This anime is as intricately layered as an onion. There are so many metaphors, hidden meanings and factual truths hidden behind the light-weight veneer first presented, that unless the viewer watches it all from beginning to end, they will be missing out on the core real meaning behind it.

First things first, when I started watching this anime it's style and art felt really familiar. I'm a huge Sailor Moon fan and many things, such as the way the corridors and architecture at the academy and in the city were portrayed, kept reminding me of certain visuals for the Moon Kingdom. Then I did some research and realized I had been right! Quoting Wikipedia - 'Revolutionary Girl Utena was a series co-created by Kunihiko Ikuhara after he finished working on Sailor Moon SuperS. Some of the team that worked on Sailor Moon worked on Utena.'

At face value, the plot is about a girl with a sad past who's attending high school and who defies convention, but in reality, that's not it at all.

HUGE SPOILERS AHEAD

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The underlying message given by the story itself is the real genius behind this seemingly at times silly anime (there are whole episodes which deviate from the main plot and regale us with incredible happenings such as boxing kangaroos, necklaces which turn people into cows, flying elephants, etc, and by the way yes they are really funny episodes). As we go along and arrive towards the end of the anime, we realize that the 'Prince' Utena had been dreaming about, that magnificent person who had saved her life and inspired her to be noble, honest and brave like him, did not really exist. Yes, it had been a real person who helped her when she was a child, BUT like any other, that person had changed, he lost what made him a 'Prince', lost his noble soul and pure intent, and became a hedonistic manipulator who used others and played with them at his whim. His lust for power and callousness belied his beautiful exterior making him fake. However, the IDEAL o f the 'Prince' itself was never destroyed. And that was what Utena most desired, and what she pesonified.

In the last two episodes of the anime, the Chairman is revealed to be the 'End of the World' and also the person who had saved Utena, however he is not a 'Prince' but a villain. Again and again (three times in under 5 minutes actually), he tells Utena that she is a Princess and a girl, not a Prince, and that girls should not use swords or try to save people with them. A girl's role is to be pretty, fragile, sweet and defenceless - all traits associated with a Princess. But Utena is fierce, honest, noble and wants to help others - traits one usually associates with a Prince. In the end, the viewer realizes that gender has nothing to do with one's personal traits. A person CHOOSES who to be regardless of their gender. Utena, in becoming a 'Prince' also realizes that waiting passively for someone to come and save her is not the answer. We must be strong enough, brave enough, noble enough, to save ourselves. Unlike the Chairman, whose Princely nobility and honour disappeared in his lust for power, Utena holds on to her real self. And in so doing breaks out of the mold society imposed on her. In the last few shots of the last episode, she saves Himemiya, the Rose Bride, from a coffin, and when they are back to school, Himemiya tells the Chairman that she's leaving. She's not a passive 'Princess/Rose Bride' anymore. She's breaking out of her coffin and is off to discover who she really is. 'You' she says 'can remain here in your coffin' - in that deadweight, dull, prescribed role society has foisted on him and which he has accepted, instead of finding his true self.

I've written so much and barely scratched the surface of all the metaphors in this anime. It really surprised me with its depth, which starts to surface in the last half or even the last 10 episodes.

Of course there are a lot of problematic issues tackled in there too. Incest. Rape. Suicide. Betrayal. Not to mention that there are a number of plot holes and questions which were never answered (What is the 'Revolution'? Are Himemiya and the Chairman human beings or something else?, etc), which is why I gave it 9/10 instead of outright full marks. But honestly, I've already written a lot and given huge spoilers, so I will leave those issues unwrapped for now.