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raguna-blade · 4 years

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Revolutionary Girl Utena 34-39 And The Adolescence of Utena

So hot diggity damn, I finally finished the Series and it’s Sequel movie. (Perhaps it’s not truly a sequel. I will be graceful and acknowledge this as a possibility as I gleefully ignore it because hot damn that movie makes Negative Sense if You haven’t seen the series before (Which I know factually because I’ve watched it multiple times without having seen the series in full proper. That dance scene man) but makes immense amounts of sense if viewed as a sequel. I’m gonna get around to it sooner or later I think, probably sooner since the subject is on my mind, but still) Shit went down. So much has gone down, but the one thing that I can say is that it I am so glad to see that Akio got dunked on in the most pleasing way by the Lady who consistently spat hot fire the entire series.

Also that Dance Scene was SO FUCKING GOOD, LIKE HOLY SHIT GUYS.

Proper Essays and the like to come as I Do a run through thoughts and such, since I got a bunch of them.

Episodes 35-39

Episode 35

Oh Boy prince time again. Oh god. Oh god they changed it again.

I find it interesting that Dios is Still framed pretty sympathetically. He's a solid A plus good guy, but shit goes so horribly wrong that he just...stops. Hm. Wonder if there's a reason WHY he warped so? It doesn't excuse anything but...

Wait, did Utena start recalling everything? Hell of a way to regain your memories.

I do not appreciate the crotch shot here following that last ep.

GODDAMNIT AKIO. YEAH TAKE A WALK AWAY.

This whole scene feels awkward.

Oh damn her face flattened out like whoa. She mad.

Was it Eternity? That warped him...?

What's with the car...?

Also, ….Ok, toga. Car Pyramid too.

Also, is Akio...hm. Oddly Passive? Hm.

Give her a present, say it's from me, and god damnit akio please stop being weird for like 10 seconds.

What's with the carrot in his pocket.

Earrings? Jessu wakaba.

...Wait, was this to tilt TOGA? But why would that do it?

Prince Mystique. I think this shit was actually supposed to til him.

I think Akio actually fucking played Touga. HE THOUGHT THEY WERE PARTNERS AND YOU GOT PLAYED!

Yeah, Touga is fucking TILTED.

He looks so put off right now. Like he's...off. He's off in a way the others haven't been.

Saionji here reading him like a book. Jesus Saionji is tearing him a new one.

Used people like tools and it made you strong IN THE PAST.

Shadow Girls? Feels super early, but it's the second half of the episode. But what's the deal with fish...Oh, fish in the sea. Girls exist to be exploited? Huh...Toga I guess....A Mermaid? Oh, a fish and a personality

LEFT THE BED. OH NO. The earrings. Also, I dislike the soft lovely lovey dovey shading here. Just feels...like liesssssssssssss

Anthy.

He thinks he won the game. He wants her to be a princess.

A princess who will revolutionze the world.

Oh Shit the elevator! It's been too long.

Is it the bros time?

Never come out of this coffin. Is everyone dead here?

Saionji: YOU LOVE HER BRO?

TOUGA: Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Final Letter? Hm..Why the play? But I'm making this call. Akio's not actually end of the world?

Saionji: YOU SURE YOU WANNA BE LIKE HIM?

But for real dudes, why you strippin.

...Oh is chuchu a familiar? Or some part of anthy?

Anthy is not having it. AND SH what the fuck WHAT THE FUCK WE JUST GONNA IGNORE HER SPURTING INTO SWORDS?

Honestly, all of this is half making me wonder about the black rose arc cause it feels...mad out of place? It got excised from canon but...hm.

Episode 36

This yinyang shit is increasingly worrisome.

Elevator again? Also, how long has it been since we've seen the rest of the student council. And why does Touga think he needs to beat her to save her?

Hm....

Is the coffin (Coffins) Ohotori? Is this some weird purgatory? Would explain shadow seminar guy.

You sound sincere when you say that. IMPLYING HE DOESN”T THE REST OF THE TIME.

DON'T KISS AND LOOK ALL DREAMY FUCK YOU AKIO. FUCK YOU

WHY CANT THESE GUYS CLOSE A SHIRT?

Oh Stuco? Please be the heroes we need.

Juri: SOMETHING IS WRONG

Miki: WELL SHEIS A GIRL BUT...Uh...I mean that's good? Right? Something is off.

Oh Boy. Revolution TIME.

….What...what are they doing. What's with the Bike...? Also, the metaphor shit makes me uh..Hm.

Touga: GETTING SECOND THOUGHTS.

Saionji tries to copy akio, and immediately shot down, shits dumb.

Shirt open utena? Copying princly(???) manners there.

Night Dueling...?

So...what's up Touga?

REAL STARS. SEEING REAL STARS FOR THE FIRST TIME!

And it shows the castle? Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

Man, touga realizing he fucked up but big.

I'm not sure if he's fucking around or for real right now. This is a cute as hell moment i'll grant, but suspect. Touga's got a history.

So he does care. Oh...So that's why he has to win. To keep her away from Akio? But...what's up with that.

...So is Saionji to Anthy as Touga is to Utena? Huh...?

Shadow Time...? Prince of the Horse and the Prince...uh...Hm.

Apocalypse time Hoo boy.

Huh. The Roses growing in anthy's clothes....I wonder if they're supposed to be sorta like...Swords? Analagous to Swords.

Touga and Saionji...Yeah I think that's a HARD ass confirm there. Wait oh my god really?????

That no budget though.

….Touga said he'd protect her and....EVERYTHING GOT REALLY FUCKING WEIRD. THE CARS. ANTHY

Oh man the cars are getting HOT wrecked.

Yo. YO GUYS THIS IS DOPE.

Are the cars the dudes/princes familiars...?

Is it over for us?

BEWARE THE ROSE BRIDE AND END OF THE WORLD

hoo boy. That's...a long ass pause there. And whispering akios name and YEESH SWORDS

oh god is it happening? Oh god it might be happening.

OH FUCK IT HAPPENED. AND SHE LOOKS BROKEN AS SHIT RIGHT NOW.

Utena is...uh...not here right now.

Nanami was RIGHT THE WHOLE TIME. TRIFLING AS HELL AS SHE WAS SHE WAS RIGHT.

ALSO BLUE HAIR AND JURI MIRROR UTENA AND TOUGA OK GOT IT. Shiori is Anthy then I guess.

Utena don't you know how much i've despised you? HOLY SHIT

Episode 37

Hey, Hey, Utena. SHITS FUCKED. ITS HIS FAULT.

DON'T TAKE THE RING OFF OH FUCK. She remembers. Oh boy. Ohhhhhhhhboy.

Only realizing how many fake ass stars are in the apartment.

Anthy is acting more robotic than usual.

Forgive Me! Chuchu.

Oh, the Rose bundle has the whole set of colors don't it. Yep. Orange, green, blue, yellow, red.

End of the World doesn't want things to change?

You two just gonna...just gonna admit how close you are. Touga. Saionji.

Anthy can hear the car noises. If you can still hear it.

GOD I HATE THIS MAN SO MUCH.

Anthy on her mind.

No star mention huh. Stars don't interest him....Hm.

Only place you can see stars are in Anthy and Utena's room.

Is this the first time we've seen utena in red?

….I JUST realized how immensely creepy this picture taking thing is from Akio. Somehow.

Anthy: My brother loves you as well miss utena.

Oh she's fucking up the ball game.

I love this life, I hope our feelings stay the same between the three of us.

Well fucking up the ballgame is off. But falling out the pattern. Never a good sign.

Juri and Miki to the rescue?

Utena is chosen to bring the world revolution. And she doesn't...want it. Been playing prince..So you could make yourself a prince.

Juri: What're you gonna do about anthy. You love her right. You...You know that right?

Nanami to the rescue. YOU KNOW YOU'RE BEING TRICKED YOU MORONS. STAY AWAY FROM AKIO AND ANTHY.

Nanami is a good girl, if a bit of a bitch..

Kozue watching like a hawk.

Miki: Hey I'm a bit in love with you.

Juri: COINCIDENCE?

Duel for her huh. HUH?

Shadow Girls...Why aliens crashing into the tower?

Utena's the Actress here. Shadow Girls OTP. Only one girl can be chosen at the audition.

So, a taste of the princess life?

Hoo boy...Why does he look so fucking angry. Also Anthy with the uh...weirdly sexual pains there.

What do you wanna do in the future Anthy?

Cantarella. A Deadly Poison. Why...are you just bringing that up. Poisoned Tea and cookies...huh?

What's with the record skip.

BOTH OF US TOGETHER 10 YEARS FROM NOW. Yes it would be nice. Just...Just ask her out utena. Please.

...Why are you on the ledge Anthy. uh...Is this a suicide HO SHIT.

I just can't go on. Anthy just...legit tried to kill herself? She just tried to kill herself.

Devoted to true friendship? A gullible fool?

Anthy. You can still turn back huh. Ring On. Prince Mode Engaged. Let's just fucking go.

Episode 38

APOCALYPSE AT THE START? UH. UH PATTERN BREAK? Uh...Shit.

Last two eps, now is the time I guess.

Hold Hands in the face of the End of the World. Let's goooooo

So...That's Dios. And Akio in front. So they're not the same person. For sure.

The Castle where a prince and princess will live together happily

WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED TO ANTHY JESSU CHRIST THAT WAS SCARY.

Rose Bride Utena.Make her into a rose bride. Hit him utena.

Yes, what does happen to Anthy. Rose Bride forever. Swords for ever.

Oh are they building on the suicide thing? Please and thanks.

Oh anthy REALLY wants to die. Like she is not even trying to stay alive.

The Rose Bride, a doll with no heart, to be abused and used huh.

Anthy and Utena finally having a heart to heart.

...Kinda feel like they're talking past each other though?

TAKE BACK THE SWORD.

Dios on her side.

The Prince and Castle are illusions. So that include the school...?

Uh...Uh...the star gazing room? Planeterium, that's the word.

Akio's room is the tip top. Casts Illusions.

Is it so wrong? YES FUCKER JESUS.

YOU ARE AN ADULT YOU FUCK. ITS NOT POSSIBLE TO BE FAIR.

You never tried to understand anthy. Huh...

They are throwing so much here. Like god damn.

Akio claims

HELLAVATOR?

He's trying so hard to get that sword from Utena.

He's...crying?

JUST A WITCH.

OH GOD THE SHELL. ITS BEEN SO LONG!

Nanami too!?

Smash the Worlds shell....oh the end of the world.

The Revolution Duel Has Begun huh.

Akio with his off brand Utena Outfit.

