#Anthy like: needs more cowbell

[kristybluebird]

Not Touga cutting his thumb open on the same puppet strings he uses to control Nanami!

“Ah dance, ancient continental theater”

[rosebridal]

narrative foil antagonism at its best

[blond-jerk-tourney]

Blond Jerk Tourney FINALS

Propaganda from submitters Under Cut

Sharpay Evans

Blonde, HSM antagonist but it was never that deep

vote for Sharpay right now she fought sasuke

Nanami Kiryuu

She's the mean girl of the show, and a pretty interesting take on the "bitchy vain school rival of the protagonist" trope. She spends most of her early screentime being a bully and most of her later screentime being both the biggest loser imaginable and deeply sad/troubled (which still does not erase how much of an asshole she can be). She even laughs like your stereotypical mean rich girl. Nanami has so many problems and sucks so so bad. I adore her.

Shes a psychotic bully who seeks to ruin the lives and reputations of any girl who gets more of her brothers attention than she does. Reasons Nanami Kiryuu deserves to win: - she has made many attempts at physical and psychological terrorism against Anthy Himemiya (including a plotted wardrobe malfunction at a crowded social gathering) simply for drawing more of her brother's attention than her - tried to fill Anthy's bedroom with wild animals (a snail, a snake, and a live octopus) to make her out to be a freak only to find that her room was already full of wild animals - she bankrolled an elementary schoolers crush on her to turn him into her personal boyservant - briefly non-personed a member of her bully entourage for sharing an umbrella with her brother - received a luxury cowbell due to a shipping error and smugly wore it to school for weeks flaunting it like high coture - when her bully entourage rebelled against her due to her brothers manipulation she brought them back in line by just straight up beating the shit out of all of them - all in all just a petty, goonish motherfucker (she also does the ohohohohoho anime girl laugh)

she's blond: despite being Japanese her hair is yellow, unlike her brother's. yellow is even her image color. she's a jerk: introduced as a jealous and dishonest scheming bully, she is one of the more outwardly antagonistic characters in a cast where pretty much everyone is a Real Piece Of Work she's the best: the quintessential ohoho-laughing ojou, her fully-realized character arc makes people both laugh and cry even her sidekick is a blond jerk! how many blond jerks have their own blond jerk sidekick?

i don't know what you've heard but she's NOT the kind of girl who lays eggs!

The token mean rich girl of the franchise. Does the classic "ohohoho" laugh. Doesn't like either of our main characters. She never actually seems to get her way, and secretly has a lot of her own problems. also she lays eggs and turns into a cow

Absolutely THE quintessential anime mean girl. I mean literally her laughing is THE meme for the hohohoho anime laugh. Needs attention So Badly and straight up bullies anyone she deems a threat to that (so basically Everyone). I haven’t finished RGU but apparently she duels with the intent to kill and drowned a kitten once because it was taking up too much of her brother’s attention? Also she’s 13 which explains a lot

[arcanahangedman]

smth i find endlessly irritating about nanami/anthy discourse is how ppl portray anthy as this evil sadist and blow her bullying of nanami out of proportion (rant down below)

anthy is highly perceptive so i’m sure she figured out that nanami was behind the incident with the dress prior to the mitsuru episode. i don’t think it’s unreasonable or excessive for a 14 year old csa survivor to want revenge against someone who orchestrated her being exposed at a massive social event, for a reason as petty as “my brother spends too much time with u”

not to mention how nanami continues to act hostile towards anthy… and i’m just gonna say it, i do not think nanami dislikes anthy bc she can tell anthy is hiding smth, i think she’s just a bitch lmao

moreover, a lot of the conflicts in the nanami episodes, like the surprise animals and the cowbell, happen as a direct result of nanami’s hubris and her need to prove herself as superior / prove others as inferior

ppl often bring up nanami’s age and her toxic relationship with touga to defend how she treats others but it’s like? anthy is only a year older than her? and she is also being abused, to a much more severe degree????

i don’t think anthy does nothing wrong throughout the series and i don’t think nanami is anywhere near as bad as touga or akio, for example, but if we’re gonna talk about the dynamic between nanami and anthy, let’s not be disingenuous about how their beef started

i don’t wanna be That guy but to act as tho nanami doesn’t deserve all the misfortunes and hijinks anthy sends her way … as if she’s an entirely innocent and helpless victim to anthy’s cruelty … white women’s tears, anyone? i just find it entirely inexplicable as to why ppl are so determined to portray anthy as the instigator in their rivalry/disdain for each other

anyway that’s all i have to say for now. if u read all of this, thanks for ur time :3c

[aptericia]

Rose on a Ring: Nanami’s Cowbell

[requested by @wherefore-whinnies! Thank you for the suggestion!]

The shape of Nanami’s cowbell from episode 16 is interesting—rather than a traditional rectangle, it looks more like a flower. This could be attributed to the general rose aesthetic of the show, but what’s the most recurring use of the rose in Utena? Probably the designs on the duelists’ rings and the dueling flowers themselves.

Now, let’s look at a summary of “The Cowbell of Happiness”: Nanami recieves, from an anonymous figure, a special item that she believes will give her what she wants most (status, fame, popularity). In reality, it’s not what she thinks it is and it’s actually causing the opposite effect (people think she’s crazy). However, the longer she wears it, the more complacent she grows, failing to recognize that she's becoming the very opposite of what she wants to be (an animal rather than a goddess to be admired). And, as her dream sequence with Touga heavily implies, the cows she finds herself associating with are going to be slaughtered for the benefit of humans. In the end, she’s only able to reverse this transformation when Utena cuts the “flower” from her body, freeing her.

This sequence of events can be compared to any of the Black Rose duels in the surrounding episodes, with the bell representing the rings used to control the victims’ minds, and the cow representing the evil duelist that Mikage creates. When Utena cuts the black roses from their chest, she frees them in much the same way she does Nanami. The cowbell episode can even be likened to the student council members’ arcs as well, with the bell again representing the rose signet and the cow representing the naïve child that Akio needs to manipulate in order to open the Rose Gate.

Also, what’s the purpose of a cowbell in the first place? So the owner can find their cows and bring them back when needed. Similar, then, is the promise Utena’s ring carries: “We will meet again.” The ring around Utena’s finger, like the ring around Nanami’s neck, binds her to her fate as an animal for the slaughter.

So what’s the point of Nanami having this nonsensical, half-imaginary version of the other duelists’ stories? Well, Nanami as a character represents a “child”—one that makes up wild stories with little regard for logic, but also has a fresh view that may reveal things that others ignore. It’s very unclear why anything is happening in “The Cowbell of Happiness” (Ohtori magic? Anthy magic? General Nanami weirdness?), but it’s surprisingly clear what’s happening. After all, I was able to write a pretty concrete summary that few people would dispute. “The Cowbell of Happiness” lays out all the steps of a duelists’ journey—a desire, a false solution, a period of grooming and complacency, and eventual freedom when the false solution is removed. But it shows it in such a strange way that neither Nanami nor the audience understands its significance.

