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R1 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Thursday, 10 February 2005 13:02 |
 Some shows really don't deserve to sit in the backlog as long
as they do, but with the allure of new shows, some old classics get
left on the shelf. Sadly, Revolutionary Girl Utena
has been suffering just such a fate from me, and it's time to write the
wrong. It may be about 18 months late, but here's the final
installment of the Black Rose arc - at least, that's what it's
advertised as...
24 - The Secret Nanami Diary
Poor Tsuwabuki gets no thanks from
Nanami for all he does for her - until now, at least. Maybe she has a
heart, after all. He's about to learn that carrying round a diary of
everything he sees her say and do may not be such a good idea, though - an
unfortuante run-in with an escaped horse allows his diary to get into
Utena's hands, and his secret plans to capture Nanami's heart are out
in the open...
25 - Their Eternal Apocalypse
Utena and
Himemiya have moved to new quarters, courtesy of Akio - although since
they're a lot larger than the old room, cleaning is a problem. Cue
Wakaba, always ready to help, or to nosey around the new quarters... Meanwhile, Saionji's received a letter
from End of the World, instructing him to duel again, but after his
previous experiences he's not about to let himself be used as a tool
again - but Touga may have something to say about that - while there
appear to have been some changes to the duelling arena...
26 - Miki's Nest Box: The Sunlit Garden
Troubled
times in Miki's family - as well as the long-running problems with his
sister, Kozue, it seems their father has decided to remarry - although
it takes a letter from his mother for him to find out. On top of that,
End of the World has chosen him to be the next Duellist to take on
Utena. Like Saionji, he's decided that being manipulated by a faceless
person isn't something he wants to allow to happen, but Touga's
persuasive powers prove too good for him. Meanwhile, Akio has decided
that Utena needs to be defeated, and quickly...
For a dics that CPM have included in the Black Rose arc set,
there's a distinct lack of anything Black Rose-related in these three
episodes... Episode 24 is a clip-show, but a clip-show whose main
purpose is to make fun of Nanami can't really be considered a bad
thing. The episode is intended as a breather between the Black
Rose episodes and the final Apocalypse arc, and it does that job well.
Episode
25 marks the start of the final Apocalypse story arc, although the
Apocalypse-titled DVD's don't begin until volume 7. The changes
to the arc
give the producers an excuse to introduce a new 'tranformation'
sequence for Utena and Himemiya, a 'new' duelling arena, and a slightly
rescored version
of the battle theme. I think I preferred the old one... One
thing
that hasn't changed, though, is the amount of repetition in the Utena
story - change one character's name each episode, and you could pretty
much copy-and-paste the rest of the synopsis. For some reason,
that's never really bothered me, though - there's enough going on away
from the duelling and End of the World's plans to keep me interested.
The real story with the Apocalypse arc is going to be Akio's
behind-the-scenes maneuvering to have Utena defeated. Expect more
revelations from the duellists, along with more unlikely conversions at
the hands of Akio's unusual driving techniques. Somehow I doubt
'boring' will be anywhere in the description...
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