With GKIDS set to release the film reimagining “Adolescence of Utena” in theaters on June 21, “Revolutionary Girl Utena” is being singled out as a groundbreaking 1997, 39-episode queer anime that still challenges how sexuality and gender are told in TV.
For many queer anime fans. Pride isn’t only a holiday—it’s a reminder of what the medium has fought for. and what still has to be pushed further. This year. “Revolutionary Girl Utena” is stepping back into the spotlight. not just as a beloved title. but as a torchbearer for queer representation that refuses to feel dated.
The timing is impossible to ignore: GKIDS is releasing the film reimagining “Adolescence of Utena”—described as part-sequel and part-remake of the original series—in theaters on June 21. After decades of niche. transgressive storytelling in anime. a series like “Revolutionary Girl Utena” lands differently now. when queer anime has been gaining both critical acclaim and broader visibility.
In recent years. LGBT-themed shows like “The Summer Hikaru Died” and “Go For It. Nakumara!” have found success beyond their earliest circles. Meanwhile. terms tied to gay-themed genres—like yaoi and fujoshis—have reached a wider audience thanks to “Heated Rivalry. ” for better or worse. Even with that momentum, the mainstream anime spotlight still often avoids openly queer characters. One notable exception goes back to the early ’90s: “Sailor Moon. ” which introduced an open lesbian couple and helped push queer representation into the medium’s mainstream conversation.
What makes “Revolutionary Girl Utena” linger, though, is that it’s not merely “one of the first” LGBTQ-focused anime. It’s a 39-episode series first released in 1997 that still feels influential in how it bends genre and expands what romance and coming-of-age can look like.
The series is also rare in its origins. It began as a completely original idea rather than an adaptation. created by Be-Papas. a production group formed specifically to make the series. Direction and creative leadership came from Kunihiko Ikuhara. a veteran of Toei Animation who had served as series director of “Sailor Moon” for three seasons and director of 1993’s “Sailor Moon R: The Movie.”.
Ikuhara left Toei in 1996 after becoming frustrated by the lack of artistic freedom, then brought together a creative group that included manga artist Chiho Saito, animator Shinya Hasegawa, and writers Yōji Enokido and Yūichirō Oguro.
The project didn’t start out as a queer masterpiece. Early on. the intention was to create a relatively mainstream “shojo” series aimed at young women in the vein of “Sailor Moon.” A very early abandoned concept was that the show would focus on a group of female warriors fighting to prevent the end of the world.
Production shifted the closer it got to the finished series. Ikuhara grew more ambitious, incorporating avant-garde elements drawn from Japanese experimental theater. Composer J. A. Seazer was hired to create the show’s now-iconic score. Visually. the series leaned into bold stylization—shadow play segments that comment on the main story. scenes marked with a stained-glass decorative frame. and fight scenes with choreography inspired by Japanese Noh theatre.
Then came the decision that made the show’s romance feel like a provocation rather than a convention: Ikuhara decided that the central relationship between title character Utena. a girl who wishes to be a prince. and Anthy. the “Rose Bride. ” should be a romance. Several people involved in the show’s production. most notably Chiho Saito. were initially opposed. believing the mainstream young female audience the series aimed to court would respond poorly to anything other than a heterosexual pairing.
Saito’s support eventually grew as her artwork proved the foundation for the show’s florid and rich visual style. From there, the series evolved into what many viewers recognize as a subversive, utterly unique queer coming-of-age tale.
On paper. the premise can sound familiar—Utena and Anthy’s story doesn’t depart too sharply from earlier animated series and manga like “Princess Knight” and “The Rose of Versailles. ” both of which center cross-dressing. sword-fighting heroines and include ambiguous gender commentary. But the way “Revolutionary Girl Utena” turns those building blocks into something stranger is the point.
The show draws easy comparisons to “Princess Knight. ” a manga from “Astro Boy” creator Osamu Tezuka featuring a girl with the blue heart of a boy and the pink heart of a girl who disguises herself as a prince to save the kingdom. Like “Princess Knight. ” “Revolutionary Girl Utena” was inspired in part by the traditional Japanese Takarazuka Revue. an all-female musical theater troupe where women play both male and female parts.
The difference is how gender is treated once the story begins. “Princess Knight” created its world using stereotypical ideas of gender: the main character’s male heart was the source of her strength and her ability to fight. and the series ended with her giving up her male side to live as a traditionally feminine woman.
“Revolutionary Girl Utena,” by contrast, questions the roles of men and women through Utena’s desire to become a prince. It’s not framed as a literal wish for royalty or a simple change of gender. but as a way to embody qualities the role symbolizes—strength and compassion. The show also sets that ambition against Anthy, who is meek, mysterious, and passive. Through their dynamics. it examines the constrictions both men and women face under traditional gender roles. with an eye towards gender fluidity that still lands as radical today.
The setting only adds to the unease. “Revolutionary Girl Utena” takes place at exclusive Ohtori Academy, a strange surrealist space that seems unconnected from the outside world. The romance between Utena and Anthy is treated without explicit prejudice from the rest of the cast. even as Anthy’s hand in marriage is courted by a variety of male students through a series of duels—driven by her apparent power to “revolutionize the world.”.
The meaning of that power is barely explained in the show’s opening arc. which is more straightforwardly rendered than the increasingly surreal final episodes. Even so, the series is already full of symbolism and abstract visual storytelling. Over its 39 episodes. it evolves into an elaborate soap opera where complex scheming characters oppose Utena. and the relationship with Anthy becomes the lodestar guiding the tragedy toward its ambiguous conclusion.
Watching it now. the relationship between its high-craft aesthetics and its emotional structure is hard to miss: it asks you to sit with performances. frames. and duels. and then it refuses to deliver the kind of resolution that mainstream romance stories usually guarantee. The experience can feel less like traditional narrative and more like an art piece—queer not just in its characters. but in its aesthetics. relationships. and storytelling ethos.
That surreal, boundary-breaking drive is also carried forward in “Adolescence of Utena,” described as more surreal and queerer than the original series. It focuses more on Utena and Anthy’s physical relationship than the original show was able to get away with in the ’90s.
There are plenty of fluffy queer anime to watch during Pride—rom-coms that prove comforting and sweet. But “Revolutionary Girl Utena” still hits a different nerve for viewers who want queer storytelling to keep surprising and challenging them. With the “Adolescence of Utena” film arriving in theaters on June 21. “Revolutionary Girl Utena” feels ready. once again. to be more than a recommendation. It’s a reminder of how far anime can go—and how loud it can be when it finally decides to tell the truth about desire.
Revolutionary Girl Utena Pride GKIDS Adolescence of Utena Kunihiko Ikuhara Chiho Saito J. A. Seazer queer anime LGBT anime Anthy Utena