Real Combat huh?

Akio is REFUSING to explain himself. Which is markedly different since he's the only adult here.

I'm Gonna be a Prince...Oh shit is this the duel opening shot. Illusory construct. Oh boy. Oh boy that shit was literal wasn't it.

Anthy...? She looks uh...Not Ok.

Akio isn't though. He's looking uh...Bad too.

ANTHY? ANTHY?! WHAT TU FUCK? THATS HOW YOU END THE EPISODE?!

HOW YOU GONNA STAB UTENA LIKE THAT?

EPISODE 39

uh...pattern breaking again. Where's the opening. Last time to break a pattern I guess. Chance to.

FUCKING STABBED HER! WHY.

You remind me of Dios. But you can never be my prince cause you're a girl.

uh.

Uhhhhhhh.

The Duel Named Revolution. Utena is...Her Their Representative.? She's their Rep.

A boy saved juri's sister, and died. They can't recall his name. Uh...hm.

Y'all just gonna have corn cookin though.

Anthy....?

Do you hate what i've become? Why is he crying?

Y'all just gonna leave Utena dying.

His knowledge is absolute. He chose this path. Claims to love her. FUCK HIM UP.

He couldn't win with his sword, so he stole utenas.

UTENA HANGIN ON.

Stubborn and reckless hero. A taste of true friendship.

OH FUCK THATS A LOT OF SWORDS

Shine with with human hatred. Summoned and deflected by Utena's sword?

HEY HEY WAIT A SECOND. THE FIRST SWORD THAT STRUCK HER IS DIOS/AKIOS. HEY WAIT A GODDAMN MINUTE.

Takes the sword in place of the prince. Destiny of the Rose bride huh. And he's sitting here saying she chose this? YOU TALKED HER INTO IT ASSHOLE.

AND HE CAN'T EVE DO IT WITH THE SWORD HE WANTED SO BADLY.

So...Dios...Again. Through the door eternity, and the power to change things. Well damn fuck dios too.

It's interesting that Dios is presented as a powerful figure, but is ultimately pretty impotent here. He holds absolute power but cannot act? HUH.

Broke her sword huh.

Akio: I COULDn'T DO IT SO YOU CAN'T EITHER. FUCKING DUMBASS

Utena; FUCKING TRY ME. THIS SHIT IS GOIN DOWN.

Oh, friend pointed it out. Roses are all her color.

No power, you can't do anything. Just be dependent.

Utena: FUCK OFF. FUCK THIS DOOR. ANTHY

HAVENTS SEEN THIS SHIT IN A WHILE!

And the swords stopped.

Just realized how childish the prince is...

Oh hey a coffin. And her hands are bloody.

Oh...I think HES gonna have to deal with these swords now.

It's anthy in the coffin. Of course. Tracks.

Don't be afraid of the world says baby Utena. Word.

AT LAST WE MEET!? Yeah that tracks. That. Yeah. She's not being the rose bride. She's being Anthy.

TAKE HER HAND ANTHY GODDAMNIT

While i'm thinking, the whole edifice of end of the worlds power broke down.

Someday together. Uh. Uhhhhhh. Hey. Hey wait a minute.

HEY NO THATS NOT COOL. In the end I couldn't be a prince. Forgive me.

The Swords are...Uh...Utena. UTENA! oh..oh shit.

Wakaba. Hero.

Shadow Girls gonna be an actress. 10 year reunion.

Who was Utena again...? uh.. Utena Hopitalized? Uh...Hey wait a second.

Everyone seems to be..going on.

They're all forgetting she ever existed.

He really doesn't realize what happened.

She vanished from your world. Huh.

Oh hey she's in utena's colors. Well maybe her colors.

I SWEAR I'LL FIND YOU. HEY WAIT.

Hey Final frame Utena and Anthy. ALRIGHT.

MAY THIS ROSE REACH YOU.

NOW THE MOVIE

Revolutionary Girl Utena The Adolescence of Utena

Ok, so this isn't the movie proper, just the dvd thing, but Man Anthy looks super. She looks actually kinda confident and active and alive I guess?

Anyway, I'm going into this assuming it's some kind of sequel. I'm looking for that anyway. Whether it's true uh..We'll see.

HERE WE GO

Anthy and Akio on the tower? And now Just Anthy. At the toppest point where things were controlled right?

….what the fuck is this geometry.

Music still slaps.

I'm sure those pictures were supposed to mean something but fuck if I know what.

...What the hell.

Utena!? SHORT HAIR SHARP DRESSED!

Wakaba! Utena being the charmingest though.

On Air? Shadow Girl Radio! Listen Carefully!

This academy is castelvania.

Shadow girls: Dumped again? Rain on her parade? Huh.

Utena's Pavlor Instincts: PRINCE?! PRINCE WHERE!?

Budget yo. Miki and Juri though man. Juri's not a bad choice for prince.

Juri has like 8 times as much hair. Like Damn. Your Rival

Hey it's Touga! Utena is SHOOK

...The Rose Thing is BUSTED. Just straight wrecked. The Garden. That's the word.

Hey touga what's with the spooky ghost bullshit.

HOW MANY YEARS HAS IT BEEN SINCE WE LAST MET.

I didn't come here looking for you. Surprised you're here.

I'll live with high goals.

More of a pink rose really. Unfurls to reveal...the ring? Huh. Rose Rain now.

Oh...That's DEFFINITELY the highest place in the academy. Structurally uh...uh.......

The Rose Gate looks fucked up. Oh that's a lot of roses. Didn't anthy say something about tending roses...?

Are you not afraid? Anthy looks...really happy. Her hair is down.

I'm the only one captive to the roses. Why'd you come here?

Why'd you come to this academy? And Anthy stopped when she saw the ring. And kinda freaked out.

How do you know about that. Heyyyyyyyyyyy. Saionji.

Rose brides symbol. She's holding that pink/white flower pretty tight though.

Anthy just...kinda went back into robo mode there. And she's not...precisely feeling the ring thing.

Meanwhile, that gate effect.

Do you have a sword? (you know nothing. Last chance to take it off please.)

Utena. A broom ain't a sword, but yeah fuck him up. Ain't worse than what you.

Anthy slap count. But she's active here. She's being a person here unlike before which is.

Anthy is covering her ears.

You're the one who doesn't understand. Is there any girl who's happy to be treated like a possession.

I NEVER SAID THAT I WAS A BOY. FUCK OFF.

Anthy looking hopeful there. DIVE. YOU're NOT ALLOWED TO DUEL WITHOUT A SWORD.

And...Is this song from the original but better but....

Anthy and utena got back into the swing asap. Long Hair Utena returns. Prince Utena rather I guess.

GG Saionji.

PINK MOSTLY! ITS PINK MOSTLY! NOT RED. A LITTLE RED! OH MY GOD THIS MIGHT BE A LEGIT SEQUEL!? Kinda sorta. I'll have to explain myself later.

Touga and Utena are cute as kids. Look at em.

Anthy just...asserted herself.

I don't usually invite people to my room. And then you pull her onto your bed.

Mark of the rose, you know it don't you?

Uh...uh damn Anthy. She's just....straight up feeling up Utena. Looked shocked then certain.

Dreaming of the castle with the prince.

Kozue what are ...what's up with this room. Her prince drowned huh?

Probably the closest we'll get to duelist wakaba here.

Also trying to win her. Well I guess you could say he's here for the dueling.

Hey, Touga don't kiss and tell.

These two are...oddly friendly.

Touga, don't talk to Akio. It's never good.

Calling her a witch.

Prince was a lord of the flies. The witch turned them into a prince.

Wait, not Kozue, that was shiori.

KOZUE, just put a knife to her brothers throat. OK.

Uh...Sold to your father...? Where's nanami though. Calling him a customer makes this uh...infinitely skeeziesr.

Wow Shiori seems a bit uh...

Oh yeah, that's no good. Goddamn poor touga.

Touga: I will win. But I can't be cruel to Juri. High goals man.

This darkness leads to the end of the world....And Dios being a goddamn Cryptid.

The Revolution will begin soon.

Miki: My wish is to obtain more power.

Juri: I want power to be free. To be unconstrained.

Touchy Juri is cool. Big Big Sister Energy there.

Shiori being MAD damicky right now. Trifling. Just absorb Nanami or something?

Miki: Free from Constraints. I get it. Yeeeeeee.

Anthy Please step away from the edge. And you just flash stepped to the center. ok.

Utena is WAY more expressive here too.

“There is no prince” That's...pretty chilling coming from utena actually. And Anthy is so damn touchy feely.

Uh. Uhhhhhhh. ok. Axe antics.

But not in utena which is a step up.

Ooh the ground is mad pretty.

And the starrrs. YoooooooooooooooOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Anthy! Looking mad gentle and sweet here. Duelist Utena! And Rose Bride Anthy!

Oh shit. This dance scene is...And it's their reflections .

NO MATTER HOW MUCH TIME PASSES DON'T FORGET THTA PROMISE. IVE COME ALL THIS WAY AT LAST!

YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE LIGHT IS ALWAYS SHINING!

THEIR EXPRESSIOSN AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH

Oh it's the oninon boy.

Draw Each Other huh! eyebrow waggle

Anthy where the hell are you going.What the. And it's the tower huh.

It's just an obvservation room now though huh. Or in this version.

Anthy, smiles when she takes off the ring. SEQUEL VIBE INCREASES.

Anthy, is unquestionably the one in charge this movie. Compared to before. She's way more impish.

Like...How the hell did you talk her into posing nude exactly?

Utena. Utena are you asking her to strip- ANTHY!

Uh what's that sound. WHAT ARE THESE PICTURES? Uh...Uh...wait what's up with the anthy here.

Ok, so Akio/dios being a weirdo again....and there is a fucking hole in her chest. A big honking hole.

SHADOW TIMES:...

Is...Is that nanmi. There's Chuchu and nanami yep, ok. OK. Oh it's the three dudes too.

You had limitless budget and you put this shit in.

...What the fuck was that though. Crocodile kun.

Hey Akio looking...Cool as usual. But is he still awful?

Record skips. Great.

Did he roofie his sister.

Hey fuck that noise WE DUEL NOW

VS JURI

...People can SEE them dueling?

What's with Shiori though.

Juri once again, being a boss. Also, I just noticed that all of their outfits have gotten an upgrade.

...Miki what do you mean who is Touga.

Juri is...WAY madder about her pretending to princedom than before.

Dios Overlay. And Anthy seemed shocked.

…....A Dead Akio. And he was buried under the ground. And Anthy looked...kinda...pissed.

