Revolutionary Girl Utena is one of those precious gems you rarely run into. There is just so much going on. The characters are just awesome and overflow with character development. The huge symbolism is overwhelming, and till each of these symbols has some kind of hidden meaning.

The story is about a girl whose parents died when she was young. She kept crying, until a prince was there to comfort her. He gave her a ring with a roze crest on it, and left. The girl was so impressed by this, that she vowed to become a prince herself. This girl is named Utena. Hence the title. When she grows up, she eventually ends up in a very strange high-school. In there, the members of a very eccentric student council fight over a girl called the Roze Bride, or Anthy Himemiya. The one who manages to eventually win her gets the power to revolutionize the world in the end. Utena then ends up winning a duel agains the current holder of the Roze Bride. Afterwards, the members of the student council keep trying to take Himemiya away from her. In order to defend Himemiya, Utena has to keep winning sword duels against them.

This anime is divided into three parts. Each of this parts features a special on Utena, but more importantly, each of the members of the student council. This means three opportunities for each of them to delve deeply into their characters, producing magnificent results. In the first part, Utena’s new, and each of the characters gets introduced, including their stories, resulting in a nice climax. In the second part, the story takes a side-road in order to show a side-story of the show, centered around the boys of the black rose. In there, we get to see the characters who are closest to the members of the student council. It’s their turn to get developed and explained. I like the way this starts out extremely serious, and ends more and more chaotic, also resulting in a very satisfying end battle. In the third part, the goodness really starts. The student council members develop even more deeply than before, resulting in amazing scenes. The battles for the roze bride get more amazing by the minute, until the ending really blows you off your chair.

One of the things I really loved about this anime is the amazing cast of characters, and especially the way they were used. The anime basically only plays in a high-school-ground. So everything and everyone should have close contact with each other. But for every arc, only a few characters are selected and we get so see some very in-depth scenes. The other characters, during these moments, are totally put out of the spotlights. Including even Utena at times. This has a great effect. You really focus on nothing else than the creators want you to, but still you long to see the other characters appear again. This was especially noticable at the end of the series.

There is an aweful lot of repetition in this show. For each episode devoted to the plot, you already know that certain things will happen, including numerous recycled scenes. At first, these scenes may become bothersome, but as the series progresses, the creators manage excecute these repetitions better and better. Here we come to another magnificent point of this series: there may be a lot of repetition. You know that certain scenes and events will be playing. Outside of these scenes and events, however, You absolutely WON’T be able to guess what will happen next. This series always leaves you guessing at those points.

The creators also managed to include an excellent taste of humour in the anime. It doesn’t even need funny faces to be brilliant. It makes brilliant use of the naiveness of the characters, of silly coincidences and characters just acting totally wacky and having brilliant, though insane ideas. I especially loved the Kashira girls, but also Nanami the use of symbols amused me more and more. The Kashira girls are some kind of drama-club, who perform very interesting shadow-plays. They return each episode, and each time their play is about some kind of moral issue debated about in the anime. Each of these plays is just horribly brilliant.

The music is another extremely strong point of this anime. Both in the duels between the characters as in very dramatic scenes, the background music is top-notch, certainly giving even more emotions to the already emotion-packed scenes, turning the fragments into total roller-coaster-rides. The battle choreography is brilliant in the beginning, then slows a bit down in the middle of the show, but then, around episode 25, it turns into some of the best ever. Not in terms of Jubei-Chan-fast-moving, but in the movement of the characters themselves. This is the first anime in which I could actually see the characters giving all they had in defeating the opponent. Other anime try to also create this effect, by making the characters be in pain, or extremely angry. But still, it doesn’t bring the best in them up. Utena, however, manages.

As the series progresses, the episodes get more awesome by the minute. Especially starting from episode 30, the episodes are just incredible to see. The ending episode was also among the best of its kind, which is an extremely good job. I totally loved it. This anime just screams out the word elegance. Starting from the character art, to the way they move, act, speak. Everything is so elegantly executed. This anime has style, and knows how to use it.

Even though the drama is awesome, at times, the show takes its time perhaps a bit too long. Some of the cases are dragging a bit on, even though they provide terrific results. This should be too great of a bother, but still, it might agitate some. Overall, this is just an amazing anime, dated from a couple of years ago. I totally recommend it.

Final rating: 95/100

You see this a lot with good shows: they have awesome pre-ending-episodes, but the ending itself totally sucks.

