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If you are sick of the idiocy of Sailor Moon, and are in the mood for a well written and interesting take on the Shojo genre, join the Revolution and get Revolution Girl Utena.

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REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA

The Rose Collection 1

Review by Matthew Anderson

39 Episode TV Series

Company: Software Sculptors

Running Time: 150 minutes (7 Episodes)

Region: All

Rating:PG (Subject Matter)

EXTERNAL EXAM

When Utena Tenjo was a little girl, a mysterious prince appeared after her parents died. He gave her a ring, and told her that the ring will lead her to him. So impressed by his appearance, she decided at that moment to become a prince.

Now, Utena attends Ohtori Academy, a school where only people of royal personage can attend. Despite her tomboyish exterior, she has become a beautiful young woman, with a strong sense of justice.

When her friend is publicly embarrassed by Saionji, member of the mysterious student council, Utena challenges him to fight. Upon his defeat, she becomes the possessor of the Rose Bride, a beautiful yet timid young girl named Anthy Hinamea. She learns that the student council, led by the handsome Touga, is competing for possession of the Rose Bride. Whoever wins all the duels, will unlock the way to the magic castle, and bring about the change of the world, or its end.

Now, Utena and Anthy must try to unlock the secret of the castle, before the Student Council does.

DVD VISION TEST

VIDEO: With the more subdued colors of the source print, the video quality appears washed out. In reality, it is very well done, with not color bleeds, pixels, or other garbage. It does look better on our Pioneer 525 R1 DVD player than on our Samsung 2001 R2 DVD player.

AUDIO: The English 2.0 track is very well done. The sound is cleaner, fuller, with great directionality. The dialogue comes from the front (unless there are characters on the right and left), with music and sound on the back.

The Japanese 2.0 is pretty standard fare. Most of the sound comes from the center, with some SFX from the sides. It is higher pitched than the English.

EDITS: No edits what so ever. The original open and close animation is used (no clean versions), as are the eye catches. The only "edit" is that on a couple of episodes, the karoke version of the open is used on the English track.

EXTRAS: Pretty skimpy. A song collection section and some DVD ROM features make up the extras.

WIDESCREEN REVIEW

STORY: This is a strange story. Based off of the manga by Chiho Saito, Series Structure coordinator Yoji Enoto keeps pretty close to it's manga roots. The series is streamlined, but still crammed full of soap opera drama.

ACTING: Excellent on the Japanese front. The characters are full of passion, emotion. However, with so many female and young male characters (all voiced by female voice actresses), it can be a little hard to differentiate between the characters.

The English actors all do a pretty good job, with stand out performances by Rachael Lills as Utena (and Chu-Chu), and Leah Applebaum as the bitchy Nanami. However, Jack Taylor falls a little short as Saonji.

FAN SERVICE: This is a girls series, so no nudity or panty shots to be found. Lot's of beautiful images though.

FINAL EXAM

I normally don't like shojo. I don't like the whinny female characters, the soap opera dramatics, and the romance novel feel. Utena is no different. With Anthy the doormat, the whole "take over the world plot", and Touga fawning over Utena, this series should be driving me nuts.

It didn't.

I actually like this series. I like it because Utena plays more like a Shakespearean tragedy than a romance novel. You have a hero, way cool sword fights, and even a chorus to keep things entertaining.

When we meet Utena Tenjo, she is a young woman who has more than her share of admirers, both male and female. Despite her tomboyish exterior, she actually prefers for others to treat her as a woman. She only acts like a male because she wants to become like the prince she met when she was a child. The ring he gives her will shape her future.

Her princely inclinations come center stage when her friend Wakaba is publicly embarrassed by a love letter she wrote is posted on the school bulletin board. Utena challenges the culprit, the school kendo star and Student Council member Saionji to a duel. Seeing the ring, he accepts the challenge. His defeat at Utena's hands is humiliating. Now, Utena is engaged to the the Rose Bride, Anthy Hinameia.

While Utena is a driven and self assured woman, Anthy is almost an empty vessel. She has no personality, and most people instantly dislike her. She also gets slapped around a lot, causing Utena to come to her rescue more than once. Now that the two are "engaged", Utena and Anthy have been assigned student housing together. This also means that Utena has to deal with different people who either want to destroy her, or posses her because she is the only one who can call forth the magical Sword of Dios.

Many people have called Utena "a lesbian story". While the inference is there, Utena is not the story of a lesbian and her doormat. Those looking for passionate kisses and hidden encounters will not find it here, at least not on this disc.

Utena does have a broad based appeal. It has beautiful animation (despite some crude CG), an interesting story, and decent action. While the outcome seems to be determined from the get go, each episode makes you wonder if Utena will save the day, solve the mystery, and get the girl....so to speak.

If you are sick of the idiocy of Sailor Moon, and are in the mood for a well written and interesting take on the Shojo genre, join the Revolution and get Revolution Girl Utena.

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