Great review of a great series...Utena really is an amazing mix of art, music and plot for an amazing emotional series
(excluding the one or two totally random filler episodes)
This is one of the few series I've seen where repeated sequences are used with such style
Shoujo Kakumei Utena tv Review
Story & Characters
"Nothing bad ever happens at Ohtori Academy." - Ohtori Kanae
The first episode starts off with an innocent fairy tale: once upon a time, a beautiful young princess is left alone when her parents die. A prince visits her and convinces her to keep on living. He gives her a ring and a kiss and leaves, but so impressed by him is she that she decides not to marry the prince but to become a prince herself.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena is definitely my favorite series. Some criticize it for an episodic nature: every episode features an opponent and respective backstory du jour. The difference between Utena and all other anime out there is that eventually, if not immediately, every character is someone you can identify with on a surprisingly deep level. Also, despite the episode-by-episode basis, the plot does advance and the characters do develop.
One main strength of Utena is its strong character list. Each and every is eventually, if not immediately, someone you can identify with on a surprisingly deep level. Yes, even that faceless background girl. They devote an episode to her. And it's not just individual characters, it's how they interact with each other that is shockingly human.
President Touga, a power-hungry playboy, gets all the girls except the one he wants, the one with a heart. Acting president Nanami has devoted her heart and soul to her big brother, but what happens if it turns out they're not related? Vice-president Saionji turns his shame at being betrayed by his best friend into jealousy and a power struggle, the only thing he knows how to win at. Beautiful captain Juri of the fencing club is empirious and noble, but is reduced to shame when her one weakness is exposed: her love. Seriously, I don't do this series justice. You have to watch it for yourself.
Evangelion for girls? More like Evangelion for everybody, but better. And without all that nonsense vague symbolism. Utena's symbolism is so obvious, they even point it out for you (in one episode at least).
Utena is truly revolutionary and not only in name. Plot twists abound. No formula is left unbroken. The first few episodes may turn you off and convince you that it's simply another magical girl series. Don't fall for it. Later in the series, the story becomes dark and jaded, exploring the bounds of sexuality and morality and human degradation. Keep your kids away from this. Unless they're old enough. Then by all means make them watch it. Seriously, this series requires a high level of empathy and maturity. Nothing is left untouched, including homosexuality and brother-sister incest, so keep away if you're a conservative kind of person. I watched it two years ago and was totally disgusted. Two years later, I am much more open and finally have a chance to fully enjoy this amazing series. Rate this at very least TV-14, not for violence (there's none) or blood (there's none) or nudity (only a little, nothing explicit). Simply for morality and sexuality issues.
Rating:
Art
The characters are CLAMP: thin, ideal, big eyes. The background is Rose of Versailles: Rococo architecture, French military uniforms, beautiful European setting. Utena first hooked me with its art, and for good reason.
The people are beautiful and the campus of Ohtori's Montessori campus is absolutely captivating. From Nemuro's mysterious and ancient hall to Akio's graceful tower in the middle, from the dueling forest to the arena in the middle, the entire setting looks like it is straight from a fairy tale.
The setting does also drive home one underlying moral behind Utena: that despite their beauty, the characters are still human and the seeds of hate still spread unnoticed.
EDIT: Didn't realize I put it as a 10, sorry! I was caught in Utena magic.
Yes, it is true that Utena recycles a lot of footage. Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku is only catchy the first few times. The rest 30? Not so much. It makes me wince at the thought. Same goes for the "drawing the sword of Dios" sequences and the Fairy Tale opening that always plays during the humor episodes. Redone animations are used very artistically, however, in such scenes as Juri's second duel.
I would have given this a 7/10 for the "Utena's tortuous journey to the arena with Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku blaring the background" sequence that eats up an eighth of each episode. But the rest of the art is both beautiful and stylish and does fit the genre and story well. 8/10.
Rating:
Sound
Music:
The soundtrack is another area where Utena stands out. J.A. Seazer composes the duel themes, which are beyond words.
