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Revolutionary Girl Utena is a anime series often seen in the
Revolutionary Girl Utena franchise
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Revolutionary Girl Utena
Revolutionary Girl Utena is an anime seriesUser Rating - 1 votes, 5 avg.
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Otori is a teen fantasy, where teachers live in fear of the student council and sputter impotently at pupils' "witty" comebacks, the boys and girls are all beautiful, and dueling is the number-one occupation. Fencers regularly meet for ritual combat within a gargantuan hall (part of the school, yet also a separate dimension), where they fight for the right to the hand of Anthy, the "Rose Bride" whose body is a living sheath for a sword. Victorious in battle, Utena becomes Anthy's betrothed, though the student council do what they can to topple her because they are searching for the ultimate duelist who will summon forth the divine power known as "Dios."
Portentous and pretentious in equal amounts, Utena quite literally invests teenage crushes and schoolgirl intrigues with world-shattering significance. Created by director Ikuhara, with several other staffers from his earlier Sailor Moon S, and Chiho Saito, who drew the Utena manga for Ciao magazine, it artfully perverts mundane school life into a quest of fantastic proportions. It also features swordplay and cross-dressing in the swashbuckling tradition of Princess Knight and Rose of Versailles, to which it owes a heavy aesthetic debt. Director Ikuhara acknowledges a strong influence from Tragedy of Belladonna, the film that inspired him to work in anime. Like the tarot-themed episodes of Escaflowne, Utena presents its heroine with a series of subtext-laden duels to test her mettle, forging her into a suitable messiah. Highly sensual though rarely explicit, its premise is ironically close to that of an Urotsukidoji that replaces sex and violence with pure, infinite yearning. On Japanese TV, Utena thrived in the vacuum left by the conclusion of Evangelion, though it was not without controversy-in a ludicrous outbreak of racism, the TV Tokyo switchboard received complaints that love interest Anthy was "black."
Many better-known fairy tales are mixed and matched with situation comedy: one character proudly displays a "designer pendant" that is nothing more than a cowbell, then slowly transforms into a cow before the others' eyes. In another, tomboy Utena and twee Anthy swap personalities after a particularly hot curry. Amid all the school high jinks, the central story continues, as girls pine for their princes, boys for their princesses, and a plot with the vague aims of "bringing revolution and attaining eternity" advances ever onward. Ikuhara brings sensibilities and themes from his own Sailor Moon S episodes to this unlikely confection of swords and roses, mirroring the rollercoaster of teenage emotions in a whirl of seductive imagery. Unlike Slayers, which mixes "real" elements into its fantasy world for comic effect, Utena coats the real world in fantasy but lets the sharp edges show through. Beautiful clothes and skill with a sword can't ward off the pain of inadequacy and loss-though they certainly look good. The series too places increasing emphasis on style over substance as it progresses, becoming ever more surreal, with additional digital effects in the last season.
The movie Adolescence of Utena (1999) wraps up the story with a fantasy that summarizes its main themes in a succession of vignettes rather than providing a logical conclusion. It's therefore incomprehensible to anyone who has not seen the preceding series; a hallucinogenic whirl of tortured relationships, floating roses, flying cars, flashing blades, and gorgeous costumes.
A popular yuri-themed anime with magical girl touches alongside philosophical flourishes.
Pink-haired tomboy Utena Tenjo (a surname infuriatingly mispronounced throughout the U.S. dub) is an eighth grader at Otori Academy. She clings to the memory of her childhood encounter with a mysterious "prince" as she wept by the grave of her parents. Though she cannot remember his face (refer to Candy Candy), she treasures the rose signet ring he gave her and, for reasons not totally clear, resolves to dress and behave as a boy until she finds him again.Otori is a teen fantasy, where teachers live in fear of the student council and sputter impotently at pupils' "witty" comebacks, the boys and girls are all beautiful, and dueling is the number-one occupation. Fencers regularly meet for ritual combat within a gargantuan hall (part of the school, yet also a separate dimension), where they fight for the right to the hand of Anthy, the "Rose Bride" whose body is a living sheath for a sword. Victorious in battle, Utena becomes Anthy's betrothed, though the student council do what they can to topple her because they are searching for the ultimate duelist who will summon forth the divine power known as "Dios."
