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Gio's Note: The Central Park Media release of the Utena movie included a director's commentary audio track with subtitles. Ikuhara is not being interviewed, but rather just discussing things as he watches them. I've parsed it out in paragraph format, roughly broken into scenes and subject. My italics are scene or character cues that are not obvious by what Ikuhara's saying alone. Enjoy!
Ikuhara Audio Commentary: Adolescence of Utena
Hello. I'm Kunihiko Ikuhara, director of Revolutionary Girl Utena. I'm here to talk about some of the behind-the-scenes stories about the making of this film.
(bell sequence with zoom out)
First, I'd like to talk about this prologue scene. As I recall, this was actually quite a tricky scene to put together. In particular, this cut. This cut was edited using digital techniques and the camera work was quite complicated. I realized that the animator in charge of this sequence hadn't done it by the deadline and so I remember rushing about to direct the camera work for it myself. I recall that this sequence was quite a tricky task given the very complicated camera work.
As for the opening titles...
These opening titles, as I recall, were also quite difficult to produce. These aren't just simply subtitles, they were actually created through digital graphics. We used a supercomputer that we have in Japan that is capable of nonlinear digital editing. We created these through nonlinear composite editing. This was quite a difficult process. Nonlinear composite editing is a technology that's similar to digital video editing, where the composite images are created from digital data using a PC. Not only do you have to have a good editor, you also need a computer and software that can perform the task. As such, I remember this to be quite a tricky process.
This is the opening scene here. It's set in a classroom.
For the first scene in the film, I felt it was important to set the proper tone and to convey to the audience that this is a strange world. So, we got all of our staff together for a meeting to talk about ways we could do this, and we decided on this idea of multidirectional blackboards.
(view of the school with moving walkways)
This scene as well. We used the same technique as that used in the prologue scene. We felt that this scene would set the tone and mood of the film. I think this strange scene underscores the strange mood of this film. I think this scene sets the unusual tone of the film.
(Utena and Wakaba walking around)
We have this exuberant young girl appear from the outset. But we thought about presenting her in a different way than what you see in the TV series.
We thought that it would be necessary to have some sort of running commentary on what's going on. (concerning the Shadow Play Girls) So we thought we'd make it like a live broadcast and have the girls talk as if they were in front of a microphone.
This is the scene where Jury and Miki are fencing.
You see a lot of scenes like this in the TV series so we thought maybe there should also be something like this in the film as well. Perhaps you can tell if you've been watching this so far, but we put a lot of emphasis on the artwork. I think there are a lot of visuals up to this point that have an impact from a visual art point of view. Actually, at least up until this point in the film, we put a lot of focus on the background art.
(sequence where Utena is chasing Touga through school in the rain)
For this project we created a number of "art boards." "Art boards" are basically like art designs. We created numerous art designs. We'd create the tone of the images for each scene based on the art boards. For example, we originally thought of doing this scene in monotone but if all of it was monotone, it would be boring so we came up with ideas such as adding pink to the pillars here and giving it a reddish hue. We'd have discussions like that with the art staff, and that's how we would come up with the art boards, or art design.
This is the scene where Touga first appears in the film. We wanted to convey the sense that this character will be appearing quite a bit throughout the film and also that there's a reason why it's raining. What I mean is that, in a key scene later on when she and Touga part ways, there is the sound of a river. We did it like this to make a link between the rain and the flowing water of the river.
(where Utena finds the ring in a blooming rose)
This scene here with the rose... There's one white rose amongst all of the red roses. The white rose is the symbol of the Prince, and from this lone white rose, Utena receives the ring. In other words, Touga is the Prince in Utena's eyes, and when he leaves the scene, a lone white rose, symbolic of the Prince, remains and she receives the ring from this white rose. And just when she receives the ring, Anthy summons Utena from the rose garden in the sky above. It's a very symbolic piece of drama, and it was intended that way.
This rose garden scene was also very difficult to put to picture.
That's because there are only roses, and when you put it to picture, it becomes rather bland. I mean, one rose can be drawn quite elaborately, and the image we have of lots of roses is quite rich when we describe it in words. But when you actually draw it, it becomes quite bland and monotone. So, we really worked hard at creating variation within those images.
This scene is about Utena and Anthy meeting for the first time.
In comparison to the meeting they have in the TV series, it's... It's pretty different. We thought a lot about whether we wanted to create a different sort of impression of their meeting in this scene. In the TV series she was reluctant and not inclined to initiate the fight. But we changed that in the film. In the film, we created a situation where she would resolve to fight. On the one hand, Utena clearly decides to fight after seeing Anthy, this young girl, get violently abused right in front of her. But more importantly, we wanted to show that Utena's resolve to fight was also based on her long desire to become the Prince. I think this aspect of it diverges quite a bit from the TV series.
(Anthy explaining duel/preparing)
Unlike in a TV series where things are repeated things only happen once in a film. So, there are limits to what you can do with a fight scene shown in a film. In the TV series, getting into a fight in every episode was a sort of trademark of Utena for the fans who watched. But, even before the release of the film, there was a lot of talk among fans about how we were going to deal with the fight scenes and we had to think quite a bit about it. We really had to consider what sort of variation we were going to put in the fight scenes.
(duel with Saionji begins)
Putting together the picture for this scene was quite difficult. The trick was to work in all the roses in the garden into the fight scene while still having the scene itself focus entirely on the fight. All of that was quite tough on the animators. Here, we have them kiss. (Anthy and Utena) We had a lot of discussion among the staff about whether we should let them kiss and opinions were split. There were many that felt that they ought to kiss. In the TV series, we have the characters looking as if they were going to kiss but they actually never do. Many felt that having them almost kiss but not quite was the right way to go. They wondered why the characters would suddenly kiss in the film after all that time not kissing in the TV series. And others felt that they ought to kiss because it is the film version. Well, since it is the film version, after all, I guess that is what we went with. Maybe it's just that I wanted to see them kiss. (laughter)
(sequence with Anthy and Utena alone)
This scene is set in a school dormitory. The design of the dorm is, of course based on the design of the dorm in the TV series. The initial idea was to upgrade the visual images from that of the TV series. In that sense, a lot of the images you see are based on the designs from the TV series and were used as templates from which to work.
