List of Revolutionary Girl Utena characters

The following is a list of characters in Revolutionary Girl Utena, a manga and anime series created by Be-Papas. The series follows Utena Tenjou, a tomboy high school student who is drawn into a series of sword duels to win the hand of Anthy Himemiya, a mysterious student known as the "Rose Bride".

Main characters

Utena Tenjou (天上 ウテナ, Tenjō Utena)
Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (Japanese); Rachael Lillis (English)
Utena is a tomboyish, courageous and naïve character who lives to emulate the idealized prince figure from her childhood. She is forthright, honest and friendly. Nearly all the girls in school adore her. She both subverts and conforms to the stereotypes she embodies as a noble warrior and a naïve magical girl in danger of becoming a damsel in distress. The series chronicles her journey to protect her friend Anthy and become a truly noble Prince. Utena's relationship with Anthy, going from close friends to family to blooming into love, is one of the most important themes in the series; both Utena and Anthy were confirmed to be in love by director Kunihiko Ikuhara.[1][2] In the manga, Utena's relationship with Anthy is only that of friendship and it's hinted she has feelings for Touga. In the movie, Utena went to Ohtori to find Touga after the two apparently broke up. She mistakenly believes Anthy is the cause for the breakup, but soon forms a relationship with Anthy. Their relationship becomes more sexually-tinged compared to the TV series. The characters are seen kissing both in the TV show credits and the movie. Her Dueling Rose is white.

Anthy Himemiya (姫宮 アンシー, Himemiya Anshī)
Voiced by: Yuriko Fuchizaki (Japanese); Sharon Becker (English)
A mysterious, shy girl whose distant expression and superficial politeness mask a complex, darker personality. It is said that she has no thoughts or desires of her own; she will do anything her master expects of her. Because of her "doormat" behavior, other characters tend to project their wants or desires onto her, and she is always the target of their eventual rage. Her past and current personality are simultaneously tragic and sinister, and her personality shifts between selfless love, passive-aggressiveness, cruelty and learned helplessness. Like Utena, Anthy also subverts and conforms to the stereotypes she embodies as both a damsel in distress and a witch. Near the end of the series she betrays Utena and stabs her with the sword of Dios as she cannot accept a prince that is a girl. When, despite this, Utena tries to save Anthy and takes the Swords of Hatred in her place, Anthy in a way has been revolutionized by Utena and is no longer in controlled by Akio nor is she longer the Rose Bride. She leaves the school to find Utena. In the movie, Anthy's role as the Rose Bride is more explicit as it's shown she will have sex with whomever is the current champion. In the movie, Anthy is portrayed as much less manipulative and more open.

Akio Ohtori (鳳 暁生, Ōtori Akio)
Voiced by: Jūrōta Kosugi (TV), Mitsuhiro Oikawa (Movie) (Japanese); Josh Mosby (English)
Anthy's mysterious older brother, the acting chairman of the academy, and the primary antagonist of the series. In the anime, Akio was a prince named Dios in his previous life, and it is in this guise that he meets with Utena, inspiring her to become a prince. He conspires to regain his power by taking Utena's sword, exploiting Anthy as a wedge through their incestuous and power-driven relationship. He is ultimately thwarted by Utena's sacrifice; Anthy finds the courage to finally leave him and Ohtori Academy behind, and his fate from this point on is unknown. In the manga, Akio and Dios are gods, the former having killed the latter in order to gain his power. In the film, Dios is the lord of the flies rendered in human form by Anthy's magic; Akio is dead, having thrown himself out of a window after realizing Anthy was lucid when he drugged and raped her.
Akio's given name is derived from the Japanese name for Venus the Morning Star (明けの明星, ake no myōjō), which is identified with Lucifer.

Student Council

Touga Kiryuu (桐生 冬芽, Kiryū Tōga)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu (Japanese); Crispin Freeman (English)
President of the Student Council and Ohtori's resident playboy, Touga is an arrogant and handsome young man whose desire to be powerful drives him to cruel, unscrupulous deeds and whose manipulative abilities are second only to Akio. He is the only regular Council Member who deliberately involves himself in Akio's plans. Despite his talent and intelligence, Touga eventually realizes that he's not as influential as Akio, and this causes him to change his ways as he tries to discover a new method to gain power. In the manga his sexual behavior is downplayed and he becomes a servant to Utena in order to help her as well as get close to her. In the movie, he used to be Utena's boyfriend but something happened that caused them to drift apart. In the movie, instead of Dios, Touga is the main motivation for Utena to go to Ohtori. He is gentle and noble but it is shown in a flashback that he was raped by his adopted father, which is positioned as an explanation for his loose sexual morals. An episode was planned that focused on this aspect of Touga's past in the TV series, but due to Takehito Koyasu's absence this plot point never came to be. His Dueling Rose is red.

