Revolutionary Girl Utena

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is a manga by Chiho Saito and anime directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara. The manga serial began in the June 1996 issue of Ciao and the anime was first broadcast in 1997. A movie,  was released in theatres in 1999.  A musical version of the franchise was also produced in the mid 1990's.  It was titled "Comedie Musicale Utena la fillette révolutionnaire" and staged be an all-female Takarazuka-style cast.

The main character is a somewhat tomboyish teenage female, Utena Tenjou, who was so impressed by a kind prince in her childhood that she decided to become a prince herself (expressed in her manner of dress and personality). She attends Ohtori Academy, where she meets a student named Anthy Himemiya, a girl who is in an abusive relationship with another student. Utena fights to protect Anthy and is pulled into a series of sword duels with the members of the Student Council. Anthy is referred to as the "Rose Bride" and is given to the winner of each duel. As Anthy is thought to be the key to a coming revolution, the current champion is constantly challenged for the right to possess the Rose Bride.

While the show generally has the appearance of a magical girl series, it is also highly metaphysical and allegorical. It contains a mix of borrowed visuals from Takarazuka theater, shadow puppetry, and classic shōjo.

The anime and manga were created simultaneously, but, despite some similarities, they progress in different directions.

Contents

• 1 Composition
• 2 Plot summary
• 3 Characters
• 3.1 Main characters
• 3.2 Student Council members
• 3.3 Black Rose Duelists
• 3.4 Minor characters
• 4 Themes
• 5 Visual motifs
• 6 Inspirations
• 7 Music
• 8 See also
• 9 External links

Composition

The 39-episode Revolutionary Girl Utena TV series was created by some of the same production staff that made Sailor Moon, including writer and director Kunihiko Ikuhara. However, the creator of Sailor Moon, Naoko Takeuchi, was not responsible for Utena; nor did the Utena manga author Chiho Saito have much control over the anime. Ikuhara is better known for his role in the production of Sailor Moon', such as his contributions to the third season, the most serious of the series.

The movie, Adolescence of Utena can be seen as the end of the story initiated by the TV series, although it goes in a very different direction. Its structure is in many ways parallel to that of the series, but the roles of the leads are subtly switched. Utena remains the duelist, and while Anthy's liberation by Utena is key to the conclusion of the series, it is Utena's freedom which is at issue in the movie, and Anthy who must free her. If the television series riffs upon themes from theater and mythology, it could be said that the movie riffs upon themes from the series. Many aspects of the movie are completely incomprehensible without familiarity with the series. It is even more visually bizarre than the series, unusual enough that it earned the good-natured nickname "The End Of Utena", after the similarly abstract but infinitely less cheerful The End of Evangelion.

There was also a short-lived Takarazuka-style musical entitled "Shōjo Kakumei Utena, Makai Tensei Mokushiroku hen, Reijin Nirvana Raiga". At Animazement '00 Ikuhara was said to be working on it with the theatrical group Gesshoku Kageki Dan. The second disc of Shoujo Kakumei Utena OST 5, Engage Toi a Mes Contes, contains many of the songs from this musical.

The English manga is published by VIZ Media in the Animerica Extra magazine. Enoki Films holds the American license and called the series Ursula's Kiss. However the American distributor, Central Park Media, chose to use the original title and character names. The same dub was aired in Australia, although it was listed under Enoki Films' title name. [link]

Plot summary

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The series is divided into three story arcs, in each of which Utena comes into conflict with a different power at Ohtori Academy (Enoki Films calls it "Otori Junior High School"). In all of them, Utena must defend her title as the owner of the Rose Bride, with the intention of protecting Anthy. The duels always occur when the rose champion is challenged by someone with the rose crest ring and no refusal is accepted. The matches occur in the dueling arena, a large, high platform in the academy's outskirts, which is only open to the duelists. They are given badges, roses placed in the breast pockets of their jackets. They then swordfight, until one duelist wins by knocking away the opponent's rose with his blade.

(The story arc names below link to more details than given here.)

Student Council Saga

This first part of the series introduces Utena, Anthy, and most of the main characters. It shows how Utena ends up winning the Rose Bride, and her initial duels against the Student Council members. They, in turn, for various reasons insist on fighting in order to win Anthy back from her.

