Kunihiko Ikuhara Needs More Gay

[@soren7550]

"It's a big mistake to think you're the only one who can turn into a car. I'm a car now too." may be my new favorite line ever.

[@Redem10]

I admire your ability to tell the synopsis of lesbian bear storm with a completle straight face

[@TheAnimaAnimal]

He's the master

[@laurabea660]

honestly, the premise of penguindrum is even weirder. A group of kids listening to a gift shop penguin hat in order to save their sisters life and change fate? And i wonder why i still haven't managed to convince ant of my friends to watch it yet...

[@LiliLovesStuff]

Laura Bea tell your friends they suck I held a group of strangers hostage in a room and screamed at them about Ikuhara for 2 hours. The only person who left left because she didn’t want spoilers for Penguindrum then tweeted at me how amazing it was.

[@JulianGreystoke]

"Sword feminism is the best kind of feminism" Not sure how you did it, but you have found my life mantra!

[@LibraGamesUnlimited]

In my experience swords make most things better. :)

[@JulianGreystoke]

True facts!

[@idraote]

unfortunately "swords" have a long tradition of being used as a sexual metaphor... a male sexual metaphor.

[@GabyShichi]

Utena is also remarkable because there's gay girls and boys in the same anime universe. That doesn't happen much.

[@ilostthegame6220]

yeah you're kinda right. with the exception of clamp, no will realy do this in an anime

[@Painocus]

Happened in Neon Genesis Evangelion too. And in Mai-Hime (with a trans-man/cis-man relationship on the boys' side).

[@garbagegarbagegarbage1005]

Painocus where is the trans man relationship in mai HiME?

[@featheredskyblue]

You mentioned the idea of boxes, and Utena has something of that, too, in its use of coffins. Anthy's great big "screw you" speech to Akio in the last episode of the series is the most familiar to me because that speech is amazing, but the idea of hiding yourself away in a coffin is present throughout in different forms.

[@SirEriol]

Akio is a guy who has made his world a coffin and convinces you to stay there. "You can only grow in this safe garden". Sanetoshi is this guy who puts you in a locked box and starves you until you can "free yourself" and fight the world he despises. Haven't watched Yuri Kuma Arashi nor the Kappa kids one, but I am very excited. Hooray, boxes~

[@bewilderbeastie8899]

"Flowers all over the fuck everywhere" is my new go-to sentence when I need to explain shoujo manga to anyone.

[@TheInnerSanctuary]

We were supposed to get a Neptune/Uranus movie!?!?!? WE COULD HAVE HAD IT ALL.jpg

[@maugos]

We still sorta did. There is a special episode made during the fourth season that stars only the two. It's called "The Return of Haruka and Michiru! The Ghostly Puppet Show" in case you're interested in watching it. It's the only episode in the entire anime that stars them as the main characters.

[@TheInnerSanctuary]

Saw it, loved it.

[@BriGuyIL1980]

With the Four Generals/Four Heavenly Kings from Season One of Sailor Moon in it as well.

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

They were in the SuperS serial movie anyway, which while Ikuhara didn't direct it, screenwriter Yoji Enokido who also wrote 20 episodes of Utena did write said film as well. That's where the infamous line, "There are so many fun things to do as adults" said by Neptune/Michiru is from. The original was scrapped because the producer who was working on it left Toei before Ikuhara and co. did. Black Dream Hole is very worth a watch honestly. It's only an hour long.

[@TheInnerSanctuary]

Black Dream Hole was the very first subtitled Sailor Moon thing I ever saw (outside of internet clips) and owned. It was magical.

[@Inujade]

Small but relevant aside --Kunihiko Ikuhara was allegedly Hideaki Anno's inspiration for his character Kaworu (Neon Genesis Evangelion), who happens to be canonically gay. It's to the extent that when they released a character book for Kaworu, Ikuhara himself wrote the introduction for it. Thought that might interest you, Rantasmo!

[@ToruKun1]

Anno also wanted Ikuhara to guest direct a few episodes of Evangelion and even named Rei Ayanami in his honor (as in Rei Hino/Sailor Mars)

[@filipe19991]

So can all lesbians can turn into a car? How come no one told me that?

[@EstherTheNicey]

You can only unlock this skill if you are at least a lvl 12 lesbian.

[@filipe19991]

EstherTheNicey How do I check the level of a lesbian? Also how can ask a 12 level lesbian to transform into a car?

