Utena, Shitsurakuen is not
Got nostalgic and started rewatching Utena on a whim. Forgot how much I love this series.
Decided while I was watching it that I should give Shitsurakuen, it's spiritual successor that blatantly draws its imagery and much of its story from Utena, another shot. Initially, six or seven chapters in, it disgusted me and now...
I want to like this manga so badly because it has so much potential. In many ways, while Utena indirectly provides commentary on gender roles and expectations in its context of the duelist, princess/prince/witch set-up and only hints at some of its darker tones, Shitsurakuen puts everything on full display and flat out comments upon the darkest sides of a patriarchal, male chauvinistic society. It doesn't pull any punches in its display of violence and cruelty. I guess you could say in reference to their representations of oppressed women that Utena is metaphor (it uses the princess/witch dichotomy) while Shitsurakuen is an allusion to real life. One gets the distinct impression that the manga is probably only a few degrees short of reality with its most unrealistic being the incredibly sophisticated game.
In Shitsurakuen, every girl is the Rose Bride. One of the things I like about it so far is that it's showing the group mentality of both the guys and the girls under this ridiculous society (Patriarchy Hurts Men Too, to borrow online feminist terminology). Even though it sucks for the girls and any decent guys, virtually no one is willing to stand up and say something in fear of the repercussions (the company is going to burn you badly). Any sympathetic guy can't say or do anything and girls are literally objectified. I'm sort of glad I gave this manga a second shot because, after another eight chapters, its world is becoming more nuanced. Not all the men are despicable and not all the women are helpless and useless. Reiko's probably my favorite character at the moment.
There's also these really interesting allusions and parallels that the manga has going for it that I'm incredibly fascinated by. I'm no fan of Milton, but I love what Shitsurakuen (or Lost Paradise to use its translated name) is doing with its visual imagery and story elements. It seems like her harem's weapon's names are all names of Satan's demon compatriots, the symbol that is displayed on the weapons is the Satanic pentagram, the object of the game is to get the "apple."
And duude, that's cool. Given that when game players pull out the weapons and call out "Utopia is here" (in stark contrast to Utena's duelist calling out "To Revolutionize the World"), we can imagine that this island school is God's domain (guarded by the angel "El" which is probably a reference to the angels Raphael, Michael, etc.) and Sora (Satan) is gathering her allies in attempt to overthrow the world. As Satan, Sora is also the one to tempt Eve by giving her the apple, the apple which gives her knowledge and makes her "more equal" to Adam (as it seems like Sora's mission is to obtain the apple). After all, in the original novel, the Adam has pretty much complete dominance over Eve it is his job to "own and protect" her. Eve is supposed to be completely subservient to him so with Satan offering Eve (Tsuki? all the girls?) the apple, she is also the one offering them freedom from Adam's complete dominance.
That being said--argh, you can't use fanservice in this kind of story! You're vilifying the objectification of women and then flat out doing it while your preach! Hypocrisy at its finest, argh! The harem nature of this story just makes me so confused. Not just that, urgh, if you're based off Utena, you should full well know the problems of the knight/princess binary and the whole "collect six girls"--eef, duude, that's still objectification! It makes me really uncomfortable seeing Sora do the whole "I will protect you" speeches because it still implies that women in general need someone to protect them and they can never stand independent. Not only that it just limits her harem to being damsels in distresses. It's not as bad as before as it seems like the whole spiel is partly and act and even Sora knows her limitations (and is often hindered by the fact she is often overpowered by men). That and it seems like her harem is also working pretty hard to support her so...
urgh, Reiko's backstory makes me so sad on so many levels. At the same time it's so...realistic. T__T
I can't believe I'm saying this, but the whole yuri subtext of this manga actually detracts from its overall meaning/strength of the narrative. At the same time...it sort of make sense if you consider the Sora/Satan angle in that a lesbian relationship is one devoid of "Adam" and "God?" It's sort of a reference to how Satan is fascinated and attracted to Eve in PL? The fact that she's is gaining a harem can be read as she's convincing girls to turn away from "El" (but woah is that an Unfortunate Implication on so many levels). I really like how they're using the penalty system (continual defiance of God's rules) to their advantage, though her assault on Reiko was...eh. I don't feel like writing anymore so I'll just stop here.
