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Utena, Revolutionary Girl DVD Set 3: The Apocalypse Saga
Score: 93%
Rating: 16+
Publisher: Right Stuf, Inc.
Region: 1
Media: DVD/6
Running Time: 460 Mins.
Genre: Anime
Audio: English 2.0, Japanese 5.1,
           Japanese 2.0

Subtitles: English and Japanese

Features:
  • Nozomi Trailers
  • Episode Commentary Track with Kunihiko Ikuhara and Chiho Saito
  • Animated Art Boards Part 2
  • Dueling Themes Karaoke
  • Interviews with Cast and Crew
  • Japanese Remastered DVD Box Set TV Spoiler Spot
  • Original U.S. Trailers
  • Remastered U.S. Trailers
  • Behind the Scenes: Recording the English Dub with Kunihiko Ikuhara
  • Japanese Remastered DVD Box Set Movie Spoiler Spot
  • Adolescence of Utena Trailers
  • Adolescence of Utena TV Spots
  • Original U.S. Trailers and Teaser

Utena, Revolutionary Girl is a rather unique anime in concept. You don't normally see a story of a girl who wants to be a prince. In the previous two seasons, we have seen Utena deal with all sorts of issues to protect her Rose Bride Anthy, not because she wants to marry her or possess the ultimate power, but simply because she considers Anthy her best friend and wants to make sure Anthy is free to make her own decisions. At the end of last season, everything was resolved with the Black Rose Saga and it looked like our characters would get a break for a bit. Now though, Utena is going to face her biggest challenge ever, the man known as End of the World.

Anthy's brother, Chairman Akio, has convinced Anthy and Utena to move into his house since he "missed his little sister." We know from last season that something just isn't quite right with their relationship though, so it's even creepier that she's living in the house with him. Saionji is back at the school and Touga is fully in charge again. They don't seem quite as bad to Utena this semester as they have been in the past though. They know more about what is going on than they are letting on. For the entire series, we've been wondering who Utena's prince really is. At the very beginning, we find out that Akio is Utena's Prince. He was the one who saved her when she was a girl. Akio doesn't act as much like a prince now though. Unbeknownst to her, Akio is going to be the man behind all of Utena's challenges this semester.

First, Akio meets with Touga and Saionji and afterwards, Saionji is a new man. He challenges Utena to a duel that very next day. Utena beats him, but only after Anthy pulls a sword from Utena. The Sword of Dios that she normally fights with just disappeared. This starts a new trend of the sword coming from Utena instead of Anthy. Her competitors will also be the source for their own swords sometimes. Touga recruits Miki to meet with Akio next and Miki challenges Utena the next day. The previous captain of the school's fencing team, Ruka, has returned from an illness. He's even better than Jury and she's not happy about it, especially not since he's after Shiori. This leads to Touga taking Shiori to meet with Akio next. When Jury loses a duel to Ruka, she has to go with him to meet Akio and she challenges Utena the next day. This battle results in some unexpected consequences. Nanami finds out some very disturbing news that shakes up her life. Afterwards, Touga takes her for the meeting with Akio. As is standard now, Nanami challenges Utena the next day. You get the idea of the pattern here.

In between all the sword fights, there are still the amusing moments. Of course, they usually involve Nanami. In one episode, Nanami lays an egg or at least she thinks she did. I love the mind of Nanami. Her episodes are quite humorous. I still don't know how that egg got there, but as in the last few seasons, it seems like Anthy has something to do with it. She's definitely not as sweet and innocent as she seems, and it really starts to show more in this season. The series ends in a finale that I did not expect to happen, but it seems fitting. I really would love to know what happens from there though!

The final disc is the movie "Adolescence of Utena." At times, it doesn't seem to be canon to the rest of the story. There's a lot of information in there that changes my opinions of some people and a lot of backstories that I didn't expect, especially the Touga-Utena past history. It's really quite weird at times and I got totally lost at the end when some of them turned into cars to race. I'm not sure I like the movie as much as I did the rest of the series, but it is nice to have it in the collection. I also love that the voicework in both English and Japanese is very well done. A lot of times, the English acting doesn't really match the original Japanese voices but in Utena, for the most part, the pitch and tones of the voices sound similar so you can watch it in either language and be quite happy. In addition to the movie, there is an entire disc of extras and a beautiful booklet full of interviews and artwork. If you like anime, you really need to check out the entire Utena series. Utena, Revolutionary Girl DVD Set 3: The Apocalypse Saga is a very fitting finale to a wonderful series!



-Cyn, GameVortex Communications
AKA Sara Earl
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