who took his power and all). Later, when Anthy is the one pulling the sword she'd get the same sword of Dios but from Utena herself, meaning that Utena has what it takes to become Dios (remember when she stabs Utena and says that it's because she reminds her so much of Dios?). Naive as it seems, Utena possesses what it takes to become exactly whom Akio was before - but the thing is: the prince isn't something that anyone can actually become, and if - after a strong resolution, like Utena had - they manage to do it, it'll only consume them till it breaks. That's one of the reasons why Anthy decides to stab Utena, aside from the whole manipulation from Akio, she just doesn't trust the fairy tail anymore, she's the one who has suffered the most from the whole thing
I dunno exactly if that helps with the sword thing you were talking about, but that's it as far as i noticed. I never thought that there was really much to the swords besides references for the characters; nor anything in special about the duels (besides being the "material way" to confront the internal conflicts that they'd build up). There's this thing of being deflowered but, hey! it's Utena. It's not like the car scene which really do happen to be a metaphor for sex >sometimes< (it can be just the "adult power" thing for some duelists, but it sure means sex for Touga, Saionaji, Ruka and Shiori - and maybe Kozue with Akio, but i dunno about Miki since he only seems to fantasize about having sexual control over Anthy. But I could be wrong).
Nanami is the ojousama stereotype so i'm not so sure about saying that she was a influence for anyone, since the archetype is there for a long long time. The thing that i found quite awesome about her is how she starts as just comic relief but actually grows to be something important to the story. She romanticized incest (since she really thought she was romantically attracted to her brother) but when she's confronted with ACTUAL incest she's disgusted. Touga doesn't really seems to understand that as he tries to have sex with her in the car sequence, but she ultimately refuses and claims that he doesn't understand her (which is true). The thing Akio shows her is the power to break free from Touga without losing her identity, to be something superior than him. When she loses, she says that there's nothing left to her, she's not Touga's sister anymore nor did she manage to become something greater than him (with the power of miracles), so she's just one more fly in the swarm. It's kinda sad
But eventually she grows out of it (episode 37 when she shows actual concern for Utena and says that she's not playing the duel thing anymore). If you pay attention she doesn't call her brother "Oniisama" nor anything anymore when they're in the same space - we're talking about NANAMI here, so this is a big thing.
Awful in what way? The way it's translated? The scanlation format?
It’s the quality from the scanlation that is really bad, i can barely see what’s going on. The books are pricy in my country (it was already pricy by default but there has been an economic and political crisis going on here for quite some years now), and I already spend most of my money on second handed books (because cheaper) since for some reason I can’t stand reading actual books on my computer or my cellphone. The only scenario I see myself buying more manga would be if, for some miracle, they decide to publish something from my favorites or anything from Okazaki Kyoko. I have a bit of confidence that they’ll do it with River’s Edge sometime in the future (and god, I’ll buy the hell out of it).
Yuri Kuma is indeed more of an oddball from the very beginning, but i think it's kinda easier to "get" since it hits the same key over and over again (i actually felt that Ikuni went overboard with his own gimmicks in this one). Penguindrum was the first i watched and honestly felt the easiest to digest.
There's just so many things when it comes to Utena that you can hardly say it's your fault for not being able to put things together perfectly watching it just once (and i feel that there's no one whom can really say that they get 100% of what Utena does, unless you're Ikuhara). As for me, i just am really obsessed with this one... more than just rewatching, i used to spend a lot of time on the Ohtori forums reading discussions, also reading the music's translations to put together with the context of the episodes, and also analysis from other people (i personally recommend Lady Love and Justice, as much as i disagree with some points sometimes, especially when it comes to Ruka: we see him in a totally different light).
But one thing's for sure is that I love Ikuhara's sense of humour
Right???? Everything is so absurd and over the top that you just can't help. Nanami fillers are god's bless for us mortals
Everything in Utena is so extreme. The Shoujo aesthetic (slender characters with thin proportions) is so strong it's almost bizarre when you see it for the first time; the duel's musics, the concept of the show itself, the ZUM sequence, the sexy poses, the way that repetition is used, everything is just SO unique that it's basically like the whole thing lives in it's own world. You won't find that even in the other two series Ikuni did.