[@EstherTheNicey]

***** You can check their level by looking at their profile information in the in-game chat. Maybe they'll show you their transformation if you help them out with some quests.

[@filipe19991]

EstherTheNicey Do i have to pay for anything?

[@EstherTheNicey]

***** I wouldn't think so high level lesbians can be quite generous sometimes.

[@trifontrifonov4297]

You forgot to mention that Revolutionary Girl Utena has one of the best openings in anime. Joking aside. I think Mr Kunihiko Ikuhara knew that most people will find a aggressively sexual lesbian character offensive, but he also knew that those kind of character are an active trope in yuri, so he took the trope and then made a character with a compelling back-story out of it. Did it work? Not as well he wanted, I am sure. But I think that most people who watch anime, would catch the trope and what he tried to do with it.

[@RothurThePaladin]

Shoujo Kakumei Utena is soooooo good. also "I'm a car now too" lol

[@joshuaklub3786]

Best fucking line in anything ever. "surprised? You're not the only one who can turn into a car."

[@RothurThePaladin]

+Joshua Klub its amazing

[@mb7626]

Anthy is one of the best characters in anything ever tbqh.

[@kittykatjagirl]

Two years after this video, Sarazanmai was born. Update, please!

[@Laylabelle97]

Some theorize that the car transformation scene in Adolescence is meant to be an abstract metaphor for taking on the trappings of adulthood. Having a car means independence, which is often connotes adulthood.

[@shingshongshamalama]

The cars are used an reused a lot in the series, as well. There are layers upon layers of meaning, as with pretty much everything Ikuhara does.

[@waldolumberjack3169]

shingshongshamalama The interesting part (Take notice this is my interpretation) the original series pretty much destroys the significance of a car as a fake "adulthood" in the media they always talk about the car was this liberating thing just to be behind the wheel but it isn't in a car you usually have way more rules, way more things that can go wrong and a lot of consequences if you make a mistake, that's why Akko rides his car so much in a metaphor akin itself represent the idea we get of what is like to be an adult when we are younger, you know freedom and all that, the same way the notion of a car that we get when we are younger not knowing the "real deal" of adulthood. If it doesn't make sense don't worry I usually don't.

[@egyptjaguar9050]

@@waldolumberjack3169 maybe the difference in the movie then, is instead of driving a car, they become one. The show they were trying to accumulate all sorts of objects and people to make themselves feel better and free-er, but it didn't work, and they all were lonely inside and trapped. In the movie, they stripped themselves of everything and became vehicles to their freedom and independence. They had to change themselves to be able to get out, and couldn't rely on anything to do it for them. In the show people were waiting for princes to save them, and blamed their problems on external factors and excuses for why they couldn't leave. The only two people to escape in the show were Utena by taking a stand and putting it all on the line, and Anthy by walking out with her own two legs.

[@SirEriol]

Getting a car is the modern day equivalent of getting a horse in the good ole' timey days. Please not how Akio uses his car to [triggering spoilers] anyone he wants to show "true freedom" and how Utena's opening horses totally come up into play in every itteration of this franchise.

[@Rathdrgnknight]

Adolescence of Utena was my first venture into non-pokemon/ygo anime as a kid. I saw the movie at 14 and the crazy confusing car transformation scene is one of my favorite things to this day. (Though my favorite scene from the entire movie is when Utena and Anthy dance in the flooded rose garden under the stars, I thought that scene was absolutely beautiful.) I don't know why. Also, I got the vibe that Utena was coded as more bisexual? I dunno. It seems (at least in the movie) that she cared very deeply for Touga before he (spoilers for an old movie) died. And the scene in the elevator is where she finally accepts his death and lets herself be able to love Anthy.

[@egyptjaguar9050]

So the Utena being bi or gay thing I think is still a question among fans(?) I've always been of the opinion that she's bi, but I think some other people I knew were team gay. I'm talking only about the show btw, since the movie's different. If I had to guess, I would think that the ones who see her as gay saw the show like this: she was playing a prince but also that of a princess trying to find her prince, and always being disappointed when she would find the so called prince. Sometimes in media there'll be that character who seems to have a totally unattainable standard for partner, and the reason why is because it's what they think they're looking for, because they haven't realized/ are out as gay, which in this case would be Utena. And then Utena finds one who seems to be the ideal prince, but it's not how she expected at all, and she still sees the non princely qualities that exist beneath, and realizes that her prince does not exist in real life, and that what she actually wants is already there (Anthy) if she would just go to her, instead of chasing what she thinks she wants (a prince) as a girl Sorry that's kind of convoluted! But I think that's where the confusion comes from. Tbh I wasn't even sure if Utena liked Anthy until the last few episodes of the show, because the gayest thing about it was the opening and apocalypse song. But for most of the show Utena thought she was straight, so I guess it makes sense to doubt it when she didn't see it either.

