#Kiryuu Siblings

[transmascutena]

Bird Symbolism in Revolutionary Girl Utena

There is quite a large amount of bird and bird-related imagery, symbolism, allegories and metaphors in Revolutionary Girl Utena, and i think all of them are very interesting. Here is a ~2000 word essay about the topic.

The Birdcage Garden: Anthy and Ohtori Academy

This is perhaps the most obvious of the bird symbols in Utena. It is literally Anthy's cage. It is where she, as the Rose Bride, is supposed to spend her time watering the flowers. Touga talks about never letting her out of it once he wins her, and calls her a "lovely little bird." And doesn't that just sum up what so many people's idealized version of her is like? A pretty thing to be admired, only in captivity.

I think the birdcage can also be seen as a sort of microcosm of Ohtori Academy as a whole. Akio does call the school "a garden where people will never become adults," after all, and Anthy is not the only person trapped there, nor is she the only character associated with birds.

According to this analysis, "Ohtori" as a word can mean "big bird" in japanese, and is also a Japanese term for the Fenghuang bird in Chinese mythology, said to be "beautiful, immortal and rules over all birds." Sounds a lot like a certain someone in charge of this place, doesn't it? Which would make every person in Ohtori a bird, symbolically speaking, trapped in the cage that is the academy and ruled by Akio (who, despite being the biggest, and the one with the most control, is also a caged bird.)

Additionally, the statue on the gate to the dueling arena is in the shape of a bird, before it transforms into a rose when opened. I am not sure exactly what this means, but I assume it is in some way symbolic of Akio, Anthy and Ohtori.

The Bird and the Window: Shiori and Juri

The bird that flies into the window during Shiori and Juri's conversation in episode 17 is a Java Sparrow. Despite its name, it is a part of the Estrildid Finch family, but I think the symbolism for sparrows fits the context more, as they can represent love, devotion and compainionship, all of which are very relevant for Juri and Shiori.

The bird is also the symbolic item for Shiori's black rose duel, which means we should associate the bird mainly with her. What, exactly, is the window, then? I think it is symbolic of Shiori's feelings for Juri, Juri's feelings for Shiori, or most likely both. The bird hits the window directly after Juri says "Is that all you have to say to me?" and turns to leave. The bird hits something it could not see in its flight, just as Shiori hits against something that hurts her, even if she doesn't understand it, in her conversation with Juri. The bird is shown to be lying still, presumably dead, after Juri reveals that she was never in love with the boy Shiori "stole" from her.

The bird is shown again after Juri throws her locket in the lake, and before Shiori finds it in her dorm. I've heard it discussed that this implies the bird retrieved the locket (probably through Anthy-as-Mamiya), and if the bird is symbolic of Shiori and the locket is symbolic of Juri's feelings for her, it would mean Shiori is the one to bring them back after Juri tries to rid herself of them. This makes sense.

The Bird Nest: Kozue and Miki

The bird nest that Kozue rescues from the tree that is going to be cut down is symbolic of her and Miki. Or, at least they are symbolic of how Kozue views the two of them. The comparison is pretty straightforward; Kozue projects her and Miki's feelings of abandonment onto these baby chicks, who have been left behind by their parents, just like the two of them were when their parents divorced. I think she projects her protectiveness over her brother moreso than her own feelings about the whole thing, as Kozue likes to think of herself as very independent ("a wild animal") and very unaffected by it all. As seen by her attempt to save the birds in the first place, she is very willing to put herself at risk, and is less concerned with her own feelings/safety.

Now, I don't want to get too much into speculation, but I have to wonder if there was more going on in the Kaoru family than just the divorce and the too-high expectations for the "twin prodigies." Miki's uncharacteristic cynicism in saying "adults who tell you something is for your own good can never be trusted," as well as Kozue's total disregard for authority and her tendency to use her sexuality as a tool both concern me. Although Miki and Kozue's parents are not explicitly shown to be abusive, I do not think it is a stretch to say that there is a possibility that they were. It explains some of Kozue's behaviour in regards to Miki as well. It's not just posesiveness but protectiveness. She has needed to protect him before, and she feels she needs to protect him still (pushing the predatory teacher down the stairs, saving the birds she sees his innocence in.)