Speaking of him, he'll be back next year with "Sarazanmai", though i have no clue what it's about. It seems to involve gay boys so i'm up to it
Are you reading Banana Fish? I tried to do so but the scanlation was so awful that i just decided to stick with the anime, but i dunno if this was the right thing to do...
I'm glad you liked it. Ikuhara is usually hit or miss; and Utena - more than Penguindrum or Yuri Kuma - is just so hard to properly wrap your head around it's ideas
What I'll say for sure the imagery for earlier episodes was obvious and yet I overlooked that. Even the things Chuu chuu does have resemblance to future episodes.
Yes, yes!!! I was so oblivious to the whole thing in the first act too... Whenever Anthy did something suspicious, i'd brush off like "nah, i'm just overthinking". And i didn't even notice that ChuChu was her accomplice
Being completely honest: when i first watched the show i thought i was holding up well, until the third act came. I didn't known what the fuck was going on with the car scene nor why the characters were acting the way they did (stuff like why Kozue was calling Miki a coward, why exactly Ruka said to Juri that everything would be alright, why Nanami was fighting Utena, why Anthy stabbed her in the last moment). And not surprisingly, i was not really getting the show - even in the earlier stages (not saying it's the case with you, but that's how it was for me)
Rewatching it was the most satisfying experience i had with a rewatch so far. It's incredibly how the whole thing changes when you watch it knowing Anthy's true nature, really. Everytime there's a still frame with her face in a creepy liveless expression you just KNOWN that it's on purpose. Or when she does a weird remark in her usual cheerful tone you really known she MEANS it. A lot of the serious aspects are done in such a subtle way that it's easy to miss it. Everything that first seemed a bit off because of all the weirdness and confusion was just so much better in the second round...
The episodes you said you're going to rewatch are the ones that're related to Utena's final conflict. They actually take the subtle-ish thing i was talking about to a whole new level. Everytime a character say something they really do mean something beyond the surface level. The culmination of this is probably the 37th episode (which is one of my favorites!!!) when Utena discovers what Anthy and Akio are up to but react in a totally weird way. It's basically like a cold war is going on between the two (Anthy, Utena) of them and not even Akio's aware of it. And there's also that badminton scene when you see that all the gang are moving forward from their obsessions, it just makes me SO incredibly happy.
It's hard to just sit and write about Utena because it involves so many things and each duelist's storyline almost completely diverges from Utena's (aside for the fact that they're fighting for miracles). You just have to pick something to talk about unless you wanna write a thesis, so it's fine that way, i just wanted to hear your overall opinion about what the show did :P. Unless you wanna talk about something specific, that is
The movie is a shiny spectacle. Everything is beautiful, the music is awesome, and the storyline is far more agressive compared to the extremely subtle approach from the series (with the climax being Utena and Anthy literally breaking the shell instead of something that is just implied). You can say that it's more engaging, in a way, but i can't think of it as nearly as good as the TV series. It's just impossible to do 1/10 of what the original did with such a short duration. And there's no Nanami, this is so wrong.
true. so much left unresolved tbh... also a part of me wanted a better resolution for parou and ryo. maybe they get together. or maybe marika accepts ryo’s affection. or maybe they have a lovely polyamorous life. idk im just kinda disappointed that the love relationship wasn't resolved for any of them but at the same it does give the 'new beginning' kinda feel so
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anyway, it's a very fresh title is what I mean.
by the way, have you ever read anything by Natsume Ono (or Basso if it's her doing BL)? there was a time I read a lot of her work and recently I've picked her up again. she does some pretty damn good titles, both BL and non-BL, and I'm currently obsessed with this Lady and Oldman story. I recommend it to you if you ever have the time and will to engage on something new but doesn't know what to chose.
