What's with all the low-quality uploads here on YT? Here's the real deal! Also included the sword draw part because it's wicked cool. And it's in the proper aspect ratio!
This one animated sequence is more impressive than many anime series put together. The directors' colossal vision is undeniable here. I watched this sequence repeat itself a dozen times in the show and I never grew tired of it. More is always better!
Gibberish music can be quite powerful when done well, I'll say. Just have a hear at "Beyond the Bounds" in the soundtrack of Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner, for one.
You know you've done your stock footage use and budget resourcefulness quite well when you've made an endearingly anomalous Takarazuka Revue-styled animation+song sequence that rarely, if ever, gets skipped.
From what I researched about Utena, what we see is an illusion as the series is filled with these. Putting it into reality, Utena is probably walking through a long corridor into the arena itself.