In this scene What we were concerned about in this scene was to try to make the picture into something that looked like a love scene and we had a lot of discussion with the staff about it. In other words, we'd have the characters talk about what happened during the day like the fight in the afternoon or about the secrets of the college they were attending. But, talking from a visual point of view, we wanted to make the mood like that of two lovers. You can hear the sound of a fastener there. (something being unzipped) 153 00:22:02,368 --> 00:22:08,329 This sound was put in there by a sound effects engineer, who decided to put it in there on his own without direction from me. It seemed kind of funny, so we thought we'd just leave it there.
(Shiori and Touga talking in the white room)
In this scene, as a change in mood, the idea was to create a world in which there are no colors. So, things are rather blank. Of course, the sheet that's covering Touga is like a shroud that you would use to cover the deceased. This space in which the characters Touga and Shiori exist, we intended to represent as a world in which dead people reside. Like the entrance to the world of the deceased. Also, in terms of sounds effects we even brought in sounds from the lobby of a hospital. In other words, the reason that Shiori is with Touga is because we wanted to convey the sense that Shiori is one who is haunted by the dead.
(The pool cleaning scene)
This scene here... We wanted to create a picture that conveyed a sense of an aquatic world. There's a swimming pool, but with no water. But this pool is built into an arcade that's made of mirrors. So, even though there is no water in the pool we wanted to create an image of coolness through visual effects. In Japan, we have a custom where people who are practicing in their respective sports teams, and clubs at high school and such would cry out in unison, or make uniform movements that help create team solidarity. That's what this scene shows.
(Shiori and Touga, phone call and flashback story sequence)
Again, this scene shows the world of Shiori and Touga. It represents the world of the deceased. In other words, she's in this world because of a phone call she received from Akio. We thought that was interesting. Of course, the Akio character died quite a long time ago. So, the conversation between Touga and Akio is like a conversation between ghosts. We thought it would be interesting to add Shiori to the picture in these scenes.
(Kozue and Miki in the bathtub)
This scene is, well... This is a claw foot bathtub. The Manga artist, Chiho Saito actually has a claw foot bathtub. We used that as the model. It looks a lot like Ms. Saito's bath at her home.
(Shiori drawing on Touga's back)
This scene is actually quite a significant one for Shiori and Touga. Basically, two things are expressed here. First, you have the idea that the place where Shiori and Touga live is the world of the dead. We get some background here on Touga's childhood there. Touga's childhood was sort of a nightmare. So, you have Touga talk about his nightmarish childhood and you also have Shiori's malicious feelings toward the world in which she lives. These two themes intersect here. So, in this world of the dead in which Touga and Shiori exist... Shiori's malicious feelings and Touga's nightmarish childhood come together visually.
(Touga running through cabbage patch)
And you have the scene in the cabbage patch where a beautiful butterfly appears and the meaning of this, Shiori's malicious feelings and Touga's sad past are, how can I say... are brought together and grow together. They join and come together as one force of evil. We tried to make this scene quite beautiful and in that sense we put a lot of effort into it. In Utena, we wanted to express negative beauty as well as positive beauty throughout. In that sense, this scene is one where we wanted to convey the sadness of a negative beauty.
(Car garage with Miki, Juri, and Shiori)
This scene is set in the basement. It's a basement garage. There are many cars stored in this place. And we show this because later we see many of these cars come out. Here, we have a car that's called Kozue, and many of our fans have asked us if Kozue has been turned into a car. Well, if you ask, I suppose that's it. As for why she became a car, well, let's see... It's the same reason that Utena becomes a car. But I'd really rather not talk about it, because that would narrow the interpretation of the story. (when Shiori appears and speaks to Juri) In a sense, the Shiori character has an important meaning to Jury's character. To Jury, Shiori is a reminder of her past trauma. Later, we realize that Jury had a traumatic experience as a child, when she let a man die as he drowned in a river. The one who was in love with the man who dies was Shiori. So, the reason Jury puts on a tough and brave attitude is because she let this man die. So, in front of Shiori, she puts on a brave attitude in order to appease her guilt.
(the rose garden at night before the dance)
This scene was also quite difficult. That is, trying to just draw those roses in that black background... It was hard to film beautifully. It was somewhat unfortunate. Here, they're talking about stars and about how they like to watch the stars together but since Touga's not there... we thought it would be interesting to draw a night sky without stars. We wanted to show this sky with no stars at all so we made it completely black.
(Anthy breaking the water pipe and spilling out the roses) This sequence here is totally done digitally.
It may look like regular animation but from here to the dance scene, it's completely digital. We used animation software called 3-D Works in this sequence and created these 2-D character images with that. It was quite a tricky scene to do. There's good resolution in the picture. Especially in the background space scene, there's good detail. Unfortunately in video, it's hard to appreciate the detail but I think you'd notice the beauty of this scene if you were to see it on the big screen.
(dance sequence)
This dance scene is one of the highlights of this film. I think this scene is one of the most beautifully done and our staff did their best to make this scene as beautiful as possible. We used 3-D graphics for this scene. It's a digital scene, so we used computer graphics, of course. But we found that hardly anyone could tell that this was digitally done which means that there's warmth to the image. Usually computer graphics images tend to be harsh and cold so I'm quite happy that this turned out all right. I especially like this scene very much. I've done dance scenes like this in my career before, like in Sailor Moon. You could say that I'm particularly good at doing these kinds of scenes.
(scene in the school where they walk up the tower to do their art project)
This boy who's talking to Wakaba here never actually shows his face on screen anywhere. He's actually a rather symbolic character. What I mean is that Wakaba originally considered Utena as her Prince but, how can I say... when another boy shows up, she'll make him her boyfriend. In other words, Utena lives in quite a special world whereas we wanted to show that Wakaba lives a rather ordinary life. So, in a sense, this boy represents another Utena to her but at a more ordinary level.
(sketching sequence where Anthy reveals her stab wound)
This... One of the things we talked to the art department a lot about for this project was the idea of using the color red in a symbolic way in the images. For that, we really thought hard about how we can present the color red. This scene here is one example. The Chairman's office has a red carpet and red drapes. This the observatory which was previously used as the Chairman's office. Even the shadows in this scene have tinges of red to them. This scene was meant to show how much closer Utena and Anthy have become after the earlier dance scene. Both of these characters tended to hide a lot from each other in their relationship from the very beginning. Utena has her past with Touga, and Anthy, of course has her past with the Chairman, her brother. They live together in the same room without opening up to each other about these things. The scene is intended to show how the two try to bring their spirits closer together.
