Revolutionary Girl Utena: Difference between revisions

'''''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena''']]'' (''Shoujo Kakumei Utena'') is the ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'' of the [[Shoujo]] category—andcategory... and [[Distaff Counterpart|not by accident]]. The show started airing in the spring of 1997 and flourished on Japanese airwaves with a timeslottime slot of 6 PM on TV-Tokyo every Wednesday until Christmas Eve of the same year. At Kobe Animation '97, it won the "Best TV Animation" award. A previous work by Chiho Saito, ''[[Kanon By Chiho Saito(manga)|Kanon]]'', possibly{{verify}} served as the inspiration for several of the themes and tropes in this story.

* A five-volume manga;: though chronologically the first version (serialization began in mid-to-late 1996), the manga and the anime were simultaneous projects.

* A 39-episode anime series;: considered the "core" canon.

** A [[Sega Saturn]] game set in the middle of the anime's first arc, ''Four Days in Ohtori: Itsuka Kakumeisareru Monogatari''.<ref>A Story That Will One Day Be Revolutionized.</ref>

** A single-volume manga based on the animated feature;: this is considered to be yet ''another'' alternate continuity, as it diverges from the movie's story.

* A pair of [[Light Novel|light novels]]—one — one focusing on Miki, the other on Saionji—publishedSaionji — published in 1998;: perhaps [[No Export for You|the most obscure part]] of the ''Utena'' canon, these light novels make up another alternate continuity (though they bear the closest resemblance to the original manga).

On the day of her parents' funeral, seven-year-old Utena Tenjou meets a prince on a white horse. The prince gives Utena a signet ring, which he says will one day lead her back to him. Overwhelmed with emotion, young Utena decides that she, too, will become a prince. Seven years later, Utena has followed the trail of her prince to the exclusive Ohtori Academy—andAcademy... and one fateful day, she defends the honor of her best friend, Wakaba, from upperclassman [[Jerkass|Kyoichi Saionji]]. Saionji calls Utena to the dueling arena at the back of the school, where Utena's ring opens the door to a private arena. After a duel with Saionji, Utena becomes enmeshed in a fencing tournament with the members of the Ohtori Student Council. The goal of this tournament is to gain "The Power to Revolutionize the World"—as... as well as the hand of the mysterious Rose Bride, Anthy Himemiya. At the young age of fourteen, Utena is forced to deal with a power she is not ready to control and a world she never dreamed of being a part of.

Utena makes both friends and enemies at Ohtori while participating in the duels, and she grows in skill with each win. As she and Anthy [[Les Yay|slowly become friends]], Utena learns Anthy has a connection to "End of the World", the mysterious force behind the duels. The story is properly set in motion in the show's second arc (the "Black Rose" arcSaga), when acting school chairman Akio Ohtori takes an interest in Utena—andUtena... and [[It Got Worse|everything promptly goes to hell]].

''Utena'' lovingly includes, describes, averts, inverts, and subverts a large number of anime tropes, the most notable of which are [[Stock Footage]] (Utena's [[Once an Episode]] [[Transformation Sequence]]) and [[Clip Show]] episodes (two of the three contain major plot twists essential to the story). The series is known for its striking visual design—influenced by Takurazuka[[Takarazuka]], Noh theater plays, fairy tale imagery, and classic shoujo manga—pieced together by director Kunihiko Ikuhara. It's also known for the lush soundtrack by J. A. Seazer, which mixes classical orchestral themes with outre choral harmonies and surrealist rock.

The show features commentary on (and references to) existing works, including—butincluding — but not limited to -- ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', [[Carl Jung]], [[Sigmund Freud]], the House of Borgia, ''[[Paradise Lost]]'', [[William Shakespeare]], [[Cicero]], [http://www.theoi.com/Text/OvidMetamorphoses9.html#7 Ovid's Metamorphoses], multi-episode obscure visual references to Manet, and numerous nods to the existentialist German war novel ''[[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Demian]]''. Underneath these themes, Utena is fundamentally a coming-of-age story, exploring whether it's possible to stick to childish ideals in order to defeat an opponent who is practically the living embodiment of adulthood.

The 1999 movie ''Shoujo Kakumei Utena: Adolescence Mokushiroku''<ref>Literally, "The Apocalypse of Adolescence".</ref> (''The Adolescence of Utena'' or simply ''Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie'' in the States), by contrast, makes the romantic nature of Utena and Anthy's relationship plainly obvious. Most of the characters are dramatically changed in both appearance and characterization, and the storyline is just as drastically altered (it is not so much an adaptation of the series, as it is a complete recreation). The movie is well-known for its [[Gainax Ending]]—as... as well as its [[True Art Is Incomprehensible|Gainax Beginning and Gainax Middle]]; it could be an [[Rule of Symbolism|allegory on Mahayana Buddhism, Jungian philosophy, gnostic belief]], or it could just be [[Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory|about lesbians]]. The series is often regarded as the [[Shoujo]] equivalent of ''Evangelion''; the movie would then be Shoujo's ''End of Evangelion'' equivalent. (Bothboth the series and the movie were directed by Ikuhara, which explains why the movie is as mindbending as the series.).

