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Young Utena and her "Prince"
~story~
So this episode gave a pretty solid foundation for the basic storyline. Utena's parents died when she just a young child and then a "prince" comes to save her and now she has this obsession with trying to be just a prince so she can go and save princesses. It's kind of cute actually. In a creepy way. This "prince" also gave her a Rose Seal which is apparently some big deal cause only members of the Student Council are really supposed to have them. While she's at school she meets Anthy and Saionji (both of which are members of the Student Council) and she learns that Anthy is the Rose Bride. What that means or how that affects anything is still a mystery but just know that Anthy is the Rose Bride. Later on, Utena challenges Saionji to a duel because he posted a love letter up in the hallway that Utena's best friend Wakaba wrote to him and Utena is pissed. She goes and fights Saionji and she somehow beats him with a broken piece of crap wooden sword and Anthy is now under Utena's control or belongs to Utena and Utena is just like "lolwhut". And that's basically it. It's really confusing but it should all get explained soon.
Saionji slaps Anthy.
~art~
This series is from 1997 so obviously the art is going to look dated. For being so old it doesn't look that bad, but it's definitely nothing compared to more recent anime. The art is pretty decent until a lot of things begin happening (such as during the fight scene) and things get pretty blurry and it's hard to tell what's going on without getting a headache from squinting your eyes. One thing that is really annoying is that when they want to emphasize a certain thing or character there is this rose border that pops up and it is really distracting and it pretty much blocks the screen that they are trying to emphasize. Really defeats the purpose of having it.
Wakaba feels betrayed after Utena rips her love letter from the wall.
~sound~
The sound from the video that I watched was about four seconds behind the action on the screen. I'm not sure if that was the player's fault or the actual episode's fault but I feel it should still be noted. The opening theme is really catchy and is a really great song. The OST itself was really nice and has some nice tracks. However, there were two insert songs this episode (one when Utena was walking up some stairs and one during the actual fight scene) that are really irritating and just poorly produced songs with some weird chanty vocals about the absolute apocalypse or something. The ending theme wasn't the greatest but it wasn't too unbearably bad.
The stairs to the battle arena.
~character~
Anthy has got to be one of the only black characters in the history of anime. I was so shocked that she was black that I couldn't focus on the fight scene for a little bit XD The "prince" that saved Utena was also black so she either is related to the prince or she is the prince (because Utena said that they have the same rose scent). Saionji is an arrogant jerk that needs a reality check on how you treat people in the world. Hell, the whole Student Council is a mess. Especially the blue-hair boy (who has yet to be named). For some reason he was having this psychotic breakdown while writing in his diary while the Student Council was talking about the End of the World (the absolute apocalypse perhaps??). As previously stated, Utena has this obsession with becoming a prince to save princesses. That's why she wears the boy's uniform at school (even though the boys wear a completely different uniform). There were also these two little shadow figures that appeared before the battle that talked about this random thing like chatty little gradeschool girls and I'm not sure what their purpose is but it's kinda awkward and I don't feel that they are truly necessary. Wakaba is obviously a character that is going to be forgotten all about by probably the fifth episode. I'll be shocked if she makes it to episode ten. And last but not least we have the red-haired dude who appears to be the leader of the Student Council (yet I can't name him). The only thing I have to say about him is "Oh yeah baby".
Utena -vs- Saionji
~overall~
This episode receives a B-. It leaves the viewer really confused and while the foundation for the story is set there is just way too many loose ends for a debut episode to leave open. The episode itself moved along pretty fast (although it did drag ever so slightly in the beginning).
Anthy presents herself to Utena as the Rose Bride.
~prediction diary~
This is a new segment! After each episode review we will post our predictions of what is to come!!
-Anthy will get to stay with Utena now
-Utena is going to have no clue what's happening so things will be explained
-Saionji is going to fight for Anthy back
-The leader of the Student Council is going to get involved
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