Revolutionary Girl Utena

Revolutionary Girl Utena (少女革命ウテナ Shoujo Kakumei Utena) is a project by the group Be-Papas, consisting of a 1997 anime directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara and a 1996-7 shoujo manga by Chiho Saito. The franchise contains yuri and elements of the magical girl trope and is widely considered one of the most influential works in the shoujo genre. The anime and manga were created simultaneously, but, despite some similarities, they progressed in different directions.
The franchise later expanded into a live-action musical in late 1997, a video game in 1998, and an animated movie in 1999. There are multiple versions of the story in the various media.
== Canon overview ==
After meeting a traveling prince who consoled her after the deaths of her parents, Tenjou Utena vowed to become a prince herself. The prince left Utena only with a ring bearing a strange rose crest and a promise that she would meet him again some day.
A few years later, Utena attends Ootori Academy, where she is drawn into a dangerous game. Duelists with rings matching Utena's own compete for a unique prize: the Rose Bride, Himemiya Anthy, and her mysterious powers. When Utena wins Anthy in a duel, she realizes that if she is to free Anthy and discover the secrets behind Ootori Academy, she has only one option: to revolutionize the world.
Revolutionary Girl Utena blends surrealist imagery and ideas with complex allegories and metaphors to create a unique coming-of-age story with themes including idealism, illusions, adulthood, and identity.Shoujo Kakumei Utena
=== Main Characters ===
* Tenjou Utena
* Himemiya Anthy
* Arisugawa Juri
* Kiryuu Touga
* Ohtori Akio
* Kyouichi Saionji
=== Other Characters ===
Including, but not limited to:
* Takatsuki Shiori
* Tsuchiya Ruka
* Mikage Souji
* Mamiya Chida
== Early Fandom and Distribution ==
The English dubbed and subbed versions of Utena were released to VHS in the US in 1998 by Central Park Media under their Software Sculptors label.VHS 1 - Crest of the Rose by Justin Sevakis. Date unknown. These same episodes were released to two bilingual DVD volumes in 1999 with six or seven episodes each. However, after releasing the first 13 episodes to VHS and DVD, Central Park Media failed to secure a license for the remaining episodes until 2002, creating a huge gap between the release of episodes. While fansubbers mostly eschewed releasing those first 13 episodes, the rest of the series remained available by fansub.
Much of the fan activity took place in usenet newsgroups and YahooGroups mailing lists at the time of release. One of the by-products of this activity was the creation of Yuricon and ALC Publishing.
In November 2002 the Utena fansite Empty Movement launched. It has become one of the longest running, still active, fansites within the fandom. In 2006 Empty Movement went on to open a forum, In the Rose Garden, which quickly become a central hub for Utena fans.
== 20th Anniversary Retrospective ==
In February of 2017 to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Utena, Giovanna and Yasha, the administrators of the Empty Movement, wrote a retrospective on how the fandom had evolved over the years.20 Years of Utena Fandom with the Ultimate Superfans by Giovanna and Yasha. Posted Feb 15th 2017. Some extracts include:
== Shipping ==
Due to the yuri nature of the show and it's focus on Utena and Anthy's relationship, femslash/yuri dominates the fandom shipping activity. Unsurprisingly, this has made Anthy/Utena the juggernaut pairing of the fandom. For many fans, Utena/Anthy was their first femslash ship, or their first ship altogether. For the same merits Juri/Shiori is also another popular ship.
=== Pairings ===
* Anthy/Utena
* Touga/Saionji
* Juri/Shiori
* Miki/Kozue
* Ruka/Juri
* Anthy/Akio
* Utena/Akio
* Akio/Touga
* Mikage/Mamiya
* Touga/Utena
* Saionji/Anthy
* Utena/Wakaba
* Juri/Miki
* Miki/Nanami
* Utena/Nanami
== Fanworks ==
=== AMVs ===
* Bachelorette - Björk by Kusoyaro Productions (October 7, 2000)Bachelorette video information
* Coming Down by FluffyRabbitofDoom
===Fanfiction===
* Seinen Kakumei Utena by gorgeousshutin, “The Revolution succeeded; it crumbled afterwards only because those whose lives got revolutionized did not follow up on the revolutionary success,” said the Bride, her words setting their closed hearts aflame. “This time, will you help us help you?”
===Meta===
* The Mikage Seminar by MarineHaddock, "Some considerations of Mikage Souji."
* Nev’s Revolutionary Girl Utena Review/Analysis Masterpost
* Utena and the four Horsemen of Patriarchy by Caitlin
* The Adolescence of Utena Review by ladyloveandjustice
===Video Games===
* On September 22 fans released a translation patch for the Revolutionary Girl Utena game on the SEGA Saturn, making it available in English for the first time.English Translation of Utena game (Itsuka Kakumei Sareru Monogatari)
=== Zines ===
* LetsMagicalCooking, 2023. A multifandom magical girl cookbook zine.
* Magical Meeting Zine, 2019. A multifandom art zine.
== Communities and Archives ==
* Utena and Utena crossovers at FanFiction.net
* Shoujo Kakumei Utena | Revolutionary Girl Utena fanworks at AO3
* roselinedcoffin, a general Utena LiveJournal community
* utena_inscribed, a fan writer community
* utenadrabble, a drabble community
* utena_hush, a wordless icontest
* utena_choir, utena_chorus, and utena_lyrica, lyrical icontests
* utena_awards, shoujoku_awards, and sku_awards, icon award communities
* Utena Kink Meme
== Other Resources ==
* Empty Movement
* Utena thread at AnimeSuki
* Revolutionary Girl Utena (TV) at Anime News Network
* Shoujo Kakumei Utena at Baka-Updates Manga
* Revolutionary Girl Utena (archived) at the Fan History Wiki
==References==
Category:Revolutionary Girl Utena