#Shojo Kakumei Utena

[saturnineevangelion]

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[arscorpii]

(from your cowbell analysis essay) Maybe this could be read as Tsuwabuki thinking Utena is less uncomfortable than she really is. I remember seeing a post from another user about how the former does admire and trust the latter, just as much as he admires Touga; it could have something to do with how Utena strives to be a prince despite being underestimated with people thinking that the role is something she really shouldn’t have, which may resonate with Tsuwabuki who wants to grow up and mature quickly.

this is a really good read!! thank you for sharing, i agree with your point!! it could be that his admiration of utena led him to overlook her discomfort, which could be unbecoming of a prince; similar to how being weak seemed unbecoming of a big brother to tsuwabuki (in episode 6, he put nanami in danger just to save her and tried fighting off a kangaroo for her sake). him being younger and of a different gender than utena certainly adds to his ignorance.

[fairydust-stuff]

I prefer the Akio groomed him idea but since Akio's dead here. I guess this also kinda works

“When I was young, my father told me to grow out my hair. That’s what the customer wanted.”

“The customer?”

“My current father. I was sold.”

jeeeeeeesus

[oggysonart]

A little headcanon Utena and Anthy where they’ve grown up into just another gay couple walking around the thriftshop district on a Sunday or smth

[haru-dipthong]

Gendered pronouns in Japanese vs English

In Revolutionary Girl Utena, the main character Utena is a girl (it says so in the title), but very conspicuously uses the masculine first person pronoun 僕 (boku) and dresses in (a variation of) the boys school uniform. Utena's gender, and gender in general, is a core theme of the work. And yet, I haven’t seen a single translation or analysis post where anyone considers using anything other than she/her for Utena when speaking of her in English. This made me wonder: how does one’s choice of pronouns in Japanese correspond to what one’s preferred pronouns would be in English?

There are 3 main differences between gendered pronouns in Japanese vs English

Japanese pronouns are used to refer to yourself (first-person), while English pronouns are used to refer to others (third-person)

The Japanese pronoun you use will differ based on context

Japanese pronouns signify more than just gender

Let’s look at each of these differences in turn and how these differences might lead to a seeming incongruity between one’s Japanese pronoun choice and one’s English pronoun choice (such as the 僕 (boku) vs she/her discrepancy with Utena).

Part 1: First-person vs third-person

While Japanese does technically have gendered third person pronouns （彼、彼女） they are used infrequently¹ and have much less cultural importance placed on them than English third person pronouns. Therefore, I would argue that the cultural equivalent of the gender-signifying third-person pronoun in English is the Japanese first-person pronoun. Much like English “pronouns in bio”, Japanese first-person pronoun choice is considered an expression of identity.

Japanese pronouns are used exclusively to refer to yourself, and therefore a speaker can change the pronoun they’re using for themself on a whim, sometimes mid-conversation, without it being much of an incident. Meanwhile in English, Marquis Bey argues that “Pronouns are like tiny vessels of verification that others are picking up what you are putting down” (2021). By having others use them and externally verify the internal truth of one’s gender, English pronouns, I believe, are seen as more truthful, less frivolous, than Japanese pronouns. They are seen as signifying an objective truth of the referent’s gender; if not objective then at least socially agreed-upon, while Japanese pronouns only signify how the subject feels at this particular moment — purely subjective.

Part 2: Context dependent pronoun use

Japanese speakers often don’t use just one pronoun. As you can see in the below chart, a young man using 俺 (ore) among friends might use 私 (watashi) or 自分 (jibun) when speaking to a teacher. This complicates the idea that these pronouns are gendered, because their gendering depends heavily on context. A man using 私 (watashi) to a teacher is gender-conforming, a man using 私 (watashi) while drinking with friends is gender-non-conforming. Again, this reinforces the relative instability of Japanese pronoun choice, and distances it from gender.

