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Revolutionary Girl Utena
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Animation - 7.8 |
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Sound - 8.5 |
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Story - 8.4 |
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Character - 8.6 |
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Value - 8.1 |
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Enjoyment - 8.5 |
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Average - 8.3 |
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Summoner |
(2008-02-03 13:10:48) 2008-02-03 12:58:52 |
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| Average |
4.7 |
| Animation |
5 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
3 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
3 |
| Enjoyment |
4 |
| Man... Quite frankly I was expecting Shoujo Kakumei Utena to be a bad show, I just always had that feeling in the gut even before actually watching any of it. Anyway, I decided to give it a shot recently and, well, watched the first few episodes and thought to myself "hey, that's not so bad, was my gut wrong after all?"... God was I deluded... The following 34 episodes were all just different variations of those three I've watched before.
Each episode has a person who challenges Utena to duel and loses (in the same manner every time). After they run out of characters to challenge her, they just start all over again from the first challenger "re-match". Damn, I was watching the freaking show for 30 episodes and not a single thing advanced. While characters aren't that bad, Utena might even pass as mildly good, they can nowhere in hell carry the show for 30 of meaningless episodes. I doubt you'd lose much if you just watch the first three episodes of the show and then the last three. Seriously, if you wanted, it wouldn't be challenging to squeeze all 39 episodes of Utena into a one 6 episodes length OVA. It would still be boring though.
Anyway, even without its horrible pacing Revolutionary Girl Utena basically fails at everything it sets up to do. Never had I even a tiny crumble of emotion when either "sad" or "happy" scenes were on screen. Nor the "Apocalypse", nor "Revolution of the World" motives were carried out in a satisfying way, quite to the contrary, they were presented in such a terrible fashion, that I could do nothing but to laugh at the irony. Seriously, I can't recommend this show. There is no other use for it, except maybe to torture yourself. Though I believe there are still more exciting ways to do that.
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| Average |
9.3 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Utena is a really difficult show to review, because I personally love it to death, but it's not really an anime you can reccomend to anyone; it's a very dark, twisty show that goes against the rules of it's alleged genre and touches pretty dangerous taboos along the way; sex, homosexuality, hatred, lust, lies, and yet, it still manages to pull off some light and genuinely funny moments and situations effortlessly, have a beutiful aesthetic sense, as well as to portray likeable and personable characters despite all their hidden darkness.
The story begins as a fairy tale, of a girl who was saved from her torment by a prince, that gave her a rose-crested ring and promised her that they'd meet again; the girl, so amazed by her prince, decides to become one herself and save other girls like her; this girl is Utena, the title character, as she's quite possibly one of the only characters in the show that while certainly has some hidden feelings and lusty desires eventually, has the purest, most innocent and well meaning personality in the cast; she's the embodiment of a brave prince, yet, she retains her feminity, and it can be said that her feminity is what has impulsed her to go her way; by circumstance she meets Anthy, a demure girl, who is abused by her "boyfriend", Saionji, member of the student council; that and Saionji's humuliation of Utena's best friend Wakaba, leads her to challenge him to a duel; because of her rose crest, Saionji suscpects she's a duelist vying for Anthy, the Rose Bride, so he challenges her to enter the school forest for the duel.
She fights, wins, and ends up being "engaged" to Anthy, the Rose Bride, and a spiral of passion, lies, and deceit unsleash in Ohtori Academy; lasting 39 episodes, Utena passes through 3 Arcs, the best being the last one; there's a lot of symbolism in the whole story, coffins, roses, castles swords, princesses and princes, so if you like to search for deeper meaning Utena provides almost infinite numbers of interpreatation; the story itself is deep and very good, though there are various things people may dislike about it:
Namely, it's cryptic and symbolist nature make it a bit difficult to fully appreciate it and hard to digest, though basically it IS STILL a good story, though it looses punch if you don't appreciate the context, another aspect that may turn you off is that the shows has a lot of "rituals" it does repeatedly, like the duels, the "kashira" girls, and some other stuff; though I find it fascinating, it may tire some; finally the show has a lot of sexual undertones of all orders, and the show itself is very sexual, thogh never pornographic and this may alieante younger viewers.
The characters are as complex as the story and every main character is provided with a "reason-why" of their behaviour; past traumas, forbidden love, hidden agendas; all the duelists and even some side characters are pretty well fleshed out, and they participate in all kinds of situations from random dark humour, to dramatic revlations; though as with the story a lot of reading between the lines and symbolism accentuate each character; some character's aren't even "properly defined" and it's the viewer's job to give them their own meaning(namely, Anthy).