Black Rose Saga

After repelling the Student Council's attempts to take Anthy from her, Utena faces another obstacle, Souji Mikage. Disguised as a counselor, he uses his powers of persuasion and psychology to put people under his control by coaxing them to confide their deepest hostilities and fears. He then sends them, wearing black rose crest rings on their fingers, to fight Utena. This part also introduces Akio Ohtori.

End of World Saga

After solving the Mikage situation, Utena must fight each Student Council member one last time. As the conflict escalates, the dark secrets of the duels, and Akio and Anthy's true intentions behind them, are unveiled.

Characters

Main characters

Utena Tenjou (天上ウテナ Tenjō Utena)

Utena Tenjou

* (romanized as Tenjou in the English manga and Tenjo in the English anime)

* Enoki Films' name: Ursula

* Voice: Tomoko Kawakami / Rachael Lillis

* Rose Color: White, Pink

* Sword: shinai, Sword of Dios, rapier

In all versions of the story Utena is a tomboyish, slightly naïve character who lives to emulate the idealized prince figure from her childhood. She is forthright, honest, and friendly, and nearly all the girls in school adore her.

In the manga, her parents died when she was six years old. On that day she was wandering around, lost, and she fell through a hole in a fence that enclosed a river area. Utena nearly drowned but was saved by a mysterious Prince who licked away her tears and told her that if she did not lose her noble heart, they would meet again. He left with her a rose signet ring. Later on, Utena receives picture cards that give her clues as to where her prince is. By following these clues, she finds herself at Ohtori Academy.

In the anime, the young Utena climbs into a coffin after her parents' deaths. She is rescued by the Prince, who encourages her to save Anthy, who Utena sees being tortured by her curse; this, it seems, was the true inspiration for Utena to become a Prince, rather than merely the Prince himself.

In the movie, Utena traveled to Ohtori Academy after supposedly breaking up with her past boyfriend Touga, whom she sees on her first day on campus. Her hair is cut short, but it magically grows longer when she transforms for each duel. After seeing Touga flirting with Anthy, Utena assumes that Touga left her for Anthy; but she discovers that he actually died trying to save a drowning girl (a young Juri) and has recently come back to life. Utena overcomes her anger over losing Touga, and convinces Anthy to leave Ohtori Academy with her. Utena turns into a pink car (which is in fact a symbol for Utena being Anthy's mode of escape from her world) and they kill Akio, escaping the fantasy world of the school once and for all on the remains of the "Utena Car".

Anthy Himemiya (姫宮アンシー Himemiya Anshī)

Anthy Himemiya

* Enoki Films' name: Angie

* Voice: Yuriko Fuchizaki / Sharon Becker

A mysterious and beautiful dark-skinned girl whose sometimes vapid expression and superficial politeness seem to mask something deeper. Many people project their wants or desires onto her, and she's often the target of their eventual rage or hate. She's often called "less forceful than a doormat."

One of her more startling abilities is that she houses the Sword of Dios within her own body. At the beginning of a duel, she slips into a trance and the Sword manifests, protuding from her chest so that the Engaged One may draw it from her. This Sword is said to be a key to reaching the goal of Revolution. As holder of the Sword of Dios, Anthy is known as the "Rose Bride".

Anthy exhibits other unusual abilities as well. When Utena enters the Arena, Anthy magically embellishes her uniform for the duration of the duel. There are times when Anthy seems able to completely alter her appearance, or at least induce others to see her for someone other than who she really is.

According to the Adolescence of Utena manga, Anthy is in fact responsible for the dueling of which she is the prize. When her prince Dios (or Akio) died, she became reborn as the Rose Bride. When she took this role, the Dueling Arena appeared and the "game" was set in motion so another "Prince" could take Akio's place.

In the movie, she seems happier and is much more sexually aggressive towards Utena. Her physical appearance is also changed, as she does not wear glasses and her hair is loose (similar to her appearance in the last few episodes of the anime).

Anthy appears to be an Asian Indian, probably Tamil. She is noticeably darker than the other characters and wears a bindi mark or jewel.

Akio Ohtori (鳳暁生 Ōtori Akio)

* Enoki Films' name: Mike

* Voice: Juurouta Kosugi (TV series), Mitsuhiro Oikawa (Movie) / Josh Mosby

* Rose Color: Purple

* Sword: Sword of Dios

Anthy's older brother, the acting chairman of the academy. Although barely present in the first season of the show, he later plays a pivotal role in the second and third seasons. His given name derives from the Japanese name for Venus, the Morning Star, which is identified with Lucifer. Before the series began, he was known as Dios, the prince, but Anthy split Dios into two beings. Given the origin of his name and his role in the story, Akio may be compared to a fallen angel.