[@SirEriol]

I like to think of Utena as "everyone's bi until fully gay". Heck, even Akio is implied to have supressed homosexual tendencies (not his manipulations, that's just r4pe) with his longing for total control over femininitt and the sadness in which he describes his stiffling role. "Swords don't really go with dresses", and such. Touga, Mikage, Wakaba, Sainoji... The only ones I can't think of that have no bi-curiosity are Yuri (who's straight in the manga and bi in the film), Ruka (who functions as a mirror to other male characters), Nanami (who's too fucked up to truly know what love means to her) and Shiori, (who's a total bitch). But I only hold that mentality for the sake of representation. I believe that Utena not only discards the need for gender labels, but also sexuality's. Imagine Haruhi Fujioka's philosophy of "as long as you're a good person" but aplied to your whole self and not just your gender. Truly, a revolutionary work.

[@anyanP]

Rantasmo, since you started to go deeper into anime hell, maybe you will tackle CLAMP? Their one of most famous work, Card Captor Sakura, have a lot of gayness, especially for something that targeted at younger audience. Their another famous work, X/1999, is very homoerotic (and have a gay couple, but their story is really tragic but NOT because of they are gay). Their two one of most recent anime-adapted manga - Tsubasa RC and xxxHolic - are less explicit in terms of queerness, but also have some interesting subtext. Interesting part of CLAMP's manga is that love knows no gender. Gay and straight romance both are natural and normal in their works. Well, straight romance is usually less subtle, but not that much.

[@mlovecraftr]

+

[@joshuaklub3786]

from all the clamp mangas I've read, it really felt like they just couldn't go one series without making someone gay.

[@bubblecaster1475]

I don't know if i would recommend X/1999. To be honest it mostly seems like over-the-top-window dressings, and fetish material. A bit of a guilty pleasure. Also it has the most extreme unresolved cliffhanger in the history of manga. I don't think it will ever be finished. sigh.. :(

[@Hakajin]

Oh, God, CLAMP! That would be interesting. Because CLAMP has this weird thing where everyone is pan. In their works, being in love with someone usually means that that person is the most important person to you (the phrase "my most important person" or "my number one" pops up a lot). In Cardcaptor Sakura, fourth grader Tomoyo is in love with her best friend (and cousin, it turns out) Sakura. But then, in Tsubasa, there's a different version of that character from a different world. There's no Sakura in that world (or if there is, Tomoyo hasn't met her), and Tomoyo is in love with the male Kurogane (this is only referred to once, when she refers to "the person I love," but it's there). It's stated in that series multiple times that the characters have the same soul as the ones we've met, so they're basically the same in terms of what they're like; any differences are a result of environment. Also in Cardcaptor Sakura, you have Sakura's brother, Touya, who's in love with his male friend Yukihito. But then it turns out he was also romantically involved with a woman earlier. And then you have Seiishiro from Tokyo Babylon and X/1999, who's in love with male Subaru. But before that, he was romantically interested in... his mother. Yeah, this idea of someone's "most important person" gets a little weird. In Cardcaptor Sakura, there's a fourth grade girl in a relationship with her teacher, who's gotta be at least in his twenties. It's all innocent; he won't touch her until she's of age, and they're genuinely in love; they're even engaged. Which is completely unrealistic, but there it is. That's the problem with CLAMP: their general message is "all forms of love are acceptable," (as long as it's consentual and based on mutual love and respect). But... there are representations of things that just don't exist in the real world. Rika, the girl involved with her teacher, is basically on the same level as an adult-- mature and on an equal level with her teacher. In these relationships, though, sexuality doesn't seem to have much to do with it; it's all based on feelings of affection and love. Which, asexuality is definitely a thing, but from CLAMP's perspective, it works this way for everyone. Characters can have sexuality, but that's secondary. In one series, can't have sex with the person he loves, but decides to stay with her, anyway. Which I'm sure some people would do, but the way it's sold is, sex really isn't that important. "I don't love her because I want to do it with her," he says, "I want to do it with her because I love her." It's also strange considering the sexualized way CLAMP presents many of their characters, both male and female. And there's definitely a lot of male/male stuff for the fangirls... Yeah, you could write a book analyzing CLAMP's take on love and sexuality.

