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Revolutionary Girl Utena, Set 2: The Black Rose Saga L.E.
Right Stuf // Unrated // August 2, 2011
List Price: $49.99 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Show:
Nozomi and Right Stuf Inc. have released the second of three Revolutionary Girl Utena collections, this one covering the Black Rose Saga. Originally released years ago, these newly restored collections look sharper than the original releases and are significantly cheaper too. A great series, it's filled with symbolism and unusual subject matter for an anime production and really pushes the envelope as far as how creative and convoluted an animated story can be.
Series Background:
When Utena Tenjou was a child both of her parents died. She was distraught and miserable until a prince stumbled upon her. He said "Never loose that strength or nobility, even when you grow up" and gave her a ring with a rose seal on it. He said that the ring would one day lead Utena back to him, and she hasn't taken it off since.
She was so inspired by the prince's words that Utena decided that she wanted to be a prince herself. Now, years later, she's attending Ohtori Academy but dresses in a boy's uniform, and her best girl friend keeps proclaiming her love for the butch Utena.
One day Utena sees a member of the student council, Saionji, slapping and berating his girlfriend, Anthy Himemiya. Utena runs to the protection of the young and charming Anthy but Saionji just laughs when she tries to interfere. It turns out that Anthy is his betrothed, and the only way Utena can stop him from mistreating her is to 'win' the girl in a duel.
That evening Utena travels to a walled off section of the campus and using her rose ring she's able to open the large imposing gate. Climbing to the top of a long spiral staircase she reaches a dueling platform with a large city floating, inverted, above it. Here she learns of the duels. Certain members of the student council are duelist, following written instructions they receive from "The End of the World" they compete in a series of sword fights to try to win the Rose Bride, Anthy. Whomever has the bride at the end will win the power to "revolutionize the world." Whatever that may mean.
In the first saga, Utena duels all of the members of the student council and retains Anthy as her bride. But they are not the only foe she needs to face.
This collection:
Having defeated all of the student council, another group of duelists appear. This time however they are regular students, often friends of Utena or Anthy, wearing a ring with a black rose crest.
These new duelists were recruited by a mysterious person, Souji Mikage, who preyes upon their deep-seated anger at various injustices they've faced. The leader of the Black Roses uses a student counseling center to select his targets and once they're chosen and revealed their darkest hatreds he uses that knowledge to put the poor students under his control. Armed with a black rose, these students face Utena in a duel not to win the Rose Bride, but to kill her. You see Souji wants to install a new Rose Bride, this time a male.
Like the first volume, this set of shows is visually intricate with style taking the driver's seat. The Black Rose Saga is a bit darker, with typical fears and angers that most teenagers experience driving them to try to kill Anthy. The slightly darker tone suits the show well, and makes it even more interesting, which is saying a lot.
What, at first glance, appears to be a standard anime show is actually much more than that. Unconventional, cryptic, and symbolic, Revolutionary Girl Utena looks a lot like a typical magic girl show at first (the creator first gained fame with Sailor Moon) is actually much deeper and deals with topics not covered in many shows, animated or not. Gender roles are a big part of the show, as Utena dresses as a boy and wants to be a prince, yet she doesn't want to be a man... she still retains her femininity and is very caring. Homosexuality, incest, and androgyny are also themes for the show, though the show isn't just about sexual roles.
There is a lot of symbolism too, and to make sure that people catch it, many scenes are repeated. This is one of the shows biggest flaws. Sure it does save money, but where as many magical girl shows will repeat a quick transformation scene, Utena has several different scenes that are repeated time and time again. Anthy's releasing of the sword and the duelists getting ready to battle, the student council member in the elevator, and, most of all, Utena climbing up to the dueling platform. These are long sequences too, and while I really liked them (and the music) the first few times they were played, watching the shows one after the other makes these grow old fast.
This isn't a show for everyone. There are a lot of utterly bizarre sections that will leave a lot of viewers scratching their heads. Each episode is interrupted in the middle, for example, by a pair of characters who talk in riddles and are only seen via there shadows. They tell a little story that is semi-related to the theme of that episode. Whereas I loved their surreal and sometimes comic intermissions, I can definitely see many people thinking "what the hell was that?"
The DVD:
The first 12 episodes, which contain the first story arc, arrive on three DVDs, each in its own slimcase. These three cases, along with a booklet about the series, are housed in a black slipcase with a nice red illustrated front. It's quite attractive and fits the series.
Audio:
Viewers have the choice of watching the show with the original Japanese 2.0 soundtrack, a new 5.1 Japanese track, or a stereo English track. I viewed this with the 5.1 audio and found it excellent. The sound was nice and crisp with good use made of the whole soundstage, especially during the dueling scenes. I spot checked the other tracks and while they seemed fine, the 5.1 audio is definitely the way to go. (And as one who had to choose between an English 5.1 and Japanese 2.0 soundtracks that have been traditionally offered, I was happy to see the original language track get the extra attention.) There are optional English subtitles as well as a 'signs only' option.
Video:
The newly restored 4:3 image looks very good as well. Originally created on 16 mm film and restored in HD, the lines are tight, the colors are bright and the overall image is excellent. Aliasing, something that traditionally mars animation, is absent and the same can be said for other compression artifacts. My only complaint is that this series isn't being releasing on Blu-ray.
Note: There is a goof on the menus. On all three discs this set is identified as the Student Council Saga, which was the first set. Opps.
Extras:
The main extra this time around is a very short (about ten minutes total) interview with the director that is split into four parts. There's also a long reel of animation art from the series along with a very nice 96-page booklet.
Final Thoughts:
Definitely not your ordinary anime show, Revolutionary Girl Utena is a strange yet compelling program and one that's definitely worth checking out. The newly restored video makes this an easy one to give a highly recommended rating to, but only for those who are looking for something a bit bizarre and off the beaten path.
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