Revolutionary Girl Utena: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"Grant me the power to bring the world revolution!"''}}
''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' (''Shoujo Kakumei Utena'') is the ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' of the [[Shoujo]] category... and [[Distaff Counterpart|not by accident]]. The show started airing in the spring of 1997 and flourished on Japanese airwaves with a time slot of 6 PM on TV-Tokyo every Wednesday until Christmas Eve of the same year. At Kobe Animation '97, it won the "Best TV Animation" award. A previous work by Chiho Saito, ''[[Kanon
''Utena'' consists of:
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* An original animated feature film, which is considered an alternate continuity to the original series (and is discussed in better detail below).
** A single-volume manga based on the animated feature: this is considered to be yet ''another'' alternate continuity, as it diverges from the movie's story.
* A pair of [[Light Novel|light novels]]
On the day of her parents' funeral, seven-year-old Utena Tenjou meets a prince on a white horse. The prince gives Utena a signet ring, which he says will one day lead her back to him. Overwhelmed with emotion, young Utena decides that she too will become a prince. Seven years later, Utena has followed the trail of her prince to the exclusive Ohtori Academy... and one fateful day, she defends the honor of her best friend Wakaba from upperclassman [[Jerkass|Kyoichi Saionji]]. Saionji calls Utena to the dueling arena at the back of the school, where Utena's ring opens the door to a private arena. After a duel with Saionji, Utena becomes enmeshed in a fencing tournament with the members of the Ohtori Student Council. The goal of this tournament is to gain "The Power to Revolutionize the World"... as well as the hand of the mysterious Rose Bride Anthy Himemiya. At the young age of fourteen, Utena is forced to deal with a power she is not ready to control and a world she never dreamed of being a part of.
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Utena makes both friends and enemies at Ohtori while participating in the duels, and she grows in skill with each win. As she and Anthy [[Les Yay|slowly become friends]], Utena learns Anthy has a connection to "End of the World", the mysterious force behind the duels. The story is properly set in motion in the show's second arc (the Black Rose Saga), when acting school chairman Akio Ohtori takes an interest in Utena... and [[It Got Worse|everything promptly goes to hell]].
''Utena'' lovingly includes, describes, averts, inverts and subverts a large number of anime tropes, the most notable of which are [[Stock Footage]] (Utena's [[Once an Episode]] [[Transformation Sequence]]) and [[Clip Show]] episodes (two of the three contain major plot twists essential to the story). The series is known for its striking visual design—influenced by
The show features commentary on (and references to) existing works,
''Utena'' is neither explicit nor gratuitous, although some viewers may find certain implications of the plot to be [[Squick|distasteful]] (as an example: incest is a major theme, and it is explored from numerous perspectives). The story's core is based on a friendship turning into a [[Girls Love|romance between two girls]] who never expected it; the canonicity of what you see on the screen is debatable, but the [[Word of God]] statements by director Ikuhara on the subject are ''not''.
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Both the series and the movie were originally made available in the United States via Central Park Media, though their DVDs are out of print. In 2011, [[Nozomi Entertainment]] rereleased the series across three DVD sets (using the show's remastered Region 2 DVD release as the video base) and the movie (with the third set). The entire manga series, as well as the manga based on the movie, were also released in the US by [[Viz Media]] (and are also out of print).
As a final note: [[Word of God]] says that '''''all''''' interpretations of ''Utena''{{'}}s symbolism are true (Ikuhara ''could'' be perpetrating [[Trolling Creator|an elaborate joke]] though).
{{tropelist}}
* [[Abridged Series]]: In the form of Utena Internet Parody.
* [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]]: Almost every episode, the Council members ride in a fancy elevator to meet in a rose-decorated tower to discuss the upcoming worldwide revolution. Then they [[My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours|
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Anthy can power up the Sword of Dios/{{spoiler|Utena's soul sword}}; included in said power-up is this property, although it's only demonstrated during Utena's duels with Touga. {{spoiler|To put it into perspective, Utena's powered-up soul sword can easily split approaching cars without them losing velocity}}.
* [[Accidental Marriage]]: Utena and Anthy, though it's more like an "engagement".
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* [[Bastard Boyfriend]]: Sayonji, Touga and Akio are cold, and diffident to the Rose Bride, and to other women. This is, of course, played for epic [[Deconstruction]].
* [[The Beautiful Elite]]: Almost every major character (except, notably, Anthy) has a scene where they are being admired by a crowd of lovestruck onlookers (of [[Even the Guys Want Him|both]] [[Even the Girls Want Her|genders]]). This usually happens when they're first introduced.
* [[Betty, Veronica and Archie Switcheroo]]: Utena experiences variations of this trope:
** Utena starts falling for Akio, Anthy's brother. He seems much nicer than Touga, the Student Council president that tried manipulating Utena into losing a Rose Duel and becoming his girlfriend. Then Touga realizes that {{spoiler|Akio has something sinister planned for Utena and tries warning her about the plot for the End of the World. Despite saying that he can't help Utena if she won't see the truth, Touga selflessly follows her into the castle to rescue Dios from Akio, and unlike the other council members his flaws don't trap him; Touga is horrified when Utena sacrifices her existence to free Anthy from her curse. The manga ends with him relieved that Anthy is going to find Utena while [[Walking the Earth]].}}
** Anthy at first appears to be the Archie in the relationship, as the Council members fight over ownership of her in mandated duels, with Utena serving as the Betty. It comes out that Anthy is more important than she looks; far from being a mere prize as the Rose Bride for the students to win, she's {{spoiler|Dios's ''sister''. In fact, what happened was that Anthy shielded Dios when he worked himself to death, accepting swords of hate that infuse her with pain after a mob wanted to confront him. Dios later becomes Akio, and used Anthy in his campaign to acquire power so as to become Dios again, by making people fight over her.}} When the truth comes out, {{spoiler|Utena declares that she will earn her way to become a real prince for Anthy, by freeing her from her curse and bondage to Akio. This involves sacrificing her existence, and giving her courageous spirit to Anthy. Anthy gains her freedom and is no longer the Archie.}}
* [[Bifauxnen]]: Utena, particularly in the movie.
* [[Big Bad]]: End of the World/{{spoiler|Akio}}.
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* [[Post Modernism]]: You think a story like ''Utena'' could have been written any earlier?
* [[Primal Scene]]: Nanami walks in on {{spoiler|[[Brother-Sister Incest|Akio and Anthy]]}}.
* [[Prince Charming]]: The series subverts this ''hard''.
* [[Pun-Based Title]]: The [[Freaky Friday Flip]] episode is titled in Japanese as "Curry-''naru'' High Trip"; the "curry-''naru''" ("''karē-naru''") is a play on "''karei-naru''" ("magnificent").
** The [[Author Appeal|curry episode]] of Ikuhara's recent series ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum]]'' uses the exact same pun in its title.
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