Cover and Back (jacket)
Cover and Back (without jacket)
CDs, sticker, and inside of case
    
Booklet Pages
Cover
001, 002, 003, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011, 012, 013

(The booklet splits and is upside down in the back, like disc 1 and disc 2 are separate booklets.)

Score: 8.0 of 10
     This two disc release has four selling points. Previously unreleased background music tracks, remixed background music tracks from past releases, vocal drama tracks of dialogue in the manga, and recordings of tracks from the live Shoujo Kakumei Utena musical. Something for everyone, though I think in most cases the selling point will be the absolutely amazing selection of background music.

     The new background music tracks are mostly rather perky tracks. "Ball" is exactly what you'd expect from a dance at Ohtori Academy (episode three), and "Chu-Chu" is a happy, vaguely tropical song that earns its name. Both "Radio Show" and "Radio Waves" are from the radio game show Akio and the Shadow Play Girls are playing in episode thirty-three. The later borrows its tune from "Panorama of the Full Bloom" on soundtrack two, though you'll hardly recognize it for the insanely sped up pace. All three of the Nanami episode vocal tracks are here, and only one is previously released, though it's different here. ("Dona Dona") "Forbidden Fruit" is the 'Oh no' music from episode nine, tense and a bit chaotic. Finally there's "Kiss", perhaps the most popular track on this CD, with good reason. It borrows from "Aphrodite of Death", but manages to be a little less depressing-really a beautiful song.

     The remixed background music takes typically the opening piano pieces and stretches them out. This makes me very happy, since those are typically my favorite parts of the songs. The opening piano piece in "Revolutionary Girl Overture" (soundtrack one) is stretched out in "The Rose Bride". "Fascination" is "Fruit of the Sin" (soundtrack two) with only the piano. "Repentance" is the vocal chanting in "Confession Elevator - Daydreaming Troublesome Insects" (soundtrack two). "Clergyman" and "Atonement" are extensions of the openings of "Nemuro Memorial Hall" and "Eternal Secret", respectively.

     Also on the first disc are thirteen drama tracks, read from the Utena manga by the series cast. This moves some and is totally pointless for others, but for me it's quite fun hearing some of the raunchier tracks. What the manga loses in flat out perversion, it makes up for in manga's typically honest dialogue. For example, Touga in the series wouldn't have said this to Utena: "Don't gape at me like that...unless you have some demands that I can attend to now, while I'm naked." Naturally, the track Saionji is on is a huge joke.

     All this talk about disc one and I haven't mentioned disc two, the live musical tracks. Why? To be honest, I've never finished the CD. It's just not my kind of music and I don't care for it enough to force myself through it. That said, several of the tracks are wildly popular, and most listeners will attach themselves to at least one or two. The tracks are typically perky J-Pop, and sung as the cast by the vocalist KaNNa. There is a recording of "Absolute Destiny: Apocalypse" here that is must have, though-the techno remix from soundtrack two without the horrible male vocal.

     This is the only Utena release with no Seazer material (except the aforementioned AD: Apocalypse). Normally this would mark against it for me, but the background music here is incredible enough to forgive that. It's also the hardest CD to find, but trust me, it's well worth the effort.