As a final note: [[Word of God]] says that '''''all''''' interpretations of ''Utena''{{'}}s symbolism are true. (Ikuhara ''could'' be perpetrating [[Trolling Creator|an elaborate joke]], though.).

* [[Absurdly Powerful Student Council]]: Almost every episode, the Council members ride in a fancy elevator to meet in a rose-decorated tower to discuss the upcoming worldwide revolution. Then they [[My Kung Fu Is Stronger Than Yours|swordfightsword-fight]] for a chance to control said revolution. That's about as absurdly powerful as you can get. Beautifully subverted when it turns out that {{spoiler|Akio and Anthy created the Duels for for the sole purpose of benefiting Akio, and not even Utena really had a fighting chance to become the final Champion as long as Anthy remained the Rose Bride.}}.

* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Anthy can power up the Sword of Dios/{{spoiler|Utena's soul sword}}; included in said power-up is this property, although it's only demonstrated during Utena's duels with Touga. {{spoiler|To put it into perspective, Utena's powered-up soul sword can easily split approaching cars without them losing velocity.}}.

* [[Age-Appropriate Angst]]: Played with. Though most of the cast are teenagers, reasons for angsting and levels of angst will vary depending on the personality and maturity levels of different characters. Then it's played straight with Akio and Anthy, {{spoiler|who've lived for what's implied to be centuries and have universal problems proportional to their humongous ages.}}.

* [[All of the Other Reindeer]]: Towards a certain [[Mysterious Waif]] ... Don't expect her to take everything lying down, though. And Nanami would've fared better if she'd known that Anthy has faced [[Hell|far, far worse]] than any bullying her little group of schoolgirls could've come up with.

* [[Alternate Continuity]]: [[The Movie]].

* [[And the Adventure Continues...]]: {{spoiler|The anime ends with Anthy departing on a quest to find the missing Utena.}}.

* [[Anti-Villain]]: Nearly every character that can be considered a villain at any point in the story is this except for {{spoiler|Akio}}.

* [[Arc Words]]: "Revolutionize''All the world!" encompassesover the entireplace'', series but each ofto the threepoint (or four, {{spoiler|depending on whether you considerwhere the thirdshow andoccasionally fourththrows arcsin distinct}})parodies haveof theirits own arc words for humorous effect.

** From the Student Council arcSaga: "If the egg's shell does not break, the chick will die without being born. We are the chick; the world is our egg. If the world's shell does not break, we will die without being born. Break the world's shell!"

** From the AkioBlack arcRose Saga: "TheDeeper... endsgo ofdeeper..." and "the world,way Ibefore willyou show...has tobeen youprepared."

* [[Autobots Rock Out]]: With [[Ominous Latin Chanting]] to boot. Try not to enjoy the Black Rose ArcSaga songs.

* [[Back for the Dead]]: {{spoiler|Ruka.}}.

* [[Backstory]]: [[Character Development|Everyone has one.]].

** Tsuwabuki, of all people. Sure, the main characters spend pretty much all their free time having sword fights to bring about the World Revolution (Whateverwhatever the heck ''that'' means), but all they ever really do is [[Clothing Damage|try to knock something off each other’s shirts]]. Nine-year-old Tsuwabuki, on the other hand, gets jumped by ''three'' high-schoolers, and he takes them all. That kid has got ''spunk''.

** Hell, Utena herself. Even outside of the duels, she's a really tough chick both in personality and in physical ability. She can jump, she can punch, she's a demon on the basketball court, and she can beat trained duelists with broken swords, bamboo practice swords, and a ''pitchfork''. And let's not get started on the truly ''epic'' move she pulls in the last episode...

* [[Big Bad]]: End of the World/{{spoiler|Akio.}}.

* [[Big Brother Instinct]]: ''Brutally'' avertedAverted. Dios {{spoiler|ignored Anthy when he was too busy [[Chronic Hero Syndrome|saving the rest of the world]]. Then [[Face Heel Turn|he became Akio]] and decided that he wouldn't mind having his sister [[It Got Worse|stabbed by swords for all eternity]].}}.

* [[The Big Damn Kiss]]: {{spoiler|Between Utena and Anthy at the end of the movie.}}.

* {{spoiler|[[Bittersweet Ending]]}}: {{spoiler|Utena has disappeared and the entire campus will eventually forget about her. But the revolution ''did'' occur--: Anthy is inspired to finally end her cycle of abuse, and go out into the world to find Utena again. And the rest of the Student Council seems to have, if not had their own revolution, at least resolved their issues.}}.

* [[Book Ends]]: The very last episode features a montage of "everyday" scenes paralleling events that happened to Utena and the other characters throughout the last year. As Anthy points out, the ending is not as [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet]] as it initially appears --: {{spoiler|the character dynamics that Utena changed are things that can't be undone}}.

* [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick]]: More or less literally—theliterally: the asparagus sandwich may never be the same.

