Nov 5, 2016
I'll admit when I first began this show I thought it was slow and a tad boring. I didn't enjoy the first arc much, but by the second arc I was hooked.
Warning: the show is dark, despite what you see on the surface. Abuse and manipulation run throughout.
You'll be questioning what it all means until the very last moments but that's a good thing.
Warning: DON'T SKIP THE 3RD CLIP EPISODE.
Story: The show is surrealist, almost everything is a metaphor and representation of something, so pay attention and don't take it at face value! Nothing is what it seems. The story appears simple: a princely
...
girl duels others to protect the rose bride from being used by others, and friendship blossoms between them. If she keeps fighting, eventually she might gain the power to revolutionize the world and meet the prince who once saved her. But what does it mean to revolutionize the world? Who is this prince, and what happened to him? And who is Anthy and how did she become the rose bride?
Characters: I won't lie - Anthy seemed boring at first to me, 2D and no real personality of her own. I was wondering how on earth so many people were saying they loved her character.
Don't take anyone in this show at face value. Everyone is putting on a facade, every single character. Yes, even Wakaba is more complex than she appears.
Everyone is beautifully fleshed out with their own complicated backstories. This show is excellent at portraying everyone's flaws, even Utena who appears so noble, brave and virtuous, her naivety becomes her weakness.
Sound: I...quickly got quite sick of the song as Utena descends the stairs... but I do love the theme song. Voice acting sounds pretty decent to me. Not much to say about it.
Art: the repetition of animation every episode as Utena descends the stairs did get very tiring to me and I skipped it every time. Other things do repeat as well later on in the series. It does feel a little lazy sometimes, I will admit, and I did have a hard time getting used to the slightly dated art style at first. The latter did grow on me eventually though.
Remember: idealism and magic is for fairytales, and this is no fairytale.
Reviewer’s Rating: 10
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