Anthy killed Akio. And Shiori? Out here pulling shit?

...Oh Akio thought she was asleep when he pulled his shit. Hoooooboy.

Oh the interview room. Shadow room?

Akio freaking the fuck out and he killed her.

And he's dead. Pretty pathetically actually.

Deffo the shadow seminar. Hellavator!

...Touga?

So castle showed up when she killed her brother.

Is...Touga dead.

They keep going back to this drowning kid.

Hero Touga. The Touga we deserve.

Well he died in water and not fire, so...Go him. Seemed pretty chill about it.

I finally found you utena. Power of miracles as long as you stay here.

Pull the sword out and just put that shit back in.

Let's get the fuck out of here-CARRED

TO THE OUTSIDE WORLD

Best version of the Apocalypse song, but why a fucking carwwash. Who thought this made sense. It's DOPE to look at but like damn man.

Utena makes a DOPE car though. Like that shit looks awesome. SHES RUSTING ANTHY. PUT THE KEY IN HER.

Shadow Radio! Hot Damn, Kage OS looks DOPE.

They're all pink haired shadow gals. Which is neat.

Wacky Races Yo.

BIG MISTAKE THINKING YOURE THE ONLY ONE WHO CAN TURN INTO A CAR.

Only one who escapes this world. The only one who deserves it is beautiful me. Well...Rip Shiori.

OH ITS THE SWORDS. THEY'RE THE SWORDS.

Ok, this makes CONSIDERABLY more sense if you think of it as a sequel I think.

Needs help? Stuco Squad is there for youuuuuuuuu.

Or at least those who remain.

….WAKABA IS THE JEEP!?

Saionji: I have your back. And when we get to the outside world, I will be there to seduce. The fucking dork.

Oh hey it's the castle making what I must assume is it's last appearance....Oh that's ominous. Das big.

THAT OPENING THEME YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Still freaking weird, but Shadow Girls got your back..

HYE THATS CHEATING!

Oh hey, it's everyone's favorite dickhead.

Where you can be a living corpse.

You can only be a prince in that world.

Goodbye brother, you are no longer my prince.

Hey Akio, how is it you're still the worst.

The balancing act there is crazy like damn you two.

Shadow Girls no more! But we'll miss you.

Anthy Himemiya and Utena Tenjou as the Shadow Girls huh.

Man, the real world looks like shit. (?real World?)

The logistics of it aside, that's a hell of a cool shot.

Return to the outside world we're from. Explore and make the world bigger. Ok. Ok. I get you.

Also. That made LESS sense with context.

#revolutionary girl utena #adolescence of utena #Liveblogish #Now that I have it I know I can Essay #Spoilers #This was a riiiiide #can't wait to do it again #and the rewatch somewhere down the line is gonna make a really interesting revisit to analysis. Better note taking and the like and all that

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iztarshi · 6 years

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Season 1 Flashbacks

I really love the ways Utena uses animation in various memories and flashbacks. There’s both an overall style to them that ties them together and different visual elements used to show the different ways different people remember, from traumatically vivid memories to memories of an event you know happened but no longer remember the details of.

So, I wrote some thoughts on all the season 1 flashbacks, although I’ve probably said a lot of really obvious things.

Episode 1 — Utena’s flashback

It’s very theatrical, right from the start with a curtain going up. The flat shadows on the background make it even more so — it’s not just that the silhouettes replace barely remembered people, the entirety of the scenery is false.

The sudden flashes of accurate animation seem to indicate the few real events that she remembers enough to have built the fairy tale around, but it would be reasonable to assume she remembers they happened rather than actually remembering them in the visual detail we’re seeing. Mistaking Touga for her prince makes much more sense if she doesn’t actually remember he had dark skin and white hair.

The silhouettes, too, are a stylish way to show only barely remembered people, but I don’t think they necessarily mean the only thing anyone remembers is hair colour.

Also, I just like that Utena remembers a totally non-existent horse. Princes have horses, right?

Episode 5 — Miki’s flashback

Miki’s flashback starts out framed like old sepia pictures. It’s a warm look and a very nostalgic one.

The colours become colder and the outlines firmer once it’s the specific story of the concert and not just a nostalgic memory of any and every time they played the piano in the garden, but it’s still heavily stylised. Miki and Kozue both remain silhouetted, suggesting he doesn’t know who either of them were back then. The colours get colder and darker still once Miki is ill and then when Kozue won’t play the piano again. The whole thing is more detailed and real than Utena’s flashback, but still suggests an event that Miki remembers remembering perhaps more than he remembers exactly what happened.

Episode 5 — Kozue’s flashback

Kozue’s image of them makes them both silhouettes, too, casting doubt on whether her memory is accurate either. Her picture is the very nostalgic sepia tone we started off with in Miki’s, even though she’s saying she never enjoyed it and talking about the concert. Her black rose duel kind of gets back into this, that she wants to return to those days just as much as Miki.

There are red rose petals in the background of hers, too, which… I think red can often be associated with desire for something. Red things in Utena are often desirable — the Akio car, Anthy when she’s playing the Rose Bride role, and Touga himself is desired and plays on that a lot.

Episode 6 — Mitsuru’s flashback

You know, I wasn’t sure whether to include this. But it’s still a flashback, it’s an important formative experience for Mitsuru, and it has a bit in common with the episode nine flashback in which some other boys also can’t save a girl.

It’s told in semi-shadows. Not the silhouettes of imperfect memory, but something more like the shock of not being able to take in everything at once. The background is very bright, whited out, and only the bull, Nanami, Touga and Mitsuru are really remembered.

Touga’s age seems a little wrong here for how small Nanami is. Maybe it’s Mitsuru’s hero worship colouring things, but he did apparently just punch out a bull, so who knows.

There’s also a parallel between Mitsuru and Utena, here, in that they’re very devoted to becoming a “prince” or a “big brother” which has nothing to do, really, with becoming royalty or literal family. Mitsuru’s sneakier than Utena, though, willing to put Nanami in danger in order to save her and fulfil the role he’s set himself, making him more — hilariously — a parallel to Touga who will do exactly the same thing to Utena herself.

Episode 7 — Juri’s flashback

Juri remembers the people in detail, but the background is stylised and black and white and the poses are often staged. She remembers everyone involved, but the exact events are lost in the general thrust of the developing love triangle.

This is the first time a flashback comes with an associated photograph. One of the memories takes place during a class photo shoot — did Shiori really whisper that exactly then, or is Juri imposing it on a moment she has reason to be especially well able to recall?

As a side note it feels weird to see the student council in normal Ohtori uniforms, a reminder that they’ve been in Ohtori longer than they’ve been in the duelling game. Given that Ohtori has an attached elementary school and Miki, Kozue, Touga and Nanami appear to live locally enough for their actual houses to be within Akio’s sphere of influence, I wonder if they have any sense of how weird any of this is? Have their whole lives just been mildly surreal?

Episode 9 — Saionji’s flashback

This and Nanami’s flashback are the most intense, probably because Saionji and Nanami seem actively traumatised by these events. To the point both of them attempt to lash out and kill Utena while caught up in reliving them.

The first thing that’s interesting about this flashback is that Saionji is telling it to Utena, who remains completely unaware that she appears in it. The two of them have made such different stories out of the memory that they can’t reconcile them at all — Utena doesn’t even remember Touga and Saionji were there and he can’t recognise her as the girl they wanted to save.

Saionji’s first flashback image is a warmly sepia coloured picture in which he and Touga appear as silhouettes. Incongruously it makes him scowl and declare he won’t lose to Touga. Like Miki’s sunlit garden, it appears to be a nostalgic image of something they did a lot rather than a memory of a specific scene.

They start out as greyscale faceless silhouettes, with Saionji’s bandage standing out white, and then are suddenly lit into colour when Touga sees the funeral and stops. It’s a neat effect, as they go from a general memory of something they’d done dozens of times, the hurt hand the only unusual thing about it, into the vividness of a specific and traumatic memory.

It’s only himself and Touga that Saionji remembers clearly, though. The adults in the memory remain silhouettes and Utena herself is one, recognisable by her pink hair.

It’s not clear whether the background is greyscale or whether it’s just the darkness of the storm, but the coffins are not, and the red roses on them stand out especially. Juri’s flashbacks tend to black and white with orange standing out, Saionji and Nanami both have flashbacks where red is the dominant colour.

Nothing about the memory is stylised or staged, though. Saionji may not understand the people involved, but he seems to recall the events very accurately. The fact that Touga spends the memory behaving rather strangely only makes it more plausible.

When Saionji flashes back again after hearing the word “kamikakushi” he can’t see anyone’s faces, as if he’s no longer sure who he and Touga were back then either.

Not a flashback, but I really appreciate the way the greyscale picture of Touga in bed with a bandaged chest echoes the grayscale picture of Touga and Saionji on the bike with Saionji’s bandaged hand.

Episode 10 — Nanami’s flashback

Oh, Nanami.

The shot of the birthday cake gives us a much more fixed time for this flashback than any of the previous ones. It’s Touga’s birthday, and you can count the candles to find out that he’s twelve. You can also see this is the same mansion they’re living in now, the vaguely threatening shot showing layers of empty halls and doors is virtually identical to the later one where Touga is telling Nanami why she shouldn’t be a lesbian. (If there’s a connection, I’d guess it’s that Touga is becoming one of the adults who shuts her out and doesn’t try to understand her.)

The adults are certainly threatening here, a faceless, colourless mob, where you can’t even really pick out Nanami’s parents. Touga and Nanami are the only ones in colour — they’re also the only children present. Touga seems to be both enthroned and surrounded, people are calling him Touga-sama and kneeling, but is this really the kind of party a twelve-year-old would want?

The way Nanami reacts when her father tries to grab her, and how quickly — and adultly — Touga intervenes just makes the adults seem more of a threat. You can see why Nanami misses being sure her brother was on her side when she’s never had anyone else.

Interestingly, when Nanami resumes her flashback for the more traumatic part, she and Touga are now greyscale. The only thing that stands out is the red of the apples he won’t help her pick. Something Nanami wants, but needs Touga to gain.

Honestly, I think getting angry with Nanami for hitting his cat is the most emotion we see Touga display, ever? Even in Saionji’s memory, his emotions are very guarded, here he’s reacting far more like you’d expect a child to react. Although Nanami’s response to it suggests that she’s not used to this kind of reaction from him. She’s taking it as a serious rejection, not as her brother being upset with her right now.

Nanami is now standing in front of her own memory, as if it’s a cinema screen and she can watch it all unfold over again.

