(I spoil all of Utena here) Now, I am to the Black Rose Saga. While the student council arc was fun because I had seen the end, and was seeing how Anthy got her revenge in- have your thugs terrorize her? well, I guess you'll be off to India having elephants fall on you every ten seconds. Make her wait around while you womanize? It seems you'll be losing that duel - the Black Rose Arc is made even more confusing by the fact that I have seen the ending and know that Anthy is the fake Mamiya, and so the idea of killing the rose bride(anthy) and making Mamiya(Anthy) the rose bride is confusing to me.

Of course many other questions remain- was the 'prince' who appeared to Utena Akio looking like Dios or Dios before he became Akio? But I guess it has to be the first, because Dios showed her the suffering of the Rose Bride, and the whole Rose Bride thing was how he became Akio. Also, who is in control here? Anthy or Akio? Right now, I think it's Akio, but my thoughts may change.

I enjoy anime so much because even if it's not a good story- it seems sincere. I'm too close to American things, and can see where they are trying to be hip and slick, but Japan is far away and I don't know about their pop culture, so everything seems like it can be played straight, at least from my viewpoint. I bet kids in Japan are like American movies are so much more exciting than Japanese ones for the same reason- everything seems so much more exciting when you're far away from its source. Of course, there's something childlike in the desire to avoid what is hip and ironic. I guess it's because when you're a kid, you don't realize that everything's just a big ploy to get marketshare- everything seems sincere and fresh. It's a nice feeling, personally.