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iztarshi · 6 years ago

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Season 1 Flashbacks

I really love the ways Utena uses animation in various memories and flashbacks. There’s both an overall style to them that ties them together and different visual elements used to show the different ways different people remember, from traumatically vivid memories to memories of an event you know happened but no longer remember the details of.

So, I wrote some thoughts on all the season 1 flashbacks, although I’ve probably said a lot of really obvious things.

Episode 1 — Utena’s flashback

It’s very theatrical, right from the start with a curtain going up. The flat shadows on the background make it even more so — it’s not just that the silhouettes replace barely remembered people, the entirety of the scenery is false.

The sudden flashes of accurate animation seem to indicate the few real events that she remembers enough to have built the fairy tale around, but it would be reasonable to assume she remembers they happened rather than actually remembering them in the visual detail we’re seeing. Mistaking Touga for her prince makes much more sense if she doesn’t actually remember he had dark skin and white hair.

The silhouettes, too, are a stylish way to show only barely remembered people, but I don’t think they necessarily mean the only thing anyone remembers is hair colour.

Also, I just like that Utena remembers a totally non-existent horse. Princes have horses, right?

Episode 5 — Miki’s flashback

Miki’s flashback starts out framed like old sepia pictures. It’s a warm look and a very nostalgic one.

The colours become colder and the outlines firmer once it’s the specific story of the concert and not just a nostalgic memory of any and every time they played the piano in the garden, but it’s still heavily stylised. Miki and Kozue both remain silhouetted, suggesting he doesn’t know who either of them were back then. The colours get colder and darker still once Miki is ill and then when Kozue won’t play the piano again. The whole thing is more detailed and real than Utena’s flashback, but still suggests an event that Miki remembers remembering perhaps more than he remembers exactly what happened.

Episode 5 — Kozue’s flashback

Kozue’s image of them makes them both silhouettes, too, casting doubt on whether her memory is accurate either. Her picture is the very nostalgic sepia tone we started off with in Miki’s, even though she’s saying she never enjoyed it and talking about the concert. Her black rose duel kind of gets back into this, that she wants to return to those days just as much as Miki.

There are red rose petals in the background of hers, too, which… I think red can often be associated with desire for something. Red things in Utena are often desirable — the Akio car, Anthy when she’s playing the Rose Bride role, and Touga himself is desired and plays on that a lot.

Episode 6 — Mitsuru’s flashback

You know, I wasn’t sure whether to include this. But it’s still a flashback, it’s an important formative experience for Mitsuru, and it has a bit in common with the episode nine flashback in which some other boys also can’t save a girl.

It’s told in semi-shadows. Not the silhouettes of imperfect memory, but something more like the shock of not being able to take in everything at once. The background is very bright, whited out, and only the bull, Nanami, Touga and Mitsuru are really remembered.

Touga’s age seems a little wrong here for how small Nanami is. Maybe it’s Mitsuru’s hero worship colouring things, but he did apparently just punch out a bull, so who knows.

There’s also a parallel between Mitsuru and Utena, here, in that they’re very devoted to becoming a “prince” or a “big brother” which has nothing to do, really, with becoming royalty or literal family. Mitsuru’s sneakier than Utena, though, willing to put Nanami in danger in order to save her and fulfil the role he’s set himself, making him more — hilariously — a parallel to Touga who will do exactly the same thing to Utena herself.

Episode 7 — Juri’s flashback

Juri remembers the people in detail, but the background is stylised and black and white and the poses are often staged. She remembers everyone involved, but the exact events are lost in the general thrust of the developing love triangle.

This is the first time a flashback comes with an associated photograph. One of the memories takes place during a class photo shoot — did Shiori really whisper that exactly then, or is Juri imposing it on a moment she has reason to be especially well able to recall?