but anyway it's been a long long time since I last saw Utena and I don't even think about it that much these days. I just saw this Sonny Boy thing done by a guy who worked with Ikuhara and it was so so so good and I keep thinking about it........ anime is saved
anyway, i dunno if you're still interested in it, but Kyoko Okazaki's Tokyo Girls Bravo is currently being translated. now we have more than 3 of her works. here's the link: https://berndscans.blogspot.com/
Undercurrent, right? You should read it, it's very good. Slow and grounded. Kinda like Nananan in the sense it's very mundane but without the Josei style. Not sure if it's exactly as high as i put it back then (but then again my score are all messed up), since there's a plot twist that's really out of place near the end, but other than that it's pretty much perfect to me. I read it twice and loved the last chapter so much
I'm rewatching Evangelion again and... it's a really weird show, isn't it? It's like 3 shows in one. There's the beginning, then it becomes a sort of action romcom thing, then it gets depressing. Weird. It's like Utena in the sense it's very unstable but manages to accomplish so much in the end that you don't feel bothered by it
Can you read JP? My fav Nananan is Pumpkin and Mayonnaise. I think i'll revisit it now, it's been some time since i last read it. If i start taking french lessons this year (and i plan on doing so) i'll buy myself a copy of River's Edge in french, since i already own HS in english
In the last act every duelist went to the arena with their own rose bride, which then would proceed to drew their swords from the inside. The swords that are taken from inside are what Utena fans often refer as "soul swords" and apparently they represent something about the duelists; refer to this article if you're curious
The sword Anthy uses to stab Utena is a colorless sword of Dios, a powerless corrupted version of what once was the sword of a prince, just like Akio himself. He pulled it from her when she was in pain because of the swords of hate.
Let’s believe that the swords are the representation of what’s inside the duelist for a moment. When Utena or any other duelists are the ones pulling the sword from Anthy in the first act, they'd get the sword of Dios because this same power sleeps within Anthy (since she’s the one who took his power and all). Later, when Anthy is the one pulling the sword she'd get the same sword of Dios but from Utena herself, meaning that Utena has what it takes to become Dios (remember when she stabs Utena and says that it's because she reminds her so much of Dios?). Naive as it seems, Utena possesses what it takes to become exactly whom Akio was before - but the thing is: the prince isn't something that anyone can actually become, and if - after a strong resolution, like Utena had - they manage to do it, it'll only consume them till it breaks. That's one of the reasons why Anthy decides to stab Utena, aside from the whole manipulation from Akio, she just doesn't trust the fairy tail anymore, she's the one who has suffered the most from the whole thing
I dunno exactly if that helps with the sword thing you were talking about, but that's it as far as i noticed. I never thought that there was really much to the swords besides references for the characters; nor anything in special about the duels (besides being the "material way" to confront the internal conflicts that they'd build up). There's this thing of being deflowered but, hey! it's Utena. It's not like the car scene which really do happen to be a metaphor for sex >sometimes< (it can be just the "adult power" thing for some duelists, but it sure means sex for Touga, Saionaji, Ruka and Shiori - and maybe Kozue with Akio, but i dunno about Miki since he only seems to fantasize about having sexual control over Anthy. But I could be wrong).
Nanami is the ojousama stereotype so i'm not so sure about saying that she was a influence for anyone, since the archetype is there for a long long time. The thing that i found quite awesome about her is how she starts as just comic relief but actually grows to be something important to the story. She romanticized incest (since she really thought she was romantically attracted to her brother) but when she's confronted with ACTUAL incest she's disgusted. Touga doesn't really seems to understand that as he tries to have sex with her in the car sequence, but she ultimately refuses and claims that he doesn't understand her (which is true). The thing Akio shows her is the power to break free from Touga without losing her identity, to be something superior than him. When she loses, she says that there's nothing left to her, she's not Touga's sister anymore nor did she manage to become something greater than him (with the power of miracles), so she's just one more fly in the swarm. It's kinda sad
But eventually she grows out of it (episode 37 when she shows actual concern for Utena and says that she's not playing the duel thing anymore). If you pay attention she doesn't call her brother "Oniisama" nor anything anymore when they're in the same space - we're talking about NANAMI here, so this is a big thing.