Interestingly enough, Anthy interacts with these chicks as well. She advices Miki on how to feed and take care of them. Utena even comments on how unusually straight forward she's being about the whole thing. This might just be another instance of characterizing Anthy as a person who is fond of animals, and that is certainly part of it, but i think there is more to it as well. If these baby birds are symbolic of (Miki and Kozue's, but also a general) feeling of abandonment by parents/adults, as well as their potential abuse, what does that mean for Anthy not only knowing how to take care of them, but being eager to talk about it? Could it perhaps be that she, like Kozue, sees herself in them? Like Kozue, Anthy herself is symbolically a bird, but a caged one in contrast to Kozue's claims of being a wild animal. Could it be that Anthy has had to become an expert in taking care of those (herself) that have been abandoned or failed or abused by the adults in their lives? Rememeber that this is the same episode where she says that Akio is more like a father to her than a brother. A parallel is indirectly being drawn between him and the Kaoru parents.

If Miki and Kozue's parents were abusive, this might be a rare moment of Anthy empathising with other victims, telling them through metaphor how to take care of themselves. Although, it doesn't keep her from continuing to manipulate them, as she goes on to say her line about returning the chicks to their mother, which is what sets Kozue off. Anthy also says that she's never actually raised chicks before. Maybe she's not very good at taking care of them (herself) after all.

There's also what looks like two caged parakeets in Miki's flashback of their childhood. I assume this has similar meaning to Anthy's birdcage, as a feeling of being trapped, in this case by their parents' expectations for them. Kozue used to be a caged bird, but now claims to be a wild one, despite still being inside the birdcage that is Ohtori.

Brood Parasitism: Nanami and Touga (and Utena)

The Kaoru's are not the only sibling pair in Utena to be compared to birds. In Episode 31, Her Tragedy, a pretty unique shadow play is put on in the Chairman's Tower about a cuckoo leaving its egg in another bird's nest, a phenomenon known as brood parasitism. It also references the fairy tale The Ugly Duckling by Hans Christian Andersen. Perhaps the most interesting part of this play is that it's done in the style of the ones in the black rose arc, with C-Ko playing all the roles, the return of the monkey-catching robot, and Utena's fourth-wall breaking commentary at the end. I won't get into what this means, as it doesn't have anything to do with the bird metaphor, but maybe in another post.

This shadow play is about how Nanami and Touga were adopted, and specifically about Nanami's feelings on the matter. Of course adopted children are not parasites, but it makes sense for Nanami to think along those lines, considering her fear of being compared to animals or aliens, and of being ostracized by the society she lives in. Nanami doesn't actually know that she is adopted, only that Touga is, which muddies that interpretation a little. Perhaps it is about Nanami blaming Touga's birth parents for "leaving him in another nest"? Something about her resentment of Touga at this point in time, thinking of him as a parasite in their family? Or simply her fear of what not being his blood-relative means.

I'm more confident about the Ugly Duckling reference, and it being symbolic of Nanami's worry of not fitting in among her peers. Nanami mainly copes with this by thinking that the reason she doesn't fit in, is because she is actually better than everybody else, because she's related to Touga (being a beautiful swan among the common ducks.) The play ends with the cuckoo insisting that it will become a swan one day, when really it can't. It will never be a duck that fits in, either. It will always just be what it is, a parasite (a space-alien. A girl who lays eggs.) This reflects Nanami's despair at the idea that she's "just another fly in the swarm" after her duel in the next episode.

And like all the shadow plays this one can be interpreted as being about Utena as well. She is an orphan who is now being raised in Akio and Anthy's "nest". Although she wasn't placed there by anyone but Akio himself, so it's more about her insecurities about feeling like an outsider in their family. And like the Ugly Duckling/cuckoo, she is also out of place among the rest of the students, and dreams of growing up to be something she can't actually become, in this case a prince. (credits to this analysis on the shadow plays for helping me piece together my thoughts on that. Always cite your sources!)

Cuckoos can also be symbolic of one-sided love, and is the origin of the word cuckoldry. Make of that what you will.

I should mention that Nanami also lays an egg of her own a few episodes prior. ...Or does she?