In the anime, Akio uses Utena's familiarity with his "better half" to his advantage and becomes her lover. He expresses a desire to see her as his princess and to relieve her of the burden of becoming a prince. In the end, however, he uses her in the same way he uses all the other duelists, though she rebels against his idea of turning her into a submissive princess.

Akio appears to dominate his sister both personally and sexually; their incestuous and power-driven relationship is key to Anthy's behavior in both the anime (where Anthy is, or pretends to be, held in thrall to her brother) and the movie (where events cause the balance of power to shift dramatically). However, the power is not completely held by Akio, as he relies on Anthy to create the Sword of Dios and to affect the outcome of each duel.

Akio is also a remarkable playboy with many and varied conquests. The list includes Kanae, Utena, Kozue, Tokiko, Touga, and even Kanae's mother; there are also insinations involving Saionji and Wakaba. Akio's trademark symbol is his jazzy automobile, in which he invites friends and potential sexual partners to take a midnight ride. Creator Ikuhara has stated Akio's general appearance and presentation, as well as his car, are meant to represent the adult world and adult power.

Student Council members

:— Ohtori Academy's Student Council oath (paraphrased from Hermann Hesse's Demian).

Juri Arisugawa (有栖川樹璃 Arisugawa Juri)

* Also romanized as "Jury Arisugawa"

* Enoki Films' name: Julie

* Voice: Kotono Mitsuishi / Mandy Bonhomme

* Rose Color: Orange

* Sword: rapier

The captain of the academy's fencing team, Juri is one of Ohtori's most highly respected students, and even the teachers appear to be in awe of her. However, behind her aloof, intimidating manner, she is actually very vulnerable as she has been hurt in the past by her friend Shiori (over whom she obsesses continuously). While viewers are at first allowed to believe that Shiori stole Juri's boyfriend from her, it is later revealed that it was in fact Shiori who Juri cared about all along. She wears a locket with Shiori's picture inside, and is devastated when Utena destroys it by accident while the two are dueling.

In the manga, Juri is student council treasurer. Her nickname is 'The Beautiful Leopard' and she is the captain of the fencing club. In the manga, there is no Shiori; Juri is in love with Touga instead. Touga, however, is in love with Utena, and so Juri sees Utena as her arch rival. Juri is depicted in both versions as having learned all she knows about swordsmanship from an older student, Ruka Tsuchiya, who figures in a small but important subplot.

In Adolescence of Utena, Juri is the president of the Student Council (the Council's members are apparently Miki, Juri and Saionji). She appears to be aware that Shiori is manipulating her.

Miki Kaoru (薫幹 Kaoru Miki)

* Enoki Films' name: Mickey

* Voice: Aya Hisakawa / Jimmy Zoppi

* Rose Color: Blue

* Sword: épée

The highly-skilled, polite, effeminate friend of Utena, and one of the few unquestionably nice characters. A piano player par excellence, Miki has fond memories of playing songs with his twin sister Kozue in his childhood; but her refusal to play with him in the present gives Miki a sense of loss. His crush on Anthy in the anime (but on Utena in the manga) develops when he finds she reminds him of his estranged sister. He is a member of the Student Council, his position appearing to be the council secretary. He frequently appears with a stopwatch in hand. Miki is also a member of the fencing club.

In the movie, Miki is shown as having a stronger relationship with Juri, and that he is beginning to resent his sister. He and Kozue bathe together in one scene, and she presses razor to his throat and accuses him of being a traitor. It is implied he has a part in turning her into a car like Utena, though this is never elaborated on.

Touga Kiryuu (桐生冬芽 Kiryū Tōga)

* Enoki Films' name: Tommy

* Voice: Takehito Koyasu / Crispin Freeman

* Rose Color: Red

* Sword: katana, Sword of Dios, longsword

President of the Student Council, Touga is an arrogant and handsome young man whose desire to be elegant and powerful drives him to cruel and unscrupulous deeds. Although he says that he wishes to be more noble, his has little empathy towards anyone. He is a childhood friend of Saionji, although whether he still cares about Saionji is debatable. His favorite things are women and himself.