In the original script, this scene was to show a scar on Anthy's chest that she got from an injury at the hands of her brother. But personally, I really didn't like the idea of showing a scar on her chest in terms of the picture and I tried to think of some other way to depict this. That is, without showing it clearly in the picture, but rather in another way. So, we decided to use a silhouette like you saw there. I thought that showing it as a silhouette was suited to Utena and, because it was shown as a silhouette, not only does it show the injury she got but also the injury to her spirit as expressed by the rest of her body. I think it was a good idea and it turned out very nicely.
(Nanami-cow sequence)
This cow is the same one that appeared in the TV series. For people who know the character, we put it in for their amusement. For those who don't, we thought it would serve as a nice little break. I believe this is the Nanami the Cow character that came out in Episode 16 of the TV series. In the film, we don't have a character called Nanami so we put this cow character in instead. The character we have on the left here is called Keroppon. (the red thing) He's like a rival to the character, Chu Chu. In the TV series, Chu Chu didn't have anyone to play off of. We thought he was kind of lonely, so we created someone for him. Rather than a rival, he's more of a nemesis. Chu Chu always ends up getting eaten. We thought of many episodes where Chu Chu always ends up getting bitten.
(Akio flashback with Kanae and the taxi cab)
The Japanese musician Mitsuhiko Oikawa did the voice of this Akio character. In Japan, he's quite popular, and, how can I say his stage persona as a rock star is like that of a prince in visual terms so he's really well suited to this character. I thought it was quite funny that this character would take taxis and such.
This is where Jury duels Utena.
Of course, they're dueling in this scene because of Utena's relationship with Anthy. And Jury is fighting on behalf of Shiori. And Shiori's feelings are based on her delusion of Touga. In other words, Shiori's feelings are like that of a ghost. When you come right down to it, Shiori is a character that's possessed by a ghost. We wrote Shiori as a negative character. She's very self-conscious about being possessed by ghosts but she's not one who would actually do anything about it herself. Of course, Anthy's like that too. Anthy is also quite self-conscious about being possessed by a ghost but Shiori expresses that in a far more negative way. So, Jury, who is linked to Shiori is also possessed by a ghost. We thought we could develop her as one who is possessed by Touga who had died in the past. I thought that would be an interesting idea to explore. The Jury character is quite popular among Utena fans in Japan and I like her very much as well. In some aspects, she is very similar in character to Utena. So, she plays off Utena quite a lot. You could say we developed her character specifically to play against Utena.
(sequence with Shadow Play Girls and Shiori revealing Akio's corpse)
In this film, we have Girl E and Girl F. These girls are only in the film version but then we also have Girl C. This Girl C was actually also in the TV series. As to why we just brought Girl C to the film from the TV series there is an episode in the TV series where it becomes apparent that Girl C was once a monkey. I always enjoyed that character, so I included her in the film because I thought it would be interesting to have a monkey that pretends to be human doing some commentary.
(Video flashback of Akio stabbing Anthy)
We designed this scene to make it look very metaphysical. It depicts a mysterious world of images in which the truth is gradually revealed. As for the issue at heart, it is Anthy's secret. In other words, the kind of relationship she had with her brother in the past and the secret she's hiding. And also what Anthy is trying to hide about her brother's death. These all are all conveyed to the audience, of course. So, just as the story is revealed to the audience it is also being revealed to Utena. As for what's at the end of this is the revelation of a past that Utena had forgotten and was hiding.
(Utena approaching the elevator)
The visuals in this scene are generally based on the design of the "memorial hall" set that you see after Episode 14 in the second TV season. The "memorial hall" set was quite popular as a set among fans. They liked the visuals very much, so we included it in the film as well. This elevator visual technique is something we used a number of times in the second season. We decided to use those visuals again for the film. And in the elevator we have Utena play against Touga where she declares her love for him. This is only in the film and I think it's quite interesting. Throughout the mysterious and metaphysical imagery we used up to this point we reveal the secret that Anthy kept, and it culminates in this elevator scene where Utena declares her love. Here, the nature of the relationship between Utena and Touga which had been held in tension throughout the story, is finally revealed.
(Boy drowning in the lake/elevator sequence)
Fans ask about this scene quite a bit. They want to know who is on that boat in this scene. If the ones on the bench are Utena and Touga when they were children then who is the girl on the boat? Since the girl who fell into the river drowned Touga also died when he tried to save her. Actually, the girl who was on that boat was Jury. But we didn't do a close-up of Jury as a child so people were guessing quite a bit about who it was. Many thought that perhaps it was Shiori. In this film, in addition to roses water was also used as a very important motif. When Touga and Utena meet, it is raining and then there's the scene by the empty swimming pool. And, of course, there's the scene in the rose garden in the sky where the two dance in the water. As for why we used these motifs throughout it was all for this scene. Touga is a character that had actually drowned as a child. He's actually a ghost that Utena and Shiori and a number of others see. He actually died a long time ago and only exists in the dreams of Utena and Shiori. Just like Shiori, Utena is also drawn into this world of the dead. But Utena clearly decides that she won't be joining him in his world and so they part ways in this scene.
(Touga floating away from the elevator)
Touga may himself be a ghost, but he still loves Utena even now. This is the parting scene upon which audiences have remarked. Ms. Saito says that this is her favorite scene.
Some of our fans took issue with this car wash scene.
There were a lot of differing opinions among the staff about this as well. There were many that definitely didn't want to do this scene but I wanted to make the film special. And because it's a film, I wanted to express things that I'd do only in the film. Normally, in a dramatic action film... in the climax of this type of film, the protagonists would normally be faced against some superstrong evil opponent or alien with superhuman powers. And visually, you'd normally see these intense images. But we've seen things like that before, and so... how can I say... I myself wasn't really interested. There are lots of shows like that already so I wanted to create a spectacular scene that was unique to this film. So, I came up with this scene. This scene shows the changing of the outward look of Ohtori Academy... and after this, all the images of the setting that you've seen until now disappear completely.
(Anthy finds the Utena Car)
Many ask why Utena ends up being turned into a car. I try not to answer that. I mentioned this before, but the reason I don't want to answer that is because I feel that it would limit the meaning of the story and make it less interesting. I'll say one thing that was on my mind, though. Let's see... there's the story of"Sleeping Beauty," where you have the princess who'd been asleep for a long time who's awakened by the prince. But the Utena character has been the Prince from the beginning of this story. So, the idea of Utena being turned into a car suggests that she's being put to sleep. So, I thought it would be interesting to reverse the roles played by Utena and Anthy in their respective relationships. In other words, Utena's the one who becomes the princess. She's the one forced into sleep. And only Anthy can free Utena from this sleep. That's how things come to an end. I thought it would be very interesting to reverse their roles.
