Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
McGuy281
If you thought the original show had too much symbolism with zero plot whatsoever this movie said "hold my beer" and proceeded to drive straight off a cliff.
It would have been better to actually finish off the original Utena show rather than just leave it on a forever cliffhanger. Near the beginning this almost seems like a decent retelling but basically right after Utena beats her first duel, and really her only duel in the movie, it just becomes a horrific incomprehensible mess where everything stops making sense and the characters act as if all of this is normal somehow.
It's bad. Laughably bad. I wouldn't wish this mess upon my worst enemy. I watched it for free and want a refund on my time.
Maybe I need to smoke something really good before trying to watch this again.
Nah. It'…
Read at the sourceRagingLight
I treat this movie as I would a strange artpiece rather than enjoying is like other anime. You really have to take a lot of things in Utena with a grain of salt and an open mind.
The writers definitely wanted to create the cool, fast-paced appeal of a movie. To me it was a blend of Japanese anime with inspiration from a Hollywood action movie for its "cool" scenes.
Anthy takes on the role of MC in this movie, which is empowering and refreshingly different from the anime.
This movie has Bbetter visuals than the original anime. It's truly visually stunning. Fans of 90s animation style will love this work.
One thing people keep debating about it the way they should interpret the movie. According to the author, this movie is meant to be a re-interpretation or reimagination of the anime. So…
Read at the sourcek-0da
Revolutionary Girl Utena, but if it was hype as fuck.
Not to much to say about this movie, because it's just so much fun. Beautiful art, for one-- the school is wonderful to look at, and everyone's new designs are great. Everything moves and flows beautifully, it's hard to put my finger on it. The mechanical designs are also a marvel.
Anthy was phenomenal in this movie--RGU is Utena's finale, while I consider this movie to be Anthy's. She's so fun to watch in this movie, and her arc is wonderful, especially her bit at the end. Watching her growth brought tears to my eyes.
It took Touga and Akio in a different direction than the television show. While Touga is much more likable here than he is in the show, I think his show's portrayal is a lot more nuanced and interesting. Akio, on the o…
Read at the sourceLuxuriousHeart
... no.
This movie is much worse than the anime. I think I get what they were going for. This is an anime about Utena likely being in high school. Similar to the old anime, she's trapped in a fairy tale role of trying to be a prince. Though this one is much more insulting.
Characters: the actual worst part about this movie. The only characters who stay good, are Anthy and Utena. The rest of them suffer. Touga is one note good guy. Miki is implied bad, but ultimately ends as one note good. Juri is one note good. Saionji is implied bad, but ends as two-note 'good'? Yeah, I still don't even know. I just know that he's way more bland in this one, than in the original anime. You know how in the anime, Akio is a complex villain? Yeah, in this one, he's a pathetic character of nothing. He's so…
Read at the sourceKrankastel
No matter their genre, whether they are animated or live-action, short or feature, films can serve many purposes:
1. Some merely amuse.
2. Some are opportunities to poke fun at them.
3. Some aim mostly at touching their audience with emotional scenes.
4. Some express social and political ideas.
5. Some bring into question the human condition.
And some don’t seem to make any sense. Might be because of a confusing and hard-to-follow storyline, because the reference material is hardly accessible, or because the creator wants to mess with his audience, or all three and more. Does Adolescence of Utena belong here? I’d say yes and no.
Ikuhara can be a trolling creator and a fan-proclaimed madman, but also one of the most social-aware people to grace anime industry. Let’s begin the review,…
Read at the sourceHereLiesWaste
In many ways even better than the already great anime it's an adaptation of (and it really should be thought of as an adaptation, or, even better, each as an adaptation of the other), managing to condense 39 episodes of conceptual play into 90 minutes through extremely brave and confidant use of some insane imagery and writing.
Said conceptual play is genuinely radical, in an incredibly contemporary manner, remarkable for its refusal to resort to oh so common 'woke' liberal platitudes that reinforce the already dominant structures under the guise of emancipation. Archetypal notions of active masculine prince, passive female princess and an eternal unchanging justice could very easily have been preserved with the movie only adding the liberal caveat that 'anybody can partake either archety…
Read at the sourceMysSin
Just the opening shot of this movie shows you right out the gate that your gonna be treated to a wonderful looking anime. Wow. Just seeing those bells at the beginning and the detail on them had me super excited for the art. Wasn't disappointed at all. However once you actually get into the story, if your a more surface level entertainment person, I imagine you'll get lost. I've watched the series so I was able to use that a basis for the lack of depth on pretty much any of the characters but if this was your first introduction, the shallowness might leave you scratching your head. There's a really good theory/review on IMDB that I can totally see, now, after reading it but this mind game of a movie just wasn't enjoyable for me. Definitely enjoy the increased attention to the romantic part…
Read at the sourcechrissy_poo_too
A strange, wonderful film that simultaneously acts as an R-rated, fun house mirror summery of the series, and a parallel universe, End of Evangelion-esque sequel.
