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Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Movie (Limited Edition)

Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Movie (Limited Edition)

List Price: $29.99
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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Stunned
Review: This movie was amazing. It has so much symbolizime that my freind, who has the vhs form, watched it once a day for a month and she still couldn't figure out what all the symbolizim meant. It took a group of us who had seen the entire series and understood it 4 hours to figure it out and we still missed some things. If you love symbolism this is the movie for you i've wanted to get this movie since I saw it at a convention last year.

This movie is not a summary of the tv series. It is its own little series. It helps to have seen the series when watching it, exspecially at the "scandalous video" part, but if you have a good imagination it'll still make sence.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This is Animated Literature.
Review: All hail Ikuhara! If you weren't awed by his directorial prowess in the series, then you will be stunned by the achievement that is Adolescence Mokushiroku. The movie follows the same basic story as the series -- girl needs to bring world revolution, and loses her innocence along the way -- but because it is animated, there is no limit to how far one can stretch things to get the point across. Ikuhara doesn't hold back. Akio is smarmier, Anthy is weirder, the Student Council is even more neurotic... and the Castle of Illusions is even more surreal, if it's at all possible. I honestly believe that in a hundred years comparative literature majors will be doing dissertations on the implications of the movie. To call it a "must see" for anime fans is an understatement. This IS animation at its finest, and while you don't have to like it or understand it, you can't help but appreciate it. (Rating is for the movie, not the DVD itself as I don't own it yet :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Save a Rose!
Review: I have seen the movie of Revolutionary Girl Utena on Video, and I can hardly wait for it to come out on DVD! This movie was absolutly amazing!! The animation is gourgeous and the story is surreal, but very very good! The whole movie is just done remarkably well! My brother loved it, and he's not a real big anime fan. The movie is sort of a re-telling of the series with a few... well, alot of changes. Anthy is almost completly different. At First I was a little diapointed that it didn't follow the Series, but once I understood that it was mearly a new way to tell the story, I really enjoyed it. It is a must see for any Utena fan... or anybody who likes a real brain twister anime.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Intense & Gorgeous
Review: The first time I saw Utena, I thought it was the weirdest thing I'd ever seen. And that was only the tv series. However, after having seen the Utena movie ("The Adolescence of Utena") I can definitely say it's also one of the most beautiful and special things I've seen... Here are some things you may want to know about this movie.

Artwork. The artwork in this movie is stunning. Some of the best I've seen. Even before the opening credits, I was spellbound. Utena mixes seamless digital animation with superb traditional artwork to great effect. The character designs are somewhat altered from the tv series (Utena's hair is sometimes short, Anthy's is always long, etc.), but only for the better. The scene in which Utena & Anthy dance in a field of roses under the stars is a perfect example of the movie's superior art (and all of the movie's other high points).

Imagery & motifs. Wow. Utena is stuffed with gorgeous images, far more so than the tv series. Once again, roses abound, but in even greater quantity. Some of the most beautiful scenes - Utena's reunion with Touga in the beginning of the movie & the dance scene I mentioned above - center on roses, as do all the duel scenes. Water is also a motif, used in alternately disturbing and soothing ways throughout the film, building to the revealing final scene with Utena & Touga. Imagery is used to relate to the audience just what a strange & surreal world the Utena movie is set in.

Themes & Symbolism. Symbolism is key throughout the movie, and you'd be pretty lost if you didn't pay attention to it. Shiori's wings, Akio's "key", Anthy's scar, the faceless girls, and pretty much everything in the climactic & closing scenes. Utena is built on symbolism - for instance, the entire end of the movie makes no sense except in purely symbolic terms. The themes of Utena, in my opinion, are those of growing up, choosing one's own fate, self-reliance, and laying one's past to rest. And love, of course.

Characters. The characters of Utena are some of the most interesting and beautiful in anime. Although Utena is ultimately the story of Anthy & Utena, all of the character development in Utena is fascinating (especially Anthy's, in my opinion). In such a short movie with such a complicated story to tell, there is of course not enough exploration of side characters for my taste, but Utena & Anthy at least get plenty of attention.

Warnings. Not warnings, exactly, but two things you might want to consider. First, although Utena is definitely worth the time & money, the story is many-layered and hard to understand, and you may not want like to watch movies that make you think for an hour and a half straight. Second, there is some mild nudity, violence, homsexuality, & references to incest. Personally, I think it just makes the story more interesting, but you may object personally.

That said, the Utena movie is an incredible experience and I highly recommend it. This one is worth the money.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best anime movie in 30 years !!!
Review: First off, I must say this:: THIS MOVIE ONLY MAKES SENSE TO YOU IF YOU'VE WATCHED ALL 39 TV EPISODES BEFORE YOU WATCH THE MOVIE!!!