Though it requires more effort in the viewer's part, Utena characters and story are ocean deep and will provide hours of debate and analisis for you; though that extra effort is what keeps me from reccomending it to anyone.
The animation looks a little dated by today's standards and there's a lot of recycled animation (all the rituals I was talking about) but in general is very consistent and there's some true moments of beuty to behold; the designs, and architecture are marvelous, top notch and worthy of awards; the whole look of the show is very unique, pleasing and beutiful and it remains one of my favorite series in regards of design and world-view; maybe when the show is remastered it will look even better, then I would give it a 10.
One aspect of Utena that blows me away is it's music; this is hands down one of the best soundtracks ever, with rich, beutiful and classy compositions that put the show on a level of it's own; while the choral rock songs used in duels may be quite shocking at first, they are unique and very propietary of the show; even better is the rest of the soundtrack; piano, violin, guitars provide feeling warmth, love, fear, doubt, passion, sin and decadence trough the scenes. If you don't buy the series at least buy the soundtrack; truly in a class of it's own.
In the end, that's how I would define this show: "In a class of it's own".
There's not quite anything like this, that looks like a shoujo show, yet it's deep, dark and though provoking; a show where the illusions of shoujo of selflessness and sacrifce aren't always rewarded with the exected result; a show with elegant, unique aural atmosphere; a show were you are offered with a choice, much like it's characters, about what you decide to make out of the information and situations presented to you and where to go with them.
It's really not for everyone, but if you're looking for a quality product that will challenge your mind to go deeper than what's expected, and challenge you to recognize traces of yourself you may not alwayd want to admit, as well as traits you're proud of, in it's cast and world, this is defintely a show for you; pure art.
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1 of 1 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Shoujo Kakumei Utena is a beautiful piece of work. It is unlike any other shoujo show you will ever see. Even though it has a few subtle hints of girl-love, I still looked past that. This shows whisks you away into a fairy-tale like world. You may feel nostalgic agter watching it. I recommend this show to anyone who likes allegory/symbolism, action, drama, romance, and human psychology.
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Pantha |
(2007-09-06 09:33:06) 2007-01-14 13:45:43 |
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| Average |
6.5 |
| Animation |
5 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
6 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| It seems almost a crime to declare that Revolutionary Girl Utena is anything other than a masterpiece among the most emblematic anime; however, the sum of its parts are much less praiseworthy than all that. Although the series should be commended for being an unconventional shoujo, that does not make it great for quite a few anime also managed to transcend the genre…and did so in a much better way. Having an excellent story that is unfortunately clouded by ill-considered characters and merciless repetition, Revolutionary Girl Utena is a standard- but somewhat meritorious- anime.
Sharing many characteristics with magical girl anime, Revolutionary Girl Utena manages to avoid comparisons with its surreal and utterly bizarre storyline. On the surface, the story is about a tomboyish girl who protects her friend by fighting duels against members of the student council, a group that always talks about “revolutionizing the world.” The series, however, is not so much about duels than about friendship, betrayal, love, adolescence, etc. etc. It’s nothing you haven’t seen before, it’s just told in a different way. With that aside, the story is divided into three arcs: The Student Council arc (the first thirteen episodes), the Black Rose Blooms arc, and the Apocalypse arc (the last thirteen episodes). The first thirteen episodes lay out the characters and most of the episodes consist of Utena (the main character) dueling the student council. Most of the episodes are passable if you ignore the repeated animation (the spiral staircase, the bells), but quite a few times the anime falls flat on its face when trying to be funny…either because the humor is out of place or because the joke is simply not funny. The shadow girls (Shakespearean narrators/puppets of the story) outstay their welcome after awhile and two episodes involving Nanami were to stupid for words. The second arc was very unnecessary; consisting of a character (who is pretty much the villain in this arc) that has little impact on the main story, I’m forced to watch the same scenes over and over again. In any case, the series' thirty-nine episode length is not justified, and had this arc been eliminated, Revolutionary Girl Utena would have made a stronger 26 episode anime. But alas.... The story finally takes off in the final arc: strong character development and important revelations flourish into an ending that will have most viewers scratching their heads. In any case, the last thirteen episodes are great enough, it is just mighty frustrating getting to that point.