Portentous and pretentious in equal amounts, Utena quite literally invests teenage crushes and schoolgirl intrigues with world-shattering significance. Created by director Ikuhara, with several other staffers from his earlier Sailor Moon S, and Chiho Saito, who drew the Utena manga for Ciao magazine, it artfully perverts mundane school life into a quest of fantastic proportions. It also features swordplay and cross-dressing in the swashbuckling tradition of Princess Knight and Rose of Versailles, to which it owes a heavy aesthetic debt. Director Ikuhara acknowledges a strong influence from Tragedy of Belladonna, the film that inspired him to work in anime. Like the tarot-themed episodes of Escaflowne, Utena presents its heroine with a series of subtext-laden duels to test her mettle, forging her into a suitable messiah. Highly sensual though rarely explicit, its premise is ironically close to that of an Urotsukidoji that replaces sex and violence with pure, infinite yearning. On Japanese TV, Utena thrived in the vacuum left by the conclusion of Evangelion, though it was not without controversy-in a ludicrous outbreak of racism, the TV Tokyo switchboard received complaints that love interest Anthy was "black."
Many better-known fairy tales are mixed and matched with situation comedy: one character proudly displays a "designer pendant" that is nothing more than a cowbell, then slowly transforms into a cow before the others' eyes. In another, tomboy Utena and twee Anthy swap personalities after a particularly hot curry. Amid all the school high jinks, the central story continues, as girls pine for their princes, boys for their princesses, and a plot with the vague aims of "bringing revolution and attaining eternity" advances ever onward. Ikuhara brings sensibilities and themes from his own Sailor Moon S episodes to this unlikely confection of swords and roses, mirroring the rollercoaster of teenage emotions in a whirl of seductive imagery. Unlike Slayers, which mixes "real" elements into its fantasy world for comic effect, Utena coats the real world in fantasy but lets the sharp edges show through. Beautiful clothes and skill with a sword can't ward off the pain of inadequacy and loss-though they certainly look good. The series too places increasing emphasis on style over substance as it progresses, becoming ever more surreal, with additional digital effects in the last season.
The movie Adolescence of Utena (1999) wraps up the story with a fantasy that summarizes its main themes in a succession of vignettes rather than providing a logical conclusion. It's therefore incomprehensible to anyone who has not seen the preceding series; a hallucinogenic whirl of tortured relationships, floating roses, flying cars, flashing blades, and gorgeous costumes.
| Season/Ep# | Name | Airdate |
|---|---|---|
|
1 -
1
|
The Rose Bride
薔薇の花嫁 (Bara no hanayome) |
04/02/1997 |
|
1 -
2
|
For Whom The Rose Smiles
誰がために薔薇は微笑む (Dare ga tame ni bara wa hohoemu) |
04/09/1997 |
|
1 -
3
|
On The Night Of The Ball
舞踏会の夜に (Butoukai no yoru ni) |
04/16/1997 |
|
1 -
4
|
The Sunlit Garden - Prelude
光さす庭・プレリュード (Hikari sasu niwa - PURERYUUDO) |
04/23/1997 |
|
1 -
5
|
The Sunlit Garden - Finale
光さす庭・フィナーレ (Hikari sasu niwa - FINAARE) |
04/30/1997 |
|
1 -
6
|
Take Care, Miss Nanami
七実様御用心 (Nanami-sama go-youjin!) |
05/07/1997 |
|
1 -
7
|
Unfulfilled Juri
見果てぬ樹璃 (Mihatenu Juri) |
05/14/1997 |
|
1 -
8
|
Curried High Trip
カレーなるハイトリップ (KAREE naru HAITORIPPU) |
05/21/1997 |
|
1 -
9
|
Castle Where Eternity Dwells
永遠があるという城 (Eien ga aru toiu shiro) |
