This summary was written based on my copy of the manga and translations from The Translation Garden. Quotes are either taken directly from this source or are a paraphrase of some sort. It's a fairly detailed summary, but if something does not make sense, as far as my wording is concerned, please feel free to contact me at angel@alexiel.net. Thank you and enjoy the summary.

Touga reclines on his bed while a girl stands behind a translucent current. He explains that once, all the girls in the world were princesses and they had a prince called the Rose Prince. The prince knew he had one role in the world and could never break free from it, but his sister, the witch, hid him away in a tower where no one else could see him. The girl asks if he is the prince in the story, and when he rises from his bed and spots Utena among the other students he replies, “It looks like a prince has once more come to this world.”

Utena is a new transfer to the amazing Ohtori Academy and all the girls are impressed by her in her male uniform. Wakaba, however, claims the honor of giving her a tour around the school. She explains that Ohtori is a prestigious school for the gifted and the beautiful. Wakaba asks if Utena knew anybody at the school, and Utena hesitates before replying in the negative.

Wakaba continues the tour pointing out that the student council members are exceptional above all of the others and they were referred to as “princes”. Two of the Student Council members were also members of the dueling club—Arisugawa Juri and Kaoru Miki. Juri is the captain of the fencing team and Miki is young but extremely smart and talented. As Wakaba is explaining this, Utena sees Touga watching her from a few floors up, so she leaves behind her guide in order to find him.

She runs through the school looking for him, until she finds him in a courtyard near a rose garden. The rain pours down outside the shelter of the walk way as Touga recalls their plans to go to a planetarium, and points out that they still haven’t gone to one together. Utena replies that she has changed in the years since they were last together, and she didn’t come to Ohtori looking for him. In fact, she had no idea that he would be there. He takes her hat, telling her she hasn’t changed a bit, but wonders why she wears the male uniform. She explains that she is a prince, and that after he left her, she decided that she would be a prince herself instead of waiting for someone, and that she would have high ideals. As he attaches a rose to her chest, he remarks that she has chosen a difficult path for herself. Utena notices a ring on his finger and comments on his engagement. He replies that the ring is what lead him to that school, but as she reflects on this, he disappears.

She notices her hat out in the rose garden and goes to pick it up, but under the hat is a rose ring just like Touga’s. She believes it to be his and wonders why he is giving it to her if it is something so important. She places it on her finger and holds her hand up to the now clear sky, exclaiming that the ring is beautiful All of a sudden, rose petals begin pouring from somewhere high above her. For the first time, she notices a platform way up in the sky and decides to investigate it. She takes the elevator up as high as it will go and finds a long staircase leading up further into the sky. When she finally reaches the top, she finds a huge rose garden.

As she wonders why there would be a rose garden in the sky and walks over to the edge of the platform to look down on the school campus, Anthy asks her if she is afraid to be standing so near the edge. The beautiful, dark-haired girl explains that she owns the rose garden and because she is the sister of the School Chairmen, she has special privileges, although she claims, “It was really me who was drawn in by the roses.” Utena adjusts her cap and Anthy notices the ring on her finger, and wonders if she could be the new duelist. Although she is standing on a higher platform, Anthy reaches out for Utena, who must catch her as she falls.

As Utena catches her, a tall guy coming onto the platform cries out, asking what she is doing to the Rose Bride. Furthermore, the rose garden is off limits to anyone not associated with the Student Council. Utena gathers that he must be Saionji of the Student Council, but he is more concerned with the fact that she is touching the Rose Bride to worry about introductions. He goes to swat her hand away and notices the rose crest on her finger. He figures that she is the new duelist, there to take the place of Kiryuu Touga, the Student Council President and he apologizes for his rudeness. At first Utena is confused, but as Saionji explains that the victor of the duels gets possession of the Rose Bride and can treat her any way he chooses (which he illustrates by holding Anthy seductively), she realizes that Touga must be after this girl as well.

Before Utena has much time to consider this, giant gates fall, blocking all of the exits. Anthy explains that the first person who loses their rose loses the duel, but Utena has no sword. Instead, Saionji kicks up a bamboo broom from among the roses, tosses it to her, and cuts off the broom part with his sword. Utena is shocked to discover that he has a real sword and tries to stop the duel, but Saionji is rather unsympathetic.

