Revolutionary Girl Utena 

A tomboyish schoolgirl finds herself forced into repeated duels for another girl who has a role in a world revolution.

Creators:

Kunihiko Ikuhara, Chiho Saitô

Stars:

Leah Applebaum, Roxanne Beck, Sharon Becker

Cast

Series cast summary:
Leah Applebaum	...	Nanami Kiryuu 1 episode, 1997
Roxanne Beck	...	Wakaba Shinohara 1 episode, 1997
Sharon Becker	...	Anthy Himemiya 1 episode, 1997
James Carter Cathcart	...	Miki Kaoru 1 episode, 1997
Crispin Freeman	...	Dios / ... 1 episode, 1997
Yuriko Fuchizaki	...	Anthy Himemiya 1 episode, 1997
Amanda Goodman	...	Female Teacher / ... 1 episode, 1997
Aya Hisakawa	...	Miki Kaoru 1 episode, 1997
Yuka Imai	...	Touga's mother / ... 1 episode, 1997
Tomoko Kawakami	...	Utena Tenjô 1 episode, 1997
Takehito Koyasu	...	Touga Kiryuu 1 episode, 1997
Takeshi Kusao	...	Kyôichi Saionji 1 episode, 1997
Satomi Kôrogi	...	Chuchu / ... 1 episode, 1997
Rachael Lillis	...	Chu-Chu / ... 1 episode, 1997
Kotono Mitsuishi	...	Jury Arisugawa 1 episode, 1997
Dan Olk	...	Kyôichi Saionji 1 episode, 1997
Yuri Shiratori	...	Nanami Kiryû 1 episode, 1997

Storyline

This series is about a girl called Utena who was helped in a difficult time by a handsome prince. She was so impressed with him that she vowed to become a prince herself. She is attending a boarding school where she stands out with her gender bending ways and boy's uniform and makes friends with other students in school, most notably a bizarrely submissive Indian girl called Anthy. When one of her friends is publicly humiliated by her crush, Utena protests and is called out on a duel by the boy at a bizarre arena. With some difficulty, she wins and finds that Anthy is now "engaged" to her as the "Rose Bride" that is the key to a world revolution. Now, she finds herself forced to fight repeated challengers for Anthy, face similar rivalries in her personal life and tries to help Anthy gain some will of her own. All the while, the duels she must fight are leading her to a goal of world revolution that has implications she is not yet aware of.

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Plot Keywords:

bisexuality | flower | school uniform | revolution | prince | 

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Drama | Fantasy | Romance | Thriller

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Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Release Date:

2 April 1997 (Japan)

Also Known As:

Revolutionary Girl Utena

Company Credits

Production Co:

J.C. Staff, TV Tokyo, Yomiko

Technical Specs

Runtime:

24 min (39 episodes)

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

The re-release booklet featured art for an early design for Touga with short blond hair, and depicted Saionji with glasses and short green hair.

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Goofs

In episode 8, the thick white stripe on the bottom of Nanami's skirt disappears when she is hugging Touga. It re-appears in the other scenes.

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Quotes

[repeated line]
Shiori Takatsuki: Believe in miracles and they will know your feelings.

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Connections

Referenced in Die Another Day (2002)

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Soundtracks

Rose & Release
by Masami Okui (ep 39)
[Ending Theme]

User Reviews

This is such a good series.

I love this series! Not only is it visually pleasing and funny (in its own way sometimes, I must admit), it makes the viewer THINK in order to get the story behind the characters and their odd behavior, something most anime fans today are forgetting to do. One thing needs to be clear for those whose interest has been piqued... this is NOT Sailormoon, despite the fact that it is directed by the same (talented) man and despite the fact that it is a shoujo anime. Don't get me wrong, I love Sailormoon. But, Shoujo Kakumei Utena does have weirder (eerie) twists and mysterious (eerie) characters. So if you want something different, something not one-dimensional,like Dragonball, let's say, take a look at Shoujo Kakumei Utena. It's one of the best shoujo series around; after all, the girls in it all rule in some way or another.