(Race sequence with SPGs covering it as a newscast)
The people who were keen on the production of this film based on the TV series never thought it would end with these mechanical action scenes. They were quite surprised when the film came out. I actually wanted to surprise them. That's why I made the climax like this. This scene was quite a heavy scene to do from a production point of view. It was a difficult one. In addition to the mechanical aspects, the scene itself moves very quickly. They're also driving cars, so everything is moving very quickly to more of an action-oriented scene. It was quite difficult to do from a production standpoint. In particular, from the operator room scene to the ending credits some people may notice that the music never lets up. The climax goes on for 20 minutes. So, the music continues for 20 minutes. And since the music is synchronized with the picture and visual images the music recording was quite a difficult process. From a visual point of view, it's full of hard, action-packed images. But... since we have the music playing for 20 minutes straight, how can I say I wanted to make it into a bit of a musical, like an old Hollywood musical. In order to do an action scene like this, well we gathered many animators that specialize in such work. But initially, these people didn't think they'd hear from us about this project. So, when we contacted them about this film, they were kind of surprised and wondered why we were calling them. When we showed them the storyboard they understood what we were talking about and why they were called. Even they were quite surprised that we'd have a climax like this in the film. Normally, when they do animation shows that feature robots and such. their involvement in it is more generalized. It's usually the theme of the whole show and they tend to feel somewhat lost in the overall picture. But in this project, how can I say, each animator has his or her own bit in which they can show off in his or her area of expertise. For example, an animator that specializes in doing girl shows can really bring out the best in the dance scene, while mecha action experts can do that for this climax scene here. So, in that sense, the different types of scenes are clearly distinguished in the film allowing each animator to focus on his or her area of expertise. I think the result turned out very nicely. And I think the work of each expert is very well expressed throughout the film.
(where the castle ascends from nearby the highway)
We were very careful with this scene. What I mean is that we put a lot of effort into making this scene where the castle rises up. We put a lot of effort into making it look huge and beautiful as well. Not just huge, but also beautiful. In order to do that, we used a lot of effects on these visuals that you didn't see at all earlier in the film. One thing we did was to try to avoid using any flashy effects in the previous scene. We kept it fairly dark for over 10 minutes. So, when the castle finally appears, there is a strong impact from the visual image.
From here, the shape of the car changes. And the music you hear is the opening theme song from the TV series a sort of symbol for the show. This is actually quite a dangerous situation going on here. (driving through the moving wheels under the castle) But, we present it as a kind of video game that the faceless girls here are monitoring. By showing these girls observing the action, I thought it would be interesting to give that same impression to the audience in which they would watch the scene as if watching a game. This scene here might be quite hard to understand but we used computer graphics here as well.
Here, the other ghost-like character, Akio, makes his appearance.
This is actually a very significant scene. Throughout this story, Utena claimed to be the Prince but the real princes are Touga who was courageous and righteous in his attempt to save a drowning girl and Akio, Anthy's kind and loving brother. In this world, the real princes are dead. I thought it was interesting to create a fantastic world where a girl plays the part of a prince since there are no true princes remaining in that world. The meaning of this I can't really say in one word... but one way to look at it is that I wanted to convey the sense of what it means to become an adult. In other words, there are no people with pure hearts in the world of adults. So, what would you do when you realize this? In other words, when you realize that the world of adults is a dirty one where no one with a pure heart can live would you avoid it and remain as a child where you can live in a world of childish and beautiful dreams? Or, would you enter the adult world regardless even if you knew that it was not a pure world? So, which way are you going to choose? That's what's being expressed in this climax scene of this film.
(the straw SPGs)
Here we show the names of the faceless girls to reveal their identities. These were simply dolls and not robots or humans. Two of the dolls have the names " Utena" and "Anthy" on them. What's meant by this is that the faceless girls were another expression of Utena and Anthy's souls. And also, they represent the audience, and the feelings expressed by the audience. The idea of this story is to express the way that a teenage audience feels.
(scene with Utena and Anthy naked on motorcycle thingie)
This scene is set where you see endless piles of scrap metal and cars. It's a desolate wilderness. This wilderness is, of course an expression of the modern world we live in. In this sense, the collegiate world is like a dream world. It's a dream world like we see in Disneyland. So, the idea was to compare this dream world with that of the desolate wilderness. The adult world outside. The wilderness is a large, expansive place, but a complicated one. I wanted to show how they would dare to enter this world with nothing. Wearing nothing. Many ask why I made the last scene like this. As for why, I myself don't really know. But, I suppose it has to do with how I used to look at the world and society when I was a teenager. And that's reflected here. These are probably the sort of visual images I had in my teens. That is, the adult world is not pure. And anyone with a pure heart would not be able to live in an adult world. So, if that's the case, I felt that I didn't want to become an adult. But then I wondered if it was okay, taking it to that degree. Not sure. In that sense, the last scene was meant to honestly reflect the true feelings I had when I was in my teens. So, that's the kind of scene I want young teenagers to see before they head off into society. There's a part of me that still thinks that I'm living here in a desolate, adult wilderness. So, I think I made that last scene like that for my own benefit as well. For example, I'm an animation director now. And I think it's very complicated work being an animation director. What I mean is that I'm not working for myself and there's a lot of work dealing with the other people involved. So the staffing work can be quite heavy. Also, you're undertaking these projects after getting a lot of money together so there's a serious business angle to it as well. So, to accomplish this task and remain faithful to yourself at the same time this type of animation work can really test a person. So, you could say that I really strove to accomplish that in that last scene given the world I live in. In other words, I have to go forward in this complex world and face these complicated situations. Of course, I approached that last scene from the audience's point of view but I also approached it from the perspective of my teen years as well as from my present perspective. In that sense, I'd have to say that that last scene expresses my situation back then much more so than anything else I've done. And to hear people tell me how they liked that last scene makes me really happy.
(Credits hurr)
And finally, we have quite a great number of names listed in the end credits here. We all worked very hard together on this. They all put their hearts into this project. I'll take this opportunity to thank them all right here. Thank you. And also, to all you fans out there who've been listening to my commentary: thank you very much. I look forward to bringing the next project to you in the future. Thank you very much.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) is © Kunihiko Ikuhara, Chiho Saito, Shogakukan and bePapas/TV Tokyo and/or their respective copyright holders. The US release of the Revolutionary Girl Utena series and movie was © Central Park Media and now belongs to Right Stuf. The US release of the Utena manga is © VIZ. The various sources used in this site are noted where their content is presented. Don't sue us, seriously. Blood. Stone.