[cleave-and-plough]

you just don't understand an adult's fashion sense

ah, a big flashing neon light in the darkness. time again for one of nanami's funhouse episodes, and though this one is just as silly as the curry episode, it reveals a bit more about nanami and her place in the show's evolving world than her trip to india.

fashion takes center stage in this episode, as nanami has thrown a party to unveil her newest pendant. however, her adolescent insecurities and competitiveness are activated by the arrival of the school's most prominent fashionista, juri. wearing a necklace given to her by one of the designers she's modeled for, juri immediately appears as the more mature, experienced young woman. yet, before nanami can be fully upstaged and forced to reveal her now-insufficiently impressive pendant, a gift arrives. identified by miki as a piece by the famed designer sebastian dior, nanami sees her chance to make good on the party's promise. the case shines with an otherworldly golden glow, stunning the audience both before and after they realize what nanami has donned: a silver cowbell.

as is often the case, once given a reason or justification, nanami becomes invincible. as the school buzzes about the strangeness of her cowbell, she hears only that she has become the center of attention, the school's fashion icon. the mix of tones of these conversations is striking: some give credit to her boldness, others decry her stubbornness. i wonder to what extent nanami is aware of these differing interpretations and choosing to filter them as general admiration - all press is good press, as it were.

of course, there are those who worry for her. utena and miki debate whether they should say anything, while tsuwabuki does his best to counsel his adoptive older sister. at this, nanami brings everything into focus. she tells tsuwabuki that he's simply too young to understand, and brings this episode fully into conversation with the arc as a whole. as students, the cast generally only has to worry about their uniforms, but nanami now stretches her reach into the world of ~*adult fashion*~. this stands neatly alongside the other recent episodes' more adult themes of getting along with one's in-laws, interviewing for life after high school, and building a new dynamic with a sibling after a childhood schism. to actively engage with fashion, much less set trends, is to risk and construct one's own identity, a challenge that the students of ohtori haven't needed to consider outside of the occasional school dances. it's here that nanami's stubbornness and boldness resonate most strongly - as controversial as her look is, many admit that she's owning it, and thus she draws real security and confidence from her outfit.

of course, it wouldn't be a nanami episode without some animal hijinx and angst over touga, so things start to go off the rails as nanami dreams of being sold and turned into a steak. honestly, it's not an inaccurate representation of touga's manipulation and callous use of her for his own gain. following this, the episode enters b-movie horror mode, as nanami's behavior becomes more and more bovine, as if she were a werecow. even then, it's not difficult to see parallels to her coming of age and changing physicality - like many pubescent teens, her appetite and energy levels change, she loses motivation in her schoolwork, and, as is most common for people this age, she turns into a cow.

[utena bullfighting ensues]

as ever, nanami's true antagonist is anthy and her love of animals. it was all a misunderstanding, as anthy had ordered the cowbell for her pet cow late at night, and the courier must have gotten confused because anthy's cow is also named... nanami... anthy is never beating the passive aggressive subterfuge allegations, huh? (finishing that red sweater just in time for nanami's transformation, eh? real slick...)

meanwhile, juri tuts over nanami's pitiable obsession with brand names while gesturing with a jewel-covered hand, suggesting no lessons have been learned. just another day in the life of kiryuu nanami.

stray observations:

it might be a stretch, but the silhouette routines shifting from a puppet theater to news bulletins also feels like a reinforcement of this arc's transition to themes of adulthood and growing up. additionally, tsuwabuki is able to respond to the silhouettes as well. deeper and deeper into the mystery of their existence...

i always love how obviously callous touga is in nanami's fantasies of him. whether he's celebrating the fact that he's finally killed her and able to date anthy freely, or saying "farewell, nanami" in the most apathetic voice possible after sending her to the abattoir, he never seems to look as good as she pictures him, even in her dreams.

cow-stian dior, huh? how'd you miss that one, miki?

it really doesn't sound like a neutral (or positive) term but i'm interested to know more about the word nanami calls utena during their argument. the subtitles translated it as "boy-girl," though i'm sure that could have been softened from its original tone.

next episode preview: AGH

[brokensoulmates2000]

Nanami's cowbell and the lilies motif

TW: Spoilers of Nanami’s cowbell episode and Kanae’s duel, wacky theories.

At first I thought the cowbell brought a positive change to Nanami: she was definitely calmer than in the previous episodes and seemed to be more or less happy. However looking back at it, it’s clear she was becoming an animal her brother could manslaughter and anyone could take advantage of. This point is driven home by Anthy, who had been knitting a red jersey all the episode and triggers Nanami who, as she turned into a cow, said she felt confused. In this cow state (I can’t believe I’ve just written this) Nanami can easily be used by anyone and effectively was.

As with every good Japanese media, Revolutionary Girl Utena loves drawing parallels. Anthy receiving the swords of hatred that were meant for Akio is compared to Nanami turning into a cow.

Nanami becoming a cow would serve the same purpose as Anthy receiving the swords -they are both used as a sacrifice, a pawn that receives the hatred directed to the prince. Isn’t that the fate of the prince’s sister who can’t be rescued by her brother, so she keeps him to herself and becomes a witch? In addition to that, the parallels are powerful because they inform us how Akio truly sees his sister.

Now, let’s go with a scene that has been keeping me awake for quite some time.

This cage is your domain

And you are the lovely bird that lives in it

I want to possess this cage and everything inside of it

I would never take you out of here. Ever.

I know this is supposed to be a prophetic dream, but Nanami was right about her brother. He was not letting her go out of that cage.

Indeed, the parallels and comparisons do not end here. There’s one more drawn between Utena’s outfit and Nanami’s cowbell. They are usually brought up in many analyses of this episode so I’m leaving this take here and this one here. Suffice to say one becomes what one performs as and it’s dangerous to dress what one does not understand.

The use of flowers

This part is long and maybe confusing, but it potentially makes sense.

There are many parallels drawn between Utena, Nanami and Kanae through Madonna Lilies. At the end of the first season, the Shadow Girls foreshadow (ha!) the duel between Kanae and Utena:

Might makes right - Those who have power can do whatever they want. A clear reference to Akio

Losers are smelly old fish - Kanae, the loser of the duel, is an old thing Akio doesn’t need and is going to be replaced by Utena.

And the winner walked away - Who is the winner here? Utena, who defeated Kanae? Anthy, who got her revenge? Or Akio, who orchestrated everything and is able to get away?

Looking like a lily - If we stick to the idea that the winner is Utena, she finishes the duel looking and being like what Kanae once was: pure.

Kanae’s duel is all about performing purity and innocence. The reason she joins Mikage’s seminar is to accept she is unable to keep pretending, especially in front of Anthy who she hates. Kanae’s purity has been stolen, and she is rotten to the core (explained by the black vase). I read here that it is common for Japanese people to leave vases on top of deceased student’s desks. This works perfectly when you have the silhouettes of 100 dead kids drawn on the floor and you want to foreshadow Kanae’s death at the same time.

Returning to the idea of performing, which is a big theme in RGU, we have Kanae who performs as a white lily, pure and innocent, the epitome of a bride. Then, we have Utena who performs as a brave and noble prince. Finally, we have Nanami who performs as the queen bee who is at the same time well-liked and very mature. However, they all fail miserably in their performances: Kanae has been corrupted by Akio and holds a grudge against Anthy, Utena is not a prince at all (thanks Goodness) and Nanami is a child that doesn't fit in.

To be honest, the association between Utena and Kanae is pretty clear, but why would these lilies appear with Nanami?

From the quality of these screenshots, I can’t say for sure they are Madonna Lilies, but they have similar shape and color, so it’s safe to stick to the idea of purity and death. I know what Nanami is doing ikebana, the Japanese art of flower arrangement that symbolizes the union between nature and beauty. A few things I found is that the vase’s shape is called moribana and is probably made of bamboo, the leaves are abundant and vibrant green which announces summer and finally, quoting Wikipedia (not the most reliable source, but hey! They were the only ones who had this): “A flower arrangement made to mark a death is typically constructed of white flowers, with some dead leaves and branches, arranged to express peace.”

Should I also say that ikebana can also show the personality of who’s making it? Despite her best efforts to perform adulthood, Nanami subconsciously is aware of her purity, innocence and the fact that she’s only a child.