In the last section of her flashback her dress and hair are yellow again, for the first time her own colour is the one notably present in addition to black and white. (She was in colour earlier, but wearing pink and red.) The part she most associates with herself is the worst part, the kitten’s death and her own remorse.

There are also a few flashes of green in bits of her memory, an adult’s suit and the leaves Touga was playing with the kitten with. Jealousy?

The way her killing the kitten and regretting it is interspersed with her attacking Utena suggests she really did intend to kill Utena but, like the kitten, would have regretted it immediately if she’d succeeded.

#utena #revolutionary girl utena #very long post #I hope no one is reading this on their phones #I'm sorry #Touga gets no flashbacks but everyone gets flashbacks about him #Utena nearly gets killed twice in a row by people having flashbacks #memories are dangerous things

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conceptofzero · 6 years

Text

MERRY CHRISTMAS CHRIS

The castle in the sky floats there, evermore, evermore, eternal and perfect and unattainable.

The swords fill her body one by one and Anthy suffers, as she always has. The pain is familiar. The pain is boring.

Akio hacks at the door with another useless sword and as she sighs, the air comes whooshing out a thousand punctures in her body.

The castle remains. Anthy remains. The new school year starts.

Anthy is the most beautiful woman Arata’s ever seen. She is beautiful, so beautiful, that when her eyes rest on Arata, he can only ever look away, his face burning up. He can never work up the courage to speak to her, so he lingers by her rose garden, watching her when she isn’t looking at him.

She’s beautiful. He likes to imagine he’s married to her. A boy shouldn’t do that, shouldn’t be like that, but he imagines anyway. He holds those dreams close to his chest, folded tightly and tucked in the deepest pocket of his jacket, where his friends will never find them. If they knew, they would mock him for it. A man should only care about fucking. He should only care about saying what it takes to get his hand inside her dress. But Arata doesn’t want that. None of his dreams involve sex.

When he thinks of Anthy, he thinks about her dressed in red - beautiful, beautiful red - sitting on a couch in their shared home. He wouldn’t ask her to do anything. A maid would do all the ugly work, all the chores and the dirty things. Anthy could just read and care for her roses and be beautiful - untouched and flawless and perfect. And maybe, just maybe… maybe Arata could return home at night and lie his head in her perfect lap. Her fingers are so long. They would slide through his hair and tousle it, and they wouldn’t need to speak. She would understand him without clumsy words. There is a letter in his locket. There is a ring. It’s white and pink, a rose carved in the bezel. He knows what this is. The boys who stand with Anthy always wear them on their hands. She follows silently in their wakes, head down, demure and silent. Those loud, awful boys who joke and laugh, who touch Anthy carelessly.

They remind Arata of his stepfather’s muddy boots sitting on the coffee table, ugly smears that his mother would wash off over and over again. Her hands are always ugly - red and chapped. Arata can’t stand them touching her. He can’t stand those muddy bootprints. He can’t stand those boys and their swaggers and the knowing smirks they give one another when they pass in the halls, Anthy two steps behind.

Anthy won’t walk behind Arata. Anthy won’t be a trophy to parade about. She will be kept safe and secure, kept happy in a good house. Arata will come home each night to his wife, to his home, to her beautiful smile and her soft, clean hands that smell like roses.

The ring slides firmly on his finger. He is afraid, but for her - for Anthy - he will do anything. Arata will fight for a future where she is treated as she ought to be - as a treasure.

“How can you do that?”

The voice is familiar. Gorou glances to his right. A girl stands there. She’s squared her shoulders, ready for a fight - or so she thinks. Gorou can see how she holds herself and knows that if he hit her, she would crumple into tears. She’s small enough that she’s gotten away her whole life just yelling at people, knowing they’ll never do anything except bear her words.

He could hit her. But for the moment, he leans against the wall, eyeing her up and down. What class do they share? It doesn’t matter.

“Because I want to.” Gorou answers, not knowing what it is she’s offended by. It doesn’t really matter. He does what he wants, because he wants to. It’s the way of things.

Her face tightens - a shame, she’d be pretty if she just smiled - and her hands clutch at her skirt. She seems like she wants to fly into a rage, but she calms herself, turning it into a simmer instead of letting her pot boil over. “Is that what you think being a man means? Doing what you want?”

“That’s rather philosophical for someone so small.” He finds himself doubting that they share classes. She sound so naive. The girl must be a junior, fresh off of learning half-truths about the world. “What is a man then? Since you’re the expert and all, you could give me some tips.”

“A man is selfless, not selfish. A man is considerate, not careless. A man is kind to everyone, not just people he wants something from. A man is not ever cruel.” She snaps off a list of them, one clearly memorized. Gorou grins to himself, amused by this slip of a girl. He can see the fires burning in her. The world is unjust, and she’s here to make him see his wrongs.

If he hit her square on the nose, all those clever words would fall from her brain and leave her an ugly mess.

“That’s a wonderful thought.” He says, his tone consoling, as if to assure her that she’s done well. He doesn’t even need to add condescension. She is burning with a desire to prove him wrong. “You should write that down and put it in the school paper.”

“If you think it’s wonderful, then you should practice it!” Her hair falls over her shoulders. He wants to touch it. She would be so offended. Those eyes would get so narrow- “You should treat Anthy better!”

Anthy? Gorou blinks, and he’s surprised to hear that coming from her mouth. She’s too young for their classes, too young to know Anthy and yet she stands here as if she has some stake in this.

He takes a closer look at her face. She’s got sharp features, too sharp to really be cute now that he’s looking at her. He was wrong. Even smiling, she wouldn’t be pretty. She’s a shrew. A little brown-haired shrew with a pointy nose and chin. Gorou pushes his hair out of his face as he leans down, closing the gap between them.

“Anthy is treated exactly as she wishes to be treated.” He doesn’t let her interrupt, clearly burning to deliver some dull attempt at a lecture. “Go on, ask her. She’ll tell you how happy she is.”

“Like she could tell me any differently! Like you would let her…” He loves the bitter tone in her voice. Shame she has to be like this. A girl like her could be fun. It wouldn’t take long before she changed her tune and sang like a little bird.

“How can I stop her when I’m not around?” Gorou sets a hand on her shoulder and she slaps it away. He smiles when she confirms that she can’t hit him hardly hard enough to matter. “Are you jealous?”

“You’re disgusting.” Shrew spits it out like the words are covered in barbs. She’s the kind of virtuous who needs to loudly announce it to an audience, because being a good person only matters if everyone can see you.

One day, she’ll learn the truth of things.

“I’m a man. And one day, when you’re a woman instead of a girl, you’ll understand. This is an affair between adults.”

The little mouse clenches her hands into fists. For a moment, he thinks she will strike at him. He’ll let her hit him, once. Just once. On the second strike, he’ll put his hand around her throat and slam her against the wall and squeeze. He’ll be justified then. It was self defense-

“You’re disgusting.” She says again, her eyes bright with rage - and the mist of tears. “One day, you’ll see how terrible you’ve been to someone whose only crime was loving you.”

“And one day, you’ll get plastic surgery and look less like a rat.” Gorou taps the tip of her sharp little nose, smiling at her. “When you do-”

She bites him. The little shrew bites him. Her teeth sink into his finger and he’s left shocked and then horrified at the sight of his finger caught between her sharp teeth. Gorou yanks his hand back, ignoring the pain as he tears his hand away.

“Touch me again, and I’ll kill you.” There’s blood on her teeth. Gorou clutches his hand close. She turns on her heel and stalks off.

Too late does he remember that he was going to hit her when he got the chance. But it’s gone, it’s passed, and he’s left with his finger dripping blood on his uniform.

Those boys and girls, so young, so full of angst and anger, brimming with dreams and hopes that haven’t yet felt the heel of the world press down on them. Like ticks, feeding from the carcass of something too hard for them to comprehend and understand.

She sits bare on the floor of the observatory while Akio dresses and she imagines them on her skin. She pictures their hungry forms, their desperate faces, their little teeth pressed into her skin. She imagines them clinging to her thighs, draining her of blood. Their teeth are sharp, like little swords.

“Send the letters.” Akio tells her. Her glasses sit on the coffee table, folded and waited. He draws his hair back and ties it up. Ako doesn’t look at her, his eyes focused upward to the ceiling above them and the infinite field of stars.

Anthy pictures the boys and girls clearly, their little bodies bloated and red, and presses her thumb over the spots where they would. She feels them pop underneath her thumbs.

Akio, handsome, flawless Akio, offers her a champagne glass and says in a perfectly practiced tone, “Don’t you feel silly with a woman on your arm?”

Nao just laughs. She’s been working on it for years. It’s light and airy, gentle and pleasing in the best way. Her eyes glitter with amusement. Every inch of her body leans in, as if his very presence has her rapt and hanging on every word.

She is her father’s daughter and like him, she will see Akio and Anthy crushed beneath her heel when this is done.

“Oh not at all.” Nao reassures Akio, her arm still locked with Anthy’s. “It’s quite comfortable. Mother always brought a companion with her everywhere she went. When she was younger, it was her sister. And once I was old enough, it was me. Father would be off and mother and I would just lock arms and spend the night chatting about everything and anything.”

Anthy is the perfect trophy. She dresses beautiful and has a graceful smile, just like Nao. Her conversational skills are wonderful, just the right balance of submissiveness and barbed jabs aimed at others. She wonders if Anthy and Akio used one another to practice, facing each other and going through the motions again and again until they looked just right. Nao always had to make do with a mirror. She could only correct what she saw in herself.

The champagne waits. Nao takes the glass to sip from it. Her other arm stays locked in Anthy’s.

Akio tips his head in a polished way that Nao almost envys. If she were to turn her head that way, she would look shrewish and snide. But Akio looks the right mix of sly and playful. The only expression a woman can wear well is a placid smile. “And what is it that women speak about when they huddle together? Fashion? Make-up?”

Nao turns her glass between her fingers. Mother would whisper to Nao and teach her how to read a room. She would share dark little secrets she had caught in conversations. The minster’s wife is having an affair with their accountant. The CEO’s son is really his nephew, paid for at birth from his poorer sister. The chairman brings prostitutes into his marital bed. Nao would remember each one and carefully stow it in her memory.

“Both of those, and men, of course. We always spoke about the men.” She casts a look at Anthy who looks demurely back. There are dark, deep waters there and Nao will one day cast her net in them and fish all those dark secrets out of her. One day, she and Nao will be arm in arm at a function like this, beautiful and untouchable, and they will whisper to one another while Akio thinks himself king of the room, and they will laugh at him, the way she and mother laughed at father.