When the story could make up for annoying animation techniques and useless subplots, the characters were slightly disappointing. Utena (modeled after Oscar of Rose of Versailles) is a fine enough character, foolish in her dreams and chivalrous in trying to make those dreams reality. It’s Anthy who did not reach me; admittedly, her character has the strongest development (and, as far as I'm concerned, she's also the most frightening character), but that does not change the fact that she is all but a zombie during most of the anime. Most of the side characters have a few episodes that unravel a back-story, but most of them either were not important enough to the storyline or not developed enough to make me give a damn. The best among them is Jury, a disgruntled chick who harbors a dangerous and unrequited love. There should have been more scenes with her. The male characters (particularly Akio, Touga, and Saionji) are pretty much the same in that they are selfish and have a certain fascination with Utena. Touga is perhaps the best among them, but he is totally irrelevant in a great deal of the series.
Had Revolutionary Girl Utena made proper use of its episodes and characters, it would have ranked among the best shoujo. As it is though, the series has a few too many flaws that distract, and as such, it never stood up to my expectations. Recommended if you have a strong tolerance for magical girl series and like your shoujo to follow in the vein, of say, Serial Experiments Lain.
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Revolutionary Girl Utena manages to take a story, extend it far beyond it's animation and literary means and seems to be mostly enjoyable. If you like swordfights and women who look like women and men who... look like women, so is Revolutionary Girl Utena.
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petran79 |
(2008-02-04 01:39:50) 2006-07-08 11:01:51 |
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| Average |
6.3 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
5 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
5 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| This may not be the best anime adaptation of a shoujo manga but it is certainly one of the weirdest and surreal titles I've seen. Surprisingly, directed by the director of Sailor Moon and featuring an experienced cast of voice actors, mainly from Sailor Moon, Utena defies all the shoujo standards and sets a genre of its own.
Though I havent read the manga yet,as far as I know the manga had more mature themes and the mangaka insisted that Utena and Anthy should be treated as a married couple. But the anime toned down that kind of relation or else the anime's age rating would have to increase. Even so what the manga doesnt have is that amazing music and that surreal animation that once you're used to them they can be addicting till the last episode.
The duel music themes were composed by J.A.Seazer (only contribution to anime music) and Shinkichi Misumune (FCLC, Rozen Maiden among some of his works).
Only slight problem (though a torturing experience for some viewers and reviewers) would be the repeated scenes during the tranformation and battle scenes, so I'd advise in that case too to press the fast forward button. Also about 4 episodes are recaps that add only 5 minutes of new scenes each,so I skipped them too.
One thing I didnt skip though was the opening and second ending theme. For a 39 episode series this is the first time I'm not skipping an OP. Certainly the best shoujo anime opening I've seen. Maybe because SOFTX was involved who made the intros for Slayers series. Also one singer who sings the Slayers Next theme sings the intro here.
The animation is good too with exciting sword fencing battles and the visuals try to resemble the manga, though I havent read it to compare it with the anime.
Same goes for the story. I dont know which episodes were fillers, though fortunately except the recaps only 2-3 episodes were mediocre to watchable, while the rest were enjoying for 23 minutes episodes. Some others were surreally funny and there were some shoujo parody scenes, a feature that I havent seen in many animes.
The characters were excellent. Mainly due to the experienced voice actors and also because they tried to implement characterization of classic 70's and 80's shoujo. Also some of the settings and SFX have similarities with the 70's titles. Especially Nanami is a classic 70's shoujo character. Since the older shoujos were heaps better than the current batch (exceptions are getting fewer) that kind of approach was a good choice.Her brother Touga was also funny. Another voice his voice actor gave was the character Fool of Kaleido Star, so thats why he sounded so funny and familiar in some scenes.
Only exception was Anthy (the movie character was way better). In fact I liked the monkey Chu Chu more than her.
On the other hand I liked Jury and Miki (that clock he has makes the anime even more surreal) perhaps even more than Utena. Sometimes the series feels like a psychological thriller (especially the elevator scenes).
I cant sum up the story but is is of the weirdest and surreal I've encountered.
If you liked Evangelion and Lain and thought that shoujo anime is only about simple, light-hearted romance think again. Though titles like X-TV and RG Veda were also good they dont match the weirdness of this one.
A must watch for shoujo fans and for those who like unconventional and weird titles. No surprise that the script writer did also FCLC.