* [[Break the Cutie]]: [[Everything's Better with Princesses]]? [[Subverted Trope|I don't think so.]]. Weaklings in ''Utena'' either stay weak and get into severe trouble, or they try to seize power in incredibly unscrupulous ways.

** One of the shadow plays features a scientist and her robot, [[Non Sequitur Scene|which every now and then mutters some nonsense about catching monkeys.]]. A few episodes later, there's an entirely unrelated skit with talking animals, and it ends when a robot appears out of nowhere [[Crowning Moment of Funny|and kidnaps the monkey.]].

** In the first episode, Utena asks Saionji why there's an upside-down floating castle in the middle of the forest. He says, "It's a kind of mirage. Think of it as a trick of the light." ''Thirty-seven'' episodes later, {{spoiler|Akio turns off the planetarium projector.}}.

* [[Chalk Outline]]: The arena during the Black Rose arcSaga becomes filled with red silhouettes of dead bodies. Rather creepily, whenever a Black Rose duelist is defeated, they collapse perfectly into one of the silhouettes.

** Remember where Mikage gets his {{spoiler|Black Rose Seals}}...}}?

* [[Cinderella (novel)|Cinderella]]: Subverted, of course. At first, Keiko seems to follow this tale straight to the point of parody, Nanami being a sorta "evil stepmother". {{spoiler|But then her attitude to her "prince" appears to be much more "rose-bridish" than "cinderella-esque". And as she gets close to Touga at last, she switches roles with Nanami, starting to humiliate her. To crown the subversion, she ends up beaten and "princeless".}}.

* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Nanami, Kozue, Shiori, and tragically {{spoiler|Anthy}}. Each person is [[Deconstructed]].

* [[Clip Show]]: Episodes 13 and 33 summarize the first and third arcs, respectively, while surrounding the clips with intrigue, surrealism, and plot twists. Episode 24 is a humorous version, and compiles all of Nanami's [[Butt Monkey]] moments as [[Framing Device|diary entries written by Tsuwabuki.]].

* [[Color-Coded for Your Convenience]]: Each major character has a color associated with them. [[Rule of Symbolism|Each color, in turn, represents the biggest emotional problems they face.]]. Similarly, Utena's white rose when she faces Black Rose Duelists is a classic case of White Hat Black Hat.

* [[Conspicuously Light Patch]]: Utena's locker in the Black Rose arcSaga.

* [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]]: The series really toys with this trope. There's the deity Dios, a literal prince on a white horse, who occasionally comes down from the heavens to give Utena his strength. The antagonist is {{spoiler|Akio ("Morning Star", as in, Satan)}}, who clearly defines himself as Dios' evil counterpart. It turns out {{spoiler|they were once the same person, who was worshiped as a god in a medieval society, but unable to listen to everyone's prayers and fulfill his duties as a deity. His sister Anthy took the blame and was symbolically crucified as a Jesus-figure, still to this day feeling the pain of her punishment, but absolving the people of their sins}}.

* [[Damsel in Distress]]: Subverted. Anthy is introduced as one, {{spoiler|, but it is eventually shown that there's more to her than it first seems. Different characters shoved her between the different stereotypes until it ''finally'' occurred to Utena that her personality didn't have to be so flat.}}. Meanwhile, Utena is in constant danger of becoming one herself, and everyone else has deep psychological problems which they must either be saved from or save themselves from. Failure in either is {{spoiler|is what Akio counts on to keep them in the Duels.}}.

* [[Dead All Along]]: {{spoiler|Mikage and Mamiya; Touga in the movie}}.

* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: [[Crapsack World|''Everyone will suffer'']]. Only some will [[Ten-Minute Retirement|survive]], {{spoiler|and [[Fallen Hero|Akio is not among them]].}}.

* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Done several times throughout the series, though a particularly notable example is the filler episode "Nanami's Egg,", a metaphor for the onset of puberty.

** The case with {{spoiler|Akio}} is more complex than it seems at the first glance. It's not physically abusive (in the conventional sense, at least), and emotionally, the two torment each other bitterly, even as they share shallow expressions of affection. {{spoiler|Akio}} is in the position of power, but on the other hand, he's utterly dependent on Anthy, and she knows it. It's a crazy, messed up relationship of passive aggression and emotional cruelty. {{spoiler|It's Anthy who ultimately desires to break the chain of abuse, and Akio who tries to cling to it, however; Utena is the impetus for Anthy finally breaking free and leaving Akio behind.}}.

* [[Downer Ending]]: Inverted. Most of the Black Rose episodes end with the Black Rose duelist happier off and with some [[Character Development]] for their trouble. {{spoiler|Wakaba's ends with her coming to see Saionji has left as she mutters an "I'm home" to herself.}}.

* [[Dramatic Irony]]: {{spoiler|Akio's plan to open the Rose Gate hinges on Anthy taking the Swords of Hate in his place so he can gain world revolution.}}. Let's just say he's [[Memetic Mutation|doing it wrong.]].

** The entire Black Rose ArcSaga. [[Love Hurts|Especially for Wakaba]].

* [[Driven to Suicide]]: Seems to be the case with {{spoiler|Akio}} in the movie and the movie manga. {{spoiler|Anthy}} also attempts this in the series.