Her nightmare sequences show her fears of being compared to a chicken, a turtle, a frog, and of course, a space alien, but it is quite obviously a bird egg. And since we are later shown that Anthy has a chicken named Nanami, much like the cow with the same name, it can be assumed that the egg comes from there, and that Anthy brought it to Nanami's bed, perhaps via Chu-Chu. Could this relate to the brood parasitism of the cuckoo in some way? Is this not one bird (Anthy) laying its egg in another bird's (Nanami's) nest (bed) and getting them to raise it? is this what Anthy means when she tells Miki she has never personally raised chicks? Are all of these metaphors connected??? There's also the fan-theory that Nanami's egg hatched a reincarnated Chu-Chu, and in that case would he be the baby cuckoo while Anthy is the mother and Nanami is the duck? I'll be honest I'm not really sure what to make of it at this point. Draw whatever conclusion you want!

Last and probably least interesting is the third of Nanami associated bird imagery: the crow in episode 10. Crows can be symbolic of death, and it feels safe to say that this one is just here to set the mood of the scene, and as visual confirmation that the kitten did indeed die. Not too much to say there.

The Chicken and the Egg: The Student Council

I'd be remiss if i didn't mention the student council's chicken and egg speech in this post as well, even if it has been analyzed to hell and back by hundreds of people before me. It is a reference to Hermann Hesse's book Demian. It is about breaking out of childhood and into adulthood. It is about escaping Ohtori, which is both the egg and the cage (and interestingly enough, during the speech birds can be seen flying by outside the cage of the elevator.) In Nanami's version of the egg speech she mentions "the cage of freedom" and how it cares for the chick. This something that ideally should be true for schools. A place that limits children, but in a way that prepares them for the adult world. Of course, Ohtori as a system has no interest in this, as it is a cage in its most literal sense: a place to keep people trapped. Trapped in their harmful behaviours, in their lack of growth, in their idealized memories of the past, and most of all, in childhood.

And with that, we have come full circle back to Anthy's birdcage as a symbol for all of Ohtori. Thanks for reading :)

[continentaltheater]

Goodbye hug

It's for the better

[originalwinnercheesecake]

Future Career Headcannons for the Characters from Revolutionary Girl Utena, after they escape Ohtori

Anthy Himemiya: Work in/ own a flower shop. Utena suggests this to Anthy herself in the show after Anthy tells her that she only wishes for a future where she can keep tending to her flowers. Anthy smiles at the suggestion.... IF not that... well I got the idea for this after reading a fanfic where Anthy is a veterinary. That would make a good second option for Anthy since animals, like flowers, where her comforts during her imprisonment as the Rose Bride. Also of course she would find Utena, and they could be together without Akio and the games getting in their way,

Utena Tenjô: A Securtiy Gaurd. So in the show Utena is very Chivalrous and wants to protect people "to be like a Noble Prince". Her intentions come from a good place and are not necessarily bad in of themselves. An active job, where she could protect/help people would be good for her. But she also has difficulty sometimes understanding the complexity of others problems, and is prone to being manipulated. I decided against suggesting "Police Officer" because then she could be manipulated again, by a more corrupted Chief/Head of Squadron. I think a security guard would be a better job for her because there is more structure and a clearer (necessary) objective. Observing a surrounding putting a stop to any fight/trouble that break out suits Utena more than investigative questioning or arresting bad guys does.

Touga Kiryuu: I believe Touga is alive in the Anime and head cannon that he grew up into a: Hairstylist. He was a bit of a hard one because I could only really think of one time in the show where he seemed like he genuinely liked or was happy doing something; and that was when he was playing with the kitten. Now he can foster stray cats on the side as a hobby/volunteer work (probably the only volunteer work he would ever do) but it won't pay his bills. So I had to think harder. Now apparently his abusive relationship with his adoptive father is cannon across the board (shudders because no one deserves that). That man is the one who made Touga grow his hair long, and one thing the fandom seems to universally agree Touga should do for himself if/when he is finally able to get away from the bad people in his life is to cut his hair short. Well I actually think that once he is free learning about all different ways to cut and style hair would be something he would really enjoy. It might also be theraputic to be in an enviroment where he gets to exsursize this knowledge/activity regualrly. Lastly hair stylists at shops can sometimes be flirty and chatty to customers, and some will act flamboyant too. I imagine Touga's chair would be pretty popular. Don't date your customers Touga