Akio chuckles and cups her face, and Nao thinks of how good they will look in her home, dressed in the clothes she chooses. They’re playing a child’s game but some day soon, they will graduate and they will forget this childish fantasy of a castle in the sky, and they will understand that Nao offers them a shining tower to rule from instead.

She shines the silverware. It polishes to gleaming. The smell of cleaner fills the room until it burns at her lungs.

When Rei returns to the room, he chides her. "You’ve forgotten to open a window.”

“Ah, sorry. I was distracted.” The knives are all laid out on the table, on the white cloth that came with the cleaning set. Rei sees this and he clicks his tongue.

“Nobody uses those. You shouldn’t waste your time cleaning them.” He says. He doesn’t stop her, and so she goes on polishing them, wiping away the dark marks. Rei opens the window and sits by it, the scene of the polish drifting past him. A breeze fills the room and Chu-Chu emerges from her pencil box, wheezing madly as his little lungs desperately draw in fresh air.

His laboured breathing is the only sound, for a bit. Just a big, though.

“They’re just going to get tarnished again.” Rei criticizes her, which is his favorite pastime. Though to be fair, it isn’t just her that he criticizes. He hates everyone for failing to meet his standards.

Anthy knows exactly what that feels like.

“Sorry.” Her face reflects back at her in a spoon, distorted. She smiles, and the spoon smiles back, curved and messy.

The envelope is waiting when Ken returns from kendo practice. It rests on his pillow. There is another note on Anthy’s - an apology, her brother feels poorly and she’s gone to keep him company, dinner is waiting in the icebox.

Ken takes the sealed envelope and goes to the fridge. Dinner is curry. He decides not to try his luck. Instead, he takes a can of coffee and sits at his desk, slitting the envelope and pulling the letter out.

It’s the invitation the others have been expecting. Ken looks at the tight neat printing and he sips his coffee. The others will be excited and anxious. They’ll speculate. Perhaps some of them will try fight him. They have all fought him twice. They have all fallen to his sword.

There is no one who is better than Ken. This is not bravado. This is simply the truth. He is a man who exists only once every few centuries - a man who wields his sword as if he were born with the grip in his hand. Sometimes, he feels the sword within him, sharp and strong. It bites at him. It rattles.

Anthy alone draws it from his chest. Anthy alone lets him sate the furious thirst it feels.

And yet, Anthy is gone, again. She is gone often these days. When they duel, she is there by his side, but he sometimes feels like she is not really there. It reminds him of his mother. She always smiled, but it never reached her eyes. No matter how much she tried, he could always see her sorrow in them.

Anthy closes her eyes whenever she smiles.

Ken sips his coffee. It’s cold and bitter. He knows what he should do. Accept the invitation. Climb to the dueling arena. Face the man who has sent the others after him again and again. Win. Bring revolution.

He knows what he should do. Ken has always known it. He learned from his mother, who always did as she should - not as she pleased, not as she wanted.

The sun throws dark, tall shadows against the wall. When the can is finished, he makes up his mind. It’s easy. Anthy is gone. Chu-Chu sleeps through it all, snoring in a tea cup left on the table. All of Ken’s things fit into a single bag. His shinai slings over his back. The room is quiet as he leaves, and no one seems to notice him as he goes. They’re busy with their own thoughts and dreams, their own wants.

The saber in his chest rattles. Ken supposes it will never stop. But he knows one thing - whatever lies at the end of this will not make him happy. Happiness must lie somewhere else.

He steps beyond the school grounds and makes his way into the world, and for a moment, he finds the sharpness in him to be more like a friend than a foe.

They all die, of course.

Arata grasps at the hem of her dress as he dies, burying his face in it. He weeps at the sound of steel swords tearing through flesh, crying at Anthy is ruined again and again. She was perfect in his eyes, and she is perfect no more. He dies and his sword bends against the door.

Gorou doesn’t see the blade until it’s too late, and then he fights back in clumsy, oafish ways. He dies with his face dangling off the platform, facing away from the castle. His sword snaps on the very first swing, strong but brittle, and the hilt is discarded while Anthy writhes above.

Nao fights back, tooth and nail. She battles them both. Her blade cuts Anthy deep and leaves her kneeling on the floor, her insides spilling in her hands. Her sword drips with Anthy and Akio’s blood, and finally with Nao’s blood as well. She holds up longest, but in the end, her sword breaks.

In the end, all the swords break. In the end, all rings are returned, even if they must be pried off of cold, dead fingers.

Even those who escape will die. Ken slips away but the sword in him will cut him to his dying day, and even as he lies in bed, surrounded by family and friends, he will know deep down that he gave up on a world that could have been. Perhaps, not for him, but for others more deserving - for the World’s prince.

In the end, they all die. Except for Anthy and Akio.

When Death smiles at them, all teeth and no skin, Anthy and Akio small back, their lips pressed tight together, not a sliver of bone anywhere to be seen. Death passes them by, and they begin again, starting from the top.

The castle in the sky floats there, evermore, evermore, eternal and perfect and unattainable.

The swords fill her body one by one and Anthy suffers, as she always has. Akio’s sword breaks, again.

Pathetic.

She waits for a new school year.

#xmas gift

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some-triangles · 7 years

Text

It’s the end.

Endings are terrifying. Change is terrifying! But which is scarier – the change that happens quickly, or the change that happens slowly?

The castle isn’t real. Immortality isn’t real. You will grow old, here in your coffin or out in the world.

The coffin isn’t safe. Suffering isn’t safe.

The status quo isn’t safe. You will die a captive or you will die free.

It’s the end, whether you like it or not. We can do it all again, or we can have a revolution.

Anthy throws away her own sword and takes Utena’s.

We head back to the balcony, where the duelists are having a barbecue, which somehow doesn’t detract from the gravity of the situation. Juri tells a story about a dead boy – he threw himself into the water to save a drowning girl, he drowned himself in the process, and now nobody remembers his name, not even the girl he was trying to save.

So, we know what to expect, now. Things aren’t looking so hot for our hero.

Akio asks for the sword. Anthy hesitates. Akio somehow manages to make the stabbed girl lying on the floor all about him. Moved by his display of affectless, solipsistic suffering, Anthy hands the sword over, and Akio heads over to stare at his living room wall.

Dude, I’m pretty sure – I’m pretty sure you just finished telling us that this is your living room, and that is at best a supply closet, and at worst nothing. Nevertheless, all this business has somehow managed to summon the million swords of human resentment, and so the rose bride is going to have to do her job now.

Utena really doesn’t want Anthy to get stabbed a lot, but the subaltern’s gotta do what the subaltern’s gotta do. The bride abandons her dress and ascends the crucifix.

The final dueling chorale plays as the swords rise from the depths, carrying with them fear of change, lust for power within the system as it is and acceptable anger at the acceptable target. The following diagram is labeled crabs_in_a_bucket.jpg:

Note how the colonizer remains miraculously unharmed!

Utena is speechless, horrified, and (possibly metaphorically?) bleeding out. Akio explains using small words.

Unmoved by the carnage above, Akio finally puts the final piece of his plan into place. All the duels – all the manipulation – all the lies, all the necromancy, all the fucking, all the massive tailoring bills and the license fee for whatever the planetarium-based equivalent of Autodesk is, all of it, comes down to this moment.

He is going to stab a wall with a sword.

Whack, he goes!

Whack, whack, whack.

Just straight up… whaling on that thing.

That’s how you open a door, right? By hitting it with a sword?

Anyway, it turns out that the swords are one of the less illusory elements of this escapade, and he’s actually smashing Utena’s heart into the wall, over and over again. This is not pleasant for her, but she has priorities more pressing than getting him to stop.

Unfortunately, Akio is too busy whacking to help Himemiya.

If he won’t, maybe Dios will?

No – he can’t save this princess. He’s dead, for one thing. Also he has detected that she is engaged in unauthorized princess activities.

He will kiss her ring, though, as a consolation prize.

Finally unable to put up with any more of this condescending bullshit, Utena smashes her ring into the ground, dispelling the illusion and achieving at last Borgesian Unity.

Genuine chills.

We go to the ad break.

When we get back, Akio takes a mighty final whack and shatters Utena’s sword.

No big deal – she’s been operating with a broken heart this whole episode.

She stumbles forward, and Akio catches her as she falls. We are not about him right now, though, so Utena proceeds.

Utena reaches the door and starts pulling on it, like a sane person would. (Why did Akio not try this? When all you have is a sword, everything looks like a vagina, I guess?) As she works, Akio talks, and talks, and talks, making his way through the whole depending on people is morally wrong routine and arriving finally at a stirring defense of the One Percent:

Utena does not appreciate the difficulties that come with being a job creator.

Akio continues to demonstrate his privilege and complacency – literally lying on the ground drinking a pink cocktail with a slice of pineapple in it, in a gesture which tiptoes right up to the line of the ridiculous and threatens to capsize the entire mood, which is I’m sure part of the point. Behold, the professional revolutionist speaking on how it is what it is and you can’t fight city hall.

It’s looking pretty bleak until Utena says a true thing to herself: “Himemiya – you don’t know how happy I was when we were together.”

The point being that her grief here isn’t for herself, broken heart and all – it’s for Himemiya, who didn’t understand, until the end, that she was loved. That’s the tear that falls; that’s the sum of the sadness.

Hilariously, it is the echoing of Akio’s straw slurp in the ensuing silence that clues him in to the fact that something has changed.

The metaphor, for one thing. It’s resolved itself into something more spatially reasonable.

The swords hang frozen in midair and then churn madly as their quarry is denied them. Akio bleats in terror. Utena opens the coffin.

The first bar of the main theme starts looping, because the piece isn’t quite long enough to peak right where Ikuhara wants it to. Is it wrong to want to drop a beat at this moment? Yes, probably.

Anthy is deep, deep inside the coffin. The music builds. Utena reaches out for her. The music surges. Anthy tells her to run away – the swords are going to get her. The full orchestra gets into the swing of things. Utena won’t leave. The bongo guy is really tearing the house down. Anthy finally, finally reaches out. The penultimate fanfare hits.

Then, as we finally crash into the main theme, the whole spatially dubious edifice Anthy was trapped in quits its perpendicular floating and falls the fuck off the cliff into the clouds below. Soaring music continues to play as Utena realizes her failure, admits defeat and is immediately destroyed by the combined stabbing of a million angry swords.

That’s it. That’s the end of the story.

Cut to Wakaba.

The whole arena gets fucking pulverized and we’re out.

After, business at the academy continues as usual.

