#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 ✨️

[biruesque]

"I'm going to become a prince!"

[leahdrawsstuff]

Utena obsession so severe it’s got me reading a German bildungsroman from 1919

[heshemejoshi]

back again

[arielluva]

utena and witch

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

[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

[somedayrevolution]

akio referring to the unit of him, anthy, and utena as 'family'. not only is this a foreshadowing device to cast his grooming of utena as pseudo-incestous (in parallel to his full on incestuous sexual abuse of anthy) but also he casts anthy and utenas relationship to each other as "sisterly". thinkg about it

[ayilings]

anthy himemiya scribbling

[calypsolemon]

Touga is sitting on a pink rose. Butterfly wings spread backwards from his shoulders, vibrating slightly as he pushes aside layers of petals to dip his hands into the nectar at the base. It’s sweet and sticky, tingling strangely with power, and he gulps it down before moving on to the next rose with an effortless flitter of his white wings. After a while the sweetness makes him feel sick, but he still needs it, this energy. He deserves it. If he’s the one suffering, shouldn’t this power be his?

Suddenly the rose is cupped brown hands, holding him up to a face with deep green eyes. He freezes in terror, afraid she will touch his wings and brush the scales off, leaving him to die.

Instead she stands on tiptoe, very gently setting him on the lowest branch of an apple tree.

❧The Butterfly Bride, Ch. 4