Like any David Lynch or Stanley Kubrick movie, it's a "new wave" way of storytelling. A lot of parables, allegories, references, and visual imagery to help you understand what they are trying to say.

I can't stress that enough. This movie is an OAV, which explains answers to questions that were left unexplained to the viewer in the TV series. So by not finishing the TV series, you are short changing yourself. It's like never finishing Charles Dickens "A tale of two cities" and be expected to understand a movie on it that only shows the highpoints of the storyline.

Unlike most Japanese anime where things are not explained, this is explained, only if you watch the entire 39 episodes and the movie. This is NOT an anime movie to watch without thinking.

Utena is a series where one must spend time to dissect the story, the motives and actions of each character, and how they interact with each other. The relationships are of utmost importance. Therefore, this is NOT MINDLESS ENTERTAINMENT. But a show that is full of imagery, nouvelle vague film techniques, and philosophy about how to live.

The TV series is about how one grows out of childhood fantasies into adulthood, and the movie expands on that by concentrating on the "growing into adulthood" transformation part. And as such, one must always watch it with an understanding of your own childhood, all the joys and pains of growing up, sufferings and triumphs, attitudes and changes, all that is incorporated into this TV series and movie.

If you truly want to understand this movie, take the time to review the TV episodes that you didn't understand, and rewatch them and redissect until you have your answer. Switch viewing between the TV series and the movie is recommended until you have the storyline down.

The more you watch, the more understanding you will get. The more you see the various nuances that makes this anime, not just a simple straightforward story, but one that's also poetic and illustrous. Like all great classics, as your life experiences increase, you will discover even more truths in this movie/series.

For those who don't know, there are fansubs (fans who subtitled the TV series) available out there that you can get.

I highly recommend this movie. In conjunction with the TV series.

May you have revelation and inspiration -- then the duel called "revolution" has begun in your life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I am obbsessed with Utena!!
Review: I have all the Utena DVD's; all 39 episdoes and let me just say, this anime is AMAZING!! It is by-far my favorite anime... If you were debating over wheter to get this anime or not, get it. It's fabulous!! BUY IT NOW!!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Awsome
Review: Yes, I am a big fan of the series and the manga. Look, some utena fans may not like it because they either never seen the MOVIE MANGA or they just couldn't understand it.

I highly recommend the movie. Watch it and see if you can figure out the symbolism there...or if you are just lazy then go look at a site that tells you. XD

The movie really does follow the MOVIE manga, I recently bought it from Viz. The few things that are a bit different between the movie manga and the animated movie itself is that (Warning, movie manga SPOILERS):
- Utena and Anthy didn't dance, they looked at the stars, which was still a cute moment. ^^
- Utena dueled Touga, not Juri.
- Utena did NOT turn into a car. XD

There are others as well but you get the idea.

The music is awsome, the voice acting is good (except for Movie Akio...they changed it! Poor series/manga Akio...X_X), the animation is pretty. And you KNOW you like Toki ni Ai wa (At Times, Love is).

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Revolutionary Girl Utena-The Movie - not like the series.
Review: Having been a fan of the entire series of Revolutionary Girl Utena I would advise any like-minded fan to avoid this movie. Granted the artwork is beautiful and a serious collector would likely be interested in owning it. However, many things have changed from the original series. The relationship between Utena and Anthy has turned dark and calculating and the other stories are too rushed and somber for this film. Plus you only get to witness a few duals with very little "sword magic" and the ending will leave you completely wondering why you wasted money on this and why the director wasted his chance to make a movie based on his truly wonderful series.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: A huge disappointment
Review: First of all, I loved, loved LOVED the series. What this movie has going for it has gorgeous imagery and the same caliber of voice talent of the series, but otherwise it fails in all the ways the series was intriguing and, well, likeable. Anthy's character is, instead of the tortured creature of the series, a flirtacious, giggly schoolgirl who practically forces herself on Utena and evokes little sympathy to carry us through to the ending. Much of the dialogue, heck, entire scenes are utterly incoherent to those who haven't seen the entire series. The seductive manipulation of Akio- gone. The well-developed modern mythology? Gone. The deep backstories and character insights? Gone. In a word, this movie, as a condensed storyline, managed to suck the wonderful aspects of the show out, which leaves a pretty but feeble creature of a movie behind.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Movie
Review: We believe whatever we want to believe. My opinion? This is perhaps one of the better anime out there. The plot is intriguing, the characters are wonderful and a good change from the television series version, and the imageries are luscious. On one level this movie is not hard to understand. At the same time however, it can be interpreted in many different ways. Perhaps this is echoing the wish of Ikuhara-sama but i do hope that people watch this movie with an open-mind and think outside what one has been taught and the rules we abide by. Changing mentality in a way, like a revolution but for the mind.

All in all, this is a wonderful movie:)


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