The rest of the Student Council observes the duel from a distance. Juri notes that it was suppose to be Touga’s turn and Miki remarks that there were only supposed to be four duelists. Touga replies that anyone with noble goals can be a duelist and it isn’t up to him to choose a duelist. They are chosen by “End of the World”, the one who always looks down on the academy from his white castle. Miki comments that “End of the World” hasn’t contacted them for a while and wonders what he is planning.

Saionji has cut Utena’s staff down to almost nothing, but Utena insists that she can continue to fight. Anthy tries to stop the duel since Utena clearly has no idea about what is going on, but Saionji slaps her hard across the face. Utena immediately jumps between them and demands to know why he hit his girlfriend. Saionji scoffs and explains that she is not his girlfriend, but rather the Rose Bride—the prize won by the victor of the duels—and as such, she is his possession. This obviously upsets Utena, who wonders how a girl can be won in a duel, in spite of her feelings. Saionji replies that the Rose Bride is an object and has no feelings. He tells Utena to finish the battle, but she insists on guarding Anthy, so takes a swing at her with his sword, but she blocks her rose with her hand so all he manages to cut off is the top button on her blouse, revealing that she is, in fact, a girl. Saionji is surprised, but insists that he won’t let up on her because she is a girl.

Suddenly, Anthy grabs Utena’s face, and kisses her right on the lips, much to Utena and Saionji’s surprise. Their outfits change and the Sword of Dios grows out of her chest. Although fairly confused, Utena pulls the sword from Anthy’s chest and defeats Saionji. Juri is surprised that Saionji lost to a girl, but Miki points out that the girls’ transformation and the appearance of the sword is much more miraculous. Touga comments that everything is transpiring as End of the World said it would. Miki is surprised that the power of Dios is real and Juri wonders why he would be a duelist if he did not believe, but Miki points out that the power never appeared before during their duels. Touga remarks that she must be the true prince, but Juri insists that nothing is certain yet and she will beat her. Miki disagrees and says he will be the one to beat her and he doesn’t want to lose to Juri.

Back on the ground floor, remains confused about the entire event and she goes to her dorm room to unpack. Anthy walks in and, as the two of them sit on the bed, asks her how she is feeling, referring to her as Utena-sama. Utena replies, “Just ‘Utena’ is fine,” and asks her if what happened during the duel was magic. In response, Anthy pushes her down on the bed, leans over her and starts to undress her, saying she is the Rose Bride and she obeys the will of the victor. Utena pushes her away, and demands to know if she has done the same thing with every winner (although she is mostly concerned about Touga). As Anthy smiles at her, she sees her as a witch and orders her to get out. Anthy just holds her tightly and calls her cute. Utena pushes her away, saying, “You’re strange. I don’t want a Rose Bride.” For a moment, Anthy gazes at her evenly, than she notices a picture of Utena and Touga from when they were younger.

Sometime later, perhaps the next day, the students of Utena’s class work on cleaning the empty school pool. While filling a bucket of water, she sees Touga and asks to see his ring finger. When she sees that he still bears the rose crest, she realizes that he didn’t leave the ring for her. He is a duelist too and is after the Rose Bride. She asks him if he knows what kind of girl Anthy is and tries to explain her objection, but can’t bring herself to say exactly what Anthy does with her victor. Touga gets the drift and says that she naturally spends the night with her victor. Utena gets to the point and asks him if he has ever been engaged to Anthy, but he says that is a private matter.

Anthy notices the two of them talking and runs over. She asks Utena what she wants to do that night, but Utena replies that she does not need a Rose Bride. Touga teases Anthy that, after taking such pains to win her, Utena is a rather cold prince, and playfully splashes her with water. This is too much for Utena to stand and she walks off rather upset.

Utena dreams that she is in the water drowning and Touga reaches out to her and she thinks her prince is coming to save her. She wakes up, shaken, but she looks out the window and sees Anthy walking into the night.

Anthy stands on the very edge of the Rose Garden platform, and looks over the edge with a wild look in her eyes. As Utena walks out onto the platform, Anthy quickly picks up a hose and begins tending to the roses. When Utena asks her what she is doing there so late, she replies that she had to take care of the roses. She quickly turns the topic of the conversation to Touga, which upsets Utena. She grabs Anthy’s hands and yells at her for changing Touga. She pushes Anthy to the ground and leans over her, weeping. Touga was there for her when her parents died, and she believed that he would always be by her side. Then, even though he promised to watch the stars with her, he suddenly left her. Anthy leans up and licks away her tears.