As a side note it feels weird to see the student council in normal Ohtori uniforms, a reminder that they’ve been in Ohtori longer than they’ve been in the duelling game. Given that Ohtori has an attached elementary school and Miki, Kozue, Touga and Nanami appear to live locally enough for their actual houses to be within Akio’s sphere of influence, I wonder if they have any sense of how weird any of this is? Have their whole lives just been mildly surreal?

Episode 9 — Saionji’s flashback

This and Nanami’s flashback are the most intense, probably because Saionji and Nanami seem actively traumatised by these events. To the point both of them attempt to lash out and kill Utena while caught up in reliving them.

The first thing that’s interesting about this flashback is that Saionji is telling it to Utena, who remains completely unaware that she appears in it. The two of them have made such different stories out of the memory that they can’t reconcile them at all — Utena doesn’t even remember Touga and Saionji were there and he can’t recognise her as the girl they wanted to save.

Saionji’s first flashback image is a warmly sepia coloured picture in which he and Touga appear as silhouettes. Incongruously it makes him scowl and declare he won’t lose to Touga. Like Miki’s sunlit garden, it appears to be a nostalgic image of something they did a lot rather than a memory of a specific scene.

They start out as greyscale faceless silhouettes, with Saionji’s bandage standing out white, and then are suddenly lit into colour when Touga sees the funeral and stops. It’s a neat effect, as they go from a general memory of something they’d done dozens of times, the hurt hand the only unusual thing about it, into the vividness of a specific and traumatic memory.

It’s only himself and Touga that Saionji remembers clearly, though. The adults in the memory remain silhouettes and Utena herself is one, recognisable by her pink hair.

It’s not clear whether the background is greyscale or whether it’s just the darkness of the storm, but the coffins are not, and the red roses on them stand out especially. Juri’s flashbacks tend to black and white with orange standing out, Saionji and Nanami both have flashbacks where red is the dominant colour.

Nothing about the memory is stylised or staged, though. Saionji may not understand the people involved, but he seems to recall the events very accurately. The fact that Touga spends the memory behaving rather strangely only makes it more plausible.

When Saionji flashes back again after hearing the word “kamikakushi” he can’t see anyone’s faces, as if he’s no longer sure who he and Touga were back then either.

Not a flashback, but I really appreciate the way the greyscale picture of Touga in bed with a bandaged chest echoes the grayscale picture of Touga and Saionji on the bike with Saionji’s bandaged hand.

Episode 10 — Nanami’s flashback

Oh, Nanami.

The shot of the birthday cake gives us a much more fixed time for this flashback than any of the previous ones. It’s Touga’s birthday, and you can count the candles to find out that he’s twelve. You can also see this is the same mansion they’re living in now, the vaguely threatening shot showing layers of empty halls and doors is virtually identical to the later one where Touga is telling Nanami why she shouldn’t be a lesbian. (If there’s a connection, I’d guess it’s that Touga is becoming one of the adults who shuts her out and doesn’t try to understand her.)

The adults are certainly threatening here, a faceless, colourless mob, where you can’t even really pick out Nanami’s parents. Touga and Nanami are the only ones in colour — they’re also the only children present. Touga seems to be both enthroned and surrounded, people are calling him Touga-sama and kneeling, but is this really the kind of party a twelve-year-old would want?

The way Nanami reacts when her father tries to grab her, and how quickly — and adultly — Touga intervenes just makes the adults seem more of a threat. You can see why Nanami misses being sure her brother was on her side when she’s never had anyone else.

Interestingly, when Nanami resumes her flashback for the more traumatic part, she and Touga are now greyscale. The only thing that stands out is the red of the apples he won’t help her pick. Something Nanami wants, but needs Touga to gain.

Honestly, I think getting angry with Nanami for hitting his cat is the most emotion we see Touga display, ever? Even in Saionji’s memory, his emotions are very guarded, here he’s reacting far more like you’d expect a child to react. Although Nanami’s response to it suggests that she’s not used to this kind of reaction from him. She’s taking it as a serious rejection, not as her brother being upset with her right now.

