Revolutionary Girl Utena
Revolutionary Girl Utena is a series created by Be-Papas, an artist collective founded by Kunihiko Ikuhara. The primary entries in the series include a 1996 manga written by Chiho Saito, a 1997 anime television series directed by Ikuhara, and Adolescence of Utena, a 1999 feature film.
The series follows Utena Tenjou, a teenage girl who expresses her desire to be a prince through her strong-willed personality and tomboyish manner of dress. She finds herself drawn into a series of sword duels to win the hand of Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious girl known as the "Rose Bride" who possesses the "power to revolutionize the world".
Revolutionary Girl Utena has received widespread critical acclaim, and is regarded by critics as a highly influential work in the shōjo genre. The series has spawned a range of spin-off and adapted media, including a light novel series, a video game, and multiple stage musicals.
Plot
After her parents died, Utena Tenjou was given a rose-engraved signet ring by a traveling prince. The prince promised Utena that they would one day meet again; inspired by his noble demeanor, Utena decided to one day become a prince herself. Years later, Utena's search for the prince leads her to Ohtori Academy, where she enrolls as a student. She finds herself drawn into a dueling tournament with the school's Student Council, whose members wear signet rings identical to Utena's. Victors of the duel become engaged to Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious girl known as the "Rose Bride" who possesses the "power to revolutionize the world". Utena emerges victorious; forced to defend her position as the Rose Bride's fiancée, she decides to remain in the tournament in order to protect Anthy from the other duelists. As Utena and Anthy grow closer, she learns that Anthy is connected to "End of the World", the mysterious organizer of the duels.Revolutionary Girl Utena is a surrealist story that makes heavy use of allegory and symbolism, with many aspects of its plot revealed indirectly or in a manner that is open to audience interpretation. The anime series is divided into four story arcs, in each of which Utena comes to face a different challenge at Ohtori Academy:
- Student Council Saga
- Black Rose Saga
- Akio Ohtori Saga
- Apocalypse Saga
Production
Ikuhara did not conceive of the idea for the movie, Adolescence of Utena, until watching the final episodes of the television series on broadcast TV. Once again, Be-Papas convened to discuss concepts, and Saito would go on to create a manga adaptation of the film. The film can be interpreted either as the end of the story initiated by the TV series, or as a condensed retelling with the same themes and characters, although it goes in a very different direction. Its structure is in many ways parallel to that of the series, but the roles of the leads are subtly switched. If the television series riffs on themes from theater and mythology, it could be said that the movie riffs on themes from the series. Familiarity with the television series is assumed, and the movie version is even more visually bizarre than the original Utena, enough so that it earned the good-natured nickname "The End of Utena", after the similarly abstract but much less cheerful The End of Evangelion.
Another incarnation of Utena came in the form of a number of one-shot theatrical productions. The Takarazuka-style "Musical Shōjo Kakumei Utena", also known as "Comédie Musicale Utena la fillette révolutionnaire", played in 1997, and the second disc of Shōjo Kakumei Utena OST 5, Engage Toi a Mes Contes, contains many of the songs from this musical. At Animazement '00, Ikuhara was said to be working on a later musical, "Shōjo Kakumei Utena, Makai Tensei Mokushiroku hen, Reijin Nirvana Raiga", with the theatrical group Gesshoku Kageki Dan.
Themes
's The Rose of Versailles has often been speculated as an established source of inspiration for the visual style of Utena, scenes involving sliding mirrors and unsupported staircases appear during character introspections in The Rose of Versailles while in Utena very similar scenes are part of the surreal landscape. However, director Ikuhara has denied this on several occasions, including the director's commentary on the final DVD Finale of the American release.Ikuhara cites prolific playwright, poet and director Shūji Terayama as a major influence. Terayama was a long-time collaborator with J. A. Seazer, who wrote the music for his plays. Ikuhara worked with Seazer for the most well-known music of Utena.
Ikuhara stated that the concept for Revolutionary Girl Utena came from his "End of the World"-themed . Ikuhara's original ideas for the film were not used as he left prematurely following the producer.
Ikuhara felt episodes like "On the Night of the Ball", where Utena stressed itself as a "shōjo manga anime", were "absolutely necessary" for the show's later development. Susan J. Napier wrote that Utena "uses the trappings of fairy tales and more traditional shōjo manga to critique the illusions they offer", and that in the series Utena must make her way past these illusions to get to reality. The image of Anthy with her suitcase at the end of the series, Napier posits, suggests that inspired by Utena's example Anthy is now "taking charge of her own life and breaking free of the incestuous coils that her brother has wound around her". This "liberation" becomes more explicit in the film, where Utena turns into a car which Anthy drives through an escape route to the "real world".
