Scans_Daily

The genre that has for many years dominated anime timeslots is isekai (lit. another world) – stories featuring almost universally teen or preteen characters getting transported to a fantastical world with special powers and missions that make them saviours of the new reality. For about fifteen years, a new gruesome idea has dominated the genre – that the main character is actually dead and unable to return to their home reality, with their new life in the magical world being treated as a reincarnation. There is much to be said about this change of perspective and the implied extremely depressing view of reality, but I wanted to focus on my favourite subcategory of the subgenre, commonly called ‘reborn as a villainess’ plot.

When in a typical modern isekai story the protagonist becomes the hero of his (it’s almost always a boy who is a protagonist) story, in a ‘reborn as a villainess’ story, as the name suggests, the protagonist finds herself (it’s usually a story about a girl, but there are some stories with male protagonists) a villain opposed by the people of the new world. It’s a very wide definition, including stories where the reincarnator is the big bad of an epic fantasy, or has potentially extremely destructive powers, or is simply a school bully, etc. The key being the role being distinctly non-heroic, and the original fate of the character usually tragic. What ‘original fate’? A twist specific to this subgenre is that protagonist is usually familiar with her new world, having experienced it in life as a game or a book. Of course, it does not apply to all stories. Below I wanted to introduce my favourite Villainess stories, in random order.
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This will be a mostly train of thoughts essay in which I will be discussing the following manga:

• The Silver Trangle by Hagio Moto
• Helter Skelter by Kyoko Okazaki
• Downfall by Inio Asano
• Scarlet Secret by Tomo Serizawa
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This entry will include spoilers to basically every entry in Neon Genesis Evangelion franchise. Please read only if you are familiar at least with the original series and Rebuild movies, as those make the core of my meta analysis, and if you don’t mind learning the endings of more obscure entries such as Girlfriend of Steel or Eva Anima.
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I have mentioned Utena frequently when discussing The Witch from Mercury and Code Geass, only belatedly realizing that I have not discussed Utena itself at all! Being one of the most important anime series in history of the medium, comparable to such giants as Gundam 079, The Rose of Versailles, Sailor Moon and Neon Genesis Evangelion, all of whom serve as an important source of inspiration for Utena, the series is one of a must-watch for every anime fan. In fact, the premise is perhaps best described as a mega crossover of the creators’ favourite 70s series, with Oscar de Jarjeyes (The Rose of Versailles) attending a Seiran Academy (Brother Dear Brother) with Lalah Sune (Gundam 079) and a variety of 70s shoujo characters, with sparkles of magic and choreographed combat inspired by the staff’s previous work on Sailor Moon.

 

Revolutionary Girl Utena is a story that has several canons:

 

-The 1997 39 episodes long anime series, which is probably closest to the original idea as conceived by the four original creators of Studio Be-Papas (consisting of director Kunihiko Ikuhara, writer Yoji Enokido, character designer Shinya Hasegawa, manga artist Chiho Saito, as well as planner and editor Yuichiro Oguro).

 

-The 1996-98 manga adaptation of the original idea, drawn and written by Chiho Saito, predating the debut of the anime and running for 5 volumes. While the concept itself stays more or less the same, under Saito’s pen the characters have drastically divergent character evolution.

 

-The 1999 anime movie Adolascence of Utena that technically is a continuity reboot, but also cannot be fully understood without having watched the whole anime first. It perhaps serves best as the epilogue to the anime, providing solutions to several character arcs left hanging in the original series. Interestingly later the same concept was employed in Rebuild of Evangelion.

 

-Chiho Saito’s 1999 single volume manga adaptation of the movie that again strays drastically different from both the source material and her previous manga adaptation.

 

-Two short novels by Ichiro Okuchi from 1997, loosely adapting Miki’s and Wakaba’s storylines as presented in the anime while being divergent enough not to be set in the same canon.

 

-The ellusive dating sim visual novel from 1998, about which I frustratingly cannot find any detailed sources.

 

-The 20^th anniversary single volume manga by Chiho Saito, providing a conclusion for the student council characters as portrayed in her 1996 manga while incorporating certain plots from the anime.

 

Now what is it about? The manga and the anime series start at least from the same point. The titular character, Utena Tenjou, is a tomboyish girl with a strong sense of justice which causes her to lash out on the boy who publicly mocked her friend’s love confession. Due to the strange rules of the school, this get misunderstood by the boy as a duel challenge, and so Utena has to fight – and wins. To great surprise to herself, she also wins a prize – Anthy Himemiya, who is a bride of the person currently holding the title of the winner. There is also a lot of fantastic elements that differ from version to version, from the relatively mundane pulling of swords from your lover’s chest to turning into a car. A lot of story elements are also presented in metaphorical terms, which, at least in case of the anime and especially the movie, requires a lot of reading between the lines from the audience.
 

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