Ikuhara Audio Commentary: Adolescence of Utena
Hello. I'm Kunihiko Ikuhara, director of Revolutionary Girl Utena. I'm here to talk about some of the behind-the-scenes stories about the making of this film.
(bell sequence with zoom out)
First, I'd like to talk about this prologue scene. As I recall, this was actually quite a tricky scene to put together. In particular, this cut. This cut was edited using digital techniques and the camera work was quite complicated. I realized that the animator in charge of this sequence hadn't done it by the deadline and so I remember rushing about to direct the camera work for it myself. I recall that this sequence was quite a tricky task given the very complicated camera work.
As for the opening titles...
These opening titles, as I recall, were also quite difficult to produce. These aren't just simply subtitles, they were actually created through digital graphics. We used a supercomputer that we have in Japan that is capable of nonlinear digital editing. We created these through nonlinear composite editing. This was quite a difficult process. Nonlinear composite editing is a technology that's similar to digital video editing, where the composite images are created from digital data using a PC. Not only do you have to have a good editor, you also need a computer and software that can perform the task. As such, I remember this to be quite a tricky process.
This is the opening scene here. It's set in a classroom.
For the first scene in the film, I felt it was important to set the proper tone and to convey to the audience that this is a strange world. So, we got all of our staff together for a meeting to talk about ways we could do this, and we decided on this idea of multidirectional blackboards.
(view of the school with moving walkways)
This scene as well. We used the same technique as that used in the prologue scene. We felt that this scene would set the tone and mood of the film. I think this strange scene underscores the strange mood of this film. I think this scene sets the unusual tone of the film.
(Utena and Wakaba walking around)
We have this exuberant young girl appear from the outset. But we thought about presenting her in a different way than what you see in the TV series.
We thought that it would be necessary to have some sort of running commentary on what's going on. (concerning the Shadow Play Girls) So we thought we'd make it like a live broadcast and have the girls talk as if they were in front of a microphone.
This is the scene where Jury and Miki are fencing.
You see a lot of scenes like this in the TV series so we thought maybe there should also be something like this in the film as well. Perhaps you can tell if you've been watching this so far, but we put a lot of emphasis on the artwork. I think there are a lot of visuals up to this point that have an impact from a visual art point of view. Actually, at least up until this point in the film, we put a lot of focus on the background art.
(sequence where Utena is chasing Touga through school in the rain)
For this project we created a number of "art boards." "Art boards" are basically like art designs. We created numerous art designs. We'd create the tone of the images for each scene based on the art boards. For example, we originally thought of doing this scene in monotone but if all of it was monotone, it would be boring so we came up with ideas such as adding pink to the pillars here and giving it a reddish hue. We'd have discussions like that with the art staff, and that's how we would come up with the art boards, or art design.
This is the scene where Touga first appears in the film. We wanted to convey the sense that this character will be appearing quite a bit throughout the film and also that there's a reason why it's raining. What I mean is that, in a key scene later on when she and Touga part ways, there is the sound of a river. We did it like this to make a link between the rain and the flowing water of the river.
(where Utena finds the ring in a blooming rose)
This scene here with the rose... There's one white rose amongst all of the red roses. The white rose is the symbol of the Prince, and from this lone white rose, Utena receives the ring. In other words, Touga is the Prince in Utena's eyes, and when he leaves the scene, a lone white rose, symbolic of the Prince, remains and she receives the ring from this white rose. And just when she receives the ring, Anthy summons Utena from the rose garden in the sky above. It's a very symbolic piece of drama, and it was intended that way.
This rose garden scene was also very difficult to put to picture.
That's because there are only roses, and when you put it to picture, it becomes rather bland. I mean, one rose can be drawn quite elaborately, and the image we have of lots of roses is quite rich when we describe it in words. But when you actually draw it, it becomes quite bland and monotone. So, we really worked hard at creating variation within those images.
This scene is about Utena and Anthy meeting for the first time.
In comparison to the meeting they have in the TV series, it's... It's pretty different. We thought a lot about whether we wanted to create a different sort of impression of their meeting in this scene. In the TV series she was reluctant and not inclined to initiate the fight. But we changed that in the film. In the film, we created a situation where she would resolve to fight. On the one hand, Utena clearly decides to fight after seeing Anthy, this young girl, get violently abused right in front of her. But more importantly, we wanted to show that Utena's resolve to fight was also based on her long desire to become the Prince. I think this aspect of it diverges quite a bit from the TV series.
(Anthy explaining duel/preparing)
Unlike in a TV series where things are repeated things only happen once in a film. So, there are limits to what you can do with a fight scene shown in a film. In the TV series, getting into a fight in every episode was a sort of trademark of Utena for the fans who watched. But, even before the release of the film, there was a lot of talk among fans about how we were going to deal with the fight scenes and we had to think quite a bit about it. We really had to consider what sort of variation we were going to put in the fight scenes.
(duel with Saionji begins)
Putting together the picture for this scene was quite difficult. The trick was to work in all the roses in the garden into the fight scene while still having the scene itself focus entirely on the fight. All of that was quite tough on the animators. Here, we have them kiss. (Anthy and Utena) We had a lot of discussion among the staff about whether we should let them kiss and opinions were split. There were many that felt that they ought to kiss. In the TV series, we have the characters looking as if they were going to kiss but they actually never do. Many felt that having them almost kiss but not quite was the right way to go. They wondered why the characters would suddenly kiss in the film after all that time not kissing in the TV series. And others felt that they ought to kiss because it is the film version. Well, since it is the film version, after all, I guess that is what we went with. Maybe it's just that I wanted to see them kiss. (laughter)
(sequence with Anthy and Utena alone)
This scene is set in a school dormitory. The design of the dorm is, of course based on the design of the dorm in the TV series. The initial idea was to upgrade the visual images from that of the TV series. In that sense, a lot of the images you see are based on the designs from the TV series and were used as templates from which to work.
In this scene What we were concerned about in this scene was to try to make the picture into something that looked like a love scene and we had a lot of discussion with the staff about it. In other words, we'd have the characters talk about what happened during the day like the fight in the afternoon or about the secrets of the college they were attending. But, talking from a visual point of view, we wanted to make the mood like that of two lovers. You can hear the sound of a fastener there. (something being unzipped) 153 00:22:02,368 --> 00:22:08,329 This sound was put in there by a sound effects engineer, who decided to put it in there on his own without direction from me. It seemed kind of funny, so we thought we'd just leave it there.