[@Hakajin]

I really enjoyed it, though. I read it so I'd recognize more characters when I read Tsubasa, but I really enjoyed X more. The main characters didn't interest me much, but I loved some of the secondary ones.

[@ConvincingPeople]

YES, GOOD. My only qualm here is the fact that you failed to point out how there are several characters in Yurikuma Arashi who are very clearly meant to represent the internalisation of homophobia through the assumption of roles common in lesbian-exploitation media in Japan, but who and how is pretty damned spoilertacular, so I get why you might have left it out.

[@ConvincingPeople]

(YKA is one of my favourite recent anime series and basically pure queer rage, so this point is important to me.)

[@LaNoLaCola]

I just lost it at the transforming into a car bit. Seriously, WHAT?!

[@Nomnomboris]

This was a great episode! Utena movie was one of the first LGBT-themed animes I've seen and I didn't know if I should love it or hate it. Still truly don't know because of how it is. Anime has a very big part in my life as it was one of the ways I realized I was gay. I really liked your analogy and break down of the different shows.

[@thecuttlekid2758]

has Rantasmo looked at Madoka Magica yet? because if he hasn't, he really really needs to.

[@famuel2604]

I asked for this episode years ago and now i have it

[@EstherTheNicey]

It was worth the wait :)

[@rocketfallen]

Having randomly found my way back to this video, I wonder if you'd ever checked out Sarazanmai. I'd love to hear your thoughts on it.

[@gabsgoo7716]

I actually screamed when I saw you made this.

[@audreymcknight]

And now Ikuhara is back with the Gay Boyz in Sarazanmai. Could this be the end of the Lesbian Phase? Nearly all of it revolves around like, Homosexual love and epic friendship.

[@tintinaus]

Please review Ikuhara's latest work - Sarazanmai!

[@qwellen7521]

Great video as always. Have you considered doing an episode and Dr Who and the spin off Torchwood?

[@clairecorin5684]

Yes please!

[@lizzycorvus5109]

Do it!

[@HannibalHanslaughter]

pleease!

[@LibraGamesUnlimited]

"Torchwood", in it's day, was dripping with gay. "Doctor Who" seems to have largely leveled off other than random mentions. I mean it's nowhere at the level it was when Captain Jack was on it. I kind of miss it actually.

[@annas9016]

especially now that they've introduced a gay lead

[@altair_nair3702]

Sadly this video came out before sarazanmai! There you have the more gay exploration to ikuharas lesbian

[@Sasscat58]

Sarazanmai Ikuhara’s latest work also features boxes. That one seems to be centered around the concept of shame and unhealthy attachments to people

[@pirsocau]

I was literally obsessed with Utena when I was 13-14, I gotta rewatch the whole series and movie again. That English dub tho...

[@Amaritudine]

I think there was a 'Brows Held High' episode on Utena a few years back? This is a great companion to Kyle's review, even though I've never seen the actual property being discussed. The exploration of its themes, imagery and direction is interesting enough on its own.

[@jesusp.g.1833]

I can't tell you how happy I was when I saw you upload this video! Thanks for all of your hard work and now I'm going to watch penguin drum, yurikuma, and maybe rewatch utena

[@bubblecaster1475]

Hi Rantasmo, great video! Earlier I made a comment saying I wouldn’t recommend X/1999. I would strongly recommend reading Tokyo Babylon though. One reason is that the series actually had things to say about 90's Japan. That level of social commentary is uncommon in its genre. Also same sex love is actually central to the story.

[@lizzycorvus5109]

Be Poppas sounds like an 80s rap group.

[@stefanfilipovits9221]

I really hope to get your take on Penny Dreadful someday . I'd love to hear your thoughts.

[@lovelysan]

Great episode! I really need to get around to watching Penguindrum and Yurikuma someday. (been meaning to, I just keep on forgetting.) Also, ""Flowers all over the fuck everywhere" , will now be my new word for shoujo XD .

[@Titaniumbunny24]

I have so much weird lesbian anime to watch now. Thanks Rantasmo!

[@buttersnjelly6956]

On point analysis as always! I don't know if anyone's ever been able to summarize the themes of these shows so succinctly, haha. Great work!

[@RebbieChan]

I watched the Utena movie when I was 11 (and definitely didn't know I was a lesbian) and really liked everything about it except the weird ending where they turned into a car and they were like ??? it always seemed to ...very weirdly sexual. Been thinking about trying to watch it again because I remember it being really good, but the last scene always overshadowed the rest of it for me when I was a kid.