Toward the end of the series, however, Touga's facade of chivalry is replaced with an apparently truer concern for Utena, to the extent that he very subtly attempts to substitute his head for hers on Akio's chopping block. Arguably, this is also an example of Touga's inability to see Utena as who she really is, rather than in a stereotypical feminine role. He also seems to have moral objections to homosexuality, as he lectures Nanami when he mistakenly believes that she has admitted to being a lesbian. Despite this, he seems to have no qualms about "taking a ride" with Akio.

His portrayal in the manga and movie are considered more sympathetic throughout, or at least pitiable. The movie shows Touga as having been involved with Utena romantically in the past after the deaths of her parents. This version of Touga is actually a ghost, since in reality he actually died years ago when trying to save Juri from drowning. When Utena, who had suppressed the memory of his death, finally accepts his ultimate fate, he drifts away and is not seen again.

Nanami Kiryuu (桐生七実 Kiryū Nanami)

* Enoki Films' name: Nana

* Voice: Yuri Shiratori / Leah Applebaum

* Rose Color: Yellow

* Sword: scimitar (main) and dagger (as main-gauche)

Touga's over-the-top, snob-queen little sister. She is very fond of him and calls him 'onii-sama'; the phrase "big brother complex" is frequently applied to her. Nanami often makes various malicious attacks on students she deems inferior (or worse, those she suspects Touga is paying attention to). These pranks, however, stem from her own selfish immaturity rather than calculated evil seen in other characters. After Touga is wounded in a duel with Utena, she temporarily takes over as a member of the student council, adopting a bright yellow uniform. In duels, Nanami uses a unique (in the context of the series) style of dual blade fencing.

A few episodes in the series are specifically dedicated to Nanami and are usually stand-alone type situations, breaking the convention of a standard Utena episode. Each has a metaphorical theme exploring Nanami's character in a sympathetic light, but are otherwise "gag episodes", meant to be humorous.

Interestingly, Nanami is not a main character in the manga and is only seen once in a picture with Touga. She is seen only once in the movie, in a reference to an episode in which she was transformed into a cow.

Kyouichi Saionji (西園寺莢一 Saionji Kyōichi)

* Enoki Films' name: Kevin Simon

* Voice: Takeshi Kusao / Jack Taylor

* Rose Color: Green

* Sword: Sword of Dios, katana

Vice-president of the Student Council and captain of the kendo team. He is temperamental, egotistic, prone to angry rages, and often cruel, but not as conniving as other characters. Saionji is also extremely possessive of Anthy and believes that they are destined to be together no matter what. However, Anthy has a different view of Saionji while she is not "engaged" to him.

Most of the other students call him by his surname due to the tradition of referring to practitioners of kendo in this manner. He considers Touga to be his friend (though still a rival), and they practice kendo together.

In the movie, Saionji has a fairly small part. His personality is largely the same.

Ruka Tsuchiya (土谷瑠果 Tsuchiya Ruka)

* Voice: Nozomu Sasaki / Wayne Grayson

* Rose: Blue

* Sword: rapier

A master swordsman, Ruka is former captain of the fencing team and occasional member of the Student Council. He considers Juri to be the most talented member of the club and considers himself her mentor.

In the manga, Anthy served as Ruka's Rose Bride on several occasions before he left the school due to an unknown illness. He reappears at the school after a prolonged absence, claiming that he has recovered, though still not well enough to duel. Later circumstances force him to duel Utena, and the strain causes a relapse of his illness. He is hospitalized and reported dead, to Juri's disbelief.

In the anime, Ruka was not a duelist before leaving school; it appears that he takes the role only after he returns. When he returns, he takes Shiori as his girlfriend, though it's made clear that he was simply maniuplating her. He duels Utena once and subsequently appears as Juri's Rose Bride in her final duel. Having worked to free Juri from her obsession with Shiori, Ruka returns to the hospital and dies.

Ruka does not appear in the movie.

Black Rose Duelists

Souji Mikage (御影草時 Mikage Sōji)

* Enoki Films' name: Sonny

* Voice: Hikaru Midorikawa / Dan Green

* Rose: Black

* Sword: sabre

Mikage is the pink-haired head of the popular Mikage Seminar at Ohtori Academy. He wishes to kill Anthy and install a boy, Mamiya, as the Rose Bride. Mamiya is the ill brother of a woman named Tokiko, and Mikage believes that he can save Mamiya if he wins the duels. His sabre is reminiscent of the Sword of Dios.