Kyouichi Saionji (西園寺 莢一, Saionji Kyōichi)
Voiced by: Takeshi Kusao (Japanese); Jack Taylor (English)
Vice-president of the Student Council and captain of the kendo team. Kyouichi is temperamental, egotistical, prone to angry rages, and often cruel. Kyouichi's lack of self-control stems from insecurity, a lifelong rivalry against Touga from which he is always at the losing end, and the fear that everyone and everything he knows will eventually die. He is obsessed with Anthy because he views the Rose Bride as a mindless doll who will never disobey him, and thus be with him forever. His Dueling Rose is green.

Miki Kaoru (薫 幹, Kaoru Miki)
Voiced by: Aya Hisakawa (Japanese); Jimmy Zoppi (English)
Miki is an ingenuous and polite seventh grader who befriends Utena, despite their role as possible opponents in the duels. He is especially known for his skill with the piano. In spite (or because of) his genius, he is lonely, sheltered and insecure, and seeks a person who is just as pure and talented as him. With the exception of their two duels, Miki is mostly a friend to Utena. In the anime he has a crush on Anthy, whereas in the manga he has a crush on Utena. His Dueling Rose is light blue.

Juri Arisugawa (有栖川 樹璃, Arisugawa Juri)
Voiced by: Kotono Mitsuishi (Japanese); Mandy Bonhomme (English)
The captain of the academy's fencing team, Juri is one of Ohtori's most highly respected students, and even the teachers appear to be in awe of her. Her aloof, intimidating manner hides her secret love for her childhood friend, Shiori. Of the Student Council Duelists, she is thought to be the most noble, and thus the one with the most potential to become a Prince, but her nobility and the strength that comes with it are constantly undermined by her desires and despair. In the manga she is deeply in love with Touga and hates Utena for being a rival to his heart. Production materials indicate that she is depicted as straight in the manga based on limitations pushed on Chiho Saito. Her Dueling Rose is orange.

Nanami Kiryuu (桐生 七実, Kiryū Nanami)
Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori (Japanese); Leah Applebaum (English)
Touga's dramatic younger sister, often used as comic relief throughout the series. Her love for her brother borders on obsession and incest, and she is often seen using devious means to punish the people who take Touga's attentions away from her. Despite this, she displays a certain childish innocence in her desires, that is distinctly at odds with Akio and Anthy's relationship. Though her motivations are considered the least ambitious out of all the Duelists, they are no less real to her, and she suffers just as much as all the other Student Council members throughout the series, being a constant victim of her brother's manipulations. She is only shown in a photo in the manga and has no role in the movie, but is briefly shown as a cow, referring to one of the "gag" episodes of the series where Nanami turns into a cow. Her Dueling Rose is yellow.

Ruka Tsuchiya (土谷 瑠果, Tsuchiya Ruka)
Voiced by: Nozomu Sasaki (Japanese); Wayne Grayson (English)
A master swordsman, Ruka is the former captain of the fencing team and a former member of the Student Council. His cunning, manipulative behavior belies a hidden desperation to live and help the one he loves, and his influence on Juri becomes one of the major turning points for her character. His Dueling Rose is dark blue.

Black Rose Duelists

Souji Mikage (御影 草時, Mikage Sōji)
Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (Japanese); Dan Green (English)
Souji is the pink-haired head of the popular Mikage Seminar at Ohtori Academy. He wishes to kill Anthy and install a gravely ill boy, Mamiya Chida, as the Rose Bride in order to save him from terminal illness. Mikage uses manipulation and psychology to control students close to the Council members in order to create a Duelist who can beat Utena.

Kanae Ohtori (鳳 香苗, Ōtori Kanae)
Voiced by: Ai Orikasa (Japanese); Kerry Williams (English)
Akio's fiancée, daughter of the school's Trustee Chairman. She has a strained relationship with Anthy, who she finds "creepy and intolerable", and considers Anthy an obstacle to her relationship with Akio. Though she loves Akio very much, she feels distant from him and becomes the first Black Rose Duelist. It is implied that, after her defeat, Akio poisons her since he never actually loved her and used their relationship simply to keep his status as interim chairman of the school.

Kozue Kaoru (薫 梢, Kaoru Kozue)
Voiced by: Chieko Honda (Japanese); Roxanne Beck (English)
Miki's twin sister, Kozue feels overshadowed by her brother's talents and reacts by sleeping with many different men. She's extremely possessive of Miki to the point where she physically hurts anyone who tries to hurt or "steal" him. In the manga, Kozue's brother complex is purely innocent and she acts more like Nanami does in the TV series. In the movie, Kozue is in an implied incestuous relationship with her brother but Miki is shown breaking it up. Later on, Kozue is shown as a car implying she is either also helping Miki to escape Ohtori or simply helping Utena and Anthy.