I don’t know if these are red roses or red camellias. If it’s the former, they would be an evident proof of love, most likely to her brother. Let’s also note there are four of these flowers and four is the infamous number associated with death. Now, if we add to the fact this scene was just before the one Nanami is making an arrangement with white lilies… Well, things are not looking good.

If it’s the red camellias I’ll tell you they used to mean a noble death for the Samurais. On top of that, they are terrible to give to those who are sick because the flowers “behead” themselves when they die. Also, red camellias are a symbol of love. But wait, what does this mean? Nanami’s blind love for Touga will be the death of her? Or is her blindingly loving Touga what will make her a cow he can manslaughter? Mmmm, the two options sound very likely. Honestly, I’m not confident in these two last paragraphs, but hey! Take it with a grain of salt and enjoy how RGU’s storytelling makes me lose my sanity and theorize my brain out.

What’s my conclusion with this part?

Kanae’s lilies symbolize her lost purity, one she performs but is unable to keep up pretending. Also, they foreshadow her death by the hands of Anthy and Akio. The association between Utena and “looking like a lily” shows she’s still pure -therefore, not performing- but will suffer Kanae’s fate if she allows Anthy to be the Rose Bride forever. Finally, Nanami, whether she wants to accept it or not, continues to be pure. She too is on her way to be killed -by Akio or Touga- as long as she continues with that cowbell on.

The other wild thought I had - considering the lilies are shown with those who win all the duels- is that if Anthy hadn’t left Ohtori, perhaps the next winner would’ve been Nanami? Of course, considering Nanami was naïve enough to still be a cow. This is an incredibly wild suggestion, but as a headcanon it is kinda cool so I’m just sharing it.

The importance of the first episodes from the Black Rose Arc

I’m guessing these episodes show the potential of every pair of siblings becoming like Akio and Anthy. The previous episode focused on Miki and Kozue, which includes Akio’s moon metaphor that Utena repeats between a scene of Kozue asking a milkshake to Miki and Akio saying he will console Anthy. Also, let’s consider every pair of siblings in this anime illustrate an aspect of Akio’s and Anthy’s relationship. Miki and Kozue show when Dios and Anthy were, generally speaking, on good terms. Everything besides them was ugly so they had their own “sunny garden” (in the case of the Anthy and Akio, it was the barn) in which they were protected from the outside world. Like Miki and Kozue, Anthy and Akio didn’t have anyone except themselves. However, the key difference with Miki and Kozue is that they both care about each other. Kozue, following her own twisted morality, pushes Miki’s predator down the stairs. Meanwhile, Miki still offers Kozue a milkshake. (Though it is important to note he has started to be more detached from her). On the other hand, Akio couldn't care less about Anthy despite her being the backbone of the system he created.

Now, Touga and Nanami illustrate Akio’s manipulation, abuse and utilization of Anthy. I think it was explained quite nicely in the previous paragraphs so there’s no need to repeat myself. What I would like to add though is that Utena was able to bring the revolution and Anthy decided to free herself so we can rest assured that the story won’t repeat itself.

Before finishing, I love Miki calling out Juri’s hypocrisy. She calls Nanami miserable for her capitalist and frivolous attitude while Juri wears long earrings, two bracelets and four rings. And the next episode is about Juri’s and Shiori’s relationship which makes Juri miserable? Damn, I love Revolutionary Girl Utena.

[mokushiyami]

I really liked utena but i never understood the nanami cowbell episode, i thought it was just crack episode but ppl are saying it has a deeper meaning

Okay i don’t have enough time to go super in detail on this but we need to understand nanami’s journey. Her journey is deeply tied with touga and her need to be unique in his eyes. The cowbell, though ridiculous, is different and makes her stand out and it really shows how even before nanami was willing to do things that were “not normal” to get touga’s attention. Ironically, the cowbell shows what touga sees her as, livestock, something for him to use. Nanami is also a parallel to Anthy and if we buy into the idea that Anthy was the one who enchanted the cowbell it adds a lot more meaning. Anthy sees herself as too far gone in the abuse, she thinks she cannot escape, but she sees Nanami and recognizes the patterns and hopes for her to become her own person and get away from her brother. Which is why Nanami has the dream where touga is eating meat as a warning, get away before he sees you as even less than livestock but just a meal. Even if Anthy is not the one who sent her the dream, it still stands as Nanami seeing her possible metaphorical future if she does not stop idolizing her older brother.

[princeoftheroses]

Since you want asks, PLSSSE I want your Utena TH0ughts. WHAT is your favourite black rose episode? actually how do you feel about the black rose arc in GENERAL

black rose arc, black rose arc, oh black rose arc!!! by you adding how do i feel about the arc in general you are unleashed me to make a long post giving my very disorganized thoughts about this arc.

a couple of people call it a filler arc? i guess technically it is because it does not directly contribute to the main storyline and it wasn't in the manga and also the ending of the arc sort of makes it so the whole arc kind of didn't happen???

but also i think if a person labeled it as a filler arc they are kind of missing the point?? even if it doesn't contribute to the main plot (which it absolutely DOES but i'll get to that) it adds so much nuance to the characters of utena.

you get to see side characters and how they tick!! some of which like kozue and shiori become very important later as they become miki and ruka's rose brides in the akio arc! (side note : what was up with ruka he just kind of showed up and disappeared lmaooo)

also, it adds to akio! (tw warning for only the next paragraph, i'm talking about akio so you can except me talking about grooming and abuse)

not only is this where akio is introduced, but he is always so omnipresent. it was ... honestly really terrifying to see how chill he acts with utena here. of course the real grooming begins in the akio arc but you can see how he starts here. how he kind of builds himself as anthy's cool older brother that utena can trust and ask for advice for... but we the audience know that he CANNOT be trusted as even know we see him being shady af in the background. i really feel like if we skipped straight from the first arc to akio arc a lot of the creepiness of akio would not have been realized because of ... just how NORMAL he akio acts to utena. he's charming, he's smart, and he overall is somebody utena SHOULD be able to trust bc we should all be able to trust an immediate family member of a best friend , but of course the world doesn't really work that way. anyway akio tangent over because BOOOOOO akio (he honestly terrifies me so much because of how many predators like that exist and you can meet without realizing their intentions)

BACK TO BLACK ROSE ARC

one of the main reasons i feel like this isn't a filler arc, at least not in the traditional sense of the phrase, is because it builds a lot character relationships. something that i didn't like when i first watched revolutionary girl utena but now is one of my FAVORITE things is that for a while we don't really get a straight forward utena/anthy episode. because their relationship doesn't need to build in an episode, it just slowly builds over time. we just see these two causally existing and they just start to trust each other.

in the akio arc we get to see just how close utena/anthy have gotten over the series because of their late night conversations. like how if the black rose arc didn't exist akio wouldn't have been as impactful, if the black rose arc didn't exist it would feel more sudden how close utena/anthy have grown imo.

this arc adds a lot to the world as well. as long as the students stay inside of school they will not grow. dead people wander the halls thinking that they are still alive. these two facts contribute a lot to utena theorizing and analysis (mainly, the ideas that ohtori exists within a plain of frozen time literally because of anthy's magic and metaphorically because the cast is very cozy in their coffin) and i could not thank this arc for that enough. not only are these very cool ideas that may or may not have inspired elements in my own story (i can neither confirm or deny that one of my oc story is heavily inspired by utena) but they just add so many layers!

this arc also felt necessary because of the new duelists??? if we went straight from the first arc to the akio arc then it would've kinda gotten very tiring to see the student council constantly duel and lose to utena (with the exception of touga's sole victory to utena in the first arc before she duels him again and wins) but these new duelists possessed by the black rose are very interesting!

