Shoujo Kakumei Utena

Admittedly, I'm biased when it comes to reviewing this anime. I started watching it at a very impressionable age, and the impact it had on me at that particular time in my life is astronomical. I also have a huge soft spot for anything surreal, gender-bending, absurd, existential, or psychological.

That being said, Utena fulfills all of those criteria beautifully. And it is enjoyable on multiple levels. I enjoy it as much now, at age 20, as I did at age 12. My understanding of the characters, the symbolism, and the message inherent in each episode has changed dramatically. At a young age I saw ... everything as Utena did; I viewed the series from her standpoint, agreed with her fully, and essentially played the role of the fool. In the final episodes when she does not understand what Akio was saying, I did not either. Now I do. Now I sympathize with him, understand his cynicism and manipulation of adolescence, and now I realize just how truly revolutionary and powerful one Tenjou Utena was. Now I understand Akio's shock. He's lost the ability to see things as the iconoclast--the fool who is an iconoclast without being self-aware of the full implications of what he or she is doing.

But then, I digress.

"Utena" borrows heavily from the philosophies of Carl Jung and Hermann Hesse, most notably the latter's incredible novel "Demian". I highly recommend that those who enjoyed this series read the works of both men. The anime incorporates a brilliant and deft weave of existentialism and psychological analysis with excellent characterization and a degree of slice-of-life realism. There is a running theme of the discomfort inherent in becoming self-aware, adolescent discomfort, budding sexuality, and dissatisfaction with the status quo that is inherent in these realizations. These are teenagers who look for the meaning in everything; they cannot yet except there IS no meaning in everything. They want to rebuild the world. In this sense, these turbulent, anarchic sentiments are a throwback to "Demian"; they are the same sentiments that had an entire generation of disillusioned German youth hailing the book as a voice speaking on their behalf for the first time. In many ways, that voice is universal. "Utena" does it justice.

From a technical standpoint, Utena is top-notch. The artwork is gorgeous, the music lush, and the direction lucid. It hearkens to the era of cel-based animation with a minimum of CGI, especially as compared to current offerings. The seiyuu all do an excellent job with their characters. J.A. Seazer's musical compositions are worthy of stand-alone acclaim. They are quite unlike anything else known in the anime genre.

I suppose I am obligated to warn of the exploration of various taboo subjects beyond homosexuality (Utena and Anthy being one of few canon yuri couples out there outside of hentai), including incest; if you are squiked beyond your comfort threshold by this, don't watch the show. Otherwise, I cannot recommend this show highly enough. I acknowledge it is not for everyone, but if you are that sort of twisted, abstract person who would enjoy this show, and if you remember the growing pains of adolescence (or are currently undergoing them), you can't watch it soon enough.

Warning: Epically long review ahead, mainly because I love this series so much.

Title: Revolutionary Girl Utena

Manga, Anime: Revolutionary Girl Utena was originally a manga with story by Be-Papas and art by Chiho Saito that ran in Shogakugan's Ciao magazine from 1996 to 1997. It has been licensed Stateside by Viz Media, and the final volume, which covers the movie, was released on December 3rd, 2007.

Revolutionary Girl Utena has two anime incarnations. One is the original TV show, which is made of 39 total episodes, and was produced by JC Staff (famous for their work on Honey and Clover and Potemayo), and directed by ... Kunihiko Ikuhara (famous for becoming the director Sailor Moon after the second half of the R season up until the SuperS season). It ran on Japanese TV from April 2nd, 1997 till December 24th, 1997. The second is a movie adaptation, which will be covered later in this review. Both have been licensed Stateside by Central Park Media, which is now defunct. Let's just say it's been out for a long time Stateside.

Story: "Once upon a time, years and years ago, there was a little princess, and she was very sad, for her father and mother had died. Before the princess appeared a traveling prince riding upon a white horse. He had a regal bearing and a kind smile. The prince wrapped the princess in a rose-scented embrace and gently wiped the tears from her eyes. 'Little one,' he said, 'who bears up alone in such deep sorrow, never lose that strength and nobility, even when you grow up. I give you this to remember this day. We will meet again. This ring will lead you to me one day.' Perhaps the ring the prince gave her was an engagement ring. This was all well and good, but she was so impressed by him that the princess vowed to become a prince one day. But was that really such a good idea?" This is the story that a younger Utena Tenjou tells us as her older self, still aspiring to be a prince and dressing like a boy, goes to the prestigious Ohtori Academy. After her close friend Wakaba is cruelly treated by a member of the Student Council, Saionji and she sees him slapping Anthy, his supposed girfriend, she challenges him to a duel. The ring she wears unknowingly admits her to a secret duelling arena in the forest where Saionji meets her with Anthy, who is apparently the Rose Bride. Saionji then pulls a sword out of Anthy's chest, and things only get odder from there on out...

Utena is an absolutely amazing series.

On the surface, Utena is just a duelist of the week series, with recurring duelists. However, what makes this show so much more than that is the depth of character development that you get with the duelists, and even with the recurring minor characters. Each duel shows another side to them, and, in addition, reveals even more reasons why these people should go to a psychiatrist. Seriously, you could probably do a good case study on every one of the main characters, and a good deal of the minor recurring characters. Hell, even the girl who's mainly used as comedic relief gets excellent development and light shed on her psychological problems!

The other thing about this series is that nothing, nothing is what it seems to be at first. There are layers and layers to every single character and aspect of this show, and as the show goes on, you realize exactly what is going on at Ohtori Academy. There's some very heavy symbolism that uses some fairly mundane objects and allegories that foreshadow what's going to happen long before it ever does, and you'll only catch this on another watchthrough of the series.

Which, by the way, would probably be best after you've watched this the first time through. There's a lot of things that you only get in subsequent watchthroughs, and you'll realize just how much there is to this series when you do. I am convinced that someone could probably write a master's thesis on this show.

Warning: There are some fairly blatant innuendos and sexual images in this, along with hints of incest and major age differences and definite abuse. Oh, and there's lots of girls and boys feeling up/kissing their respective genders. So, if you don't like that, you should stay away from this series.

Art: The art takes a bit of getting used to, admittedly, with blank eyes, sharp edges, and heavy lines. In general, Utena is heavily stylized, but when compared to other shows airing around that time (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Beserk), the quality is fairly high. A lot of work goes into the background art and all the symbolism as well, all of which figure heavily into the show.

There's a lot of stock footage in this show, but luckily it's animated well enough that it doesn't bother you, and every time it plays, you can catch some new little detail about it.

Music: The background music for Utena is done by Shinkinchi Mitsumune, who also did work on Rozen Maiden's background music. From what I've heard from him, this is probably his best work, and I wonder what happened that he put so little effort forth with Rozen Maiden, compared to the effort that had to have gone into this. Every theme is memorable, and is probably some of my favorite music from a series ever.

And then there are the vocal songs that play while the duels happen, done by J.A Seazer. When you're looking at a translation of the songs, you're going to realize that they make absolutely no sense and just seem like random words thrown together. And, at first glance, they do. However, as you're watching the show through again, you realize just how much effort went into those random words, and that yes, they actually do mean something.

The OP, which never changes, is one of my favorites. It's not anything out of the normal standard for OPs out there, upbeat female JPop number, like with Ouran, but for whatever reason, I really like it. It's the same thing with the three EDs; all upbeat female JPop numbers that I normally wouldn't like, but really work for the series.

Seiyuu: Takehito Koyasu (known for his roles as Hotohori in Fushigi Yuugi and Haruhi's dad in Ouran High School Host Club) appears as the voice of Touga, one of the more interesting male characters in here and one of my favorites, and Kotono Mitsuishi (known for her role as Sailor Moon in the show of the same name and Misato Katsuragi in Neon Genesis Evangelion) appears as the voice of Juri Arisugawa, probably the most interesting female character after Utena and Anthy. Akio's seiyuu, juurouta Kosugi, was also Fernand d'Morcerf's seiyuu in Gankutsuou, and sounds like sex and malice incarnate. And Anthy's seiyuu, Yuriko Fuchizaki, brings an amazing amount of depth to her character, just barely hinting at what's going on beneath the surface and letting hints slip as to what she really is throughout the series.

All in all, an amazing cast.

Length: Thirty-nine episodes may seem a bit lengthy at first glance. And admittedly, there are elements that get a bit repetitive. But I'm fine with the length, as it allows you to see a lot of detail that you might not necessarily see in a shorter series, which works to the benefit of Utena.

Overall: An absolutely amazingly written and acted series with lots of depth, heavy character development, stylization, symbolism and allegories, and people with lots of issues, that has a lot of details you'll notice on subsequent watchthroughs.

Tied for my all-time favorite series. Watch this. You will not regret it.

Story: 10/10
Art: 9/10
Music: 10/10
Seiyuu: 10/10
Length: 9/10

Overall: 48/50; 96% (A)

First things first - "Revolutionary Girl Utena" (I'll just call it "Utena" for the sake of brevity from here on) is a weird anime. And I mean *really* weird. The surreal settings, the plethora of symbolisms that constantly assault the viewer, the sexual innuendos... the whole show is so bizarre that it's hard to know where to begin the review.

I'd heard a lot about "Utena" beforehand. Some say it's the shoujo version of "Neon Genesis Evangelion"; others say that Oscar from "Rose of Versailles" is Utena's spiritual grandmother; and many people consider it to be one of the greatest masterpieces in anime. Having seen it, ... I can conclude that there is merit in all of those statements. Well, perhaps apart from that last one. For me, "Utena" is too flawed to be deserving of that honour. However, there's no denying that it's an influential series, and many of its influences can still be seen in more recent shows.

Although "Rose of Versailles" does have a certian degree of influence on "Utena", most of these extend only as far as the surface. The most obvious of these influences is Utena herself. Born as a girl, but lived most of her life as a "prince" rather than a "princess", the parallels between Utena and Oscar, the heroine of "Rose of Versailles", are obvious. A lot of the visual effects (such as the various rose effects) that "Revolutionary Girl Utena" deploys also seem to be derived from "Rose of Versailles", although a lot of them do seem to be used in a rather more tongue in cheek way. But beyond this, the two series are vastly different in terms of content. "Rose of Versailles" tells a much more straight forward story, albeit with the gender bender twist provided by Oscar herself, while "Revolutionary Girl Utena" is anything but straight forward.

Not being a fan of the overly abstract and surreal, I had a little trouble getting to grips with the show. For the settings in "Utena", you have this school with a bunch of these outlandish rules, where the school council members fights duels with each other in a secret tower in the forest for the possession of the Rose Bride (another student), in order to gain the power to revolutionarise the world... Whaddaf*ck? Is this some kind of peculiar school play? Alas no, it appears to be reality, just not as we know it. Utena (who is, in case you haven't guessed, the protagonist) is thrown straight into this strange setting, and initially, she seemed as confused as I was about the strangeness of it all. She does make some effort towards finding out what the heck is going on, as you would naturally expect her to do, but her efforts are... kinda pathetic. One minute, she's like "WTF is all this?! Duels? Rose Bride?? Power to revolutionalise the world???" Then the next minute she's completely sold on all the weirdness and, without anyone prompting her, starts drawing swords out of Rose Bride's chest and shouting key phrases such as "grant me the power to revolutionalise the world!" like the rest of those freaks from the student council.

