+++ PERSONALITY +++
The movie version of Shoujo Kakumei Utena entitled Adolescence Mokushiroku is essentially a re-telling of the original Utena story in an alternate universe, which calls for some changes and twists to the original plot. This invariably also causes character changes, and even our beloved heroine was subjected to some changing.
Tenjou Utena is much more quiet and reserved in the movie. Although she wasn't exactly outgoing and bubbly (a la Wakaba) in the anime series, she was openly friendly with everyone. This quality has been pushed back, and Utena seems much more defensive, and very cautious of her company. Utena seems afraid to get close to anyone because of a past tragedy, and this causes her to push others away from getting close to her emotionally, most likely in order to prevent herself from becoming hurt by anyone again.
In the original anime series, Utena was openly naive and innocent, but this has also changed. Utena comes across as somewhat fragile, and her quiet demeanor suggests that she has suffered from some kind of personal tragedy, yet at the same time she has lost that air of total innocence.
Utena has even become more boyish in nature than her anime counterpart. Her hair has gotten shorter, and she wears the boys' school uniform as well, which causes others to mistake her for a boy. During her first duel against Saionji, he believed her to be a boy and was shocked to find out that she was a girl.
Another departure from the anime series is her past romantic relationship with Touga. In the anime, Utena felt no attraction to Touga whatsoever, and continually resisted his charms, but for the movie's purposes, this is severely reversed. Emotionally, Utena may come across as unemotional on the outside, but inside she's quite torn. Her past is tragic, causing her to suppress the memory of the death of her boyfriend, Kiryuu Touga. She seems as though she was quite attached, possibly in love, to Touga, and she keeps seeing him everywhere around the Ohtori campus even after his death. When she finally remembers his death, she bursts into tears as she says good-bye to her beloved.
A noticeable change from the anime to the movie is the exchange in personalities between the two main protagonists of the story, Anthy and Utena. Anthy and Utena has have switched places in the movie from their original personas from the anime, where Utena is now the introvert and Anthy is the extrovert. While Utena is guarded and quiet, Anthy has taken over the personality of the cheerful girl, and is much more open about her emotions.
As a final note, personally, I like the movie version of Utena a tad better than the anime, because I can relate to her more than her anime personality. She seems a bit more realistic and human compared to the anime version of Utena because the anime seems to have portrayed her an highly idealized figure blessed with the many virtues that are hard to come across nowadays.
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