Napier also sees the relationship between Anthy and Utena as a possible metaphor for "the need for integration of the two sides of the self", the more masculine Utena and the more feminine Anthy. Napier suggests Anthy's betrayal of Utena in the penultimate episode of the series may also be her discovering "her rage" at the "masculine 'protection'" Utena and Akio both offer, with Anthy only beginning to develop a "more integrated personality" after making her own choice at the series' and film's ends.
The color red is used liberally throughout the series to symbolize the ambition of the characters.
Primary media
Manga
The Revolutionary Girl Utena manga series was written by Be-Papas and illustrated by Chiho Saito. It began serialization in the June 1996 issue of Shogakukan's monthly shōjo manga magazine Ciao. The series ended in 1998, with five tankōbon volumes being released. It was licensed for an English-language release in North America by Viz Media in 2000, firstserialized in Viz's manga magazine Animerica Extra and later published in five trade paperback volumes from 2003 to 2004. Viz re-released the series in a two-volume hardcover box set on April 11, 2017.
On May 20, 2017, Shogakukan announced that a new chapter of the manga would be published in the September issue of its monthly josei manga magazine Flowers. Two more chapters were published in the March and May 2018 issues, depicting the lives of the primary cast 20 years after the events of the original series. Shogakukan collected all three chapters into a single tankōbon volume under the title Revolutionary Girl Utena: After the Revolution on May 10, 2018.
Anime television series
The anime series of Revolutionary Girl Utena was produced by the Japanese animation studio J.C.Staff and directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. The series aired between April 2, 1997 and December 24, 1997 on TV Tokyo in Japan and spanned 39 episodes.Film
A Revolutionary Girl Utena feature film, Adolescence of Utena, was released in theaters in Japan on August 14, 1999. The film is a compressed re-telling of the story of television series, though with significant differences in plot execution and with heightened thematic content. The film occupies an ambiguous place in the broader Utena canon, and has been alternately interpreted by critics as a stand-alone adaptation of the anime and manga that exists in its own continuity, and as a sequel that is contiguous with the events of the anime series.In 2001, Central Park Media released the film as Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie on VHS and DVD. In 2007, Funimation acquired broadcasting for Adolescence of Utena and aired the film on Funimation Channel. Following Central Park Media's dissolution in 2009, North American distribution rights for the film have been held by Right Stuf since 2010.
Related media
Music
Avant-garde composer and theater director J. A. Seazer composed the song "Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku", which is repeated every time Utena ascends to the dueling arena, and the choral rock pieces played during the duels. Ikuhara has said that, despite objections to the dueling choruses on the part of his BePapas collaborators and sponsors, Seazer's music "sealed the fate of the project" and was well received. The texture of the chorus is primarily monophonic, although there is some homophony within the inner voices of the chorus. The melody of the chorus is written in transposed Aeolian mode or natural minor. The melody does not use a major five chord at the cadence which is usually the norm for minor mode; it uses a minor five chord instead. The lyrics that often appear to be little more than themed words strung together.The rest of the score was composed by Shinkichi Mitsumune, and is largely orchestral in character, though it often features significant jazz influences. One notable song is "The Sunlit Garden", a recurring duet piano piece which plays during nostalgic scenes. Mitsumune also handled the arrangement of the first eight duel choruses.
The soundtrack of Adolescence of Utena is similar in style to the series, containing a mixture of orchestral pieces and choral rock. Masami Okui's track, the J-pop ballad "Toki ni Ai wa", is however atypical of the series' sound.
In 2017, Gekidan Inu Curry illustrated a new Utena image album by J.A. Seazer. Another album is planned for 2019 to be illustrated by another artist.
Stage shows
Five stage productions of Revolutionary Girl Utena have been produced. The first musical in the series, Revolutionary Girl Utena, the Musical Comedy, features an all-female Takarazuka-style cast. A new musical adaptation was announced in November 2017 as part of a commemoration project to mark the 20th anniversary of the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime. The musical, Revolutionary Girl Utena: Bud of the White Rose, was staged in 2018 and adapts the Student Council Saga from the original anime. A sequel adapting the Black Rose Saga, Revolutionary Girl Utena: Blooming Rose of Deepest Black, was staged in 2019, with the cast and director of Bud of the White Rose reprising their roles.| Title | Original run | Venue | Creatives | Primary Cast | Ref. |
| Revolutionary Girl Utena, the Musical Comedy | December 17 – 29, 1997 | Hakuhinkan Theater, Tokyo | |||
| Revolutionary Girl Utena Hell Rebirth Apocalypse: Advent of the Nirvanic Beauty | May 26 – June 1, 1999 | Zamza Asagaya Theater, Tokyo | |||
| Revolutionary Girl Utena: Choros Imaginary Living Body | September 30 – October 1, 2000 | , Hyōgo | |||
| Revolutionary Girl Utena: Bud of the White Rose | March 8 – 18, 2018 | , Tokyo | |||
| Revolutionary Girl Utena: Blooming Rose of Deepest Black | June 29 – July 7, 2019 | , Tokyo |
Other media
Two light novels written by Ichirō Ōkouchi with illustrations by Chiho Saito, Revolutionary Girl Utena: Twin Saplings and Revolutionary Girl Utena: Verdant Hopes were published by Shogakukan in 1997 and 1998, respectively. The non-canonical novels expand on material from the television series, with Twin Saplings focusing on the first five episodes of the series and Verdant Hopes focusing on Wakaba's Black Rose character arc.A video game, Shōjo Kakumei Utena: Itsuka Kakumeisareru Monogatari, was developed and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn in 1998. A visual novel with dating sim elements, the game tells an original story about the player character, a transfer student at Ohtori Academy. The voice cast of the anime series reprise their roles for Story of the Someday Revolution. Though the game was never officially published outside of Japan, a fan translation was released in 2015.