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

Oh it was definitely sexual. The whole series is sexual, but its implicit. Utena becoming a car is essentially a pun on Mahayana (Great Vehicle) sect of Buddhism, which the series is largely inspired by. She became the vehicle that brings Anthy and her friends to enlightenment and frees them from the existential prison that is Ohtori which they have trapped themselves in due to the fear of growing up and facing what is essentially the real world in what is implied to be a post-apocalyptic state. Which is a sharp contrast from how Akio would use cars to show his power over the students as an "adult", as a means to seduce and control them. And on a pseudo-Freudian level, it is very easy to surmise that Anthy driving Utena while being chased down by the sixteen wheeler and the black car drones who wanted to keep them in the prison is essentially an allegory for the adrenaline rush that takes place during sex.

[@RebbieChan]

I didn't know that was inspired from a Buddhist story! That puts thing it a different context and definitely makes it less weird. I mean I watched the movie well over ten years ago so I definitely remember it in a foggy / child's not totally understanding view. I think also being that I was 'self-closeted, not comfortable with myself or understanding my identity' at the time, I was just very uncomfortable with anything remotely sexual. So I think I'd have a different view of it now, I really think I'd like to watch it again. although i have tried the bear show one and while i like the themes it's too weird for me.

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

RebbieChan Well its not a Buddhist story, its a subsystem of beliefs within Buddhism. The symbolism of her being a car is just a pun on the name of said system and represents her role in the story. And yeah watching it at that age can be both fascinating and unsettling, but nevertheless eye opening. Especially given the exposure to overtly sexual ideas despite not even knowing about the birds and the bees yet. YKA is fantastic but, it is a bit silly. Especially starting out. The series is essentially an homage to an incident in Japanese history called the Sankebetsu brown bear massacre and the idea of people treating lesbians in media like they do teddy bears: cute and hot/enthralling to watch but when compared to the real thing they're considered a danger to society and "different/not human". But also on a visual and subtly inspired level with its setting it references the 1977 Italian cult horror film Suspiria by Dario Argento, which is about an American girl coming to all female dance school in Germany where frequent murders and disappearances of the students are pinned on a witch whose ghost inhabits the school. I'd say that with all that in mind, you might want to give it another try since its only 12 episodes. But that's really up to you. No pressure there.

[@RebbieChan]

I think what I really need to see most is that Italian film because that sounds 100% up my alley. I may give that show a second chance eventually just because I really like the themes. It seems like one of the very few shows that openly talk about what being gay and particularly a lesbian can be like. But it is still very out there...

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

RebbieChan Oh so true, I definitely need to watch that film myself. I hope you do because I love YKA for its themes too. Also I like Ikuhara's works because I like weird and out there shit too. :D

[@_goopho]

Hope you'll cover Ryoko Ikeda and CLAMP at some point... Would love to hear your commentary about Versailles no Bara, Card Captor Sakura etc.

[@stratovolcano7813]

To be fair, utena and anthys relationship was meant to be 100% explicitly romantic in the tv series, but the author of the manga (plus i believe the lead character designer) threatened to walk out if they made them "canon". The author later changed their mind about it, and in the second ending they're clearly shown kissing, but nothing more explicit than that unfortunately :I.

[@25KnightOwl]

"Best feminism is sword feminism" is now my favourite phrase in the English language :D

[@minstrelofmoria]

The Mary Sue has an episode-by-episode analysis of Yurikuma Arashi, taking apart all the references to everything from real-life bear attacks to Dario Argento films. It's pretty amazing.

[@claudialomeli4048]

That beret wearing bunny in the background is plotting something.

[@RenaDeles]

so happy to see you cover his work, all three of these series have a big place in my heart, especially lesbian bears. I'll second you looking at No. 6 would be great. The gayness is actually text, and it's a really interesting series set in dystopian heavily caste based society with some good worldbuilding

[@soloflare9696]

Welp, you got your wish. Ikuhara created Sarazanmai earlier this year, and at (the very) least one of the main characters is a gay male, and there are several gay side characters. Also, it continues the motif of boxes and Ikuhara’s propensity towards density. It’s not as direct with its allusions to real-life exclusion of LGBT+ people in Japan as Yurikuma Arashi is. Though, it’s still a great time, with its own solid dramatic story to tell, with an interesting, dynamic trio of main characters. If you liked Penguindrum, chances are that you’ll probably like this too.