I am SO GLAD that Revolutionary Girl Utena does NOT belong to this category. I can honestly say that I totally enjoyed the ending of this magnificent anime. The ending would so easily fall in my top-5 of best endings. It was beautiful. Truly beautiful. I’m glad to have seen such an awesome series.

What the HECK!?!

Okay, that was just a horrible cliffhanger. This really, really was something you DO NOT expect… I mean… Utena will now…. omg.

I’d love to prepare some kind of summary on this episode, but it would just be filled with spoilers. All I can say is, that this was an incredible episode. The duel also was awesome to see. For some reason, Revolutionary Girl Utena always features some incredible battles, and this episode surely was no exception. Certainly with the awesome elegance, even more awesome background music, and even more awesome character development and interaction. Believe me. This episode was NO exception. It also had one of the best cliffhangers EVER.

The last intermezzo episode before the grande finale starts. This one was mainly meant to get Utena out of her crisis, become more like a prince, and forgive Himemiya. I have to say, that these things worked out pretty well. It’s not the best episode of its kind, however (that credit goes mainly to Mahou Shoujotai), but still, it was enjoying to see. I’m curious about how this will end. The thing I loved most is the fact that Sayonji and Touga are still together. I have no friggin idea why I find the fact of the two of them being together so amazing. Actually, now that I think about it… it scares me a bit…

WHAT. AN. INCREDIBLE. EPISODE!!!

Oh my god… I knew that this was supposed to be the end of the Touga-arc, but I never could have imagined the awesomeness it contained. First of all, they give a very nice variation to the car-theme, by suddenly showing up in a motorcycle with a side-car. Akio entirely stays out of the picture in this episode, and the only times he gets mentioned are when people talk or think about him. This alone made it into such an incredible episode, but I NEVER could have imagined to actually feel sorry for Touga. Firstly, he ACTUALLY confesses his love for Utena. Then we get to see his reason for duelling her. Really, if I were to see this after episode 10, I would not have believed it. I can hardly believe it even at this time.

Anywya, he and Sayonji make some plans, which actually made me dislike Utena more and more. Especially because of the mistrust she puts in Touga, even after all this. In the end, when the battle began, I actually chose sides for Sayonji and Touga. Which has probably been a first time ever.

Speaking of the devil, eh… battle. It was AWESOME! I so kept hoping for Utena to lose. But then again, after Touga’s reasons were revealed, how couldn’t I? The cars may have been a bit too much this time, especially after being followed up by the motorcycle, but the climax was great. Also the beginning of the battle had me glued to the screen. The elegance of all of the characters only added up to the awesomeness. The aftermath was amazing. I am SO wondering what will become of them in the last couple of episodes. Actually, I’m curious about every single one of the side characters. They all got their place in the spotlight. Only Utena, Akio, Himemiya and the Prince remain to have a conflict. What will the side characters do!?!

And if even this wasn’t enough, the cliffhanger of this episode just blew me off my chair. Okay, it had it coming for a long while, but still… OMG!

Overall, this was probably the best Utena-episode yet. I’m really dying to find out what the last couple of episodes will be about.

An intermezzo. Still, one heck of an intermezzo. The focus lies mostly on Touga and Utena. The symbols are as existant as ever, the Kashira-girls are awesome again, and what the heck is up with Himemiya!?

Utena’s herself doesn’t have any problems at all. At least, in her opinion she doesn’t. She’s actually moving farther and farther away from her goal. She begins to act more and more like a woman, the opposite thing to do in order to save Himemiya. All because she loves that idiot of an Akio. Dammit! I want Himemiya to be saved!

The awesome part, however, comes from Touga. The next episode will feature the last of the rose-bride duels, with the third duel between Utena and Touga. That won’t be everything, however, as there are still four episodes left. Anyway, this episode, we finally see Touga himself struggle. Sayonji helps him brilliantly in this. I so love it when the two of them are together (except their Yaoi-ness, perhaps…). You can really see that they are good friends. Sayonji is probably the only real friend Touga has. Touga only lives using people as objects. He’s a playboy, and he never really loved anyone. Though, the upcoming battle with Utena sets him to think. I also was exremely surprised at seeing his relationship with Akio. On one side, he wants to be like him. On the other side, I can’t stand the look on his face once he saw Utena and Akio happy together.