* [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]]: {{spoiler|Akio in [[The Movie]]}}.

* [[Dude, She's Like, in a Coma]]: Kozue to Miki, when he's fallen asleep at the piano. Subverted in the movie, where {{spoiler|Anthy}} is pretending to be asleep.

'''All:''' FOR THE SAKE OF REVOLUTIONIZING THE WORLD! }}

* [[Everyone Is Bi]]: Most everyone is canonically or [[Ho Yay|hinted at]] being bisexual, although lip service is paid to heterosexuality as being the norm ("I'm a totally normal girl who wants a totally normal guy!"). Hilariously lampshaded when Touga, who is sleeping with Akio, tells Nanami, his sister, that only boy/girl romance is normal. {{spoiler|And proceeds to make out with her.}}.

* [[Fallen Hero]]: Series Metatropes -: [[Knight in Shining Armor|What makes a prince?]] [[Start of Darkness|And what causes said princes to fall?]] {{spoiler|Just ask Dios... turned Akio!}}!

** For a show with a fair amount of [[Fan Service]], the only bona fide nudity ends up being rather disturbing.

** Arguably, the entire Black Rose arcSaga is this, as it has very little to do with the main plot and ultimately only serves to {{spoiler|foreshadow the darkness of Akio's and Anthy's characters}}, which later scenes do anyway.

* [[Five-Man Band]]: Deconstructed. The Student Council are broken versions of their roles;: their ability to serve these roles are clouded by their own desires. However, they do teach Utena how to be the Prince: she learns each role from the counselor, and then rises to defeat them. Probably not coincidentally, each character's hair color matches the [[Sailor Fuku]] color of the respective 5MB in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.

** [[The Hero]]: Utena {{spoiler|and Akio and Dios --: the conflict over who is the true prince is the core of the plot.}}.

** [[The Lancer]]: Touga, a natural leader and prince candidate, distracted by his physical desire.

** [[The Big Guy]]: Saionji, a serious kendoka, distracted by his desire for controlling the spirit.

** [[The Smart Guy]]: Miki, a child prodigy, distracted by his desire for a shining emotion.

** [[Sixth Ranger]]: Nanami, who starts off so far out of the plot, it's funny, distracted by her own little world, {{spoiler|but still she manages to be the first one to figure out the plot}}, even after being turned into a cow.

* [[Forgotten First Meeting]]: {{spoiler|Utena met Anthy for the first time right after her parents died.}}.

* [[Friendly Enemies]]: Miki to Utena. {{spoiler|As the series moves towards its close, eventually most of the other Student Councilors follow suit.}}.

* [[Genre Busting]]: It's a complex, metaphorical coming of age story seen through the lens of Buddhism, Gnosticism, and Jungian philosophy. It also uses deconstructionist theory to tackle issues such as gender roles, the incest taboo, and binary principle. It also a complex look at the dark side of tropes and imagery associated with European fairy tales, such as the prince, the princess, and the wicked witch. It also is a surrealist dramedy observing the complicated interpersonal relationships between the students. It also is about lesbians. But we just like to say it's a [[Shojo]], and back away slowly. Pretty impressive for a TV series that states "From the Director of ''[[Sailor Moon]]''!" on its American DVD release.

* [[Girl A]]: Nanami's [[Girl Posse]] consists of Aiko (I), Yuuko (U), and Keiko (K). Of course the usual deconstruction sets in here when Keiko's desires are explored in the second arc, as is her jealousy of Nanami.

{{quote|{{spoiler|Scene''s''.}}.}}

* [[Gnosticism]]: Mentions of the Gnostic god Abraxas make the influence explicit, but the overall tone of the series reflects perennial Gnostic themes.

''Kissing love and true your heart'' }}

** The first clipshow episode gives Utena's seven duels up to that point French names: ''amitié'', ''choix'', ''raison'', ''amour'', ''adoration'', ''conviction'', and ''soi''.

* [[Hard Light]]: {{spoiler|Akio's planetarium projector can project it, if episode 38's duel is anything to go by.}}.

** In the second episode, the only person Utena has eyes for is the dream-like prince who saved her from her [[Despair Event Horizon]]. Everyone else, female or male, is only peripheral to her. By the last arc, {{spoiler|Utena loves Anthy, but isn't sure if she wants to continue fighting for a girl who is [[Brother-Sister Incest|less than what she imagined her to be]]. Juri throughout most of the series loved and defended Shiori no matter how badly Shiori treated her, and the above quote refers to when Utena tells Juri that she doesn't want to become a [[Love Martyr]] like Juri once was.}}.