[@itskyatto]

It's a shame this video came out before Sarazanmai aired...

[@Edrobot7]

Great episode! Revolutionary Girl Utena is my favorite anime of all time, and while I don't think that Penguindrum was as good, I still enjoyed it. I'll have to check out Yurikuma Arashi at some point.

[@whilykitt]

I am endlessly impressed with your videos! I'm always learning new things and it makes me so happy thing queer theory in media is being talked about in a fun a palatable way :)

[@PirateArr]

As a big Utena fan I was hyyyyyped for this (bit strange that you watched the dub though, it's pretty awful)

[@Tuvella1]

Thank you so much for talking about Ikuhara! Utena is the shit.

[@BriGuyIL1980]

Not just my favorite anime, but one of my favorite TV shows

[@LadyLunarSatine]

Well the movie certainly doesn't do the IP any favors. I had one friend walk out of the room when it went to the scene of young Tohga in the man's garden.

[@maugos]

Oh yes, Utena. There's an anime I keep forgetting to watch.

[@AshleyYakeley]

Kunihiko Ikuhara needs more gay? Boy, did you ever get YOUR wish. #Sarazanmai

[@SycoraxSnow]

Zoicite and Nephrite were also both men in the original and romantically involved (in the anime) and there's the gender bender sailor stars

[@SpectrumVee]

I love when you dip into anime and video games and stuff. You're super open minded to it compared to a lot of other reviewers that deal with media of all shades. Keep being awesome Rantasmo!

[@Marina-of-Nohr]

This was a fun little vid! I really need to finish Yurikuma, huh? Also, I’m now very curious about your opinion on Sarazanmai. It came out long after this vid, and you were right, Ikuhara did need more gay because it’s a pretty insane show and I loved every bizarre minute of it, faults and all.

[@ocallaghandesign]

Insightful as ever...even as a bit of an old-taku, I learned a few things, and saw some things in a new light. Speaking of old-taku, not that you needed him on this, at all, but would you consider a cross over with Bennett The Sage, the next time you do anime? Could be funny.

[@nessesaryschoolthing]

Is this where Rick and Morty got the idea for "Turn into a car, Morty!"

[@godzillasaurbuttersworth3176]

M-Morty,,,I ne-eeed you to turn into a car, Morty wHAT?!

[@marekwygnany924]

Dear Rantasmo! I'm delighted everytime you make your videos, watching you talking about many interesting topics. One thing can't leave my head. Could you make a commentary about league of legends? I'm burning with silient anticipation, waiting for moment you comment upon playing upon stereotypical FABOLOUS Taric&Ezreal love, or forbidden attraction between Sunlight priestess and MoonScorne Heretic. Wishing best for ye MdS

[@mikethegrunty5968]

“ lesbian bear storm” should be a band name

[@cyssyk2472]

This was incredible. Thank you Rantasmo.

[@tcameronc93]

I've never clicked on a video so fast...

[@TokyoGirl07]

I'd like to hear your thoughts on Hannibal (the series)

[@comediaace]

I love Ikuhara. Awesome episode

[@TindraSan]

everything's going to be daijoubu

[@unicorn_jazz]

lol cringy but awesome comment

[@TindraSan]

***** it was a reference to one of the subtitles in Yurikuma, if you didn't know. it's kinda infamous

[@unicorn_jazz]

TindraSan Omg, now I remember xD All those memes

[@dinoelsaurio]

Omg! With this episode I know that I shall never ever leave your channel

[@PoseidonXIII]

I love weird, so I can't wait to watch these shows. Thanks for discussing them!

[@cheruriYuki]

This video is... FABULOUS MAX!!!✨

[@tsukiraaquarius8746]

THANK YOU FOR TALKING ABOUT IKUHARA!!!!!!

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

Well done. You have a great understanding and viewpoint of Ikuhara's works, far more than a lot of people on KZbin and anime fans/historians in general. I disagree with you on some points and wish you had gone more in depth about Utena and Anthy's relationship in Adolescence, but otherwise this was a solid video. :)

[@undercoverkopp4048]

Okay, but you are a saint for getting through all of these. I AM a lesbian with a general interest in anime, but I tap out hard when the women start turning into cars.

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

A general interest in anime, but you don't really seem to be interested in complex narratives built off of metaphor and symbolic aesthetic that convey messages that you would find relatable. But hey, art is subjective.

