Discotek recently announced that they’ve licensed Rose of Versailles, the 1970s seminal shoujo anime masterpiece. The series takes place in France during the late 1700s and stars Oscar François de Jarjayes, the cross-dressing Commander of the Royal Guard and Marie Antoinette’s personal bodyguard. Using a surprising amount of historical accuracy, the series dramatizes the events leading up to the French Revolution, both inside and outside the palace walls. This will be the first time the series has seen a Blu-ray release in North America, split into two boxed sets, with the first planned to release in 2021.
Versailles was hugely popular and highly influential to a number of shoujo series that came after it. Sadly, those who want to watch it to see what the fuss is about will have to wait for the new release; it’s been out of print for a while and isn’t currently streaming anywhere. Anyone with a Versailles-shaped hole in their heart should be sure to check out a different show that owes a lot to Lady Oscar and Marie Antoinette. Yes, it’s time to talk about the ‘90s anime classic, Revolutionary Girl Utena.
Revolutionary Girl Utena is a 39 episode anime series that originally aired in 1997 on TV Tokyo. When Utena was a young girl dealing with the death of her parents she was given comfort from a traveling prince. She was so impressed with him, she vowed to grow up to be a prince herself one day.
As a teenager, Utena attends Ohtori Academy. Still longing to be a prince she dresses as a boy and excels at sports. One day, she suddenly finds herself engaging in strange and dangerous duels with the student council members at the academy. The ultimate prize for winning these duels is the possession of another classmate, the seemingly shy “Rose Bride” Anthy Himemiya. Anthy is said to be able to grant the power to revolutionize the world to whoever is “engaged” to her.
Utena owes a lot to Rose of Versailles, including the concept of a spunky cross-dressing main character that questions gender roles. Both series also use a heavy rose motif, with rose petals blowing all the over place in what feels like every scene. Even costume designs are influenced by the show. Although Utena is likely to take place in 1990s Japan, all of the student council members dress like French generals from the 1700s.
While it does borrow heavily from its influences, Utena transforms those elements to create its own unique vision. Though not nearly as popular, it’s often thought of to be in the same league as Neon Genesis Evangelion. It’s remembered as one of the most cerebral and visually interesting anime series of the 1990s.
If Evangelion explores existentialism from a masculine perspective, Utena explores it from the feminine. Not only does its main character have to figure out if there is any inherent value or meaning in existing as an individual, but she also has the added complication of doing so when the choices for who she can be seem so limiting. The show uses a lot of fairy tale imagery, which works perfectly to help convey its themes. In fairy tales, females could play one of two roles: a beautiful princess or a wicked witch. There’s no in-between. As she draws her sword to fight the main antagonist towards the end of the series, he tells Utena that, “swords don’t go with dresses.”
This isn’t meant to scare anyone off. Utena’s subject matter starts fairly light, focusing on establishing its world and complex characters. Though it quickly gets much darker and twisted, especially after the first story arc. It deals with many issues and topics not commonly explored in animation, especially in the ‘90s, including childhood trauma, incest, and domestic abuse. It also features same-sex relationships. One of the main characters is a lesbian and a large majority of the main cast sleeps with each other, regardless of sexuality or gender.
The series gets away with exploring these subjects and relationships through subtle storytelling and metaphor. It’s quite surreal and often uses symbolic imagery. It’s no surprise that the series director, Kunihiko Ikuhara, is a huge fan of David Lynch. When people say something needs to be watched several times to fully understand it, that’s not always true. With Utena, it’s especially true. Parts of it may not make sense even after several viewings and it’s okay because the series is such a fun and insane psychological carousel ride. Riders get off and want to get right back on again.
For anime fans looking for something to fill the gap between now and the release of Rose of Versailles, definitely give Utena a chance. It’s also one of the safer series to recommend to people generally averse to anime, as long as the subject matter and narrative style aren’t dealbreakers. This show is a real trip and well worth the watch. Just make sure to buckle up.
Both the subbed and dubbed versions of Revolutionary Girl Utena are currently free to watch on YouTube.
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