Am I the only one who doesnt believe that Anthy and Utena switched bodies in the curry episode? More than likely, they probably just switched appearances.

Oh god wait did Anthy, as Utena, do the weekly... thing with Akio??? <:(

Anyways back on track, the reason im saying this is because, Utena, as Anthy, is still physically strong. And Anthy, as utena, isnt seeing as how she couldn't hold up Wakaba as Utena.

Reblog if you have any more thoughts on what this means symbolically and/or metaphorically and any other parallels between this episode and the meat of the series.

You said you'd do whatever I asked

anthy and utena as pygmalion and galatea!

[ID: a digital drawing of Kanae Ohtori from revolutionary girl utena. She's hunched over on her knees, taking out her sword from her chest. Within the glow of the sword, she is in her duelist clothes. The spectral hands of Prince Dios reach out to her from above. Her white scarf disintegrates into rose petals, flowing around her. The background is black, and the artist's watermark is in the centre. End ID]

reversing the hands of a clock.

trying to write something about how much i hate the ‘misandry in utena/the utena fandom’ crowd but it feels kind of redundant to me. i think i just don’t consider people who use the word ‘misandry’ serious people. i do however feel an obligation to occasionally make my position clear on that front, because im aware i tougapost and some people love to bring that guy up as the misandry in the utena fandom poster boy. which is so fucking stupid because touga is not victimised by ‘misandry’, touga is victimised by homophobic violence which is wrapped up in misogynistic violence, both of which are the cogs in the machine we call patriarchy. touga is not affected by misogyny in the same way that anthy is, that’s one of the key takeaways you can get from their being foils, and i don’t really like the whole ‘oh patriarchy hurts men too’ stuff because it neglects the fact that men reap so many material benefits from what some people deem ‘harm’ to them (emotional repression being the big one. it’s not great but when you’re the privileged party and gain power from it, who cares? it’s like the inverse of kozue trying to use sexuality to gain power: she can’t do that). but touga is a shitty dysfunctional person who has been shaped by violence and in turn perpetuated violence, and his character excels, imho, at examining how patriarchy functions and attempts to homogenise life’s many complexities. same deal as nanami really. they just play different roles in this gender essentialist nightmare that crunches out any grit. and you can extend that idea to all rgu characters but i am who i am and that is a kiryuu siblings enjoyer

I present my theory

My Crazy Utena Theories #4

That really was Ruka's sword. And someone did polish it while he was hospitalised. Of course, it wasn't Shiori.

Shiori went to Ruka's clearly labelled locker. The sword is identical to the one she draws from his chest for the duel.

Obviously, Ruka was on to all Shiori's bs from the start. He said that just to catch her in a lie later on. I mean, she clearly didn't know him before. She looked surprised to see Juri talking to him and showing him such respect, when Juri's usually just aloof and intimidating. Shiori is jealous of someone else being close to Juri, yet also intrigued by a boy who is so much like Juri. She intends to take Ruka for herself due to her jealousy of anyone else getting Juri's attention, as well as her urge to make Juri jealous, in kind. But, being the bi disaster that she is, Shiori falls for Ruka's charm, playing into his hand. Though I do think he eventually realised Shiori's true feelings for Juri and wanted her to admit it. He was upset that she kept claiming he was the only person she ever loved. Ruka knows he only has a few days and will step over anyone to achieve his goal, yet his goal is truly selfless. He only wants Juri's happiness, whether with Shiori or free of her.

Delving a little deeper, I think we can infer from the flashbacks and inner dialogue that while Shiori was at her other school with her previous beau/boy who liked Juri/purse, Juri progressed in fencing at Ohtori, and Ruka became her sempai and confidant. The two were very close and she probably told him something about her locket, (but likely not the who or what gender. I think Akio told him that in his sleazy Akio way.) while he may have hinted at his own unrequited love to her. Juri said she was only "filling in for him" as head of the fencing club while he was ill. We see from their fighting styles that he taught her all her best moves. Even when she's at Ruka's throat, he's still extremely important to her. She's thinking about him when he's gone/ dead to Ohtori's closed off world of immaturity.

The person who actually kept Ruka's sword polished, awaiting his recovery and return to the school, was Juri herself. I have always thought that. It's what Juri would do.

them and their watches. this was the only thing I could think about when going against amarys.

there's this collection of utena analyses that left a really strong impression on me because it was one of the first things i read about the show after i finished it, and while there's some absolute bullshit in there, it also had a lot of good insight into small details and symbols i definitely didn't notice on my first or second watch. whoever wrote it really loved to use the phrase "akio's metaphorical sword" though and that kind of ruined the entire thing by itself

Hi mika i wrote a dissertation about tumblr and talked about the hole theory tag in it! let me know if you’d be interested to read. Also i love utena so much omg i hope u find a way 2 watch

omg yes!!!