It's like church chorus meets rock opera. Sometimes the screechy voices get rather grating, but his compositions
are very catchy and sometimes downright magical. The lyrics are written by Kunihiko Ikuhara, and they're mainly
just random, cryptic, nonsensical (big) words. So no matter how catchy, it's kind of (extremely) hard to sing
along *lol*
Worth mentioning in its own paragraph is the theme song, Rinbu Revolution by Okui Masami. Energetic, proud, and catchy. And yes, I know I'm reviewing the Utena TV series, but you just absolutely have to hear Toki ni Ai wa from the movie, found on OST 8. Props to Okui Masami for making me like, of all things, a pop piece.
The music is used to great effect and is sometimes so subtle that it takes a while for you to register. Background music runs the gamut from sleazy jazz in the Akio arc to Gregorian chant in Nemuro's arc to famous Hikaru Sasu Niwa (Sunlit Garden) and sad, introspective Shi no Aphrodite (Forest of Aphrodite). One of my favorite instances was the contemplation after Mikage's duel as Aphrodite Scat was playing hauntingly in the background. The musical selection is eclectic and varied, but fits very well.
OST1: All the stuff from Seitokai arc. A huge collection of over 30 pieces and some great duel themes.
OST2: All the stuff from Black Rose arc. Duel themes aren't as good as the ones in OST1, but it has pretty, pretty
Aphrodite Scat.
OST3: All the stuff from Akio arc. Excellent selection of duel themes.
OST4: Remixes of previous duel themes. This isn't that great.
OST5: Songs from Utena the musical.
OST6: "Best Of" collection.
OST7: J.A. Seazer's own works. Unrelated to Utena.
OST8: Movie soundtrack. 4 words: Toki ni Ai wa!
Voices:
Akio's seiyuu was terrific. He was debonair, charming, and sensual, but could turn that into sleaziness. Another
notable voice was Anthy's seiyuu. Anthy was presented as mysterious and demure, yet defiant and proud at the end.
Utena was energetic and her seiyuu really fit the part. Overall a great cast and believable performances.
Rating:
Presentation
Utena again proves to be unique in its presentation. Staying true to the episodic nature above, a near-fatal duel can be followed with a joke episode. Yeah, you've heard about the Infamous Nanami Cow episode. There are duels with kangaroos, explosive curry, the aforementioned Nanami transformation, that crazy monkey-mouse Chu-Chu and loads of other lighthearted antics. It does distract from the serious nature of the duels, but Utena really wouldn't be the same without the humor.
Speaking of humor, Utena recaps its themes and morals in a really unconventional method. Every episode, the campus thespians, the Kashira troupe, better known as the shadow girls, perform a shadow opera that protrays the moral of the day's story in a comical light. They are at once humorous and unnervingly creepy. You have to watch them for yourself, seriously.
The Seitokai meetings are also really "out there." A lot of it is symbolism, but most of it is just "stuff that looks really cool," to quote Ikuhara himself. There's knife throwing, a baseball game, and even a train running through the Seitokai patio twenty floors up on Akio's tower.
Symbolism is presented "like a sledgehammer," in the words of another reviewer (I forgot, sorry). Mikage's episode has little beeping white hands pointing at symbolic objects. As ridiculous as this sounds, it is actually used to really dramatic effect. The only time I had problem with this sledgehammer symbolism is in one of the last episodes where a spotlight is used to clarify the "prince and witch" parable.
Overall, presentation is far from perfect. But of course, originality has a lot to do with the score. For techniques that are so off-the-wall and stray so far from tried-and-true to be implemented so artistically definitely warrants a 10.
Ikuhara has shown true daring and talent by taking even the most outrageous techniques and employing them effectively to illustrate the themes and morals. Some plot twists (and even some things you were expecting) were so dramatic I literally had to rewind and watch the segment ten times just because of the sheer emotional power. And each time brought me to tears.
In review, I give Utena an overall 10/10. Best series I've ever seen.
