Featured Article Summary #60

"Revolutionary Girl Utena" is a Japanese anime series created by Be-Papas. It follows Utena Tenjou, a teenage girl who gets involved in a sword dueling tournament to win the heart of Anthy Himemiya, also known as the "Rose Bride". The series was initially intended to be a mainstream girls' anime, but it took a more avant-garde and surreal direction during production. It explores themes of gender, sexuality, and coming-of-age through the use of allegory and symbolism. "Revolutionary Girl Utena" has received critical acclaim and has had a significant influence on other animated works. It also has a manga adaptation and a follow-up film called "Adolescence of Utena". The Revolutionary Girl Utena is divided into three parts. In the first part, Utena is drawn into a sword dueling tournament at her school to protect a mysterious student called the Rose Bride. In the second part, Utena defeats a student prodigy who wants to kill the Rose Bride. In the final part, Utena learns that the chairman of the school, who is the brother of the Rose Bride, wants to use her and the Rose Bride to gain eternal power. Utena duels the chairman, but is stabbed by the Rose Bride. She opens a sealed gate and briefly joins hands with the Rose Bride before disappearing. The Rose Bride vows to find Utena and leaves the school. The characters in Utena are mostly adolescents who are going through personal growth and coming of age. The series focuses on their psychological and moral development into adulthood. The main character, Utena, is a tomboyish girl who idolizes a prince she met as a child. She is joined by other characters who are part of a dueling tournament, including Anthy, the mysterious "Rose Bride" who is controlled by the current champion. The series explores the relationship between Utena and Anthy and raises questions about what Utena needs to save Anthy from. Kunihiko Ikuhara, frustrated with the lack of creative control in adapting existing works, left Toei Animation to create an original series. He assembled Be-Papas, a group of industry professionals, including Chiho Saito, whose artwork he decided to base the visuals of the series on. The initial concept for Revolutionary Girl Utena was to create a mainstream girls' anime series that would be profitable. The development process involved fleshing out the story and setting, while incorporating the visual style of Saito. The series drew inspiration from various sources, including the Takarazuka Revue and other manga series. The creators wanted to avoid creating a parody and therefore brought in Saito to provide a female perspective.