Utena. Revolutionary Girl 05.

Rating:
Summary: Sekai no Hate.
Review: This is the last of Chiho Saito's master series, Shoujo Kakumei Utena (or Revolutionary Girl Utena). This is by far my favorite manga series and it turns into my favorite anime series as well. But anyway back to the manga, this is the end of Utena's adventures of a duelist when she learns the true idenity of her prince, and just who EXACTLY Himemiya Anthy is. The ending to this series is far from what you would expect and is why I loved it so much. For those of you who are light hearted and think that the hero should always win and get the girl at the end, DON'T READ THIS. You will find out that Miss Saito has stayed away from the stero-typed ending of happily ever after.

The art in this is supurb. Chiho Saito definetly brings life to her wonderfal images in the finial volume. And once again, Miss Saito is able to beautifly draw the action scenes in this manga, which, in my opinoin, few manga artist can do very well. The images also seem to give each character a sense of their personality. For example it is clear that behind Himemiya Anthy's glasses that she is hiding a more horrific secret that what she has lead on in the previous volumes. And it is also just just through the pictures that Utena's prince is not the noble being that Utena percieves him to be.

For those of you light hearted readers who like the guy meets girl stuff that is usually accociated with the stero-type shoujo, I wouldn't reccomend this one either. There are many traces of lesbianism (okay, more than just traces), incest, and the vile truth that Utena must face about her prince, and the man who seduced her, Ohtori Akio. For Akio fans (such as myself) this volume is perfect. He reveals is true personality in front of Utena, and she is a little...shocked to say the least. Which leads to another reason of why I liked the ending so much, the fact that Utena's pride, body, soul, and mind were beaten down to nothing (sorry, but I found Utena rather annoying throughout the manga series, as well as the anime. She just never seemed to know when to keep her over-active mouth closed).

Chiho Saito has created by far the most original ending to any manga or anime series that I have lain my eyes on. And that is saying a lot. So for those of you who are dying to know what happens in the end of the manga, and don't want to watch the anime version of how the end turns out, this is beyond perfect for you.