Rating:
Final Verdict
9.6667 (excellent)
Reviewed by eskimoguy286, Mar 12, 2006
Comments
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cyd84 Mar 12, 2006
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Les125 Mar 12, 2006
Interesting review of the series!
I guess I would have to disagree about this series being the best series that is out there. Have you seen the movie of this series? The artistry of it is much better in my opinion and the soundtrack is rockin'! The plot of it is very bizard, but I like the design of the characters on the movie better than on the series! -
shoujoboy Mar 12, 2006
Interesting indeed. I found this to be one hell of a series for sure, one of my tops without a doubt. The biggest thing is, within the confines of this review system, a 10 seems to be quite high. Case in point the art. The art in Utena is well, ugly... very ugly. But assuming that you saw nothing wrong with it, the fact that they reused so many animations inordinate amount of times should have at least knocked it down a bit. I don't know, great series yes, perfect... don't think so.
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ArtificialRaindrop Mar 12, 2006
Quote by shoujoboyCase in point the art. The art in Utena is well, ugly... very ugly
That is entirely your opinion, shoujoboy <_< . I do agree with that giving it a 10 seems a bit high, but giving something a 10 doesnt necessarily mean you think it's perfect, more like you didn't find any flaws with it yourself (but its not saying that none exist).Quote by eskimoguy286 The characters are CLAMP: thin, ideal, big eyes.
That is a VAST over-generalization that you made. CLAMP is by no means the only group that has used this style, and by comparison that's still very shaky ground to use.
I admit this isn't even clsoe to being one of my top favorites shows, but I do believe you did a good job reviewing it. However, giving your personal score alone for the series isn't necessarily the best of ideas.
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ZeroFear Mar 12, 2006
I have to admit a 10 out of 10 for this serious does seem a bit...unfair. I actually liked this series ut a perfect score? Still I liked this review and very glad you gave your personal score for it.
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SebastianvonKane Mar 13, 2006
Are you sure you did a right and fair review? Aren't you like like those characters? Did you actually watch it?
It's true that I don't like anime, but your ranking for Utena is very high. That's for sure. -
eskimoguy286 Mar 13, 2006
Sorry about that! I revised the review. You are right, I was biased and unfair about the art rating.
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Rassvetnaya Mar 24, 2006
such a detailed review deserves attention. i also like Utena TV but I like movie-art much more, especially that dancing scene, it has incredible atmosphere. honestly, the way of characters-drawing is almost the only thing i dislike in Utena (one more annoying thing is constantly repeating getting to the arena :hmpf:). Anyway, great series. 9.0 to my mind.
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U2nekofan Jun 03, 2006
I think the TV series is great but the moive was so-so. Where the TV series made me think, the moive was to forward. (expect the ending, which is a total matter all together)
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Joan667 Jul 30, 2006
I just bought the first Utena rose collection, and before that the manga volumes 1-4 (I wan't to read the last one when I'm on the last anime episodes as well!). Utena is very different. The work is extremely appealing to me, or maby I shouldn't say that before watching the series a bit further, though ;;. I'ts funny how hard it is to put Utena into any specific genre. It's been said to be shoujo, but (about) half of the viewers are male (as far as I consider my own friends), and there is constantly hints (obvious ones) to Shoujo-ai. Not that I mind, though. Actually, there seems to be 'that' sort of relationships (or hints to it) between almost anyone; girl-girl, brother-sister, boy-boy (haven't seen this one yet, though. I'll be waiting <.<). Interesting indeed. I shall be watching... Oh yeah! The reason for this reply was not because I wanted to go completely off-topic and write a review of my own! Someone here said that the art of Utena is ugly. Eh? Well your opinion is not that of mine. In other words, the artwork is gorgeus, even if the reused cels might get just a tad bit annoying, concidering that almost all episodes are going to have the same dueling opening!? Oh well...
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vangjlee Oct 17, 2009
i will check it out if is good.
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rukasu04 Mute Member Feb 08, 2010
Nice review
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