Summary

• Revolutionary Girl Utena remains a massive creative masterpiece that has influenced animators and writers around the world decades after its original release.
• Utena's core message on gender and sexuality remains as important and poignant as ever.
• The series's avant-garde and experimental approach to storytelling has made the unconventional shojo series timeless to its core.

When reflecting on the anime industry's rich history, there are some series that have managed to withstand the test of time, and leave a permanent mark on not just the industry, but on the creatives that fuel it. Many point to series like Astro Boy (1963), Akira (1988) or Neon Genesis Evangelion (1995) for how they fundamentally affected modern anime, but there is one series that, regardless of how many years by, remains a massive creative influence for animators and writers around the globe – cementing it as one of the greatest anime ever created.

Celebrating its 27th birthday in 2024, Revolutionary Girl Utena, created by Be-Papas, a creative ensemble composed of Kunihiko Ikuhara (Sarazanmai, Mawaru-Penguindrum), Chiho Saito (Grand Amour, Sarazanmai Anthology), Shinya Hasegawa (Sailor Moon, Neon Genesis Evangelion), Yoji Enokido (Evangelion 1.0 & 2.0, Bungo Stray Dogs) and Yuichiro Oguro (Dragon Ball, Azumanga Daioh), in collaboration with J.C. Staff produced the series, which would go on to earn critical acclaim and praise from around the globe, and for good reason.

Creating One of the Most Influential Anime Ever Made

Revolutionary Girl Utena's production was a labor of love – and creative frustration

Earlier in his career, Kunihiko Ikuhara had been credited for his work as a director on Toei Animation during the production of Sailor Moon.

Though Revolutionary Girl Utena, at a glance, contains many of the same staple motifs seen in shojo from this era, Ikuhara eventually began making the world and narrative more experimental. Unsurprisingly, Revolutionary Girl Utena draws its inspiration from a number of classics, including Osamu Tezuka's Princess Knight and Riyoko Ikeda's Rose of Versailles; these inspirations can be seen in Utena's aesthetic and themes, making it feel as though the series is a critical analysis and deconstruction of classic fairy tales and the shojo demographic in its entirety. Revolutionary Girl Utena also unapologetically tackles conversations surrounding gender and sexuality, with blatant depictions of LGBTQ themes throughout the series. While these depictions weren't unnecessarily uncommon during this era in the anime industry, Revolutionary Girl Utena handled these story lines with a level of grace and poignancy that still hits home for modern audiences.

How Well Does Revolutionary Girl Utena Hold Up Today?

Despite being 27-years-old, Utena's core message is still just as important today as it was in 1997

Revolutionary Girl Utena follows its title character, Utena Tenjou, who was given a mysterious signet ring with a rose-engraving during her childhood after a chance encounter with a "prince" who swore to the young girl that they would meet again someday. Enamored by the experience, Utena vows to become a prince herself, and upon becoming a teenager, is enrolled in an elusive boarding school called Ohtori Academy. Shortly after enrolling into the academy, she gets pulled into a strange sword-fighting tournament against the school's student council . Each of these , mysteriously, all wear rings that are identical to Utena's.

Eventually, Utena learns what the prize for victory is – the hand of a young woman titled the Rose Bride, who is rumored to possess the ability to revolutionize the world. After winning her first duel, and being awarded Anthy as her fiancée, Utena decides to continue fighting to protect Anthy from the other of the student council, and begins to unravel the mysteries hidden just beneath the surface of the school.

"Lured into the twisted duels of Ohtori Academy, can Utena become the prince she's been waiting to meet?" – Viz Media

Throughout Utena's main plot, each member of the antagonistic student council – as well as the titular Utena and her Rose Bride, Anthy – is given the spotlight to dive into and analyze their personal psyches, and what has led them down whatever path they're on when the duels begin. Each character in the series has their own motives as to why they desire to have Anthy and her powers in their possession, and something that Revolutionary Girl Utena does extremely well is showing off just how deep obsession can run when somebody is in the pursuit of life-changing power.

This level of character analysis seen throughout the series is often shown in how Utena discusses its core themes: gender, sexuality, and coming-of-age. For example, the series' titular protagonist, Utena, iterates throughout the story how much she desires to be a prince. While this isn't Utena being literal by asserting a change in identity or gender, she is instead expressing a deep-rooted desire to exhibit qualities related to what she perceives as being inherently "prince-like", i.e., courage, comion, and strength. This directly contrasts with Anthy, who is initially seen as a "princess" – harboring traits related to helplessness, as well as how she is blatantly objectified by of the student council throughout the story. Of course, by the time Revolutionary Girl Utena's original anime reaches its climax, it becomes clear that the two women are two tragic sides of the same coin.

In addition to its exploration of gender, Revolutionary Girl Utena is famous in part due to its very open and proud depictions of LGBTQ characters and themes. In an interview conducted by Popverse in 2020 featuring Ikuhara and Chiho Saito, Ikuhara confessed that he had always wanted the series to have this sense of diversity, and it works in favor of the narrative, which explores the true meaning of personal freedom. Utena and Anthy's romance throughout the series can be representative of a number of ideas for audiences, and the strength of their relationship is still impactful for modern women and LGBTQ people, who can see pieces of themselves in the two characters.

The Lasting Impact of Revolutionary Girl Utena

Utena's legacy will be felt in the anime & manga industries forever

Revolutionary Girl Utena is truly revolutionary, and has left a lasting impact on creatives in the anime and manga industry. Aside from the series inspiring a number of spin-offs, including a number of live-action musical adaptations adapting the original story for the stage, two light novels and even a visual novel with dating sim elements following a self-insert style protagonist that transfers into Ohtori Academy, Be-Papas avant-garde shojo masterpiece's energy can be felt even now.

A few notable examples of creators and works that have been influenced by Revolutionary Girl Utena include: Princess Tutu by Ikuko Itoh, Puella Magi Madoka Magica created by Magica Quartet, and the latest, critically acclaimed entry into the Gundam franchise, The Witch From Mercury. The series hasn't just influenced anime, though, with Rebecca Sugar, the creator of Steven Universe stating on multiple occasions how much the series has influenced their creative process, and Noelle Stevenson, the creator behind the popular She-Ra reboot, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, previously drawing crossover fanart in a 2018 Twitch stream placing two characters from She-Ra in a major moment from Utena.

Thanks to its timeless art style, avant-garde presentation, and message that transcends each ing decade, Revolutionary Girl Utena is truly something special, and has left its mark on the industry as one of the most important anime ever created. The franchise's unapologetic depictions of gender issues and LGBTQ characters and themes, in addition to the series' ability to beautifully tackle sensitive subjects like trauma and abuse make it powerful and impactful, even now, 27 years after its original release.

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Source(s): Uranime (Archived) Interview With Kunihiko Ikuhara, Viz Media, Popverse