As I'm the first to give this review some love, not a bad simple one.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena tv Review
Story & Characters
The anime series Shoujo Kakumei Utena or Revolutionary Girl Utena is 39 episodes long. You begin with a fairly tale story about a lonely young princesses who is deep in misery following her parents death. Then a prince finds her and lifts her sprites and gives her a ring; and from that day on she vows to become just like that prince. After this you are introduce to Utena Tenjou a recent transfer to the Ohtori Academy an elite private school. Utena is popular, athletic, outgoing, and she dresses in a boy’s uniform which makes her stand out. You are also introduced to Wakaba Shinohara her classmate and best friend. During the course of the day Wakaba has her heart torn out by Kyoichi Saionji a member of the student council and a duelist. To get back at Saionji Utena challenges him to a fight, and because she is wearing the ring given to her by the prince Saionji must duel her. Utena is then told to do to the duelist arena which has a floating castle above it; with a wooden practice sword. When the duel begins Anthy Himemiya places a rose on Utena, Anthis is the rose bride and belongs to the best duelist in the school. When the duel begins Saionji pulls a real sword out of Anthis. The fight begins and in the end Utena wins and take possession of Anthis and that is where the series starts. Utena must then battle other members of the student council, people that hate Anthis and even her brother. All of them want to make Anthis suffer so that they can get the power to revolutionize and be granted a miracle. Needless to say all Utena wants is for her and Anthis to live together and be happy and give Anthis her free will back. I am not doing the story justice but that is the gist. As you can tell this is a very weird plot and the characters are the same each with there own quirks. For the most part the series tackles a lot of difficult issues, and the relationships that develop range from yuri, yaoi, brother-sister and a sprinkling of pedophilia. Of course there are some heterosexual but that seem to be subdued. The best way I can describe this show is if you mixed Evangelion, Excel Saga, and Maria-sama ga Miteru.
Rating:
Art
The art work fits well with the tone of the series; it reminds me of Matia-sama. There is a good deal more action and the fights are done well. The problem I had was with the flash backs, and the fact that they are hard to interpret, but that could be due more to the story itself. I also do not like the random weirdness that seems to be all over this series, from the student council meeting that has a baseball game in it to Utena flower delivery scene. It reminds me too much of Excel, also Chu-Chu he might be an important part of the story but to be honest I didn’t like him. That and the elephants and most scenes with Nanami but that’s just me. The series does have some very stunning visuals that add so perfectly to the rest of the story that you can’t help but say wow.
Rating:
Sound
Sound is a done very well, I personal love the piano and the arena song is just good. The intro theme song is also very good and is aided by the fact that it sounds good. The ending has that same feeling and it also helps to get back to the real world and provides a good closing to the episodes. The background music is what you would expect from a series of this quality, and it helps to draw you into the scenes and prepare you for what is coming next. This is also true of the comic relief scenes I am not a fan of the scenes but I am happy to know when they are coming. As for the voiceovers well this is the only weak point in the series, but this could be due to the story and the characters themselves who I think never really know who or what they are until after it’s too late. The exception is the lines and scenes with Jury Arisugawa.
Rating:
Presentation
Shoujo Kakumei Utena is a well done and thoughtful anime series which will leave to stunned, moved, enlightened, or at the very least confused. I really think that the creators tried there best to keep the viewer off balance and confused. You never know what will happen next because you never really know what just happened and when you finial find out what did really happen you say to yourself oh yeah I get it now damn I need to see that again. That is why this series has an excellent replay value, because once you have finished the last episode you say to yourself ok now I am going to watch it again and I am going to understand what’s happening, and you watch it and still don’t get all of it. Some more things I would like to add it that it finally dawned on me into the 20th or so episodes that the creators where I am not going to say stealing but using Shakespeare like style, with the shadow narrators. Also the way they do the love scenes are just creative and so expressive (there is no nudity it is just done in a way that expresses what has happened and it hits you harder). Also the last thing is the background that you just have to keep an eye out for, just because they are a character onto themselves. This is an excellent series and I think that if you enjoyed Evangelion in the least then Utena would be a good fit for you, also if you want to watch a series that will tug at you emotions then you also might want to pick it up.
Rating:
Final Verdict
9.6667 (excellent)
Reviewed by cokedupmonkey1, Mar 21, 2005
Comments
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UberDog Mar 23, 2015
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