Nanami is now standing in front of her own memory, as if it’s a cinema screen and she can watch it all unfold over again.

In the last section of her flashback her dress and hair are yellow again, for the first time her own colour is the one notably present in addition to black and white. (She was in colour earlier, but wearing pink and red.) The part she most associates with herself is the worst part, the kitten’s death and her own remorse.

There are also a few flashes of green in bits of her memory, an adult’s suit and the leaves Touga was playing with the kitten with. Jealousy?

The way her killing the kitten and regretting it is interspersed with her attacking Utena suggests she really did intend to kill Utena but, like the kitten, would have regretted it immediately if she’d succeeded.

#utena #revolutionary girl utena #very long post #I hope no one is reading this on their phones #I'm sorry #Touga gets no flashbacks but everyone gets flashbacks about him #Utena nearly gets killed twice in a row by people having flashbacks #memories are dangerous things

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theanimeview · 2 years ago

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Why “Wakaba Flourishing” is a Masterful Episode

Source: Episode 20, Revolutionary Girl Utena

By: Beata Garrett | @zhongxia246

It’s difficult to pick one episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) as my favorite because they all lend weight to the overall story and the themes. Removing one, even the silliest such as “The Cowbell of Happiness,” feels wrong. However, I can safely say that Episode 20, titled “Wakaba Flourishing” is not only one of my favorite episodes, but one that deserves to be rewatched solely by itself for what it brings to the table.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is no stranger to fleshing out its side characters and making even the most unlikeable and shallow-seeming ones complex and fascinating. “Wakaba Flourishing” is special though because Wakaba doesn’t have the same level of a relationship with one of the council members or Utena in the same way as someone like Nanami or Shiori. Wakaba is Utena’s supportive friend, nothing more than that, and that’s one of the aspects that makes Episode 20 so successful. The show understands how it’s depicted Wakaba up to this point and how the audience views her so its focus on her struggles are rooted in that very “ordinary-ness” that she conveyed.

This post is an in-depth look at how “Wakaba Flourishing” peers into the inner lives of the “ordinary” at Ohtori Academy and theories about visual symbols throughout it. If you’ve read my other post, “Why ODDTAXI’s Episode 4 is a Masterpiece” (https://theanimeview.com/2022/01/18/why-oddtaxis-episode-4-is-a-masterpiece/), this post will be similar to that one.

Without further ado, let’s get into why “Wakaba Flourishing” is a masterful episode.

[Editor’s Note: Please assume from this point forward that everything–quotes, images, and summaries–in this post, unless cited otherwise, comes directly from Episode 20 of Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997). This post also goes into spoilers for the entire series. Thank you.]

Disclaimer: This post mentions domestic violence, which may be upsetting for readers, and I highly recommend looking up warnings if you plan to watch the entire show. Please click “Keep reading” if you’re comfortable with this warning.

The episode begins with Wakaba walking to her dorm amidst a voiceover of students talking about Saionji’s recent expulsion from the academy. Near the end of this voiceover, one girl says, “I really had a thing for him for a while there, too” and his previous popularity is made evident–as well as the fact that no one truly cared for him. Amidst this are flashbacks to the duel that caused Saionji to get expelled as he fought Utena and injured Touga when the latter jumped in front of Utena to “save” her.

As the girls continue talking, the show hammers in how pathetic Saionji has become in the eyes of the students and his previous admirers. He’s no longer special to them in the same way that the rest of the student council is. Yet, despite all this, the girls reminisce on how cool he was before he was expelled and wonder where he is now. Using this voiceover at the beginning of the episode conveys just what kind of image Saionji had built for himself at the academy and a larger commentary on the lookism that allowed him to prosper for as long as he did. As the audience, we know Saionji regularly hit Anthy and that his goal was to one-up Touga by achieving something eternal.

