A POORLY EDITED RECOMMENDATION OF ADOLESCENCE APOCALYPSE

TONY T. - Managing Editor, 3rd Year, Economics and Data Science

"Perfection"

I don’t like works that rely too hard on symbolism in order to be understood. Occasionally, as in around every year or so, some series with heavy amounts of implied messages with nothing outright confirmed will release, with its audience claiming that it’s a masterpiece of unrivaled proportions and that it will ultimately change the face of the industry.

Then, about two weeks after it airs, it gets forgotten, only referenced when ardent nerds like me dig them up for discussion years after the fact. This is true of most seasonal anime, but I find it especially relevant for certain psychological dramas with heavy melodramatic elements. Yes, people remember Evangelion, but do many still discuss, say, RahXephon or Soukyuu no Fafner all that often? These shows aren’t necessarily bad, but I find them ultimately forgettable because they exist to scratch an itch which has already been fully addressed by another work in great detail. Series like Monogatari (although I’d argue that its influences could be traced further back to Haruhi Suzumiya) or, say, Madoka Magica, are similar in this sense, where they shifted the popular opinion of how a certain type of media is looked at resulting in an annual wave of imitators that get compared favorably only to be washed away by the sands of time. But again, this seems most evident in dramatic psychological fiction, specifically those aimed at teenagers, as that is an audience where every bold idea is new and thus revolutionary.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is not one of those series. In fact, it is so distinct from the cultural trends of its era, or really any era, to where it’s actually been quite difficult for me to write an introduction into it. The above rambling isn’t really my best work, but I can’t think of anything better. Utena is a series that speaks on ideas so broad yet in so much detail to where I consider it must-watch media for anyone interested in anime. Its messages regarding the nature of coming of age and conforming to social pressures is perhaps some of the most compelling I’ve seen in fiction, much less the medium of anime. Utena is the rare anime series that I will read deeply into and come out with an idea that I don’t necessarily need to accept under a “death of the author” interpretation as I am fully confident in Ikuhara Kunihiko’s intentions. And yet, I don’t consider it perfect. There’s slight issues with the pacing – while the repetition of certain elements works thematically and is brilliantly woven into the main concept of revolution, it isn’t always compelling. While I enjoy the Black Rose portion of the storyline as a sort of intermission, I cannot deny that a more complete version of the same story would probably not include it. Additionally, Utena looks absolutely stellar for a television anime with thirty nine episodes due to great direction and shot composition, but there is a decent amount of scene reuse that gets slightly annoying if the series is binged.

Adolescence Apocalypse, then, represents the best iteration of the ideas present in Utena while not outright overwriting the original series. Effectively, the film is a take on the same concepts, such as the somewhat flawed pursuit of an idealized image that Utena Tenjou engages in. However, it refines the ideas. This goes beyond the film’s gorgeous aesthetics (it is one of the best looking anime films of all time) or its soundtrack. Even the most basic ideas within the original series, such as a bit regarding cars (which probably plays on the role that driving a car has attained in coming of age within Western cultures), is expanded. Presenting a far more accentuated version of the original, the film goes far and beyond by also illustrating the inherent themes with more depth and more development. This could be seen in two ways. Adolescence Apocalypse is somewhat flawed in that it relies on understanding of the series and hence the series and its several faults must be experienced before seeing the film. In a different view, though, the film is brilliant in taking an already superb series and expanding on relevant concepts. Most features considered by film snobs as cinematic masterpieces are standalone in terms of not needing any context to understand. Adolescence Apocalypse could never reach those standards, then, given its ties to Revolutionary Girl Utena, but just like the film implies with its ideas, those standards and labels are simply a construct of collective acceptance. In a manner that I could best compare to End of Evangelion, the Utena film is a film that demonstrates the brilliance of its accompanying series. Thus, it raises the medium of television anime as a whole by showing that even a series aimed at geeks with bizarre passions, can, with enough talent and directorial effort, be raised to amazing heights. While it isn’t my favorite anime, and I dislike descriptions of media using terms implying objectivity exists in art, I do subjectively consider Adolescence Apocalypse a film that is worthy of being considered high art.