The art and animation is excellent, with unexpected, dynamic uses of colour splashed all over the place. Adolescence of Utena also features some of the most amazing background art ever, courtesy of Shichiro Kobayashi.
The aspect of the film that throws most people (even fans of the show) for a loop is the narrative. The basic plot beats of the series are there to be sure, but condensed, amplified, and warped. Scene transitions occur at random, traditional linear storytelling is thrown out the window, and the last 10 minutes of the film have absolutely no precedent or context. It's pretty wild.
I don't think it's enough to just…
Read at the source0MAN0
Revolutionary Girl Utena: Adolescence Apocalypse. After what I can imagine was a great critical/commercial success of the original series (which I can say is rather well-deserved), the board thought it a good idea to create a movie that's... kind of a retelling, kind of an alternate universe... whatever. Cool! In theory. This Utena:AA deals with the same sort of spiritual themes as its predecessor, and maybe even does it in a more digestible way. I can see how others reviewers would give it a lot of mileage for its use of themes, symbolism, and generally good art and music. I tend to agree that these points are generally more good than bad, but there is a serious flaw with Utena:AA. It's just so god damn busy. Everything about this series is vying for attention at all points. It is a movie…
Read at the sourceRevoPotato
I feel like this movie is meant to be watched for those who have already either seen the anime or read the manga, but even then, it feels lacking. Seeing as it's trying to pack all the intricacies of Shoujo Kakumei Utena into a single 2 hour movie, there's bound to be difficulty in exploring all the plot elements thoroughly. Combined with how much symbolism there is, it's a challenge to get a grasp on what exactly is going on. One could say that it might be meant to be left to interpretation, but personally speaking, I'm not a fan when things are too vague. Other than the story and pacing, the movie is incredibly high quality, however. The animation is beautiful to look at, and might even be worth it for that alone. The characters were a unique and interesting twist on how they were in the…
Read at the sourceprosthesis_
the art is real purdy and the music is jammin and the direction is dope and when a chauvinist gets rekt verbally or physically i go 'eyyy' and when same-sex characters bond in a manner thats significantly more respectful towards same-sex relationships than other anime im like 'yooo' and when the art/direction broke its overall victorian-ish aesthetic to include more modern elements i was at first like 'eh?' until it lead to narrative surrealism to which i always go 'eyy' and the film format is a more succinct platform for the world-building in comparison to the anime which started to feel stale after almost 40 somewhat-repetitive episodes BUT most of the humor took me out of it and felt forced/detached but i guess that's just me since anime humor and i don't seem to get along very well and…
Read at the sourceYamaMayaa
If you think this is a retelling of the original Utena, think again!! While some aspects are the same, some are wildly different, including some key things
1) Anthy and Utena's relationship. In this version, it is more overtly romantic, and it seems that Anthy outwardly shows her affections a lot more than in the series.
2) The duels are seriously underplayed. Their is very little time of actual dueling, and the student council is hardly mentioned at all except in passing. Their main character points are brought up briefly and then most are not mentioned again. The story's main focus is very much on Utena and Anthy and their "revolution" as it were.
3) Akio's presence is non existent. We see brief glimpses of Dios in some very disturbing scenes, but it's obvious that it is Dios and not…
Read at the sourcegenma-kai
There is one major downside to this film which i will point out before anything else is said; it is confusing. Whereas the TV series was quite easy to follow, this is not so easy to follow, unless you understand that the entire film is one large, unending metaphore filled with smaller metaphores. even then it can be confusing at times, with confusion on the part of the audience as to why certain scenes and elements were included. It is for this reason that i have ot marked it as highly as i otherwise might have done. However multiple viewings of this series-turned-film can reduce the level of confusion and produce, not only an understanding of the concepts being portrayed, but also a deeper insight into what we are really seeing.
That being said, this film is still very good viewing, with…
Read at the sourcektulu007
As someone who finds it fun to read books and explore their themes and symbols, I love this movie. It's probably my favourite movie of all time. This movie is a perfect example of how to do symbolism so that it's rich and complex but isn't inaccessible and doesn't make the audience do all the work.