if i did have to make a compliant about this arc, though, i will say that at times the stories felt very disconnected to each other. while it was very funny for utena to not even know who keiko was when she dueled her, it would've been nice if sometimes the arc of the black rose duelist intertwined more with utena. as the arc goes on, the student council is on alert and is trying to figure out where the black rose is coming from, but they never really try to ask utena about it and utena never really tries to get involved? she just is chill until she gets the note to go to the duel arena to fight the black rose duelist. i don't really have a solution on how to fix this? maybe have the student council member that the black rose duelist takes the sword from be more involved? idk.

the villain of this arc mikage also really fascinates me??? i... really like him??? but not even as a villain ... i just really pity him. the realization he has in his duel with utena that everything he has been doing is for nothing because mamiya is already dead .. that always really hit me? the horror in his voice when he starts to recall the truth in his false memories.... for some reason, this is one of the most terrifying parts of the show for me. the realization that something you were doing, something you were doing that might've been awful but you were doing it because of somebody you care about deeply and love, it was all for nought. how much time he has wasted...

even before his duel with utena, there's this moment when after he got punched by utena he says something like "if she hadn't seen my duelist ring and challenged me to a duel, she could've killed me" or something like that, he's just so pathetic and i feel very bad for him but at the same time am too disconnected to him to truly feel empathy for him... that's some TOP TIER shit

overall, this part of the show is one of my favorites. the only part i like more is the last few episodes because it makes me very emotional.

NOW FOR THE SPECIFICS

favorite black rose duelist: honestly? wakaba. the girl deserves it this is stress relief for her. not only is this duel very emotional as i don't think we've ever seen utena refuse to duel somebody (at least not in the way that she does in this episode) but just the SHEER emotion.

i'm a real sucker for fighting the person you care about the most which is why the dark signer arc in yugioh 5ds is the best yugioh arc and this just really takes the cake in this arc. utena always shows concern for the black rose duelist because they are clearly people in pain who were not able to properly duel with their grief which let mikage manipulate them, but it's taken to a new level here.

the way that after the duel is completed, wakaba comes home to her empty dorm where saionji used to be but now isn't always gets me. she's just such a lonely girl and that's never really resolved for her. a lot of the other duelists have a optimist note to end on (kozue asking miki for a milkshake, shiori and juri saying hello to each other as they walk past, keiko being friends with nanami again, etc.) which is why the fact that wakaba is more alone now then she is ever... it is a feeling i can relate to an almost embarrassing amount.

favorite episode: COWBELL OF HAPPINESS, NANAMI TURNS INTO A COW-

ANTHY YOU GLORIOUS TROLL-

favorite episode that isn't cowbell of happiness: i'm very torn between the landscape scaped by kozue and thorns of death. shiori and kozue are both very interesting characters that i like a lot. but i'm going to go with thorns of death for now, as while i really like the landscape scaped by kozue, i think my preferred miki/kozue episode is their episode in the akio arc. meanwhile i like thorns of death way more than i liked whispers in the arc (mostly because i just do not really care that much for ruka, but azure paler than the sky was a banger and he was in that?) i just loved the feeling of seeing shiori the girl juri loves so much and juri's reaction to seeing her. the way my heart was wrenched when black rose shiori mocks juri... it really did hit different. but the hopeful ending did make me feel a lot better. i do like the way that juri out of all the student council members is the one closest to self actualization and this really sets that up even if there is still a bumpy road until then.

honorary mention: the boys of the black rose and kanae as a black rose duelist are both really great. i feel like if this wasn't the arc opener it would've had more room to stretch its legs and show how horrific it could've been. kanae is a girl i feel really bad about and similar to wakaba, i don't really think her episode was a very optimistic ending for her especially since akio probably killed her later in the show?

honestly the minute akip appeared on screen, engaged to a girl who HASN'T EVEN GRADUATED and is also emotionally manipulating her so much and having his little sister manipulate her too... throw the whole man away

tl;dr - the black rose arc is very good and i like it a lot, the ending of the arc really fucks me up, somebody give mikage & all the black rose duelists therapy, throw akio in the garbage, and this show probably exists in some sort of time loop / frozen time space as a metaphor for the whole coffin thing but you can probbaly find people smarter than me talking about that.

oh and go rewatch cowbell of happiness it's great

[holycalf]

Does utena have any foils in the show ? Or do you think she has any? I might be dumb and haven't noticed yet !!

omg!! not dumb !! this is a fun question

the cool thing abt utena is that all characters are sort of extensions of the other.. idk how far you are so I don’t want to spoil anything but while I don’t think one character in particular is supposed to bring out her strengths/weaknesses it’s moreso about the collective drawbacks of the students of ohtori...if that makes sense??

for instance, juri is sort of utena in that they’re both completely in love with a purple haired girl. the difference being juri is painfully aware of her feelings, makes no effort of making them clear, and has deep resentment towards her sexuality for it. alternatively utena is just GENUINELY unaware, but because of this is more blatant in her expressions of love towards anthy. the two also have an item that shapes their identity/symbolizes their loved on... juris locket and utenas ring....

which neatly follows suit into nanami, who ALSO has an object that shapes her identity... the cowbell. which is very silly bc it was on some level a gag episode but the episode was to show how silly utena is for believing she’s a prince for wearing a ring, the same way it’s silly for nanami to ACTUALLY be a cow via sporting a cowbell... the two of them are also both frustratingly stubborn snd sometimes intentionally lacking intuition because they don’t want things to take a turn for the worse- so they neglect warning signs entirely. a key difference between them is that while nanami is very concerned with status...utenas kinda off doing her own thing. also in episode 37?? I think? nanami I think mentions that her and utena are both blood type B and have a mutual understanding that they’re similar in the most frustrating ways, but that they bring about some good aspects of one another ..

I’ve also never heard anyone mention this, so it’s something I jsut kinda noticed on my own that I think saionji is a bit utena-ish also... in that they tend to resort to physical attacks when angered as opposed to mind games such as touga/anthy/akio/shiori etc..... the difference being his aggression is often blatant violence and often over exacerbated (literally why did he need to slap anthy around like that...) whereas utena has to get worked uo and only attacks when she’s provoked or she feels a friend of hers needs it

but it’s also important to keep in mind that nanami is also extension of anthy (toxic sibling relationships) and anthy is an extension of shiori who is an extension of kozue who is an extension of miki who is an extension of utena and its jsut an endless cycle. the nature of utena is that these characters are all deeply flawed in a way that brings out a sort of collective understanding,

ANYWAYS I hope this was all coherent or helpful? I don’t know if it’s really what you were looking for but I think it’s a rlly cool aspect of utena

[totally-normal-boy]

Nanami Deserved Better

At the end of Revolutionary Girl Utena, we see a brief sequence showing what has become of the other members of the student council. Both Miki and Juri have reconciled with Kozue and Shiori, laying frameworks for the beginnings of healthy relationships. In contrast, Touga, Saionji, and Nanami’s story lines have been reset, with them reverting back to the same places that they were in at the start of the series. All of these endings align well with what the characters deserve after their actions in the series, with one notable exception. Nanami Kiryuu deserved a better ending than the one that she received both because of the character development that she underwent and the way her relationship with Utena changed over the course of the series. The concept of a character “deserving” better is a very subjective one, most viewers like to see characters who change for the better get some sort of reward for that positive growth at the end of the story. However, regardless of whether or not one agrees with this, there is plenty of evidence showing that by the end of the series, the role that Nanami plays in both the narrative series and Utena’s life is more similar to that of Utena’s friends, Miki and Juri, than that of her enemies, Touga and Saionji.