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

Or maybe people can interpret what they think is weird or incomprehensible as good fun, but on the second viewing realize that there was a deeper meaning? What a concept, am I right?

[@juken16]

where is my yu you hakusho please rantasmo

[@godzillasaurbuttersworth3176]

I really think you should do an episode about Peanuts. Yes, there's the obvious 'Peppermint Patty and Marcy are lesbians' joke, but I think it goes deeper than that, both w those two characters as well as the rest of the cast.

[@oroontheheels]

But there is more than 4 gay characters in Utena! Not only Utena/Anthy or Juri/Shiori. There is also bisexual Touga (who had sex with Akio), Saionji (who probably had sex with Touga and maybe Akio) and -hey- Akio himself. And don't forget Mikage! You can tell i love this anime :D

[@lucalopez9604]

tbh, all the cast must have had sex with Akio...

[@Demain204]

WTF Where in the actual fuck THAT HAPPEN ?????

[@oroontheheels]

Katie Gamer in Utena TV series I guess

[@joel0joel0]

@@Demain204 everytime they are in his car he basically fucks them. If you look at the scenes with open eyes you pretty much get the symbols. Oh and also Mikis sister Kozue had also Sex with Anthy while Miki was duelling with Utena.

[@Bubblegob]

He's only referencing what's explicit in the anime. None of the Touga/Saionji/Akio stuff is explicit, obviously everything is here so we can infer there's something sexual about those scenes but there's still a conscious choice to not make it explicit.

[@EstherTheNicey]

Every time you upload a new video I start to reconsider my sexuality.

[@Romanticideitzcoatl]

Yesss an Ikuhara episode! :D

[@Ulquihime4ever1]

The best part about the movie is the director's commentary track. For the most part, it's uninformative and infuriating but he does reveal a few tidbits of information about scenes in the movie. When it got to the girls transforming into cars, Ikuhara said, (truncated version) "Some of my fans took issue with this. So did the staff. But I really wanted the film to be special. You know, I just really wanted the next 20 minutes to be surprising. So I thought about cars." He goes further into detail about why he turned them into cars as well as the significance, but that statement has always stuck out to me. One of the reasons that the series may have been more subdued may have been because of who he was working with. Many fans cite Chiho Saito (one of the creators of the Utena manga and a member of Be-Papas) as the main force behind diluting the homoerotic subtext in the series due to her own opinions on the subject. In my opinion, while she may have asked him to tone it down, it was probably just for the audience's sake rather then because of her own personal feelings. You can actually see a major difference between creators just by looking at this franchise, with Chiho Saito working the original manga, Ikuhara and Saito working on the TV series, Ikuhara working on the movie, and Chiho Saito working on the movie manga adaptation. It's pretty jarring to go through all of them.

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

Adolescence is basically a deconstruction of the series being a deconstruction of shoujo and fairy tale cliches. It's also an extended postmodernist allegory for Sleeping Beauty with its homosexual undertones more blatant and pronounced, since Utena and Anthy kill the Prince by becoming/replacing him with their love for each other.

[@austinyoung4675]

Now do Sarazanmai!

[@sofiadeleon6200]

I bet he saw your video and then he made Sarazanmai

[@DrewLSsix]

Oh my God! It's exactly what the alt rights been afraid of this whole time. You let people question whether they're men or women and next thing you know they're cars!

[@SB-xz5yn]

Thank you so very much for this video. I've been a very big fan of Ikuhara since back when Utena was released on VHS. Something about his way to tell social commentary in a very obscure way speaks to me. Btw. Invisibility or 'being see-through', in Penguin and Yurikuma, also refers to the frustration of living in a society that praises integration so far that anything unusual is simply ignored. A famous underage child-murderer in Japan claimed that he had done it so that he wouldn't be 'see-through' anymore.

[@barilian]

I was waiting for this!!!!!

[@augustosolari7721]

Yuri looks like Cate Blanchet

[@VirtualBoy500]

LES-FORMERS! MORE THAN MEETS THE EYE!

[@YuiNeeChan801R]

Awesome video!!! It was really weird for me that you haven't got mentioned kunihiko before!! Shoujo kakumei Utena and yuri kuma strom are like the gayest you can have in a well done anime!!

[@kennabenna999]

i can't believe ive never come across this channel before!! you remind of mark hamill somehow, i could listen to your insight all day

[@alifkembaraalam2487]

Hes do it on Sarazanmai

[@fenderlove]

Utena will forever be my favourite anime, and this just reminded me of how much I need to rewatch it. Also, I'm going to cross-stitch "Flowers. Flowers all over the fuck everywhere" on a pillow.

