On the day of her parents' funeral, seven-year-old Utena Tenjou meets a prince on a white horse. The prince gives Utena a signet ring, which he says will one day lead her back to him. Overwhelmed with emotion, young Utena decides that she, too, will become a prince. Seven years later, Utena has followed the trail of her prince to the exclusive Ohtori Academy — and one fateful day, she defends the honor of her best friend, Wakaba, from upperclassman Kyouichi Saionji. Saionji calls Utena to the dueling arena at the back of the school, where Utena's ring opens the door to a private arena. After a duel with Saionji, Utena becomes enmeshed in a fencing tournament with the members of the Ohtori Student Council. The goal of this tournament is to gain "The Power to Revolutionize the World" — as well as the hand of the mysterious Rose Bride, Anthy Himemiya. At the young age of fourteen, Utena is forced to deal with a power she is not ready to control and a world she never dreamed of being a part of.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is often times called the mahou shoujo of Evangelion. (Helps that both of it's creators are BFFs.) Utena's dark, especially the movie The Adolescence of Utena. (Often times called The end of Utena. Try and guess why.) Utena uses symbolism for pretty much... anything. It keeps you guessing, even when it ends. This is one of the many trade marks of the director, as shown in his new work Mawaru Penguindrum.

Be warned, Utena's a shoujo-ai. Especially the movie, where it pretty much becomes extremely obvious. (Once again, this is one of the trade-marks of the director. He's a huge shoujo-ai fan.)

Despite being an older anime, I really, really recommend Utena to well... any anime fan. It's a solid classic.