Product Details

• Actors: Leah Applebaum, Roxanne Beck, Sharon Becker, Mandy Bonhomme, Crispin Freeman
• Directors: Kunihiko Ikuhara
• Writers: Kunihiko Ikuhara, Yoji Enokido
• Producers: Kyôko Kobayashi, Shin'ichi Ikeda
• Format: Animated, Box set, Color, NTSC
• Subtitles: English
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 4
• Studio: Wea Music DVD
• VHS Release Date: July 10, 2001
• Run Time: 180 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (68 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6305167672
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #681,903 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

A logical step for the young fan of anime is this series from the creator of the popular crossover hit Sailor Moon. The story line skews slightly older, not for its violence but for its complexity. The theme is modern mythology, not intergalactic warfare, so it's more interesting and less violent than in Sailor Moon. And less bubble-headed. Our heroine, Utena, is admired by classmates who share Sailor Moon's giddy hysterics, but Utena herself is solid, noble, and strong. Saved by a prince as a child, Utena dresses in the men's uniform of the expansive Ohtori Academy. Her goal is to be prince, and in this introductory disc (seven episodes, nearly three hours of material), she shows signs of becoming one. The scheming student council allows her into the mysterious forest arena, where she wins a sword duel (not played for blood) and wins the devoted loyalty of Anthy, the mysterious Rose Bride. They become a team, discovering the riddles of the arena forest and fending off challengers (while excelling in classes to boot). While some Westerners may read far too much into the sexual politics of the series, it's very old-fashioned at its core: Utena's affections are girded toward a duelist who just may be the prince who saved her years before. Some mild domestic violence and oddly subtitled songs ("Absolute Destroy Apocalyptic," "Paleozoic Era in the Flies") will ruffle some parents, but for ages 9 and up it's engaging entertainment. Utena delivers for girls what Star Wars did for boys: a never-ending series of adventures that one can imagine themselves in, whether daydreaming or playing in the backyard. The DVD comes in both subtitled and dubbed formats. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From light & fluffy to dark & sinister...I loved this show!!, March 25, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Revolutionary Girl Utena Collector's Boxed Set [VHS] (VHS Tape)

One of the most intricately written animes I've ever watched; one of the most fun comedies I've ever enjoyed; one of the most intriguing horror stories I've ever experienced; one of the most captivating depictions of evil I've ever seen! By the time the hidden truth behind the plot is revealed, the story has grown to almost epic proportions. It's not just about good or evil *people* ... it's about Good or Evil itself!

A Junior High girl finds herself being drawn ever deeper into a strange series of ritual Duels for possession of the mysterious "Rose Bride." Whoever is engaged to the Bride, it is said, will inherit "The Power Of Miracles, the Power To Revolutionize the World." Motivated by a dimly remembered childhood meeting of fate with a strange Prince, Utena fights to protect the Bride from those who would use (abuse) her for their own pleasure or goals. But Utena doesn't accurately remember what really happened between her and her Prince, and some of the Student Council know more than they pretend...

One of the challenges of watching this show is trying to figure out what it's all about. The writers string the viewer along, tantalyzing the audience with a wonderfully surreal fantasy-like Academic Academy where the rules are never quite explained, but everything is just like the modern world ... almost.

From floating castles and magical swords to swirling roses and burning coffins, from secret societies and mysterious benefactors to forbidden forests and lost loves, nothing is what it seems, and the list of who you think you can trust grows shorter, and shorter, and shorter...

The questions continue to mount, almost relentlessly, while the writers refuse to give away any information. Eventually, viewers must learn to take this world at face value and have faith that all will be explained in the end.

Viewers who do so will not be disappointed. The payoff is powerful ... and startling! The ending was worth every trial encountered in reaching it! Rarely have I been so surprised by the "surprises." I couldn't see it coming ... any of it! It was shocking, and incredible. It was absolutely great!

Let us all just hope that the currently released tapes sell well enough that episodes #14 through #39 (the end) get liscensed and released soon. It would be awful for those who get their anime solely from American sources to be cut off at episode #13! The show hasn't even gotten dark yet at that point!

It is easy to be put off by the stylized setting or character designs. It is easy to look at the character desings & dismiss this show as being "fluffy." It is easy to watch the first few episodes and believe this show is for children, girls, or fans of the "magical girl" genre. This would be a mistake.

This is a mature, almost frightenly accurate examination of what it takes to break people ... to bring out their darkest motives and convince them to sell their soul. I have seen a room full of adults roll with laughter, cheer with elation and shiver with horror at this show. I loved it, but by the end, I felt like I was trapped inside "The Screwtape Letters," & couldn't get out!