05/28/1997 |
|
1 -
10
|
Nanami's Precious Thing
七実の大切なもの (Nanami no taisetsu na mono) |
06/04/1997 |
|
1 -
11
|
Gracefully Cruel
優雅に冷酷・その花を摘む者 (Yuuga ni reikoku - Sono hana wo tsumu mono) |
06/11/1997 |
|
1 -
12
|
For Friendship, Perhaps
たぶん友情のために (Tabun yuujou no tame ni) |
06/18/1997 |
|
1 -
13
|
Tracing A Path
描かれる軌跡 (Egakareru kiseki) |
06/25/1997 |
|
1 -
14
|
The Boys of the Black Rose
黒薔薇の少年たち (Kurobara no shounentachi) |
07/02/1997 |
|
1 -
15
|
The World Seen from Kozue
その梢が指す風景 (Sono Kozue ga sasu fuukei) |
07/09/1997 |
|
1 -
16
|
Cowbell of Happiness
幸せのカウベル (Shiawase no KAUBERU) |
07/16/1997 |
|
1 -
17
|
Thorns of Death
死の棘 (Shi no toge) |
07/23/1997 |
|
1 -
18
|
Mitsuru's Growing Pains
みつるもどかしさ (Mitsuru modokashisa) |
07/30/1997 |
|
1 -
19
|
The Song of the Fallen Kingdom
今は亡き王国の歌 (Ima wa naki oukoku no uta) |
08/06/1997 |
|
1 -
20
|
Wabaka Hath Flourished Verdantly
若葉繁れる (Wakaba shigereru) |
08/13/1997 |
|
1 -
21
|
Troublesome Insects
悪い虫 (Warui mushi) |
08/20/1997 |
|
1 -
22
|
Namuro Memorial Hall
根室記念館 (Nemuro kinenkan) |
08/27/1997 |
|
1 -
23
|
Qualifications of a Duelist
デュエリストの条件 (DYUERISUTO no jouken) |
09/03/1997 |
|
1 -
24
|
Secret Nanami-sama Diary
七実様秘密日記 (Nanami-sama himitsu nikki) |
09/10/1997 |
|
1 -
25
|
The Eternal Apocalypse of the Two of us
ふたりの永遠黙示録 (Futari no eien mokushiroku) |
09/17/1997 |
|
1 -
26
|
Miki's Nest Box
幹の巣箱（光さす庭・アレンジ） (Miki no subako (Hikari sasu niwa - ARENJI)) |
09/24/1997 |
|
1 -
27
|
Nanami's Egg
七実の卵 (Nanami no tamago) |
10/01/1997 |
|
1 -
28
|
Whispering In the Dark
闇に囁く (Yami ni sasayaku) |
10/08/1997 |
|
1 -
29
|
Azure Paler Than the Sky
空より淡き瑠璃色の (Sora yori awaki ruri iro no) |
10/15/1997 |
|
1 -
30
|
The Barefoot Girl
裸足の少女 (Hadashi no shoujo) |
10/22/1997 |
|
1 -
31
|
Her Tragedy
彼女の悲劇 (Kanojo no higeki) |
10/29/1997 |
|
1 -
32
|
The Romance of the Dancing Girls
踊る彼女たちの恋 (Odoru kanojotachi no koi) |
11/05/1997 |
|
1 -
33
|
The Prince Who Runs Through The Night
夜を走る王子 (Yoru wo hashiru ouji) |
11/12/1997 |
|
1 -
34
|
The Rose Signet
薔薇の刻印 (Bara no kokuin) |
11/19/1997 |
|
1 -
35
|
The Love That Budded In Wintertime
冬のころ芽ばえた愛 (Fuyu no koro mebaeta ai) |
11/26/1997 |
|
1 -
36
|
And the Doors of Night Open
そして夜の扉が開く (Soshite yoru no tobira ga aku) |
12/03/1997 |
|
1 -
37
|
The One To Revolutionize The World
世界を革命する者 (Sekai wo kakumei suru mono) |
12/10/1997 |
|
1 -
38
|
The Ends of The World
世界の果て (Sekai no hate) |
12/17/1997 |
|
1 -
39
|
Someday, Shine Together
いつか一緒に輝いて (Itsuka issho ni kagayaite) |
12/24/1997 |
Series Cast
to edit the cast go to an episode
| Character | Voice Actors | |
|---|---|---|
 |
Utena Tenjou | Rachel Lillis (13 eps), Tomoko Kawakami (13 eps) |
 |
Anthy Himemiya | |
 |
Nanami Kiryuu | Yuri Shiratori (7 eps) |
 |
Touga Kiryuu | Takehito Koyasu (12 eps), Crispin Freeman (12 eps) |
 |
Juri Arisugawa | Kotono Mitsuishi (9 eps) |
 |
Miki Kaoru | Aya Hisakawa (8 eps) |
 |
Saionji Kyouichi | |
 |
Wakaba Shinohara | Yuka Imai (4 eps) |
Series Credits
to edit the cast go to an episode
| Person Name | Episode Count |
|---|
 Name |
Revolutionary Girl Utena |
 Name: |
少女革命ウテナ |
| Romaji: |
Shoujo Kakumei Utena |
| Publisher | |
| Start Year |
1997
|
| Genres |
|
| Themes |
|
| Aliases | Revolutionary Girl Utena La Fillette Revolutionnaire Utena Ursula's Kiss |
|
Anthy Himemiya first in The Rose Bride |
13
|
|
Utena Tenjou first in The Rose Bride |
13
|
|
Touga Kiryuu |
12
|
|
Juri Arisugawa |
9
|
|
Miki Kaoru |
8
|
|
Nanami Kiryuu first in On The Night Of The Ball |
7
|
|
Saionji Kyouichi |
4
|
|
Wakaba Shinohara first in The Rose Bride |
4
|
