Shoujo Kakumei Utena

This was such a let down I had to review it. For years i have been told that this manga was amazing. revolutionary even. That it really was a great story that defied gender norms and tackled tropes and stereotypes. But honestly i really don't see that at all.

The only different thing going on in this Shojo is that instead of getting with the guy in the end Utena...??? I'm not even sure!!! She wants to become a prince the entire time, break out from the princess trope yet she is constantly falling back into it. She falls in love with anyone she thinks might be her "prince" and seems like she isnt even really aware of anything thats going on around her.

The first half of the first book we meet her school friend, her aunt and some college kid only to never see them again once she transfers schools. the new characters seem to come out of nowhere and it feels like they are two completely different stories. then the middle chunk feels pretty formulaic but at least like its building to something. But then the ending chunk feels again like what was the whole point of this book? You could read literally the last like three chapters and take away about the same as if you had slogged through the whole thing.

Some of the student council members seem interesting enough, but we never really get in to any of their stories, and then the story ends, with minimal character development and minimal explanation of the actual plot. Anthy's character on the other hand gets a ton of development right at the very end and seems forced? I dont even know it was so fast and unexplained... And her entire character, like what was the point? what was her goal? She seemed to have a goal but at the end her original goal seemed to totally contradict what it actually was she was after. All the other characters, random school friends, totally pointless. If they were not there the story would hae been a faster and probably easier read.

Maybe I dislike it so much because of all the hype I had going into it, but watching Utena fall in love with anyone who barely resembles her prince (or not) get old real fast. that and the discombobulated plot was IMO bad writing. The end was predictable but somehow did not mesh well with the rest of the narrative. I guess I went in thinking "yeah girl power" and ended up getting story driven by typical heteronormative romance (if you can call it that) with pretty much every character except for the main bad guy...

story- what story?

art- typical 90s shojo style, i gave it a 9 because i really like that style when done well and for the most part it was, tho not everyone will like it.

character- there seemed to be so much potential, but in the end they all fell flat on tropes, rushed development, no development, or were completely part of the scenery

enjoyment- I kept wondering when was it going to pick up? when would the story start to happen... and then it ended. i tried to enjoy it but was disappointed in the end.

overall- I wouldn't recommend. maybe the anime is better? Im still not sure if i will attempt it, but if it follows the manga I'm not about it. It's a real bummer.

I love Utena from the show but ... I think I love the manga a little more after reading it. The show has more time for these characters to grow and battle but the manga is more straightforward with the story in an equally as beautiful way and, oddly, with less of the plot points from the show, the characters come out even better in the manga. I think some are somewhat overlooked like Miki and Juri but all the men that I despised from the show, I came to enjoy their presence (slightly! cant give them all the credit here.) The story is truly so incredible from the obvious theme of women choosing to embrace who they are to embracing your faults as a means of achieving your goals and bettering yourself. The art is stunning, as per usual. And the relationships between characters is so well done!! One of my new favorite manga series.

(copied from my goodreads)

I will try not to allow my love of Chiho Saito to slant this review, but I can't promise anything. I'm one of the very few who enjoyed the Utena manga more than the anime, probably because I could relate to it more (and I like the ending better...not to mention it made more sense than the anime). The characters are more realistic. Touga and Akio actually appear to have some heart. Because it's much shorter than the anime, there is less time to go into secondary characters, so the story mostly focuses on the main triumverate (Utena, Anthy, Akio) and Touga. Definetly more symbolic than most shojo, it's more theme driven than character or plot driven. Many are turned off by the metaphysical focus of the story, but anyone who likes kick butt girl power should find this story entertaining. Not for anyone who has issues with homoeroticism (although this version has nothing on the others).

Both the manga and anime for "Revolutionary Girl Utena" seem to have quite a large following, so to say the least, I was expecting something great. I am afraid I did not get exactly that. I'm not saying this manga was bad because it was a great concept and actually had a lot of potential. However, it came up short for me, and I am going to give it a 6. I'll list the pros first.

Pros

I'll start with my favorite thing about this manga, which was the art. Chiho Saito really outdid herself because this manga was completely beautiful. I love the rose theme and the character designs were very attractive. They didn't really look like middle schoolers to me, but I was able to get over that. It was a fantastic manga in this regard.