(Shiori and Touga talking in the white room)
In this scene, as a change in mood, the idea was to create a world in which there are no colors. So, things are rather blank. Of course, the sheet that's covering Touga is like a shroud that you would use to cover the deceased. This space in which the characters Touga and Shiori exist, we intended to represent as a world in which dead people reside. Like the entrance to the world of the deceased. Also, in terms of sounds effects we even brought in sounds from the lobby of a hospital. In other words, the reason that Shiori is with Touga is because we wanted to convey the sense that Shiori is one who is haunted by the dead.
(The pool cleaning scene)
This scene here... We wanted to create a picture that conveyed a sense of an aquatic world. There's a swimming pool, but with no water. But this pool is built into an arcade that's made of mirrors. So, even though there is no water in the pool we wanted to create an image of coolness through visual effects. In Japan, we have a custom where people who are practicing in their respective sports teams, and clubs at high school and such would cry out in unison, or make uniform movements that help create team solidarity. That's what this scene shows.
(Shiori and Touga, phone call and flashback story sequence)
Again, this scene shows the world of Shiori and Touga. It represents the world of the deceased. In other words, she's in this world because of a phone call she received from Akio. We thought that was interesting. Of course, the Akio character died quite a long time ago. So, the conversation between Touga and Akio is like a conversation between ghosts. We thought it would be interesting to add Shiori to the picture in these scenes.
(Kozue and Miki in the bathtub)
This scene is, well... This is a claw foot bathtub. The Manga artist, Chiho Saito actually has a claw foot bathtub. We used that as the model. It looks a lot like Ms. Saito's bath at her home.
(Shiori drawing on Touga's back)
This scene is actually quite a significant one for Shiori and Touga. Basically, two things are expressed here. First, you have the idea that the place where Shiori and Touga live is the world of the dead. We get some background here on Touga's childhood there. Touga's childhood was sort of a nightmare. So, you have Touga talk about his nightmarish childhood and you also have Shiori's malicious feelings toward the world in which she lives. These two themes intersect here. So, in this world of the dead in which Touga and Shiori exist... Shiori's malicious feelings and Touga's nightmarish childhood come together visually.
(Touga running through cabbage patch)
And you have the scene in the cabbage patch where a beautiful butterfly appears and the meaning of this, Shiori's malicious feelings and Touga's sad past are, how can I say... are brought together and grow together. They join and come together as one force of evil. We tried to make this scene quite beautiful and in that sense we put a lot of effort into it. In Utena, we wanted to express negative beauty as well as positive beauty throughout. In that sense, this scene is one where we wanted to convey the sadness of a negative beauty.
(Car garage with Miki, Juri, and Shiori)
This scene is set in the basement. It's a basement garage. There are many cars stored in this place. And we show this because later we see many of these cars come out. Here, we have a car that's called Kozue, and many of our fans have asked us if Kozue has been turned into a car. Well, if you ask, I suppose that's it. As for why she became a car, well, let's see... It's the same reason that Utena becomes a car. But I'd really rather not talk about it, because that would narrow the interpretation of the story. (when Shiori appears and speaks to Juri) In a sense, the Shiori character has an important meaning to Jury's character. To Jury, Shiori is a reminder of her past trauma. Later, we realize that Jury had a traumatic experience as a child, when she let a man die as he drowned in a river. The one who was in love with the man who dies was Shiori. So, the reason Jury puts on a tough and brave attitude is because she let this man die. So, in front of Shiori, she puts on a brave attitude in order to appease her guilt.
(the rose garden at night before the dance)
This scene was also quite difficult. That is, trying to just draw those roses in that black background... It was hard to film beautifully. It was somewhat unfortunate. Here, they're talking about stars and about how they like to watch the stars together but since Touga's not there... we thought it would be interesting to draw a night sky without stars. We wanted to show this sky with no stars at all so we made it completely black.
(Anthy breaking the water pipe and spilling out the roses) This sequence here is totally done digitally.
It may look like regular animation but from here to the dance scene, it's completely digital. We used animation software called 3-D Works in this sequence and created these 2-D character images with that. It was quite a tricky scene to do. There's good resolution in the picture. Especially in the background space scene, there's good detail. Unfortunately in video, it's hard to appreciate the detail but I think you'd notice the beauty of this scene if you were to see it on the big screen.
(dance sequence)
This dance scene is one of the highlights of this film. I think this scene is one of the most beautifully done and our staff did their best to make this scene as beautiful as possible. We used 3-D graphics for this scene. It's a digital scene, so we used computer graphics, of course. But we found that hardly anyone could tell that this was digitally done which means that there's warmth to the image. Usually computer graphics images tend to be harsh and cold so I'm quite happy that this turned out all right. I especially like this scene very much. I've done dance scenes like this in my career before, like in Sailor Moon. You could say that I'm particularly good at doing these kinds of scenes.
(scene in the school where they walk up the tower to do their art project)
This boy who's talking to Wakaba here never actually shows his face on screen anywhere. He's actually a rather symbolic character. What I mean is that Wakaba originally considered Utena as her Prince but, how can I say... when another boy shows up, she'll make him her boyfriend. In other words, Utena lives in quite a special world whereas we wanted to show that Wakaba lives a rather ordinary life. So, in a sense, this boy represents another Utena to her but at a more ordinary level.
(sketching sequence where Anthy reveals her stab wound)
This... One of the things we talked to the art department a lot about for this project was the idea of using the color red in a symbolic way in the images. For that, we really thought hard about how we can present the color red. This scene here is one example. The Chairman's office has a red carpet and red drapes. This the observatory which was previously used as the Chairman's office. Even the shadows in this scene have tinges of red to them. This scene was meant to show how much closer Utena and Anthy have become after the earlier dance scene. Both of these characters tended to hide a lot from each other in their relationship from the very beginning. Utena has her past with Touga, and Anthy, of course has her past with the Chairman, her brother. They live together in the same room without opening up to each other about these things. The scene is intended to show how the two try to bring their spirits closer together.
In the original script, this scene was to show a scar on Anthy's chest that she got from an injury at the hands of her brother. But personally, I really didn't like the idea of showing a scar on her chest in terms of the picture and I tried to think of some other way to depict this. That is, without showing it clearly in the picture, but rather in another way. So, we decided to use a silhouette like you saw there. I thought that showing it as a silhouette was suited to Utena and, because it was shown as a silhouette, not only does it show the injury she got but also the injury to her spirit as expressed by the rest of her body. I think it was a good idea and it turned out very nicely.