** {{spoiler|Touga in the manga.}}.

** It's implied that {{spoiler|neither Miki nor Juri have much interest in the End of the World}} since, after their personal problems are resolved, they stop being antagonistic to Utena (and in {{spoiler|Miki}}'s case, they're overtly friendly). Even {{spoiler|Saionji}} is not really evil, just an easily manipulable jerk. Only Akio and [[The Dragon|Touga]] {{spoiler|in the anime}} remain villainous until the end, {{spoiler|though Touga has his reasons}}...}}

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: {{spoiler|A battered, exhausted, and freshly-stabbed Utena saves Anthy's soul by opening the Rose Gate with her bare hands, but ends up getting the stabbing from the Million Swords in Anthy's place; Utena's willingness to do everything possible to help her friend is ultimately the key to helping Anthy break free of her relationship with Akio and leave Ohtori.}}.

* [[Human Resources]]: {{spoiler|The Black Rose Circle's plot is apparently powered by the corpses of the 100 boys who died in a fire at Nemuro Memorial Hall.}}.

* [[I Kiss Your Foot]]: ... [[Subverted Trope|So I Can Sinisterly Manipulate You Into Submitting To My Every Whim!]]

* [[Impaled with Extreme Prejudice]]: What the medieval townspeople do to {{spoiler|Anthy}} in flashback [[Up to Eleven]].

** The moment where he's first implied to be {{spoiler|sleeping with Anthy}} is a defining one. As is the part where {{spoiler|Anthy is revealed to be a witch, with Akio as her 'jailor'.}}.

** In his ''debut episode'', if you really pay attention to [[The Stinger]], {{spoiler|the fact that he set his incredibly self-conscious girlfriend up to be [[Mind Raped]] for the purpose of testing Utena.}}.

* [[Knight in Sour Armor]]: {{spoiler|Utena. By the last arc, Utena loses faith in her own goodness because she realizes that she only became a prince in order to find something to live for after her parents died. She loves Anthy, but is not sure whether she wants to continue fighting for a less than pure girl who sleeps with her brother. In the end, though, Utena realizes that no matter what Anthy does, she'll always get the short end of the stick as long as she stays in Ohtori. She can manipulate as many students as she wants, but at the end of the day, she'll still be the Rose Bride openly stepped on by every Duelist she comes across, and the only one in the world who is perpetually impaled by a swarm of animated swords.}}.

* [[Lethal Chef]]: Anthy, who cooks up not poison, but ''explosives'' with magical side effects. Unless she's making shaved ice, which is safe. Subverted with Akio, {{spoiler|whose magnificent cooking skills only belie his [[Big Bad]] status.}}. In the comic, it's Chu-Chu's fault.

* [[Let's Get Dangerous]]: The Black Rose arcSaga is pretty much comprised of [[Not So Harmless|the supporting cast bucking up and trying to kill the Rose Bride]]. Many a jaw dropped when this included {{spoiler|Tsuwabuki}} and even '' {{spoiler|Wakaba}}''.

* [[Like Brother and Sister]]: Miki and Juri's friendship has some hints of this; [[Fanon]] and fanfictionfan fiction have been known to take this in [[Crack Ship|non-platonic directions]].

* [[Literal Metaphor]]: "Utena is the vehicle through which Anthy escapes from Ohtori"." And then the movie came along...

* [[Long-Haired Pretty Boy]]: Akio, Touga, and Saionji.

* [[Loophole Abuse]]: Ain't no rule a girl can't wear a boy's uniform! [[Custom Uniform|Despite, you know, it not being the boy's uniform either]]... this is given more detail in the manga, where the exact rule Utena is manipulating states that a student must wear a uniform from the school's designer. It may not be the usual boy's uniform, but it's by the same designer, all right.

** {{spoiler|Utena idolizes Dios and loves Anthy, but gets tempted by Touga and sleeps with Akio, who is engaged to Kanae and sleeping with Kanae's mother.}}.

** {{spoiler|Anthy mourns Dios, has love/hate feelings towards Utena, sleeps with Akio, and is pursued by Saionji and Miki.}}.

** {{spoiler|Saionji, who may-or-may-not return Wakaba's feelings, also may-or-may-not love Touga. Touga may-or-may-not love Saionji back, but seduces hordes of schoolgirls anyways and attracts both Keiko and Nanami. Also, Touga sleeps with Akio.}}.

** {{spoiler|Wakaba's friend, Tatsuya loves her, and Wakaba may-or-may-not love him back, in addition to her love for Saionji. Also, Wakaba may-or-may-not love Utena in more than a platonic way.}}.

** {{spoiler|Tsuwabuki loves Nanami, but Nanami has feelings for Touga, who has no problem with kissing her.}}.

** {{spoiler|Tsuwabuki's friend Mari is jealous of the attention that Tsuwabuki pays to Nanami and Tsuwabuki may-or-may-not like Mari back. Interestingly, Nanami seems to be jealous of Tsuwabuki's friendship with Mari, in spite of being in love with Touga.}}.

** {{spoiler|Kozue fools around with lots of boys, sleeps with Touga (and quite likely Akio as well -... at the very least, she goes on a date with him and rides in his car) and kisses Anthy at one point, but actually loves Miki; meanwhile, Miki himself is implied to be molested by his piano teacher.}}.

** {{spoiler|Mikage once loved Tokiko, who was seduced by Akio, and now loves Mamiya, who is Anthy in disguise (kind of).}}.

