Content Warning: Discussions of queerphobia, institutional control over women’s bodies, suicide, transmisogynist stereotypes, child abuse
Spoilers for most of Revolutionary Girl Utena
When I first watched Revolutionary Girl Utena, I made the mistake of thinking I had seen this story before. The lush, Versailles-inspired architecture of the elite high school, secretive machinations of a laughably powerful student council, and a plucky new girl determined to rise above the frivolities of school life and gender norms to realize a destiny for herself were all familiar tropes. Yet my hubris was quickly checked as Utena reaches the dueling arena and all semblances of realism break down. Suddenly, a psych rock opera croons about the “darkness of Sodom” and an “absolute destiny apocalypse,” an illusory upside-down castle hangs overhead, and a sword erupts from the chest of a timid schoolgirl. The dueling arena reveals itself to be a stage where anything can happen, where the trappings of reality are flaunted to reveal the underlying psychological trials hidden by the artifice and theater of the school’s seemingly typical shoujo drama.
Theater weaves throughout Utena’s DNA. Nearly every episode, the Shadow Girls evoke a Greek chorus and revolving colored rose frames pop in like the contours of a stage to explicitly recontextualize scenes. While the influence of theater on Utena isn’t subtle, knowing what specific strains of theater the show references would likely be lost on most viewers (it certainly was on me). Yet uncovering those histories can be like finding little Rosetta Stones to help you parse a show that prides itself on obscurity.