There is so much that I want to say about Revolutionary Girl Utena, but for some reason I just can't think of the right words to use convey my feelings regarding this series. I laughed, I cried, I thought really hard, and I experienced something that no other anime series around is able to offer: an experience I simply call Revolutionary Girl Utena.

Utena is truly a mahou shoujo (magical girl) anime like no other. Yes, it has things that every other mahou shoujo anime have: a few giggling girl friends, pretty boys, and some sort of bizarre creature following the characters around, but it has so much more than that. However, it's obvious right from the beginning that this is no ordinary mahou shoujo anime. If that isn't clear to you by the end of the first episode, I'm sure the "transformation" sequence in nearly each episode will drill it into your head enough.

One thing that truly separates Revolutionary Girl Utena from just about any other anime I've seen is the background music. From the chorus music played in the fight scenes (which is different in each and every fight scene, by the way) to the music played when one of the characters transforms into a cow, everything is just so original. I've never heard any background music like this before. Yes, some of it is quite bizarre and it may not be everyone's taste, but you have to admit that it's original.

This review isn't going to go anywhere until I mention Revolutionary Girl Utena's strongest point: it's story. Though the first few episodes are a bit goofy and just set up the characters, things quickly become very serious after the characters are introduced. As the series progresses, the episodes become more and more serious, not to mention requiring you to think harder than you've ever thought before. This series, like Haibane Renmei, contains so much symbolism that it's almost a little too much. For example, each episode features a silhouette play by a character known only as "C-ko". At first glance, these plays seem really dumb and unimportant, but if you pay close attention, you'll notice that almost all of them have a much deeper meaning to them. Often times I would go back to one of the plays after finishing an episode and really ponder the significance of the play.

Unfortunately, the way the story flows is a little repetitive. There aren't very many characters introduced after the first story arc, and Utena pretty much battles the same opponents over and over. However, with the way the story and characters developed so well, I really didn't mind it at all. Each character is fleshed out so much in this series. You think you know one character so well, then all of a sudden s/he turns out to be something completely different and everything that happened involving that person all of a sudden comes together beautifully.

The one thing that I didn't like about Revolutionary Girl Utena had to do with the battle scenes. Until the last six or seven episodes, every single battle ends almost the same exact way. The battles are also remarkably short, often times resorting to making one frame of animation last really long by having a character think about what happened to them in the episode. It was really nice how the battle theme was different in each fight, though.