And so, after this extremely half-hearted effort at forming a tenuous link to reality (I don't know why they even bothered to be honest), the scene is set for the rest of the show!

Despite all the weirdness of the premises, I initially found "Utena" less difficult to to get through than I would have expected. However, a few episodes in, I found an even bigger problem that made the going a lot tougher - repetitiveness. There is simply a ludicrous amount of it. If they took out all the repeated scenes, the series would probably be able to fit into a standard 26 episode season quite easily. In each of the arcs of the series, the same scene is reused to set up almost every battle as well as to end almost every battle. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen Utena accepting the power of Dios into her... it's the same scene everytime, no matter what the situation leading up to it is. Sometimes she would be crouching before the scene, sometimes standing, sometimes even with the enemy rushing towards her, but always, she finds the time to casually stand around, being infused with the power and then lunge at her opponent and win the dual. After seeing it 20+ times (and I don't think I'm exaggerating in the slightest here), there's just one word to describe this... BOOOOORIIIING. Perhaps they're trying to parody the transformation sequence of the magical girl, but even as a (not particularly funny) running joke, it wears out its welcome pretty quickly. The action scenes aren't even good, and they certainly don't become good after about the 30th time of viewing.

The repetitions aren't just limited to the battles either, they extend to the "Duelist of the Week" format. "Utena" really taken this format to extremes, with a lot of the scenes/dialogues being used to set up the duels being recycled to the point of annoyance. In the black rose saga, for example, every episode follows the same formula of some person with some personal problems getting told that their only option is to "revolutionalise the world", and it just seems laughable that it's the answer to all their problems

"My cat has died."
"I see. Your only option is to revolutionalise the world."

"I've lost my favourite red pencil."
"I see. Your only option is to revolutionalise the world."

"I got a hole in my left sock."
"I see. Your only option is to revolutinoalise the world."

You wouldn't believe how sick of that phrase I became. The dialogues often borders on absurd and smacks of lazy scripting.

But because of all the repetitions this show has, on the rare occasions when it does makes a deliberate change to the script, the contrast can really pack a hefty punch, and those episodes shines all the more brightly because of it. It's hard to say whether this is a positive thing because the resulting effect can be so refreshingly wonderful, or whether it's a negative thing because the show's repetitions drove me to the point where I end up over reacting to the smallest change. Probably a bit of both. Perhaps it's all deliberate, and you may say I'm missing the point as I'm unfairly criticising what it's aiming to do, but just because some chef *deliberately* poured a bottle of vinegar into a dish in order to give it an extra zany kick doesn't change the fact that he's completely ruined the dish as a result, and it doesn't make me feel much better knowing that it's all intentional when I'm gagging from the taste.

As someone who's really into character driven shows, I did not find the characters of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" to be particularly interesting in general. There's too much posturing and general displays of shallowness. Every week Anthea the souless doll gets slapped for some petty reason as she's the scape goat for everything; most of the girls are annoyingly vain, but most of the guys are even more so, and need no encouragement to unbutton their shirt and start poncing around. There's an irritatingly large amount of time devoted to this, while more fascinating characters like Jury are criminally under used. Admittedly, by the end, most of the characters do reveal themselves to be more than just faceless people in a dull crowd, but still, with a couple of exceptions, I found it hard to care about most of them at any given point in the show. It says a lot that I'm more interested in what Anthea's pet monkey Chu-Chu is doing than what most of the characters - Anthea especially - is doing. At least Chuh-Chu's crazy antics, in particularly when he's battling his arch enemy the frog, never ceases to amuse me.

Speaking of amusement, the nature of the humour in "Utena" is random, and whether it's effective or not also seem to be pretty random. There are times when it works but then at other times it's just... random... without being at all amusing.

The similarities between "Neon Genesis Evangelion" and "Utena" comes mostly from comes from the apocalyptic themes and also the mountain of symbolisms the two of them contain. If anything "Utena"'s use of symbolims is even more aggressive than that of "Neon Genesis Evangelion" - they're constantly being shoved into your face and, to be honest, I found it all a bit too much. As the author Stephen King once put it, "Symbolisms exists to adorn and enrich, not to create a sense of artificial profundity," and there's a sense that "Utena" is more of the latter than the former. In my opinion, symbolisms should be done with a subtle touch, preferably integrated into the show such that they don't stick out like a sore thumb. This way, it can be nice when you get them and you don't feel like you're missing out if you don't. The fireflies motif from "Grave of the Fireflies" is a textbook example of how I think it should be done. The intrusiveness nature of the symbolisms in "Utena" on the other hand, feels like it goes against the whole spirit of the concept, and it results in some completely bizarre scenes (f*cking cars popping up all over the place, anyone?) that can really be frustrating if you've no idea what these weirdass symbols are supposed to mean.

In terms of production values, "Utena" also comes up short. Other than the ludicrous amount of reused footage that I've already mentioned (they should consider displaying "Warning: Contains at least 25% reused animation! on their DVD boxes), the sound production quality also comes off as something more dated than it actually is. I was unimpressed by the much lauded soundtrack that consists a lot of rather experimental sounding songs with gibberish lyrics relating to apocalyptic themes. What's worse is that those songs tends to stick out badly, so not only did I not like them, I also found it hard not to take notice. It does improve in the second half of the show (I particularly liked the second ending theme, and one of the eyecatch themes is nothing short of beautiful despite its short length), but overall the sound department mostly comes off as a poorly produced, failed experiment.

But despite the amount of time I've just spent bitching about the show, I actually think it's good. It's just that I found it a lot easier to identify the source of my negative feelings towards it than the positive. I guess there's an odd kind of enjoyment to be had in "Utena" by turning off the part of your brain that's grounded in reality, and there's a certainly a kind of magnetism about the show that keeps it interesting. Amidst all the surreal madness, some of the direction is undeniably brilliant, especially in its execution of twists.

Ultimately, "Utena" is a show that's far greater than the sum of its parts - in spite of the overly repetitive animation, the overly similar shallow, vain individuals in its cast, the overly aggressive use of symbolisms and the overly filler nature of the story etc, the whole thing works surprisingly well. I just wasn't blown away, that's all.

---The review contains spoilers---


It's been about five years now since I first saw this anime and still it's my definite favorite. I wasn't that interested at first, because it sounded rather pathetic with a bunch of people having secret meetings to duel each other over some girl. But I gave it a chance and watched the first four episodes, which ended with the first of a two part episode. Not really nice and the question "what happens next" haunted me quite some time and I was relieved when I got the DVD with episode five. I was satisfied afterwards and just didn't have enough time ... for the rest of it. But a few months later a friend of mine bought DVDs 1-7 (8 wasn't out yet) and so we sat there, three people, a weekend with nothing to do and we watched. 35 episodes in a row and there was no question, wether we should have done anything else. The last month waiting for the grande finally was emotionally painful.

The story may seem pretty strange (in fact it is), but everything falls in it's place and the driving force are the brilliant characters and their relationships. There is love, friendship, loyalty, adoration, obsession, disgust, hate and anything in between. If you like character driven drama, than this show is for you!

The series can be divided into four arcs and each lets us explore the whole cast in a different light. Everybody has issues and these issues are reflected on most everybody else. It's interesting to explore the goals of the duelists, who want the power of the Rose Bride, to revolutonize the world - even by the end you can't be sure what this phrase really stands for. A revolution means drastic changes in a short frame of time and in a way, these changes already start with Utena arriving. She sets things in motion in a world, where everybody seems to have a very definite place.

Symbolism is pretty high in here and even some of the corny comedy filler (usually revolving around a girl named Nanami) reveal pretty dark motives. Nobody is what he or she seems to be at first. Still the story by itself gets an 8, because the basis of all that's happening is pretty thin and you have to wait before the greater plan is revealed. But the characters get the full 10, since they are what it's all about. My favorite character still is Arisugawa Juri, to me, she's an alternate version of Utena herself. Both are strong and independent, but where Utena reaches for high goals, Juri has sunken into bitterness. But everybody gets defining moments thanks to the duels and with those duels comes another great strength - the soundtrack. The opening is pretty catchy, there are two ending songs I'd rather skip, the BGM sets the mood from easy going over dramatic to depths of terror, but the outstanding part are the 21 duel songs. J.A. Seazer composed a piece for every of these encounters and they not even set the tone of the action, if you have the time to look up the lyrics you found yourself drowning in yet more metaphors.

The animation is rather good, it can stand up to Magic Knight Rayearth and Slayers, which came out roughly around the same time. Even though there are lots of re-used scenes and images (Utena's walk to the dueling plattform is the counterpart to a Sailor Senshi transformation, yet more dramatic), the carefully placed colors and the great mimic expressions totally make up for it.

The entertainment factor is pretty high. I enjoy rewatching some of the comedy episodes occassionally or you can just watch the bunch of episodes that revolve around your favorite character. Of course rewatching the whole show is the best way to explore the world of the Ohtori Academy and after seeing the shocking finale it's refreshing to go back to the light hearted start again. I never expected the tragedy that unfolds from episode 34 ("The Rose Signet") onward. It takes a very dark turn.

If you plan to watch this, be prepared for all the characters you slowly start to hold dear been emotionally torn apart. Maybe all the roses and bishounen might scare you off at first, but you need the contrast of such a "noble" setting to embrace the twist and turns.

Overview:

Yesterday, I completed the final episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena...and it was spectacular! My only regret is that I didn't watch this anime years ago! I managed to watch over 1,050 anime before watching my first episode of Utena!

To explain why I put it off for SO long, I have to dive into some backstory. The year is 2002 and I'm 14 years old. I'm in 8th grade and starting to take anime more seriously. I'm checking out random anime at Blockbuster instead of just watching whatever is on Cartoon Network and the Syfy channel. I see "Revolutionary Girl Utena" and think "Wow! That's ... a strange title!" I check out the back of the case and realize "Oh it's one of those anime for girls! I don't need to watch this!". A couple years later, I recall some classmates talking about Utena and saying it was this really weird shoujo with a plot that didn't make a lot of sense. I was once again intrigued, so I went and checked out its rating on Anime News Network. This was 2005 so MAL, Anilist, and Kitsu didn't exist. ANN was the only reliable source of anime ratings on the internet. I see it has a weighted average of 7.9 or 7.8 and that's ok but nothing that screams MUST SEE series. Rurouni Kenshin had a 9.1 and even Elfen Lied had an 8.30 so a 7.91 is pretty low for a series that asks 39 episodes of your time. Once again, I decided that Utena couldn't possibly be worth watching.

Flashforward all the way to 2015. I've been on MAL for about a year and I keep seeing Utena in people's favorites. I check out the rating and HOLY SHIT! It turns out that Utena is now considered one of the greatest magical girl anime of all time! When did this happen?! Oh well, it's a magical girl anime. The only magical girl franchise I love is Go Nagai's Cutie Honey! I still don't need to watch Utena! This Green Eggs and Ham story continues until this year when my girlfriend says, "Hey, you should REALLY check out Utena! I think you would like it!". I respond with "Yeah, ok I'll put it on my watch list and get around to it at some point". However, she keeps insisting and I actually try it. After 18 years of snubbing this series, it turns out that Utena is a wonderfully unique anime that I would highly recommend!