The Mikage Seminar is held in Nemuro Memorial Hall, a building famous for a giant fire in which 100 boys died. Their coffins appear to be stored in the basement, and Mamiya harvests the rings to create his own Black Rose duelists.

When students are upset, they come to him for counseling and reveal their inner turmoil to him as they ride down to the basement in an elevator resembling a confessional. He gives each duelist a black rose and one of the rose crest rings from the coffins, now black after the boys' deaths. The duelist pulls a sword out of the body of the Student Council member he or she is most closely connected to (the only exception being Kanae Ohtori) and confronts Utena. After being defeated, the Black Rose duelist has no memory of the experience.

Mikage fights Utena as the final Black Rose duelist. Upon his loss, Akio reveals that Mikage has been frozen in time and used as a tool to push the duels to their next level. It is also revealed that Mamiya died years ago, and that Anthy used magic to disguise herself as Mamiya. Mikage leaves the school and the timeline returns to its normal flow, all the events having been wiped from everyone's minds.

In the manga, Mikage tries to duel Utena, saying that he will kill both Utena and Anthy. It's revealed that he chooses to duel in order to bring back Mamiya, who died in the fire that destroyed the Nemuro Memorial Hall. Mikage dies when the building collapses.

Mikage does not appear in the movie.

Kanae Ohtori (鳳香苗 Ōtori Kanae)

* Enoki Films' name: Kate

* Voice: Ai Orikasa / Elizabeth Tarpon

Akio's fiancee, daughter of the school's Trustee Chairman. She is unnerved by Anthy, who refuses to call Kanae anything informal, thus distancing herself as the future sister-in-law to Kanae. When Kanae enters the Black Rose interview, she reveals that she finds Anthy to be creepy and intolerable. Her distrust for Anthy drives Kanae's hatred during her Black Rose duel with Utena, in which the pattern begins that the Black Rose duelists try to take the Rose Bride's life.

In the Final Saga of the manga, Kanae becomes a "Body Without Soul"; she doesn't move or speak and is always with Akio.

Kanae only appears briefly in the Utena movie. She is seen dancing with Akio and later appears grieving over his body when it is discovered in the rose garden.

Kozue Kaoru (薫梢 Kaoru Kozue)

* Enoki Films' name: Chris

* Voice: Chieko Honda / Roxanne Beck

Miki's twin sister, who feels overshadowed by his talent and dirtied by comparison with him. Kozue resents Miki's affection for Anthy Himemiya and is prone to "acting out" to grab her brother's attention, most notably by exercising loose sexual morals. Like Nanami, Kozue also seems to have an extreme brother complex. She is very protective of Miki and is the reason that he does not have a girlfriend (despite the affection of many of his schoolmates).

In Adolescence of Utena she is shown as being very possessive of Miki, even holding a razor to his throat and calling him a traitor when he refuses to devulge details of his personal affairs to her. A car with Kozue's name is also seen briefly, though the director merely states that she became a car for "the same reason as Utena" and does not elaborate.

Wakaba Shinohara (篠原若葉 Shinohara Wakaba)

* Enoki Films' name: Wanda

* Voice: Yuka Imai / Annie Pondell

Utena's Number #1 extremely affectionate fangirl and close friend. Wakaba's cheerful personality hides an enormous inferiority complex, and she attaches herself to Utena and other people to feel important. Utena first dueled Saionji after he posted a love letter that Wakaba gave to him. During the Black Rose Saga, it is revealed that she was harboring Saionji after his expulsion from school. When he returns, she feels betrayed and seeks Mikage. Taking revenge, she pulls Saionji's katana out of his body to duel Utena.

In the movie, Wakaba appears only briefly. In her first scene, she gives Utena a tour of Ohtori Academy. Towards the end of the movie, she is shown as being transformed into a Jeep-like automobile and transporting the Student council members to rescue Anthy. Despite her initial interest in Utena she is later seen with another boy, whose face is never seen. Ikuhara suggested that this boy was supposed to represent that Wakaba was living a "normal" life in Ohtori as opposed to the world of the Duelists and revolution.

Shiori Takatsuki (高槻枝織 Takatsuki Shiori)

* Enoki Films' name: Sally

* Voice: Kumiko Nishihara / Lisa Ortiz

Juri's childhood friend, Shiori left the school after stealing the boy whom she thought was Juri's boyfriend. Later, Shiori returns to Ohtori and begs Juri to accept her. When she discovers that Juri has actually been in love with her all along, she feels vidicated and becomes openly sadistic, becoming a Black Rose Duelist. When Ruka reappears at the school, she attaches herself to him, reenforcing her sense of superiority.

