The Terms of a Duelist

From light & fluffy to dark & sinister...I loved this show!!
One of the most intricately written animes I've ever watched; one of the most fun comedies I've ever enjoyed; one of the most intriguing horror stories I've ever experienced; one of the most captivating depictions of evil I've ever seen! By the time the hidden truth behind the plot is revealed, the story has grown to almost epic proportions. It's not just about good or evil *people* ... it's about Good or Evil itself!

A Junior High girl finds herself being drawn ever deeper into a strange series of ritual Duels for possession of the mysterious "Rose Bride." Whoever is engaged to the Bride, it is said, will inherit "The Power Of Miracles, the Power To Revolutionize the World." Motivated by a dimly remembered childhood meeting of fate with a strange Prince, Utena fights to protect the Bride from those who would use (abuse) her for their own pleasure or goals. But Utena doesn't accurately remember what really happened between her and her Prince, and...

Really weird, but in a good way
Utena is a strange, strange story. At its simplest, it is a fairy tale set on its head: the heroine, Utena, is a girl who wants to be the prince after being rescued by a prince when she was a little girl. Her goal leads her to Ohtori Academy, where she finds herself drawn into a series of sword duels for possession of the Rose Bride, another girl at the school. If that sounds odd, it is, but it's really the least bid of weirdness. For example, the wonderful soundtrack shifts between light classical and rock opera (for the duels). A castle hangs upside down from inside a building. Wild animals pop up unexpectedly all over the place. The whole thing is surreal; even the characters' eyes are drawn in a style which, by anime conventions, suggests they are dreaming or hallucinating.

This first disc contains 7 episodes (out of a total of 39, of which 13 are translated into English as of November, 2000). The stories introduce the characters and establish the initial paths of the...

A Real Sleeper Hit
When I saw the first volume at the video store, I was skeptical, but I'm glad I tried it. All though it seems marketed towards girls (with the pink boxes and all) it's good and interesting material no matter who you are. The plot is wonderful and strange, in fact, it's unlike anything I've ever seen. Anime has become a collection of cliches, with the most successful anime those which put those cliches together the best rather than being original (aka Escaflowne).

While a lot of the standard anime conventions are in here, there is a lot of new stuff, too. Most of the characters are based around personalities rather than a single character trait & a contrived tragic past (like we have in most anime). You won't find the "spiky-haired, blonde & boisterous martial-artist" or the "bouncy, big-busted, schoolgirl-packing-heavy-weaponry" here. Although many of the male characters have the stereotypical long-haired, slender, Girl's Anime...

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