It took awhile to gather it all up, ever since one of my Editors handed off the first, then the second DVD Bundle of this series… and now I’m ready to begin a monumental undertaking.
Starting this week, and rolling all the way until the end of 2006, we’re going to roll with the unforgettable fan favorite shojo series that is one of the Essentials of the Anime/Manga experience… Revolutionary Girl Utena (the series).

Not a series to undertake lightly, this series (packing 10 DVDs, a Movie DVD, four Mangas and this special Adolescence manga (a very liberal adaptation of Utena the Movie) as well as a few perks I can get ahold of to further the reviews) is an investment of OVER $150 to get into the whole series.
But get into the whole series you must, as the series is great as a whole… though, if you must skimp to see if you’re going to want to see more why not start at the Movie, and the manga that adapts the movie… thus starts our reviews of Revolutionary Girl Utena as we open up with…

Week 1
The Adolescence of Utena Manga
Based on the Utena movie, yet diverting from it in ways that may not be clear until the Utena movie review (next week), RGUtena : The Adolescence of Utena kicks off as Utena joins Ohtori Academy (an ultra rich elite boarding school full of “tradition” and “ceremony”… and a ton of fancy pants people and a few heads of the Student Council who need a good beating with the idiot stick).

Here she went to make herself into a Prince (going so far as to dress in a male‘s uniform dress clothes and appear rather manly from a distance), after the last Prince she trusted (the dude Touga) up and ran off on her after getting her all wound up over him (because he got so involved in her life after he saved her from drowning in an accident that claimed the life of her parents). After their initial confrontation at the start Utena finds a Rose ring left beneath her hat which brings up a magical stairway to this place maintained by this girl named Anthy (the so-called Rose Bride) that the so-called Student Council members fight over… mostly to jump her bones or whatever after “winning” her then fighting again and swapping her lots of times. Obviously Utena isn’t going to be up on that one and ends up “Winning” the Rose Bride who promptly tries to jump Utena which doesn’t go well… unless this was a fan written lesbian erotica then… (wait, this isn’t). As it turns out Utena and Anthy hits it off well, but seeing how Anthy is high maintenance friendship (and I do mean HIGH) it looks like Utena is going to be dragged into duels with other rivals for the Rose Bride (including the prince who saved her long ago). But dueling isn’t enough, as there is more things hidden in the both the school and beneath the lovely exterior of Utena’s new “Rose Bride” friend (as well as the Prince named Touga than meets the eye. Oh, look for the twist ending you’ll never see coming… because I sure didn’t!

A fine piece that takes the shojo format and runs it to perfection with a most intriguing set of characters, sword duels and romantic/friendship entanglements that outfox any soap opera, shady alliances to make politics looks tame, and dark twists of the literary blade to keep you reading from cover to cover, The Adolescence of Utena earns it’s OT (Older Teen) rating of 16+ by bring all it can be (and more).
With a promise of being far more direct than the TV Series Anime, and a more mature vision of Utena than the Manga series, this one shot liberal adaptation of the movie takes the series and gives it a hard shake, coming up with a story that is engrossing and engaging, beautiful and ugly, and overall a solid read.
Guess that’s why it’s getting a nice nice nice score, isn’t it. And what a good way to kick off the weeks of Utena reviews! Let’s break this down.

Week 1 Review Breakdown (The Adolescence of Utena)
What’s Hot?
A most engaging read, it might be a bit of a downer to go through the rest of the franchise after taking a look at the most liberal, most daring version of Utena out there. Still, if the rest of the series is as solid as this one shot adaptation I’m looking forward to the long long journey ahead of me.

What’s Not?
I can’t think of a failing of Adolescence of Utena, the first taste of Utena intriguing and enticing me to go onwards into the series (and I have lots of it here that needs to be reviewed).

Moments to Remember?
I’d tell you but that’d spoil it for you. Don’t be spoiled. Read it yourself.

What to Ignore?
Hmm… ahh… (blinks)… I can’t think of a thing that I can repeat due to not revealing anything.

Overall?
I think if you really want to see if Utena is for you without, you know, dropping a major cash drop on a DVD Box Set then picking up this adaptation is going to do it for you. If it works for you, and you find a read here that you can embrace wholeheartedly as a solid read then you’re about as ready as ever to start the quest for the rest of the series out there (both Anime/Manga). But if you want abit more to try even after this… get the Rose Collection DVD Set, because this has the Utena movie as well as the first two DVDs of the TV Series to consume (to further your exposure to the series). But for now, for this review…
Let’s get Utena her due. Top of the class for you Utena, you get a Gold Highly Recommended Star for your fine (and oh so lovely) effort. Good work!

Week 2 is Coming…
Ok, it might be here already depending on when this is released but… let’s go into the next review.
I talked up the manga adaptation of the movie, so let’s talk up the movie. Revolutionary Girl Utena the Movie, filled with the greatest amount of extras I ever seen for an Anime movie release (including a section devoted to a fan tribute which also is part of the online content of this DVD) let’s see if Utena the Movie is as good as the Adolescence of Utena (with it’s more liberal and very different view of the series).
After that, Week 3, we’re digging into the actual Anime TV Series itself with Volume 1 of the series.
Take care and see you next time! Bye!