So what is Utena about? There's this school that seems like a European Hogwarts kind of school but it might also take place in Japan. Who knows? You have this girl who dresses up in a male uniform and wishes to become a prince because a prince helped her as a little girl and she wants to help others. That would make sense as a motivation to become a doctor or police officer or something, but this seems sort of unusual. A bunch of people at this school are engaging in elaborate fencing duels to take possession of an extremely passive girl called "The Rose Bride". It is said that whoever wins possession of the Rose Bride will gain the ability to "revolutionize the world" whatever that means. However, the guy that possesses the Rose Bride in the beginning is just some abusive jerk. He isn't able to remake the world in his image, so perhaps enough duels have to be fought over her in order for the power to trigger? Nobody knows at this point. The student council are all receiving mysterious letters from an entity calling himself "End of the World". None of them know who this guy is or what the duels are for or what it really means to revolutionize the world. The cold and calculating Touga wears a false mask of chivalry, but is only after some vague sense of power. The fencing instructor Juri only wants to prove that miracles don't really exist after having her heart broken by someone she loved.

Utena ends up stumbling upon this dueling system and by accident wins control of Anthy the Rose Bride. This mysterious girl is so deeply broken that she acts like an emotionless doll and willingly accepts her slavery. Also why is she clearly South Asian? Why does she have a purple pet monkey? What is going on in this series? At first, each episode has Utena dueling another member of the student council and reuses at least 5-7 minutes of stock footage in every episode. Then we have episode 8 in which a bowl of curry is so spicy that it causes Utena and Anthy to switch bodies! The comic relief villain has to go on a journey to India in which she is pursued by surfing elephants. WHAT?!! It's the very beginning of the anime and the plot has been drop kicked out the window! Are we not meant to interpret this series literally? If not, then how should we be watching it? What is it really about?!

Before I get into my personal interpretation of Utena, I want to talk about something really cool that Utena does. It fully realizes that it's in a visual medium and has different rules then if it were a book. When it comes to anime, we fans tend to focus a LOT on the plot. If the plot isn't entirely concrete than it's a bad anime! MAL's most popular critic from 2011-2015 was Thatanimesnob, who taught a generation of anime fans that "Plot is the most important thing. Everything else is secondary". Those that give a shit about visuals are merely children distracted by pretty colors. Let's say that was true. Galactic Heroes is great because it has tons of well written characters and extensive world building, but the anime could only be an inferior version of the source novels because literature is always more detailed than a TV script. All visual media by necessity would just be watered down, inferior versions of books and closet plays! There would be no reason to watch anything!

Fortunately, that's NOT how visual media works. In fact, a film or show is able to communicate powerful emotions and deep messages without any dialogue and with a very minimal plot. Just look at every ballet ever made. The dancers don't pause to talk to each other. The plot is much more of a general overview than how a book would be written. That's what Utena is like. The plot doesn't entirely make sense and it doesn't matter. Utena is not only aware of this, but it wants you the viewer to be aware of it too! I've often heard Utena compared to Evangelion, but Eva spends the first half acting like the plot is what matters most, then shifts to a series that cares mostly about themes and communicating a message. That's why the original ending of Evangelion made people SOO angry that they sent piles of death threat letters to poor Hideaki Anno! They wanted a conventional ending because Eva was a conventional show until Anno's mother died halfway through production and his depression transformed it into something else entirely. Utena from the very beginning lets you know that the plot itself isn't of primary importance. It's not only comfortable being a visual medium experience, but does things that couldn't work in a book!

Colors play a huge role in telling the emotions and story of Utena. Red is used as the color of fate, oppression, and meekly accepting the role that society has given you. Anthy the broken princess wears a red dress in every episode. The villain wears red, not just because he's an oppressive force but because he himself is trapped in a role that was foisted on him. In the end, he was unable to open the gate that allows one to revolutionize the world. He can't shape his own destiny because he's not just the prison guard, he's also just another prisoner! Red is contrasted by its lighter shade of pink. In Utena, pink stands for revolution, self acceptance, and creating your own destiny rather than letting others define your role. Why did they choose pink? Possibly because it's a shade of red and contrasts nicely against it, but also perhaps because it's a color associated with queer identity. Utena not only challenges Japan's rigid gender roles and expectations, but is perhaps the first openly gay anime ever made! True, Rose of Versailles challenged gender roles in the 1970s and had lesbian undertones, but at no point does Lady Oscar actually engage in a gay relationship with the show's blessing! Brother Dear Brother was a very accepting and pro-gay manga, but the anime version had to be censored and toned down considerably. A character that committed suicide in the manga because she couldn't face her lesbian sexuality had her fate changed in the anime to die in a random accident! Also yes, I love to make jokes at the expense of Fist of the North Star and call it the gayest anime ever made, but that was NOT intentional by its author Buronson! The show is just SO masculine and male focused that it easily lends itself to that interpretation. Utena was an intentionally gay anime in 1997 that doesn't even have to rely on metaphor or plausible deniability.

So why should you watch Utena? No matter who you are, you probably find yourself having to deal with labels and societal expectations that are restrictive. You're a woman and should act this way. You have autism and can never do this. You're black and should act this way. Utena not only has the self acceptance of Evangelion, and March Comes in like a Lion, but is a series about subverting labels and taking control of your own life. Yeah, it's 39 episodes long and has 3 clip show episodes. Yes, it re-uses stock footage all the time. Yes, Nanami is annoying and takes screen time away from Queen Juri. Despite being highly unconventional and a little hard to get into at first, Utena is absolutely worth your time! You owe it to yourself to watch Utena!

This series continues to flirt with the #1 spot among my favorites, and Utena stands high above any other female character in anime that I have seen. Her character is so strong and holds to her ideals of nobility so much that it's hard not to like her.

Some of the terminology took a little getting used to, as it takes normal ideas of gender roles and throws them out the window. Utena, for example, wants to become a prince. No, she doesn't want to become a man - she wants to be strong and noble and rescue princesses. Why can't a ... girl do this, too? Yes, Anthy is considered the Rose Bride, and she becomes "engaged" to the people that are the current champion. Does this mean they're going to get married? Not sure. Once the words are out of the way, though, you're good to go.

The plot starts off relatively simple: Utena arrives at school, manages to find her way into a duel, fights, repeat next time. However, all throughout the story are little subplots that need to be resolved. Who is this "End of the World" that keeps sending letters? What is this world revolution the student council keeps talking about? What mysteries are the individual characters keeping secret? Thankfully, the show doesn't disappoint in answering all these questions, compounding the complexity of the situation at Ohtori Academy until it all comes to fruition in the final arc. The duels are bigger, the stakes are higher, and the mysteries are all answered.

However, over the course of the series, there are a few episodes that stand out as being superfluous or poorly done. For most of these, I feel they at least have some pseudo-symbolic reason for existing within the series. The only episode that really seemed ill-plotted-out is one of the duels in the second arc.

The art, while full of images of castles, fancy architecture, roses, fancy uniforms, and other such things as well as pretty fluid (while oft recycled) animation, looks a little more dated than the show actually is, which is one of the shows only drawbacks.

Soundwise, this show is very well acted, and the soundtrack is probably one of the best orchestrated I've ever heard. The music fits the atmosphere incredibly well, and the songs they play during the duels are quirky to say the least. Their rock background and full chorus vocals help to create a mysterious yet serious atmosphere.

As for the characters, there's lots of big brother/sibling complexes going on here, and frankly, it's a little creepy. However, only one of these ever comes to any fruition over the course of the series, so for the most part it stays innocent. This is why I marked the series down. Most of the characters really stand out and are dynamic to the things happening around them, and even if they don't change, most of them have distinct personalities.

Enjoyment-wise, this show is a lot of fun, and is very engrossing. The really quirky-yet-chivalry-laden atmosphere really drew me in, kept me hooked, and still keeps me coming back to this day. I've probably watched this series more than any other. Some will say it's too episodic, and to them I say, who cares? With a show this unique, I never get sick of it. Also, it's not like there isn't a single overarching plotline keeping the whole thing moving. It also helps to know that the repetition doesn't go on forever - it's only 39 episodes long, after all, and even then, the show does plenty to keep switching things up before they get too boring.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is routinely described as Neon Genesis Evangelion for girls, and not without good reason. However, I believe this may well be a series even greater than the benchmark Evangelion sets.

At the very start of the series, we are given a vague explanation of some of the events that lead to Utena becoming who she is today. When her parents died when she was only a child, she fell into a serious depression. In the midst of this, a strange, prince-like man approached her, presenting her with a rose-crested ring, and telling her the ring will lead her back to him one day. ... So far, so generic shoujo. But normally, the female protagonist would simply be wooed by the mysterious man, and desperately need him. Utena is a little... different. She didn't want the prince... she wanted to be the prince.

We then cut to the present-day Utena, a tomboyish teenage girl who sticks out like a sore thumb, for her unique charms, loveable personality, and for wearing the boy's uniform instead of the girls (though interestingly, not one boy in the series wears the same uniform as her), who goes to the boarding school of Ohtori Academy. Amidst her everyday life at Ohtori, a series of events lead her to discover that other people at the academy also bear the ring with the rose crest, and that it unlocks a dueling arena where they must fight for possession of Anthy Himemiya, a withdrawn, timid girl who is known as the Rose Bride. The reason? They'd rather not explain that.

The most obvious reason for its comparison to Evangelion is that despite having a clear plot going on, there is clearly so much going on in the background being held from us by major characters that the series' strongest point is drawing you back to find out just what the hell is going on at Ohtori. Utena, however, has something of a leg-up on Evangelion in this respect in that more questions are actually answered, albeit semi-cryptically.

Another clear comparison, however, comes in the form of one of its biggest faults, and that is taking some seriously excessive animation-saving measures. Evangelion relied more on unusually long pauses and obscured mouths, whereas Utena relies more on stock footage. Way too much. While it does gradually improve on it, Utena's biggest fault by far is that it is extremely repetitive. Sequences are constantly repeated, and there's usually only around 15 minutes worth of original footage in each episode.

However, here's where it gets interesting: Utena has 3 clearly defined story arcs. For the first, the Student Council arc, this is where the repetition hits hardest. However, in the following two arcs, the Black Rose arc and the Car arc, this weakness becomes a strength. With the change in plot direction, the story becomes far more interesting, and with it, the repetition stops being annoying and starts being a tool to use to its advantage, building a strong, Monster of the Week (or in this case, Duelist of the week) style pacing, and on many occasions using it to play with our expectations, use well-placed character connections to create interesting comparisons, and its best point, it uses it to build excellent character development.

Another criticism of it, however, is that it often falls back on fillers. More unfortunately, these fillers are either recaps (but don't let that put you off, as they all have their reasons... especially the third, which is not to be skipped under ANY circumstances), or generally focus on the series' most annoying character, Nanami Kiryuu. Most of them simply end up abound with unfunny comedy, with one interesting example in which Nanami wakes up one day and finds that she has laid an egg (or at least, believes she has). This should probably be reminding you of something. The episode in general becomes an interesting metaphor for the insecurities of puberty, which, at its core, is something that Utena has a lot of parallels to.