Kyouichi Saionji: A cook. Saionji might be the most unstable character in the duels. He actually got kicked out of the duels and the school,saw the world outside...came back to Ohtori on his own. Met a girl he could have a happy and healthy relationship with. Decided that was wrong/to much for him, and left her to rejoin a system he knew just wanted to abuse and manipulate him. He is both the dumbest character show and the most aware: From the upside down castle, to the more dangerous parts of loving someone, to Touga's BS, to Akio... Saionji knows it is all fake but always clings to it... except for one breif episode where he took a break and did some pretty positive things for himself... In episode 27 "Nanami's egg" Saionji decides the moon and weather are "beautiful" tonight and that he will leave school grounds on his own and go camping. He also decided to cook (a traditionally feminine role... made all the more feminine by him dawning a frilly apron) his own food. He is out of school, he unconcerned with appearing all powerful and completely masculine. He is relaxed and smiling. Nanami came up to him and tried to instigate a fight, which Saionji responded to by remaing calm and trying to gently talk her down. You have this one moment where Saionji is being completely non-toxic and its peaceful. He is still far from perfect (At least one, and possibly all, of his eggs he found on the forest floor. Not very hygienic). But still, teach the man what a grocery store is and let him cook more meals (and wear more frilly aprons). Maybe he can camp more when he has time off

.... On that note I do ship TougaxSaionji in season 3, and post show. So if they go camping together they will need a pet-sitter for Touga's foster cats. Maybe Nanami can do it? That would be a nice way for her to make up for and show growth after killing Touga's kitten from their childhood.

Nanami Kiryuu: I just mentioned Nanami so I might as well do her next. This girl is gonna want to be a T.V. Reporter. Possibly a weather girl at first, but most likely her goal would be to be a event "gossip" reporter. She is one of the most difficult ones to for groups/people to impress. and many of her questions an comments are super random and outlandish and their is no way to be prepared for what she might say/do. Her viewers though it eat it all up and consider her to be the funniest personnel on T.V. Working as the shows Lead Producer Nanami's long time, platonic, childhood friend: Mitsuru Tsuwabuki. Yeah I don't really ship these two as anything more than good friends..Their show ages aside, I notice that their relationship mostly becomes unhealthy when one tries to make it romantic. But do show genuine care for each other in a platonic sense and are kind enough that you hope their friendship lasts. So yeah instead of them becoming husband and wife with 2.5 kids, make them partners in "crime" (a.k.a buisness) with Nanami being the face and Tsuwabuki being the brains, just as it was between them in the show (as opposed to Nanami's relationship with her cronies where it was flipped).

Miki Kaoru: A math teacher/professor. I very much do not want Miki to grow up to become a concert pianist. The piano is a beautiful instrument and playing it is a wonderful skill. Since teachers do not make that much, Miki can always have a secondary side job tutoring kids in playing it on the weekends. But do not let the piano continue to be the center of his life when it is also such a symbol of his own nativity, and how he has been manipulated into serving others. Both Touga and Akio use the Piano to get Miki to do what they want in the duels. But we also learn that his father used to exploit him and Kozue as publicity tools (which sadly broke them apart). Notice that "The Sunlight Garden" is such a famous piece that even Utena has heard of it, but no one has heard that Miki is the one who originally composed it. He got no credit. He also admits that he kept playign as he started to grow up mostly out of nostalgia for when he and Kozue were younger and had an easier time getting along. Miki's academic success has always felt "just his" in a way that the piano did not, and it has more to do with his present and future than his past. Math seems like it's his best subject, and he is able to be both an effective teacher and develop a positive relationship with Utena and Anthy, when he agree's to tutor them in it. (Up until Anthy has to go and start playing that piano song.) So in adulthood I hope Miki can, not necessarily give up the piano (forget his early childhood), but give his other talents (other stages of his life) some more focus. Math Teacher/Professor Miki, who maybe tutors in music on the side.

