What are some of the big differences between the anime and manga of Revolutionary Girl Utena? I've heard several times that the manga is rather weak compared to the anime but it's hard to find anything about it online.
Where do i even start? Sometimes it doesn’t even feel like the same story but i might not remember all the details because it’s been a long time since i read the manga for the last time. Also this is only about the main series i’m not gonna get into after the revolution and adolescence.
-Nanami and Shiori are not characters in the manga. Shiori does appear in the side story though
- The black rose saga again is just a side story, it doesn’t hold the same importance
- Touga’s character. The manga is a lot more forgiving to him than the anime, largely because nanami is not there so we don’t get him emulating akio in relation to his own sister and he seems to be more “awake” than the others
- Juri’s character. I’m not gonna go into super details but in the manga she’s in love with Touga…
- IIRC Miki’s affections are not towards Anthy but towards Utena and he is, well he is worse in the manga imo
- Utena is not that different, save for the ending
- Anthy and Akio have a very different backstory, there are no swords of hatred
- There is no projection motif which in turn makes Dios and The Castle semi-real, a construction of Anthy’s power
- The student council goes up to the castle with Utena and Anthy, the other three get locked up in coffins to protect them but Touga is with them to the very end giving us the idea that Touga is the next to leave
- The “good dios” and “bad dios” are a bit more literal in the manga. As in Akio says they are two souls who share a body and Akio himself tried to kill the good Dios when he kept on helping others
- Utena sort of kills Akio? Like slashes him across the chest unites him with the “good dios” which makes him cease to exist.
- Anthy… well anthy has more outwards agency for one. Unfortunately that manifests in the way of her damning herself to the rose bride fate and not it being a result of… well everything else, the swords of hatred and everything. However it is very much implied that she is the only thing that keeps this whole show running, it is her power at the end of the day that keeps dios alive (anthy says dios gave her the power but also neither of these people are reliable narrators).
- The manga is a lot less revolutionary (ha ha) than the show. While in the show you learn that the concept of the prince is futile, manga utena maintains her belief in the prince until the very end, she tells anthy “i will end as your prince” and takes the place that dios was occupying so far
- Because Akio basically dies, there’s no satisfying scene of Anthy telling him she’s leaving. Instead we see that after the castle has collapsed, no one but Anthy and Touga remember Utena. Anthy now wears a boy’s uniform and is basically living in honor of Utena. As the castle was collapsing a rose ring falls to her and it calls her name. Anthy says she is going to search for Utena bc as long as she has the rose she knows she’s out there. We do get a panel of them reuniting so that’s cool i guess.
That’s all that i can remember atm. All in all, i’d say if you have watched the series and have a couple of hours to spare you can read it. It’s probably online somewhere, and it’s only like 6 or 7 chapters and like 700 pages
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