In the movie her role as an antagonist becomes much greater by manipulating Juri into dueling Utena. She is also shown as having been in love with Touga and therefore considers both Utena and Juri to be rivals for his affections. She also turned into a car, but she crashes.

Mitsuru Tsuwabuki (石蕗美蔓 Tsuwabuki Mitsuru)

* Enoki Films' name: Mitch

* Voice: Akiko Yajima / Ted Lewis

Nanami's most devoted lackey, a boy in fourth grade. He is obsessed with serving Nanami and wishes to be her adored "big brother", even going so far as to put her in danger in order to rescue her. He becomes a Black Rose Duelist after Nanami dismisses his opinions because she considers him too young.

Tsuwabuki does not appear in the movie.

Keiko Sonoda (苑田茎子 Sonoda Keiko)

* Enoki Films' name: Kate

* Voice: Akira Nakagawa / Mandy Bonhomme

Keiko is one of Nanami's sidekicks. Like many other girls at the school, she has a secret obsession with Touga. However, she knows that Nanami's clout and Touga's rank makes it impossible to even approach him. She is tossed out of Nanami's circle after she shares an umbrella with Touga, and becomes a Black Rose Duelist. Later on, she becomes one of Touga's many girlfriends.

Keiko doesn't appear in the movie.

Minor characters

Dios (ディオス Diosu)

* Same name for Enoki Films' naming

* Voice: Hiro Yuuki

The enigmatic "prince" from Utena's childhood. Dios's name, which means "God" in Spanish, as well as his presentation in the anime, suggest that he is to be considered Utena's guardian angel. During most of the duels, it is shown that his spirit enters Utena's body and aids her.

Despite his limited screen time, Dios is a central figure in the anime and is at the center of the plot. Dios was created when Anthy imprisoned the Prince, splitting him into two parts (the other of which is Akio). However, it is not known whether it was a physical separation or if Dios exists only as a spirit.

Chuchu (チュチュ Chuchu)

* Same name for Enoki Films' naming

* Voice: Satomi Koorogi / Rachael Lillis

Anthy's pet (whom she will only refer to as friend, but may be more properly described as a familiar). He is a small marmoset who acts as comedic relief. However, he also acts as an omen of bad fortune in certain episodes. He dresses similar to Akio, with a yellow-striped red tie and a single gold earring; given that he appears to hate Akio, the reason for this costume is unknown.

Shadow Girls (Kage Shōjo)

Three girls (known as A-Ko, B-Ko, and C-Ko), seen only in silhouette, who spend about thirty seconds per episode energetically commentating on its events in symbolic allegory. Their antics provide both comic relief and insight into the show's plot. While they function much like a Greek chorus, their primary influence is shadow puppetry. A-Ko and B-Ko appeared during season one, but C-Ko became the sole Shadow Girl during season 2. All three girls appear in the third season.

In episode 34, it is suggested that they are girls from the school's drama club. In that episode, A-Ko and B-Ko act out a version of the story behind the series, suggesting that they may know about the nature of Akio and Anthy and their reason for the duels.

The movie reuses C-Ko and introduces two new Shadow Girls, E-Ko and F-Ko. The movie also introduces "Shadow Girl Central" (whose computers use KageOS), a studio where dozens of Shadow Girls act as announcers and help monitor the final race.

At the conclusion of Adolesence of Utena, all of the shadow girls in the "Shadow Girl Central" turn into straw dolls once the two heroines reach the outside world. The nametags on the straw dolls of E-ko and F-ko bear the names Anthy Himemiya and Utena Tenjou.

Chigusa Sanjouin (三条院 千種 Sanjouin Chigusa)

* Sega Saturn character Only

* Voice: Okamoto Maya

Chigusa is the antagonist for the main character (an unnamed one) in the Utena game for the Sega Saturn. She is an elegant girl who is very much like Utena in some ways, being boyish-looking and an athlete. Unlike her, however, Chigusa has a manipulative personality, much like that of Kozue or minor level Akio. The game is changed with every choice (or friendship) the player makes, giving different endings and duels. This is measured by something called "Heart's Nobility": becoming a friend of Chigusa causes the Nobility to be lost, and if the player upsets Chigusa, Nobility is gained.