As for comparing it with Rose of Versailles regarding the main characters the similarities stop there. Utena is a completely different anime taking the classic elements of shoujo and bringing them to another level. Problem is this level may not appeal to everyone, so it is not recommended as an introductory magical girl/shoujo or anime title. Better watch Sailor Moon or Kamikaze Kaitou Jeanne. If you liked Rose of Versailles and 70's and 80's shoujo you'll like Utena too.
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| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is probably the best shoujo anime I have ever seen. It's high-quality and comes strongly recommended to those who are looking for a deep-thinking, explosive twist on the magical girl theme. Utena Tenjou is drawn into a dangerous dueling ring headed by a mysterious figure called "The End of The World", but all she wants to do is meet the one who inspired her to become a prince herself.
Short warning that there are multiple sexual themes going on in this anime, including incest and homosexual themes, so if that sort of thing bothers you this isn't your anime. That being said, most everything is only suggested and the "details" are completely left to the imagination: this is far from a T & A show; the sexual themes are part of character development instead of fanservice.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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| Average |
6.8 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| Ehh...It could have been much better. To be honest I wouldn't really call this an Yuri anime. Sure they say "I love you" but girls say that to each other out of friendship all the time. They all kept on mentioning that this was "friendship" not love. Also the main girl, Untena, was in love with a Prince, till the last episode when she lost that.
Animation: Well sine this was made like in 1997, I don't expect it to be good, but it could have been better. Like other shows that were made earlier than that (e.g Cathexis) had the same quality of animation. Also there foreheads were huge at times and everything was too pointy XD. But that's just the artist's style.
Sound: The OP and 1st Ending theme was good in my opinion, also I liked the voices, and the BG music was not bad, but that song when Utena was going up the stair case to duel was really starting to get on my nerves. It was real annoying cuz it was so dam repetitive.
Story: Some stories in the shows were good; some were completely useless and stupid. I like the ones when it was about Juri, like the way they showed all the flash backs and her rage is reasonable. But sometimes, it was just to exaggerate, and so repetitive. Some episodes annoyed the hell outta me.
Characters: At least the characters had ok personalities. But than they can be really annoying as well. I liked the way that each character had there own story, even though some were real stupid. All the characters were with involved with a relationship of there brother or sister, or was well not straight XD. Well hints of that stuff everywhere, but as I said b4, I don't think Utena should be categorized with Yuri.
Overall...er... they could of done so much better ^^' XD. It was surprising how I good just fast forward through everything and still get the idea of the story because everything was just so repetitive. But the ending was ok, it was good. I can't tell why I like it, but I did. I guess I can recommend this to anyone who likes showing with repetitive action, or whoever wants to watch this, you must have a lot of patience to watch this. that's the advice I'll give you about this anime.
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Lou |
(2005-09-02 13:31:24) 2005-09-02 13:31:15 |
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| Average |
9.8 |
| Animation |
9 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| This is my favorite anime of all time.
The only anime that has symbolism in it's own repetitiveness at the beginning.
The story is beautiful, sad and extremely WEIRD! x) What more could you ever wish for? It's soaked with symbolism, sex, battles, weird humor, incest and none of the characters are really straight. Utena is a series that hides it true dark story behind a veil of strong and happy colors. All the characters have their stories and even the more minor ones (Like Wakaba.) get their moments of glory which you can learn more about them and see deeper into them. That alone, is one of the things that makes it so great. There is not much you can say about Utena without going on any spoilers but trust me, it's a masterpiece that is definitely worth watching for all anime (and shoujo-ai ;D) fans out there.
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Kaj |
(2005-08-07 10:44:31) 2005-08-05 14:06:40 |
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| Average |
7.2 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
7 |
| What a strange anime.O_o I've heard people saying that this is the shoujo version of Eva. I've also heard people saying that Oscar from The Rose of Versaille is practically Utena's grandmother. Now, having seen it, I can conclude that there is merit in both of the statements. The character Utena, who is born a girl, but lives a boy's life, is so obvoiusly inspired by Oscar. The rose effects (which, by the way, is pretty crap) that they use also reminded me of Rose of Versaille. The production techniques are just so similar at times. It's appocalyptic theme and the density of the symobolims contained in the anime is very similar to Evangeleon. However... it is very shoujo-ish (is there such a word??). And, being a guy. I don't like extreme shoujoness (lol I'm just making words up as I'm going along now).
