Um... this show was psychotic.
No I am being serious. If you don't know anything about psychology, don't watch it. It revolves around very depressing but true facts of society that you may not pick up on if you haven't learned about any of that crap. This was from the directors of Sailor Moon, although this is definately on the opposite end of the scale. Sailor Moon is happy-happy. Utena is happy happy, kinda. It's really tough to explain, but I will try.
A long time ago, a girl received a visit from a prince. He told her to wait for him and then he gave her a ring. She accepted the ring as his gift to her, and decided that she herself wanted to be a prince. So guess who this girl was. You got it, its Utena. Now Utena has just transferred to a new school, where she wears a boys' uniform. She keeps her ring with her at all times. Anyway, an annoying girl named Wakaba jumps on her all the time and they are good friends. Wakaba likes this really cute guy named Sayonji. Well, Sayonji is a jerk to Wakaba, he reads one of her love letters to him out loud in front of everyone. Utena gets mad and threatens him. He invites her to a duel in the school's arena.
When Utena arrives at the arena, there is no way to get the doors to open, she pulls on the handles hard. Suddenly a drop of water comes out and splashes her on her ring, which opens the doors. Then the music starts. THE ABSOLUTE DESTINY APOCALYPSE!! (repeat about a hundred times) Birth records, baptismal records, records of death...
When she arrives at the top of the endlessly spiraling staircase, there is an upside-down floating castle there. A girl named Anthy gives them each a rose for the duel, and the first one to knock off the others' rose wins. Anthy makes a sword for Sayonji using the power of Dios. (don't ask.) Utena wins the battle, thinking all was done with. Instead, as she leaves the arena, Anthy is waiting for her. She tells Utena that they are engaged until someone wins her back. Utena doesn't wanna be engaged, and tries to lose the battle the next day, although she can't.
Ok that's the plotline. She fights a battle every two episodes or so. Anthy is the Rose Bride who has the power of Dios that sleeps within her, and can make swords com out of her chest. For some reason everyone hates Anthy and slap her up all the time. Now to the psycho stuff- Utena obviously is either very gay, or has a prince complex. Anthy is probably some kind of sadistic person if she takes being slapped like that all the time. Nanami is in love with her older brother, Touga. The characters even think she has some type of big-brother complex. For gods sake, she ruins a present that SHE herself gave him because it took too much attention away from HER! Miki is obsessed with his SHINY THING! Whatever that is. Wakaba is... gay. Touga hits on Miki too... Geez.... oh well. I'd take yaoi over yuri anyday.
Storyline
3/5 Eh... not really. At least not in the part they have released in America: ep. 1-13 out of 26.
Character Delevopment
5/5 Good. They are all very strange.
Plot Depth
3/5 No!
Music
4/5 Very good- but WAY TOO REPETITIVE!
Sexual Content
5/5 No!
Nudity
5/5 Hmmm NO.
Violence/Gore
4/5 The fighting and the unending slapping of Anthy. It's kind their thing to slap her, and it's her think to stand there and take it.
Animation
5/5 Good.
Profanity
5/5 Uh.. NO.
Overall goodness
3/5
Totals: 42/50, or uh.. not really recommended. I didn't like it very much. There were some times when it was enjoyable, but for the most part, it was just so... twisted and weird. Maybe it gets better when Akio and his car come in. Who knows? Oh and by the way- I forever hate roses thanks to this show.
Utena is a fourteen year old girl. She goes to a psycho school, where the members of the Student Council get letters from End of the World. (who's End of the World? I dunno) Utena, who used to be a princess, was upset when she was small. A prince came, and made her feel better. He gave her a ring, and told her that it would lead her to him. This incident changed Utena's way of thinking. She wanted to be a prince. NOT a princess. (you would think that a female prince WOULD be a princess... but she wants to be like the fairy tale princes, so it's very different in her mind.)
When Utena starts this school, she starts "dating" a girl named Wakaba. Wakaba is incredibly annoying. "UTENA! UTENA! UTENA MY LOVE!!" Good God, make her stop! A young man named Sayonji is a big fat jerk to Wakaba, and makes her cry. Utena challenges him, and he tells her to meet him in the forest. When she does, there is a handle she grabs onto. This makes a drop of water come out, and splashes onto her ring that the prince gave her. "Oooh! That's cold!" Then, water pours out and a cool sequence takes place, and an annoying song (after you hear it a million times, it IS!!! Cool at first. (Absolute apocalypse, birth records, baptismal records, records of death) So Utena reaches the top of the spiral stairs, and Sayonji and a girl who gets slapped up a lot, Anthy Himemiya are waiting. Anthy places a rose of Utena's chest. If the rose is knocked off, then you lose the duel. Utena, of course, WINS the duel by knocking the rose off Saoynji's chest. Oh, boy, does HE go crazy!! He throws a spazz.
It turns out that Anthy is the Rose Bride. Whoever wins the duels in the Arena (the rosey place where Utena and Sayonji fought) gets possesion of the Rose Bride. Utena is not in favor of this arrangement. Why are they fighting for the possesion of this one girl? Anthy is a kind girl, and she does whatever "Miss Utena" tells her to do. She has to ask permission to do ANYTHING away from Utena's side. Utena is challenged many times for the possession of Anthy. But what I wanna see is the real Anthy. I mean, she's whoever she's engaged to wants to be.
I have a few complaints about the series. One. TOO MANY ROSES!! THOSE ROSES ARE EVERY WHERE! And, not to mention, the rather LACK of plotline. And NANAMI!! THAT AWFUL CHILD WITH A BIG BROTHER COMPLEX!! (for those who don't know what a complex is, it's when you are totally obsessed with one person, and you want to be with them. It can even go as far as killing someone to keep them away from this person. It's usually within familes. Like a big brother complex that Nanami has.)
Storyline
4/5 Not really too plotty. It had potential.
Character Delevopment
5/5 Not bad, for the few tapes that HAVE beem released in America. We saw 13 of 26 episodes. If they hadn't played the "last" episode, it woulda been a decent ending.
Plot Depth
5/5 Deep, but no plot to go WITH the deep. The End of the World thing, the psycho people.
Music
5/5 Really catchy! (Sayonji, apparently, is an AMMONITE!)
Sexual Content
5/5 None.. really. Touga said that he thought Miki was cuter than his sister, and he was hanging off a bed shirtless at the time he did. I wonder about that man... BUT IS HE EVER A CUTIE! And he doesn't slap Anthy!
Nudity
5/5 None. I was very impressed.
Violence/Gore
4/5 Slaps, some blood from duels, some serious injuries, some disturbing scenes... Like certain people laying in rose-decorated coffins...
Animation
4/5 Good most of the time.
Profanity
5/5 Not even any swearing, if I remember correctly.
Overall goodness
4/5 I liked Juri! She was cool, and neither of us believe in miracles!! She's awesome!
Totals: 46/50, or pretty good. It wasn't as good as I expected it to be, but not too shabby. This is not for the hardcore violence fans, rose haters, or people who don't like disturbing things. It not TOO disturbing.. and contrary to popular belief, there are only TWO possible lesbians. Wakaba and Anthy. Utena prefers men. So don't get me started!
TOTALS (both reviews coined together) 44/50. No more roses. No more psychology. If there's a plotline out there to wrap this thing up with, by all means, bring it on.
*** A rent from Comic Junction. Dubbed, uncut, and professionally done. ***