Don't Ever Say I Don't Tell You What I Want For My Birthday

By April 2011, I will be twenty one years old. If you can stop sobbing for a second, that means that I'll be a fully competent legal adult, which means I need to do fully competent legal adult things like signing contracts and drinking and actually getting my driver's license and stuff. So how would you plan to commemorate such an event? A gift perhaps? Would you want to get me a car or a trip to the tropics? Hell no! What I'd want is the

REMASTERED

ENGLISH LICENSED

FULL DVD SET

OF MY FARRIT ANIME EVAR

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA

I'm not going to yammer on too much about everything I adore about this show: that's a enormous blog post for another day. But I will tell you this, friends and comrades: this is mankind's opus. This show is so brilliant, I'm pretty sure it's self-aware and simply revising itself from within my laptop every time I watch it. It has something for everyone. I have owned the...completely legally acquired show for more than a year, I have watched it at least four times, and I am still finding something new in it every day. Literature kids will be catered to it's subtle references to literature from Opus to Shakespeare to Classic Grimm Fairytales, history lovers will glee at it's treatment of Machiavellian theory and references to the House of Borgia, artists will love it's multiple-episode references to Manet, French Baroque, and Michaelangelo, psychology buffs will enjoy teh Freud, Jung, and careful observation of the nature of victimization, sociology geeks will enjoy references to Levi-Strauss, the nature of women as the gift, and an analysis of the incest taboo, and pervy animu fans will go crazy for DURR PURTY R MAKIN OUTZ AN GJEH N STUFZ!!!1!!

But for all of this intelligence, it's got a wicked and wacky sense of humor, a messed up beyond belief but still endearing cast, edgy and progressive material without banging your head into the wall about it, and just a general interesting, driven, and captivating story. It's something that hooks you in and doesn't let go. It's surreal and acidic, but even if you aren't combing through every scene to figure out every single reference, it can stand on it's own as a very interesting and very powerful tale. Additionally, even though the animation was clearly made on a limited budget, you can tell the team played the hand that they were dealt with to its fullest, with scenes ranging from subtle and sinister to burn-in-your-brain stunning. In my opinion, this is the girl's answer to Evangelion, and even though I'm probably going to start a fight by saying this, it's the more enjoyable show. It can beat Eva in neither animation, action sequences, large scale political intrigue, or its unique apocalyptic feel. However, in depth, intelligence, characterization, story, and even in the surrealism and complex psychology that Eva's famous for, Utena's the winner hands down. It can't beat Eva in a bar fight, but it graduated from college top class and with honors while Eva was a C/B student famous for getting into said bar fights.

But S-Type, you say, how can this anime be so darn good and I've never heard of it before? I mean, I've seen it batted around in the cult classics forums but nowhere else. How come this never made it to the public radar? Well kids, there's a funny story. RGU is notorious for being screwed over by English license after English license. The ball got passed around between one or two American companies for about a decade, and the one that most Utena fans had their hopes on, Central Park Media, went bankrupt last year. Poor RGU, like a monk on a quest, was thrown on the streets with nothing but the clothes on its back, as fans ground their teeth in frustration and continued to circle the tapes. Ugah, and don't get me started on the dub. While there are some bright spots (Crispin Freeman as Touga?!)...yeah. No. Not touching that.

It seemed like a double kick in the nuts when not long after, the remastered version of RGU announced. With a liquidated license and nowhere to go, it seemed like there was no chance that it was going to hit American shores. And there was not any rejoicing at all. However, just last month at anime expo, Nozomi and Right Stuf Entertainment, one of the best in the business in taking fan-favorite anime under its wings, has announced that they are going to pick up the remastered version of Revolutionary Girl Utena for release in 2011. So let me reitorate. By next year, after being bitched around for about a decade, on state shores, we will have the

REMASTERED

ENGLISH LICENSED

FULL DVD SET

OF MY FARRIT ANIME EVER

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA

Now go forth friends, and be you of good cheer.