Adolescence of Utena is a 1999 Japanese animated romantic fantasy film. It is a follow-up to the 1997 anime television series Revolutionary Girl Utena, created by the artist collective Be-Papas. The film is directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara, written by Yōji Enokido based on a story by Ikuhara and produced by the animation studio J.C.Staff. An English-language dubbed version of the film produced by Central Park Media was released in 2001 as Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie.
The plot follows Utena Tenjou, a tomboy high school student who is drawn into a series of sword duels to win the hand of Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious student known as the "Rose Bride". The film is noted for its extensive use of metaphor and symbolism; its focus on themes of gender, sexuality and the transition from adolescence to adulthood; and for its more mature subject material relative to the anime series.
Context Adolescence of Utena is the final of the three primary entries in the Revolutionary Girl Utena media franchise, following the 1996 manga series and the 1997 anime television series. Though there are significant differences in plot execution between the manga, television series, and film, all three tell the same basic story, utilizing the same general narrative trajectory and characters. The series is highly intertextual, with Adolescence of Utena in particular drawing heavily from plot elements and characterization established in the anime series.
Plot
Utena Tenjou, a new student at Ohtori Academy, tours the school with classmate Wakaba Shinohara. She observes a fencing match between students Juri Arisugawa and Miki Kaoru, and shortly thereafter encounters her ex-boyfriend Touga Kiryuu; after Touga departs, she discovers a rose-engraved signet ring identical to one he was wearing resting inside a white rose. Utena wanders into a rose garden and meets Anthy Himemiya, the sister of the school's absent chairman Akio Ohtori. She is referred to as the "Rose Bride" by Kyouichi Saionji, another rose-ringed student who sees Utena's ring and challenges her to a sword duel. Utena emerges victorious using a sword she pulls out of Anthy's chest.
That night, Anthy visits Utena's dormitory and attempts to initiate sex with her, but is rebuffed. When Utena questions Anthy about the duel and the rings, Anthy responds that the rings mark their bearers as duelists, that she is betrothed to whomever is the victor of the duels, and that whoever possesses the Rose Bride has the "power to revolutionize the world". Elsewhere, Juri's childhood friend Shiori Takatsuki tells Touga that as a child, her "prince" died attempting to save a drowning girl. They receive a phone call from Akio, who says that Anthy is a witch who made the lord of the flies into a prince, but when her magic faded, the prince returned to his true form; the duels are organized in an attempt to reactivate her magic. Juri, who is manipulated by Shiori into dueling Utena, is defeated after witnessing Utena seemingly transform into Anthy's prince.
The school's broadcasting club uncovers a video that suggests that Anthy was previously drugged and raped by Akio. Akio's corpse is found buried in Anthy's garden shortly thereafter, shocking the school with the revelation that he is long dead. A second video depicts Anthy lucid during her rape, which prompted a panicked Akio to stab her and accidentally fall out of a window to his death. Utena searches for Anthy and finds Touga; she suddenly remembers that Touga is the "prince" referenced by Shiori, and that he died while saving Juri from drowning when they were children. Utena thanks Touga for being her "prince", and he vanishes. Utena finds Anthy and tells her they should go "to the outside world", upon which Utena is swallowed by a car wash and metamorphosed into a car. Anthy enters the car and drives it away from the academy, though a fleet of tanks and Shiori – also in car form – attempt to thwart her. Anthy is assisted in her escape by Juri, Miki, Saionji, and Wakaba, who have been inspired by Utena and Anthy to also go to the "outside world". An apparition of Akio attempts to stop Anthy, but she rebukes him in a burst of roses. Utena and Anthy emerge riding the remnants of the car, and kiss as they drive into a grey wasteland, with a blue sky above the clouds.
Cast
Character name Japanese voice actor English voice actor Tomoko Kawakami Rachael Lillis Yuriko Fuchizaki Sharon Becker Takehito Koyasu Crispin Freeman Kotono Mitsuishi Mandy Bonhomme Aya Hisakawa Jimmy Zoppi Takeshi Kusao Jack Taylor Kumiko Nishihara Lisa Ortiz Chieko Honda Roxanne Beck Yuka Imai Roxanne BeckYuri Shiratori Leah ApplebaumAi Orikasa Kerry Williams Kumiko Watanabe Roxanne Beck Maria Kawamura Lisa Ortiz Satomi Koorogi Mandy Bonhomme Mitsuhiro Oikawa Josh Mosby
Director Kunihiko Ikuhara makes a cameo appearance in the film as the voice of an art teacher; in the English-language dubbed version of the film, the role is voiced by Tony Salerno, who served as ADR director on the Central Park Media dub.
Production Adolescence of Utena was produced by J.C.Staff, in association with the publishing company Shogakukan and the production company GANSIS. The production committee for the film, Shojo Kakumei Utena Seisaku Iinkai ( "Revolutionary Girl Utena Production Committee"), was composed of Sega Enterprises, MOVIC, and King Records. Distribution of the film was overseen by Toei Company.