It’s the quality from the scanlation that is really bad, i can barely see what’s going on. The books are pricy in my country (it was already pricy by default but there has been an economic and political crisis going on here for quite some years now), and I already spend most of my money on second handed books (because cheaper) since for some reason I can’t stand reading actual books on my computer or my cellphone. The only scenario I see myself buying more manga would be if, for some miracle, they decide to publish something from my favorites or anything from Okazaki Kyoko. I have a bit of confidence that they’ll do it with River’s Edge sometime in the future (and god, I’ll buy the hell out of it).
There's just so many things when it comes to Utena that you can hardly say it's your fault for not being able to put things together perfectly watching it just once (and i feel that there's no one whom can really say that they get 100% of what Utena does, unless you're Ikuhara). As for me, i just am really obsessed with this one... more than just rewatching, i used to spend a lot of time on the Ohtori forums reading discussions, also reading the music's translations to put together with the context of the episodes, and also analysis from other people (i personally recommend Lady Love and Justice, as much as i disagree with some points sometimes, especially when it comes to Ruka: we see him in a totally different light).
Right???? Everything is so absurd and over the top that you just can't help. Nanami fillers are god's bless for us mortals
Everything in Utena is so extreme. The Shoujo aesthetic (slender characters with thin proportions) is so strong it's almost bizarre when you see it for the first time; the duel's musics, the concept of the show itself, the ZUM sequence, the sexy poses, the way that repetition is used, everything is just SO unique that it's basically like the whole thing lives in it's own world. You won't find that even in the other two series Ikuni did.
Speaking of him, he'll be back next year with "Sarazanmai", though i have no clue what it's about. It seems to involve gay boys so i'm up to it
Are you reading Banana Fish? I tried to do so but the scanlation was so awful that i just decided to stick with the anime, but i dunno if this was the right thing to do...
Yes, yes!!! I was so oblivious to the whole thing in the first act too... Whenever Anthy did something suspicious, i'd brush off like "nah, i'm just overthinking". And i didn't even notice that ChuChu was her accomplice
Being completely honest: when i first watched the show i thought i was holding up well, until the third act came. I didn't known what the fuck was going on with the car scene nor why the characters were acting the way they did (stuff like why Kozue was calling Miki a coward, why exactly Ruka said to Juri that everything would be alright, why Nanami was fighting Utena, why Anthy stabbed her in the last moment). And not surprisingly, i was not really getting the show - even in the earlier stages (not saying it's the case with you, but that's how it was for me)
Rewatching it was the most satisfying experience i had with a rewatch so far. It's incredibly how the whole thing changes when you watch it knowing Anthy's true nature, really. Everytime there's a still frame with her face in a creepy liveless expression you just KNOWN that it's on purpose. Or when she does a weird remark in her usual cheerful tone you really known she MEANS it. A lot of the serious aspects are done in such a subtle way that it's easy to miss it. Everything that first seemed a bit off because of all the weirdness and confusion was just so much better in the second round...
The episodes you said you're going to rewatch are the ones that're related to Utena's final conflict. They actually take the subtle-ish thing i was talking about to a whole new level. Everytime a character say something they really do mean something beyond the surface level. The culmination of this is probably the 37th episode (which is one of my favorites!!!) when Utena discovers what Anthy and Akio are up to but react in a totally weird way. It's basically like a cold war is going on between the two (Anthy, Utena) of them and not even Akio's aware of it. And there's also that badminton scene when you see that all the gang are moving forward from their obsessions, it just makes me SO incredibly happy.
It's hard to just sit and write about Utena because it involves so many things and each duelist's storyline almost completely diverges from Utena's (aside for the fact that they're fighting for miracles). You just have to pick something to talk about unless you wanna write a thesis, so it's fine that way, i just wanted to hear your overall opinion about what the show did :P. Unless you wanna talk about something specific, that is
The movie is a shiny spectacle. Everything is beautiful, the music is awesome, and the storyline is far more agressive compared to the extremely subtle approach from the series (with the climax being Utena and Anthy literally breaking the shell instead of something that is just implied). You can say that it's more engaging, in a way, but i can't think of it as nearly as good as the TV series. It's just impossible to do 1/10 of what the original did with such a short duration. And there's no Nanami, this is so wrong.