My first impressions of this anime was not great. Not seriously bad, but it didn't really appeal to me at all. You have this weird setting for the anime: let's see... you have a school, but for some reason, some people are wearing thse military uniforms. And there's all these straaange rules. To her credit.. Utena did seem to try and find out wtf is going on, as you would naturally expect her to do... but her efforts are pathetic. One minute Utena is going "wtf is all this?!", and then the next minute she's completed accepted all these magical powers and starts shouting the keywords "grant me the power to revolutionalise the world" as though she's been part of the activity for years, and not someone who's just recently stumbled across it. And so, after an extremely half-hearted effort, the scene is then set for the anime... sucks. What a lame effort to try and keep it's connection with reality. They may as well not have bothered at all.
Despite the weirdness of opening, I didn't find it too bad at first. But soon afterwards, I found an even bigger problem that GREATLY reduced my liking for this anime: repetitiveness. Honestly, the amount of repetitiveness in this anime is nothing short of ludicrous. If they took out all the repeated scenes, they'd probably end up with 10 less episodes :| During each arc of the anime, the same scene is reused to set up almost every single battle, and also to END almost every battle. I've lost count the number of times I've seen Utena accepting the power of Dios into her - the same scene everytime, no matter what the situation leading up to it is. Sometimes she would be crouching before the scene, sometimes standing, sometimes even with the enemy rushing towards her, but always, she finds the time to casually stand around, infusing with the power and then lunge at her opponent and winning the dual. After seeing it 20+ times (and I don't think I'm exaggerating in the slightest here), there's just one word to describe this... B-O-R-I-N-G. In fact, they don't even make the effort to be more creative, they often stick to the reptitions even when they don't quite fit in, like the animation scene I mentioned previously. Another example is when, during the second story arc, these people with their personal problems get told that their only option is to "revolutionalise the world" (how sick I grew to hearing that phrase). It just seems laughable that the answer to any problem they have is to "revolutionalise the world".
"My cat has died." "I see. Your only option is to revolutionalise the world".
"I've lost my favourite red pencil." "I see. Your only option is to revolutionalise the world".
FFS why can't they be more creative with the dialogs?? Occasionally though, some episodes shines out brightly despite the repetitions. Or rather, it's because of it. There is so much of it that, when an episode deviates from the norm, the result is very pleasantly surprising. A great example of this is during the second story arc, when every episode some person with some grudge goes down this lift shaft. And one day something different happened, and it just made it feel so refresehingly wonderful.
Other than the repition, another thing that annoyed me were the characters. The overwhelming majority of them are just so stereotypical, so superficial and shallow. For a while in the beginning at the series, every single episode would involve Anthea getting slapped for some really petty reason cos she's the scapegoat for everything. The guys are just as vain as the girls, if not more so. Any excuse and they start unbuttoning their top and start poncing around. There were a few characters I took a shine to. Utena was one, being like a voice of reason in a world of madness, and I quite liked Micki and Jury too. Through the anime, the characters did become more distinctive, and became more than just faceless people in a crowd full of vain people. However, I still dislike most of the characters for their pettiness.
There seem to be a lot of symbolism in this anime, but I'm not the sort of person who can usually work out what means what. In fact, I'm the sort of person who MISSES most of the symbolisms. However, due to the repetitive nature of this anime, even I managed to pick up some of the as they were repeatedly shoved in my face. It is frustrating not knowing what it all means though. I wish I was watching it with some English student... they kick ass at that sort of thing :P
The humour in the anime is quite funny... the monkey is such a cute character lol, especially when he's battling with his arch enemy the frog.
Despite my rantings, this is actually a pretty good anime, it's just that the negative points stuck out a lot more than the positive points, and are the parts that I can put my finger on more easily. The strong points are the way some of the twists are incredibly well done, like the episode about jury's past, and also the subtety of the anime that often give your mind something to chew on. Though I started watching this instantly being reminded of the Rose of Versaille. The more I watched the more it minds me of eva instead. Like eva, at the end of the day, I don't think I quite "get" this anime. But at least it had a better ending than the crap eva made up when it ran out of budget.
Looking at the individaul marks in each category, this anime should be horrifically bad. But somehow everything works out and the result is actually far greater than the sum of the parts. I'd hesitate to recommend anime though, because of its weirdness that can take so much getting used to. However if you like apocalyptic themes with tons and tons of symbolisms, give this one a try.
