@empty-movement / empty-movement.tumblr.com
Fashionably late? As always. 2023 was a HUGE year for Empty Movement, so much so that to confess, we did a big fail in actually keeping up with sharing the stuff we did! OOPS. So finally, we proudly bring you: all the Revolutionary Girl Utena content we dropped in 2023. Essays, artbooks, CD information, you name it. Click below for the entire site update, or get it at the source, as always, at ohtori.nu.
Utena Weekly, Continued!!! April 9, 1997, ep 2: For Whom the Rose Smiles
You checked the Newtype Magazine episode summary that dropped last week, and it turns out they changed the episode's title!? It was originally "For Whom the Girl Smiles!" Cool! Either way, sick Hemingway reference, I wonder if there will be any other iconic works of philosophical fiction referenced in this episode?
We're gonna rewatch it on Something Eternal, in varying time-locked iterations of ourselves in what's becoming the most Utena fandom self-aware, curiously introspective group fiction shit ever. Realtalk: we're challenging ourselves to try watching the show with fresh eyes. Not exactly spoiler free, but instead attempting to experience and discuss the story 'ignorant' to how it ends. For an old timer like me, that's gonna dig up some curious stuff about the world of the late 90s, I tell you wha-
Anyway. Join us! I didn't plan for this thread to develop this way! It's just how forums be.
potentially my magnum opus
Quality shit fr
OMG OMG OMG
You are eagerly tearing open the copy of Newtype Magazine you camped outside of a convenience store for. You need more Utena content. The show is starting tomorrow, and you need a fix!! Newtype's got you:
And so do we! Thanks to forum member xenofem, there's already a rough translation of this spread! :D I have every Newtype magazine published during Utena's run (and then some), and will be uploading on the release schedule that coincided with the show! Convenient way to pace myself, I guess. ;D
But the ain't all! Newtype also included some character design sheets this month, and the beginning of the monthly release episode summaries is also in this issue! For more, check out where I've uploaded the Utena pages, along with the cover and ToC!
Join us for our weekly watch of the series, starting here!
Hi, Vanna here. I have submitted to the strange authority of Xenforo's image hosting system, which demands that if I want gallery items to appear in proper order, I will have to upload them back to front.
As such, welcome to the last few page's of Animedia Magazine's September 1997 supplemental Duelist Bible, translated by Nagumo and edited by me!
Anyway
There's a new show coming out called Revolutionary Girl Utena, by that guy that did some of Sailor Moon. The show starts on April 2, 1997, so it's almost time!
In the meantime, you've got the March edition of Newtype magazine to flip through--
Lime is so cute! But flipping through, you find this--
Damn, a whole two page spread! Looks romantic with all those roses, and that little purple guy... what is that? A monkey? A mouse?
Well, guess you'll find out on April 2nd! Click here to watch along with our Utena Weekly thread on the forum.
The Revolutionary Girl Utena tarot, Take My Revolution!, which I've been working on last year with a bunch of wonderful artists is coming out soon! Please take a look at our socials, you won't regret it ✨ >>>>>>>🌹 @takemyrevolutiontarot 🌹<<<<<<<<
Today's spotlight is on 🌹Armin🌹 Tumblr: @twitchyritchie
Take My Revolution is a Revolutionary Girl Utena themed tarot fan project. Every day we'll be sharing a spotlight for each of our amazing contributing artists' works. Thanks for following our progress, and we hope you look forward to these sneak peeks!
The Revolutionary Girl Utena tarot, Take My Revolution!, which I've been working on last year with a bunch of wonderful artists is coming out soon! Please take a look at our socials, you won't regret it ✨ >>>>>>>🌹 @takemyrevolutiontarot 🌹<<<<<<<<
Today’s the day, everyone! The Anthy and Utena dried rose acrylic charms are officially available for preorder! The link to my storefront is available in my pinned, so go grab yours now!
And as always, ✦Thanks for stopping by the Cybersoda Shop! ✦
(Reblogs heavily appreciated)
While we wait for the tarot card orders to arrive, I’m happy to announce a new upcoming preorder campaign!
vv Details below vv
The James Somerton Utena has been officially uploaded to YouTube, but we don’t know if it was scheduled or not because we don’t know if James is alive.
Welp, it sure has been. Per the comments, he removed bangers like 'lol Anthy is an annoying sub am i right,' which means he sought feedback on the video and changed things about it. I don't know to what degree that conflicts with or doesn't conflict with the possibility that it auto-posted. I haven't had time to check it out myself yet.
Personally, James is an adult with responsibility for his actions. Whether he is alive right now or not, he is already guilty of harm baiting his audience, and as someone who has already had the pleasure of that, I find my willingness to extend him sympathy well exhausted. I hope he chooses the only option that allows for any chance at growth, but I can't say I'm personally invested in it.
