La fillette révolutionnaire Utena

This is one of the best anime series out there. the only thing is, it may not be for everybody. PLEASE dont make the mistake of blowing this one off as a kiddie saturday morning cartoon-type-thing at first glance. This is most certainly NOT one for the little children!!^__^ The plot is full of symbolism, the story line is complex and can often touch onto twisted or morbid subjects, and the characters are deep. Dont be surprised if you need to take a couple of psychology courses to understand this series! Anyway, This is a GREAT series, personally, one of the top animes out there, in my opinion!!WAAAAAI!!!! MIKI KAORU RULES!!!!

I think people get too caught up in attempting to understand something foreign to realize that many elements in Revolutionary Girl Utena are not meant to be taken literally and at times, seriously. Yes, it is strange, but, the strangeness is purposefully achieved as a method of storytelling. If one can look past or even appreciate the strangeness, one can find a worthwhile story that's both entertaining and insightful.

The main character, Utena Tenjou, is a student at a boarding school. She meets Anthy Himemiya, a shy girl who is the Rose Bride, the key figure in a mysterious plot by the Student Counsel to "revolutionise the world". The main storyline revolves around Utena and her journey, through different trials and obstacles, to uncover this mystery. To support the main story, there are many subplots and filled with colourful supporting characters, who add drama, humour, and complexity.

The Student Counsel members often recite a poem with portions borrowed from Herman Hesse's Demian. Like the Demian, Utena is about the antagonist's personal journey uncovering truth within their world and within themselves, through the transitional periods of youth. Unlike in Demian, the hero's journey in Utena is highly metaphorical. Despite seeming childish and simple at first, this series is actually incredibly dark with themes that are both adult in nature and adult in meaning. It uses many traditional archetypes – like the charming prince, the wicked witch, the naive hero – but changes these elements' relationship with each other and within the story as the vehicle to drive these progressive elements. Some of the ideas touched upon are the meaning of gender, gender roles, the meaning of self, etc.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of my favourite television series. Both the plot and the characters are highly developed. I actually greatly enjoy the surrealism, with over the top drama that both pokes fun of itself and other series within the shoujo (manga and anime for women and girls) genre. The fantastic story components along with highly stylized visuals full of symbolism paint an almost dream-like setting. It's a post-modern fairytale that's indefinitely unforgettable. You'll either love it or hate it, there's no in between.

Many people when they see this series for the first time take out the disk thinking, "what...was that?" These people are those who aren't thinking about what's going on. This is one of those shows that you need to pay attention to. You've got to notice the little things and remember them--if you don't however, it's okay, you just won't be able to understand the complete depth that this show has to offer.

This IS a controversial show--but ONLY when you DON'T look deeper into it. Every time you see this show, you'll notice something you missed before. No regrets on purchasing this at all! If you think that it's a little slow in the beginning, have no worries--it'll pick up right quick in no time. Although some may see it as somewhat pointless to the main plot line, the Black Rose Saga does wonders for understanding more about the minor characters. Then, you get led into the Apocalypse Saga and thats when it really becomes shockingly amazing.

Don't get caught up in its facade. This show is clearly for those who enjoy a bit of everything: action, comedy, romance, tragedy and above all, a refreshingly original plot line.

This show has my heart honestly. It's a deep, dark and intrinsically layered show that really requires your full attention. From the gothic influenced soundtrack to the bright colour palate and the uniquely hand-drawn style, this show is just sonic and visual candy. The plot is painfully ambiguous in my opinion but still intriguing nonetheless. And of course there are the feminist and queer themes that has bestowed upon this show its iconic legacy. To think that such revolutionary (all pun intended) ideals and themes and subject matters were depicted in this show nearly 2 decades ago and has served as the inspiration to many other queer and feminist story is truly a testament to this show's legacy. I am quite honestly dying to know what happened after the end but I'm glad it was not a tragic one. The bond between Utena and Anthy was truly something that warmed my heart, the sanctity of their bond seemed to transcend just friendship and even romance. It was, in essence, just two girls who wanted to save each other no matter what. Though I was sad we never got to see them kiss, i think their attraction to one another was blatantly obvious in the subtext.

One of my few only complaint really is just the repetitive nature of the sword fights. Though it does add a great deal of spice and action into the story, I feel most of the drama is nullified knowing that Utena will always prevail in the end. And the sequence of her climbing up the endlessly spiralling staircase, whilst it is a great visual delight at first, does get old quite fast. I felt the black rose saga was quite pointless and characters got introduced at times only to not appear or serve any relevance to the plot later on.

Overall, Utena is an amazing show; far ahead of its time, that blends mind numbingly surrealist imagery with complex layered characters, an amazing artstyle and a killer soundtrack

to put it in the most simple terms i can, Shoujo Kakumei Utena is among the best anime to ever come along. Whilst I'll admit many people could never understand it, let alone like it, any fan of anime in general has to give this series a chance. From the overall surrealism to the bits of sexual innuendo, this series delivers an intriguing world of roses, swords, roses, stopwatches, roses, princes, and did i mention roses? Images of death and hope fill the series. The characters are a wide range of personalities, all linked to these duels(and thus the End(s) of the World) in some way or another. The imagery is ongoing, and sometimes even takes me a second, third, even fourth watching to get it all(well, to get most of it, some of the series I believe is meant to never FULLY be understood.), and I dont usually need to see anything more than twice to catch it all. While not for everyone, fans of deeper, even more provocative series' will find Shoujo Kakumei Utena a very entertaining anime series.