Utena herself is a very likable and relatable female protagonist. She isn't afraid to stand up for herself, and is quite strong-minded. I wish we could see more Shoujo protagonists like her.

The story was a brilliant concept. This manga could have been an 8 or a 9 if it had been presented differently, in my opinion. With that, I can transition into the cons.

Cons

I'll start with the storytelling. Quite honestly, the fantasy elements of this story were quite weak until the fifth volume. I felt like I was reading something that was only a school story until the last few chapters when I was overloaded with fantasy attributes. Had the whole manga really harnessed these elements, it could have been incredible.

Secondly, the pacing was not good. I had times where I didn't want to put the manga down, but at other times, it was quite a chore to read. I even considered dropping it at one point, and don't get me wrong, I am happy I didn't. I had to dock a few points on "enjoyment" due to this though.

Some characters were very under-developed. I mainly mean Saionji, Juri, and Miki. I liked what I saw of them, but they faded into the background too often. Some backstories or more details would have helped me like them more. I guess I just wanted to know more about them in a sense.

I understand that this was made simultaneously with the 39 episode anime. I hear they are way different, and that the anime is better. I am definitely going to check it out since this had so much promise, and I am hoping for the best with it. As with most 6's, I don't really recommend it, but I honestly liked some parts of it a lot. I would say go with the anime. I am predicting something more fleshed out and better-developed than this.

6/10

I really thought I'd like this at least enough to continue, but it just wasn't for me. I've been wanting to read this for a while and it was on my 'number one' list as one of the ultimate yuri classics - I mean, a girl wanting to be a prince and protecting another girl is pretty bloody high up on my can-relate list, and I love Shojo art; anything sparkly is fine by me (Note: I just want gay Sailor Moon). The artwork was beautiful but I felt the story was kind of lacking and the characters fell flat. The whole Utena being rescued by a rose obsessed prince (or something?) rang kind of lame. It was disappointing that she was set up to be this strong character but was still reliant on a prince to come rescue her or meet her or give her a rose or whatever. She even transfers schools at the drop of the hat because hey! the prince is supposed to be there! maybe! As a manga that supposedly blasted through stereotypical shojo cliches, there's an awful lot of them and the misogyny was pretty irritating and uncomfortable. Maybe I was expecting too much but I thought this was supposed to be a milestone in manga or something unique or... you know... revolutionary? Maybe I stopped too soon and it gets better, but I have too many titles to get through to bother with this again.

I was shocked! (Can I say I was shocked?)

If inconsistent plotlines, sparkly-sparkle thou-shiney-light-side-effects-are-blinding-me, random love-triangles, unrequited love, molestation and occult ideology were to merge into one monster: it would be this monster.

No, ladies and gentlemen, I’m not lying. It was like being punched in the forehead repeatedly while watching random scenes take place, because that was what the story was, random scenes put together with the same characters starring them all.

The story was about how a depressed orphan was adopted by her Aunt while receiving stalker-esque letters from a stranger (who had a weird obsession with rose-scented perfume). This rather sad orphan tried to commit suicide but was saved by a god (Dios) and was later initiated to ‘princedom’ when she was 14. If that made any relevant sense to you- No? I couldn’t find any connections either.

So unless, you readers want me to go through the step-by-step analysis of the freemasonry and occult related objects, images and wordings then I’ll be moving on to illustrations, whoohoo!!!!!

The illustration made everyone look feminine, the guys looked like chicks and the chicks looked like chicks and the cows looked like chicks and old McDonald looked like a chick, etc. You get the picture. This sucks-


Audience: why? Chicks=goooood.


No perverts, this sucks since you have to depend on whether the characters were wearing a skirt or trousers to tell them apart. Thankfully, the main character wore neither (for all I care, maybe she was confused herself) making it REALLY easy to tell her apart from everyone else.
The art was generally unnecessary. It did not incite emotions from the reader, nor did it portray efficiently the emotions of the characters (O Hot Roads (Manga), Hot Roads, wherefore art thou Hot Roads?), it took away any realism that could have been gained. I say ‘could have’ because if I were reviewing this for realism it wouldn’t have deserved a grade.

