Uta Kata

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Manatsu and Ichika

Ichika Tachibana is an ordinary 14-year old girl who one day finds that her mobile phone wound up on the other side of a huge mirror at school. When she tries to retrieve it, she sees another girl inside the mirror, who promptly exits it. This girl, Manatsu, promises to take care of her for the summer holiday, as long as Ichika does her "homework" for her.

Being Ichika's reflection and representation of a part of her, Manatsu has some outward semblance to Ichika and shares some of her fears and likes, but is more outspoken and a lot less serious. Ichika takes her home and finds that her parents are strangely willing to accept this girl in their house.

In the following weeks strange things happen related to the yin-yang shaped charm that Ichika received from Sei, one of her homework tutors. Through this charm she can summon spirits that represent various earth elements (called Djinn), so she can see the world through their eyes – which, incidentally, is the "homework" that Manatsu is supposed to do.

This thrills her immensely at first, but the more she uses this power the more she finds that it comes with a high cost, since she starts seeing herself and the world in an increasingly negative light. Ichika also appears to have had dreams about Manatsu for most of her life, but she can't quite remember what she tried to say to her.

Uta Kata starts out as a seemingly ordinary Magical Girl show, but fairly quickly shifts toward a much more serious tone, when Ichika faces some big issues regarding the use of her powers and how they affect her and her surroundings. The 12-episode anime, broadcasted in 2004, had quite an ambigious ending that left some questions unanswered. The DVD-release contained an extra OVA episode in an attempt to bring some more closure to the story. The character designs and animation style are hallmarks of gímik, a creative threesome consisting of director Keiji Gotoh, character designer Megumi Kadonosono and screenwriter Hidefumi Kimura, who are perhaps better known for their work on Kiddy Grade and Kiddy Girl-AND.

Of special note is the fact that all of the costumes that Ichika transforms into (twelve of them - one for each episode) have been designed by different artists, known for their work on other manga, anime or figurines. Also notable is the attention to the beautiful scenery of real-life Kamakura, especially used to great effect in the beach scenes.

In August 2010, six years after its original Japanese broadcast, Section 23 Films announced a North American release of the series. And the Fandom Rejoiced.

Tropes used in Uta Kata include:

• Abusive Parents: Satsuki's step-father.
• Anime First: A one-volume manga adaptation, containing a significantly higher amount of Fan Service, was released after the series.
• Baker's Dozen: To promote the DVD release, a thirteenth episode was produced, serving as an epilogue to the story.
• Beach Episode: Two of 'em, plus an additional swimming pool episode.
• Between My Legs: Manatsu's legs frame Ichika during several of her transformations.
• Bishounen: Practically every male character on the show. But mostly Sei and Kai.
• Bittersweet Ending
• Blue and Orange Morality: Saya operates according to a very odd set of rules.
• Book Ends: The TV series starts and ends in autumn with Ichika remembering Manatsu.
• Break the Cutie: And how. Happens to Ichika over the course of the series, but many of the supporting characters arguably qualify.
• But Now I Must Go: Manatsu and Kai, in the OVA
• Cherry Blossoms
• Christmas Episode: The OVA.
• Class Trip
• Clingy MacGuffin
• Cloning Blues: Sort of, if you see Manatsu as Ichika's clone.
• Coming of Age Story
• Curtains Match the Window: Michiru.
• Dark Is Not Evil: The Djinn of Darkness, despite coming late in the series and being rather forbidding-looking, is one of Ichika's more pleasant transformations.
• Distant Finale: In the OVA.
• Driven to Suicide: Ichika seriously contemplates it at one point.
• Dreaming of Things to Come: Ichika's prophetic dreams about Manatsu.
• Elemental Powers, especially:
  • Blow You Away
  • Petal Power
  • Shock and Awe
  • Making a Splash
• Emotionless Girl: Michiru, somewhat. Though not actually emotionless, she does fulfill most of the trope requirements.
• Extraordinarily Empowered Girl
• Fan Service
• Festival Episode
• Foot Focus: Episode 4. The girls find themselves at an old summer camp, and as soon as Manatsu runs inside one of the cabins without shoes, she finds her socks covered in a thin film of dirt. Moments later, all girls bunking in the cabin have stripped off their shoes and socks to clean it barefoot.
• Furo Scene: A few, but never blatantly Fan Service-y.
• Genki Girl: Satsuki, although not in a classical over-the-top sense. Manatsu is rather genki too.
• Girlish Pigtails: Manatsu
• Glowing Eyes of Doom: Ichika
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: Just about every single outfit design, from the school uniforms to the swimwear. However, said designs are completely overshadowed by Ichika's breathtaking magical wardrobe.
• Invisible to Normals: The Djinn, also Manatsu at first.
  • Saya can also make herself invisible, although Michiru's little sister Rui (and Michiru herself) can still see her.
• I See Dead People: Michiru can sense spirits. When her friends joke that this is why she doesn't go near the sea, she doesn't disabuse them.
• Kimodameshi
• I Have the High Ground: Saya.
• Last Kiss: Both Ichika/Manatsu and Sei/Kai, in the final episode.
• Lighthouse Point
• Lucky Charms Title: Note that while it's commonly written (typed) as Uta~Kata, it actually uses the much more rare reverse tilde: Uta∽Kata. As for what that symbol means, God only knows.
• Male Gaze: Every other scene.
• Magical Girl
• Magic Mirror
• Meaningful Name: Manatsu can be written with the kanji for "midsummer" (真夏), indicating the time in which she appeared to Ichika.
  • The kanji for "summer" also appears in Ichika's name (一夏), which literally means "one summer".
• Memento MacGuffin: Manatsu's mirror shard and her soap bubble pipe.
• Miko: Michiru and her younger sister Rui.
• Mood Whiplash
• Motif: Cell phones play an important role in many of the episodes. Ichika also uses hers to carry the yin-yang charm.
• Multiple Demographic Appeal
• Mundane Utility: At first, Ichika uses her powers for fairly mundane tasks, like finding her father's lost watch or retrieving the scattered papers of a windblown school report.
• Mysterious Watcher: Saya
• Old School Building: Setting for the first episode.
• Ordinary High School Student: Sei and Kai.
• Painful Transformation
• Paint It Black: Ichika's final costume is a black-coloured inversion of the white one she wears in the Opening Theme.
• Panty Shot
• Parental Abandonment: Satsuki's mother and stepfather are almost always away.
• Pinky Swear
• Plot-Based Voice Cancellation
• Proper Tights with a Skirt: Michiru in her school uniform.
• Purple Eyes: Michiru.
• Real Place Background: Most of the show takes place in Kamakura.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Ichika
• The Reveal: Several, actually.
• Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Although more sisterly overall, the relationship between Manatsu and Ichika sometimes seems to go in that direction. It's more blatant in the manga adaptation, though. Satsuki and Keiko also count.
• Sadistic Choice: In the final episode, Saya forces Ichika to choose between her own death and the death of everyone else in the world. She Takes A Third Option
• Scenery Porn: Using Kamakura as the setting tends to invoke this.
• Secret Test of Character: Apparently, Saya is tasked by some unknown higher authority to test human children. However, the rules of these tests are that the children may not be let in on the fact that they're being tested.
• The Seven Mysteries: The mirror is one of them. The others aren't important (or mentioned).
• Shrines and Temples: Just throwing a rock in Kamakura will likely make it land in one of those places.
• Snow Means Love: In the OVA
• Spirit World
• Taken for Granite: Sei, by Saya
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Saya
• Transformation Sequence: A completely different one for each of Ichika's costumes. They gradually become less and less elaborate as the series goes on (for symbolic reasons, rather than budget). Manatsu also gets a short one which is shown a couple of times.
• Transformation Trinket: The yin-yang charm. Unusually, it doesn't require a catchphrase to activate it.
• Twelve-Episode Anime: It also has a prostitute OVA.
• Underboobs: Episode 3's costume.
• What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Sei and Ichika get crucified against the mirror.
• With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Continued use of the djinn's powers takes a heavy toll on Ichika's emotional and psychological health.
• You Can't Fight Fate
• You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Satsuki's is blue, Manatsu's is green, and Michiru's is purple.