Shoujo Kakumei Utena: After the Revolution

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After the Revolution is by no means a perfect manga.

It exists as a sequel to 1997's Revolutionary Girl Utena to celebrate its 20th anniversary, and thus takes place 20 years later. Because of its nature as a 20th anniversary celebration, it was never going to be, well, revolutionary, but that doesn't mean it isn't enjoyable or doesn't have some interesting ideas.

These three chapters are essentially about the spirit of Utena helping the student council members heal from their lingering trauma left over by the events of the main story. It doesn't line up with the anime's plot details 100%, but it's Utena; no two versions ... will have the same details.

A common criticism of this manga is that it is hard to believe the characters haven't changed in twenty years, but to that I say: trauma will do that to you. Utena is a series about trauma and how it plants its roots in you and fundamentally changes you as a person, and this manga shows that (although I do agree that the character designs not changing after twenty years is a bit silly. As I said, it's not perfect).

Ultimately it doesn't have the time to deliver everything I could want out of a follow up to Utena but considering its only three chapters, it uses its short runtime wisely, covering just about everything that needs to be covered, even if it cannot get to everything.

It is a poignant and heartwarming story about how the effects of trauma are long lasting but it is never too late to heal. It's not perfect, but for what it is, it works well.

This manga is pointless.

The story takes place twenty years after Utena’s revolution, but that doesn’t really matter.

There’s hardly any insight into how the lives of the student council members have changed. All of their stories begin with them almost immediately going back to Ohtori academy or getting drawn into a vision. They each have a meaningless duel, and then they...change? Somehow? It doesn’t really matter because their stories each get cut off soon after their duels are over.

Though Utena and Anthy are on the cover of this manga, don’t expect to see much of them. The council members don’t even remember them, so they ... aren’t discussed much. Utena only appears in visions, and Anthy is almost completely absent.

The art is pleasant, and thankfully the manga is short. That’s about all the praise I can spare.

In the manga’s afterward, artist Chiho Saito explains what happened when she was asked to do a 20th anniversary Utena manga. She consulted with director Kunihiko Ikuhara, and together, the two of them realized that they barely had any ideas.

It shows.

NOTE: THIS IS A SEQUEL OF THE ORIGINAL ANIME. I WILL ASSUME YOU WATCHED THE SERIES COMPLETELY.

Do you know that anime called Shoujo Kakumei Utena, right? That anime that has been praised for its characterization and complex psychological issues, that has some good character development and has the topic of letting go off toxic relationships? Well, forget everything I said because this manga has none of that.

One prominent aspect of the anime is the surrealist and often unexplained events that happened in the background, well, they tried to replicate these events in the manga by teleporting the council members to the duel arena and then ... Utena appears which everyone seems to have forgotten, ah, and to add to that, everyone forgot EVERYTHING that happened at the Ohtori academy because... reasons. I know Ikuhara's works are full of unexplained stuff but this downright does not make sense.

This feels like when you meet your highschool friends after really a long long time at a homecoming reunion and you realize that... they haven't changed AT ALLl. Yeah, I really loved seeing the student council members again, but the fact they're basically the same than when they were teenagers feels sort of disappointing. While I feel glad to know what happened after the series, it feels like they threw most if not all the character development down the sewers.

This manga centers more in the student council rather than on Utena and Anthy, in fact, they barely appear in any of the three chapters. Anyway, if you're curious enough you might want to read this short manga... don't expect much, really, except from maybe some homoeroticism between Touga and Saionji or Miki and Kozue's... uh... whatever that was.

Ah and don't get me started with Juri. This was bad enough to make me remove her from my favorite characters. WHY THE F--K ARE YOU STILL CRYING FOR RUKA AND SHIORI? That is genuine stupidity Juri, you lost all respect I could have for you.

Yeah, what a good revolution to the world you made, Utena. I will make like this manga is not canon.