  Miki and Juri’s character arcs both focus on broken relationships and reconciliation. Miki’s first duel shows his desire to restore the romanticized version of his childhood with Kozue that he remembers. Similarly, Juri’s first duel shows how she wants to use the power to revolutionize the world to “disprove miracles” by freeing herself from her unrequited feelings for Shiori. These duels present the themes of the desire to return to the past and the desire to overcome one’s own feelings as two separate theses. These theses are then inverted by Kozue and Shiori’s duels in the Black Rose saga, where viewers learn that both Kozue and Shiori only do things to hurt Miki and Juri because they envy them and they want their attention. These duels serve as the antithesis to the theses provided earlier on in the show by showing that, while Miki and Juri’s struggles may be relatable, putting other people on a pedestal in the same way that they do has negative consequences. In the Akio arc, both the conflict between the Kaoru siblings and the conflict between Juri and Shiori reach their most climatic point in the synthesis of the previous duels. The end of both episodes show the black rose duelist walking past the student council duelist and looking at them with a contemplative expression on their face, implying the pair has reached a crossroads in their relationship that could either lead to its reformation or the dissolution.

Touga and Saionji’s plotlines are both structured differently than this. Instead of following this hegelian structure, their story arcs are more repetitive because unlike Miki and Juri’s story arcs, which present a conflict between two parties, Touga and Saionji’s story arcs present patterns that have the potential to be broken. One significant factor about the difference between Touga and Saionji’s narratives and Miki and Juri’s narratives is that Touga and Saionji’s duels teach us more about Utena and her feelings for Anthy than we do about Touga and Saionji. Even though Saionji is the first character Utena duels, we don’t learn why he’s dueling until episode 9, The Castle That Holds Eternity. Both Utena and the viewers first learn who Touga is from his interactions with Utena and the rest of the characters long before his first duel. In the black rose arc, both Touga and Saionji’s black rose duelists are girls who have primarily admired them from afar up until the events of their duel. Both Wakaba and Keiko’s duels are focused on both girls using others to feel special, instead of the intricacies of Touga and Saionji’s personalities. Both Touga and Saionji are absent for large chunks of this arc, but while they are present we catch glimpses into the fact that they are both more complex than the versions of them that we saw in the first arc. Saionji’s anger and violence temporarily disappear, suggesting they’re just tools that he uses to prove that he is masculine and strong. Touga slips into a deep depression for the entirety of the arc after being defeated by Utena, showing that he would rather not be perceived at all than be perceived as vulnerable or flawed. However, in the third and fourth arcs, Saionji and Touga do not build on their character arcs in the same way that Miki and Juri do. Instead, they both show that the knowledge they have of who The Ends of the World really is leads them to have second thoughts about participating in the dueling game, but they both ultimately revert back to the same toxic patterns of behavior that we saw at the beginning of the first episode. Once defeated, Saionji softens and Touga loses interest in the duels, reverting to slightly more self actualized versions of their isolated selves from the Black Rose Arc. 

Even though in the end of the series Nanami receives the same ending as Touga and Saionji, her character arc is the same structure as Juri and Miki’s arcs. Nanami’s character arc is primarily concerned with her relationship to another character, Touga.  While she does play a significant role in multiple episodes before her duel, the viewers don’t learn her primary character motivations until she duels for the first time she duels Utena. Her black rose duelist, Tsuwabuki, is someone that she has a preexisting relationship with. Even though it doesn’t directly further her relationship with Touga, it does explore the relationship dynamic between her and Tsuwabuki, which itself is modeled off her relationship with Touga. Additionally, the scene where Tsuwauki attempts to kiss her in the movie theatre is somewhat similar to the scene where Touga tries to kiss her in Akio’s car before her second duel. This duel is motivated by her desire to “surpass” Touga and break down the over-idealized version of him that she had built up in her head. After the duel, we do not see the two together again until the end of the series. After each duel, Nanami grows further away from the juvenile, possessive person that she was at the beginning of the series. 

Another way that Nanami’s narrative role resembles Miki and Juri’s more than Touga and Saionji’s is that, despite the fact that she starts off as an antagonist, she is an ally to Utena by the end of the series. In the beginning of the series she is jealous of the attention that Touga gives Utena and Anthy, which causes her to antagonize them both. However, when she moves into the Chairman’s tower before her second duel, her perspective on Touga is shattered and her views on Utena shift as a result of that. This is evident because in the episode One to Revolutionize the World, she is included in the badminton scene with Juri and Miki even though she isn’t playing the game with them. Many fans even cite the way that she gets flustered talking to Utena in this scene as evidence that she may be starting to develop feelings for her. Conversely, Touga and Saionji are seen primarily with each other or Akio before the final episode of the series after Touga’s final duel.

By the end of the series, it is clear which of the student council members are on which side of the conflict in the series. Miki, Juri, and Nanami all support Utena, while Touga and Saionji have sided with Akio. This aligns with which members of the student council used their duels against Utena as an opportunity to grow and change and which ones used reverted back to their old ways, even when presented with the opportunity to change. These narrative parallels between Nanami, Miki, and Juri justify Nanami receiving a happier ending than she did in the series. Instead of sitting on the sidelines, making tea, while Touga and Saionji practice kendo, it would have been much more rewarding to succeed on her own independently. While a chance to start from scratch and become better people is exactly what Touga and Saionji needed at the end of the series, Nanami had already put in all of that work. So, it’s disappointing to see her reduced to the role of Touga’s little sister once again. Maybe we could have seen her putting her leadership skills to use for the student council, helping Miki train Tsuwabuki or planning a big school dance. She could have been taking care of a pet kitten, showing she had changed from the jealous little girl who had drowned Touga’s pet in the river. Even a joke about her and her followers wearing matching cowbells would have been more rewarding then the ending we got to see because it would have shown she was developing her own life outside of her relationship to Touga.

[mousehole5000]

nanami heheh :3

hehehehe 🐮

favorite thing about them: i like how shes very bossy and mean but also quite naive and a lot of it comes from insecurity im just like yeah thats a thirteen year old girl tbh. shes also very bright and she rejects what touga tries to do to her and i love her

least favorite thing about them: laid an egg which idk is kinda problematic like thats just not something normal girls do ://// ajfldslfkdj okay for real theres the cat thing and she is definitely quite judgemental and selfish and is never sympathetic to anthy for whats happening to her. but shes also like. thirteen and uhhhh being groomed so. its not nearly the same as an adult acting like than

favorite line: im sleepy i cant think of a specific one but probably one of the cowstian dior cowbell lines

brOTP: i would like her to befriend juri or utena for some older wlw friends

OTP: nanami/getting the FUCK out of ohtori. she will <3

nOTP: shes like thirteen so i dont think she should date anyone. she can meet someone nice and normal when shes older and probably away from her brother

random headcanon: i think she needs a hobby. something creative that takes a lot of skill. maybe glassblowing. shaping things and using fire

unpopular opinion: i dont think this is unpopular with people i follow but shes a child and a victim and not horrible actually and i want the best for her

song i associate with them: honestly? linkin park - numb. i know its one of their biggest songs and maybe overplayed to some people but its a good song so

favorite picture of them: yes this anime means more to me than words can say and is incredibly affirming every time i watch it. yes one of the characters does turn into a cow that has uhhhh 7+ nipples? yes i counted. no im not proud. no i wont show you that screenshot if you want to see it so bad go hunt it down yourself fkajdslfkalfjslkf

[iztarshi]

Hobbies

Touga doesn’t spend a whole lot of time on hobbies. When we see him he’s mostly either scheming or doing very little besides looking pretty. He does have a few leisure activities though.