On which note, I should bring up another thing it has in common with Evangelion: symbolism. Symbolism absolutely everywhere. However, this definitely beats Evangelion in this respect, because the symbolism always has a clear meaning, whether it be blatant abstract physical parallels, or subtle details that you will pick up subconsciously. In the latter's case, this is more specific to Utena's last, and best arc: the Car arc. More specifically, the titular car itself. The car, and its driver, clearly represent the adult world, power, seduction, and corruption... in particular, this is clear out of how the driver picks up vulnerable people, and... well, given what is implied to happen at the end of each car ride... you can probably fill in the blanks.

Overall, the series does start slow, but progressively becomes more and more impressive, with a clear, defined improvement with each passing arc. This builds up to a climax that brings together everything, an amazing crescendo of symbolism, perfect dialog that oozes brilliance with every line... to be perfectly honest, it may very well be my absolute favourite scene in any anime, ever.

The characters of Utena are one of its main draws. Every character in Utena is slowly revealed to be a flawed, vulnerable individual, each with their own personal struggles. There are also a few outwardly antagonistic characters who, as the series progresses, are revealed to really not be as bad as you'd think. The most interesting characters, however, are definitely the Rose Bride herself, Anthy Himemiya, and her brother, Akio Ohtori. The two have a tragic, mysterious backstory, as well as the most powerful presences in the series. Love them or hate them (and there are strong camps for both), you can't ignore either one.

From a technical standpoint, the art style is pretty bad at its worst and excellent at its best. Like most of the series, the art makes a clear progression with time, with the car scenes in particular looking absolutely gorgeous (and they damn well should). The music is also a mixed bag, being somewhat cheesy in its execution, but having some good quality music in there (expect the main transformation theme to get stuck in your head a lot), but with a lot of cheesy battle themes. Most of the background music for the series is superb, though, and several tracks are absolutely perfect for the series, most notably Poison, and the everpresent car's theme, the latter of which is a pimptastic blues/jazz song that fits with its scenes perfectly, being yet another reason why the car scenes are the coolest thing ever.

Overall, Utena starts off slow, but it's definitely worth sticking with. The series truly progresses into something absolutely amazing with time, creating an excellent cast of characters, showing off some brilliant directing, and making a stone cold classic in the process. Oh, and did I mention that the car scenes are cool?

Final words: Car scenes are cool.

Story/Plot: 8/10
Animation/Graphics: 6/10
Music/Background: 8/10
Characters: 8/10

Overall: 8/10

For Fans Of: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Princess Tutu

Before you read this review, I would ask of you to please not judge it solely on the high rating. I have put a lot of work into this and I do address things like repeated footage and why I still give it this rating. Besides, what anime of this format does not have reused footage?

This anime is one of the best I have seen and, is arguably the best Shojo anime ever made - although it breaks away from that fold very fast. The show slowly moves into a darker territory that many shows do not dare approach. The biggest surprise is how subtlely ... and tastefully it explores things like incest, lesbianism, obsession and adoration. This show explores all these spectacularly well, in fact you could still go on decoding imagery and sounds after viewing the series 30 times because it is so rich in metaphors and allegories.

The animation is exquisite in this show. Not just in the sense that things are drawn well or move well and fluidly but also in what imagery is selected to drive a point home. One thing that springs to mind to point that out is in the second last episode, badminton was used as a symbol and the detail put in the racket or the shuttlecock is graphically breathtaking. The reused footage will not be to everyone's taste but I enjoyed those sequences immensely as it gave the start of the duel a ritualistic feel. I also love the detail in the background and the characters. Just a stance has meaning and purpose in this anime, as a model and a Fine Art student - it was great to see references to Michaelangelo's drawings, as well as a few famous paintings that were presented just for the sheer story behind them. The architecture is also imaginative and well drawn, much like in the style of Charles Rennie Mackintosh I also love the way attention is paid to slow moments, as well as faster ones as they radiate symbolism and meaning. The colours and the rose motif are more things I appreciate about the series and I do think it has an original style by marrying its own to its close inspiration, Rose Of Versailles.
The characters and the backgrounds are also extremely well suited for each other unlike shows like Naruto or Ranma where characters can look juxtaposed onto the background. The restraint in the use of 3D imagery is also something to be applauded as it allows the show to keep the beautiful fairytale feel and style.

The sound of Utena is another one of its strengths and it is so well suited to the battles or the overall theme of a particular episode, not to mention Rinbu Revolution and Zettai Umnei Mokushiroku which are just amazing left of the centre pop songs. Every episode features either a new composition or a new song, which is to be applauded in this day and age where most series use the same tunes over and over again. The duel songs are also terrific, they don't only sound great but they add another layer of meaning to the story as well as the characters. Seazer (the composer, also a 60s Japanese personality) did a wonderful job with his work here as the music does not just suit the anime but elevates it to new heights. It raises the bar in how anime can really make full use of the sound. The voice actors match the high standard of the soundtrack by delivering a universally amazing performance. A notable cast member is Kotono Mitsuishi, who breaks out of her cute signature character Sailor Moon for an amazing dark turn as Juri Arisugawa.

The story seems quite simple at first but the layers that it is wrapped into makes it very complex and entertaining. The most amazing thing about Utena is how much it kept me on my toes, there was never a moment where I knew exactly what the outcome of an episode would be, how they would affect or change the characters. Even the filler episodes include footage that can answer questions one might still hold over a particular situation or character, or give you a fuller understanding of a character.
The execution is what sets the story apart as well. It never gets manipulative to try and make you side why a particular character for a particular episode. Instead, it depicts these instances realistically, with just a little irony to really hit it home.

The characters in this show are also amazing. I can't think of another show (except maybe Rose Of Versailles) that has such full and deep characters, even Nanami who can seem quite shallow (and is reminiscent of the depiction of a young Marie Antoinette in ROV) has a strong presence and further episodes explore her character very well. Even the secondary characters are given situations (via the Black Rose Arc) to explore their feelings and more interestingly, how they affect other student council duelists. I felt after watching this that no character was one-dimensional as they all had a chance to show different facets of their personality (Be it through a whole episode or just a scene; that's how symbolic the series can get).

This show has the best value of any show I can think of as you will definitely have to watch the whole thing twice and maybe more to understand all the subtleties. It is also a great, enjoyable show that no one open minded should miss. It is a unique experience and a fascinating look at what adolescents go through emotionally. The use of symbolism to explore this will be a turn off for some but it is so complete and deep that you will be left with something for taking the journey. It is a remarkable title and I recommend it to every anime fan.

Spoiler upon spoiler; reviews aren’t supposed to have spoilers? Guess this will have to be the last spoiled one, then.…


With so much to love, where to begin?

The shadow play girls, A-ko and B-ko, lend a child’s simplicity to every episode, strangely deepening it as only children can; or maybe they really are aliens? Nanami with her cowbell, Nanami with her egg, Nanami crushed repeatedly by elephants: she’s a foil, rich with absurdity. Wakaba and Utena are true friends, and the student council members actually develop into individuals rather than remain as personality quirks; as individuals, they share in moments of intimacy with Utena that are ... natural and unforced: whether it’s Juri offering Utena a sword, Utena grieving over Wakaba, Utena with Touga the night before their final duel, or Juri and Miki playing badminton to clear Utena’s head before her last duel. Then there is Utena with Anthy. There is the greeting each night before sleep, and Utena’s faithful offer of friendship; the strange scene when they drink tea and eat cookies, promising to do so in ten years; and every single time Utena bows as a prince over Anthy’s body to withdraw her heart-sword. There is also the closing sequence for the final episodes.

There’s a plot, too, developed in four movements, with exposition, development, recapitulation, and revolution; it’s a delightful symphony.

The Student Council Saga revolves around the exceptional people of Ohtori Academy. This is the original heroic history, focusing on the duels of the men and women who make things happen. But exceptional people exact a cost from the world around them: the “ghosts” of the Black Rose Saga seem to feed on the resentment, frustrations and pain of the “lesser” folk left littering the landscape in their wake. Such a history is necessarily revisionist, but not automatically revolutionary. This is left to the Akio Ohtori and End of World Sagas. Here we see the origin of Utena’s decision to become a prince, and it’s Anthy. Suffering Anthy with the eyes that are both contradicting and beseeching, flat and deprecating and clinging – frankly, such a collection of opposites as to inspire delicious rage, as seen in everyone around her, and especially in Saionji and Akio. But never in Utena. In Utena, Anthy inspires pathos, the kind that spurs her on to be a prince. Now let it be said once: I am allowing myself a bit of poetic license; Anthy’s eyes are the usual anime eyes, and if there is depth in them, it may be imagination and nothing more. So be it. Imagination paired with love has fed the fire of revolution since the origin of the species.

Why does Dios show Anthy’s suffering to Utena? Maybe he intended that it merely move her; but young Utena, confronted with Anthy’s torment and Dios’ helplessness, finds the stirrings of the heroic within her. Ah, now that repeated narration makes sense: The travelling prince enjoins the princess never to lose her strength or nobility, even when she grows up…. “This was all well and good, but so impressed was she by him that the princess vowed to become a prince herself one day. But was that really such a good idea?” Dios, the prince, gives Utena the rose signet ring that allows her to participate in the duels. Then true to the fatalist he is, he adds, “And yet I’m sure you will forget all about what you have seen tonight. And even if you do remember this, you’re a girl. Eventually you will become a woman.”

I love most that these are the words that spark the revolution. Utena very nearly does forget. She is a girl becoming a woman, and there are magnificent men all around her who want to be her prince. Touga uses romance to confuse Utena: is she in love with the prince who came to her in her childhood? Is his love her object? Akio uses sex and the power of Utena’s orgasm against her, which prove much more potent. Even Anthy can’t believe that Utena will remember after that, and says so, as she runs her through with a sword. “You remind me so much of Dios when I loved him. But you can never be my prince, because you are a girl.” Which brings us to the revolution.

Human beings build prisons as “necessary evils.” For reasons that are well-detailed in the plot, Anthy and Akio build their prison together; if there is any doubt that Akio is a prisoner, too, the movie dispels it. Ohtori Academy is a habitable prison, but habitability does not obviate suffering. Anthy suffers. She loved a prince once; but when eternal torment came, she became someone who lives, but no longer loves and lives for her prince. Having lost the object of his love, Dios changed too, and became Akio.

How does one escape from a prison where one is pierced by a million swords of hatred? Suicide comes to mind; but when Anthy does attempt it, in that pivotal episode, it is Utena who catches her, closing off that route. The only way out is through revolution; it requires remembering the past in order to change the present. Utena remembers what she had almost forgotten: she decided to become a prince when she was confronted with Anthy’s suffering, and she is resolved to be Anthy’s prince in the present. Playing off Dios’ words, Utena is a woman, so she will NOT forget. The ironic truth is that Anthy’s prince had to be a woman. Which is not to say that Anthy’s prince had to be a lesbian: Juri hates the very sight of Anthy. Anthy’s prince had to be a woman who remembers to love longest, even after the best men forget, with Akio as the proof.