However, Saionji’s cruelty was ignored by everyone because he was an attractive boy who was good at kendo and who served on the student council. Even Wakaba, when she and Utena witnessed Saionji hitting Anthy, dismissed his violent tendencies and blamed the victim instead. Unfortunately, Saionji’s reputation hasn’t been completely damaged by his expulsion and instead given him a new air of mystery that works in his favor.

As Wakaba walks home, it’s interesting to note how far away she is from the academy. Unlike Utena and the other council members, she lives off-campus. Her route home takes her down stairs and inclines, symbolizing that even in terms of where she lives, she’s not as special as those who are allowed to live on-campus. It also demonstrates how distant she is from the true core of Ohtori academy and the duels and power struggles that occur there. She lives amongst other “ordinary” people who live their everyday lives away from the academy and the show takes the time to show all of this so the reveal that Saionji is now living with Wakaba is made even more shocking.

What’s really jarring to me is not Saionji actually living outside the academy, but that he’s no longer wearing his uniform. Costume design is really interesting to look at, especially in a show where the outfits are so homogenous for the most part. Saionji’s new outfit emphasizes how he’s fallen, especially when we see his uniform on a hanger in some shots, but also humanizes him. He’s always been a teenager, but only now does he look like one for the first time.

In the shot above, you can see Saionji’s bag is still there. He hasn’t made himself at home quite yet because he still holds out hope that he’ll return to the academy and regain his place there, but Wakaba’s decision to buy matching cups for them both indicates how serious she is about him and how much she wants him to stay. It’s a recipe for disaster as these two characters are clearly at odds with how invested they are in this relationship.

The Matching Cups

Let’s get more into the matching cups themselves and what they could possibly represent.

First of all, they’re pretty cute and represent Saionji and Wakaba respectively, as seen by the bow on the sheep cup and the green bowtie on the ram one. As I mentioned before, Wakaba buying them indicates how much she wants Saionji to stay despite her agreeing to help him return to the academy. I don’t think she recognizes this desire yet as it’s a subconscious wish until she’s threatened by him actually about to leave and return to the academy (and to Anthy).

The matching cups also indicate to me that Saionji and Wakaba are more alike than perhaps either one would like to admit, and for a reason that may be unpalatable to them both. Sheep and rams aren’t seen as animals that are threatening or special in any way but as submissive, domesticated animals. Despite Saionji seeing himself and being seen by others as special, the matching cups and his role throughout the story is far from being anything special.

At the beginning, Saionji is almost bland and comical in how evil he is and it’s made clear after the first two episodes that he isn’t as big of a threat as the other council members, especially Touga. He’s easily manipulated by those around them and pushed into leaving school. When he does leave, he still believes Touga is a true friend and has his best interests at heart.

Saionji’s naive nature and role in the anime makes the matching cups very appropriate as, in the eyes of the audience, Saionji is ordinary and gullible too. He’s a supporting character who couldn’t even cut it as one of the big villains. By getting matching cups, Wakaba is noticing that the two are similar than he wants to admit and signaling this to the audience.

Manipulations

It’s made immediately clear how much Saionji is manipulating Wakaba by playing upon her pity and love for him, but Wakaba isn’t entirely a victim either and is also using him, subconscious as it may be. When Wakaba arrives at the dorm, Saionji greets her. In response, she smiles and quickly locks the door. Wakaba’s first question to him is, “Did anyone come by?” and while it may come off as concern that he’ll be discovered living with her, I read these actions based on the fear that someone will take him away and the desire to keep him to herself.

Throughout the episode, Wakaba calls Saionji her “secret” and there’s a clear pleasure that she gets out of doing so. It makes her happy to feel relied on and she thinks to herself, “he was a distant dream that I thought I could never reach. When you think about it, I never could have had him.” These thoughts are important because they show how Wakaba’s love for Saionji now is partially based on possessing something that was previously unattainable. Despite his cruelty towards others and even her when he posted her love letter for everyone to see, she still helps him out because she wants to be close to him and to be special. Unlike all those other girls at the beginning who wondered where Saionji was, Wakaba knows where he is. In her mind, she’s different from them and has begun to be separated from ordinary people.