** {{spoiler|Meanwhile, Juri, Shiori, and Ruka have their own love triangle all to themselves, but Juri also has lots of subtext with Utena, and Juri may-or-may-not love Miki in the movie, and Akio manipulates the emotions of all of the above to keep them in the Duels.}}.

* [[Love Redeems]]: {{spoiler|Anthy to a huge extent, and Touga to a lesser extent, though whether or not they make full [[Heel Face Turn]]s is [[Alternate Character Interpretation|up for debate]].}}.

* [[Loving a Shadow]]: Everyone but Akio. Let's see... there's {{spoiler|Miki-to-Kozue, Juri-to-Shiori, Shiori-to-Ruka, Saionji-to-Touga, Nanami-to-Touga, Touga-to-Utena, Utena-to-Dios, Utena-to-Anthy, Saionji-to-Anthy, Miki-to-Anthy, Mikage-to-Anthy, and finally Utena-to-Akio and Anthy-to-Akio for a time. Had fun reading that? Fortunately, all of the relationships are Deconstructed and have well-developed backstories to keep them from being repetitive. Not to mention that no two of them evolve the same way. Utena/Anthy is especially unique.}}.

* [[Madonna-Whore Complex]]: Deconstructed. {{spoiler|"Women who cannot become princesses have no choice but to become witches."}}

* [[Magical Girl]]: {{spoiler|[[Defied Trope|Hugely defied]]. The defining trait of all [[Super Sentai]] [[Magical Girl]] series is that [[What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?|altruism and unconditional love will always save the world]], but the biggest prince in the story ends up as the series' [[Big Bad]], and all of Utena's strength and purity can't even save one [[Damsel in Distress]] if said [[Damsel in Distress]] won't break away from centuries of habits to save herself.}}. Also, Utena is more of a Magical Warrior than a conventional [[Magical Girl]].

* [[Malevolent Architecture]]: In the movie, {{spoiler|the castle. It's actually all [[Base on Wheels|on wheels]] which constantly move and try to crush whatever is going through them.}}.

* [[Man of Wealth and Taste]]: {{spoiler|Akio}}.

* [[Mental World]]: The arena takes on aspects of this during the Black Rose arc;Saga: it becomes filled with school desks and atop each one are identical copies of some item important to Utena's opponent.

** Let's just say that the series becomes more and more of a [[Mind Screw]] with each arc. It starts pretty normal, starts losing it in the Black Rose arcSaga, and becomes a metaphor/symbolism storm in the final arc—andarc... and the movie is a mental trainwreck, plain and simple.

* [[Mood Whiplash]]: The filler episode with ''the boxing kangaroo'' is followed by an episode where an [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] agonizes over her sexuality. This is followed by a [[Freaky Friday]] episode, which is followed by a flashback {{spoiler|where eight-year-old Utena hides in a coffin and begs to die.}}.

* [[More Than Mind Control]]: The Black Rose Saga, and {{spoiler|Akio does everything in his power to keep doing this to Anthy.}}.

* [[Mrs. Robinson]]: Arguably, this is just {{spoiler|Akio's [[Anything That Moves]] at work, but he and his mother-in-law-to-be definitely get it on. Poor Kanae.}}.

* [[Never Grew Up]]: {{spoiler|Ohtori Academy is apparently a twisted version of [[Peter Pan|Neverland]]. Akio, Mikage, and (possibly) Anthy chose to stay, and the metaphor for "growing up" is "graduating".}}.

* [[Nonuniform Uniform]]: Utena wears the boys' uniform instead of the girls', much to the chagrin of her teacher after Utena justifies this with a loophole from the school rulebook. To further this trope, Utena's boys uniform does not look like the others: where the standard boys uniform is a light-green jacket and pants, Utena's jacket is dark blue with red shorts. In the manga, her uniform originally consisted of a pink jacket and shorts.

* [[Not Blood Siblings]]: Nanami is crushed after finding out she and her brother Touga are both adopted and not blood related after all. {{spoiler|This is then subverted when it turns out that Touga was just playing with her head --: while they ''are'' adopted, they were adopted from the same family and thus actually ''are'' blood siblings. For the record: Thisthis is the [[Double Subversion]] of the inversion of a trope --: a prime example of how [[Mind Screw]]y this show is.}}).

* [[Ominous Pipe Organ]]: [http://youtu.be/rCJZ4ufr_Pc "Idea of Memory"] and [http://youtu.be/7Vw6_ARIC0I "Legend: The God's Name Is Abraxas".].

* [[One Dialogue, Two Conversations]]: In the episode "Nanami’sNanami's Egg", Nanami and Touga have a conversation where she asks him if he would prefer a boy or a girl. Nanami talks about a kid (which she thinks will get hatched from an egg she got... [[It Makes Sense in Context]]); Touga thinks she's talking about boyfriends and girlfriends, so when she says she would like a girl, Touga ends up thinking she's a lesbian.

* [[Our Ghosts Are Different]]: {{spoiler|Mikage may be one. Touga, and possibly Akio, in the movie.}}.