>sees a car

"wow this is just like in revolutionary girl utena (1997) and revolutionary girl utena: adolescence of utena (1999)"

Sometimes I’ll see a post where the person clearly consumed Utena totally uncritically and didn’t question the motivation behind anything happening on screen and I just remember that “the curtains are blue” post. We really live in a world where people don’t consume media critically or know what a metaphor is.

Akio is undoubtedly the manipulator in the shadows, keeping the cyclical nature of (patriarchal and power) abuse spinning in his self made world of Ohtori. And yet I had the thought that he too is the product of such cyclical abuse. Both Touga and Anthy are the characters directly showcasing the cyclical nature of abuse. Touga is complicit because Akio's system promises him maybe, eventually gaining the absolute power so none could ever have the power to exploit him again. My theor is that Akio kinda did the same. (Probably I will write a longer meta about the thin line between manipulation and agency at Ohtori in the future, although I will leave it at Akio being very conscious of what he does, Touga to a certain degree, too.)

There never was a pure princehood because even at best and pure intentions like Utena, Dios as a child/young teen, Touga in Adolescence, that ideal necessitates someone to be made weak in order for the prince to shine. For the prince itself following the princehood in his idolized (unreal) form will only lead to death. Touga drowned saving Juri, Dios was at the brink of death before Anthy saved him.

What's notable that both boys at their most noble die in the stage of boyhood. The role of the prince will kill them when they're idealistic and naive. Dios especially had his duty put on externally from countless people. The consequences of him failing them would be to endure their collective, unrestrained wrath. Which leads me to speculate that the prince at his idealised stage (the prince in boyhood) can be exploited, is to a degree rendered powerless to the will of those who demand him serving their needs. That's not to say there's either the boyhood prince stage or the corrupted prince stage at his most powerabuse but that all performance of ideals comes to a high cost of oneself. Dios as child might not have had an understanding or perspective how his power selfishly for the very adult things Akio uses it.

If that is the case, Akio in adulthood, like Touga, flipped his role. Realising that the princess' happiness depended on the prince, Akio could exploit the princess to have her be the one to be the prince. As a child Dios was demanded to serve his purpose to exhaustion. As an adult Akio considered how people could exhaust themselves for the prince. Edit: In the end princehood always necessitates the exploitation of all believing in it. Foremost the princess, and also the prince if he tries to perform his role ideally.

The princess dress, the one in memories in both series and the movie

Is yellow

But not Just any yellow

NANAMI'S Yellow. Or more specificly, the color of her HAIR!(Maybe just a bit more saturated)

Its Not her dueling outfit yellow.

A thought-provoking read about the enigmatic Anthy Himemiya from the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena. This article includes the fascinating new fan theory that Anthy and Akio may be been enslaved Black Americans from the 18th century. I always interpreted them as a mythical race resembling South Asians but this is a really interesting fan theory that deserves more contemplation. Maybe this is why the whole aesthetic of Utena seems so influenced by 18th century Europe - it was the era the creators of this simulation (Anthy and Akio) grew up in.

rewatched some utena episodes (because i am mentally ill) and i keep thinking. spoilers. obviously.

according to the narrative we see at the start of a lot of episodes, utena was saved from her sorrow by her prince. according to the same prince, gaining the power to revolutionize the world means to meet him behind the rose gate. but notably, this narrative was told to us by the shadowplay girls, the same girls who tell us the false story of the tale of the rose, the story as akio sees it. in 34, we see that akio's narrative is one of lies, and that it was anthy who showed utena something eternal, it was anthy who gave utena determination to keep living, so that one day they may meet again.

...similarly. in the final episodes we see the statue, the appearance of dios, crumbling into dust. the illusion is broken. to revolutionize the world as akio sees it is impossible, he's holding onto a false hope, he can't turn the clock back to the time when he was still a prince because that decision was never his to begin with. but we know whose it was.

so when utena opens the rose gate, it is only natural she wouldn't see dios. dios has been dead for a long time. but she still does meet her "prince". the promise from her childhood is fulfilled, the reason why she went through all the suffering is justified. because when she opens the door, wounded and feverish with pain and struggling to keep standing on her two feet, she sees anthy.