Juri Arisugawa: Own a bowling Ally. Juri's three main extra curricular in the anime are fencing, modeling, and bowling. Fencing is her main one. She is acting head of the fencing team. My reasons for not making "Champion Fencer" her career are similar to the ones I gave for not making "Concert Pianist" Miki's. It was an talent and hobby of Juri's that was exploited by both the games and others, and is surround by so much negativity. She took up her sword to prove that miracles do not exist, even though she wishes she believed in them. Also Miki was her only friendly relationship on that Team. All her other subordinates feared her, and she was terrified of Ruka, who was known to be stronger than her. I also rejected Modeling because then Juri would work for an agent and model products that a designer or company wants to make money selling. I definitely think Juri should be her own boss, just in a less hostile environment than Ohrito's fencing team. I like what she said about bowling in "Nanami's Egg": how she does it just because she "thinks it feels good". In what I think was episode 37 Juri states "I used to only think about myself... now I cannot stop think about myself". To me her statment implies that she wants to start thinking more about things that make her happy rather than sad. Juri has got to have some money saved from modeling gigs and Fencing tournaments. Let Juri use that as Seed money to open up a bowling ally, that she can make into a play where she and other can go, and play, and just feel good/happy doing so. Make that Juri's miracle to believe in.

Kozue Kaoru: A School Guidance Counselor. For her I am going the route of "be the person you needed growing up". Kozue is protective of people. You see that in her pushing down the teacher she thought was groping Miki.... except that the teacher was not groping Miki, they were just talking. He had his arm around Miki elbow, not his backside like Kozue thought; and Miki was laughing because of a joke, not because he was being flirted with. (Has Kozue ever seen her brother try to flirt/react to flirting? Miki is a panicked, shaking, mess). Both Miki and Kozue were used in a way by adults when they kids, and then again in the duels as teens. Kozue seems to understand that they were used where Miki did not. But, she also continuously seeks out relationships where she will still be used and craves, yet rejects, more emotional ones. Examples being how she is mentioned to have several boyfriends that she is physical with but does not have any kind of emotion attachment to them. She yells that she does not need her parents, and then goes out with an adult man, the night she learns her dad is getting married again. Lastly she refuses the homemade milkshake her brother makes her saying "I cannot have anything that sweet", does she mean the milkshake or the gesture? Since she does ask for one later on I am going to wager that Kozue does not have any special dietary needs. The PoBaW line "We accept the love we think we deserve" really fits Kozue and how she allows other to love her. But she has moments of stepping away from this "I only deserve to be loved as a tool" mindset, Like when she let Miki take care of her at home after "fainting from anemia". Or the couple times she goofs off at the piano; when it is just her and trusted friends, who do not care if she is plays the key sloppy. She is making baby steps towards a healthier mindset on relationships in the show. If she can build on that, post Akio and Anthy, then maybe, like Utena, she could use what she went through to keep protecting the "Inocent children" she relates her past too.

Also Maybe she and Miki could work in the same school (NOT Ohtori, but a good school) ,and that way they could still have time together, while also doing their own thing.

Shiori Takatsuki: Well the first thing I want her to be is as far away from Juri as possible. Sorry to people who ship them, but give me one healthy or not toxic moment between them? One moment after their early childhood where one makes the other happy? One moment were being around the other doesn't make them remember just how miserable and angry they are? Pretty much every relationship in the show has some kind of skill/wealth/power imbalance between them, and some kind of love and hate balance too. Utena and Anthy are the main ones, but all the secondary characters were meant to have relationships that mirror certain aspects of UtenaxAnthy. If Touga and Saionji (who at least have some moments of working through their issues together) are a parallel to Utena and Anthy, than I always saw Juri and Shori as a warning sign to them... that if you are not careful and do not work on things then hate, jealousy, and toxicity can destroy once loving relationships. So for these reasons I do not want her to be Juri's business partner, or even run a similar business as Juri's Bowling Ally. Shori would always see Juri's establishment as better, because she saw everything Juri did as better than her, and would never be able to enjoy her own work. Instead maybe she could find some enjoyment in a completely different field. One that maybe doesn't really suit Juri in the long run. Shori is just as pretty as Juri, a little more girly, very social, and she likes being part of a team and relying on others. I think she would be a good model period, not just in comparison to her old rivial.

Wakaba Shinohara: A Nurse. Do I really need to explain this one? Wakaba is like the most caring soul imaginable. She has wonderful optimism, great bedside manner, and is not afraid to call people out on not taking proper care of themselves. Plus I could see her having romantic fantasy's about some rich and successful man coming to stay at the hospital while he was sick, and falling in love with her due to the excellent care she took of him. Let her have her day dreams. The girl would be a fantastic nurse either way.