The man (what the heck was his name again? *kicks memory*) gets ordered to return the falcon he lost in the previous episode. If he doesn’t, he gets to perform seppuku. Though I think he would’ve gone back anyway. When he arrives at the castle, he meets up with the two demons, and the three form a truce. It’s interesting that the demons are on the good side for a time. Well then, they enter the castle, and suddenly they got attacked by a couple of forgotten gods. The demons actually help our main character escaping, after which he goes to search for Tomi Hime. He finds her, but before the two can get to know each other, the old woman manages to catch him and knock him out. He finds himself locked up afterwards, only to be freed by Tomi Hime. The two talk for a bit, Tomi Hime shows her background, and they officially end up as a couple. After a wild night, the main character convinces Tomi Hime to run from the castle, and the two run off on a horse. This doesn’t actually please the old woman.

Overall, I like this romance. It’s greatly executed and I can really feel that these characters love each other. There’s just one problem. This show is called “Ayakashi ~Japanese Classic Horror”. Not “Ayakashi ~Japanese Classic Love-Stories Involving Supernatural Beings”. I have yet to see any horror in Ten Shu Mono Gatari. Sure, we have some ghosts and demons fighting each other, but I don’t really classify that as horror. It’s more like action. Overall, I think I liked the second episode of Yotsuya Kaidan more than the second episode of Ten Shu Mono Gatari. The former already had some disturbing deaths at this point, though the latter likes to take its time in telling.

Anyway, the two are in love now. It can’t get any better than this. I’m expecting that the horror-part will come in the next episode. After all, something has to happen, doesn’t it?

Heh, this show just keeps getting better. We firstly see Gamigami have some “tiny” problems controlling his newly created mecha, resulting in a couple of small earthquakes. He has found an interesting way of shutting it down (involvind a large hammer). It’s also hilarious that he managed to give his newly created “Great Pantzer” the nickname of “Gre-chan”. Meanwhile, we see a royal meeting of the king, queen, Pietoro and the knights, who try to find a solution for this rather annoying problem. Pietoro is thinking of entirely different things, like Hyuu’s alignment. He was just too cute when he finally decided what to do. This really is one of the most original main characters ever.

Hyuu, meanwhile, still struggles with her moral. She wonders whether she’s doing the right thing or not. Then she gets to feature in her own song. I so love the fact that each character appears to have his or her own song. The budget also seems to have turned up a bit for these, as each of these songs were jsut great to hear. My favorite up will now is Hilda’s one, describing the proper etiquettes for making correct potions. That really showed that even old ladies have spirit in them. ^_^

After a while, Gamigami finally manages to finish his new found pet. He shows the results to Hyuu and she praises him. After that moment, Gamigami was just too adorible to see. I also have to say, that mostly when a love-potion gets out of control, it will just be solved at the end of an episode. Popolocrois is the first show who managed to carry this even further. Anyway, Gamigami, Hyuu, Ston and Sanda set off to Popolocrois castle, Hilda sees this through her magic mirror, she sends Narcia to Pietoro and Hyuu suddenly feels like swimming and picknicking. I never saw that one coming.

Gamigami, of course, stops and orders Ston and Sanda to go fishing. That in itself was hilarious, as they’re not even his servants, but afterwards, we get to see even more awesome scenes. Ston tries to think of something again, while Sanda enjoys fishing for crabs. After a funny conversation, Ston gets an idea, and takes Sanda with him. Gamigami then plays a part in the most awesome peeping-scene ever. He wants to pick a beautiful flower, but if he does, he will see Hyuu swimming. As he is a gentleman, he actually doesn’t want to do it, and gets the genious idea of letting his giant mecha robot pick the flower in his stead. Okay, it makes no sense at all, but I so loved the fact that he actually seriously considered that.

Anyway, he’ll never get a chance to pick the flower, as Ston and Sanda suddenly ran off with Gre-chan, and plan to attack the castle all by themselves. I never knew a castle attack could be this awesome (after all, how many times do you see such an attack being executed by just too cute and fluffy animals?) Pietoro shows his best side again, and Gamigami saving the day was just too friggin awesome. Then Pietoro’s father (aka, the king) brings a very interesting development concerning the following couple of episodes. He actually challenges Gamigami to take his crown. Not by force, but by intelligence. I SO want to know what kind of plan Gamigami manages to think of. After all, I don’t really think he’s that stupid, after his behaviour at the end of this episode.