Kendo

Boxing

Horse riding

Motorcycling

Kendo and boxing fall into a category as martial arts, particularly ones he can look cool doing (although you’d think boxing carried too much risk to his looks). Kendo, in the present, also seems to be tied to his relationship with Saionji, his interest in it waxing and waning as his interest in connecting with Saionji does. Saionji comments that Touga hasn’t been to the club for a long time in The Rose Crest, implying he stopped after getting Saionji expelled. Perhaps he saw that as a permanent victory and didn’t feel the need to test himself against Saionji until things started to go sideways for him with Akio. Or perhaps he did feel bad enough about that and Saionji’s car ride to avoid Saionji for a bit. The only time we see Touga practicing kendo alone he’s doing it to bait Nanami.

Horse riding, motorcycling and, as a kid, cycling are all connected as involving going somewhere and being in control of where he’s going. Also, all three are situations where Touga takes passengers. The motorcycle has a sidecar, implying he doesn’t usually use it alone (probably he takes girls on it), the bicycle wasn’t built for passengers but he carried Saionji and Nanami on the back, and the one time we see him horse riding he’s coerced Utena into riding with him. The horse riding incident is especially telling because he drops her. Having forced her into a position where she has to accept that he’s in control and be looked after by him he can’t actually keep her safe.

*

Nanami has even less leisure activities than Touga. She spends so much time, energy, and even creativity on bullying that that’s almost a hobby in itself. She claims to do kendo (because Touga does) but we never see her practising and she doesn’t even use the right kind of sword, although she is pretty good. What does she do?

Party planning

Cooking (maybe, but she at least put a bento together herself)

Flower arranging (while cowbelled)

Tea ceremony (at the end)

Party planning seems to be the more legitimate side to Nanami’s approach to bullying. The way she approaches it is high energy, creative, and all about social manipulation. The purpose of Nanami’s parties is to impress everyone, we don’t see her enjoying the company of the people she invites. Given Touga’s behaviour around girls, the parties he attends actually cause her a high amount of anxiety while they’re going on.

The flower arranging and tea ceremony are interesting for being similar. They seem to suggest that when Nanami’s able to calm down, whether through magically induced means or character development, she enjoys quiet, meditative pastimes and leans towards the feminine and traditional.

*

Juri’s hobbies are

Fencing

Bowling

Modelling (technically a job, but I doubt she needs the money)

Fencing takes up a lot of her time, since she not only practises it but teaches it. It’s a major part of her identity and most things around Juri connect back to fencing one way or another. She’s extremely perfectionist, constantly testing herself against everyone around her, although she cautions Miki against that same perfectionism.

Bowling is a low stakes hobby. The fact that we see Juri posing and bowling a strike suggests that she’s still a bit of a perfectionist who likes drawing attention to her skill, but no one takes up ten pin bowling to impress people. It’s nice that Juri can genuinely do something for fun, and presumably with people other than the student council since Nanami had no idea she bowled.

Modelling seems to be almost a status thing. It gives Juri contacts outside Ohtori, adult contacts at that, and adds to her impressive aura by making her part of the “adult world”.

*

Miki is much busier than, say, Touga, but 90% of what he’s busy with outside of playing the piano seems to be studying. He’s doing college level courses and his parents have high expectations for him, which sometimes seem to be all the higher since Kozue refuses to let them have any expectations for her at all. Outside of that the things he does are

Playing the piano

Fencing

and that really seems to be it. Playing the piano is tied up both in his parents expectations and in his own nostalgia, to the point he seems uncertain whether he even enjoys it anymore. He says at one point he’d give it up if he didn’t still hope for his music to reach Kozue, yet he spends almost all his time on it.

Fencing is possibly better for him, since it is at least tied solely to the present and something he’s striving to improve at rather than believing there was a perfect time for it which is past. Still, it seems to be tied up with expectations of perfection, and, of course, with the duelling game. How much of Miki’s desire to improve is about the desire to win Anthy?

I did not start writing this expecting to wind up feeling that Miki’s life is emptier than Touga’s.

*

More than any of the others Saionji���s hobbies seem to be things he actually likes to do rather than having anything to do with expectations or image.

Kendo

Carving

Camping

Cooking

Kendo is part of his image, of course. He’s the captain of the kendo club and very proud of it (if not a little bitter that he knows Touga could have had the role if he’d wanted it). But we often see him practicing kendo alone, and while he does seem to have some of Juri’s star status he doesn’t think about it much and we only see it through Wakaba’s eyes. He fairly often seems to be using the meditative nature of katas as a self-soothing technique (until Touga inevitably interrupts it). Kendo lets him both calm himself and channel his aggression in appropriate ways, things he has very few outlets for.

Carving is clearly something he’s done before, no one learns to do it well in a day, but it’s also something you wouldn’t guess at. He’s not seen carving elsewhere and he doesn’t seem to keep his own carvings (although we do only see his dorm room in the dark). It’s not something he has any particular reason to be embarrassed by, but it still seems to be something he mostly hides.

Saionji’s got a really nice tent and a portable hot plate. Given he doesn’t seem prone to spending money, this makes it seem like camping, cooking, and combining the two are things he’s done before and possibly does regularly. This is definitely something he hides, given how defensive he is when Nanami catches him. Hiding the camping part rather than the cooking is possibly less about embarrassment and more about the point being to get away from people. He’s just been screwed over by Touga, who knows where he lives and is impossible to get rid of when he wants you for something. He’s camping out tonight, and Touga doesn’t know where he is.

We only see him cooking eggs, so it’s hard to say how actually good at cooking he is. But it seems like a Saionji thing, like the carving. Something that requires care, concentration, and skill. He also lives alone and, while he’s in a dorm and might have food provided, he has a stubbornly self-sufficient streak that makes me think he’d know how to cook for himself.

The apron is… adorable :D The logic behind it seems to be that being caught cooking would be embarrassing anyway, so he may as well wear an apron he likes when no one’s going to see it.

In some ways Saionji seems more… whole than a lot of the student council, at least in this sense. Whereas they’d be starting from a position of figuring out what they even liked outside of their image, Saionji knows what he likes, he’d just have to stop hiding it away.

[blond-jerk-tourney]

Blond Jerk Tourney Semifinals 2

Propaganda from submitters Under Cut

Spike

He is a jerk. He is Spike. Of course he is a jerk. And he is a walking paradox. He was bad, is bad, but got better. No you can't fix him, but you can love him for his efforts.

Nanami Kiryuu

She's the mean girl of the show, and a pretty interesting take on the "bitchy vain school rival of the protagonist" trope. She spends most of her early screentime being a bully and most of her later screentime being both the biggest loser imaginable and deeply sad/troubled (which still does not erase how much of an asshole she can be). She even laughs like your stereotypical mean rich girl. Nanami has so many problems and sucks so so bad. I adore her.

Shes a psychotic bully who seeks to ruin the lives and reputations of any girl who gets more of her brothers attention than she does. Reasons Nanami Kiryuu deserves to win: - she has made many attempts at physical and psychological terrorism against Anthy Himemiya (including a plotted wardrobe malfunction at a crowded social gathering) simply for drawing more of her brother's attention than her - tried to fill Anthy's bedroom with wild animals (a snail, a snake, and a live octopus) to make her out to be a freak only to find that her room was already full of wild animals - she bankrolled an elementary schoolers crush on her to turn him into her personal boyservant - briefly non-personed a member of her bully entourage for sharing an umbrella with her brother - received a luxury cowbell due to a shipping error and smugly wore it to school for weeks flaunting it like high coture - when her bully entourage rebelled against her due to her brothers manipulation she brought them back in line by just straight up beating the shit out of all of them - all in all just a petty, goonish motherfucker (she also does the ohohohohoho anime girl laugh)

she's blond: despite being Japanese her hair is yellow, unlike her brother's. yellow is even her image color. she's a jerk: introduced as a jealous and dishonest scheming bully, she is one of the more outwardly antagonistic characters in a cast where pretty much everyone is a Real Piece Of Work she's the best: the quintessential ohoho-laughing ojou, her fully-realized character arc makes people both laugh and cry even her sidekick is a blond jerk! how many blond jerks have their own blond jerk sidekick?

i don't know what you've heard but she's NOT the kind of girl who lays eggs!