Miki is teaching Tsuwabuki how to keep the minutes. (Or how to be a tsaddik – it’s unclear how deep that particular wormhole goes.) Juri continues to fence with Shiori. Nanami’s makin’ the tea.

The patriarchy is in the end too big a rock to lift.

We are stuck in this world. People who step up get slapped down, and the safest thing is to stay quiet and muddle through.

The only hope is to keep repeating the old rituals, to preserve our institutions and hope for better results.

Under threat of total erasure, from history and from the living world, we will behave and take what we are given.

Or:

#utena #utena liveblog #itsuka isho ni

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raguna-blade · 4 years

Text

Revolutionary Girl Utena Live(ish) Reaction Episodes 8-11

So it's a new year, and I'm gonna continue this, cause its' fun. Had a brief break cause of the holidays. And doing so, I figure i'm gonna do a thing where I make up a nice cleaned up version of these cause if nothing else I like organizing my thoughts. So Control F or whatever your find function is for the cleaned up version if that's your thing. It'll be under Overall Thoughts per ep. Or you know, you're me and you're going back through this for validation for whatever nonsense you say later.

Episode 8

Curry huh? And another recap? uh....

enmy remains trifling

hey wait egg time already?

Danger? Really?

Body swap? Also egg time is goofs

throwin hands????? anthy?

Yeah nanami it is ridiculous

JERSUS TOGA

nanami you idiot

She just fucked off to india to get some weird back alley spice

Shadow girls can you please, just please for a single episode.

ANTHY YOU LYING. Never been good at sports and you did that leap apparently pretty well? What the fuck.

Also, the switching thing here is mad suspect considering the end theme thing (and I suppose the opening.

Utena as Anthy : I don't want to be a sacrifice of the rose seal.

Anthy As Utena: I'm super down staying like this actually.

Like..This is just details that

Uh..Uh saionji what. The implications are strong here. Also, Douche canoe he is, but he's a romantic apparently? UUUUH. Exchange diary.

Is the “A” plot a distraction? Like for real.

Also she took that elephant to the dome.

I'm not sure how to take this personality switch. Like the minds thing whatever, but if it's just the personalties but not the person so to speak, hold on

WHAT THE FUCK. These elephants for fucking real?

Anyway, if they're just personalities altering the “person” it's uh...Interesting. I'm not sure how to take that til I get more info. It seems like a thing.

Also, Saionji apparently legit has feels for Anthy he's just...mad dumb about expressing it? Like he's pulling a lot of Badboy Romance Tropes here but...not...in a badboy romance. Which kills his behavior entirely.

Killed his Soul AGAIN. Damn.

Who's the divine justice for? Like it doesn't seem for nanami. Who fucked up. Presumably between anthy and utena.

Anthy what the actual fuck are you doing. Are you using gunpowder?

Homie, this isn't twilight, go home saionji.

Anthy as Utena(????) you trolling. So hard.

Saionji get's zero respect but dudes dedicated I'll give him that. Fitting for bad boy romance lead.

Uh...Wait, actually, are they all romance leads? Common ones in one way or the other. They are on the student Council so...Hm. I don't read enough romance stories of the variety I think but it seems to fit? I'm not sure what juri would be in that case.

Anyway, if this Episode Turns out to be a key for understanding things I'm gonna be pissed. Just a little.

Overall Thoughts: So this and the other “filler” episode is, especially after finishing my last ep in the session, read as anything but despite the obvious uh...antics on display. Like...

Ok, so the whole thing with the ending which frames Anthy and Utena as kinda the same (or rather exactly the same, except one's in red and the other pink) makes this whole episode feel like it's basically some kind of key for understanding everything else because it's simple times. It's goofy hilarity with Nanami that's the A Plot right hahahah....

Except the personality swap between the two of them is like...The implication here is that they swapped minds fully, and given the level of fairy tale bullshit that is at play constantly in this series so far it may well just be magic brand magic and we're supposed to roll with it. Ok. Fair.

Except...The thought that sits in my head is again, Anthy and Utena seem to equal each other. Hell I point it out slightly later that there's definitely this yin yang thing going on in the opening with the two which is so blatant as to be meaningless because Hah Yeah these are our two leads obvs and they're important to each other so hahah don't worry about or think about it check out these SWEET SWORDSMANSHIP MOMENTS FROM EVERYONE LOOK AT THE BUDGET AND COOL HORSES AND CASTLES HAHAHA.

But ok, if it's a Yin Yang thing, yes they're not the same but they have elements of each other within eachother. So if it's just a personality swap but not an actual soul swap thing, that is, Anthy is just acting like Utena's personality is in her, and Utena is just acting like Anthy's personality is in her it paints this picture of Utena and Anthy as having a lot going on under the surface. I mean obviously Anthy is fucking pissed at Saionji. That was really really evident in episode one because if she's just being submissive rosebride I do what i'm told and I do what i'm told I do what i'm told, the very very very sharp dig of “We're Just classmates” is fucking brutal unnecessity. And given that she DOES know what he feels for her, and he's still acting like that, her being vindictive(or just brusque really, he's being an ass full bore) is like...absolutely reasonable.

Her Slapping back and about to throw hands with her tormentors? Who wouldn't want to right?

But then, ok that's Anthy, but what about Utena. If it's just a mind swap, Utena...want's a very defined existence? Like, she wants to just stick to a role? Feels weird, and doesn't quite immediately jive with her cause that seems against her operations right? Except, as this episode so kindly reminds us (for at least the third time in 8 episodes which seems excessive. I might be forgetting one or two) Utena's whole thing coming to this school is I want to play the Role of the Prince, whatever that actually means. Playing the Rose Bride would be no real difference, except it's way more submissive.

So that aside, Saionji saying he's in love with Anthy (and that seems to be something he at least believes to be true. He honestly seems more into Toga. Like for real for real, all the imagery of those flashbacks reads not just as close buddies, but as I am romantically down with you Toga my guy. Him being Bi is probably the easiest answer, and he just drifted away from Toga for a while. Saionji clearly sees him as a friend and rival, although it's seemingly not reciprocated at the moment.

But the thing, the thing that's kinda weird to me, is that if he does legit have feelings for her, I was struck with this odd vibe that he's playing at being a romance lead. Specifically, a Bad Boy romance lead. And doing so SPECTACULARLY badly. Homeboy is sitting here busting out poetry (unless my brain is being a dumb and i'm somehow overlaying him with Tatewaki Kuno from Ranma which ok, weird but alright) but...

Ok, if he is playing at being a Badboy Romance lead, that actually explains his behavior for how he was treating Anthy, especially if he's legit in his feelings for her? Possessive, Radiates Danger, Engages in Creepy Behavior, is a bit of a dick, etc. It lines up with Being a Bad Boy, except that the way that those usually work out in fiction, as I understand it, they're not usually like...gonna hit you. That breaks the fantasy. But...That's him fucking up the archetype. It doesn't fit for him. He doesn't understand what he's doing in that archetype.

Like yes, abusers and the like can care and still be absuers cause fucked up behavior and motivations don't need to match in the least, but it still feels odd that a man who probably literally could have done any number of fucked up things has...an exchange diary with the girl he says he cares about? And it's not like he's unaware of how submissive/passive she is, his exchange diary actually kinda reads like Utena's Anthy is A Real Girl! Activities*. He wants her to be active part of whatever their relationship is and...Eh.

But ok, if he's that, It suggests the rest of the student council, and duelists in general, would fit into a given archetype right? Toga is clearly the super cool intelligent superman student council president, Juri is basically charisma max Jock, Miki is the cute nerd, Nanami is the Ojou villainess type, Utena is...Basically the Hero type, just morals, strains to upset the status quo, Has the Cool Original Uniform.

And they all kinda fit into those pretty thoroughly, kinda like they're trying to (to varying levels of awareness)

Anyway, I'll hit on some of the other stuff in the next Ep. It's a bit more relevant there I think.

*See Me In Episode 11

Episode 9

I just realized they're doing some kinda yinyang thing in the opening so

R V G FIGHT.

Pretty tense there. Toga went straight for the heart which i'm sure means nothing.

Old Friends? Phrasing seems uh...odd? Unsure if it's dub things or actual subtext. Or both.

Dude you really got beef with a monkey? No, utena.

Being a huge dick. As is tradition.

10 Years.

Saionji: Actually love her (said) but

This is mad gay. Like the lighting, the silhouette. Saionji you're sublimating something here.

Music, Silhouettes.

...Silhouettes show truth? uh.

They were Utena's folks funeral? Huh. Also, why on earth would Utena be kidnapped? Who she be?

….Three coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhh. Utena, Toga, Saionji? UuuuHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH?

Dead utena. Uh.

Toga: Ally to all women. Ok.

...Why is there a third coffin?

Something Eternal huh? And Utena wants to die for reasons understandable.

Find another coffin. Rose Sigils on the coffins. Uh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Saionji: Hey, this is nuts, we should stop her.

Toga: Nah, I'm gonna Ennable the shit out of this.

Tiny Utena with the White Rose?

Saionji: Did he do something to her?

Toga: Nope

Uh....

Anthy: Something Eternal in the castle. I want to go there.

Also impressive grip strength considering. Flat.

Does Toga Remember this or...? I can't be sure. Saionji certainly didn't recognize her, but he wasn't like right on top of the trauma child.

Toga white roses? Uh? Uhhhhh. I think he definitely remembers. But questions abound.

Ufo's shadow girls? Shadow girls having flesh is deeply concerning.

TRUE FRIENDS ARE JUST FANTASIES. OK.

And UFO's broke, so that's probably not great. Who's getting the Revelations today.

That is the fakest voice toga what the fuck

Badboy Saionji: We're Gonna get the eternity.

Also, I just realized they (saionji and anthy) have color inversions going on which is making me kinda wonder if they're related in some way?

Just slap the shit out of him that's fair.

Ok, so Saionji didn't(?) do the dumb thing. Ok,

that is...a coffin. That he's 100% obssessed with. With Anthy (Utena) inside.

He's looking like he kissed his own mom right now, goin full oedipus in the holy shit revelations here.

Castle is crumbling, falling down. So...Eternity is Fake. Ok. Sure. Didn't shadow girls say that?

Castle Immediately tried to kill him. Crushed his soul 1 time too many there I suppose.

Utena, meanwhile, dove super deep into saving anthy which...diving deeper into the fantasy?

Yeah, they all just saw things.

Saionji: WHAT THE FUCK JUST HAPPENED WHATS GOING ON?

Bro, me too.

Ok, if the two are reflections, does Anthy and saionji both got some deep illusory bullshit going on? Are they both freaking out?