(Nanami-cow sequence)
This cow is the same one that appeared in the TV series. For people who know the character, we put it in for their amusement. For those who don't, we thought it would serve as a nice little break. I believe this is the Nanami the Cow character that came out in Episode 16 of the TV series. In the film, we don't have a character called Nanami so we put this cow character in instead. The character we have on the left here is called Keroppon. (the red thing) He's like a rival to the character, Chu Chu. In the TV series, Chu Chu didn't have anyone to play off of. We thought he was kind of lonely, so we created someone for him. Rather than a rival, he's more of a nemesis. Chu Chu always ends up getting eaten. We thought of many episodes where Chu Chu always ends up getting bitten.
(Akio flashback with Kanae and the taxi cab)
The Japanese musician Mitsuhiko Oikawa did the voice of this Akio character. In Japan, he's quite popular, and, how can I say his stage persona as a rock star is like that of a prince in visual terms so he's really well suited to this character. I thought it was quite funny that this character would take taxis and such.
This is where Jury duels Utena.
Of course, they're dueling in this scene because of Utena's relationship with Anthy. And Jury is fighting on behalf of Shiori. And Shiori's feelings are based on her delusion of Touga. In other words, Shiori's feelings are like that of a ghost. When you come right down to it, Shiori is a character that's possessed by a ghost. We wrote Shiori as a negative character. She's very self-conscious about being possessed by ghosts but she's not one who would actually do anything about it herself. Of course, Anthy's like that too. Anthy is also quite self-conscious about being possessed by a ghost but Shiori expresses that in a far more negative way. So, Jury, who is linked to Shiori is also possessed by a ghost. We thought we could develop her as one who is possessed by Touga who had died in the past. I thought that would be an interesting idea to explore. The Jury character is quite popular among Utena fans in Japan and I like her very much as well. In some aspects, she is very similar in character to Utena. So, she plays off Utena quite a lot. You could say we developed her character specifically to play against Utena.
(sequence with Shadow Play Girls and Shiori revealing Akio's corpse)
In this film, we have Girl E and Girl F. These girls are only in the film version but then we also have Girl C. This Girl C was actually also in the TV series. As to why we just brought Girl C to the film from the TV series there is an episode in the TV series where it becomes apparent that Girl C was once a monkey. I always enjoyed that character, so I included her in the film because I thought it would be interesting to have a monkey that pretends to be human doing some commentary.
(Video flashback of Akio stabbing Anthy)
We designed this scene to make it look very metaphysical. It depicts a mysterious world of images in which the truth is gradually revealed. As for the issue at heart, it is Anthy's secret. In other words, the kind of relationship she had with her brother in the past and the secret she's hiding. And also what Anthy is trying to hide about her brother's death. These all are all conveyed to the audience, of course. So, just as the story is revealed to the audience it is also being revealed to Utena. As for what's at the end of this is the revelation of a past that Utena had forgotten and was hiding.
(Utena approaching the elevator)
The visuals in this scene are generally based on the design of the "memorial hall" set that you see after Episode 14 in the second TV season. The "memorial hall" set was quite popular as a set among fans. They liked the visuals very much, so we included it in the film as well. This elevator visual technique is something we used a number of times in the second season. We decided to use those visuals again for the film. And in the elevator we have Utena play against Touga where she declares her love for him. This is only in the film and I think it's quite interesting. Throughout the mysterious and metaphysical imagery we used up to this point we reveal the secret that Anthy kept, and it culminates in this elevator scene where Utena declares her love. Here, the nature of the relationship between Utena and Touga which had been held in tension throughout the story, is finally revealed.
(Boy drowning in the lake/elevator sequence)
Fans ask about this scene quite a bit. They want to know who is on that boat in this scene. If the ones on the bench are Utena and Touga when they were children then who is the girl on the boat? Since the girl who fell into the river drowned Touga also died when he tried to save her. Actually, the girl who was on that boat was Jury. But we didn't do a close-up of Jury as a child so people were guessing quite a bit about who it was. Many thought that perhaps it was Shiori. In this film, in addition to roses water was also used as a very important motif. When Touga and Utena meet, it is raining and then there's the scene by the empty swimming pool. And, of course, there's the scene in the rose garden in the sky where the two dance in the water. As for why we used these motifs throughout it was all for this scene. Touga is a character that had actually drowned as a child. He's actually a ghost that Utena and Shiori and a number of others see. He actually died a long time ago and only exists in the dreams of Utena and Shiori. Just like Shiori, Utena is also drawn into this world of the dead. But Utena clearly decides that she won't be joining him in his world and so they part ways in this scene.
(Touga floating away from the elevator)
Touga may himself be a ghost, but he still loves Utena even now. This is the parting scene upon which audiences have remarked. Ms. Saito says that this is her favorite scene.
Some of our fans took issue with this car wash scene.
There were a lot of differing opinions among the staff about this as well. There were many that definitely didn't want to do this scene but I wanted to make the film special. And because it's a film, I wanted to express things that I'd do only in the film. Normally, in a dramatic action film... in the climax of this type of film, the protagonists would normally be faced against some superstrong evil opponent or alien with superhuman powers. And visually, you'd normally see these intense images. But we've seen things like that before, and so... how can I say... I myself wasn't really interested. There are lots of shows like that already so I wanted to create a spectacular scene that was unique to this film. So, I came up with this scene. This scene shows the changing of the outward look of Ohtori Academy... and after this, all the images of the setting that you've seen until now disappear completely.
(Anthy finds the Utena Car)
Many ask why Utena ends up being turned into a car. I try not to answer that. I mentioned this before, but the reason I don't want to answer that is because I feel that it would limit the meaning of the story and make it less interesting. I'll say one thing that was on my mind, though. Let's see... there's the story of"Sleeping Beauty," where you have the princess who'd been asleep for a long time who's awakened by the prince. But the Utena character has been the Prince from the beginning of this story. So, the idea of Utena being turned into a car suggests that she's being put to sleep. So, I thought it would be interesting to reverse the roles played by Utena and Anthy in their respective relationships. In other words, Utena's the one who becomes the princess. She's the one forced into sleep. And only Anthy can free Utena from this sleep. That's how things come to an end. I thought it would be very interesting to reverse their roles.
