Twin Saplings

Afterword

This novel is called "Revolutionary Girl Utena." That makes it about the third "Revolutionary Girl Utena" to exist.

The first "Utena" was the manga drawn by Saito Chiho-san, who also did the illustrations for this book. The second "Utena" was the TV anime: the smart, stylish creation of "the Komuro of the anime world," director Kunihiko Ikuhara, as well as all the others on the staff. Those two started production at about the same time, so even though the manga entered the world first, you might say that they're "twins."

So, the third "Revolutionary Girl Utena" - this novel - is like a younger brother. Although it uses the world and characters of "Utena," it's a different story than either the anime or the manga.

Exactly how is it different...? ...Well, it would be boring for me to talk about the content of the story itself, so I'll try to talk more about the setup.

One difference that's easy to see are the "vectors" of the romances. For example, in the anime, Miki likes Anthy, but in the novel he likes Utena. Manga Juri is in love with Touga, but Novel Juri doesn't even like him. Actually, it would be more accurate to say she detests him. Finally, Touga and Miki's relationship is original. If you're wondering what that relationship is... go read the novel.

There are also a few characters whose roles were lessened in the novel: Chu-Chu and Nanami.

Chu-Chu is popular in both the manga and the anime, but he didn't do much in the novel. The problem is that you can't see his cute body or movements.

As for Nanami, she doesn't really appear in the manga - she's an original anime character. Her power is such that if I let her appear in the novel, she'd probably have wrecked the whole world, so I kept her off to the side. Sorry, Nanami fans.

Finally, I'd like to take this opportunity to profusely thank the planner of "Revolutionary Girl Utena," Oguchi-san. Not just for this job - Oguchi-san is always helping me in all kinds of ways. Thank you.

I'd also like to thank the artist behind our wonderful illustrations, Saito Chiho-san. I'm especially happy that you illustrated that one scene for me...

Also, thank you to Kotou-san and Hayashi-san, from Shogakukan. Please help me out next time, too.

The plan is for the second book to be about Saionji. He has a pretty miserable role in the manga and anime... will the novel end up the same way, too? Please look forward to it!

The End