Revolutionary Girl Utena: The Movie is in US theaters now. The 1999 anime film directed by Kunihiko Ikuhara gets a revival run almost three decades after it first played in Japan.
Ikuhara made Sailor Moon before this. Then he made this. Then nothing for years. The film is strange, gorgeous, and deliberately hard to explain. Duels in a floating arena, a car transformation, a protagonist who refuses to be a princess. It earns its reputation every time someone new sees it.
If you have been curious about Ikuhara since Penguindrum or Yurikuma Arashi, this is where to start. If you have seen it, you know why it deserves to be on a big screen.
Before you go: The Utena TV series (1997). Streaming on various platforms. You do not need it to follow the film. But it makes everything hit differently.
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