alright i've been wanting to make this post for a little bit but i've been busy since i actually have important things happening in my life now. to provide some necessary context on my opinions of Shoujo Kakumei Utena (henceforth utena), when i originally finished the show, i was very mad at it for one main issue i had with it but generally thought the parts of it that were not affected by that issue were good. i just thought that one issue was so bad that it ruined all of it since it was an intentional decision that everything was built upon. this led to my original rating of 4/10. i still currently feel that it didn't do everything perfectly, generally being a bit less dark in the important moments than i would have liked. i would be willing to reconsider this on a rewatch since i'm aware my opinions are still generally a bit skewed.
my issue with utena is as follows: despite having an interesting mystery element, compelling characters, a really cool premise, etc., i could not get past the insane amount of repetition throughout the show. i did understand at the time that there was a lot of meaning behind the repetition of many scenes, mainly in creating that fairy tale feeling and also the feeling of being trapped within it. if you haven't watched utena, you might not understand what i'm talking about: in every episode that has a duel, depending on the arc there are a number of scenes that are essentially copy/pasted, especially the scene where utena (the character) climbs the tower behind the academy, which has three versions. this show has 39 episodes, and i watched them in bursts over seven days. when you are binging utena, these scenes are grating and get old really fast. this is the main feeling that led me to my original rating.
however, there's a pretty massive fucking problem with that feeling and the conclusions i made: THIS SHOW AIRED ON TELEVISION WEEKLY. i did not watch it as it was originally intended to be viewed, so of course my experience didn't feel like it was supposed to. if you're watching this show one week at a time, or even just not within the span of a week, it's not going to feel grating; the repetition will feel much more natural, like many other formulaic shows that are still great. utena is meant to be watched with the knowledge it is episodic and should be treated as such.
since my original rating hinged on my main complaint ruining everything and i no longer think that it's a valid complaint, i am raising my rating to a 6.5/10, which for me is solidly in the "good" tier. i don't think i can in good faith give it higher than that because i do still have some other smaller problems with it, but that feels much better to me. there's a lot to like about utena, and i want to be fair to it.
that's basically all i have to say on this. i don't know why i was so stubborn about this at the beginning; this was not exactly a difficult revelation to make. -lego jujutsu kaisen