Pour revolutionner le monde! La Fillette Revolutionnaire! Those words appear in a large font on each of the LDs and the collectible LD box for one of the newest shoujo anime series, SHOUJO KAKUMEI UTENA (Girl Revolutionary Utena), which is based on the manga series by Saito Chiho and serialized in Ciao, a Shogakukan publication.
The story of UTENA takes place at the exclusive and upper class Ohtori Academy which is ruled by the Student Council Elite. The Elite are made of four people, three men and one woman. The President of the Student Council Elite is Kiryuu Touga, voiced by Koyasu Takehito, who rules with his charisma and his natural leadership ability. When Touga encounters Utena, he is taken by her strong, aggressive personality and immediately makes it a point to win her over, but Utena has other plans. The Vice President of the Student Council Elite, Saionji Kyouichi, voiced by Kusao Takeshi, rules not with his charisma, but with intimidation, fear, and domination. Kyouichi uses Himemiya Anthy as his "slave" and treats her badly. His abusive ways repulse Utena and cause her to wonder what kind of "relationship" Anthy and Kyouichi have together. The Secretary of the Student Council Elite, Kaoru Miki, voiced by Hisakawa Aya, takes down the meeting notes. As a fencer, he is a match for Arisugawa Juri, the Fencing Club Captain, and he is also a great pianist. Miki has a twin sister, Kaoru Kozue, voiced by Honda Chieko; she is quite the opposite in personality to the quiet Miki. Finally, the Captain of the Fencing Team, Arisugawa Juri, voiced by Mitsuishi Kotono, is the only female in the Student Council Elite and gives her input to any school issues that may be discussed.
The two main characters: Tenjou Utena, voiced by Kawakami Tomoko, and Himemiya Anthy, voiced by Fuchizaki Yuriko, are put together by a single fateful event. The first episode of UTENA introduces Tenjou Utena, a tomboyish, strong, aggressive fourteen-year old girl who likes to wear boys' school uniforms and play sports. Both of Utena's parents were killed when she was very young, and a mysterious man dressed in princely clothes saved Utena when she was little and gave her a ring with a rose emblem.
Utena meets a bright and cheery Shinohara Wakaba, voiced by Imai Yuka, who tends to jump on Utena's back as a playful means to test Utena's strength. While looking outside a school window during lunch, Utena spies a dark-skinned girl, Himemiya Anthy, tending some flowers at the school's greenhouse. Suddenly, from out of the blue, Saionji Kyouichi, Vice President of the Student Council Elite, comes along and slaps her. His action shocks Utena and she leaves the school building only to find a love letter that Wakaba wrote Kyouichi posted on the school bulletin board.
The entire Ohtori Academy student body ridicules this innocent love letter, sending poor Wakaba into a fit of tears as she runs from the embarrassing scene. Utena, enraged with this act, confronts Kyouichi who tells her the love letter is trash. She immediately challenges him to a kendo bout for Wakaba's honor. Utena finds that she is not alone in possessing the rose ring; Kyouichi wears one too, as does all of the Student Council Elite.
Utena and Kyouichi battle it out on a secret duel arena. The rest of the episodes center around the relationship between Utena, Anthy, and the Student Council Elite. Most of the episodes always seem to end in a swordfight in the duel arena.
This series is definitely shoujo with its art: the large CLAMP-like eyes and very long legs. SHOUJO KAKUMEI UTENA's music is equally as unique with its driving fight music featuring a chorus of voices singing at full force. Although some of the animation could be polished up a bit, UTENA holds that unique quality of being an end of the world story with a French theme. Everyone looks as if they belong in an episode of ROSE OF VERSAILLES. All of the outfits are elegant, flowing, and brightly colored. The weird interludes with the Shadow Girls, A-ko and B-ko, gossipping to each other can throw the viewer for a loop, but it breaks up the otherwise dramatic tone of this series. The Shadow Girls appear like flat shadow puppet figures behind a decorated translucent screen. They act out what has come to pass in the episode and what has yet to come in a comedic fashion.
The comedy bits are enjoyable and tossed here and there as Anthy's mysterious background unfolds. Anthy's little mouse/monkey friend Chu Chu is a bit unnerving, yet acts very well in his role as a comic relief character. Some people who have watched UTENA think that Chu Chu is scary and not at all cute. Two veteran voice actors, Kusao Takeshi, who also plays Youta in VIDEO GIRL AI, and Koyasu Takehito, who also plays Hotohori in FUSHIGI YUUGI do a good job playing their bishonen characters. Koyasu Takehito is especially suited for his role as the charismatic Kiryuu Touga since he has played three other bishonen parts, Hotohori (FUSHIGI YUUGI), Ryuji ( DNA²), and Aburatsubo (MAHO TSUKAI TAI!).
The first Utena LD is a mere ¥1900 with just the first episode on it, but there are a lot of little extras. There are the opening and ending animations minus the credits and the duel music in a karaoke format. It also contains interviews with the creator and two of the voice actresses on this first LD. The second LD, priced at ¥6600, also includes an LD box to house the first six LDs; each disc, after the first, includes four episodes from the anime series. There are eleven volumes slated for release through next year.
SHOUJO KAKUMEI UTENA is slowly becoming popular amongst the shoujo anime crowd. The groups that are attracted to series like FUSHIGI YUUGI or MARMALADE BOY are going to enjoy UTENA.

SHOUJO KAKUMEI UTENA Copyright © 1997 B-Papas / Saito Chiho Shogakukan / Shou Kaku Committee / TV Tokyo L'Apocalypse:1 Star Child KILA-341 3 September 1997 43 min CLV LD, Stereo ¥1900 L'Apocalypse:2 Star Child KILA-342 (KILA-9342, first edition comes with a box to hold the entire series) 26 September 1997 102 min CLV LD, Stereo ¥6600