Part 3: Signifying more than gender

English pronouns signify little besides the gender of the antecedent. Because of this, pronouns in English have come to be a shorthand for expressing one’s own gender experience - they reflect an internal gendered truth. However, Japanese pronoun choice doesn’t reflect an “internal truth” of gender. It can signify multiple aspects of your self - gender, sexuality, personality.

For example, 僕 (boku) is used by gay men to communicate that they are bottoms, contrasted with the use of 俺 (ore) by tops. 僕 (boku) may also be used by softer, academic men and boys (in casual contexts - note that many men use 僕 (boku) in more formal contexts) as a personality signifier - maybe to communicate something as simplistic as “I’m not the kind of guy who’s into sports.” 俺 (ore) could be used by a butch lesbian who still strongly identifies as a woman, in order to signify sexuality and an assertive personality. 私 (watashi) may be used by people of all genders to convey professionalism. The list goes on.

I believe this is what’s happening with Utena - she is signifying her rebellion against traditional feminine gender roles with her use of 僕 (boku), but as part of this rebellion, she necessarily must still be a girl. Rather than saying “girls don’t use boku, so I’m not a girl”, her pronoun choice is saying “your conception of femininity is bullshit, girls can use boku too”.

Through translation, gendered assumptions need to be made, sometimes about real people. Remember that he/they, she/her, they/them are purely English linguistic constructs, and don’t correspond directly to one’s gender, just as they don’t correspond directly to the Japanese pronouns one might use. Imagine a scenario where you are translating a news story about a Japanese genderqueer person. The most ethical way to determine what pronouns they would prefer would be to get in contact with them and ask them, right? But what if they don’t speak English? Are you going to have to teach them English, and the nuances of English pronoun choice, before you can translate the piece? That would be ridiculous! It’s simply not a viable option². So you must make a gendered assumption based on all the factors - their Japanese pronoun use (context dependent!), their clothing, the way they present their body, their speech patterns, etc.

If translation is about rewriting the text as if it were originally in the target language, you must also rewrite the gender of those people and characters in the translation. The question you must ask yourself is: How does their gender presentation, which has been tailored to a Japanese-language understanding of gender, correspond to an equivalent English-language understanding of gender? This is an incredibly fraught decision, but nonetheless a necessary one. It’s an unsatisfying dilemma, and one that poignantly exposes the fickle, unstable, culture-dependent nature of gender.

Notes and References

¹ Usually in Japanese, speakers use the person’s name directly to address someone in second or third person

² And has colonialist undertones as a solution if you ask me - “You need to pick English pronouns! You ought to understand your gender through our language!”

Bey, Marquis— 2021 Re: [No Subject]—On Nonbinary Gender

Rose divider taken from this post

[calpicoboys]

this idea did not leave my head for a month so i knew i had to draw it or else

[bardace]

She’s whatever you want her to be.

(Individual frames under the cut)

[wisterimist]

Just another fly in the swarm

[gtetrahedron]

[eskay31]

y'all think anthy and utena shit like this

[lazuilis]

anthy

[pillowspace]

In my heart of hearts, Nanami followed after Anthy post-canon

[arscorpii]

anthy's eyes

episode 2 / episode 5 / episode 12 / episode 25 / episode 30 / episode 33 / episode 34 / episode 35 / episode 36 / episode 38

[fairydust-stuff]

I frankly don't like it because its a double standard. Utena is behaving exactly like Saionji here. it suggests girl/girl domestic violence is more forgivable.

I do think Utena as a franchise does dip into playing female violence for laughs. But the anime at least highlighted Nanami and Juri's violence is used for pathrichal enforcement from their positions as princes/duelists.

I don’t know what to say about this, not exactly. I can see that it’s the way patriarchy sets women up against each other, it’s an interesting scene, it’s just so different from the way they interact in the series that it kind of… hurts? I don’t think it’s poorly written/bad/etc it’s just so odd.

To be silly for a moment, Anthy appears to have a bullet bra from the 1950s.

[oggysonart]

And they were room mates…🗡️🌹

[roseillith]