Watch Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Adolescence of Utena For Free

Touches You

As Good As It Gets

This is a tender, generous movie that likes its characters and presents them as real people, full of flaws and strengths.

Let me be very fair here, this is not the best movie in my opinion. But, this movie is fun, it has purpose and is very enjoyable to watch.

If you've never watched the TV series Revolutionary Girl Utena, then this movie will not make one lick of sense. The plot line is so full of abstractions and references to the original series that it will no doubt be incomprehensible to anyone unfamiliar with any of it, who will only take away the breathtaking animation and music once the credits crawl by.For those who have seen and loved the TV series, then this is an interesting, but not essential, work. It's an alternate, even more dreamlike version of the original show's story, with an older-looking Utena and Anthy. There is more of an examination of Utena's relationship with Touga and Utena and Anthy's implied romance is made outright explicit.Overall, an interesting and visually beautiful film, but I'd only recommend it to fans of the series.

Having read the Chiho Saito manga and watched a fair amount of the series, I thought I knew the utena plot very well. However, when watching this, it only seemed to take a few basic pointers from both of these sources. The utena movie (or whichever name you may use for it) has a mood and themes almost entirely different from the other versions of it. Of course there's the ever-present "revolutionising the world" theme, and the rose bride, etc, but this seems to be a more...updated version of these. It's not so much about achieving a goal, such as the 'revolution of the world', but is instead a film about the rite of passage from adolescence to adulthood (hence two of the movie's titles, 'the adolescence of Utena' and 'adolescence mokushiroku (adolescence apocalypse)')The visuals in this movie are stunning. The animation, which looked, in the series, rather pretty and smooth, but not very original or special, has become absolutely jaw dropping in the movie. The backgrounds are stunning, and the characters move smoothly and look gorgeous the whole way through.Many of the characters have been revamped; in both their designs and in the roles they play in the storyline. I personally don't see this as anything too bad, as long as you view the movie and the series/manga as separate entities.The plot of the movie is...well, as the title of this review says, confusing. At one point (SPOILER ALERT) utena turns into a car (!) and other odd things happen throughout the plot. (End spoiler) Also, something lightly touched upon in the series, the sexuality of the two heroines, is brought to light here. Therefore, if anyone is uncomfortable with non-heterosexual relationships, they shouldn't see this film. The soundtrack to the film is great, featuring "rinbu revolution" in a new remix for the film, and a couple of duel choruses, as well as the "sunlight garden" theme from the series. It's a nice blend of instrumentals, vocals (such as toki ni ai wa, one of the movie's most famous songs - and scenes) and, er, odd choruses (but don't we love them!), such as 'zettai unmei mokushiroku', another series song that makes its way into the movie.Overall, this film, as long as you put the series out of your head, is fantastic. Beautiful, dark, eccentric, and utterly addictive. You'll find yourself watching it time after time.

Adolescence Mokushiroku (Adolescence Apocalypse) is an amazing movie that require the viewer to have at least a passing knowledge of the Utena series and who the characters are or what it means to be who. But only vaguely. The characters in the movie are variably different from their series counterparts (especially Akio) and it takes a clear mindframe to comprehend the movie.The surrealistic setting with a constantly-moving school and blackboards allows the characters to seem even more imaginary and set apart from reality. Although the big finale of the film is probably the most critiqued part of it, it is a true reason that Ikuhara doesn't give credit to. *semi-spoilers* The amazing chase scene with the Utena-car and the Shiori-car and all those other strange vehicles is one of the most stunning and incomprehensible movie scenes ever. But the essence of the metaphor of driving and the ability to move forward is constant with the film's central message of growth.And as far as the yuri/shoujo-ai kiss between Utena and Anthy at the end goes, it's nothing that wasn't deeply hinted at during the series (it shows what would happen if Utena and Anthy stuck their heads forward a little bit farther during the opening sequence... of course, it's also a bit different anywa)... But it's still a beautiful story that should be appreciated outside the series.

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** WAAI!!! Ahhhh! I am a very big fan of the series!! Anyway, even though the movie version is a completely different retelling of the TV series version, it is still as wonderful, strange and symbolic, if not more so, than the TV version. First off, when you watch this movie, you should at least be a bit familiar with the Utena series, or you will be totally lost. SECOND, even if you ARE familiar with the series, be sure to pay close attention, and THINK!!^__^!! Because the movie moves very quicky, with the entire story line condensed into the movie time frame, and trust me, it-is-CONFUSING!!(but great!!^__^) I dont know what it is about Utena, but even if you dont understand some parts of it, you are always left wanting more. *sigh*^_^ Anyway, I have a quick *SPOILER*.....if you can even call it that... Im not a big fan of Yuri, so when Anthy and Utena kiss at the end, it kinda bugs me...^_^;; but I can deal with it. (They didnt do it at all in the TV series.....there was no concrete proof that they were lesbians anyway, so I was happy!! But in the movie they kiss. ^_^;;) Second, the only other bad thing, I do agree, was that Nanami was hardly in it. (Miki too!!!! AND MIKI IS THE BEST!!!!) Anyway BUY THE MOVIE!!! It rocks. If you love the Utena series, then be sure not to miss this one!!