#RGU is so good !! Utena is so good!!

[epifaniacintilante]

Utena Tenjou punches the stone ground so hard that her fist breaks, and drags her broken body to the heart of the world. She bleeds pure love, and the mechanism cannot bear it.

- Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) // The Palace Perspective: Nanami Kiryuu at the Heart of the World

[gtetrahedron]

[radonine]

I don't believe in miracles

[himemeiya]

A collection of iconic Nanami outfits ✨️

[wisterimist]

[biruesque]

"I'm going to become a prince!"

[heshemejoshi]

back again

[innestern]

[arielluva]

utena and witch

(based off of this, which i unfortunately do not know the original artist of, sadly)

[brightwanderer]

I cannot believe

That it has taken me 20 years

To understand that the Utena movie is what happened to Utena after the series.

It's a fever dream of the major plot points. It's regret and guilt and despair. It resonates constantly with the whisper of the story of a person who tried to save someone and died in their place. It's a brittle-edged rewrite of everything that happened, except this time Utena knows from the start what she's up against, and this time Anthy will do anything - anything - to show her that she didn't fail.

The movie is Utena trapped in a tiny world of her own creation that is yet an echo of the world of Akio's creation. The movie is Anthy fulfilling her promise to find Utena and save her in turn. The movie is the reassurance that the series did not end in despair.

And I will fight to the death to defend the car thing. It's the whole point. Utena could never save Anthy by picking her up and carrying her out of there like an object. But she can make of herself a vehicle, and Anthy can choose to take the key and leave.

[leahdrawsstuff]

Anthy and Utena with manga coloring

[myimaginationplain]

It kind of fucks me up to see some people come out of watching RGU having absorbed absolutely nothing of what the show has to say about patriarchy, misogyny, & queerphobia, outside of "men bad, lesbian good." Which like.....sure, I guess? in the absolute barest sense, I suppose RGU is partially about that.

But if this show's thesis were really as simple as "lesbian good," then Juri & her role as an antagonist on the mini patriarchy that is the Student Council would simply not exist at all. Juri would've won all the duels, kicked Akio in the nuts, freed Anthy, & ridden away into the sunset with Shiori in her arms before Utena even showed up if that were the case. But she obviously didn't do any of that despite being a lesbian, so there must be something more complicated at work here.

A lot of RGU's narrative is dedicated to deconstructing binary social systems & the ways in which they harm those trying to and/or being forced to fit within one of two narrow boxes; man vs woman, adult vs child, princess vs witch, prince vs devil, special vs not special, romantic vs platonic, etc. So for someone to watch all of that beautiful complexity, only to filter it through yet another essentialist binary...sucks, to say the least.

[frapajapa]

shoutout to girls who learned they deserve to live free and left the cage!!

[sepyana]

I'm rewatching SKU rn and it fucks me up that they cut this scene right before you can see Wakaba's reaction

[kaplooie]

I have not yet finished the show but I will vote for himemiya anthy on every single poll that comes across my dash. That girl is scheming. She is up to something. I will find out what it is by the time I finish the show but for now I have faith that she is the best at whatever the poll says she does