Anne Elliot expressed it best: “I should deserve utter contempt if I dared to suppose that true attachment and constancy were known only by woman. No, I believe [men to be] capable of everything great and good…so long as you have an object. I mean while the woman you love lives, and lives for you. All the privilege I claim for my own sex (it is not a very enviable one, you need not covet it), is that of loving longest, when existence or when hope is gone." Utena is Anthy’s prince, even when existence and hope are gone; that’s why she accepts back the letter from End of World which she had torn up and which Anthy patched. For Anthy, there is no other prince in whom she can believe, except the one who does not forget to love beyond hope and even existence. No one is more surprised than Anthy, when Utena breaks the seal of the Rose Gate and pries open the coffin with her bloodied hands, reaching out to her with unhesitating and heroic devotion. Utena falls, convinced of her failure, but Anthy is set free from her prison.

Is Utena still alive? Logic says no, for who could survive the piercing of a million swords of hatred? But Anthy says yes, and goes out (with Chu-Chu) to look for her prince – “Someday, we will shine together.” The revolution is complete.

After 1000 words, there are no obligatory remarks.

Grade: A+

This is the first time I've ever felt compelled to write a review here. Revolutionary Girl Utena is possibly the most beautiful anime experience I've ever seen.

First, the characters are what carry the series. There is quite a cast of characters, but the show uses every episode (save some of the more humorous ones that tend to involve Nanami) to build and build upon each character. Utena and Anthy are two of the most fascinating anime characters I've seen, and the cast of the show delivers some of the most truly human feelings I've seen in this medium.

Second, the show has some of the best ... music I've ever heard in anime. There's the epic main theme used when Utena has to fight. There's the beautiful piano theme that is centered around Miki's story (and which is used in other parts of the show, sometimes in orchestrated form). There's the fact that every single battle has it's own unique, kickass, soundtrack. How they managed to pull that off, I don't know.

Something must also be said about the artwork. The animation quality, obviously, is somewhat dated at the time of writing - the show is about 10 years old, after all. However, the artwork itself is incredibly detailed. In particular, the unique style of the faces shows much more emotion than I've seen in more traditional anime styles. Because of this I give the art a very high rating, despite the somewhat choppy animation and flat colors of the time period.

All in all, this is possibly my favorite anime series ever. I haven't actually finished yet - 6 more to go. This also seems to be a sort of forgotten series that no one talks about. This would go at the top of any recommendation list from me.

Let me give you a fair warning when watching this anime, it is a complete mind juggler. There is an abundance of homosexual insinuation and incest. You may think you have the plot down by watching the first 2-3 episodes, but trust me when I say there is way more to the story.

Lets begin with the characters. Each character has their own time to shine. Some characters have their story retold throughout the show with some minor details added in every once in a while. There is a strong sense of hardship with each characters story. Place close attention to each character for it ... is very important to somewhat understand the rest of the show. The main character Utena is very easy to read, its Anthy that makes you wonder the most throughout the series.

As you may have read from other reviews, there is much symbolism in this anime. Some symbolism is just random, others kind of makes sense, and others are obvious for the trained eye.

I very much enjoyed this anime, it is very original and epic in its own way. That does not mean it does not have its flaws. You will most probably tend to skip the beginning of the fights, and the annoying drama actors behind the rose wall. Many scenes are repetitive and are replayed throughout the entire series.

Other than that, i really think more people should watch this anime and share their thoughts. It really is a good watch once you get the rhythm of it.

Well, if I try to write a detailed review of my favourite anime series, I'm likely to end up with something more like a doctoral thesis. :) So, here's just a brief list of what may be found inside this anime:

• A surreal and philosophical piece of art, where each frame is tightly packed by symbols, where you may find new details and ideas with every rewatch;
• A very complex and thoroughly thought-out plot, with its unique rhythm formed by numerous through and recurring storylines, where every two lines either parallel or intersect;
• An ultimate deconstruction of the shoujo/romance genre, crushing/subverting/reducing to absurd each ... and every popular cliche;
• A picture of how twisted might classic fairy-tales have become if they really happened in our daily life;
• A great story of most sincere Friendship and sacrificial Love;
• A Christian metaphor of Salvation, if you will;
• A manifesto of the true dignity of women and men, a pitiless conviction of what may be commonly seen instead of it in reality;
• A set of totally weird characters, each one with one's own passions and past disasters, each one showing dramatic development from one story arc to another;
• A complete set of perverted and distorted relationships, each one being deconstructed and torn down through the series;
• A sorta brief guide to the spiritual life, showing most clearly what may happen to a person blinded by pride or letting dark desires take possession of their mind, depicting both abysses of frantic passion and true victories of spirit;
• A lot of mind-blowing dramatic scenes, yet also loads of crazy humour and intelligent self-parody;
• A whole bunch of genius seiyuu and one of the best film soundtracks ever made;
• (complete the list for yourself after watching the series ;)).

Revolutionary Girl Utena is a hidden gem within hidden gems. A rather strange anime indeed but everything about this story just spews out greatness. There's just so much happening all at once, it's almost as if there are 6-7 different stories happening all at the same time, and then as the show progresses, each story intertwines with another. There's no doubt that this anime was highly influenced by Ikeda Riyoko's Rose of Versailles, one of my favorite tragedies ever; both have a strong female lead growing up as a male (focus on gender-roles), take place in a historical (royal) setting, are quite theatrical (Shakespeare-like almost), ... incorporate inexplicable roses and have a intriguing/illustrious story. Utena tells a coming-of-age story that explores two big questions in particular (in all, there are several several more): can one stick to childish ideals that they had as a child in order to defeat an opponent who embodies adulthood? And can an "pure and innocent" female with pink hair and flower symbolism back in the days escape her duty/role as a female and instead take on the role of a male/prince?

Revolutionary Girl Utena revolves around Utena Tenjou, a girl who dresses like a boy and dreams of becoming a prince when she grows up. The reason she wants to be a prince? Because she was so "impressed" by a Prince who had given her a Rose Crest ring and told her that they'd meet again in the future. Utena grows up attending Ohtori Academy, a very strange high-school where people fight for their ideals, and to achieve a rumored celestial something. Throughout the course of the story, Utena is forced into battles with the Duelists in order to claim the Rose Bride, which is said to be the key to becoming a prince and obtaining something eternal (celestial thing).

The entire series is divided into four separate story arcs. The first arc (Student Council Saga, episodes 1-13) focus primarily on character development, how Utena ended up having the oh so important Rose Bride (Anthy Himemiya), and the beginning of the mysteries lurking under the outline of the story. The second arc (Black Rose Saga, 13 - 24), more characters are introduced, the most important one being an 18 year old school psychologist who uses Black Rose Crest Rings to manipulative people. The third arc (Akio Ohtori Saga, 25-33) is the psychological trauma aspect of the show, where betrayals and truths are slowly unraveled. Promises are broken, friendships are severed. This is literally the Neon Genesis Evangelion-part of the story if you will. And the final arc is where the conflict, and entire point of the story escalates up to it's climax; and all the dark secrets are revealed.

Okay so this is a pretty tricky story to write a review for because it was just all over the place, and it's difficult to pinpoint the main storyline. Honestly though, this series was more of a live dramatic theater play than an anime story. Constantly the show is "telling" the story, "not being" one. You'll see what I mean by this when you watch the show. At the surface of the story, it'll seem like this is just another magic-school-tournament story with repetitive fight scenes, but oh no. That's just incorrect to it's maximum incorrect level. Although it may not seem like it at first, once you finish it, you'll realize how deep the story is, and how much of an impact it'll have on your psychological understanding of the world/human nature. The beginnings of each episode constantly make no sense. They jump from this scene to that scene, without explaining what happens in between until later. But as the story progresses, the writers did a fabulous job connecting each minor detail with each other to form a "bigger-picture"-plot. All in all a great story.

The character development was genius. One of the many things I loved about this anime was it's amazing cast of characters and the way they were used to portray a specific theme/archetype. In each arc, different characters were focused upon which really created a bond of understanding between the audience and the characters. Many others begin as stereotypes but flourish into complex beings during their respective character arcs. The most important character next to Utena would be the comic relief, Nanami whose capriciousness heads deep into slapstick terrain but stops just short of overbearing. Her theatrics represent her superficial behavior with substantial intentions. Other important characters include the male antagonists (for most part), Touga, Saionji, and Akio, who through callous psychological and emotional bullying almost cease to be human and become more and more like symbols of human vice. If they are not slapping their female cohorts into submission, they are coldly seducing them for their own gratification. They blend in quite remarkably with Utena’s melodrama/characterization. But moving on...

Utena’s an interesting character for a variety of reasons, but it all starts with the basics. As a little girl, she lost faith in the world when tragedies unfolded before her. Was there truly a divine being that watched over us? If so, then why is tehre suffering? Shortly later, a prince comes along and and gives her conviction, gifting her a [symbolic] ring and promising that they’d meet again, just so long as she doesn't lose her bravery and nobility. (Sound like a common fairy tale yet?) So captivated by the prince, she decides to become a prince but is that really a good idea? So goes the fairy tale the show comes back to time and again. Though the words remain the same, the message never does – in a show obsessed with performance and perception, the meaning of words can shift even as their base nature remains consistent. Words like “prince,” the traditional storybook male savior, a word that ultimately comes to signify both less and more than its stated definition. From the beginning, Utena’s desire to be a “prince” points to the serious bone this show has to pick with traditional gender roles. Even the show’s ornate style contributes to this effect – the flowery framing that’s typically a hallmark of “female-oriented” manga and anime is here used to convey traditionally “masculine” power, such as the seductive power of a potential male prince, or Utena herself. Utena is consistently cast in “masculine” terms, from her chosen form of dress, to her adoring female fans, to her athletic prowess and skill as a swordsman. However, to Utena, all these choices are a perfectly legitimate expression of self. In fact, whenever anyone expresses surprise about Utena acting like a “traditional” girl and “performing” girl, Utena responds with a defiant “but I am a girl” – to her, her standard behavior and representation is a completely valid expression of “girl.” Which all points back to the show’s obsession with spectators and performance – in the context of a show that emphasizes how much we all “perform” our personalities, the arbitrary, “performed” nature of gender roles is that much more apparent. Basically others insist on calling out her ‘weaker’ girlish facets to humble her but in the process deny the possibility that she is an inseparable compound of both. Her battle of identity (becoming what others wish vs remaining true to oneself) eventually becomes more salient and more interesting to follow than her duels.

Okay so the story is good and all, and the characters were all masterfully developed, and are all perfectly created characters. But they're not the highlight of the show, nor are they the reason why I like this show to the extent where I'm a fanboy. The greatest part of Shoujo Kakumei Utena is it's constant ambiguity (themes). The show presents to the audience countless numbers of psychological conceptions, societal values, human nature, through use of motifs/symbolism. Seriously, the amount of symbolism is overwhelming, and it's not like a "all up in your face symbolism" like Neon Genesis Evangelion, but it's subtle which makes it all the more impressive. Themes of Nobility and Strength. Gender Roles. Eternity of Youth. Freedom/World Revolution. Corruption of Power/Human Nature. Forbidden Desires. The series also focuses on sex, although it doesn't use any explicit imagery. Incest becomes a major theme, and the series explores it from numerous perspectives; loss of innocence (sexual and otherwise) also becomes very important. At its core, though, Utena follows the story of a friendship-turned-romance between two girls who never expected it; director Ikuhara has even said that the love between the two is the most important thing of all. I won't get into detail about each concept though because it'll be much better experiencing it for yourself than reading about it.