BTW if it's not already obvious, fuck wholly anyone who is suggesting this would be hbomb or todd's fault. No. Fuck that.
February 29, 2024
Reblog this with your favorite Anthy thing! Repeats allowed, multiple things allowed, fanart allowed, official art allowed, essays/meta allowed, fanfic allowed-- just lovingly place some Anthy in here and reblog it so that someone else does the same!
I'll kick it off with a couple things:
Yuka Yamauchi had an AMAZING take on Anthy in the new musicals and I honestly wish I could just get a cd of her alone singing the tracks-- her voice is gorgeous! Well, either that or a ten hour remix of her Anthy laugh, which is terrifying and yet somehow inspiring.
Hoo boy. I remember when this video came out. You would NOT believe just how much Evanescence was the soundtrack to the early fandom. Pretty much as soon as Evanescence's debut, Fallen, dropped, aaaaaaaalllllllll the Utena fans ran to their writing programs to write songfics. Still, I've always loved the choices the creator made in this particular video, and despite being potato quality, I think it still holds up.
Your turn! Put some Anthy in here to celebrate her birthday! Uh, you don't have to write them up like I did though, I'm just yappy.
Don’t forget, preorders for my unofficial Revolutionary Girl Utena Tarot Deck opens !!!TOMMORROW!!! A baseline of 20 preorders must be made for production, so please buy yourself a deck if youre interested!
The heavy surrealism in RGU used to frustrate me as a new viewer, but now, I think it's such an integral piece of Ikuhara's storytelling. Because to me, the absurdities of Ohtori Academy perfectly capture how it feels to live under an abuser.
We as outside observers naturally question why there's a baseball game happening during the Student Council meeting, or how thirty cars can magically spring up in the middle of the dueling arena. And yet, the characters hardly bat an eye. Utena initially struggles to make sense of the duelists, the Rose Bride, and the Castle Said to Hold Eternity, but the more she becomes absorbed in this system, the more normalized it becomes.
We viewers fall for this, too! Show someone almost any Utena scene out of context, and they're going to have questions. Did that guy drive his car through a second-story window? Why is this boy boxing with a kangaroo?? Where the hell did all those swords come from???
"Yeah, don't think too hard about the logic. That's just how things are at Ohtori, you know?"
It's debatable to what extent the characters can perceive the visual symbolism that Ikuhara presents to us. Nevertheless, Ohtori remains a very weird place. But abusers possess the sinister power of normalizing behavior that any outsider would find absurd and unacceptable. They can — quite literally, in Akio's case — project their own version of reality onto their victims.
When Anthy gives Akio her glasses at the end of episode 39, she's rejecting the version of reality that he's convinced her to believe. Through Utena's sacrifice, she can finally see her circumstances for what they truly are.
The exit to Ohtori was always there for Anthy, but like so many real life victims of abuse, sometimes the logistics of leaving aren't what's keeping you trapped. An abuser can make themselves your whole world, and sometimes the greatest challenge can be realizing just how small, confining, and batshit crazy their rules really are.
Abandoning the life an abuser has made for you can feel impossible from the inside. But then you catch a glimpse of something beyond, something that makes you look around and ask, "How did I think any of this was even remotely normal?" And suddenly, leaving starts to feel like the most natural thing in the world.
well
let's take a specific sequence and compare the four primary translations of Utena that I know of. why this one? because i know we changed it and also sequences with these two had a lot of minor telling differences from one effort to the next
Revolutionary Girl Utena, Episode 25, Our Eternal Apocalypse
Touga: You're driving quite fast. Akio: She's purring nicely, don't you think? Care to take the wheel? Touga: What? But I still don't… Akio: You're too strict… Touga: That was a rather indecent proposal, Mr. Chairman.
T: We're really flying down the road... A: The throb of the engine feels good, doesn't it? A: Care to take the wheel? T: Hm? But I'm not old enough.. A: Such a strict boy. T: That wasn't a fair proposal, Mr. Chairman.
T: We're really flying down the road... A: The throb of the engine feels good, doesn't it? A: Care to take the wheel? T: Hm? But I'm not old enough.. A: How upright of you. T: That was an indecent proposal, Mr. Chairman.
T: You're flying down the road. A: Exquisite vibrations, no? A: Care to take the wheel? T: Huh? But I'm still not... A: Well, aren't you stiff? T: That was rather inappropriate, Board Chairman.
Fashionably late? As always. 2023 was a HUGE year for Empty Movement, so much so that to confess, we did a big fail in actually keeping up with sharing the stuff we did! OOPS. So finally, we proudly bring you: all the Revolutionary Girl Utena content we dropped in 2023. Essays, artbooks, CD information, you name it. Click below for the entire site update, or get it at the source, as always, at ohtori.nu.