The story revolves around the protagonist, Utena, entering a High school where she inadvertently finds herself involved in duels to become engaged to the rose bride, Anthy, which will grant her the power to revolutionise the world. So if you've seen the anime the basic plot is the same. The difference is that the movie is set in a more surrealistic world where just about everything is symbolic. You might ask, what is the symbolism about, what does it all mean? Well, I can't answer that.
Like a…
Read at the sourceLadyReina
“Do you know what today is?”
“No, what?”
“Today is tomorrow. It happened.”
-- Groundhog day
Adolescence Apocalypse is more than a stand-alone re-telling of the Revolutionary Girl Utena Saga. Suppose that the events of the TV series were allowed to play out repeatedly; suppose that Anthy somehow managed to hold on to the insight she gained each time. Things might just turn out like this: Watch the television series starting with episode 37 all the way through to the first 17 minutes of the final episode. Turn on Adolescence Apocalypse. It’s Groundhog Day, animated.
Truly, this is Anthy’s adolescence. She unfolds and blossoms like the white rose she is. Her open eyes drive Akio over the edge. She is the one who leads Utena, who is hard-pressed to keep pace. There’s clearly a part of her…
Read at the sourcedarkmac
There's one thing you should keep in mind when watching Adolescence Apocalypse: absolutely EVERYTHING is a metaphor, usually for some part of adolescence. This is a movie that was made to be analyzed. Usually I don't analyze the symbolism of anything I watch, but Adolescence Apocalypse makes analyzing symbolism fun, crazy as that may sound. As for as anime symbolism goes, Adolescence Apocalypse can't be beat, even by the series.
That's not to say the symbolism's the only thing worth watching the movie for. Every moment of screentime is purely entertaining, whether symbolism is the focus or not. The only real complaint I had with the TV series was that some episodes felt repetitive and didn't seem to contribute much to the main characters' development or the overall plot. Here, however, ev…
Read at the sourceiamjoe
Honestly, I had to watch this like three times before I had an inkling of a clue what this anime was about. I was not familiar with the Utena series before, and I ended up watching the movie because I was informed that it wasn't the same as the series.
So I watched it and wondered what sort of crack I had smoked before popping the DVD in. Apparently, I had not smoked any crack, and it was just Utena that was messing with my head.
The story is...I don't know. Up to now, I hardly know what happened. It's long, convoluted, and they don't ever, EVER explain what the hell happened. Well, they sort of did, with visual symbolism. But I'm sort of dumb in a fabulous way, so I barely understood any of that.
The art and animation was top-notch though. It looked incredible. The sound was great t…
Read at the sourceWintermane
While Revolutionary Girl Utena: Adolescence Apocalypse is decent in plot, what really stands out in this movie is the design of the Ohtori Academy. The overall design of the school is technically brilliant, thought there are some definite continuity errors. Beyond that the use of panning shots through the movie are well placed and the idea behind it places the campus and events that occur there into a surreal environment that is lost in the original series. There are also several repetitions of shots that are used well, the constant movement of normally stationary items adds an element of interest. I saw this movie a while after the series was finished so it was a pretty blank slate, however the plot covered a lot of the same devices that were used in the original series.
Read at the sourceVenneh
Adolescence of Utena is a feature-length movie that was produced and directed by the same persons who were responsible for the TV series. It premiered in 1999, and has been licensed Stateside by Central Park Media, which is now defunct. Let's just say it's been out for a long time Stateside.
Adolescence of Utena is best described as the TV series retold in two hours or less with different plot elements bought up or discarded, with some characters absent, and lots and lots of symbolism and, some would argue, a heavy dose of crack.
I would highly suggest watching the series going into this. I watched this first, then watched the series, and then watched this, and I found that the series helped me understand it more, which is what the creators intended with this. And then the movie, in tur…
Read at the sourceTwickers
Knowing the TV series isn't required to watch this movie, but it definitely helps a lot to catch some references and to understand part of the relationships better, even though, there are lots of changes in characteristics. If you haven't seen the series, be prepared to be blown away by some of the most bizarre moments in anime history.
The basic storyline doesn't give too much hints of what tragedies will be revealed. Utena is at first believed to be a boy, a little glimpse on the problematic gender roles. Don't just watch this, because somebody told you there'd be girl kissage, there's so much more to Utena and Anthy. As opposed to the more devote Rose Bride in the series this Anthy has a mind of her own and doesn't act like a mere puppet. She and Utena are equal central characters and…
Read at the source