Overall...dangit. I don't like this manga but I don't think I'm going to stop reading it. It might get better and it seem to be a little.
Decided while I was watching it that I should give Shitsurakuen, it's spiritual successor that blatantly draws its imagery and much of its story from Utena, another shot. Initially, six or seven chapters in, it disgusted me and now...
I want to like this manga so badly because it has so much potential. In many ways, while Utena indirectly provides commentary on gender roles and expectations in its context of the duelist, princess/prince/witch set-up and only hints at some of its darker tones, Shitsurakuen puts everything on full display and flat out comments upon the darkest sides of a patriarchal, male chauvinistic society. It doesn't pull any punches in its display of violence and cruelty. I guess you could say in reference to their representations of oppressed women that Utena is metaphor (it uses the princess/witch dichotomy) while Shitsurakuen is an allusion to real life. One gets the distinct impression that the manga is probably only a few degrees short of reality with its most unrealistic being the incredibly sophisticated game.
In Shitsurakuen, every girl is the Rose Bride. One of the things I like about it so far is that it's showing the group mentality of both the guys and the girls under this ridiculous society (Patriarchy Hurts Men Too, to borrow online feminist terminology). Even though it sucks for the girls and any decent guys, virtually no one is willing to stand up and say something in fear of the repercussions (the company is going to burn you badly). Any sympathetic guy can't say or do anything and girls are literally objectified. I'm sort of glad I gave this manga a second shot because, after another eight chapters, its world is becoming more nuanced. Not all the men are despicable and not all the women are helpless and useless. Reiko's probably my favorite character at the moment.
There's also these really interesting allusions and parallels that the manga has going for it that I'm incredibly fascinated by. I'm no fan of Milton, but I love what Shitsurakuen (or Lost Paradise to use its translated name) is doing with its visual imagery and story elements. It seems like her harem's weapon's names are all names of Satan's demon compatriots, the symbol that is displayed on the weapons is the Satanic pentagram, the object of the game is to get the "apple."
And duude, that's cool. Given that when game players pull out the weapons and call out "Utopia is here" (in stark contrast to Utena's duelist calling out "To Revolutionize the World"), we can imagine that this island school is God's domain (guarded by the angel "El" which is probably a reference to the angels Raphael, Michael, etc.) and Sora (Satan) is gathering her allies in attempt to overthrow the world. As Satan, Sora is also the one to tempt Eve by giving her the apple, the apple which gives her knowledge and makes her "more equal" to Adam (as it seems like Sora's mission is to obtain the apple). After all, in the original novel, the Adam has pretty much complete dominance over Eve it is his job to "own and protect" her. Eve is supposed to be completely subservient to him so with Satan offering Eve (Tsuki? all the girls?) the apple, she is also the one offering them freedom from Adam's complete dominance.
That being said--argh, you can't use fanservice in this kind of story! You're vilifying the objectification of women and then flat out doing it while your preach! Hypocrisy at its finest, argh! The harem nature of this story just makes me so confused. Not just that, urgh, if you're based off Utena, you should full well know the problems of the knight/princess binary and the whole "collect six girls"--eef, duude, that's still objectification! It makes me really uncomfortable seeing Sora do the whole "I will protect you" speeches because it still implies that women in general need someone to protect them and they can never stand independent. Not only that it just limits her harem to being damsels in distresses. It's not as bad as before as it seems like the whole spiel is partly and act and even Sora knows her limitations (and is often hindered by the fact she is often overpowered by men). That and it seems like her harem is also working pretty hard to support her so...
urgh, Reiko's backstory makes me so sad on so many levels. At the same time it's so...realistic. T__T
I can't believe I'm saying this, but the whole yuri subtext of this manga actually detracts from its overall meaning/strength of the narrative. At the same time...it sort of make sense if you consider the Sora/Satan angle in that a lesbian relationship is one devoid of "Adam" and "God?" It's sort of a reference to how Satan is fascinated and attracted to Eve in PL? The fact that she's is gaining a harem can be read as she's convincing girls to turn away from "El" (but woah is that an Unfortunate Implication on so many levels). I really like how they're using the penalty system (continual defiance of God's rules) to their advantage, though her assault on Reiko was...eh. I don't feel like writing anymore so I'll just stop here.
Overall...dangit. I don't like this manga but I don't think I'm going to stop reading it. It might get better and it seem to be a little.