Toga, saving the day, and Saionji, tried to kill Utena with a sword. so. Ok.

Saionji Expelled? Toga, fool for thinking they're friends?

WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENED HERE?

Overall Thoughts: I touched on a bunch of the Saionji stuff I wanna talk about in the last episode review, but the thing I kinda want to look at here is well...

Ok, Now the colors probably don't mean anything, but there was this moment that Saionji and Anthy were in the same shot and I suddenly realized they're color flips of each other. Purple hair green eyes, Green Hair Purple eyes, which ok that's interesting.

So we already have Utena Reflecting on Anthy, and hey, there's Zero Reason, absolutely negative number reasons why that wouldn't necessarily be the case with any and all of the rest of the duelists to some degree or another.

And hell, the fact that we keep flipping back and forth between Utena and Anthy in Coffins, there being (for some weird ass reason) a third entirely unrelated coffin for Utena's folks funeral, why the fuck not right?

So ok, Anthy and Saionji mirror each other which...Ok. If the Personality Swap from Episode 8 thing holds, The two actually share some pretty dickish actions. They can be cruel and petty and just antagonistic to things that don't quite jive with what they want. Saionji with Anthy not being...whatever he's expecting out of her, or Utena butting in. Anthy with the girls who keep fucking with her and Saionji.

They both seem to be utterly STUCK on the Rose Bride thing, although from different angles of Possessing the Rosebride and being the Rosebride, and the kind of weird shaping of the Rosebride thing that's going on.

Saionji is treated as a joke by the student council, especially after he get's kicked out, which ultimately ends with him being someone who is generally wanted but ends up ultimately exiled from society. Which mirrors with Anthy as someone is is wanted, but doesn't seem to have ANY kind of actual tangible bonds with anyone.

And, for this last one I have ZERO evidence on the Anthy end, but the suggestions are uh..interesting. Saionji in this episode, as suggested by the shadow girls at least in part, is deeply deeply invested in a fantasy of some kind, one that ultimately leaves him crushed and rather empty, further exiled from people who could or do care for him and that he cares about. Which if we're going with the property sliding across and He's a Foil for Utena (which I think is definitely true in some ways) suggests bad things for her down the line.

Episode 10

Saionji's a joke huh? He's taking it well.

Toga WOW. WOW YOU FUCKING DOUCHE. STRAIGHT IN THE FIRE HUH.

EGG TIME.

So, thing about eggs, that includes whats inside it right? so...Revolutionize yourself right? Right? That's obvious right?

Oh new duelist. Cool cool.

Utena getting slapped. By Nanami. With Utena being hella submissive. (EPISODE 8 FLASHBACKS INTENSIFY)

maybe a girl can't be a prince. THERES THAT THESIS. E8 FLASHBACKS

Nanami got her brother a kitty.

Oh damn it is Nanami. Duel Time. I mean we sall it in the opening but you know.

Jesus Toga, please stop being

OH GOD NANAMI NO. NOOOOOO NOPE NO.

Toga: We ain't kids no more. Shit don't fly.

Nanami: Emotionally devastated.

Is that Miki's sister?

Hey, what happened to the cat?

Juri: Hey, Serious Business, what the fucks up with the duelist?

Toga is perpatrating as badly as nanami actually. He's just less immediately obvious about it I guess.

Goddamnit there's Anthy's next slap. Jesus. Legit, who hasn't at this point. Is this a theme? IS THIS A THING?

Jesus, he's just playing all of this to piss her off? What the fucks up.

...Did nanami kill the cat. Uh...Uhhhhhh.

Ring is an engagement ring. Wait, that's a flat out school rule that everyone knows? For real? Uh.

...What the fuck happened with the kitty. Uh...

ITS TIME. ABSOLUTE DESTINYYYYYYYYYYYY

I just realized the kinda weird framing with Anthy dressing up utena kinda looks like her opening her legs up with the way it get's framed and I'm not sure if that's me just kinda over reading things or if that's a thing.

Nanami's duel outfit is SICK. Also, a yellow alt color of utena.

Actually. ACTUALLY? Is...Is Nanami like an Utena Alt color? That can't be right. Actually looking at them right next to each other they're...straight up alt colors of each other. Not to mention Nanami's my prince thing mirrors Utena.

She just HOT pulled a knife. Oh she's About to fucking hot MERC utena, going for death jessus.

They're supposed to be around the same age too for that matter right?

She absolutely killed that cat and it's...

With her hair down she does look like an utena alt color even more.

Why's the duel music still going after the duel finished. Jesus. This wasn't a duel with Nanami, it was a duel with Toga, and I think Utena Hot lost it out and out.

Overall Thoughts: Well the Big thing I'm paying attention here are two. First the simpler one.

The Egg has to break the shell of the world to be born right? I'm paraphrasing badly, but the thing is the way they keep phrasing that is that the World is the Egg, but the egg isn't just the shell right? It includes what's inside of it. Which if that's the case, mixed with the way that duels work out being more a clash of ideals than of actual tangible skill, the revolutionize the world bit seems to be referring to them themselves, that is the duelists.

Alternatively, the Bird Referenced, the thing being revolutionized is Anthy. Which...Is an interesting line of thought. Given the Duels as a whole are basically choosing who her fiance will be, that'd imply that ultimately this decides the way that Anthy would come to develop? Or how she chooses to develop? Which ok if so, and the way that Ideals seem to be at play, Suggests...What? Dunno. Need more info, which will be delivered later.

But the other thing here, continuing the mirroring thing, which might be me reading too deeply, but I think not and even if it is Whatever I'm having fun.

THE ENTIRE NANAMI DUEL felt like a Mirror Match.Heck, Nanami dressed like an alt color of Utena, and especially once her hair got undone she looked even more like an alt color of Utena. They're only about a year different in age, and her brother seems to be her Prince type, and he drops the ring on her like an engagement ring, and she basically says I fight like my brother because he's my ideal.

Which is a weird thing since right now it's not going...too far. I'll have to see how it shakes out, but if the mirroring thing continues, the fact that the moment she lost she basically said nope fuck that, Knife Time, was...Concerning. It says real concerning things with Utena.

But it also says other interesting things then, because if Nanami is supposed to be some kind of Alt color Utena, similar in ambition goals and the like, if more outwardly girly to Utena's princey thing, their relationship with Anthy is uh..

Uh...

Well put simply, Utena is fucking up big and dramatic with Anthy, and she doesn't realize it at all or care because she can't see it for what it is. Nanami actively tries to undermine Anthy, and does some fucked up things to her. Which..Makes me wonder about the Divine Judgement thing from Episode 8 which, damnably, seems to be forming some kind of key here.

Like the way it's frame suggests the divine Judgement being visited upon Nanami is what's being talked about. But ok, Nanami had some bad shit happen to her sure, but...All of that was self inflicted upon her trying to fix what she percieves as a problem. Yes her reasons for doing it are so she can be with her brother, no doubt, but...They're ridiculous. Like, I cannot believe this shit is happening. But

But

If the Target of Divine Judgement/punishment is the Anthy Utena duo, one or both of them are on the receiving end of it. It's not clear how Acting like Utena would be a punishment for Anthy (I'm sticking with it just being a personality swap and not a full mind swap) but Utena who prides herself on being princely and aspires to that being the super submissive rosebride? I could see that being a kind of hell for her. And if the logic of Utena is Undermining Anthy holds out, but the criitcal difference being her ignorance and dishonesty of why compared to Nanami unabashedly saying yes I am fucking doing this fuck you I get what I want no hold barred, it...

Like, Nanami, as far as it goes, doesn't really receive a punishment if we're being honest. Yes she takes a couple of elephants to the dome, and has to be away from her brother and see her thing fail but..The way it's treated by herself and everyone else is basically a LOL THESE THINGS HAPPEN I GUESS HAHAHA. The Utena/Anthy swap meanwhile seems considerably more serious for them (especially considering the Everyone Slaps Anthy thing that seems to legit be a thing. Somehow. Except here Applied to “Utena”), and seems to cause some serious distress.

We'll see I guess.

Episode 11

As I watch this opening more and more, why is anthy like constantly framed like...Ominous as shit? Is it me?

Homegirl is just. Damn. Sure glad NOTHING BAD WILL HAPPEN (I do not trust this series to not have something bad happen to Wakaba. Again.)

Anthy. Are..are you...passive aggressively doing...something

Toga: I can see through the illusions yeah boi.

I do not trust this for an inch. He is abusing the shit out of his framing, like the whole time, and I don't trust.

Toga is “student council prince” archetype. Miki's nerdy student counciler.

EGG TIME

Juri is...Antagonistic But well meaning?

Saionji...I'm not sure he was actually on the stuco. But if so, bad boy.

What....is with the balloons. The color coded balloons.

Miki: Like a Pet Cat.

The Pet Cat that died, got killed.

WHAT IS WITH THESE BALLOONS.

ALSO I SEENT YOU PURPLE BALLOON.

So if the duels are ideal clashes more than actually a matter of direct skill, is this Toga (touga?) trying to fuck with Utena before the fight?

Anthy is a Bird. Ok. And Toga, arguably, being the biggest dick here. We thought it was Saionji, but the trick was he's the red part of the rose.

Anthy shut down REAL quick when being the rose bride was brought up.

Is Utena projecting mad hard onto Anthy here?

Homeboy needs to stop playing these games.

Utena, Stahp. DO NOT TRUST HIM.

Toga, You...DOUCHE. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARGH

Toga: Oh My B, Shouldn't act that way in front of the rose bride. ALSO DUELING LETS GOOOOO.

Utena: one link forces me to fight him. Meanwhile, rose symbols everywhere, a lot of them brought in by anthy.

Hmmmmmmm.

Utena is hard not understanding something here. I don't know what (rose bride related for sure) but I don't get...WHAT is off here.

Cause thinking about it, Utena's objective with Anthy is arguably the most noble, but she's still not quite treating anthy as a person.

….William Tell Interlude is SUITABLY CONCERNING considering the above thoughts so uh.

Also that was a weirdly specific number. 30K arrows or something?

I just realized that the DARKNESS OF DARKNESS OF LIGHT OF DESTINY OF (INSERT) things seems to show up right around anthy a lot. I'm not super sure if that's a whole thing or just a this episode thing, but...

Is Utena about to get HOT DUNKED? Because I think she is.

Also, I just realized, Utena slid into that pull sword out of rose bride thing right quick and she's never once questioned that.

So yes, Utena has BOOTY but cheeks swordsmanship, which yeah, obvs. Two of the people she beat were actually skilled before this fight, and yet she won somehow.

