Revolutionary Girl Utena: After the Revolution

After the Revolution has three stories set sometime in the future (20 years?) in the Utena universe, all involving various student council members.

The first involves Touga and Saionji competing to acquire art for their very wealthy clients. Then a mysterious artist offers them his collection (you can probably guess who this is if you saw the Utena movie) in exchange for a favor.

The second involves Juri as a world champion fencer who is slowly aging out of the sport. She wants to win in one last match to impress Shiori (now her manager) and prove that she's still at the top of her game.

The third involves Miki and Kozue and their still unrequired feelings for each other even following Kozue's marriage to someone else.

None of the stories is great in my opinion. What ultimately happens in all three is very much up for interpretation, and the beats feel similar to the ones in the anime, just not as good. (Touga and Saionji are rivals, Miki and Kozue have a twisted relationship, Juri wants to impress Shiori who is in love with someone else, etc.)

To me, it's a disappointment. The idea of revising characters 20 years after has a lot of potential. (How have they changed? What did they learn from their experiences? How do they perceive the world differently now that they're adults rather than teenagers?)

Yet I don't know that I sensed much of an evolution in any of them. They feel very much their high school selves, still waiting for whatever revolution they're seeking (if any at all). None seem to have really progressed. (And while one could argue that this is to be expected - it was only Utena who got her "revolution", after all - it still feels weirdly static and unnatural. They're all adults and doing adult things yet they're trapped in the same toxic relationships that they were in high school. And the stories in the manga leave them trapped there, with no real progress or resolution.)

Still, the art is beautiful and if, like me, you're a huge Utena fan, you'll probably want it as a way of revisiting all your old favorites.

For a review to be useful you must first understand the reviewer. So firstly I must state that I regard the Utena animation series in high esteem. To me it is something special and unique. I find the original manga art a little disappointing but the books are a good fit as supplement to the animations. Had only the books existed, I wouldn't be much of a Utena fan.

As such, I found this new book a mildly disappointing addition. Perhaps because my love for the manga falls short in general or perhaps because my expectations were too high. Either way I suspect we could all agree that the book was in great need of more Anthy, which was my biggest disappointment. There should have been a fourth story centered around her after the revolution.

It’s fine. It doesn’t evolve the story is any one way or another. These are just incidental short stories with curiously vague ties to the anime. Sort of yet another alternate take on the world. The Juri/Shiori chapter is my favorite because of the interesting trajectory of Shiori’s character and a new revelation about who exactly drowned in that river when saving that girl that one day.

I look forward to a more in depth analysis by a devoted fan of the new backstory presented here. This manga implies everyone met each other as children after some kind of large scale accident. Sort of giving me Penguindrum vibes. But it’s all very vague and dreamlike. It’s hard to tell what is really “real” here.

But I admire Ikuhara and Saito for even giving it a shot and not completely screwing it up. Any Utena is better than no Utena.

Book arrived with no damage to the cover or pages. Print quality is excellent, the colors on the cover are very vibrant and detailed. There are 3 stories inside chronicling what happened to specific side characters years after the end of the original manga; Revolutionary Girl Utena. There's nothing ground breaking in these stories but I highly recommend you add this book to your Utena collection if you have not done so already as it does tie up some loose ends from the orginal story. If you have not read the original Utena manga yet, I recommend you do so first before considering buying this (and yes that includes if you've only watched the anime and not read the manga since the stories between both differ greatly and this book is specifically a continuation of the orignal manga's story).

A nice afterward for the series, but not too deep a dive. Glad I bought this.

Great condition, beautiful print

3.5 stars, rounded up to 4 just for the consistently gggggorgeous artwork and character design.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is such a freakin' weird series, I think overall the short-story format doesn't really help it too much, since we just need ...more details in what's happening and how the magic works. This is full-force for things like Touga and Saionji's story, where it's so fast-paced I couldn't keep up.

But Juri and Miki's stories give us more depth into what they're struggling with and where they are in life as adults. I really enjoyed these stories, enjoyed seeing how Kozue's life changed and liked seeing Juri get more-interesting motivation and development than just her weird? crush? on Touga? from the original manga.

It was also cool to see Utena behave as the mysterious, forgotten prince too.

Overall, a neat collection. Wish it was longer!

That was interesting to read; lots of strange continuing stories for more Utena.

This is book is a cool concept: a 20-year anniversary manga by Chiho Saito that is set 20-years later. It is very clearly set in the manga continuity, rather than the TV series or Movie. And in these three short stories...it doesn't really break much new ground, rather it folds in popular images and concepts from the tv series and movie that were absent from the manga.

Utena and Anthy are mostly absent, except as ghostly apparitions or images in artwork. It works, as it doesn't pin down the openness of the ending, and instead allows the short stories to focus on Touga and Saionji, Juri, and Miki respectively.

The two most tantalizing ideas come early on: Akio committed suicide shortly after the events of the manga (makes sense). Touga and Saionji (now both 37! And looking exactly the same) are rival art brokers. The rest of the story, while a cool check-in, feels like a remix of images we saw in the movie. The final two short stories feel like retreads of the arc we saw Juri and Miki experience in other mediums...which is a bit frustrating.

Chiho Saito's layouts and linework is immaculate. Not gonna knock it. If you're a Utena completist, this is fun, though not necessary work. And if you're more of a fan of the anime or movies, this will seem like well-worn material.

Short, but packed with awesome.