Keiko Sonoda: It is late and I so not want to pretend Keiko was that deep or complex of of a character. She was a lackey to the queen bee. She hated being a lackey but liked being a bully, because she kept doing that even after Nanami lost her crown. Underneath all that she falls really hard for her crushes, and likes to dress up... So either she can be a housewife to a (hopefully) nice man, or maybe she can go into clothing design.

Tatsuya Kazami: A therapist/Life Coach. The Blackrose tried to manipulate his unresolved feelings for another into making him duel. Something they have sucessfully done to more than 100 others before. But despite Tatsuya's pain over learing his crush loved someone else, and Mikage (a.k.a Akio and Anthy) doing everything that has worked numerous times before, Tatsuya is able to calm himself down. He changes his persepctive and decides "You know what? I don't need to be this upset. My crush liking someone else right now isn't the worst thing in the world. They probably will not date forever. I care about her enough to stay friends and wait for her to decide to give me a chance." Tatsuya did not need a sword. He beat Mikage, depression, despair, and anger all down, with just a few minutes and a handful of sentences.

Mamiya, Mikage, Kanae, and Ruka:.... Well they all die, so they will not grow up to be anything. Very tragic. I suppose not everyone was going to be able to leave that school alive.

[arielluva]

was trying to figure out how to draw their faces

[cacaitos]

table knife.

[ohtori-dropout]

Touga never was Nanami’s “prince” in any capacity. Sure, it looks like it from first glance, but what seems like a power move in Nanami’s final duel is a telltale sign of the truth. Nanami is the “prince”, and Touga is her Rose Bride - he took the swords of their family, after all. Nanami spent her childhood protected from the knowledge of their true situation, from their “father’s” abuse, and, for a while, from Akio. However, Touga switches his allegiance to Akio, and Nanami’s protection is gone. By the end of the series, the swords are careening towards her. Yes, Nanami is a victim, but so is Utena. So is Dios, to an extent. Being a “prince” while being young, while being perceived as a woman, while being a person of color, does not free you. You will be used and tossed aside just like the rest if you do not leave.

[red-elric]

nanami wants to protect touga from girls who only want him for status and attention, but that protective streak combined with her naïvety about his actual trauma and situation with their father and akio leads him to resent her for even trying. likewise, touga wants to protect nanami from the abuse and trauma he suffered, but his protective streak combined with his warped perspective of how things should be leads her to be suffocated and hurt by how he controls and manipulates her. they both love and hurt each other so, so much, and its easy to see how a relationship like theirs could become warped and damaged enough that only the hurt and the memory of love remains, becoming a relationship like anthy and akio, who no longer truly love each other but are trapped in the habit of protecting one another, even though that protection itself is what is slowly killing their relationship. the key to escaping this cycle for the kiryuus is communication and clarity; they are still at a point where they deeply love each other despite the tension, and if they understood one another better they would have a chance at fixing their relationship. for anthy and akio, the actual love is long gone; separation is the only remaining option for either of them to heal

[thatsamonkey]

I love looking through the comments while i rewatch rgu but I also absolutely hate it because every single time it's an episode where Nanami is a main focus half the comments are just people talking about annoying and weird she is. Like i've seen someone say that she undergoes no growth throughout the entire series and that is just insane. Anways Live, Laugh, Love Nanami !

[aroanthy]

kiryuu sibling stasis post-32 is so interesting to me. nanami tries to leave and is (temporarily but also, crucially, violently) prevented from doing so by touga and akio. after this experience she puts distance between herself and them: she leaves touga’s phone in the car, she resigns from the student council (though she dons her old uniform still), she repeatedly dismisses and undermines the authority of the rose code, of end of the world, of akio, of touga. but she’s still in ohtori, isn’t she? uncomfortable with the idea of leaving, uncertain if it’s really possible. she tried before, and it hurt her. deeply. it’s so interesting to me, nanami’s agency and how she limits her exertion of it after 32, when she realises it for what it is. contrast that with touga, who accepts this weird stalemate between them, who is, really, uninterested in having any relationship of any kind with nanami if he can’t gain something from her. he’s very passive with her after 32, compared to the passivity he’d always feigned towards her before in order to stoke reactions from her and then exploit them. i was thinking about how touga has always been able to sever his relationship with nanami, but chosen not to; first out of a sense of obligation (‘we should live to help each other’) then a realisation of how that could be exploited. i was thinking about how nanami has never realised her ability to leave, in part because it is limited by touga and the harm he does her. i was thinking about the desperation and confusion akio calls out to anthy with as she leaves. i was thinking about how different that is to the kiryuus’ strange semi-breakdown; touga doesn’t want or need nanami, and nanami might love her brother but she cannot trust him or feel safe around him, doesn’t want to see him anymore; she’s itching to leave, and just a little scared (you know, because last time she tried that her brother assaulted her), and he’s not doing anything because ignoring her means he doesn’t have to deal with the emotions of her leaving or staying. something something gendered power dynamics something something tragic siblings