Have you read Billy Bat (Manga)? Did you understand ALL its symbolism and underlying ideas? If so, please read this and give me a detailed step-by-step article explaining what was going on!
Sure I understand where the story lead, and I understand the imagery but WHAT WAS THE POINT!
Readers for the sake of sanity and your peace of mind and anti-indoctrination sentiments, I urge you not to read this.

I’m surprised I’m the first to actually review this Manga on what it really is: a fungus-y crap story.

"The book is better than the movie/series/whatever!" Yup, we've all heard it, and from my experience 99 times out of 100 rehashes, remakes and adaptations pale in comparison to their source material. Unfortunately the Utena manga fits into that rare, mythical 1% zone. In this case, the source material is indeed a mere shadow of its adaptation.

Not to say the manga is bad. It basically covers the first arc of the show and then jumps to the very end of the last arc, so you're getting what is generally considered to be the best parts of the series (I'm a bit of a black rose hater myself). But where's Nanami? Where are the shadow girls? Why has the blatant homoeroticism been dialed back from a strong 8 to a light 3? Where are Shichiro Kobayashi's beautiful backgrounds? Where's the WEIRD?!

The problem with the manga is all the little extra things that make the anime so special and different just aren't there. You're left with a lot of the familiar plot points (with some twists here and there, including a pretty godawful and thankfully jettisoned opening involving Utena's aunt and some nerdlinger who disappears when the story gets going), but it's like reading an abridged version of a classic. You're left asking yourself what the point of reading the manga is when you can just watch a far superior version of the same story. Then of course there's the problem with the medium itself, namely no color and no sound (two of the anime's strongest points).

It's still Utena though, and there are definite flashes of the magic the series seems to have in spades. Utena is still a badass; Anthy is still a creepy weirdo; there's still speeches about chicks cracking shells; there's still revolutions to be had. I guess it just feels kind of inessential, and...tame, which is a shame when you're used to the surreal heights of the anime.

Recommended with some caveats and an insistence that you watch the series before judging the Utena universe as a whole.

SO perfect! I wish the manga was just a bit more explicitly gay but still. The art is so pretty and beautiful theres surprisingly diverse characters for a manga (and also anime!) from the 90s. And I find the story so interesting and beautiful. I loved Anthy's story so much and I love how much personality the female characters have. During the anime I was confused pretty much throughout the whole thing but after reading the manga everything made a lot more sense. I would recommend reading before watching the anime. The only disappointing part about the manga itself was ****spoiler***** Juri is not a lesbian and theres pretty much 0 Nanami! Still! Absolutely perfect

Utena is a story far less innocent than it looks. Even with a subtle dash and all the fantasy comes to controversial issues, as is typical of shoujo, but this anime is much more dense than the others.
Each character is worked in a splendid manner. Its life history, their personal dramas. We note characters very human, with virtues and defects that are in common.

The atmosphere is surreal anime. Be the "Castle Dios" floating above the "Duel Arena" is the uncertainty of time and place. Utena is more than a fairy tale, is a magical story, where nothing is what it seems.

An classic manga with lots of simbolism and fantasy. In order to understand all the story read the manga, after this, watch the anime and, in the end, watch the movie, they have important diferences but are related.
The story is very original and the progress of the characters and their past is very deeper.
The story is focused in each member of Student Council, their relationships and the quest of Utena to find her prince and became a prince herself. It shows like someone can fight for his own wishes, live the way he wants and the importance of friendship. A very good history that influencied a lot of others that came after, great and memorable characters made this an unlosable history to anyone.

Story
You have to pay a lot of attention to understand this. But basically Utena is a girl who was save by a guy when she was a child. Some years later, she is looking for this guy (her prince) and trying to be like him. She goes to a academy where she mets the rose´s bride, a girl that is traded in duels between the members of Student Council trying to obtain the power to make miracles from a place called something like "end of the world". Just read it and try to figure this yourself.

Art
There´s nothing special about the art, it´s nice and clear, easy to understand.

Character
Each character is special and have a deep desenvolviment. You can only 100% understand them if you watch the series too. The manga is too short to desenvolve them all, so the story don´t pay much attention to the secondary characters.

Enjoyment
It´s a great manga and makes you want to know more about this world. Certainly
influenced many others titles.

Overall
All the Utena´s world is very complicated to understand, the manga is the easiest way to introduce you in this world, many things are more explained in the serie and the movie, so don´t miss them.