Number Of Disc(s): 1

Review Done By: Guardian Inferno

The surreal, apocalyptic world of rose brides, secret student councils, silhouette stage girls, high-stakes sword duels & revolutionary prince girls all come to life in the long-awaited "Utena OST", loaded with 36 tracks of unpredictable music that's unlike anything you've ever heard in an anime TV series. Filled to disc capacity with whimsical violin pieces, elegant, sad piano solos & dramatic dueling choruses, this is one eclectic CD, featuring 11 vocal tracks & 25 instrumentals, including the unforgettably urgent opening theme song, "A Round Dance - Revolution" & the passionate ending song, "Truth".

Special thanks to Geneon Anime Music for sending a copy for a review for this site. This is one of many Anime CDs that are domestic release. Honestly, I haven't watch this series before, so I can't really give you my honest opinion. Though, by itself, the music is really good, pack with classical music, most of them are a mix of violins (Track 06 for example) & pianos (Track 04 for example), along with some hard rock tunes, too (like Track 28 or 29). The first track is the best music. There is also vocals tunes, along with the introduction theme (Track 02) & the ending theme (Track 35). There is even a mix of the introduction theme (Track 33), along with a kakaoke version as well, for all who want to sing the song. Yup, even the Eye Catch tune (Track 20) is there.

I find no problem listening to the music. The tracks are well separated.

Since this Anime CD is a domestic release, it got almost the same as the original Japanese packaging, except with a few English adaptation changes. On the cover, you see the two main characters, Utena Tenjou & Anthy Himemiya, together. However, there isn't any titles or anything, just one full picture. In the back, Utena Tenjou & Anthy Himemiya again, holding each other, with Chu Chu, a mouse-monkey. There is so many songs on this CD, the track list is split into two columns. The insert is pretty interesting. There are notes from the creator & the producer of the series, along with lots of screenshots. There is also the cast list & yes, both English translation & original Japanese text lyrics for all the vocals on this CD. Oh, there is even some french words around, which makes this OST a little unique. On the CD disc itself, it's a very nice rose design, red & pink surrounding by a very small print of the track list. Since the CD case is a clear one, you can see the same rose design in the background, but in a different shade of pink.

Utena is a very interesting series. I haven't seen it yet, but the music is really interesting. I perfer the classical music that it's on this CD. It's great if you seen Utena before, this will be a great addition to your collection. Not only that, you will support Geneon Anime Music on releasing more Anime CDs in the near future.

27" Citizen JCTV2704 Stereo TV, LG-530 DVD Player, S-Video connection for video with regular stereo cable connection for audio.

Model LG 16x DVD-ROM, on a P3-933Mhz, 512 MB RAM, ATI Redeon 8500 128MB Video Card, ASUS CUSL2-C Motherboard & Sound Blaster Live v5.1, Dell 19' LCD E193FP monitor, Windows XP Professional SP2 & WinAmp v5.08e to listen the CD.

Panasonic Shockwave SL-SW950 Blue, using Sony MDR-J10 Sapphire Headphones.