On Saionji’s end, he apologizes to Wakaba for still staying in her room but has no intention to leave. I find it funny and sad that Wakaba ignores most of his posturing and his flattery towards her as if she’s heard this before (and probably has), but the moment he pretends he’s leaving, she practically begs him to stay.

Unfortunately, Wakaba never gets to ask him if he’d like to begin dating as she clearly wants to when they’re interrupted by a fellow student knocking. In one of the funniest bits in the show, Saionji promptly spider crawls away and hides under the bed. When he crawls out, he pretends to be cool again. It’s a ridiculous scene but emphasizes just how in love Wakaba is with him and what he represents that she’s willing to ignore his pathetic moments.

A Special Secret

On the surface, Wakaba seems happy, but it’s shown that she’s neglecting other things in her life like hanging out with Utena to return to Saionji at home. Ironically, Wakaba’s desire to keep Saionji with her to make her special, as if some special quality of his will rub off on her, is similar to people’s desire to possess the Rose Bride or Sword of Dios throughout Revolutionary Girl Utena. By possessing both, a duelist is supposed to have “the power to revolutionize the world” yet no one has done it yet. Even Utena doesn’t revolutionize the world by the end of the series.

Saionji doesn’t actually make Wakaba more special, but the show implies that there is some change that comes over her. Utena notices it and asks Wakaba whether something good happened to her, which she laughs off. There’s a montage of Wakaba “flourishing” and doing well in school and, most importantly of all, being the center of attention. One question I’d like to pose though is whether this would’ve happened anyway without Saionji and I truly believe it would have. Rather than it being a case of Saionji transferring some special quality to her, I believe that this is more a result of distancing herself from Utena and of showing us the results of confidence.

When Wakaba is around Utena, Wakaba fades into the background. Even in terms of character design, Utena is meant to stand out amongst everyone, including the student council and we’ve never seen Wakaba around other people without Utena. Perhaps, when not focused on the most “special” person at the academy beside her, Wakaba truly does flourish. It’s also important to note that this kind of flourishing is one that our society typically deems successful–that is, Wakaba flourishes academically and socially, but, like many other successful characters in the series, there remains a fragility beneath this exterior. It’s surface level and built on a shaky foundation.

The Myth of Being Special

As Utena’s curiosity over Wakaba’s recent change increases, she turns to a recently growing confidante and the true antagonist of the show, Akio. By this point, Akio has successfully charmed her into believing they’re truly friends or that, at the very least, she’s found a caring and trustworthy adult to talk to about her problems. Instead of telling Utena to talk to Wakaba though and communicate in a healthy manner, Akio only isolates Utena more by perpetuating the myth of being special.

Akio even tries to sever Utena’s ability to empathize with Wakaba by telling her, “You wouldn’t understand, would you? You’re born for a special destiny […] Most people exist as one among many. But, given the chance, they can shine as they never have before.” However, he points out that this ability to shine is only temporary though. This talk with Akio reminded me of the ways in which adults burn out children by putting their worth onto their abilities and some intangible thing like being gifted. It’s true that some kids may be more advanced in areas than others, but the special treatment that’s given to them and the conditional worth placed onto them has many negative consequences. A lot of kids labeled as gifted grow older and find themselves burned out by these expectations.

Akio’s speech places Utena on a pedestal, but it also reveals his own arrogance as he clearly believes himself to be special too. When Akio fell from grace as Dios, he still sought power in any way that he could and believed himself to be above all law, including morals, because he was the prince.