* [[Out-of-Clothes Experience]]: {{spoiler|Anthy is in the nude as she takes the swords of hatred.}}.

* [[Painting the Fourth Wall]]: To understand ''Utena'', here's a hint: Thethe Shadow Girl plays are like simpler, almost childish versions of the darker events and emotions hidden in each episode. They exist as the series' [[Greek Chorus]].

** The first ending credits sequence gives Utena a pink version of Anthy's dress, {{spoiler|which she actually wears in episode 38. The third arc gives a blue dress to Kozue and a purple dress to Shiori.}}.

** {{spoiler|Akio and Anthy wield a black version of the Sword of Dios/Utena's soul sword during the endgame.}}.

* [[Person of Holding]]: Anthy initially, but {{spoiler|Utena and the other duelists also become this.}}.

* [[Rape as Drama]]: The true nature of {{spoiler|Anthy and Akio's}} relationship goes from squicky [[Fan Disservice]] to flat-out heinous when, at the end of episode 25, {{spoiler|Akio rapes Anthy when she hesitates to "come to him" as she usually does. It is later '''heavily''' implied that he has used force on her during their nighttime meetings more than once.}}).

* [[Real Women Never Wear Dresses]]: Both in the fandom and [[Deconstructed]] in the series. Some people hate Anthy because she's a weak, outwardly emotionless doll who claims to have no opinions outside of the Victor's whims. Others hate Anthy because they think she's ''too'' powerful and manipulative and evil. And some just hate her because she gets to sleep with Akio, and they don't. Interestingly, all the kinds of Anthy-haters in the fandom are present in the story: Saionji hates her because he thinks she's not obedient enough. (Wellwell, he loves her too, but beats her often enough to make ya wonder.). Juri and Kanae feelsfeel threatened both by her [[Extreme Doormat]] persona ''and'' the fear that she might be more sinister, and several of the Black Rose Duelists envy her for "being loved" and "stealing their love interests". Then there's Akio, who needs to keep "his woman" under his control in order to keep playing the [[Big Bad]] of the show... Ikuhara really knows how society views feminine archetypes, and those views are reflected even in the ''Utena'' fandom.

** It's not just the haters;, it's her fans too. Some fans, like the characters Miki or Utena (at first, Utena), see her as a classic [[Damsel in Distress]] archetype for them to rescue/defend on the forums in order to boost their own egos. However, it should be noted that people who view Anthy as such are much rarer than the Anthy-Is-Satan-Fan, because the series does eventually make clear that Anthy is most definitely not an emotionless doll.

{{quote|{{spoiler|By all means, stay in this cozy coffin of yours and continue to play prince. But I have to go now. She isn't gone at all, she's merely vanished from your world.}}.}}

* [[Refusal of the Call]]: Utena tries to lose her second duel on purpose. {{spoiler|It proves too difficult.}}.

* [[Ret-Gone]]: Sort of. {{spoiler|When Utena defeats Nemuro, it appears that Nemuro wasn't erased from history, but all signs of the plot he carried on after his death were.}}.

* [[Rose-Haired Girl]]: Utena.

* [[Royally Screwed-Up]]{{context}}

* [[Sadistic Choice]]: Really, can you blame how {{spoiler|Anthy}} turned out when her choice is between {{spoiler|angry mobs with fire and ''freaking magic swords''}}?

* [[Samaritan Syndrome]]: Deconstructed and inverted in the most horrific fashion. Ever heard of [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|Shooting The Shaggy Dog?]]? {{spoiler|No wonder Dios becomes [[Fallen Hero|Akio]].}}.

* [[Scary Shiny Glasses]]: Anthy, which serves to underline {{spoiler|when she's being complicit with her brother's manipulative plans}}. Also when she's ''pissed'' with him -: once, he even snaps at her with something almost approaching fear when she does this to him (along with a seemingly innocuous goodnight wish that really clashed with the scene).

* [[Sex as Rite-Ofof-Passage]]: The concept more than the usual trope, and arguably half the point of the show is to tear it down.

* [[Shaggy Dog Story]]: {{spoiler|Maybe not to everyone, but definitely Akio.}}.

** {{spoiler|Anthy, as the finale of the Black Rose arcSaga demonstrates.}}.

* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]: {{spoiler|The Myth of the Rose Bride was wrong on several different levels. Can you ''guess'' how many lives Akio must've ruined [[Face Heel Turn|since then?]]}}?

* [[Shotacon]]: {{spoiler|Touga and his father}} in the movie. When Touga flirts with Miki in the music room. Miki understood fully, as his [[Imagine Spot]] provides. Yeeaaaah.

* [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids]]: ''No'' character is innocent. Even Utena herself is far from ideal. [[Mind Screw|And yet... do they have to be?]]

* [[Start of Darkness]]: [[Deconstruction|How does one completely corrupt]] the [[The Messiah|strongest]] and [[Wide-Eyed Idealist|purest]] [[Knight in Shining Armor|Prince]] in the world? Hint: {{spoiler|Just ask Dios... turned Akio.}}.