The token mean rich girl of the franchise. Does the classic "ohohoho" laugh. Doesn't like either of our main characters. She never actually seems to get her way, and secretly has a lot of her own problems. also she lays eggs and turns into a cow

Absolutely THE quintessential anime mean girl. I mean literally her laughing is THE meme for the hohohoho anime laugh. Needs attention So Badly and straight up bullies anyone she deems a threat to that (so basically Everyone). I haven’t finished RGU but apparently she duels with the intent to kill and drowned a kitten once because it was taking up too much of her brother’s attention? Also she’s 13 which explains a lot

[prettywitchiusaka]

So I wanted to send the next few posts for my “Thing I Love In Utena!” tag talking about everybody’s favourite arc; The Black Rose Arc.

I’ll be honest, the first time I watched Utena, I actually wasn’t crazy about this arc. If I remember right, I think my main criticism of it was that it was a bit too repetitive. But let’s be honest, here; when has Utena NEVER been repetitive?

When I rewatched the series about a year or two later (as I slowly collected Nozomi gorgeous re-release), I actually quite liked this arc more the second time around. So I think it’s safe to say I didn’t “get it” the first time. But then again, this is why I agree with the statement that Utena is one of those shows you need to rewatch a bunch of times to truly grasp at what it’s trying to convey.

If I had to describe what this arc is about, it would be one word; insecurity. And more importantly, how it can drive the most decent people to either believe they are worthless, or the most deceitful things in an attempt to get revenge on the world for “wronging” them.

Much like what I talked about how sex is often thought of by adolescent children or some children, insecurity and inferiority is portrayed as a fear of not becoming what you want. Or feeling that you’re not good enough.

At least that’s how I see it, anyway.

But let’s get down to the nitty gritty of this post, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. Favourite episode from this arc, and favourite duel.

My favourite episode from this arc is probably the one with Shiori (yes, I’ve grown to like Shiori overtime, blow me). Well, that and the Cowbell episode. That one is just so goofy, you can’t help but love it!

But favourite duel? Easy; Utena vs. Wakaba. Well, I say duel, but it’s more of a one sided duel on Wakaba’s part. But seriously, how can you not love this fight? Aside from being gorgeously animated, well paced, acted and scored, and how intense it is, it really makes you feel for Wakaba’s plight.

All she wanted was to be special. She doesn’t view herself as anything other than ordinary, and so she’s attracted to people she knows are special. She loves Utena as a friend for that very reason, and it’s why she adores Saionji, even inspite of that stunt in the first episode, but that’s besides the point. But now she actually spent time with Saionji, she’d taken care of him and had gotten to know him. She felt like they shared a bond. And once she believed that Anthy stole him from her, that was the last straw. Her own rage and insecurity of being inferior made her go to Mikage to vent. And even in her brainwashed state, her anger was full bloom and it made her lash out. Which is probably why she’s the only Black Rose duelist who went straight for Anthy rather than duel Utena for her, first.

I could go on and on, but I think I’ll leave it at that, for now.

[raguna-blade]

Revolutionary Girl Utena Episode 16-20

Welp, after last weeks hot bullshit, things have taken a minor upshot. Minor, in that things are still uh... Well.

Episode 16

GODDAMNIT AGAIN? ITS BEEN LIKE TWO EPISODES?

What hell is coming this time. C'mon. I got it. I'm cool. We're ready.

...Anthy late night infomercials....Uh. Curious choice of entertaintment.

Nanami's about to get called out for infomercial shopping sin't she?

Yep.

Juri immediately rolls in and styles on everyone.

Nanami's about to try and pass this. uh...cowbell off as jewelery

and

God. She's trying. She's trying so hard.

And I know anthy is behind this somehow. But damn Nanami. You're...Well...

Ok, so so far the filler hasn't been filler and is she just wearing the duelist suit out and about?

For real though, if the filler thing holds.

Oh she just admits it's a designer cowbell. Ok. Well...Damn. She's got the mad confidence to try and pull this off. Go her then. Fuck all the haters.

But still and for real, it's a cowbell nanami.

Oh hey it's the boy. Mitsuru trying his best.

Utena trying to spit the truth and people pulling bullshit trying to silence the truth.

….What. What the hell is going on here. She got turned into a cow...? There's..There's a song?

And we got the mad silhouettes. Her last meal?

Her last meal? God, i'm not sure I want to try and analyze this episode right now. I'm 100% sure the context won't occur until like the last episode or some shit but.

Is...Is she...Is she turning into a cow...? by wearing the bell...?

SHADOW GIRLS? OFF BRAND SHADOW GIRLS

muck my life are the filler episodes just supposed to be keys dressed up stupidly so we don't look at em closely.

And they're just..They're just going fucking in on this aren't they.

Why the hell did he go to Anthy and Utena. Mitsuru what do you knowwwwwwwwwwwwww

...Is she legit fucking cursed with this (Apparently?) pretty ass bell.

REAL SHADOW GIRSL? Squeak queak mouse girls...Uh..

Uh...Wait, with anthy as mouse thing last episode what is...what is happening.

Nanami slowly becoming  a cow.

Utena: Take the Cowbell off Anth-Nananmi.

Oh my god it is a fucking metaphor. It's...

Oh my god oh my god it is. Utena's spiel here sounds a lot like STOP PRETENDING TO BE A ROSE BRIDE BEING A ROSEBRIDE OR WHATEVER.

Also...Seeing Red and flipping out is a Bull thing, so the Rosebride thing is 100% and she just turned into a fucking cow..

And the imagery with the cutting the cowbell off and nanami turning...normal reads like a black row.

Chasing Status Symbols is BS: JURI FULL OF THE BLING

Anthy 100% DID THIS ON PURPOSE. The Nose Ring.

Ah next episode. Trifling territory once more.

Episode 17

Old Girlfriend(Crush?) Blues?

Juri just out here beastin on people. So Business as usual.

Oh, that's the face of shit about to go down.

And She just fucking dipped. I'm sure it was fine.

People can just LEAVE Ohtori? That's a thing?

Shiori: I did in fact, fuck up real bad. Also I don't got a roommate which is...

oh Hey, it's Dude Anthy and Utena.

Hurting yourself on Purpose...? huh.

Nanami out here questioning people's gimmicks.

….Is..Is the sword thing supposed to be sexual? Oh god. How the fuck did I miss that. Also Nanami, please stop aping your brother it's weird.

Shiori, you LEGIT stole her man. Which she wasn't even into, but god.

Did that Bird Kill itself running into the window? Uh...? uhhhhhhhhh.

Utena. You..you do not know what you're stepping into god.

OH GOD PLEASE JUST STAY AWAY FROM HIM. I AM BEGGING YOU.

Talking about Innocence and purity. UUUUUUUUUUGH.

YES THANK GOD SHOWER OF SADNESS SO MUCH BETTER.

….Oh fuck is Juri about to get got by the Black Rose jerks?

Oh, this is not how she wanted this to go down

FUCK HELLINTERVIEW TIME

Hated Juri. ok.

