chibiusa, your prince WAS a white horse.
Shhhh, we Utena now.
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(Source: mirakurun, via tofu-adachers)
Rest in Peace Tomoko Kawakami
Kawakami was a Japanese voice actress from Tokyo, best known for her work as Utena Tenjou, Hikaru Shindou, Fuyuki Hinata, Akane Motomiya and Miu Furinji (her full list of work can be found here). She died June 9, 2011, age 40, after a long battle with ovarian cancer.
How terribly sad. T_T
She’ll be missed terribly.
(Source: kanye-westeros)
HD Video Remastering | Inteview with the Staff
Hiroshi Kaneda Film Transferring/Colorist
Haruyasu Yamazaki Technical Coordinator
Tomomi Takemura Master Editing/Online Editor
Hideki Ito Line Coordinator
Ending Animation | The Making Of
The Revolutionary Girl Utena endings were divided into season 1 (episodes 1 - 24) and season 2 (episodes 25 - 38), with the final episode getting a scat version of the theme song “Rondo - revolution.”
The first season’s ending had romantic visuals, with Utena in a dress dancing with Dios. Utena and Anthy give us glimpses of serious looks in their eyes, and in the latter half Anthy appears with Dios as well, in the exact same pose as Utena. The whole mood of it is mysterious; it makes you think “this is no simple prince-and-princess romance.”
The ending theme song is “truth.” It’s performed by Ruka Yumi. You can see the key art for this sequence on the next page. Shinya Hasegawa said that he put Hiroshi Nagahama in charge of it because his sharp style, with its striking silhouettes, would be a good fit for something with so little motion. Within beautiful animation that directs a noble impression; the main characters dance all dressed up. He directed them brilliantly.
And starting in episode 25, the staff made the ending theme song J.A. Caesar’s [sic] “Virtual Star Embryology,” and changed the visuals as well. Maki Uetani did the vocals. It was different from the choral pieces in the duel scenes, and the more piercing ring of the solo vocals was pleasing. Shinya Hasegawa, Yoko Kadokami, and Hiroshi Nagahama were in charge of the key animation for this sequence. Tall, thin visuals of Utena and the ornamentation behind her, drawn in black silhouette, climb up into the blue sky as if on an elevator. Partway through, cuts of Utena and Anthy holoding roses come in, timed to the music, and then it’s silhouettes of the two sanding facing each other, with Anthy in her bridal gear. At the end, birds soar up to the castle in the sky, scattering feathers, and rays fo light break through the clouds. There’s also an “Akio car versionof this second ending as well, which was on episode 33 of the TV broadcast. On the LD and VHS releases, episode 25 also had the Akio Car version, but on DVD it was only in episode 33. The theme song is the same, but the Akio Car shows up in the video, and no characters appear. It shows a scene of the Akio Car zooming along,m switching from cut to cut, in time with the song’s chorus, until it finally arrives at the dueling arena. It’s a playful arrangement that got people talking even at the time.
Also, apparently a humorous, cute ending featuring Chu-Chu was conceived during Season 2 production as well. The idea was to have a close up of Chu-Chu’s face that took up the whole screen, with Utena, Anthy, and the other main characters appearing inside his eyes. To the right are some rough storyboards drawn for that sequence by Shinya Hasegawa. Chu-Chu’s facial expression would change depending on which characters were in his eyes, so the visuals were very humorous, with anger and tears and everything else. If that ending sequence had been used, it probably would have been given a cute song, but if “Virtual Star Embryology” had been paired with that close-up of Chu-Chu, the peculiar mismatched feel of it would have surely surprised viewers.
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Here are the images in question, but again, I still don’t have access to a scanner and a real camera. I apologize for the low quality: 
Rondo Revolution | Kunihiko Ikuhara’s Thoughts
There were several forks in the road to the theme song “Rondo - revolution.”
Not exactly related to RGU, but I think it’s fascinating how almost every topic (save for chapter 5) relates to various plot points in the series. It’s definitely a book to watch out for.How were women’s relationships depicted in plays, dramas, poetry, and novels before the 21st Century? In Inseparable: Desire Between Women in Literature (Knopf), Emma Donoghue reveals that authors have shown “desire between women” as accidental, mildly erotic, predatory, thoughtful, and, of course, lusty and lesbian.
Chapter One, “Travesties,” shows examples of cross-dressing that result in unintentional same-sex desire. When women cross-dress, she calls the effect “The Female Bridegroom” (think Yentl). When men cross dress, the result is “The Male Amazon” (think Tootsie). Because much of this chapter relies on her earliest sources, such as translations of Ovid, much of the discussion requires lengthy plot descriptions that can obscure some of the most interesting information.
Chapter Two, “Inseparables,” portrays the situation when two passionate friends must struggle to stay together. She begins with an eye-opening analysis of the Biblical story of Ruth. A major topic of this chapter centers on jealousies, including cases when two close women are turned into rivals and one woman allows the other to join a man in marriage.
Chapter Three, “Rivals,” covers the situation when both a man and a woman compete for a woman’s heart. This investigation includes Choderlos de Laclos’ Dangerous Liaisons and Henry James’ The Bostonians.
Chapter Four, “Monsters,” describes relationships in which a wicked woman tries to seduce and destroy an innocent woman, including sex fiends and unknown enemies. This discussion also includes ghosts and Joseph Sheridan le Fanu’s Carmilla, who turns out to be a vampire.
Chapter Five, “Detection,” includes examples of female detectives and cases when the discovery of a crime turns out to be a same-sex desire. The authors presented in this chapter include Agatha Christie and Sarah Waters (with whom Donoghue shares a number of interesting characteristics, as they are both British and often write heavily researched historical novels with lesbian themes).
Chapter Six, “Out,” outlines plots in which a woman’s life is changed when she realizes that she loves her own sex. Unlike some of the earlier chapters, most of these stories are (out of historical necessity) modern. This chapter includes enlightening discussions of Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour and Patricia Highsmith’s The Price of Salt.
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Interesting discussion of literary tropes.
(Source: feministlibrarian)
I’m not entirely sure how I feel about Utena’s costume, but Anthy looks fantastic.
(via anthyhimemiya)