* [[Stepford Smiler]]: {{spoiler|Anthy.}}.

* [[Stock Footage]]: Utena climbing to the arena (and several of her signature moves), Akio's highway scenes, and many others—itothers... it may hard to believe, but ''Utena''{{'}}s budget wasn't that much higher than ''[[Evangelion]]''{{'}}s.

** Of course, it wouldn't be ''Utena'' if it didn't subvert even this. The story about the little girl who lost her parents and met a prince that opens several episodes is repeated enough that most viewers will have memorized it... {{spoiler|except it is eventually revealed to be only partially truthful}}.

* [[Sympathy for the Devil]]: {{spoiler|Anthy arguably displays this towards Akio. To be fair, though, it may just be a case of misguided loyalty, and it's not entirely clear how much say she has in the matter.}}.

* [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo]]: Utena, despite having pink hair and being shorter than most of the cast. [[Broken Bird|Juri]] is a more direct example;: granted, she doesn't have dark hair, but neither does Utena.

* [[Tragic Hero]]: {{spoiler|Utena, Anthy, Dios, Ruka, Juri, and Mikage can all be argued.}}.

* [[Travel Cool]]: With Akio and his car, it's played way too straight in the series, yet subverted in the movie {{spoiler|where he has [[Freud Was Right|lost his key]] and takes a taxi}}.

* [[Umbrella of Togetherness]]: Between [[Girl Posse|Keiko]] and Touga in episode 21. Obviously, Nanami will have none of it and {{spoiler|expels her from all extracurricular organizations and has the rest of the [[Girl Posse]] ostracize her, which drives Keiko over the edge and causes her to become a Black Rose duelist.}}.

** Subverted;: when it is revealed that {{spoiler|Akio and Anthy are involved in an abusive, incestuous relationship}}, it is also implied or assumed that {{spoiler|Anthy loves Akio as more than a brother}}. But in both the TV series and the movie, Anthy {{spoiler|chooses the outside world and Utena and feels no remorse for leaving Akio behind}}.

** Played confusingly in the movie's manga, where {{spoiler|Anthy sees it as this, but Akio's guilt drives him to suicide}}; even so, {{spoiler|she still ultimately lets go of him, declaring that he's "only in [her] mind"}}.

** For the first part of the series, you can almost convince yourself that the whole show is going to be interesting, but mostly fun and lighthearted. Then during Episodeepisode 9, {{spoiler|we have a flashback to Utena more or less trying to kill herself when she was eight, the Upside-Down Castle nearly coming down and taking Anthy with it, and Saionji attempting to kill Utena and Anthy both}}. [[Captain Obvious|And then you can't.]]

** Episode 33, a [[Clip Show]] episode, which by its nature lulls the viewer into a false sense of boredom. {{spoiler|And then Akio has sex with Utena, and you've missed it if you blinked.}}.

** Surreal shows are full of dramatic flourishes and objects suddenly appearing in thin air. Touga, Saionji, and Akio are particularly found of this kind of [[Fan Service]], and Utena loves dramatic poses to show her powerful, princely nature.

* [[What the Hell, Townspeople?]]: Sure, townspeople! Go ahead and {{spoiler|[[Cold-Blooded Torture|stab your Messiah with a million swords]] just because he [[Chronic Hero Syndrome|worked himself sick trying to help you ungrateful bastards]]! What, he's hidden away? No worries! Just stab his sister with the million swords instead!}}! Arguably, that means us. Think about that.

* [[White Prince]]: Series Metatrope: Thethe Prince is the term given to the ''Utena'' [[Knight in Shining Armor]] equivalent. He ''always'' has to save the day; he has to be perfect. If not...

* [[Wicked Witch]]: Series Metatrope - : {{spoiler|Anthy is implied to be either a [[Wicked Witch]] or a [[Damsel in Distress]].}}.

* [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]]: Utena. And Dios before {{spoiler|[[Despair Event Horizon|he became Akio]].}}.

Triassic, Jurassic, Cretaceous'' }}

** Or ''[[Sailor Moon]]'' meets ''[[Highlander]]'' meets {{spoiler|''[[The Shawshank Redemption]]''}}. (Thinkthink about it).)

* [[Yaoi Guys]]: Touga,Mikage Saionjiand Mamiya, and[[The Akio.Reveal|though Someit scenesgets implycomplicated]]. MikiAkio and someTouga fanfics(and do''maybe'' more.Saionji Notas allwell) get into it later on, but most interactions arelike that aren't exactly lovey-dovey.

** TougaSaionji: RedGreen.

** SaionjiJuri: GreenOrange.

** NanamiMiki: CanaryLight yellowblue.

** MikiRuka: LightDark blue.

** RukaKozue: Dark blueIndigo.

** KozueShiori: IndigoRaspberry.

** ShioriKanae: RaspberryPale green.

** KanaeMitsuru: PaleDark greenyellow.

[[Category:The Renaissance Age of Animation{{PAGENAME}}]]

[[Category:NozomiAnime Entertainmentof the 1990s]]

[[Category:MangaEssential Anime]]

[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}The Nineties]]