Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku

All eyes are on Utena Tenjou, a mysterious transfer student to Ohtori Academy. But Utena's eyes seem to be fixed on one familiar face that stands out among the rest—Touga Kiryuu, Utena's childhood friend. Touga knows of Utena's past and possesses knowledge of the Mark of the Rose, a set of unique rings worn by those who compete for the hand of the Rose Bride. The Rose Bride, Himemiya Anthy, belongs to whomever wins her in a duel, and the one that wins all the duels is said to be given the power to bring revolution to the world. Utena is drawn into the duels, but Touga and their complicated history together may end up unraveling everything. Nothing is as it seems in this retelling of the original anime series.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Tenjou, Utena Main

Kawakami, Tomoko Japanese

Himemiya, Anthy Main

Fuchizaki, Yuriko Japanese

Arisugawa, Juri Supporting

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Kiryuu, Nanami Supporting

Shiratori, Yuri Japanese

Ootori, Akio Supporting

Oikawa, Mitsuhiro Japanese

Kiryuu, Touga Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Chuchu Supporting

Koorogi, Satomi Japanese

Kaoru, Miki Supporting

Hisakawa, Aya Japanese

Saionji, Kyouichi Supporting

Kusao, Takeshi Japanese

Takatsuki, Shiori Supporting

Nishihara, Kumiko Japanese

Matsukura, Yuuji Producer

Moriyama, Atsushi Producer

Ikuhara, Kunihiko Director, Storyboard, Theme Song Lyrics, ADR Director, Creator

Tanaka, Hideyuki Sound Director

Reviews

Oct 26, 2008

iamjoe

Recommended

Honestly, I had to watch this like three times before I had an inkling of a clue what this anime was about. I was not familiar with the Utena series before, and I ended up watching the movie because I was informed that it wasn't the same as the series.

So I watched it and wondered what sort of crack I had smoked before popping the DVD in. Apparently, I had not smoked any crack, and it was just Utena that was messing with my head.

The story is...I don't know. Up to now, I hardly know what happened. It's long, convoluted, and they don't ... ever, EVER explain what the hell happened. Well, they sort of did, with visual symbolism. But I'm sort of dumb in a fabulous way, so I barely understood any of that.

The art and animation was top-notch though. It looked incredible. The sound was great too.

Characters were...interesting, to say the least. I was pretty certain that at least four people in the main cast were homosexual, or maybe it's just all the flower imagery that threw me off.

I didn't enjoy this movie because I spent the whole time tugging at my marvellous hair wondering 'WTF?!' is going on.

It's not unfabulous, and it's worth a watch, I say.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 7, 2008

Venneh

Recommended

Adolescence of Utena is a feature-length movie that was produced and directed by the same persons who were responsible for the TV series. It premiered in 1999, and has been licensed Stateside by Central Park Media, which is now defunct. Let's just say it's been out for a long time Stateside.

Adolescence of Utena is best described as the TV series retold in two hours or less with different plot elements bought up or discarded, with some characters absent, and lots and lots of symbolism and, some would argue, a heavy dose of crack.

I would highly suggest watching the series going into ... this. I watched this first, then watched the series, and then watched this, and I found that the series helped me understand it more, which is what the creators intended with this. And then the movie, in turn, helped me understand elements of the series that I didn't before, which in turn helped me understand the movie more, which helped me understand the series... it's a cycle of positive feedback. And it's amazing.

The art for this is a lot smoother than it was in the series, though it is still heavily stylized. A definite improvement.

The music has a lot of the same themes, subtly reworked for the movie, which gives it a whole new feel. There are also some new vocal pieces that don't have to do with the duelling songs, and they're quite addictive.

Most of the vocal cast was able to return for this, except for Akio's seiyuu, which just adds a nice touch to this.