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|
| Average |
2.8 |
| Animation |
4 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
1 |
| Character |
3 |
| Value |
1 |
| Enjoyment |
1 |
| My first review of this series was deleted, and rightfully so. Far too many spoilers. Here is my second attempt, hopefully spoiler free:
First, the Technical aspect: The ANIMATION in Revolutionary Girl Utena is very well done, for it`s time. However, it is brought low by an extreme overuse of repeated scenes. For example, before every duel, Utena is shown walking up a long spiral staircase as music plays. Upon reaching the top, she performs a "Magical Girl" transformation, bringing out her dueling sword. This takes up around two minutes of every episode, and gets extremely annoying if you don`t fast forward. Another constantly repeated scene is the 30 second elevator ride the Student Council takes in almost every episode, reciting the same 4 or 5 lines about breaking the world`s shell.
The SOUND is not noticably bad or good. It gets the job done. The Opening Song is catchy, though it gets a little tiresome after a while. Ending Song is forgettable.
One of Utena`s biggest problem is it`s CHARACTERS. All of the men, except for Miko, are long haired, annoying, transparently evil, womanizing scum. Transparent, that is, except to the female characters, who swoon for them. This is very painful to watch, since we initially LIKE these women, and want them to be happy. Instead, we see them tortured and tormented by these cruel, androgenous men for 39 episodes. The series can evoke tears. However, unlike series such as Saikano, She -The Ultimate Weapon- or movies such as Grave of the Fireflies, Utena does not earn these tears, nor does it deserves them.
One redeeming quality in the character department are the shadow girls. They alternate playing as a sort of greek chorus, to simple comic relief. They are amusing and interesting in the early part of the series, but start to get tired as the series progresses
Another big problem is the Rose Bride, Anthy. Her personality seems to be non-existant for most of the series. She`s basically kind and gentle to whoever she is engaged to. Anthy is not very engaging in the early episodes, but at least she is sympathetic, in that she has not fallen for any of the cruel men in the series. This is shattered, however, in episode 14.
Thus begins my critique of the STORY. Androgeny, Homosexuality, Pretty boys with unbuttoned shirts and poisonous personalities, Lesbianism, and seemingly rampant incest. What isn`t there to like? To properly review the story, I will have to go into a few spoilers. However, I will restrict myself only to events in the first couple episodes.
By the end of episode 1, Utena is the top duelist, making her the default fiancee of Anthy, the Rose Bride. Unfortunately, everyone wants the Rose Bride, for she supposedly holds the power to remake the world. Thus does Utena`s episodic "duel of the week" nature reveal itself. In nearly every episode, another duelist tries to win the Rose Bride. The basic structure goes something like this: A character is slighted by Utena or Anthy, intentionally or unintentionally, resulting in a challenge. The first half of the episode goes to developing the new duelists motives, followed by the duel itself, which I`m afraid to say is dreadfully uninspiring. Repeated frames abound, and the duels lack energy and coherence. Utena fights, Utena starts to lose, Magical Power intercedes, Utena wins. This gets very boring very quickly, as it does in every DragonBall Z episode I have ever seen.
Among the flaws in Revolutionary Girl Utena, there is 1 that is fatal, bringing the series to a startling halt. It is plot related, so I shall tread carefully so as not to reveal too much.
By episode 14, we have lost sympathy for most of the cast. If they`re male, we never liked them much anyways, though I`m pretty sure this is intended. If they`re female, we`ve seen them debauched and/or broken by one or more of the men. Since the men are so obviously evil, we dislike the women for being so terribly gullible (even for schoolgirls)
What is left is Anthy. What little interest I had left for Revolutionary Girl Utena resided in Anthy`s innocence. However, this is irrevocably shattered in Episode 14, when Anthy... acts in a way that is far from innocent. It is so bad, in fact, that it brings the series to a screaching halt. What makes it even worse is that this monumental event is IGNORED, I repeat, IGNORED... for TWENTY EPISODES!!. I truly believe I could have survived through this event if it had been resolved in the following episode. Unfortunately, it is not, and I was so upset by it that the rest of the series was ruined for me.