The art and sound are both magnificent in this series, although they aren't exactly the best. The art I think the show tried to use "old" art a little too extremely to make the show seem more "classic"-like (which it is btw). But I did really love all the portrayals of symbolism/art paintings, the beautiful castles/backgrounds, fancy uniforms, and each character's design, especially Utenas. Soundwise, this show is very well voice-acted, and the soundtrack is probably one of the best orchestrated I've ever heard. Seriously though, this show had probably the most appropriate voice actors - characters connection I've ever seen. Furthermore, the music fits the atmosphere well, and the songs they play during the duels added quite the "epic" feeling. There were those church-like chorus soundtracks that created a mysterious and sinister tone when necessary. Openings weren't great and all that memorable, but they certainly weren't bad; I will admit that I skipped the opening after like episode 7, but that's because I was crazy about watching more of the great show. All in all, I liked both the art and sound; somewhat high quality.

Stop wasting your time now, and go watch this series, it's one that you should definitely watch~

Revolutionary Girl Utena is a strange and beautiful show. It's a wonder that I have not seen it when it first came out, a wonder that I barely gave it another glance that time when I first heard of it. However maybe it was a blessing: I understand it now more so than I would when I was younger. And with so much symbolism and such complicated characters with an equally complicated mythos and purpose.

Story: The fairy tale is torn apart. The idea of the princess being the helpless damsel, the witch being a cruel, jealous being, and ... the prince being charming and courageous is destroyed piece by piece within Utena. Even the unusual fairytale of the Princess so impressed by a Prince that naturally she wants to become a Prince as well is dismantled. As a shoujo anime, it is the characters that drives the story. The story is all about revealing the flaws of each character and showing us why Utena is special from the other duelists, why her sense of nobility and her high goal outshines the skills of the other duelists. The story also reveals the oppressive nature a fairy tale has on a woman, on a girl, as well as the hypocrisy and cyclic nature of a fairy tale whose focus is on a prince always saving a princess. I wish I can go deeper, but that would reveal a bit too much.

Characters: In the story section I focused on how the characters in Utena drive the story and that is true. At first we are introduce to each character as archetypes: Utena, the noble warrior, wanting to save a princess and become a prince; Anthy, the damsel in distress, the princess who gives her obedience to the one who wins her. Utena, despite her courage and nobility, is naive and self righteous; she doesn't see herself as the wrong and despite her good intentions, she never truly see who Anthy is, what Anthy truly wants. Utena is not even really perfect...
Anthy...I can take all of the characters of Evangelion and not one is as complicated, as messed up, and as twisted as Anthy is. Nothing about her is what it seems. Introduce as the damsel in distress and a doormat, nothing can be farther from the truth. I love Anthy and I know not every one will. It'll take more than one showing until you scratch the surface.
Even the duelists, who show themselves as classic archetypes first are complicated and flawed. Juri and Miki, my favorite duelists, are each caught in a web of their past. Touga, the playboy, is more insecure than he would let on. And Saonji, the misongynist ass hole...is not really that much of an ass hole.
Then our prince...well. You'll see.
Overall fantastic characters, best part of the show.

Art: The art is gorgeous. The campus of Ohtori looks as if it's modeled after Versailles. The architecture is symbolic and breathtaking, just like in a fairy tale. The dueling area is otherworldly, and generally the backgrounds used are breath taking.
The character designs are very attractive. I'm not crazy for the female sailor uniform design, but the dueling outfits I really like. I love Utena's and Anthy's clothes as well.
Along with the character designs, I love how certain characters who don't stand out as our main character (with the duelists and Utena having hair with all the colors of the rainbow and Anthy and Akio being the ONLY characters with dark skin and of Indian descent) have their plan appearances affect their personalities. And ohh boy...are the men GORGEOUS! Not a flaw!
So the art of the show is top notch...why did I give it an 8? I'm big on fluid animation and they are a lot of repeated footage and cells used as well as still images. I don't mind it, with the budget Utena had, I'm still reasonably impressed.

Sound: I love the Japanese voice actors..I...ugh they fit so well. I love seiyuus over all in almost all anime. The soundtrack is really well done. My one big gripe is that I got tired of hearing "Absolute Apocalypse" over and over and over again in every episode. Even in it's different versions it was very repetitive. I mean, it's catchy...but it suffers from the MTV syndrome of being played WAY TOO OFTEN. Overall, not much to say, just beautiful.

Enjoyment & Overall: Just..go and watch it and pay attention. You can try and read all the character analysis you want, but even with that and watching/rewatching the show, you'll find something new. Wonderful :D.

I do know what shoujo means, and I understand that some anime can only be enjoyed by the feminine audience. However, when such genre breaks the barrier to offer its audience something never done and poetic, it shouldn’t matter at which audience it is targeted. This anime my friend is Revolutionary Girl Utena. From its appealing cast to the provocative symbolism, Revolutionary has been for me an excellent experience that I will probably never see again.

Revolutionary is an anime aimed at girl, and one can obviously notice in the very first moment of the anime. Right in the very first seconds, the viewer will ... be drawn into typical shoujo characters, pastel colors and fairy tail. It is true that in these fields the anime doesn’t prove itself among others, but you can’t judge a book by its cover. The whole fascinating thing about this series is the way that it was directed. In a nutshell, Revolutionary Girl Utena might very well be the greatest anime dealing with symbolism, and this for two reasons. First of all, Revolutionary is elegant and entertaining. The anime can get dead serious at time, but can make you laugh with innocent humour in another episode. This being said, Utena holds few fillers episodes here and there, but aren’t as shallow and dull as typical fillers episode. Not only that, but the directing emphasize a lots on the characters and they all have their right moments to shine. Instead of cramming character development all together, each episode will have a specific character to look on. This way, the viewer is very well oriented and can have a better understanding on a specific character. Second of all, not only winning in the aspect of entertainment, Revolutionary is also winning in the aspect of symbolism for being clear and innovative. If some series dealing with symbolism gets lost by showing too much, Revolutionary has a clear idea of what it wants to be. While the message can be clearly read, I love how the anime never actually talks about its symbolism. Instead, the viewer might very well guess what it talks about and have its own interpretation. However, what is most striking with the symbolism is how it actually follows the character development, which makes Utena one of the greatest female characters in anime.

Utena is a girl, but doesn’t act like one. She wants to be a prince, but knows deep inside that is too farfetched. She is a leader, but can’t seem to actually lead herself. All these contradictions make Utena a very well crafted character. Utena is first seen as a perfect school girl. She has good grades, she can compete against guys in most sports and actually surpass them and she is the role model for all the girls in the school. However, what holds Utena characterization is her past that very well reflects into her personality. Having been saved by a prince, Utena really wants to be one herself, even though she has been told that she would become a princess. This is quite interesting, since she struggles between something she wants and something doesn’t wants to be. After all, the viewer might as well realize the subtlest imperfections of Utena. And then there is the relation between Utena and Anthy that is pretty much the core of their characterizations. The first impression of Anthy is that she is a strange woman that rarely talks, never shows definitive emotions and can be seen almost as doll in a figurative way. It is quite amazing to see such a character develop into one of the most important aspect of the series. Her character development comes into a certain explosion, but does it at the right moment and really amazed me. And then we have the prince of the series, Akio. It is true that every shoujo needs their perfect guy, but there’s something about Akio that keeps him away from perfection. Akio is a womanizer, a beauty according to the girls and is the summit of the greatest prince charming one could find. However, his vision is actually quite blurred. You might as well know what he is actually doing, but to actually know why is way harder to tell. Briefly, Akio could be considered as an anti-prince. While these are the main characters, Revolutionary girl Utena actually has a cast of great side characters. Great not in a way of originality and depth, but great in the way they are exploited. Each one of them holds to something and is searching for their own revolution, which is also an important part of the series.
The idea of revolution is something that is hardly explained in the series. While each character is looking to revolutionize the world, the fact that it is a true revolution or simply personal matters is rarely explained. I find ironic that the only one who isn’t looking for such a revolution is getting closer and closer to it.

Artistically, Revolutionary not only delivers in terms of design, but also in term of metaphors and symbolism. Of course, one can see that Utena’s main source of inspiration was Rose of Versailles, a manga written in the early 70’s. This can be mainly seen with the architecture presented in the anime, which is a mix bag of contemporary and baroque style. The character design is, well, quite elegant I must say. While they fall into the old fashion shoujo body, they’re quite distinctive and original. As for the symbolism and the metaphors, let’s say that the anime is filled with it and never does it wrong or too much. The symbolism is actually more poignant in the third arc, where it is kept to a minimum in former arcs.

The score of Revolutionary is what I would consider epic. With an opening song that is quite good and catchy, Utena also offers an epic song that can be heard in almost every episode, or before each duels to be exact. And then there is the piano piece, Sunlit Garden, which is considered by the fans the best soundtrack of the series. This statement is not false, because it beautifully grasp the dramatic moment of the series. To sum it up, the score of Utena is vivid, poignant and compliments very well with the anime.

And now, why didn’t I give Utena a perfect score? I have to say that Utena doesn’t start as something Magnificent or extremely deep, it is becoming this way later on. Not only that, but Utena deals with an awful lots of repetitions. While these repetitions may give the viewer a sense of coordination and coherence, it can also affect greatly the enjoyment of the viewer. However, Utena is still a masterpiece and to date, no other shoujo has dared to offer something completely out of the box.

Utena: a work of absolute genius, in my opinion.

Pros: Character design, soundtrack, symbolism, depth, emotion, EVERYTHING

Cons: too much implied incest (not explicit, but implied between three brother/sister couples), cels get sloppy every once in a while.

It's difficult to get into at first, as the original idea might seem a little too simplistic: of people competing to win a girl. However, as the characters are introduced, and drama heightens, it becomes more like a drama on the surface. However, there are enough hints to lead the watcher into finding out that these characters are going to clash, all on the stage of ... a battle arena. Clearly, someone is pulling the strings behind the characters actions and duels, and this is one of the mysteries somewhat solved as the series progresses. Throughout the second saga, secondary characters are used to give in depth histories on the primary characters, leading up to the third arc, in which everything seems to erupt into chaos. The real meaning of the Rose Bride is revealed, and the distresseing decisions and duels that take place are both intense and profound.

The funny thing about this anime are the characters. Many of them have large personality flaws that become more apparent and understood throughout the series, making it difficult to choose a character that the watcher relates to. However, as i continued watching the series, I found that almost all the characters are actually easy to relate to on some level, and although they have such pronounced traits, it doesn't make them shallow or flat at all. The characters also develop throughout the series, especially Utena herself.

Edit: new review, and I'll try to keep spoilers out. I'll also leave my old review down there.

This is an anime that you have to watch twice, and go through it. Originally, I stopped at episode 13, and I picked back up from there. It's a good thing, because episode 13 is a review episode.

This anime basically correctly deconstructs Shoujo anime and fairy tales, much like Princess Tutu. I wonder if Princess Tutu was inspired by this anime.

