This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
Anyone else watching this? I started it because I saw people saying it's the next Utena so I got curious.
I'm not 100% entirely sold on it. I can see how people would make the parallel (I don't want to spoil anyone, but it comes towards the end of the episode) but to me it seems kind of shallow so far. Of course it's only episode 1, so there's a lot of opportunity for it to get better. I'm going to stick with it and see how it goes.
Offline
I've never heard of this, but I'll give it a try. Looking at the description, I probably ignored it if I ever glanced at it before because of the mentions of "song and dance", because I'm so used to idol pedo shows in this day and age. :L But any comparison to Utena intrigues me, even a potentially superficial one.
Edit: Alright, watched the first episode and it was really good, but I'm also conflicted, because I'm not fully confident on whether it's going for Utena/Madoka-style trickery or if it's just more creative than the average cute-show. It did go into exactly the kind of Ikuhara-like dialogue and visuals I love, so I want to believe, but I'm scared of being burned, and I desperately want this show to masterfully deconstruct the kind of show I mistook it for.
Edit edit: Oh wow, the director worked on Penguindrum and Yurikuma. In this case, I feel like I will have more confidence, as he's someone who's actually learned from Ikuni, so this show is the result of that influence rather than that influence finding its way into an otherwise industry-fueled show.
Last edited by Arale (07-21-2018 03:38:16 AM)
Offline
The show's about halfway done so I'll give a bit of an update...
The climaxes to each episode continued to be excellent, but I thought that the show wasn't fully reaching its potential for weirdness and avant-garde.
Until the most recent episode, 7. It's a big elevation of tone on its own, and perhaps the most thematically Ikuhara of all, dealing with eternity and nostalgia. If the show continues to escalate from here, it can be top star.
Last edited by Arale (08-27-2018 06:17:42 AM)
Offline
Yeah I agree. I was kind of confused about where it was going until episode 7, but it seems to be pulling its act together now. I hope it becomes something amazing! [I knew Banana was going to be more than met the eye, so I'm glad I was right.]
Last edited by HonorableShadow (08-31-2018 05:24:47 PM)
Offline