While Utena has been crying, the hose filled the platform with water. Anthy exclaims that the stars are in the sky and in the roses. She holds Utena’s head in her lap and comforts her, saying that she can see as many stars as she likes and the stars will never run away from her. Utena, far calmer not, says she can see the stars in Anthy’s eyes tool. Unbeknownst to the girls, Touga stands at the garden gate watching the stars as well.

The next day, the teacher instructs the students to pair up and draw their partners. Naturally, Anthy comes over to pair up with Utena. She takes her to the Chairman’s tower in spite of Utena’s concern that students are not allowed up there. Anthy tells her it will be all right because no one will be up there. Utena asks, “What about the Chairman?” and Anthy, after hesitating for a moment, sadly tells her that her brother is somewhere far away, but that he treats her like a princess. Utena smiles, pleased that Anthy is finally talking about herself. Anthy says, “I also love my brother most of all.”

They finally arrive at the Chairman’s studio which is filled with lovely sketches. Utena, who is very impressed, examines the drawing closely and realizes that many of them appear to be of Anthy, though Anthy is slow to admit it. The two girls sit down and begin drawing, and Utena tells Anthy she is sorry for treating her so horribly the night before, but thanks her for making her feel better. She fell asleep in Anthy’s lap, but Anthy didn’t wake her up, even when her precious garden was being washed. Anthy shrugs it off, explaining that she is the Rose Bride. Utena exclaims that it has nothing to do with being engaged and takes of her ring, explaining that she wants to be her friend. She thinks she may have judged Anthy too harshly. She realized that when she went back to her room after sharing her feelings with Anthy, she felt better.

Anthy takes the ring and slips it back on Utena’s finger, claiming that she was too busy drawing to pay attention to what she had been saying. Utena continues by explaining that she wants to know all the sides of Anthy, even if she is the Rose Bride. She wants to be the kind of friends that don’t keep secrets from each other. Sadly, Anthy replies that if Utena knew the real her, she would not be saying such kind things. “I don't trust in words. Only the body does not lie.” She begins to undress, instructing Utena to draw “the real me.” Despite Utena’s discomfort, she leans in to kiss her.

At that moment, Miki and Juri walk into the room, and Juri criticizes Anthy for getting physical with yet another victor. Despite the fact that she hates the Rose Bride, she challenged Utena to a duel. Utena protests, insisting that she is no longer a duelist, but Juri replies that as long as she is the current victor, she cannot deny any challenge. She will take the Rose Bride off of Utena’s hands, since she couldn’t be interested in her power. Utena wonders why they have to fight, especially since Juri really hates Anthy. Juri explains that when she looks at the Rose Bride, she sees the part of herself that she cast off in order to become stronger and nobler. Although having Anthy at her side will be a constant irritation, she will use the power of Dios to make her wish come true. Miki confesses that he too seeks the power of Dios in order to find something pure. Anthy responds that when she hears people express such wishes, she can see what they are hiding. Women who express hatred for other woman do not love themselves and people who express a wish to find purity are embracing a lie. People who seek princes are the most unhappy of all. Utena wonders if she is actually address her, not the Student Council members. Juri storms away telling Anthy, “Don't act like you know me,” and Miki follows her close behind.

Touga enters the room and Anthy clings on him, clearly trying to hurt Utena. “This is the real me,” she explains. “Do you still want to be friends now?” She confesses that she did not go to the rose garden to tend the floors but rather to meet Touga. Utena reflects on what Anthy’s words from the night before and while they were drawing and challenged Touga to a duel. Juri is unhappy that her and Utena’s duel is canceled, but everyone ignores her protest. Anthy wonders why Utena suddenly wants to duel, and she replies, “Through this duel, I'll say goodbye to myself up till now.” She has been running from things for a long time, and fighting this duel will help her face the parts of herself that she does not like—the part that feels abandoned by Touga and the part that is weak.

In the rose garden platform, Touga is ready to duel. Utena understands that Touga is fighting to win but she is determined as well. The two make pass after pass for the other’s rose, but both are skilled duelists. Miki and Saionji watch, but Juri is too busy sulking to pay attention. Saionji complains that he would have won if the Rose Bride had not interfered. Miki, who ignores both their comments, wonders if the power of Dios will once again manifest itself.