Basically, it's a feminist message that the characters have to learn. None of the men are really good. They're all misogynistic, but ... broken into two camps. The 'harmless' simps, and the abusive playboys. The 'harmless' simps want to be the abusive playboys, but they don't wield enough power or charisma to do so. So they put on their nice guy act. Even the audience falls for it, ironically enough! It also shatters the lesbophobic myth, where two women have to have a man in between them. Throughout the show, men try to come between lesbian relationships, and try to sabotage them. Though the conclusion is that both relationship cut the man out, and they go on to have a relationship of their own. It isn't perfect, and they each have a lot of growing to do, but what relationship IS?

It also deconstructs fairy tales, by juxtaposing them against reality. Women who aren't princesses, have to be witches. Basically, if a woman doesn't marry her prince when she's young and beautiful, then she's doomed to becoming an old witch. This anime basically shatters that nonsense. Women don't need to be princesses, or witches.

Characters: 10/10, but that's through development and lessons. The funny thing is, I initially thought it was the weakest aspect of this anime, but it's actually the strongest. The characters represent the roles to play, and what's expected of them. Yet the characters all shatter that nonsense, and go on to become new characters, or leave the fairy tale altogether! A lot of people initially don't care for Anthy, or they see her as a doormat. Though towards the end, she becomes an independent character in her own right! That's what this anime is about. Playing the role of a princess and prince is nonsense, and needs to be done away with. No one should have to shoulder all the responsibility (prince), and you don't want to be passive and waiting on a rescue (princess).

Though with the pros, come the cons.

I really don't like the episodic nature of the anime. It follows that "villain of the week" thing. That's one aspect of Princess Tutu that I felt was weak, and it's weak in this anime as well. It makes it repetitive, but not in a good way. Like, some repeats are great, because certain episodes sum up the theme of the show. Yet the repetitive duels were the weak aspect of this anime.

Old Review of mine, that you can't totally skip.

Dark skin

As someone with dark skin, this anime doesn't speak to me. Dark skinned characters are either evil or don't have a voice of their own. Seriously, the only dark skinned woman in this anime is constantly abused and viewed as a prize. WTF?! The only dark skinned person with their own agency is evil. Nice symbolism there... Authors of old and new, I promise y'all that dark skin is not bad. Good grief! The only slightly good point is that the dark skinned characters are considered beautiful, which is a rare concept, even today. So credit to this I guess...

Revolutionary and feminism?

The main character chases men who she thinks are her prince. Not only does she chase them, but she's a fool for them. Simply handing a woman a sword and having her win a few fights does not make her a good female character. A reverse harem in Shojo? Groundbreaking! Love triangles in Shojo? Groundbreaking! Guys, there's nothing revolutionary about a reverse harem or a love triangle in a romance story. Here's something revolutionary: a love story that doesn't have a love triangle or a "the family of my beloved hates me!" plot line. A lot of the female characters are vain and jealous witches who torment a girl because of the male gaze. This is feminism? Anthy is a doormat who let's everyone abuse her until someone rescues her. Nice message there...

Characters

The worst thing about this are the characters. You do have a few characters who are sort of okay. Juri was okay, and I liked the plot twist of her romance story. Wakaba and Miki are also decent. The rest are straight trash.

Anthy: this is a doormat. I find myself feeling pity for her in every scene that she's in. She's not a particularly enjoyable character, but she does tug on your heartstrings when you see the abuse she goes through.

Main Girl: not like other girls that's actually like other girls.

Nanami: She's evil and unlikable. She slaps women and tries to fight them and torment them because she's jealous of them. Wonderful character there... Of course, she does

Saionji is another terrible character. As soon as he pops up I think "do we have to be subjected to him?" He's so overbearing with his abusive actions and obsessive tendencies that I don't enjoy his scenes at all. In fact, I hate every scene he's in, save for the funny scene of him and the monkey. Tragic thing is, he had potential. He's delusional about the world he's in and he's obsessive. I still don't like his scenes, but there's a smidge of fascination with him. The problem is, the author doesn't utilize him properly.

Touga: This is the worst character as far as enjoyment (I finished episode 13, so spare me folks). Nanami is awful, but I can at least be mildly entertained by her delusions of grandeur and laught at her. Saionji is overbearing and you can't relax with him, but there is a sort of fascination that I have for his delusions and obsessive nature. With Touga, I feel absolutely nothing for him, except annoyance. Not only is he an annoying character, but he has nothing worth liking about him at all.

Overall, this anime didn't hit for me. It was a slog to get through, and I dropped it. I couldn't stomach more of this. It feels like this is praised due to nostalgia.

TL;DR On an intellectual level, Revolutionary Girl Utena is a complex and layered attempt to explore sexism, femininity adolescence, false love, and the possessive nature of relationships. It has many useful insights that should incite people to examine themselves and their relationships. In an effort to tackle these subjects comprehensively and deeply, the show compromises the story with repetition, tying its appeal to the viewer's ability to understand and appreciate its ideas. As a shoujo with pretty boys, love triangles, and teenage friendships, it mostly falls flat for me and for anyone else who doesn't care about silly high school life shenanigans. It requires the ... viewer to perform analysis and think hard about every single small detail in order to enjoy the show smoothly as a story and not as an artistic puzzle.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of those stories that cannot be evaluated by the traditional metrics of story alone--- it cannot be fully appreciated nor judged based on entertainment value, pacing, appeal of the characters, etc. This is because the elements of a story are in service of expressing its ideas. The intellectual ideas are the real essence of the story, rather than the story structure and execution. This means that the ideas that the story is explaining must be understood before the merit of the story is valued.

I say this because admittedly, on a superficial level, this show is not very entertaining to me. It's not that I don't like to see stories about teenage girls, but I would rather watch paint dry than watch teenagers running around in a high school setting acting like their papery thin affection is actual love. This leads to cheap emotional conflicts that are sold as life and death struggles that characters torment themselves over when they're really just child's play, not worth a tear from me. I don't care about who loves who and especially don't care for "shipping" both in real life, and in stories.

The irony of this is that a lot of people seem to enjoy RGU for its pretty boys, love triangles, and shipping potential whereas I watch it solely because it exposes the superficiality, falseness, and hidden darkness in these typical drama/romance tropes that I so despise. I see no relationships to get invested in--- as with most shows there's next to no well crafted dialogue that shows believable, natural romantic chemistry between characters. Characters are simply very polite with each other, going on with their mundane school life and members of the student council talk like they're aristocracy even though they're like 15. The much lauded friendship/romance between Utena and Anthy is a series of polite (but layered) exchanges for the most part until they finally connect later on in the show. For me to get invested into romance, I have to see something that's genuine and feels real. Just as well, because the show doesn't go for constructing relationships; its purpose is to deconstruct, and it does this marvelously. Therefore, any potential emotional investment for me is contingent on me understanding exactly what the show is saying in its deconstructions, which reveal the true nature of characters' feelings. The dialogue that I just criticized may seem cheap and plasticky when it comes to making enjoyable character interactions, but each line is a clue into the psyche of a character. The dialogue doesn't build the relationships so much as it reveals the self interests of the participants. Naturally, this means that the show was pretty dry for me on the first watch because it's so hard to understand.

But first, let me make it clear that despite what I wrote above, the last thing I want is to make it seem like if you don't like this anime, it's because you didn't get it and it's too deep for you, or that I like it just because of its "deep" themes. First of all, half the reason I like it is because it's got great aesthetic appeal, from the fairy tale imagery to the music by Shinkichi Mitsumune; even though I may not be able to appreciate the characters and there's no overarching plot, I can still enjoy those aspects of the show. If this show was just a bunch of metaphors, symbols, and ideas, I wouldn't like it very much because it'd be too cold. I like it because I like what it has to say AND I like enough of its presentation, even though it's not perfect. Secondly, I think the depth of this show is different from the depth of other shows that are known to be deep and difficult to understand, in that this show has specific things to say. Other shows like Serial Experiments Lain appear to have depth because they ask broad metaphysical questions. RGU isn't about existentialism, identity, or the mind-body problem (at least, not primarily, but then again, if you want to make a show seem deep you can always say it's about existentialism and that always works). It's about femininity and masculinity, which I think is more relevant and practical to the viewer. And it doesn't espouse these themes in a way that's deliberately ambiguous; yes, it's got a lot of symbolism and metaphor, and few things are directly expressed in order to show and not tell, but the show is definitely trying to express a concrete idea that is clarified by the symbolism and metaphor rather than expanded into more questions.

With regard to this topic, RGU is trying to say A LOT because of how many angles it takes to approach it through the lens of its many characters. However, this is what I think the essence of the show is, after watching most of the episodes at least 3 times and taking notes about each detail (it felt like I was in English class all over again). The show uses the elements of surrealistic fantasy and sword battles to emphasize and clarify the real life issues of how femininity is viewed and treated as well as the selfish, possessive nature of relationships (not just romantic).

In short, Anthy, who represents femininity, takes the blame and hatred from the world for the shortcomings of men. People blame women for the failure of men to live up to the fairy tale ideal of a noble prince, which is represented by the prince Dios. Anthy voluntarily sacrifices herself because she believes that by taking the blame, the ideal of the prince can be preserved. However, as Dios grows up, he becomes corrupted by the dirty real world and loses the nobility of its youth, when it thought it could be a prince who gives light. Dios, now Akio, works with Anthy to try to find that youthful nobility again by having kids duel each other. The adult world projects fairy tale ideals to children and places Anthy as the Rose Bride, the princess that when taken by dueling, grants the power to achieve those ideals--- the adult world deceives children into objectifying women and glorifying the ideal of the prince. Then it wants to take advantage of the children who grow up with these ideas. Akio wants to find a child with the nobility of a prince that he once had, so he can use that nobility to change the world, while Anthy wants to see a prince she can believe in.

SPOILERS
I read Utena's role in all of this as the feminist. She's a girl who uses the masculine ideals of nobility and strength to defend Anthy in the duels, yet she doesn't befriend Anthy nor seek to understand her. She's a girl who's alienated herself from her femininity by assuming a masculine role as its Prince. She's a 14 year-old girl who drives through multiple defenders and dunks over the entire boy's team (IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT YOU DON'T LIKE ANIME BASKETBALL. GET THIS GIRL IN THE NBA). She defends Anthy out of pride and not friendship and that is why her nobility ultimately fails to revolutionize the world. The show says that the solution is to understand one's own femininity and embrace it, which translates to the budding friendship between Utena and Anthy. It also says that true nobility, the kind able to effect actual change, requires sacrifice, as demonstrated when Utena is pierced with the world's hatred in Anthy's stead. In the end, both Utena and Anthy leave the school, signaling that they are breaking out of the idea of prince and princess. There doesn't have to be a prince and princess. People can just be friends.
ENDSPOILERS

This is the central idea. The individual duels are branches from this central idea that explore the ways that adolescents view femininity and how that ties into their self perception. This makes for a repetitive story and there is little tension in the battles even if they're well animated because you know Utena's going to win. However, the appeal lies not in the physical conflict but the ideas that each episode explores using this repetitive structure.

