The thing I didn't like so much about the anime (after reading the manga) is it doesn't give Utena so much of a history, at least right away. It just plops you into the middle of a new semester at Ohtori, whereas if you go out and buy Utena manga #1 (Flower Comics sells 'em, by the way), the first 80 pages is "Shoujo Kakumei Utena prologue: Seal of the Rose." Plus, in the anime, you never get to meet Kaidou ;_; Such a nice guy, Kaidou. He helps Utena a lot before she heads on to Ohtori ... He's the one that figures out the back of the cards Utena receives make up a picture of Ohtori Gakuen, and notices that a sign in Latin in the picture says "I'll wait for you here." I kind of think Kaidou also has this thing for Utena ^^; Just wild guessing though.
Manga episode one is a little different from the beginning of the series too. <grin> But they both start out with Utena and her crowd at the basketball game, and then the rose garden. ... if anything, Wakaba seems more attached to Utena, if that's possible ^_^; In manga #1, Utena doesn't met up with Wakaba where she doesn't get the chance to comment on how heavy Wakaba is. "Omo ... i" seems to have replaced Utena's "Sore mo sou kedo" ("That's true too, but ... ") comment about Chuchu for the most used phrase in the series. Other than "Nan no koto da" ^^;
The duelling forest really is more of a forest. There's no little magic water/ring-triggered opening at the entrance, just a door that grabs onto your hands and opens if you're wearing the rose seal ring. And the forest is overgrown. Utena literally has to hack her way to the center, and the arena and the stairs leading up to it are ... well, they look as if they haven't been used in a few hundred years. Broken marble and all that, kind of reminiscent of Greek or Roman ruins. Going through the duel ... was a little different. Utena actually talks after Saionji attacks the first time. And then there's Anshi's little intercession on Utena's behalf. And ... Touga is watching, but not from some far-off platform with little opera glasses. When Saionji is starting to wonder what's with Utena, when she starts to look really serious about attacking him with her broken practice sword, Touga is right there at the entrance to the arena. And then, boom. Saionji's sword gets knocked out of his hand when he loses, and Utena catches it. And then we see Dios, and we know it's Dios, because Anshi yells "Dios!" Then there's this huge light, and upward wind ... Saionji doesn't look devastated by his loss here. Just confused. ^_^; Then Utena gives the sword back to Anshi, and when she leaves, Touga asks her name.
Wakaba rebounds really fast from the love letter incident ^^; The first you see of her afterwards, it's jumping onto her usual death grip position on Utena's back, then complaining about how they got assigned to different rooms. Wakaba also seems more kawaii in the manga ^^; Utena meets Anshi the first time after the duel in their room - no late evening street encounter or anything. And Anshi doesn't seem to be on top of things as much either, judging by the way she's zooming across the floor, head first, rag in hand ^^; And she doesn't remember to have the sign changed until she pencils her name in before a bewildered Utena. And then tries to take off Utena's jacket in her zeal to serve. ^^; Oh, one other thing, Chuchu actually has a body in the manga ^^; So Anshi gives her explanation, Utena goes to the rose garden to look for Touga for more explanations, to "go find out about the fear of the council." And as soon as she meets him, he forcibly steals a kiss, then explains all about the End of the World and stuff. And he tells her about the dance party himself. Utena practically runs out of the rose garden wiping off her mouth.
Utena's dress for the dance party looks more modern. And while Anshi's dress doesn't seem to be rigged to dissolve, at the end of this volume Saionji comes in, sword and all, and takes Anshi away while Utena's talking to Touga, just as Miki and Juri show up to tell Touga that Saionji apparently hasn't left the duelling room, etc. (I like the look on Utena's face when they show up. "Hmm ... are they council members, too?") Utena hears Anshi get slapped by one of three girls (manga's foreshadowing of Nanami's cronies, maybe) Saionji comes in with his practice sword ... the three fairly run away. ^^; Utena notices the two leaving, Saionji says he won't hand over the Rose Bride, Utena runs after them (into an elevator?) ... unfortunately, it seems that Saionji's sword is a real sword with a wooden cover. About this time we see Touga, Juri, and Miki frantically running down stairs trying to catch up to them. The volume ends just as Saionji attacks Utena ...
Back to my Utena page.