One caveat: Because the dialogue is so meticulously crafted, because the precise wording and double-meanings are so critical, it is more important with this show than with most animes to have an accurate *translation,* as opposed to a *paraphrase.* I have seen both the sub and dub now, and since the subtitled version is predominantly a translation, and the dubbed version is, unfortunately, more of a paraphrase, it matters more with this show than with most that the viewer be aware that the English is not always an entirely faithful adaptation of the original, and that some meaning (sometimes quite a bit) will be lost.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Really weird, but in a good way, November 5, 2000

By 

Steven Myers (SF Bay Area) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Rose Collection Vol. 1 (DVD)

Utena is a strange, strange story. At its simplest, it is a fairy tale set on its head: the heroine, Utena, is a girl who wants to be the prince after being rescued by a prince when she was a little girl. Her goal leads her to Ohtori Academy, where she finds herself drawn into a series of sword duels for possession of the Rose Bride, another girl at the school. If that sounds odd, it is, but it's really the least bid of weirdness. For example, the wonderful soundtrack shifts between light classical and rock opera (for the duels). A castle hangs upside down from inside a building. Wild animals pop up unexpectedly all over the place. The whole thing is surreal; even the characters' eyes are drawn in a style which, by anime conventions, suggests they are dreaming or hallucinating.

This first disc contains 7 episodes (out of a total of 39, of which 13 are translated into English as of November, 2000). The stories introduce the characters and establish the initial paths of the conflicts between them--the basic question being, why do these people want possession of the Rose Bride? The characters are interesting, the stories are unusual and fresh, and the English voice acting (if you're watching the dub) is well-done for all the major characters. One thing to watch out for: the disc proclaims "From the director of Sailor Moon." In Japan, the audience for Utena and Sailor Moon might overlap; such is probably not the case in the US. The themes in Utena are much more adult than most would want to have pre-teen girls watching, including domestic violence and hints (at least in this disc) of homosexuality. There is no nudity here, but there are some rather suggestive scenes.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Real Sleeper Hit, March 20, 2000

By 

Mark Q Jee (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Rose Collection Vol. 1 (DVD)

When I saw the first volume at the video store, I was skeptical, but I'm glad I tried it. All though it seems marketed towards girls (with the pink boxes and all) it's good and interesting material no matter who you are. The plot is wonderful and strange, in fact, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. Anime has become a collection of cliches, with the most successful anime those which put those cliches together the best rather than being original (aka Escaflowne).

While a lot of the standard anime conventions are in here, there is a lot of new stuff, too. Most of the characters are based around personalities rather than a single character trait & a contrived tragic past (like we have in most anime). You won't find the "spiky-haired, blonde & boisterous martial-artist" or the "bouncy, big-busted, schoolgirl-packing-heavy-weaponry" here. Although many of the male characters have the stereotypical long-haired, slender, Girl's Anime appearance, they're all much more deeply characterized, and the heroine does not bubble over them like in most girl's anime-in fact, they seem to be the anathema of her tastes. Utena's character is almost an ideal-she's strong, smart, tough, and righteous, but without being preachy or melodramatic, and is not bubble-headed or overly-effiminate as most anime heroines tend to be. She's a true tomboy (again, not the contrived idea of a tomboy present in most anime),and she is presented in a matter-of-fact way that makes her much more real than most "perfect" heroes. Unlike most supposedly strong anime heroines, she does not slobber over the various pretty-boys, or act as though having a boyfriend for the big dance is a matter of life or death. In fact, she doesn't concern herself with these things at all.

The plots are well done and reasonable, though the main plot of the "End of the World" seems to get lost for a few episodes, and it instead becomes a social commentary and a satire (especially the episodes involving Nanami), but I didn't mind. From what I've seen so far, Utena gets involved in a weird plot involving the Student Council, where challengers duel to possess the "Rose Bride" (the duels are not fought for blood-to win you must knock off a rose pinned to your opponent's chest), and the final victor is destined to receive some great power. Fans of gritty, dark stories, or the mindless, derivitive blood-and-breast anime that so many seem to think is the pinnacle of animation may not like it, the story is pure romance (Romance as in idealistic fantasy, not as in love and relationships), a sort of modern fairy tale. Think Don Quixote over Sailor Moon. One note, though, the lyrics of the battle themes have the most ridiculous lyrics I've ever heard, anywhere. Even worse than Escaflowne's one-lyric songs. Absolute Destiny Apocalypse plays every time Utena prepares for a duel, and each battle has it's own laughably bad song. The beginning and ending themes are really good, though-the lyrics of the opening song actually make sense (again, unlike most anime). Also, I know everyone else is denying it, but I'm telling you there is a very subtle but very strong and clear homosexual subcontext to the story. No, I don't think the characters are gay, but it's definitely suggested a LOT, and very blatantly at that. This may just be fan-service, though-homosexual themes are very popular among girls anime.