Revolutionary Girl Utena: Difference between revisions

* 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.

 

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.

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'' 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''.

Both the series and the movie were originally made available in the United States via Central Park Media, though their DVDs are out of print.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).

 

 

{{tropelist}}

* [[Abridged Series]]: In the form of Utena Internet Parody.

* [[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".