After episode 15, we realize that this terrible incident involving Anthy is not going to be resolved anytime soon. There are no sympathetic character`s left, save Utena, who spends the rest of the series being steadily broken down by all of the evil people around her. This is not fun to watch, yet the writers stretch it out over 20ish episodes. On top of all of this, the duels, which had been midly interesting due to the backstory given to each duelist, and the fact that both parties learned something from the encounter, is made all the more boring when, through a plot contrivance, the future duelists lose their memory of the duel. Thus, they learn nothing, we learn nothing, and 22 more minutes of my life have been wasted.
In my intense hatred for episode 14, I almost forgot another fatal flaw... the pacing. In series of this nature, it is customary that the audience learn, bit by bit, the true nature of the series. In Utena, however, the important questions are not answered until it is far too late, and we have lost all interest. It is just not possible to stay interested when so many important questions go unanswered and unexplored until the upper 30s episodes. There are many other minute flaws in Utena (Why does Utena shout out the stock line about revolutionizing the world when she pulls out the sword from the Rose Bride, even though she doesn`t believe it?), but with such larger flaws staring you in the face, they hardly matter.
Revolutionary Girl Utena is the worst series I have ever seen. At least with Kakyusei 2, I felt nothing, since nothing happens. Watching Utena filled me with an intense anger, at the characters, and at the series itself.
I was told before watching Utena that it was a Love-It-Or-Hate-It anime. It`s unfortunate that I fell on this side of the fence.
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CoachZ |
(2005-05-25 11:43:18) 2005-05-23 09:36:15 |
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| Average |
7.5 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
7 |
| Story |
7 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| It's very impressive that makes it highly bold than most of the usual shoujo. The concept on the whole idea was really good, and all of the characters were interesting in Utena. However, sometimes it had a repetitive feel to the story; such as the shadow comedian and most of the duels from Utena's rivals. Maybe that was part of the charm in the series, which does a good job on resolving those refined events that made the storyline fairly clever and unusually intriguing at the same time. It is a great watch, for those who strongly favor its variety on the shoujo genre.
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|
| Average |
8.2 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
8 |
| Something about J.C. Staff anime is that produce mediore animation with tons of repetition encompanied with a great sound. This is also the case with melody of oblivion. Utena, is the basis of anime's like Kannaduki no Miko, Maria Sama ga Miteru. Watching this makes MSGM seem worthless, and it is. This is one anime that you cannot watch non stop or suffer ultimate boredom.
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|
|
| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
7 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| So many levels.........so deep. Ugh. I still don't get all of it, and doubt I ever will. Symbolism has never been my strong point. The first, and obvious level, is the dueling itself. A victor will emerge from a fight. But the fights mean so much more than a winner and a loser departing from an arena. Each fight is loaded with backstory, so each time someone loses to her, it drastically impacts them, opening them to the reality they failed to acknowledge, or the truths they ignored.
I can't pretend to get all the story implications. At least the ending was fairly presented. It's not like Lain, or any other ridiculously psychological ending. The show taken as a whole was impressive. There was always something weird or confusing coming from some angle. Enough is never enough. The complicated and confusing story is the centerpiece of this show. Just don't ask me about the Nanami Egg episode, because I will NEVER understand it. Ever. No matter how many times you explain it.
Oh well. It's a good show. Just have a clear head when you try to watch it, or you'll be even more confused than I am. And that's tough to do.........
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mk2000 |
(2005-01-24 21:17:57) 2005-01-24 21:04:51 |
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| Average |
10.0 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
10 |
| Value |
10 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| Shoujo Kakumei Utena is an anime that defied convention.
Along side other mid-nineties anime such as Evangelion and His and Her Circumstances, Shoujo Kakumei Utena broke from tired conventions. Similar to the director for Evangelion and Kare Kano, Utena director Kunihiko Ikuhara threw caution to the wind as he decided that Utena would be his signature project, even if it ruined him.
Not satisfied to live with the rigid shojo molds he encountered as director of Sailor Moon, he took all the ideas he wished but was never able to do on that show and placed them squarely on this seemingly innocent story.
The first season of Utena could be described as decent but predictable. A turn off season for many fans. For those who dared to give it a second chance with the second season, a story of unrivaled symbolism and metaphor awaited them. No other anime has matched it in such categories.
At the same time, though, it could be disturbingly blunt. No subject sacred, no character untouchable.
Frankly, I would not recommend Utena to viewers under 18. A mature viewer is required to fully withstand its imagery and symbolic onslaught.
Mental overload for most young viewers.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena showed me something eternal.
What will it show you?
