 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Series
Once upon a time, many years ago...
there was a little princess and she was sad for her mother and father had died. Before the princess appeared a traveling prince upon a white horse. He had a regal bearing and a kind smile. He wrapped the princess in a rose-sented embrace.
"Little one," he said. "Growing up alone in such sorrow, don't lose that strength and nobility even when you grow up. I give you this to remember this day. We will meet again. This ring will lead you to me."
Perhaps the ring he gave her was an engagement ring.
This was all well and good, but so impressed was she by him that the princess vowed to become a prince herself one day!
But was that...really a good idea?
This story is told at the beginning of the first few episodes and in several others along the series. This young princess grew up to be Utena Tenjou, a rather ecentric tom-boy who goes to school at Ohtori Academy. The teachers at her school constantly berate her for wearing a "boy's uniform," which is actually nothing like the boys' uniforms at the school, but much like a military uniform with shorts, tailored to Utena's figure. The teachers don't like it, in any event, but Utena always gets around them somehow. She challenges the kendo team captain to a duel after she finds out about the unfeeling way he treated one of her best friends (Wakaba), and so it begins...
The student council completely runs Ohtori Academy. They duel each other for the possession of the "Rose Bride," a strangely passive girl who seems to hold within her some great power. With the Rose Bride comes the "power to revolutionize the world," a power that is not really explained in the first 13 episodes (DVD set one). Utena gets unwillingly swept up in this after she defeats the kendo team captain (who mistakes her for a duelist who actually knows what she's doing) and becomes "engaged" to the Rose Bride. The series follows her life as she duels one council member after another, each time the reasons they are fighting becoming more and more vivid. You learn a lot about the "secondary" characters, the villians, and become enchanted between the friendship that blossoms between Utena and the Rose Bride, Himemiya Anthy.
There are four "sagas" in the series. The first is The Student Council Saga, the second is The Black Rose Saga, the third, the Akio Ohtori Saga, and the last, The Apocalypse Saga. Each saga sweeps you through new collections of characters, powers, duels, and symbolism along the way. More about the symbolism in it's own section. Go back a page for that.
It contains a mix of borrowed visuals from Takarazuka theater, shadow puppetry, and classic Shoujo.
The anime and manga were created simultaneously, but, despite some similarities, they progress in different directions. More about that on the "Anime VS Manga" page.