Books like Revolutionary Girl Utena, Vol. 1: To Till

The premise is deceptively simple and decidedly shoujo - A young girl, distraught by the death of her parents is kissed by a traveling prince and given a ring, told that if she never loses that noble heart of hers it may one day lead her to him. So impressed is she by him, that the little girl vows to become a prince herself one day.But is that really such a good idea?Before I continue on with this review (and for the sake of convenience and in regard to this manga's rather short five volume length, I'll be reviewing it as a whole) I feel a bit of background is necessary, for the reader's experience with Chiho Saito's Shoujo Kakumei Utena (Revolutionary Girl Utena) will differ greatly depending on whether or not you've had the pleasure of seeing the animated series - additionally and heavily influenced by Director Kunihiko Ikuhara and the brilliant minds of the BePapas team (including Yoji Enokido, a brilliant screenwriter). I have seen the entirety of the 39 episode anime series and the movie, Adolescence of Utena. In fact, its the anime I hold dearest to my heart and has had an incredible influence on my life and personal philosophy. This manga was developed alongside the series, and there is a lot of speculation concerning just how much influence Chiho had on both it and the series, how her ideas and talent where utilized, whether or not Chiho was kept in the dark on certain issues, and just what purpose the manga had -was it meant to be a separate continuity, or simply a running test before the animated series debuted?Having said that, this is one of the biggest cases of reverse adaptation-deterioration I've seen (meaning that that anime is leagues better), which I guess isn't completely fair to say for a number of reasons. The first being that this was written alongside the creation of the series, making it neither the original nor the re-telling. It's also unfair to expect a manga of this length to encompass the incredible amount of literal and figurative content expressed in the animated series. We're talking about a show that explored and subverted and referenced numerous philosophies, religions, fairy tales, archetypes, gender stereotypes and shoujo cliches to create a disturbingly moving and human story about self-revelation, the difference between dreams and reality, what adulthood and love is and is not, and redemption and saving oneself. So, on one hand I can understand and to a degree forgive this manga for its watered down and over simplified version of the characters and plot. For half the cast, beloved for their multifaceted personalities and depth in the series being represented by pale caricatures of themselves. For the removal of the Black Rose Arc (save one small bonus chapter). What I have a harder time forgiving is how much Saito seems not to get it. All the same tired shoujo cliches and romantic cheese found in the series can be found here, but sans any of the irony or subversion (granted, irony can be a lot harder to pull off in printed medium without going too over the top). It's like Saito watched the show and took it at face value. I also raise a bit of an eyebrow at some of the pointless changes Saito makes -whether they be for the sake of making a more commercially accessible product or for more troubling reasons- such as re-writing Juri's sexuality from lesbian to straight. You know. That little facet of Juri's character from which nearly the ENTIRETY of her story and development is rooted? She merely ignores the romantic subtext between the two most pivotal characters, Utena and Anthy, and the story suffers little for it, but this is a huge and entirely unnecessary edit. Saito went out of her way to establish Juri as a straight woman. For the sake of my sanity, I'll just assume something got lost in translation, as her and Ikuhara did seem to have communication issues during production, and its been said he is difficult to work with.Other than that, while the art and pacing is good, elements of Saito's storytelling and her art suffer tiny, awkward hiccups here and there, mostly in the form of weird postures and angles. The prologue is also fairly drawn out and boring without adding much of anything to the story other than that, hey, Utena has a an aunt and her prince likes to lick her face. Seriously. I don't know if that's how it's truly written or it's a mistranslation, but either way "Prince Licky-Licky" and oh god, yes, that is a quote, needs to not exist.Still, it's hard to go wrong with a story as intrinsically powerful as Utena's. Chiho Saito has her moments where the beauty and the gravity of the series is matched beat for beat or even exceeded and the ending is just as uplifting. Those sparse though memorable moments of storytelling genius make this manga worth picking up, even if only to whet one's appetite to see the series. You just have to slog through a lot of trite, poorly written moments to get to them.