Cover and Back (box)
Cover and Back (CD case)
CD, stickers, obi (spine card), and inside of case
    
Booklet Pages
Cover
001, 002, 003 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009

Score: 8.0 of 10
     I've many choice words of the four letter variety for the Utena movie. None of them apply to the soundtrack; what the CD lacks in track number it makes up for in sheer quality.

     The background music is absolutely incredible, starting with "Scarlets' Dancing - Reunion", the only really perky and upbeat of the tracks, though it ends in a piano piece that isn't quite so upbeat. "Rose Brand ~ Bride in the Sky Garden" starts switching gears, and is considerably dark despite the faster pace it has in some parts. It ends with a stretch right out of a period piece soundtrack that reeks of noble courts. "Illusion ~ Akio's Chrysalis" is actually my favorite of the background music tracks, though its namesake makes me want to puke up vital organs. It starts out as a nice melancholy piano piece and evolves into the bizarre techno music that plays during the Shiori butterfly sequence. "Belladonna's Trap" is another great track (notice a trend here?) that combines piano with a techno sound. "Akio Waltz ~ Video-tic Memory" is, as you might suspect, a waltz. I'm not one for waltzes, nor one for movie Akio, so I don't particularly like this one. Whoops. "Abraxas ~ Sunny Garden" is a lot of stuff. The overall tone of the first half feels almost video gamey, and reminds me strongly of Xenogears, if you've ever played that. I'm not talking Super Mario game, I'm talking RPG. Naturally it spins off into "The Sunny Garden", but with an additional symphonic accompaniment. "Decisive Battle ~ Beelzebub Place" is very fast paced and tense, and suits the car chase it goes with well, but might be a little too long and slow to build for most people to just listen to.

     The other tracks are give and take by preference. "Rose is Rain", "Duelist ~ Revive! Infinite History [The Middle Ages]", and "Rose Naked Body ~ Shura Physical Constellation 45 Nebula" are Seazer's contributions. The opening, Saionji's duel, and Juri's duel respectively. As always with him, they're fantastic tracks, Saionji's duel especially. (Seazer's songs always manage to fit their names no matter how bizarre their names are, and it really shines in Saionji's duel here. It's more description than I can offer.)

    "The Absolute Destiny: Apocalypse -Adolescence of UTENA-" and "Rinbu Revolution ~ Adolescence Rush" are their namesakes remixed for the movie. The former is utterly bizarre and personally kinda hard to listen to, though the latter is quite a nice trick for such an old dog, so to speak. It's all over the place, from the actual song, to long stretches of head-bobbing techno, to symphonic bits. Kinda schizo, but a lot of fun.

     Of the two J-Pop tracks, only one appears on the CD. The version of "Wanna Be a Fiancee" here is a symphonic version, not what you hear at the end of the movie. It doesn't matter much, since the track everyone flocks to is "At Time, Love Is", the dance sequence and apparently the best song ever in the whole wide world. I don't quite agree with just how much people seem to wet their pants over it, but's definitely a good bit 'o J-Pop that makes the CD purchase totally worth it for most.

     Ultimately one of the best Shoujo Kakumei Utena releases, and nothing but new material. This one is well worth having even if like me, you can't quite watch the movie unless you're prepared psychologically.