An amazing movie, and one of my favorite anime movies to date.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jan 18, 2018

0MAN0

Not Recommended

Revolutionary Girl Utena: Adolescence Apocalypse. After what I can imagine was a great critical/commercial success of the original series (which I can say is rather well-deserved), the board thought it a good idea to create a movie that's... kind of a retelling, kind of an alternate universe... whatever. Cool! In theory. This Utena:AA deals with the same sort of spiritual themes as its predecessor, and maybe even does it in a more digestible way. I can see how others reviewers would give it a lot of mileage for its use of themes, symbolism, and generally good art and music. I tend to agree that these ... points are generally more good than bad, but there is a serious flaw with Utena:AA. It's just so god damn busy. Everything about this series is vying for attention at all points. It is a movie that completely fails to engage the audience because it lacks variation in tone. It is just exhausting to watch. Furthermore, while the memorable characters of the original series make an appearance, they fail to leave any impact besides an easter egg or two. While it visually and sonically sound, though even still cluttered, problems with pacing and characters really prevent Utena:AA from reaching the heights of its mother series.



[Rating]
Story: 2
Art: 8
Sound: 8
Character: 3
Enjoyment: 3
Overall: 4



[Story: 2]

The story is shit. In the original Utena, the story had problems of its own right, but at least it served as a proper vehicle for character development and expanded on profound themes in most episodes. Utena:AA throws this structure out the window and goes for something of an absurdist action/thriller. The problem lies in that the audience has no time or reason to build interest.

What does an audience member hope for or expect coming into the middle of this movie? None of the characters are particularly interesting anymore. Anything that these characters have done to give value to the story is in the original series, and even this is somewhat lost on the viewer since Utena:AA is set in some sort of an alternate reality. The plot has no direction of its own, as evidenced by the absurd, far-too-long car scene, and thus has little interest for the audience. There's just nothing going on here.

The movie also shows that it's got huge pacing issues. Both the Nanami scene and the car chase scene both last absurdly long and offer nothing to the viewer. They are neither insightful or exciting, humorous or entertaining. I point to these scenes as an example of the lack of vision and planning present in the movie, but this pacing issue persists the whole way through.



[Art: 8]

The art is pretty good! A little less Kingdom Hearts, a little more Monogatari. Backgrounds often highlight repeating forms or patterns and obscure colors in shadows or brights. The technicalities and polish are definitely a few steps above the original series, which is exactly what you would expect. But this doesn't really solve all the issues.

The art of Utena:AA is still super busy. Busy art is fine, but it can be difficult to direct around and I would say that art which is constantly busy only hurts it. In fact, I think that the Utena the original series still has better art than Utena:AA. Despite its improvements in general animation quality and smoothness, Utena:AA fails to pick up on its predecessor's fantastic directing or effortlessly virtuouso-level character design and shot composition. These elements are the more important, though less spoken of. Regardless, Utena:AA looks good and has a distinct animation style with enough polish to be worthy of praise.



[Sound: 8]

The sound is good. It is also busy. Not much to talk about here. It is nice to hear a rehash or two of some of my favorite Utena tunes. Classic cool 80s synth tracks. Voice acting is good. Sound design and effects are good.



[Character: 3]

Yeah... pretty bad. I generally like the characters in Utena, but in Utena:AA they were mostly gutted of substance. Miki, Juri, Saonji, Himemiya, and even Utena take a pretty steep hit: there isn't much personality or much done to develop their characters outside the broad events of the plot. Touga is neat in this, especially his little easter egg as the forgotten hero. I haven't put much thought into the significance of the that being Touga, but it feels touching given its reference in the original series.



[Enjoyment: 3]

Busy, busy. I pretty much felt assaulted by this movie. There is such a thing as too much. Some would say that, for the sake of allegory, it's worth it. But when making these sorts of statements, you have to consider whether it is right for the medium. Anime, sure, is more welcoming to this than most, but if all you want to do is present allegory and completely flout the tenets of film-making and crafting a solid audience experience, then maybe you should skip the allegory and make it a book instead.



[Overall: 4]

It looks good, it sounds good, but... it isn't good. This film doesn't really provide a ton of value outside its presentation and maybe some profound themes, but these aren't very accessible to the viewer and certainly are not worth the cost of such a poor execution of writing, pacing, and filmmaking.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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