Themes

It should be noted that the series addresses sexual themes quite often, including yuri (lesbian) and yaoi (gay male) elements—as well as other sexual matters such as incestuous desire, actual incest, and sexual abuse. While the themes are imporant to the plot, they are usually not explicit in the series. There is somewhat more explicit sexual imagery in the motion picture, although it is not pornographic by most viewers' standards.

Another very important theme is about gender roles (freely chosen or socially imposed), which play a large part in the series. The omnipresence of phallic symbols, such as swords, towers, cars, and poles, and the sexual connotations of flowers contributes to these sexual themes.

Chief among the romantic relationships in Utena is that between Utena and Anthy. It is more ambiguous in the TV series than the movie—the director has a dislike of the strong shipper tendency in fandom and even complained about Sailor Moon's leads' idealized relationship. However, they are considered a couple, and at present are likely the most famous lesbian couple in anime#redirect . They are considered a good example of the lack of strong uke/seme concept in yuri fandom. While Utena (especially in the movie) is boyish, strong, and physically aggressive ("masculine" traits), she is more emotional and innocent than the wearily experienced Anthy.

Another theme of Utena is the reinterpretation of classic shoujo themes and motifs. Examples may be seen in the failure of "heroic" male characters, Utena's refusal to become a princess, Anthy's subversion of the demure female.

Visual motifs

Some of Utena's architecture.

The dominant motif of the entire series is the rose, which fills the decor and landscape of the Academy as well as the ritual accoutrements of the Duelists. Highly stylized, they are reminiscent of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's.

Another motif is the use of elevators, which are used as places of transition or transformation. These include the Council's elevator, the one found in Nemuro hall (scene of the confessions in the Black Rose arc), and the one found in the final version of the dueling arena.

Cars may be considered one of the most oblique motifs seen in the series. In the anime, they appear in the third version of the dueling arena. In the final act of the movie, Utena is transformed into a car.

Repeated use of animated sequences can be seen in almost every episode, most noticeably Utena's entrance to the dueling arena. While this is usually seen in anime as a practical consideration to reduce production costs, it may also be used to reinforce certain themes.

Utena also takes the typically shoujo poses and dramatic effects intended to heighten the mood or tension of important scenes and exaggerates them, often to the point of being deliberately comedic. Examples include characters framed with spinning roses, or a dramatic scene accentuated with a baseball match in the background.

Inspirations

Riyoko Ikeda's The Rose of Versailles and Oniisama e are established sources of inspiration for Utena, visually for the first and thematically for the second. Osamu Tezuka's Belladonna of Sadness and Ribon no Kishi (the story of a young princess cross-dressing as a knight) may be other inspirations. During the duel preparation sequences, Utena's outfit changes slightly in what is perhaps a friendly parody of the magical girl genre.

Another major inspiration, evident in the use of Gnostic themes, is Hermann Hesse's Demian. The Student Council's oath is paraphrased from the book, as well. The music for the Student Council is strongly reminiscent of the Toccata and Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Ikuhara cites prolific playwright, poet, and director Shuji Terayama as a major influence. Terayama was a long time collaborator with J.A. Seazer, who wrote the music for his plays. Ikuhara worked with Seazer for the most well-known music of Utena.

Music

The series' musical score -- with lyrics largely written by Ikuhara himself, and scored by J.A. Seazer -- is considered among its most memorable features. Utena's signature song may be considered "Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku" (Absolute Destiny Apocalypse), which plays each time Utena makes her way to the dueling arena. This song, along with those played during the duels themselves, are composed in a style which may best be described as choral rock. The music itself features polyphonic melodies with lyrics that often appear to be little more than themed words strung together. While there are no official explanations of the lyrics, some fan websites offer interpretations.

The non-vocal background music was composed by Shinkichi Mitsumune, and is largely orchestral in character, though with significant jazz influences. One notable song is "The Sunlit Garden," a recurring duet piano piece whose ubiquity within the series makes it a symbol in its own right. Mitsumune also handled the arrangement of the first 8 duel choruses.

The soundtrack of Adolescence Utena is of a similar nature, with a mixture of orchestral pieces and choral rock. Masami Okui's contribution, the J-pop ballad "Toki ni Ai wa" (At Times Love is...), is an unusual contribution, although it enjoys considerable popularity among fans.

See also

• Revolutionary Girl Utena media information

External links

• [Central Park Media's Utena website]
• [Central Park Media's Utena the movie website]
• [Enoki Films Ursula's Kiss website]

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