The Series (4/5)

In a dreamlike alternate version of our world, Utena is a tomboy with a love of fighting and dreams of being like the prince she met when she was younger. In her school she deals with fellow students not understanding her love for men's clothing and the mysterious Student Council. After fighting one of the Council members, Utena ends up "winning" the heart of the Rose Bride, Anthy.

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA (1997) was one of the many titles to push boundaries of storytelling during the 1990's in the Anime Boom. Thanks to shows like Hideaki Anno's NEON GENESIS EVANGELION (1995-96), fresh stories were coming from all directions. UTENA would be one of the more colorful and offbeat of the choices. Having a unison of fighting anime and fairytales, it also critiqued gender roles and the limited views of sexuality.

Based on the manga of the same name by Chiho Saito, the series offers a grand scale view of this Neverland of swordplay and fashion. The show lasted 39 episodes and even spawned a spinoff movie, ADOLESCENCE OF UTENA (aka REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA THE MOVIE). This first Blu-ray set contains the first 13 episodes, under the subtitle THE STUDENT COUNCIL SAGA. These early episodes do a fine job of setting up characters and slowly getting us sucked into their world.

The pacing, comedy, and action of the series make this show easy to sink into. As for the series' use of and even challenging of fairy tale stereotypes, it makes a progressive look at gender and how there is more than two options. There is more than Lesbian themes and cross dressing, there is a more fluid look at romance and erotic tones.

I'm already looking forward to the set volume 2.

Audio/Video (4.5/5)

Nozomi gives REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA VOL 1 a nice-looking transfer and bold sound mix. There are three main audio tracks. First up is the Japanese 5.1 LPCM track. This is by far the best sounding of the tracks. It gracefully bounces off my sound system. The score and sound effects are clear as day. There is no hiss or pops. The second track is Japanese 2.0 LPCM mix. This track is fine and sounds better on regular TVS. Rounding out the disc is the English dubbed track in 2.0 LPCM mix. The dub sounds fine, I just prefer original language whenever possible. English subtitles are included.

The 1080p HD is handsome and polished. There is some natural film grain, but luckily nothing looks color corrected to death.  The colors are sharp and lovely to look at. Everything is painting like. There are a few minor issues of motion blur. But overall, it’s a gorgeous show to look at.

Extras (3/5)

Extras are a little spotty, but included Clean opening and closing animations, video promos, and TV spots.

Overall (4/5)

REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA is one of the more polished titles from the anime boom of the 1980- 90's. It pushed elements of romance and action in some surreal and wonderful ways. This Blu-ray release is a welcome addition to any anime lover's collection.