What's with the butterfly regression. Dear god. These freak outs are just...

Your only choice is to revolutionze, hey, no, that's super not fucking true. That's some edgecase bullshit. Uuuuuugh.

Uh. Uh. What the FUCK is going on with these roses I swear to god.

….Have all of these been in her goddamn locker?

….Whats...what? Wait did she just acknowledge the shadow girls? Assuming I just didn't miss it is it like...Utena getting closer understanding to...Whatever weird bullshit magic field that exists in ohtori?

….Birds huh. Are the black roses supposed to be like...I guess the Jungian Shadow thing? Huh.

EVEN LIGHT MAKES DARKNESS? What the...

Wait, does sword stealing grant the sword's....owner? Their talent? Anthy...?

Also, are we EVER going to get a reaction to the weirdness.

Bird in the oven. And...Juri just waking up

Wait a fucking second. Anthy just offerred up...analysis? Of a person? Conversation partner.

Episode 18

Nanami out here asking the real fucking questions. WHY SO SERIOUS GUYS THIS SHITS OBJECTIVELY HILARIOUS.

Oh god is Mitsuru the next duelist? Is Utena Going to fight an EVEN YOUNGER CHILD?

ROSES ARE VERY SENSITVE TO THE CHANGES OF THE SEASONS. Given the roses seem to be kinda like...people representatives that's..

Also, Anthy, sympathizing with the boy who wants to be the...servant? Boytoy? What.

Also, why is nanami consistently got the fucking reads when she isn't up her own ass?

Mitsuru ACT LIKE A KID, says nanami.

Mitsuru: It's...Just a banana. I don't get it. BUT THE INDIRECT KISS THOUGH.

Mikage Seminar. AGAIN.

Those Three Dudes. Wait.

GOD FUCKING DAMNIT. PLEASE DON”T

AKIO: AS THE STARS AGE THEY LOSE THEIR SHINE.

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaajustdon'tstopscreaming.

...wait elevato-no. But we got a black rose. Are...

Wait are the black roses specific people or are they more generalized.

Mitsuru is trying so hard. He's a hardcore kid, but he's trying damnit.

Girl: This is gonna end badly. You're Real Dumb

Proven Right Immediately. She's got the reads.

Mitsuru: ADULT THINGS! BEIN AN ADULT!

Nanami, are you jealous? Of a Kid?

Nanami: you shouldnt be in a rush. You don't gotta be an adult.

OH BOY ELEVATOR TIME.

Mitsuru has such a crush, it's cute and he doesn't know what to do and he's just gotta ride those feels. Puberty is apparently rough for him.

Mitsuru break the world fuck it.

Uh...the framing here is...um. Disquieting in a weird way?

KNIFE AND SWORD and what the fuck is with the rose...?

Shadow Time: The Metaphor is uh...pretty on the nose here.

And Utena is 100% reacting to the shadow girls.

Anywya, time to beat up a child.

Oh he just fucking oes. Just like Nanami in fairness but.

Wait. Heed your master and come forth. Like the phrasing suggests the duelist but...Anthy is the one who calls the sword. Uh..hm.

Defeat the adults ahead of you that's an adult? Huh.

So, I checked it, but the bodies seem to be mirrors of the people who got dueled. So...That's interesting.

Did...Did nanami just catch feels from the kid? Ok. Well. Alright.

Episode 19

Wakaba Prince Dreams. Nice.

Wakaba gonna make someone a nice wife. Huh. Wakaba, don't take that out of his hands.

Onion Prince.

Brown Rose Wakaba? ok.

You...you gonna give that her? It's for her. Wakab, you of all should know better.

...Y'all got some history wakaba? Oh. She crushed on him when little. Baw.

HOW MANY TIMES ARE THEY GONNA REPEAT THAT!?

4 times?

Tatsuya tryin I guess, but hm. I sense a hellavator ride.

PLAYIN AROUND WITH ELEMENTARY SCHOOL STUDENT.

POT MEET KETTLE God.

Please. Just...get out. I beg you. Anthy's there but...

Thinly Veiled BUT SECRET HEARTS: IMMEDIATELY VIEW ANTHY.

Wakaba, you've got guts for days, you got this just spit it out.

Utena don't call wakaba out like this.

Also, Her prince is REAL THANK YOU MUCH.

The Utena Tea Sip I need as a reaction gif. Just...

Damn Tats, you dense. Also, dumb. The Indirectness. Kid. Just...Tell her.

...So princes change from person to person? Huh.

THE FAKE OUT. Thank goodness. But Shadow girls. Uh...hm.

Are...are the tires..Princes...? Wha..

her reacting to the shadow girls is weirding me out hard.

Oh god is this gonna be a cute moment? OH THEYRE GETTING CLOSER!

WHOA THE FAKE OUT AGAIN.

TATSUYA YOU STAY OUT OF THERE GODDAMNIT

Hooboy.Hellavatored.

Uh...Uh tats. You...

Wait, is the elevator going up?

Huh. So...The Elevator is praying on darkness? OK.

SAIONJI IS BACK. THATS WAKABA'S PRINCE!

So...That might work poorly. Or maybe it'll be fine?

That's A Dueling Wakab, so no, not great.

Episode 20

Wait, is Saionji just bumming at her house? Dorm room?

Saionji confirmed to be attractive to many so...MK.

...Are they off campus?

She's legit storing this boy in her room.

I...ok. That home exchange was weird.

I can't tell if Saionji is pulling a woe is me thing or if he's legit had a turn of heart.

I mean I guesss he's had to think things through.

JUST PRAYING TO GOD. SUPER RELIGIOUS YEP SUPES TOTES INTO GOD YEAH

...How is he glistening like that.

But Wakaba, like he's still a dick. So...What...how. Do you just got the bad taste?

As Long as I have this secret I'm special! Oh...hoooooooooooboy.

Oh no, saionji sounds jerky still. Oh no. maybe it's fine.

...Is...Is she his sugar momma. And apparently this caused wakaba to just go super mode somehow so that's...interesting.

The lighting here is making this otherwise innocuous exchange weird.

Why are you doing a back bridge in this room? Also...please. Get out of there.

Saionji...? That's..actually kinda sweet. STILL GOT A BAD VIBE GOIN ON HERE.

Saionji asking bout the student council. And...he asked about anthy. Welp. Welllllp.

Welp. Oh no. wakaba. Wakabaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Mikage how the hell did you get there?

Saionji, immediately on the uptake.

HELLAVATOR TIME. Also, damn saionji, you given out the same gift?

I seem to recall Wakaba slapping Anthy, so that's just foreshadowing now.

Oh she looks like she's gonna murder.

Saionji gave mikage the thing so....

SHE JUST GRABBED HIM BY THE THROAT

SHADOW TIME

Marriage uh..ok.

Also, Saionji is, in fact, a fucking dip, but he does at least seem to have a solid grasp on gift giving. Or at least what's owed and such, even if he misses the value of things. So...Ok, credit where it's due.

Wait, that was a shinai right? Is this...is this Utena Vs Saionji from the otherside now? With Utena as the Established duelist with the weird sword?

Yeah that's a face of shock.

Anthy: GET SWORD RIGHT THE FUCK NOW DO IT NOW HOLY SHIT DO IT NOW.

Wakaba CAME IN TO KILL ANTHY FUCK THIS DUEL SHIT.

SHE IS NOT REMOTELY PLAYING AROUND. Nanami? Playing games. Wakaba? NOT FUCKING AROUND IN THE LEAST.

Second Duel(?) Utena has won without the cursed ass holy sword thing. I think. Third. Rather.

Saionji feelin himself.

Poor wakaba. She looks so...done.