I don't know how to deal with these lyrics. But Toga is absolutely fucking with her head here.

And She Lost. Decisively. YUP. WELP THIS IS GONNA BE A THING NEXT TIME.

Toga: Hey you don't have to deal with this bullshit anymore.

Utena is doing the EXACT same shit Miki and Saionji were pulling, and Anthy's blank soulless stare is freaking me the hell out. Again.

So, ideals here. But the idea that whoever has a...better grasp of the truth is the victor. Which makes sense that Toga wins here.

Jesus, Soul crush 2.0, except it's on Utena this time. Goddamn.

WELL NEXT EPISODE PROMISES TO BE FUN.

Utena: ITS NOT TRUE. ITS NOT TRUE!

The Anime Revolutionary Girl Utena IMMEDIATELY: MISSING TRUTH ETCETC HOLD ME IN YOUR TRUE ARMS I WANT TO KEEP SMASHING LIES APART

SURE THAT MEANS NOTHING GUYS GGNORE.

Also, no joke, these seem like a Direct response to this episode and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

I want to be hated by lies? Uhhhhh.

Overall Thoughts: So Hey, Here we are in Episode 11 and I want to talk about how Utena and Saionji basically are each other right here.

Like overtly even I think, even if the actions aren't precise clean mirrors to each other which I guess is just how i'm going to be going through this series right now RiP.

But ok, here's the thing. What has been increasingly clear as time goes by is that Utena is fundamentally misunderstanding something about Anthy. I'm not sure fully what it is, but it's clearly Rosebride related, and the thing with the clashing ideals suggests that the.

Actually let me explain that clear like. Right now my read on the Duels is that they are NOT in any way shape or form a demonstration of skill. I Think that's clear through this point, but I'm making it explicit for my own sake. The Victor of the Duel isn't the better fighter. If that were the case, It'd suggest the only ones in the running at all would be Toga or Saionji (Juri should also be in here, but I'm not actually clear how skilled she is compared to those two, and the way they're treated suggests that Toga and Saionji are comparable in pure skill/ability.)

But Utena somehow beat Saionji like three times, Juri and Miki. Miki's whatever, but Juri clearly knows what she's doing, and Saionji seems to be Kendo Team captain so you know. Up there. Meanwhile, Utena explicitly is an amateur.

I'm not saying, in full, that actual skill with the blade is a null thing, but your ideals seems to be the biggest factor over everything else. Presumably, people rocking equally “powerful” ideals would fall to skill with the sword.

Anyway. The Truths that Seem to be critical are Anthy Wants to Be Free of the Rosebride. Ok, so Utena has the right read then right? But then she lost to Toga who seems to be rocking Anthy Wants to Be, or else Considers herself fundamentally to be, the Rosebride, which is something that Utena seems to be denying about Anthy, but is none the less true.

But then, How are Utena and Saionji the same? Well, remember an episode back where I was talking about the divine punishment thing and all that jazz from episode 8?

It hits both of them for mistreating the Rosebride. There is a fantasy going on between Utena and Saionji, and while Saionji's is a bit complicated and unclear I think, Utena's actually is pretty straightforward I think. Utena want's to be a prince. That's her fantasy. The general virtues she want's to possess are great. Good even. But the specific's seems to involve a kind of rides in and saves the day riding in on a white horse thing, where she's the hero and does for some poor unfortunate girl what her prince did to her.

Saionji's meanwhile, seems to be something of him having a genuine reciprocal relationship with Anthy, with him inhabiting the role of a badboy romantic lead while the two of them have feelings for each other. When, really, he doesn't seem to care for her, or at least the feelings that he has for her are considerably weaker than whatever awkward feelings he has going on for Toga (I'm seriously a little fuzzy here, cause it feels like following his most recent defeat he's rocking some kind of clarity? I don't know how it's gonna work out, but I could sorta see him Returning and upsetting whatever the then status quo is.)

But notably, the big thing between them is their staunch refusal to accept what seems to be really true about their relationship with Anthy.

That the end theme seems to immediately pop up as an answer to Utena's reaction feels...Purposeful.

#revolutionary girl utena #liveblogish #In which I just have to accept that i'm probably gonna be looking at foils everywhere for everything #Things Get Spicy #I should really consider getting images but for right now i refuse.#liveblog

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some-triangles · 7 years

Text

Episode 35. It's time for the puppet show!

Hmm.

Something about this feels a bit less whimsical than usual.

We recap last night’s revelations and establish that Utena still doesn't remember them. It's nagging at her now, though. Something about Anthy's face seems newly familiar.

Thankfully, Akio's spidey sense tells him that character development is happening and he bursts in to break it up just in the nick of time.

(The subbers have rigged this entry in the Akio Unsubtlety Sweepstakes by translating "borrow" as "steal", just to make sure we all get the joke.)

There's kind of a greatest hits feeling about this segment - we get an encore of the Anthy's face hardening as they walk away routine, although she's less scary in this iteration and more 200% Done.

How many times has she seen this happen?

On their walk, Utena and Akio pass through the riotous fields of poppies that have totally always been here. Akio says it's a shame that friendship isn't the Eternal Thing. It would be great, he says,

Akio never gets around to explaining what poppies symbolize, but it's sleep, death, dreams, remembrance. Narcotics and narcosis. If he had gotten into it, it might have been a bigger giveaway even than the Lucifer thing. Questions arise: what does being suddenly stuck in the middle of an enormous labyrinth of poppies represent? And what does the car represent? And, more importantly -

Touga wants to know exactly what Akio is doing with/to Utena - purely in a professional capacity, of course.

It is difficult to decide which individual frame best sums up the ensuing conversation.

If I go with this one, for example, you lose the fact that Akio is lying on top of a car, which is perched on a dais, which is itself balanced on an enormous pyramid of additional, identical cars.

Then again, if I go with this one, you lose the sense that Akio is about to caress his own nipple. Which he does.

Regardless, Touga says he's planning to shake Utena up a little before their duel, as per usual. Akio tells Touga to bring her a present for him. He says it can be anything - he's confident that Touga, a natural playboy, will choose just the right gift. Touga says that Utena doesn't go for gifts, on the evidence of her having rejected that dress he bought her back in Episode 3. Akio points out that her most treasured possession is a ring that some strange dude gave her years ago.

Touga has the look of a man who knows that he is about to be owned very badly, but the casual villainous bonhomie he's got going with Akio prevents him from objecting. He can't look uncool in front of his mentor, so, full speed ahead.

Touga duly delivers a pair of earrings to Utena. She is thrilled to see that Akio has gotten her a present but is not sure if she can accept. Wakaba, the filthy traitor, is having none of that.

...

So, we come now to a question that I've been dreading ever since I started this project, which is "why does Touga have a carrot."

On one level he has it because he is about to go ride a horse. Horses eat carrots.

On another - yes, it’s yet another dick. He's trying to be like big brother Akio and drench himself in sexual symbolism, but he can't afford a big red car, and he doesn't have a driver's license. He can afford a carrot.

But the main reason he has it is for this shot:

Because... I'm sorry, the last five years of political discourse have made this more unpleasant than it needs to be, but, y'know... horns. Sign of a cuckold and all that.

He has the carrot because he's a big steaming cuck.

Despite this, he successfully whisks Utena off to his next, upgraded penis symbol, which is A Horse. He is badly off his game, here - cross-examining her about princes and horses when he hasn't even bothered to check out a white one from the... horse library... or however this works.

Also whatever point he was trying to make is diluted somewhat when the resolutely not-white horse hops over a tree root and Utena flies the fuck off.

Then this happens.

Akio's is bigger.

(He also has, like, impossible upper body strength, but that's neither here nor there.)

"I don't know what I was expecting"

So, the worm has turned, the rattler become the rattled. The sight of Utena gazing adoringly up into Akio's face has put him in such a mood that he can barely be bothered to knock off his daily middle-schooler. He's sick of being a 'playboy' - particularly now that he's getting his head handed to him by a playman, and let me just apologize immediately for that

Even Saionji can tell that something's up.

So what's the cause of Touga's sudden deflation? Why can't he perform? The shadow puppet girls have a theory, which they deliver via an elaborate fishing metaphor. The super cool nice-guy playboy fisherman can catch any kind of fish except one:

Which also means "love" in Japanese. Thus the joke.

Later, Utena is lost in a reverie. She can't stop thinking about how Akio let her touch his horse.

Similar equine double-entendres follow. Utena can't quite believe that her prince actually showed up on a white horse - her bullshit detector is sitll in there somewhere, under all the gunk - but she's lost enough that she falls asleep holding the gift he gave her. Anthy finds her there and has a face about it.

Akio tells Touga that he lost the game. This is clear anyway - Akio has many cactuses, and Touga only has one. Akio tells Touga that he thinks Utena should be:

Touga isn't sure.

I really shouldn’t have to tell you what the cacti represent at this point.

Touga and Saionji head up to the balcony for the last meeting of the student council before the End of the World. It's just the two of them. Saionji has now been through the wringer enough that he's graduated from fool to wise fool, just like Nanami - it's the folks who were ground down the most by the game who have the clearest view of it. Touga says that he... might?... genuinely love Utena, and that he wants to save her from Akio by beating her in the duel. (When all you have is a hammer, etc.) Touga wants the power that got Utena out of that coffin, but Saionji points out that she's still in that coffin, isn't she? Or she wouldn’t need saving. They're all still in their coffins, come to think of it. The miraculous power that Akio has isn't as miraculous as it's cracked up to be.

It's a crucial conversation and in order to make sure we pay attention to it the camera throws in a phantasmagorical press conference, rampant shirtlessness, a completely superfluous visual pun about tea, the most egregiously phallic shot of the chairman's residence to date and Touga touching his own invisible anime nipple. I feel that in trying to capture it via screenshot I would only be doing it a disservice - I will only say that I love that these boys take off their shirts to discuss feelings.

Meanwhile, Utena and Anthy are out in a field together, in their usual idyllic fashion, except Utena is preoccupied with Akio’s present. Then she looks up at Anthy and sees

The feeling of having forgotten something important - the thing that, if remembered, would reframe your history entirely, tap your life's context just a little bit so that it settles for the first time into something comprehensible - there’s excitement and dread in that feeling. The possibility that there is a key to understanding yourself, coupled with the possibility that you will never find that key, and will continue to make the choices that a lost person makes until you have made so many mistakes that you can no longer find your way back to your truth.

Nothing as terrifying as a glimpse of the real after a long sojourn in fairyland.

#utena #utena liveblog #next time: will touga win his duel???#and if you said yes I've got a bridge you might be interested in

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