(Race sequence with SPGs covering it as a newscast)
The people who were keen on the production of this film based on the TV series never thought it would end with these mechanical action scenes. They were quite surprised when the film came out. I actually wanted to surprise them. That's why I made the climax like this. This scene was quite a heavy scene to do from a production point of view. It was a difficult one. In addition to the mechanical aspects, the scene itself moves very quickly. They're also driving cars, so everything is moving very quickly to more of an action-oriented scene. It was quite difficult to do from a production standpoint. In particular, from the operator room scene to the ending credits some people may notice that the music never lets up. The climax goes on for 20 minutes. So, the music continues for 20 minutes. And since the music is synchronized with the picture and visual images the music recording was quite a difficult process. From a visual point of view, it's full of hard, action-packed images. But... since we have the music playing for 20 minutes straight, how can I say I wanted to make it into a bit of a musical, like an old Hollywood musical. In order to do an action scene like this, well we gathered many animators that specialize in such work. But initially, these people didn't think they'd hear from us about this project. So, when we contacted them about this film, they were kind of surprised and wondered why we were calling them. When we showed them the storyboard they understood what we were talking about and why they were called. Even they were quite surprised that we'd have a climax like this in the film. Normally, when they do animation shows that feature robots and such. their involvement in it is more generalized. It's usually the theme of the whole show and they tend to feel somewhat lost in the overall picture. But in this project, how can I say, each animator has his or her own bit in which they can show off in his or her area of expertise. For example, an animator that specializes in doing girl shows can really bring out the best in the dance scene, while mecha action experts can do that for this climax scene here. So, in that sense, the different types of scenes are clearly distinguished in the film allowing each animator to focus on his or her area of expertise. I think the result turned out very nicely. And I think the work of each expert is very well expressed throughout the film.
(where the castle ascends from nearby the highway)
We were very careful with this scene. What I mean is that we put a lot of effort into making this scene where the castle rises up. We put a lot of effort into making it look huge and beautiful as well. Not just huge, but also beautiful. In order to do that, we used a lot of effects on these visuals that you didn't see at all earlier in the film. One thing we did was to try to avoid using any flashy effects in the previous scene. We kept it fairly dark for over 10 minutes. So, when the castle finally appears, there is a strong impact from the visual image.
From here, the shape of the car changes. And the music you hear is the opening theme song from the TV series a sort of symbol for the show. This is actually quite a dangerous situation going on here. (driving through the moving wheels under the castle) But, we present it as a kind of video game that the faceless girls here are monitoring. By showing these girls observing the action, I thought it would be interesting to give that same impression to the audience in which they would watch the scene as if watching a game. This scene here might be quite hard to understand but we used computer graphics here as well.
Here, the other ghost-like character, Akio, makes his appearance.
This is actually a very significant scene. Throughout this story, Utena claimed to be the Prince but the real princes are Touga who was courageous and righteous in his attempt to save a drowning girl and Akio, Anthy's kind and loving brother. In this world, the real princes are dead. I thought it was interesting to create a fantastic world where a girl plays the part of a prince since there are no true princes remaining in that world. The meaning of this I can't really say in one word... but one way to look at it is that I wanted to convey the sense of what it means to become an adult. In other words, there are no people with pure hearts in the world of adults. So, what would you do when you realize this? In other words, when you realize that the world of adults is a dirty one where no one with a pure heart can live would you avoid it and remain as a child where you can live in a world of childish and beautiful dreams? Or, would you enter the adult world regardless even if you knew that it was not a pure world? So, which way are you going to choose? That's what's being expressed in this climax scene of this film.
(the straw SPGs)
Here we show the names of the faceless girls to reveal their identities. These were simply dolls and not robots or humans. Two of the dolls have the names " Utena" and "Anthy" on them. What's meant by this is that the faceless girls were another expression of Utena and Anthy's souls. And also, they represent the audience, and the feelings expressed by the audience. The idea of this story is to express the way that a teenage audience feels.
(scene with Utena and Anthy naked on motorcycle thingie)
This scene is set where you see endless piles of scrap metal and cars. It's a desolate wilderness. This wilderness is, of course an expression of the modern world we live in. In this sense, the collegiate world is like a dream world. It's a dream world like we see in Disneyland. So, the idea was to compare this dream world with that of the desolate wilderness. The adult world outside. The wilderness is a large, expansive place, but a complicated one. I wanted to show how they would dare to enter this world with nothing. Wearing nothing. Many ask why I made the last scene like this. As for why, I myself don't really know. But, I suppose it has to do with how I used to look at the world and society when I was a teenager. And that's reflected here. These are probably the sort of visual images I had in my teens. That is, the adult world is not pure. And anyone with a pure heart would not be able to live in an adult world. So, if that's the case, I felt that I didn't want to become an adult. But then I wondered if it was okay, taking it to that degree. Not sure. In that sense, the last scene was meant to honestly reflect the true feelings I had when I was in my teens. So, that's the kind of scene I want young teenagers to see before they head off into society. There's a part of me that still thinks that I'm living here in a desolate, adult wilderness. So, I think I made that last scene like that for my own benefit as well. For example, I'm an animation director now. And I think it's very complicated work being an animation director. What I mean is that I'm not working for myself and there's a lot of work dealing with the other people involved. So the staffing work can be quite heavy. Also, you're undertaking these projects after getting a lot of money together so there's a serious business angle to it as well. So, to accomplish this task and remain faithful to yourself at the same time this type of animation work can really test a person. So, you could say that I really strove to accomplish that in that last scene given the world I live in. In other words, I have to go forward in this complex world and face these complicated situations. Of course, I approached that last scene from the audience's point of view but I also approached it from the perspective of my teen years as well as from my present perspective. In that sense, I'd have to say that that last scene expresses my situation back then much more so than anything else I've done. And to hear people tell me how they liked that last scene makes me really happy.
(Credits hurr)
And finally, we have quite a great number of names listed in the end credits here. We all worked very hard together on this. They all put their hearts into this project. I'll take this opportunity to thank them all right here. Thank you. And also, to all you fans out there who've been listening to my commentary: thank you very much. I look forward to bringing the next project to you in the future. Thank you very much.
Shoujo Kakumei Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) is © Kunihiko Ikuhara, Chiho Saito, Shogakukan and bePapas/TV Tokyo and/or their respective copyright holders. The US release of the Revolutionary Girl Utena series and movie was © Central Park Media and now belongs to Right Stuf. The US release of the Utena manga is © VIZ. The various sources used in this site are noted where their content is presented. Don't sue us, seriously. Blood. Stone.