[witchscradle]

I'm rotating Nanami and Kozue in my head and having some thoughts:

Nanami and Kozue essentially want the same thing (the love and attention from their brothers) but they want it in completely different ways. In some way Nanami is more similar to Miki, she wants to go back to a time when she was — or perceived herself to be — the main object of Touga's attention. This time might never have existed (as we see her insecurities already in her childhood leading to the cat incident) which means Nanami needs to constantly affirm her role in Touga's life through a strict performance. Everything about how she acts, including her treatment of Anthy, is a reflection of this unstable role she occupies and her desperate attempt at regaining some control of it.

Meanwhile, Kozue wants to be seen and loved by Miki as herself, not an idealized version conjured by Miki's nostalgia and his fear of change. She wants her present self to be seen and understood. But Miki wants Kozue to be his rose bride (in Miki's mind, the idealization of a pure woman), a role she cannot fulfill. Ironically enough, Kozue is a bit like the real Anthy. Both fall on the witch side of the princess/witch dichotomy and both are misunderstood by the people they want the most to understand them (in Anthy's case, Utena). They are idealized and turned into symbols.

That's why Kozue seeks power and she pursues it in the only way she believes she can: through her sexuality. By evading Miki's dehumanizing idealization of her, Kozue gains control and power. Miki cannot define her. But she can try to control Miki. If the world is impure, you have to lose your purity to get what you want.

But both she and Miki are part of a bigger and more powerful structure that controls both of them. Any freedom that Kozue pursues inside said structure only ensnares her further just like how Nanami's well-performed role as Touga's sister and any power she receives from it in the Ohtori hierarchy is extremely conditional and easily taken from her.

And that's what Anthy meant when she said all girls are like the rose bride. it's not that all girls face the same struggle but that under Ohtori's patriarchal rule, any power acquired by them is hollow and vain.

[faradyke]

I think the post Ohtori headcanon that plagues my brain the most is Touga and Nanami being no contact, and Saionji choosing to be there for Nanami over Touga.

[transmascutena]

utena-nanami parallels make me so crazy insane. girls when they build their entire identity around naively idealizing a guy from their childhood who ends up doing nothing but hurt them. all girls are like the rose bride indeed.

also:

[elevatortherapy]

coloured the nanami section of a wip for her bday <3

[heartslobbf]

have you guys thought about the cat lately. i have. its the way that nanami carries her guilt forever, and convinces herself that every issue in her and touga’s relationship stems from it. its the way that touga clearly cared about the cat (and the one that anthy gifts him, too) but is unable to see it as anything other than a gift, an object, something to be owned by him: this is of course how love works. it is a tiny little animal abandoned and unloved and taken into a home and a family that will kill it even as it is loved. it is favourited and scapegoated at the same time. it’s the greatest gift of all. we should live to help each other, shouldnt we? man oh man. touga protected the cat from nanami but nanami protected touga from the cat. and who even is the cat anyway? something cuter, easy to remember nicer style kitty? juliano? miki and touga’s dialogue in episode eleven about treating your sister well (like a pet cat?). the cat being hidden away in the box, the cat with its wide and innocent eyes that nanami cannot forget. forgive me. forgive me. anyway yeah ive had some thoughts about the cat i guess

[eluxcastar]

Y'all send help I wasn't supposed to actually start liking this manga again

Also I probably just have anaemia again because I feel like a slug 👍 but like hours after that post there was a family emergency anyway so like I'll be back soon probably 💀

[cacaitos]

veil.