A running theme in the exploration of these characters is that all of them have a distorted view of true love and are selfish in their intentions for relationships. They all want to use someone else to attain something they desire. They're not so much in love with the person as the idea that the person embodies to them. These themes are rooted in the novel Lolita. In Lolita, it is clear that Humbert Humbert wants Lolita to fulfill both his sexual fantasies and his ideological fantasy of an ideal girl. His relationship with Lolita is a possessive one, as evidenced by its nature as a parent-child relationship and his renaming of Lolita. RGU is special because it has the integrity and insight to expose the dark underbelly of what people think is love. Almost no one in this series actually shows love. The only two times true love is shown are accompanied by a sacrifice on the part of the lover. True love is selfless and pure. Everything else is a reflection of individual desires and internal struggles, which manifests in people wanting to possess other people for their own needs. RGU should ideally spur people not only to rethink their conceptions of male-female relationships, but also to better know themselves in order to forge more genuine connections with others.

So these are the main ideas I see in this series right now. With time, I'll probably get something new or change my analysis. For now, what about how these ideas fit into the show?

In an effort to explain these ideas, RGU is crammed with symbolism, allegory, metaphor, allusions, and foreshadowing. The use of these literary devices does not make something a masterpiece. Their purpose is to clarify something and/or add meaning to something, not to obfuscate something in order to be artsy. For the most part, RGU's of these devices are fitting to convey what it's trying to say. At other times, I felt like they added unnecessary confusion and distraction. With that being said, I believe that the story can only be appreciated and entertaining when you actually get everything that is being said by these literary devices. This is because the full breadth of the emotion in the story can only be felt when you understand the complexity and nuances of the characters, and you can afford to spend more time feeling the texture of the thoughts and emotions presented instead of trying to comprehend what those emotions are in the first place. Even after I understood what the characters were thinking, my emotional attachment to the characters was limited- I appreciated the show more on an intellectual level- and this is where it's subjective.

I suspect that those who enjoyed the show without getting all of it were already fans of the shoujo genre and are more readily invested in the characters and relationships. Perhaps they are people who have had real life experience with the issues that the show is portraying and thus feel what the characters are feeling much more acutely. Me, I never had too much emotional investment in romantic relationships nor the high school social setting. I'm also male, so while this series makes me examine own role in this whole masculinity-femininity thing, I'm sure it's going to have a lot more emotional resonance with female viewers.

Concerning the pacing, this is the show's biggest problem, right alongside the inconsistency. The show would be much stronger if it condensed its story into fewer episodes, even if it's at the expense of the development of the side characters. There's already so much content in each episode and a stronger focus on the central idea would be beneficial, because most of the emotional weight is in the relationship between Utena and Anthy and any emotion from the other characters is diluted with repetition. The stories about the other characters aren't bad but they don't always strike a chord with me. The problem is worsened by the fact that character arcs are repeated in order to stretch the story. The ideas in Miki's third episode were repeated with the addition of the idea of femininity being associated with his mother and childhood. His entire arc could've been done with two episodes if they didn't waste half an episode on Nanami's prank. The same goes for Saionji's arc, Nanami's arc and Touga's arc. The only character that deserved two separate treatments was Jury, whose story was the most well done.

After watching the episodes multiple times, I would say that a good viewing order would be 1-13 (except for 6 and 8), 25, 28-30, 33, 34, 37-39. I believe that the few new ideas in the third and fourth arcs for the supporting characters could have been added onto previous episodes. The only reason to watch some of the later episodes is to see the development of Utena's relationships with Anthy and Akio. Otherwise, Utena doesn't interact with the conflicts of the supporting characters. She doesn't think about what she's defending Anthy against and if she did, this might have made for more engaging episodes.

Art: The idealized, heroic proportions on all the characters are a little too stylized, but still look good. The face designs are alright, but nothing special. In typical shoujo fashion, the male characters are overly feminine. The costume design is decent, but it's really the architecture and backgrounds that shine the most. It's a beautiful series to look at--- you see the sunny, idyllic environment of childhood that seeps with the surrealism of a memory.

Music: Every single piece is great! It accompanies the art very well and somehow blends the innocence of school life with an apocalyptic high fantasy and aristocratic sophistication. I don't want to go anywhere near trying to decipher the lyrics to the songs, though.

Undoubtedly, RGU has considerable intellectual and artistic merit. Your enjoyment and appreciation of it, however, is going to scale with your understanding of what it's trying to communicate and how well its characters resonate with your personal experiences. My personal enjoyment is a 5/10. If you've watched the series, please let me know what you think and if you have any comments about my review.

EDIT: A year later I realized I really like this show. Having seen so many more shows after this, I recognize how weird and unique it is, shoujo or not. At some point, its sheer style supercedes its genre and invites me to embrace it for all it is. It is both the quintessential shoujo show and a deconstruction of the entire genre, and the beauty of it is that you can enjoy it both ways. With that being said, this is the only shoujo/magical girl show I would recommend.

This review is based on a rewatch of the anime. Three years ago, I watched this anime for the first time and was totally confused from the first episode to the last. Now, perhaps due to some gained experience with watching and analyzing serious and meaningful anime, I've been able to understand this anime better and appreciate it more.

This anime uses a lot symbolism from various things including roses, Biblical stories, Greek mythology, shadow puppetry, and more. There are many interpretations of this symbolism as it relates to the story's main plot. I didn't figure all of it out, but I'd figured out enough ... to be really entertained by the anime.

This anime discusses what can cause self-actualization and what can prevent self-actualization. For the most part, the anime is focused on self-actualization in teens. Some teens struggle to self-actualize themselves b/c they are attempting to make certain moments eternal. Once you near the end of the anime, you see that everyone in this anime is trying to hold on to something eternal (i.e. precious memories) b/c they are dissatisfied with their personal lives which make up their world. As a result, they try to get "the power to revolutionize world" in order to make whatever they want eternal. Yet, the true power to revolutionize goes beyond holding on to precious moments that you can't experience again. That true power is the freedom to live unhindered by restraints from family, friends, and the world around you through self-actualization.

To review the characters, soundtrack, and animation separately is pointless because they all revolve around the symbolism. They are all engaging, poignant, and complex aspects of the anime. Some of it may be too repetitive, but to me that repetition just serves to drive home the theme of self-actualization.

The only final thoughts I have is that there are some things that may make viewers uncomfortable including implied yuri and yaoi as well as incest. Stay clear of this anime if you don't like this stuff.

Overall, I enjoyed this series A LOT better than I did the first time around. I felt like I was watching a mythological tale play out, and it was very satisfying. If you don't mind analyzing a lot of stuff to understand what's going on, then I recommend this anime. It is a masterpiece.

[Preface]

Revolutionary Girl Utena is exactly what I want from an anime. When I'm starting a new anime, I generally go into it with three levels of expectations: what I fear it is going to be, what I think it is going to be, and what I want it to be. I can count on one hand the number of anime that have been what I wanted them to be. Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of them.

In this review, I will avoid spoilers to the detriment of the review itself. The defining moment of the series is the climax and I will not say anything ... beyond that about it. Whatever you take from this review, it will only be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to Revolutionary Girl Utena. My hope is to simply plant a seed, incite an itch.

[Introduction]

Revolutionary Girl Utena brings about excellence through allegory. I know this illustration is overused, but Revolutionary Girl Utena is like a form of storytelling onion. Revolutionary Girl Utena tells you a large number of stories through a single narrative. This density, depth of complexity, is something that I value immensely in fiction. Revolutionary Girl Utena is the second 10/10 I've ever given, Evangelion being the first. Both landing their spots there, now thematically, by their complexity in storytelling and meticulous study of abstract themes. Revolutionary Girl Utena manages this through inversion, subversion, and deconstruction.

[The Storytelling Onion]

What I find most impressive about Revolutionary Girl Utena is that it finds a way to tell you multiple stories at once. At the top lies a story of a middle school girl's daily exploits. Secondly comes a fairy tale of a prince saving a princess. Then the inversion of that, being the princess wanting to become a prince, dissecting gender roles and personal image. Below that comes the subversion of the fairy tale, dealing with purity, illusion, and idealism. Lastly comes the deconstruction. This deconstruction does not simply deconstruct the fairy tale, but it deconstructs everything else in the process, breaking down themes of identity, individualism, determinism, existentialism, and nihilism.

[The Fairy Tale]

Even in this top layer, there is more than meets the eye. The fairy tale of the prince saving the princess is incorporated repeatedly throughout Revolutionary Girl Utena, rhythmically, as though projecting an image that everyone is a damsel in distress waiting for their prince. And when the prince comes and saves us riding his white horse, it becomes our noble obligation to be that prince ourselves for someone else.

[The Princess Becomes the Prince]

"inversion noun
​the act of changing the position or order of something to its opposite, or of turning something into a position in which the top of it is where the bottom of it normally is" - Oxford Learner's Dictionaries

The princess becoming the prince forces a study of image. What is a princess? What is a prince? What is weak? What is strong? Revolutionary Girl Utena challenges not only these images, but is itself open for interpretation, becoming a medium for discussion. Whatever you perceive, whatever your values are, they will be challenged.

[Does the Prince Exist?]

"subversion (of something)
an act of changing something to its opposite, especially when this challenges fixed ideas or expectations" - Oxford Learner's Dictionaries

Revolutionary Girl Utena then subverts both the original fairy tale and the inversion it proposed. It begins picking at them: Will your prince ever come? Will he save you and love you unconditionally? Will you be able to become a prince? Will you succeed in saving your princess? And philosophically investigates further: What is purity? What is corruption? Can you hang on to illusions? Can you hang on to ideals? Should you try?

[Tear everything down!]

"deconstruction noun
a theory that states that it is impossible for a text to have one fixed meaning, and emphasizes the role of the reader in the production of meaning" - Oxford Learner's Dictionary

“A text is not a text unless it hides from the first comer, from the first glance, the law of its composition and the rules of its game. A text remains, moreover, forever imperceptible. Its laws and rules are not, however, harbored in the inaccessibility of a secret; it is simply that they can never be booked, in the present, into anything that could rigorously be called a perception.” - Jacques Derrida, Dissemination

This is where Revolutionary Girl Utena transcends anime and fiction as a whole. Revolutionary Girl Utena is not a story, it is an idea. It is a disservice to say "Revolutionary Girl Utena is about [blank]" but I will do so in context to our fairy tale and the theme of this review. As I've already pointed out, Revolutionary Girl Utena is about an imperceptible number of things. And though this fairy tale is a big part of the story, if you read the background section below the synopsis, it mentions Revolutionary Girl Utena is also about ambition, adulthood, abuse, and incest, to name a few. I told you avoiding spoilers would hinder this review, it just so happened to shorten it substantially as well. All I've discussed is the fairy tale that is introduced in the starting moments of the series, truly, the top layer of the onion.

Back to the point I was trying to make before the themes oversimplification disclaimer: Revolutionary Girl Utena is about more than the story, it is about you, it is about identity. Who are you? What do you believe?

[Conclusion]

I've analyzed some of the themes of Revolutionary Girl Utena and expressed what they've meant to me. Through all of these countless hours, episodes, seasons, series that I've watched, I've always been searching for Revolutionary Girl Utena. I'm very glad I found it, and you will be too.