Development Adolescence of Utena was developed by Be-Papas, the artist collective founded by Ikuhara that produced the Utena anime television series. Ikuhara expressed a desire to create a film that heightened the themes and subject material of the original anime, seeking to "do in the movie what I wasn't able to accomplish in the TV series," and jokingly stated that he wished for Adolescence of Utena to be "more naughty than the TV series."
In contrast to the ensemble cast structure of the anime series, Adolescence of Utena focuses chiefly on the characters Utena and Anthy, with much of the secondary cast relegated to supporting and cameo appearances. The film's version of Utena is depicted as more masculine, appearing initially in short hair and boys' clothing, while Anthy is more strong-willed and overtly sexual; the romantic subtext of Utena and Anthy's relationship is additionally rendered more explicitly. Be-Papas member Chiho Saito has stated that "characters who weren't treated kindly in the TV show got attention, so I think [the film] was sympathetic in that regard." Saito advocated for a prominent role for Touga in the film, whose backstory is explored in greater detail relative to the television anime series; Ikuhara has stated that Touga's final scene in Adolescence of Utena is Saito's favorite in the series. Conversely, Nanami Kiryuu makes only a cameo appearance in the film as a cow, in a scene inserted by Ikuhara to reference an episode of the anime series and to serve as comic relief.
Animation Adolescence of Utena was released on 35 mm movie film, and was created using a combination of traditional and digital animation. The opening title sequence was created by modifying digital graphics through nonlinear composite editing using a supercomputer, a relatively new process for animation at the time. The opening scene depicting the architecture of Ohtori Academy and the dance scene with Utena and Anthy were entirely digitally animated using 3-D Works. Ikuhara had expressed hesitation in using digital animation, stating that computer graphics in anime "tend to be harsh and cold," but expressed satisfaction with the seamless blending of the digital dance scene with the rest of the film's traditional animation. When Adolescence of Utena was remastered in 2011, the digital elements of the dance scene became more apparent when rendered as high-definition video, prompting Ikuhara and colorist Hiroshi Kaneda to exhaustively retransfer the film.
Each scene had multiple designs and art directions rendered; for example, Ikuhara has stated that the scene in which Touga first speaks to Utena was initially rendered entirely in monochrome, but colors were ultimately added to make the scene more visually interesting. Other designs were adapted from elements previously used in the television series, such as Utena's dormitory and the Mikage Seminar hallway sequence, the latter of which was included based on the popularity of Mikage among the series' fans. Animators who specialized in mecha anime were hired to work on the final car chase sequence, with Ikuhara noting that several of the animators expressed initial confusion over why they were being hired to work on an Utena film. The film was not centrally storyboarded, but instead divided among five storyboarders who each supervised a segment of the film. The segments were denoted by letters; Takuya Igarashi, who worked as a storyboard artist on the anime series and supervised storyboards on "part A" of the film, remarked that the storyboards nonetheless maintained cohesion due to Ikuhara's direction.
Soundtrack Shinkichi Mitsumune and J. A. Seazer, who respectively produced the score and songs for the Revolutionary Girl Utena anime series, returned to compose the soundtrack for Adolescence of Utena. Mitsumune composed the film's score and arranged its original songs, while Seazer produced the music and lyrics for the film's two duel songs, and . A rearranged version of , previously written and composed by Seazer for the anime series, also appears in the film.
In addition to the songs produced by Mitsumune and Seazer, two songs produced by Toshiro Yabuki and performed by Masami Okui also appear in the film: and ", the latter of which served as the theme song for the anime series and is rearranged by Mitsumune for the film. The ending credits theme of the film is , written and performed by Akio's voice actor Mitsuhiro Oikawa.
Release Adolescence of Utena was released in theaters in Japan on August 14, 1999. In North America, the film premiered at Anime Expo in Anaheim, California, held from June 30 to July 3, 2000. The film was screened multiple times throughout the convention, with Ikuhara and Saito in attendance for certain screenings. The film was also screened at the 26th San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival (with Ikuhara in attendance), the Future Film Festival in Bologna, the National Film Theater in London, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. In 2026, the film received a limited release in 378 theaters in North America from June 21-26 and grossed $344,965.
Home media In Japan, Adolescence of Utena was released on DVD by King Records on March 3, 2000. The film was released on Blu-ray by King Records on November 15, 2017, as part of complete series box set to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the anime series. In North America, licensing rights to Adolescence of Utena were acquired by Central Park Media on January 31, 2001, which produced Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie, an English-language dubbed version of the film. The English voice cast from the dubbed version of the television anime series reprise their roles for the film. The English-language localization of the film was overseen by Ikuhara, who travelled to the United States to oversee the film's translation; Takayuki Karahashi, who translated the film, was personally selected by Ikuhara.