Cheap Revolutionary Girl Utena - The Black Rose Blooms (Vol. 3) (DVD) (Kunihiko Ikuhara) Price

However if you like the first episodes then this starts in a new round of duelists. Now I must admit that the Black Rose season is the cheesiest season of them all. As a matter of fact the only ones worth much are the Nanami cow episode (for comic relief) and the Wakaba duel episode (yes, Utena must face her best friend!) Many of the episodes are very repetative in this season, but some of the episodes are key to what happens later in the Akio Car and Revolution Arcs...so if all else fails at least do yourself the favor and watch the fansubs of this season if you can and save the money for the last 2 sets. ^^;;

What I think the DVD will be like, and the series in general
Revolutionary Girl Utena, in general, is a brilliant piece of work. I have to warn any viewers who might want to watch this series for the first time that Utena is fairly post-modernist so not everything can or should be taken seriously. There are so many interpretations of the series, the characters, the morals of the series, and such, but I believe that Utena is a series that wants to stir up questions and make the audience really think about what they've watched. Yes, like a lot of people, I watched the series (and the movie) and was thinking, "What the heck?!?!?!?" at the first run, but the series grew on me, and I realized that this cartoon is not by any means your normal cartoon, but nonetheless a magnificent concoction of ideas.

I looked at the technical information, and unless I'm mistaken (and I hope I am), I think the DVD will have only 4 episodes on it. It seems that Central Park Media wants to make more money, so...well, they only stuffed 4 episodes into the first Black Rose DVD. I have a feeling that CPM will try to get away with more of this, but hopefully I'm mistaken. Anyhow, this will cover the duels of Utena between Ohtori Kanae (Akio's fiancee), Kaoru Kozue, and Takatsuki Shiori. On the brighter side, this DVD also should contain one of the funniest episodes in the series, where Nanami slowly transforms into a cow during the entire episode. Also, the Black Rose series will introduce what is referred to as the "Industrial Remix" of Absolute Destiny Apocalypse (the song that plays when Utena ascends to the dueling platform).

In short, buy this DVD, but let Central Park Media know about your complaints about having only 4 episodes on a DVD (if what I say turns out to be the case) and about their sluggishness with the series in general (that is, if you think it is a problem), plus other complaints if you've got any. New background music, new duel songs, and find out those psychological issues that plague other characters in the storyline.

EDIT: In response to Charles Solomon's scathing review of the series, I must say this: there's much more depth to the series than he has described, and he's got, in my opinion, one detail about the series completely wrong. However, for the sake of not spoiling any less-than-knowledgable viewers out there, I'll keep silent about the detail.

Also, Charles Solomon talks about "hokiness." If you REALLY want hokiness, go to the Sailor Moon series (especially the English dub), or many of the poor American cartoons being disseminated on network television at this moment.

In the end, and please forgive my unprofessionalism in saying this, but disregard the words of Charles Solomon, who is, in my opinion, inexcusably unqualified to make any sort of critical review regarding this series. He carries with his review of Utena his disappointing close-mindedness and prejudice against the genres that include the series into their fold.

SUPERB!!!U GO UTENA!!!!
Utena is just great!!!U guys anime fan just gotta see this series.It's good...has deep messages and it's animation and songs are lovely..at least to me.Go and get its dvd guys..