Meanwhile, Touga knocks the sword out of Utena’s hand and she ends up on the ground. As Touga stands over her, she confesses that she loves him even now. When he goes to strike, she leaps out of the way but ends up pulling Anthy to the ground. Utena confesses that while she will probably lose the duel, she really did want to be friends with her. Anthy kisses her again and an inverted castle appears in the sky. Utena’s uniform once again transforms into her dueling uniform and the sword protrudes from Anthy’s chest, while a figure descends like an angel from the castle above them. Miki watches all of this in wonder. Dios hovers over her as she pulls the sword from Anthy and cuts the rose from Touga’s chest, but not before Touga says, “I really did love you Utena.” The other three student council members (since, apparently the novelty of the situation got the better of Juri) watch in amazement.

Utena, surprised that she won, reaches out for Touga, but he vanishes, leaving behind only his uniform. Utena wonders why that happened when all she did was cut the rose from his chest. Anthy replies simply that Touga is dead. Utena insists that she is lying like always and grasps his clothes as she weeps.

Anthy turns and begins to leave, but Utena grabs her and begs her to tell her it is not true. Anthy smiles and offers to take Utena to Touga. Puzzled, Utena follows her out of the garden and back to main school. On the way, they meet the other three duelists. Miki congratulates her on her victory, Juri insists that they will duel next, and Saionji merely states that she beat Touga as well. Anthy urges Utena to follow her, and as Utena walks away, the three Council Members wonder if she could be the chosen prince.

Utena realizes that Anthy has led her to the school pool (which is now filled with water) and Touga standing there (fully dressed, even though Utena is still holding his empty uniform). Utena is completely confused, but Touga tells her he always knew she would win and open up the Rose Bride’s heart and bring down the power of Dios from the inverted castle. He left so suddenly before and then turned up at this strange school with the duels, the castle, and the Rose Bride. Since he seems to understand everything, she demands an explanation and he decides that she deserves one.

As he bends down to touch the surface of the water, the uniform in Utena’s arms becomes wet. She drops the uniform and it sinks into the water, and she suddenly remembers something important. She remembers what happened when he disappeared. Two years ago, when they were still together, she fell out of a boat and began to drown. Touga jumped in to the water to save her, but he had to swim beneath her and after he pushed her towards the surface, he began to sink and could not save himself. He died saving her life. The memory was so painful that she locked it up inside and forgot about it. He truly was her prince.

He begins to walk away, but Utena embraces him, asking why she can hold him and why he is so warm when he should be dead. Her thoughts had reached him and brought him to the school. Utena gives up caring about anything else except being with her prince. The rain pours down outside as Anthy makes her way through the school alone. Utena wonders about the strange school which is so different from the world she knows. As she sleeps with Touga, she asks if he can feel anything and he replies that he feels it in his heart. He promises that here they can be together forever.

Meanwhile, in the rose garden in the courtyard, a body is discovered. From Touga’s window, Utena notices the commotion, but Touga tells her it doesn’t concern them.

She continues her story, explaining that she tried to replace Touga by playing the part of the prince. Touga says that people who have been wounded are the ones who most long for a prince, which Utena recalls is something that Anthy had said to her earlier. He goes on to tell her of his childhood, specifically about being purchased and raped by his father. Although he was miserable, he could not accept help from anyone and sought to become an adult quickly so he would have power. The other duelists bear similar scars and seek the same goal. End of the World distributes the rose seals, manipulates the duels, and uses the duelists’ wounds. Touga tells Utena the story of the princesses who once had a prince, and the prince who had to fulfill his role in the world, until his sister locked him away. “The sister,” he says, “was called a witch and also the Rose Bride,” and Utena realizes that he is talking about Anthy.

In the garden, the corpse has been full exhumed and identified as the body of the Chairman. Kanae, his fiancé, weeps over his body, as the students speculate on who murdered him, since his body was hidden in the roses. Someone suggests that it must be the one who owns the rose bed. Utena looks up and sees Anthy above her with a strange smile on her face. Kanae bitterly blames Anthy, claiming she always hid behind a smile but was jealous of her and the Chairman’s relationship, so the witch took him away from her.

Utena, who has been trying to find Anthy, explores in the Chairman’s studio looking for her missing friend. While searching, she finds a very large painting of Anthy in the nude on bed. As she stares at the painting, she remembers the rest of the Rose Prince story Touga told her. The sister had magical powers and she could turn the one she loved into a prince, but his true nature was far darker so she hid him away from the world. Blood starts dripping from the breast in the painting, and Utena begins to see the true scene of what happened to the Chairman.