Shiori Takatsuki (高槻 枝織, Takatsuki Shiori)
Voiced by: Kumiko Nishihara (Japanese); Lisa Ortiz (English)
Shiori is the catalyst for Juri's current broken state of mind. She simultaneously idolizes Juri for her brilliance and feels envious of her for it. Her extreme lack of self-worth is the reason for the rocky relationship between the two, and it reaches a breaking point when Ruka re-enters Ohtori Academy. According to Kunihiko Ikuhara, Shiori was ironically also in love with Juri the entire time but she believes Juri's affection towards her was out of pity, not love. She thus wants to remain in control of their relationship by never confessing to Juri so she will be the winner of their rivalry. In the movie, she is the main antagonist who manipulates Juri's feelings for her so Juri can duel with Utena, with her ultimate goal being to use Juri to escape the school. The film version of Shiori lacks the self-esteem problems of her TV counterpart, and instead is a hateful narcissist who believes that she is the only one worthy of leaving the school and entering the world of adulthood, and will use anyone or anything to get there. In the end of the film, Shiori makes a mad dash (in car form) to escape the school once Utena and Anthy earn the right to leave. However, she ends up crashing and exploding as she tries to push them off the road, presumably killing her.

Mitsuru Tsuwabuki (石蕗 美蔓, Tsuwabuki Mitsuru)
Voiced by: Akiko Yajima (Japanese); Ted Lewis (English)
Nanami's most devoted lackey, a boy in fourth grade. Mitsuru is obsessed with serving Nanami and wishes to be her adored "brother". He is extremely confused about love, sex and adulthood in general. Mitsuru's fruitless attempts to experiment makes him a Black Rose Duelist.

Wakaba Shinohara (篠原 若葉, Shinohara Wakaba)
Voiced by: Yuka Imai (Japanese); Roxanne Beck (English)
Wakaba is the most outwardly cheerful person in the series and is Utena's best friend, but she feels surrounded by "special" people and doesn't know how to become special herself. Thus, she develops an obsession with creating situations where "special" people (namely Utena and Saionji) must rely on her in some way, which allows her to feel special by virtue of these "special" people being dependent on her. Wakaba sees herself as a perfectly average person and is only happy when she takes care of people because she does not feel like she has any other talents. Wakaba does not realize the importance of her role in the story — her crush on Kyouichi Saionji and his rejection caused Utena to become involved in the duels in the first place, and her empathy and passion rescued Utena from a slump after the first Touga duel. She ends up becoming a Black Rose Duelist, having been twisted by her hatred for Anthy and envy towards Utena, as well as her blind desperation to keep Saionji from returning to school and leaving her.

Keiko Sonoda (苑田 茎子, Sonoda Keiko)
Voiced by: Akira Nakagawa (Japanese); Mandy Bonhomme (English)
Keiko is one of Nanami's sidekicks who follows her only because she has a crush on Touga. Her jealousy, though as simple as Nanami's, is strong enough for Souji to take advantage of her mind.

Miscellaneous characters
Kashira Shadow Players (劇団影絵カシラ, Gekidan Kagee Kashira)
Girl A. Voiced by: Maria Kawamura (Japanese); Amanda Goodman (English)
Girl B. Voiced by: Satomi Koorogi (Japanese); Carol Jacobanis (English)
Girl C. Voiced by: Kumiko Watanabe (Japanese); Lisa Ortiz (English)
A mysterious theater troupe that follows the adventures of Utena and company in the anime series. They appear in nearly every episode at some point to explain the episode's theme in the form of an allegorical shadow play. Initially, the relationship between these characters (who are only shown as silhouettes) and the main characters in the series is uncertain, as they are not seen interacting with each other or even in the same frame. As such, they assume the role of a Greek chorus that only the audience can perceive. As the series progresses, however, the Shadow Players gradually interact more and more with the other characters, occasionally putting on plays behind the other characters, and it's hinted that the other characters are partially aware of the shadows' presences and their plays. They also put on a radio show that Akio calls into in one episode. At the beginning of the Apocalypse arc, they appear in person to invite Utena to one of their plays. The players have no names but do have distinct hairstyles and roles, and are referred to as Girl A (A子, A-ko), Girl B (B子, B-ko), and Girl C (C子, C-ko) respectively.

References
  1. Kunihiko Ikuhara (Director) (16 December 2011). Episode 37: Commentary (DVD). Revolutionary Girl Utena: Apocalypse Saga Box Set 3 Limited Edition: Nozomi Entertainment.CS1 maint: location (link)
  2. Kunihiko Ikuhara (Director) (16 December 2011). Episode 39: Commentary (DVD). Revolutionary Girl Utena: Apocalypse Saga Box Set 3 Limited Edition: Nozomi Entertainment.CS1 maint: location (link)
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