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Dookie |
(2005-03-22 23:30:38) 2005-01-20 13:07:45 |
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| Average |
9.5 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
10 |
| A school by the sea...mysterious and surreal dueling grounds...quirky characters that suck you in, and a very interesting, dreamy plot that keeps you hooked. Lots of nice twists, and characters actually change throughout the show, which is very very rare. The repetition would have, in some other show, bothered me to death, but it makes for a strange hypnotising effect that lets you get ready for what you are in for (which is surrealistic greatness) One thing about Utena that just almost leaves everything other anime behind on planet earth is that the characters make you feel a lot towards them, and then they make you question that feeling again and again, and change it, and return to it again, and then change it again. The playboys aren't there for fanservice. For once, the playboys are there for you to feel extreme disguist (or whatever else you feel) for them, and try to see through their skin at the pathetic or conniving person; and the female characters, for once, aren't weak annoying idiots who blush and shreik and kneel sumbissively into their man's hands every single seconds. The female characters are different and very interesting, and duelers are strong (Utena, Jurie). (The sword fighting scenes are magnificently done, btw. You actually see the swords strike instead of fast blue flashes that other shows use). Intricate symbolism and irony. Very very good show.
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sarquee |
(2007-03-21 19:13:28) 2005-01-15 13:04:12 |
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| Average |
7.8 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
8 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
7 |
| Value |
7 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Utena is a very chunky show. The quality is distributed very unevenly throughout. There are a lot of fillers, but the 'real' episodes have a very aesthetic and surreal feel to them, and lots of drama, too, of course. I would recommend it, but also tell you to have a little patience with it.
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Igo |
(2005-09-23 20:15:37) 2005-01-15 12:47:23 |
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| Average |
9.2 |
| Animation |
10 |
| Sound |
9 |
| Story |
10 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
8 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Utena is a love it or hate it anime. You'll love it because the things that you like so much are presented with such extraordinary power, and you'll hate it because the things you might dislike are presented with such extraordinary power. It really is a wonderful whimsical anime. Best shoujo and fantasy out there, in my opinion.
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0 of 0 people found this review helpful.
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|
|
| Average |
9.0 |
| Animation |
8 |
| Sound |
10 |
| Story |
9 |
| Character |
9 |
| Value |
9 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| I must confess that my review may not be 100% objective, because this is by far my favourite anime, but I try to be as good as possible.
Animation: The Animation I admit is way behind usual standard nowadays, especially the earlier episodes look rather poor. But the series IS rather old and ran over a long time while they focused more on story and music.
Beside that I have to say that the animation does good at what it tries to do, namely being influenced by classic drawings and shadowplays, it really does look as like it was taken out of a fairy-tale book.
Story: The story is superb, but may be not everyones taste, it manages to be interesting until the very end, never giving away to much, always leaving you behind asking for more.
I also liked the repetetive patterns found in the series along with the symbolism.
The many twists and turns in the storyline are so intruiging and interesting, they will keep you hooked.
Characters: I was really impressed by them because everyone of them is understandable in his/her own way, there were not many charas I did not like, but whats even more importat, there was no chara I didn't had a feeling towards, whether or not I hated them is not the point, but I felt for them and this is what made them special to me.
Music: The Music is what impressed me most about Utena. I never heard music with more emotion and depth in it. I never grow tired of listening again and must say it reflected the mood perfectly. The Duel songs were a brilliant idea, refering to the chorus of ancient greek dramas.
All in all this series may not be of evreyones taste but it is worth a try if you search for something absolutely different.
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Encu |
(2007-01-14 23:09:01) 2004-12-07 11:35:05 |
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| Average |
7.0 |
| Animation |
6 |
| Sound |
5 |
| Story |
8 |
| Character |
8 |
| Value |
6 |
| Enjoyment |
9 |
| Superb.
Utena is a brilliant anime, and of the all anime I've seen is by far the one with the most hidden symbolisms and messages (and possibly also with the most in-your-face symbolisms as well).
This is perhaps one of the drawbacks of Utena, as it plays far too much into its own hidden symbologies, often unable to traverse its own territory and simply tell you what it wants to say.
Another issue I have is the repetition of some scenes and musical / cult-like-brainwashing pieces. I don't think I'll be able to get "zettai ume mokushimoku" out of my head for several decades, for example...
But overall, this anime is truly vast and incredibly well done, with plenty of adult humor, and I highly recommend it to the rest of you anime fans.
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