Releases
acquired North American licensing rights for Revolutionary Girl Utena in 1997. The company produced a proof of concept for potential distributors that localized the series for Western audiences, giving the characters English names and re-titling the series Ursula's Kiss. However, the American distributor, Central Park Media, chose to use the original title and character names. The dubbed and subbed versions were released to VHS in 1998 by Central Park Media under their Software Sculptors label. There were a total of four releases each containing either three or four episodes. These same episodes were released to two bilingual DVD volumes in 1999 with six or seven episodes each. These DVDs were known as the Rose Collection. However, after releasing the first 13 episodes to VHS and DVD, Central Park Media had difficulties licensing the remaining 26 episodes and the dub was put on hiatus despite the show's popularity. After settling all legal issues, they released the remaining 26 episodes of the anime series to bilingual DVDs in 2002 and 2003, though the show's popularity had declined in the years since. The entire series was later sold in the form of three DVD box sets.With the complete shutdown of Central Park Media in 2009, the distribution rights to the series were put up for liquidation. At Anime Expo 2010, Right Stuf Inc. announced that they have rescued the Utena TV series and subsequently re-released the series in three remastered sets in 2011. The anime is also being distributed in Australia for the first time by the anime distributor Hanabee.
King Records released two Blu-ray box sets of Utena in Japan with HD remastered video in 2013, subsequently getting a three volume release in the United States by Right Stuf. In 2018, Right Stuf released the Blu-ray version of the series under their Nozomi Entertainment label, with edits made to the subtitle script. The limited edition box set included two rose crest rings and a large book of production notes, interviews, and artwork. In 2020, three equivalent Blu-ray volumes to Right Stuf's prior US version saw a limited collector's edition release in the UK by Anime Limited. Complete sets including repackaged Right Stuf rings and a book were limited to eighty units, with a further hundred sets sold without the rings and book.
Hawaii-based TV station KIKU aired the Central Park Media-licensed version of the series during the January/March and July/August periods of 2007. Back in 2006, Funimation had previously acquired broadcast rights for Revolutionary Girl Utena from Enoki Films USA and aired it on their channel, the Funimation Channel, multiple times. Comcast's Anime Selects on Demand also showed episodes of the first and second season for a brief period. It also aired on Sci-Fi Channel for a short time. Anime Network on Demand began streaming the series on VOD on August 6, 2009.
The anime ran on Viz Media's 24/7 Neon Alley streaming service in fall 2013.
The series is also available on Nozomi Entertainment's YouTube channel for free.
Reception
Revolutionary Girl Utena won "Best TV Animation Award" at Animation Kobe in 1997. Mike Toole of Anime News Network named Revolutionary Girl Utena as one of the most important anime of the 1990s.Influence and legacy
Revolutionary Girl Utena became one of the major influences for the 2013 Cartoon Network show Steven Universe. Series creator Rebecca Sugar called the series "an epiphany for me", liking how it played "with the semiotics of gender", describing it as stunning and saying she "related to it in a way that I had never really felt before and it really stuck with me". Utena has been directly referenced in the episodes "Steven the Sword Fighter" and "Lion 2: The Movie" with the titular character, Steven Universe, often subverts gender expectations, even dressing up in women's clothing in "Sadie's Song". There is also some influences of Utena and Takarazuka theatre in the episode "Mr. Greg".In the epilogue series, Steven Universe Future, the character Mega Pearl had a composite resemblance to Anthy Himemiya and Utena Tenjou, and the relationships Utena and Himemiya had with Akio.
The 2018 Netflix series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power also draws from the imagery of Revolutionary Girl Utena. Most notably, the climax of She-Ra strongly resembles the climax in episode 39 of Utena. During the She-Ra episode "Save the Cat," She-Ra also draws her sword from the air while holding another character, Catra, in a pose reminiscent of Utena drawing her sword from Anthy's chest.