Chiho Saito

A badly written and modified retread of the anime plot. Characterization has been chopped up, plots are lessened by the weird increase in sexism (and this is considering it erased the plot where Anthy's dress was supposed to dissolve, as a cruel jealous bit of bullying). Utena is far more of a damsel than she was in the anime. The moments between Anthy and Utena are probably the best, at least when Utena isn't victim-blaming Anthy, but that's kind of it.

The art at least gets somewhat better than in volume 1, and the plot is slightly more interesting, anyway, for all it's still compressed, cut, with more throwaway non-con and bad writing. But it's still not as good as the anime and the film.… (meer)

I found this book a little hard to follow, just because I wasn't entirely sure how it fit into the story as a whole. Utena as a specter who haunts her friends and former classmates pasts despite their complete loss of memory regarding her is an interesting concept, but it took a second to figure out what was going on. That being said, I did enjoy the short stories, especially the Juri story, which I felt was the standout one in the volume.

I'd recommend this for Utena fans with the caveat that it definitely takes an end of Madoka approach to Utena, so be forewarned. None of the characters remember who she is, except as a kind of guardian angel coming to help them create revolutions in their own lives.… (meer)