

While he initially conceived of Utena as a mainstream shōjo (girls' anime and manga) series aimed at capitalizing on the commercial success of Sailor Moon, the direction of the series shifted dramatically during production towards an avant-garde and surrealist tone. Ikuhara was a director at Toei Animation on the television anime series Sailor Moon in the 1990s after growing frustrated by the lack of creative control in directing an adapted work, he departed the company in 1995 to create an original series. Revolutionary Girl Utena follows Utena Tenjou, a teenaged girl drawn into a sword dueling tournament to win the hand of Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious girl known as the "Rose Bride" who possesses the "power to revolutionize the world". The series was produced by J.C.Staff, and originally aired on TV Tokyo from April to December 1997. Revolutionary Girl Utena ( Japanese: 少女革命ウテナ, Hepburn: Shōjo Kakumei Utena) is a Japanese anime television series created by Be-Papas, a production group formed by director Kunihiko Ikuhara composed of himself, Chiho Saito, Shinya Hasegawa, Yōji Enokido, and Yūichirō Oguro. Ciao, Bessatsu Shōjo Comic Special, Flowers
