Revolutionary Girl Utena, Vol. 5: To Blossom

Today's post is on Revoluntionry Girl Utena, vol 5: To Blossom by Chiho Saito and Be-Papas. It is 168 pages long and is published by Shojo Beat. The cover has Utena, Anthy, and Akio. As it is the fifth volume in the series, you need to have read the first four to understand the story. There is no foul language, no sex, and mild violence in this manga. The intended reader is someone who likes shojo manga, over the top plots, and no so end of the world stories. The story is told from third person close perspective of the main characters, Utena and at times Anthy. There Be Spoilers Ahead.

From the back of the book- Utena has now met her prince and discovered the secret behind World's End. Accompanied by friend Anthy and her sword Dios, she's ready to revolutionize the world, unless fate has other plans. 

Review- Utena finally understands what happened to her, when she was child, and what is really means. She did meet Dios, not Akio, and Dios gave what was left of his power to her, to save Anthy and the world from Akio. In the end Utena uses that power to stop Akio but a heavy price. This series is very good, with lots of tropes that will become common in shojo. The answers in the end are fine but the journey was more important to both the reader and Utena herself. The end is more than a little ambiguous with what really happened to Utena and Akio in the end. I would have liked more chapters in this series and I am going to read the side stories that have been written later. A solid classic in shojo manga history and a must read for all shojo manga fans or any manga fan who wants to have a good grounding in classic manga. 

I give this volume a Four out of Five stars. I get nothing for my review and I bought this manga with my own money.