Shôjo kakumei Utena: Adolescence mokushiroku

Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena is a visually stunning and thematically complex anime film directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. The film explores the themes of identity, love, and societal expectations in the groundbreaking TV series. The film's avant-garde animation and deep exploration of the characters' psyche offer a profound meditation on adolescence and self-discovery. The daring narrative choices and groundbreaking visuals make it a standout in the anime genre, inviting audiences to reflect on themes that resonate beyond the screen. The film is an unmissable cinematic experience that challenges conventions and leaves a lasting impression.

This movie truly is a masterpiece. No matter what way I look at it, there is always something new to see; which is exactly what a masterpiece should be. I have seen this movie about 11 times I think and there were still things I was noticing that I didn't before. The animation is simply gorgeous for this movie. It is even better than the TV series, which in my opinion was pretty amazing, the colours are vibrant, the backgrounds are amazing. The character design is amazing and gives the movie the get go it needs in establishing itself. There is a certain melancholy in everyone's eyes in this movie that I have not seen anywhere else before. Just a close up of a character's face tells you a lot about them and where they fit in.

The sound is just amazing in keeping with all the things the movie wants to be, Toki Ni Ai Wa is just amazing with the motif of floating roses. Zettai Umnei Mokushiroku goes so well in the sequence it is and the story just flows by. The story, seemingly random, is the most complex one I have seen. It is even more complex than the series as so many elements are touched upon in such a short time period. All in all this is truly amazing.

This anime has the most value and enjoyment as well since you have to see it more than once to get the full story and it is enjoyable no matter how many times it is seen. No one should miss it.

I recently re-watched this movie, having first watched the entire series + the movie 10 years ago. Revolutionary Girl Utena is truly one of a kind. The series is sweet, funny, fierce and surprisingly deep. Every character is conflicted and flawed and struggling to overcome their "demons," the things that scare each character and hold them back from becoming confident, fully-fledged adults. In the series, every character gets their turn to "shine" and then, in turn, to confront their "darkness." Revolutionary Girl Utena will probably go down in history as one of the queerest --if not *the queerest*-- anime out there... with just about every main character having some underlying relationship that's gay, just plain complicated ... or involves a problem/hang-up over the love of a sibling. Pretty daring for early 1990s. Everyone has a dark, not-so-veiled secret... and you love them all both in spite of -- and because of it -- anyway! The movie compresses what was 39 episodes in TV into 90-odd minutes... and so it necessarily takes shortcuts. Think of the movie as the more overt companion piece to the TV show. Dynamics that were more subtext in the TV show become main-text here. And at the same time, the movie revels in abstraction... with stories that were more drawn out and linear in the TV show being reduced to something more symbolic here. The show's rose-heavy Louis XIV France design, insistent, Gothic music and the shadow-puppet Greek Chorus are perhaps never so lovely (and cohesively) powerful as they are here in the movie. The Utena movie is a love letter to those who fan-girl/boy the original series, for sure. And there's plenty for someone new to the Utena world who's willing to hold its wounded and aching heart till it finds its noble reason for being.... and just go with it.

Consider yourself warned that this movie operates on the assumption that viewers are familiar with the TV series. If you aren't already aware of the relationships between the characters (as I'm not) you're outta luck, because very little of it is explained here. And from what I've heard, things are a bit murky even then.

What makes this movie great is that it really doesn't matter. Utena is a visual smorgasborg--the backgrounds alone warrant it a high rating, impossibly lush and frequently reminiscent of art nouveau. The characters are equally wonderfully drawn. Visually, it's brilliant; the floating castle that seems to constantly rearrange itself is an astonishing feat of fantastical architecture. All in all I'd have to say this is the most gorgeous animation I've ever seen.

As for the plot...I've seen this three times now and still don't entirely get it. I have some vague theories about what's going on and why, but without the series' background I can't verify anything. The movie operates on a very surreal, symbolic level--and it's full of the eccentricities of anime, as well (not that that's a bad thing, just different--a giant car wash machine that rises out of a field of roses figures prominently in a later scene). If you go into this expecting cut-and-dry western cinema (doubtful, as by and large I expect only anime junkies would even hear of it), you're up the creek without a paddle. Even granted the contextual uncertainty, though, there is clearly a resolution. What it means is certainly debatable, but the point is that there IS a narrative here discernible in the end, if that actually matters. In this case, I don't think it does. The movie exists in its own world and can't be expected to always adhere to our rules.

Utena is awe-inspiring in its visual beauty and imagination. As a would-be fantasy writer myself I found my mind spinning off on dozens of tangents after watching it. And for one work of art to inspire another to create is perhaps the highest recommendation there is.

I'm a big fan of the series and watched the movie when I had seen most of the episodes. Basically, they tried to put in most of the meaning and ideas of the series into the movie. But they changed some major points - so much that a person who has never seen the series will see a very different move than a die hard fan. Unfortunately, there are many "shout outs" to episodes which are randomly scattered in the movie and make no sense.

The movie's style is similar to the series, but it does many things just for their aesthetic value. That and the randomness of certain things makes it a very strange movie to watch. It feels more akin to a work of art than a movie (think Titanic of the Matrix). Every time I have watched it I have enjoyed it more and come away more emotionally moved.

If this is your first exposure to Utena, just accept that some things won't make sense. If you are familiar with the television series, pretend that the movie takes place in a different universe.