Absolute Destiny: Apocalypse

About the show

When Utena challenges a boy at school for the dignity of her best friend, she gets unknowingly drawn into a tournament organized by the mysterious "End of the World" due to her ownership of a rose-sigiled ring. Within this tournament, each duelist fights for the hand of the Rose Bride and the associated power to Revolutionize the world. But how is this tournament connected to the prince who gave her the ring in the first place? Can Utena ever become a prince herself? And what will become of the Rose Bride if Utena can't free her from the tournament?

Watch an introductory clip here:

Revolutionary Girl Utena was created by a group of artists known as Be-Papas in 1997. It is widely notable for both its influence as an early piece of queer media as well as its influence on the magical girl and shoujo genres as a whole.

CHARACTERS

Utena GIF. She is tall and has long pink hair, light skin, and blue eyes. She is dressed in a black military-style uniform with red shorts and tasseled shoulder pads. She wields a large silver sword.

Tenjou Utena's biggest aspiration is to become a prince - a dream given to her by the prince who saved her from her despair after losing both of her parents. Utena is naive and a bit impulsive, but has a strong sense of justice and strives to do what's right, even when she doesn't know exactly what that might entail. Utena is notable for her gender-nonconformity, including the fact that she uses the masculine pronoun "boku" for herself and wishes to be a prince, in addition to the fact that she is one of the first and most influential sapphic characters in media as a whole.

Anthy GIF. She has short purple hair curled around her face, medium brown skin, and green eyes. She wears large, round glasses and a white sailor-style school uniform.

Himemiya Anthy is also known within the series as the "Rose Bride." Most of the characters know very little about her as much of her time is spent with only the company of her pet monkey and best friend Chuchu. Her personality is somewhat fluid, changing depending on who the top duelist is, but she tends to be fairly quiet, incredibly caring, and nonconfrontational. She tends to the garden of roses required for the dueling game and has a large interest in animals and their proper care. Within the show, Anthy plays a part in representing the effects of abusive cycles and the patriarchy. Like Utena, she was a trailblazer in sapphic representation.

The duelists are those who compete for the hand of the Rose Bride and the associated power to "revolutionize the world." These duelists include Touga, Saionji, Miki, Juri, Utena, and later Nanami. Each duelist has their own motive in attaining the power of revolution, and save for Utena, they have all been invited by the mysterious "End of the World" to participate in the dueling game. Each duelist also represents a different aspect of the cycle of abuse and influence of the patriarchy.