Revolutionary Girl Utena

tenjouutena • 18 April 2013 at 10:34 PM

Anyone know this anime/manga/movie?

Recently I've ran into a few people that have heard of it. It's been my favorite anime since high school. Most names on pet sites I play on is TenjouUtena. But it's a diying fandom from such an old anime.
It's made by some of the people that did Neon Genesis Evangelion and Sailor Moon. It has elements of both but it's nothing like any of them. To me Utena really stands out because it has an original story. Though it's messed up at times and I wouldn't recommend it for younger people. And it can be hard to follow, like Eva. But it's well worth it.

It's a story of a girl over coming everything and everyone to protect someone who everyone else sees as nothing more then a tool. She friends the girl and they become close friends. All while she seeks to find her prince and in the process becomes one herself.
My feels for this anime......

celeste • 22 April 2013 at 4:39 AM

@tenjouutena

It sounds very interesting! I thoroughly enjoyed Sailor Moon as a child, and I'm looking into watching Neon Genesis Evangelion. Is it something among the lines of Madoka Magica? A really dark, depressing, messed-up mahou shoujo anime? I remember on the PMMM wiki that the show references from Revolutionary Girl Utena a lot, so I might look into it.

(Awkward question, but does it involve a 'naked space hug' somewhere during the series? Madoka Magica has one)

tenjouutena • 22 April 2013 at 2:24 PM

@celeste
I never heard of Madoka Magica, sorry.
But it is dark at time, mostly in the second saga (theres 3 sagas). It can be depressing at times but I don't think more then most animes. Though it is rather messed up it is not a magic girl anime at all. Don't go into it thinking that's what I mean by it has aspects of Sailor Moon. While it's not exactly realistic it's not magic.

It's about dueling to gain possession over the Rose Bride and bring The End Of The World to the holders own desires. To give it a simple explanation.

It's kinda like...every anime rolled into one in a way. It has shojo-ai moments, shonon-ai moments, a bit of taboo subjects and a good handful of adult themes. It's why I say I don't recommend to younger people. Though you never see anything there is a lot of implied things going on.

It's more like Eva then it is Sailor Moon if you want to think of it that way. It's drama but it does center around romance. But the main theme is finding who you really are and what you desire in life and protecting the things important to you above yourself. Like in Eva.
But the animation and even some of the characters personalities along with a little bit of the plot is like Sailor Moon. They even have the cute animal for comedic effect. A little monkey thing named Chu-Chu.

All in all it's a very serious anime and it takes a lot of thinking in some parts. Pretty much everything represents something. From what they say, to the roses each person uses to pictures and such on the walls. You have to pay attention to understand whats going on.
I do HIGHLY recommend watching it with subtitles. You lose a lot of things when you watch it dub.

The movie is a whole other subject though....it's it's own thing and even I don't really fully understand the end of it when Utena turns into a car and Anthy has to drive her and yeah...
Though the movie does have one of the most romantic scenes in any anime I've ever watched. When Utena falls asleep int eh rose garden and it overflows with water then Utena and Anthy end of dancing. I fan girl all over the place in everything about that part.


Sorry to ramble. I hope this gives you a better idea of what it is.