Anthy was posing, fully clothed, as her brother painted her portrait. He offers her something to drink, but, while his back is turned to her, he drops drugs into her glass. After drinking, she quickly falls asleep and her brother undresses her. He begins to caress her (while Utena pounds on the painting, trying to get him to stop), but suddenly he pulls back, horrified. He realizes for the first time that she has been awake the whole time. Anthy tries to comfort him, telling him that she doesn’t mind because he is her prince so he can do anything he likes to her. Disgusted, he insists that he isn’t that kind of person. As he fumbles to pick up some of his art supplies that have fallen to the floor, she reaches out for him, telling him she doesn’t mind because she loves him. She tries to embrace him, but he pulls away and accidentally stabs her in the chest with a sharp metal tool. Blood pours from the wound in her breast although, but she insists that she is fine and that he will always be her prince. Appalled, her brother jumps from the window and falls to the ground below.

The scene ends and the painting returns to its normal state. Utena turns and finds Anthy watching her. She opens the top of her dress to reveal a large scar on her breast. Suddenly, her brother appears behind her and places his hands over his sister’s as she closes up her dress. Utena is clearly surprised, since he should be dead, but she remembers more of Touga’s story. “When the younger sister's love transformed him, the prince became immortal.” She has been dueling to bring back Anthy’s lost magical powers. After the death of her prince, she cried over the place where he had fallen. When she looked up into the sky, she saw the rose garden platform appear, and when she got to the top, she saw the garden and the castle in the sky. The only thing that was missing was a prince, so the dueling games were set up to fill the void, and now a prince has finally appeared.

After kissing Utena, the sword appears again and Anthy promises her a miracle or eternity—whatever she may desire—as long as she remains in that world. Utena pushes the sword back into her chest saying, “I don’t want to own you. I want to be your friend.” Utena finally realizes that she is just like Anthy, so she asks her if she wants to remain that way forever. Does she always want to stay in the enclosed fairytale world? Does she always want to treasure that scar on her breast that she turned into the sword of Dios? Akio has been listening silently, growing ever angrier, so when Anthy and Utena reach for each other, he uses his power to keep them apart. He demands that Utena pulls out the sword, but instead, she turns to Anthy and says, “Let’s run away to the outside world!’ Much to Anthy, Touga, and Akio’s shock, Utena grabs her hand makes a run for the exit, but instead of finding the hallway, they find themselves on the rose garden platform. Akio, who is now a giant apparition in the sky, uses his power to suffocate Utena with roses. Anthy screams at her brother to stop, but the roses continue to grow all around Utena.

As she struggles against the flood of roses, she feels like she is once again drowning. In her mind, she is back in the water and Touga reaches down to save her. As he holds her, he tells her that the only way she will be able to escape this world is if she lets go of him in her heart. “Don't hang onto the memories of being loved by me, or time will freeze there for you, just like it did for Himemiya Anthy.” She insists that they can all escape together, but he replies that he can only exist in this fantasy world, and that her only change for freedom is to forget about him. She closes her eyes, and suddenly he is gone.

She wakes up, free from the roses for the moment, but can’t remember why she is crying. As Anthy kneels next to her, she tries to get up but finds herself unable to do so. She realizes the rose seal is now in her hand and the flood of roses returns. Anthy cries out to her brother, “If you're going to do this, then do it to me as well!” Akio simply replies that this prince isn’t the right one and that they will find another one together. Anthy, however, has changed and wants to go to the real world with Utena. Angry, Akio argues that wherever they go, there will always be the “End of the World,” but Anthy replies that as long has it is an end she has chosen, she will be happy. She wonders what century she and Utena will find themselves in. She helps Utena to her feet and says, “Together, let us revolutionize the world.” With Utena at her side, she says good-bye to her brother and her fantasy world. Akio disappears and his suit fills with roses as the castle, the platform, and the school itself crumbles into nothing but rubble.

In the present time, a planetarium show is just rapping up. The presenter tells the audience to look up at the night sky and watch the stars with some they love. People being filing out of their seats, but Anthy and Utena (both wearing modern clothes) remain seated. Tears fill Utena’s eyes as says to Anthy, “When I look at the stars, somehow I start to feel that no matter what happens, I must live with all my might.” Anthy agrees and the two girls exit the planetarium together.

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