Other recommendations

[chibipoe]

Just a random collection of links to videos that I found to be good.
Gravity of Utena
The above is one of the few Utena videos I've seen on par with the Bachelorette video. Had the pleasure of finding it before last year's dragon*con and seeing it, then watching as the amv track's audience was collectively awed during d*con itself.
(If the download doesn't work, I can provide it to anyone interested, assuming you have AIM and so forth. contact me at chibipoe@RemoveTHISmindspring.com)

Pop-Up Excel
An Excel vid done Pop-Up video style. What more needs to be said?
I know there's more, but from skimming this part of the forum, I think they've been covered. Apologies if these have been recommended before.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

I've got the Pop-Up Excel, and I highly recommend it. Very funny. Don't know the other one, though. I'm at work right now, so I can't dl it and comment. That'll have to wait for tonight. Thanks for the recommendation, though! (It's been a rare Utena video that I haven't liked.)


-- Bob
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And all the girlies say I'm pretty dry for a wet guy...

[chibipoe]

As I said, though, if the download fails or whatnot, I can provide the video to anyone interested.
*kills ezboard's spam block*
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

I'm downloading the Utena video right now. I'll get back on it when it's done and I get a chance to see it.


-- Bob
---------
And all the girlies say I'm pretty dry for a wet guy...

[Kokuten]

for what it's worth, the pioneer vsx-d409 surround processor's 'Expanded' setting absolutely rips the audio portion of that AMV apart. The editing and scene choice wasn't perfect, give it about a high 90% rating, and the video was.. odd..
I'd say it's stretched vertically, and checking my copy of _Adolescence of Utena_ (The Utena Movie), it is. This is a common 'error' when juggling formats, though, and it isn't extreme enough to be noticeable.
Very nice AMV, I'll give it 4.5 thermonuclear holocausts out of 5.

Edit: changed word. just one.
--- Kokuten Daysleeper, Retired Epicced Officered DorfWire Geek - Burning the weak and trampling the dead since 1979

[Bob Schroeck]

---

I'll get back on it when it's done and I get a chance to see it.

---

And I just realize that I never did. Good video. Highly recommended. I still think "Roseate Nocturne" is the ultimate, though.
Hm. Why do people make only Utena-Movie videos? I don't think I've yet to see an Utena-TV video...


-- Bob
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And all the girlies say I'm pretty dry for a wet guy...

[Astynax]

I thought Roseate Nocturne used some TV footage? In any case, google for AMVs by Kestrel (RealMedia format unfortunately). Some fairly good stuff, several Utena TV vids (I've got a couple I took the time to convert to MPEG for DVD player enjoyment in case anyone is that severely allergic to RM)
-={(Astynax)}=-

[Star Ranger4]

Nope. Look at the charecter design. the Movie was the only one that used those visual concepts.
As to why? Proboboly because the imagery from the movie is so beautiful, while the actuall storyline was so whacked."I was an Otaku before those kids came along and changed the meaning of the word."
-- HM "Howling Mad" Wilson to more than one team-mate.
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children

[Bob Schroeck]

Yeah, I have to agree with Megazone about how bizarre the movie is, but you can't deny that it's visually breathtaking.


-- Bob
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And all the girlies say I'm pretty dry for a wet guy...

[chibipoe]

I have to disagree about the movie being bizarre. In fact, if you've watched the entire tv series, the movie makes perfect sense, IMO. It was, basically, Ikuhara giving the people who complained about the end of Utena not making sense a straightforward explanation of the series.

Boiled down, SKU is -not- about Utena, ultimately. Utena is the vehicle for Anthy to break out of her birdcage, and, you can't deny that the movie makes that abundantly clear.

On topic to the thread, has anyone seen the Love is Flowers Utena video?
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

Can't say I agree with you, Chibi-Poe. The film completely revises and inverts several key relationships (most notably Touga-Utena), alters the personalities of several characters (flaky as Kozue is in the TV series, I don't think she's quite the kind of nuts we see in the bath scene), and eliminates some key themes and motifs -- like, for instance, the castle in the sky. If this is an "explanation" of the end of the series, it's on the same level of revisionism as the Evangelion "explanations". It's ultimately unsatisfying and mystifying. If you view it as an alternate universe, you don't have to expect it to make sense relative to the TV series.


-- Bob
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There is no spork.

[chibipoe]

Hm. I can see that. The great thing about these sort of shows, though, is the amount of interpretation they are subject to.
Myself, though, I think the movie makes perfect sense if you consider the ending of the series(which a lot of people don't get, admittedly), and what, ultimately, happens in the movie. But I speak of the central theme, regarding Anthy, more than the other relationships, (which are, really, just window dressing to what Ikuhara was,(mind you, this is just my understanding of it) trying to get across to the fans who didn't get the ending of the series.
ETA: Also, I think that was part of the point, Bob. Yeah, the tv series ending can be considered unsatisfying on some levels, but I think it was trying for the 'Not everything can be wrapped up in a neat little package' feel. And anyway, if you watch through the credits, you do get a happy ending for Utena & Anthy if you listen carefully(as I recall. It's been a while, though, since I watched it)
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[Bob Schroeck]

There's interpretation and there's revisionism. There's just so damn much different between the Utena TV series and the movie that I simply do not see them as existing in the same timeline. (Although I must admit that I like Gryphon's idea that -- within the UF worldline -- there is a movie very much like "The Adolescence of Utena", which is an outsider's rather surreal view of what was going on.)
And oh yeah, I know that Utena was the vehicle of Anthy's freedom, and yeah, I know the movie has a happy if bizarre ending. But I didn't find anything confusing (well, not much) about the end of the TV show, at least not so confusing that I needed a trippy movie to tell me what it meant. And in its own way, it is happy, if inconclusive. Utena's out in the world, free of the Tournament; Anthy's finally free of the own guilt that bound her in servitude to her brother. I think it's fairly clear that it's only a matter of time before they reunite, and Akio is the biggest loser, eternally trapped in his games and so convinced he's on top that he can't even understand that Anthy's leaving.


-- Bob
---------
There is no spork.

[chibipoe]

Well, I agree about not existing in the same timeline. I wasn't disputing that, merely commenting on the ending of Utena, which, you must admit, a lot of people Simply Did Not Get.
"This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. Its burning grip tells me to defeat you....
Shining FINGER!" -Domon Kashuu, Mobile Fighter G Gundam

[offsides]

I got it, but perhaps that's because we'd watched EVA &R not too long beforehand...
Offsides (whose instant reaction the EVA Ep. 26 was "Oh, it's 'The Neverending Story'... *shrug*")Drunkard's Walk Forum Moderator and Prereader At LargeDrunkard's Walk Forum Moderator and Prereader At Large

[Bob Schroeck]

Peg and I just watched the last two episodes on DVD today -- the first time we've done so since we got the fansubs some years back. One thing that surprised me is thta the "drowning girl" subplot of the movie is mentioned in the series -- only Juri's elder sister is the girl who drowned. Also, my memory of the ending was seriously distorted by Symphony of the Sword. I could have sword we actually saw Miki at the very end, with Anthy, as Gryphon describes it, but it doesn't happen.

-- Bob
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There is no spork.