Hello! Welcome to my RGU shrine :3 Long story short, Revolutionary Girl Utena is my favorite piece of media ever. I adore this show with my entire being, it means genuinely everything to me. This shrine + it's related subpages will show only a FRACTION of my sheer love for this franchise. I truly believe RGU is a work of art everyone should experience at least once, especially since it's free on youtube for you to watch...but I'll get into that!

WHAT IS IT?

Revolutionary Girl Utena (often shortened to "Utena" or "RGU") is a 1997 shoujo anime created by Be-Papas, a production group formed by former Sailor Moon director Kunihiko Ikuhara. The studio composed of himself, Chiho Saito, Shinya Hasegawa, Yōji Enokido and Yūichirō Oguro. The show follows Utena Tenjou growing up in the prestigious Ohtori Academy and how she is drawn into a sword dueling tournament to win the hand of the "Rose Bride" who possesses the "power to revolutionize the world".

Like a fairytale, the first scenes of the show reveal to us that Utena was struck with tragedy at a young age. Having lost both her parents, she couldn't help but feel hopeless in a world that'd taken her future from her before she could even dream of it. However a miracle came in her meeting the prince "Dios". The prince gave her a rose-crested ring and promised her that one day, if she kept the strength and nobility she had, they would one day meet again. Utena was so inspired by this act however, that she vowed to not become a princess, as expected from a girl, but rather to become a prince and save other girls. Utena, now taking on this new role, clung to her ring, and her nobility, hoping it would lead her back to her prince one day. The show originally begins with us discovering the many colorful and strange faces of Ohtori, including Anthy Himemiya, the little sister of the school’s headmaster and The aformentioned "Rose Bride".

Speaking of the "Rose Bride", we soon discover Anthy's situation and how it is far from pleasant. The Ohtori student council actively participates in duels to “own” her, as if she were more an object than a human being. The student council are told by a mysterious figure known as “End Of The World” that possession of The Rose Bride will allow them to bring about Revolution to the world and grant them access to eternity, that it will give them the chance to fix what is wrong within their lives. Whoever “possesses” Anthy in these objectifying duels is who she must be “betrothed” to and must live with in their dorms, and otherwise be completely subservient to. And even more so, those who are betrothed to Anthy gain an essential power to combat in these duels known as The Sword of Dios, which is drawn out and kept within Anthy.

Throughout the show, Utena slowly starts to unmask the secrets of the student council and even the foundations of the school itself. She learns more about the people within it, its history its Headmaster (Akio Himemiya) and what all of that has anything to do with the ever-coming “revolution” everyone keeps talking about. As time draws nearer, the question becomes not of who, but when someone will enter within the palace in the sky, the trick of the light illuminating each of the duel arenas, and gain the power to bring about Revolution and get a taste of the eternity that “End of The World” continuously promises.

WARNINGS!

Despite being a Shoujo anime and thus being directed towards teenage girls, RGU deals with a lot of heavy subject matter. There are long lists of warnings for content shown within RGU, one of my favorites being this one, but the most notable ones are of

Whilst RGU never portrays its themes in a glorifying or romanticizing manner, it would be misleading to say it isn't a hard watch for some. However I will say that the show takes lengths to portray the horrors and ramifications of these terribly dark topics, and in my opinion, gives them a proper and true representation of just how taxing these real world events can be on people. There's a reason it resonated with me so hard LOL, it hits in a lot of the right spots that no other media truly has.

FUN FACTS!