Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena...???

Can anyone tell me more about this anime? I kinda read the summary of the story from Animerica, but I'm still kinda confused...Is it good? Tell me more...pretty please...

 

Try this page:

http://www.duellists.tj/

It has character descriptions, episodes synopsys.

Anyway this Anime is about a tomboyish girl (Utena) whose best friend (Anthy) has some kind of mystical powers (if i got it right it was the power to concede a wish?), and the people disputing these powers have to swordfight in a tower. Of course, to protect her "best friend" she has always to go to the duels, because she doesn't want any wish, she just wants the princess' frienship.

Well the revolutionary stuff about this anime is that this is a shoujo-ai anime (for those not knowing the meaning, it means lesbian). Well, it's implied, but the opening scene is obvious enough.

I watched two or 3 episodes of it, and frankly, the plot was too weird, i could barely understand it.

 

No, i didn't say it was revolutionary BECAUSE of that. I used it as a metaphore. By the way, what exactly was this "scene" on the movie?

 

From what I've read the anime is shojo. As for the movie I own it it's shojo-ai. The mangs is shojo this meaning that in the anime and manga they were just friends and nothing more. The movie very good but you have to have seen the anime to understand it better.

 

Ummm.....is everybody clear on the terms 'shoujo' and 'shounen' when used in reference to manga/anime? Just asking because from the posts so far it seems that people are unclear as to the meanings.....

If something is referred to as being 'shoujo' it means that it is targeted toward a female audience. If it is 'shounen' then it's targeted toward a male audience. These terms do not imply that boys can't enjoy shoujo anime/manga and girls can't enjoy shounen anime/manga. They're just classifiers, based almost entirely on where the manga was published, although most shoujo and shounen series will contain common thematic elements with other series of the same type.

Shoujo-ai and shounen-ai are slightly different, referring to the genre of or scenarios within a series. The terms indicate same-gender relationships.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is a shoujo anime because the manga was serialized in a shoujo magazine. There are shoujo-ai elements running throughtout the series, but they don't tend to come to the forefront. They're more background elements, although they are more visible and predominant in the movie.


As for the plot of the series.... it's cracked out. That said, I'll try to give a general summary without giving too much away.

Tenjo Utena is the main character, and she goes to school at Ohtori Academy. She's a bit of a tomboy, and her dream is to become a prince one day. This is because when she was younger she was saved by a prince (someone on a white horse) and she wants to be worthy of him when he comes for her. The prince gave her a ring with a rose seal on it.

At the school, Utena discovers that the members of the student council also have 'rose seals' and this signifies their positions as duelists. The duelists are all trying to win the hand of the Rose Bride (Anthy) and bring about the revolution of the world.

When things first start out, Utena has no intention of becoming a duelist; she's only trying to get back at one of the members of the student council for being mean to one of her friends. However, because she wins the duel, Utena becomes engaged to the Rose Bride and must continue dueling.


That's the plot in a nutshell, at least the bare basics of it. To go into any more will give away spoilers and I don't like doing that. The animation and music for this series are both excellent, but some of the issues addressed may make people uncomfortable, and the plot is twisted, to say the least.

~Shadrach Anki

 

Hey! Thanks for that great summary Shadowbard!

 

ive read the manga, well animerica actually, and i dont quite get it either maybe ill check that site that luvweaver put up.

 

i didnt see it yet but i read a lot about it on the net and i liked it so much but i couldnt find it on dvd i just found the part 2 manga and i love it im drooling to find the rest of the manga:dizzy2: