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R1 DVD Reviews
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Written by maehara
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Monday, 25 July 2005 12:30 |
 Another volume of Revolutionary Girl Utena, and
after the ritual make-fun-of-Namani episode we move on to the ritual
duelling - this time, a character from Jury's past returns to make life
difficult for both Jury and Utena, while Utena seems to be developing a
love interest other than Anthy. Knowing this series, I wouldn't
rule out a threesome...
27 - Nanami's Egg
Nanami believes she's laid an egg. Go figure.
She's not entirely sure how, but she does know that it's definitely
not a normal thing for a human to do. While she tries to figure out
what's going on, she carries the egg around with her and tries to get
some help - first from Miki, but he's a guy and eggs are obviously
womens' stuff. When Jury starts talking about her ball, though, Nanami
starts believing eggs are perfectly normal (egg = tamago, ball = tama -
some Japanese wordplay there, as Jury's really just talking about her
bowling ball). Eventually, the loyal Tsuwabuki decides help is needed
and goes to speak to Utena and Anthy, while Nanami agonises over
whether to keep her egg or not...
28 - Whispers in the Dark
Jury's
got a new challenger at the fencing club in the form of Ruka Tsuchiya,
a former student who's returned to the school after a long period of
illness - and to his place as the best fencer is the school. His
return doesn't please Jury at all, and neither does the revelation that
he's been chosen by End of the World to be a Duellist - meaning his
next target is going to be Utena. But first, there's Jury's friend
Shiori to seduce - is Ruka genuinely interested in Shiori, or is he
just looking for a way to get to Jury? Utena finds out when her next
opponent is revealed...
29 - Azure Paler than the Sky
While
Shiori tries to come to terms with being unceremoniously dumped by
Ruka, Utena tries to persuade Jury to take more of an interest in her
friend's situation - but outwardly at least, Jury insists that since
Shiori got herself into her current situation, she can get herself out
of it. Ruka's only interest at the moment is Utena & the short
work she made of him during their duel, and Jury's anger over what he's
done to Shiori could just make her his best ally in is quest to defeat
Utena. If helping Ruka is what's required to keep him away from
Shiori, Jury's only too happy to help...
30 - The Barefoot Girl
Utena's
been being unusually thoughtful lately - especially about what may have
counted as her first kiss, from Akio. Possible love interest? Not if
Wakaba gets there first - after she does a damn good job of
ingratiating herself with Akio, he agrees to take her for a lengthy
drive. No, not that sort of drive, first time around at least. The
episode does begin to cause some friction between the two girls &
some uncertain feelings for Utena, especially as Akio is meant to be
engaged, but Akio's only too happy to take advantage of the situation.
Later, Akio's fiancee Kanae drops by for a visit - she's brought her
mother with her, and she wants to talk about his future...
All I can say about Nanami's Egg is: wtf!? In a series full
of strange episodes, that certainly counts as the strangest.
However, anything that pokes fun at Nanami is okay by me.
Ruka's appearance (or return, depending how you look at it) brings a
two-part story with a slightly different approach to trying to bring
Utena down a few pegs. With still three volumes to go it
obviously wasn't going to happen here - that's one area where Utena
doggedly sticks to its formula - but with Shiori and Ruka having been
foreshadowed way back in the first arc of the series it was quite
interesting to see them brought into events in this way. A decent
enough story, too.
The final episode gives Utena something to think about, as Akio steals
her 'first kiss' and she begins to realise she's developing feelings
for him. This raises two interesting prospects: Utena 'keeping it
in the family' as it were, and what her reaction's going to be when she
finally realises who's controlling the duelling at the moment.
But none of that happens here - three volumes to go, and I can't wait
to watch 'em. Revoluntionary Girl Utena continues to be great entertainment for those with slightly twisted minds.
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