[@ScottJohnHarrison]

Yurikuma is the Ikuhara work I have watched the most out of...I never heard of penguindrum until yurikuma and I hadn't gone back to watch Untena because I need to be in a like you said David Lynchian mood. (I need to deeply analysis the symbolism.) T.he cuteness of the deadly bears got me into it...What I think I found the most about it is how few male characters there are in the series...and how significant their positions are.

[@ehoba]

The word "invisible" comes from the words of the boy that killed 2 kids. His nickname is Sakakibara Seito. It means unrecognized. He cursed the world which made him unrecognized/invisible. Survival strategy = love is the most powerful means not to be invisible.

[@Oblivious101]

the real question is.....which björk music video outfit would you wear for spirit week?

[@rafael285pc]

he has two original series now Penguindrum, yuri kuma arashi and sarazanmi in 2019

[@Crow7878]

I cannot help but feel sorry knowing that there is probably a lesbian out-there who's car transformation is a Yugo.

[@ingonyama70]

That bit about boxes and safety interests me in that it also seems to apply to Anthy...and to a lesser degree, Hotaru. In Anthy's case, all of Ohtori is her box. She hides there to protect herself from the pain of her past, even as the forces arrayed about her demand harder and harsher things in exchange for that safety. That's one of the reasons I love the end of the anime so much, even though reactions to it seem...mixed...among anime fans. Hotaru -- well, she IS the box, both for Mistress 9 and Sailor Saturn. It's extremely limiting to her -- both her other selves are light-years more powerful than she, and healthier besides -- but when either of them are let out, she's probably going to die. Mistress 9 is everything Hotaru's afraid of when she thinks of freedom, but Saturn doesn't look or sound much better from the perspective of someone who doesn't know her; if awakened, the Soldier of Ruin will do the same thing to the world as the Messiah of Silence, just with less hair. And less manic cackling. We hope. With the options of causing the apocaIypse and dying, or causing the apocalypse and dying For The Greater Good, it's no wonder she'd rather stay mostly bedridden. Though, Sailor Saturn does get a nifty pointy stick out of the deal, so that might swing MY vote.

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

Hotaru is the original dark magical girl. I love Homura from Puella Magi Madoka Magica but well...Hotaru is just a bit cuter. :P I only say that because your analysis of her and why she's so fascinating in SMS is so spot on.

[@ingonyama70]

ApocalypticMagicalBarty I find Homura the more compelling of the two, but that's mostly because she takes agency in her own plot (for better or worse). Hotaru is awesome, but she just kinda...has things happen to her. It's the same reason I'm always so on the fence about Anthy. I WANT to like her, but she's just so...passive. Not even passive-aggressive, just passive.

[@TruthinessChibiOtaku]

Curt Clark Oh I was fucking around, I like Homura more too but I really like your description of Hotaru being a box and in a box like Anthy, the Takakuras and Kureha/Yuriika were, because it actually makes sense. But I'd just never put two and two together. Yeah I love Anthy actually, took me a few viewings but she's now equal to Utena anyway. I actually love all the people the Duelists are fighting for more than the Duelists themselves. I view RGU as more their story as the damsels OF distress than anything. Except in the case of Utena and Juri. It goes Utena = > Anthy Juri >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Shiori Mickey >= Kozue Nanami >>>>>>>>>> Touga Eh something like that. Can we both agree that Chibiusa and Hotaru are the original pink and purple lesbian demigod loli couple though. :P

[@ingonyama70]

Pretty sure everyone hates Shiori. Me included.

[@Bloodmuffin6]

How have I never seen any of this

[@kaly7693]

"Flowers...flowers all over the **** everywhere" LOOOOOOOOOL so true.

[@hellzoneUK1991]

I feel the need to point out you missed that on a deeper level YKA is also about couples from different countries trying to live together in japan and be accepted; (as if the court where characters have to routinely "prove that their love is real" in order to travel to and live in the human world didn't spell that out) since Japan, a very xenophobic culture by western standards, will increasingly rely on foreign workers in the future, and mixed marriages and children will become increasingly common as a result. Otherwise nice!

[@indiiedreamer]

I love Utena so much! Yurikuma is great too

[@Shamazya]

Never clicked a video thumbnail so fast!

[@clairecorin5684]

Could you do a NMG about Black Butler (Kuroshitsuji)?