Similarly, other characters in Revolutionary Girl Utena believe in this myth of being special that is cultivated at Ohtori and fixate on their relationships or being good at something. For example, Nanami believes that being Touga’s sister makes her special in ways other girls can’t compare to but remains threatened whenever her brother becomes romantically or sexually intimate with someone else. Miki is applauded for his academic intelligence and Juri for her athleticism, yet both are unable to attain happiness and yearn for someone who truly understands them beyond those traits. Being special is not fulfilling, the show seems to tell us, but is actually rather lonely.

One last note I have about this scene is the lighting. I assume the two are talking in Akio’s planetarium and while there is enough light to see them, it’s still pretty dark in there. I believe this is representative of how Akio is misguiding Utena, leading her into the dark if you will, and that despite the stars that Akio is looking at, he doesn’t have any intention of truly enlightening her.

That Leaf Hair Clip and Girls as Meat

About halfway through the episode, Wakaba comes home one day to find Saionji making a hair clip for her. What’s especially interesting to me is the choice of color and motif for the clip. Roses are so prevalent in Utena, but they belong solely to those connected with Utena’s prince and to the duelists. Wakaba’s hair clip is not any kind of flower, but is a simple leaf in a color not quite gold. Despite this simple gift, Wakaba cries because of it and the hope that it may mean Saionji has feelings for her or is beginning to. To her, the hair clip signifies that she’s almost completed her transformation into being someone permanently special.

However, life is cruel and, as more time passes, Wakaba realizes that Saionji still cares more about Anthy (or the Rose Bride, specifically) than about her. He asks after Anthy while not even looking at Wakaba; it’s as if he can’t either be bothered to or because he’s a coward. For the first time, Wakaba consciously realizes that Saionji going back to school will mean forgetting about her. The hair clip, while nice and still meaningful as Saionji truly did it out of a moment of appreciation, doesn’t erase the fact that he’s still clearly set on Anthy.

The setting for this realization is at a supermarket. As the Absolute Destiny podcast points out in their great episode on “Wakaba Flourishing,” Wakaba’s grip on the packaged meat she’s holding parallels the tension in that conversation with Saionji. As she presses her fingers against the plastic wrapping, almost but not quite breaking it, the tension in the other scene and their overall relationship is increased.

I also love the supermarket setting because the choice of packaged meat instead of something else brings the animal imagery in the show to mind again.

Throughout the show, girls are compared to animals and have animal counterparts. This is most evident with Nanami, who has a pretty antagonistic relationship with many animals because she doesn’t get along with Anthy, who is an animal whisperer of sorts (similar to witches or princesses having familiars and affinities for wildlife). In “The Cowbell of Happiness,” Nanami is literally turning into a cow and this comes with the realization that she’s actually been treated as livestock for most of her life by her parents and Touga. There’s more cow imagery later with even Utena and Anthy being connected to it through bell earrings and certain poses that call back to “The Cowbell of Happiness.”

In short, the idea of girls as livestock to be used and consumed by the men in their lives who are in a position to hurt them is brought up time and time again. Because of it, I read much deeper into Wakaba’s scene in the supermarket than is perhaps reasonable. I believe setting this realization in the meat aisle and having signs that even point out that the meat is on sale points to how Wakaba realizes that she herself has a limited time to win Saionji over. She is meat that will go bad soon and that is being sold.

Simultaneously, she’s also in a position of power as a consumer buying the meat. In this vein, I read it as the power she has over Saionji as she’s also keeping him like livestock in a sense. It would be easy to see the relationship as one only of Saionji using Wakaba and while I do see it as him manipulating her more, Wakaba is also possessive over him and stops having his best interests in mind. This isn’t to say that she’s the true villain of the episode, but rather to say that she’s been so conditioned to think of herself as unordinary and to value the idea of being special that she is using him subconsciously. During her confession in Nemuro Memorial Hall, Wakaba despairs that “A little longer and I would have changed myself forever.”

The show has told us how important the hair clip is to Wakaba so the loss of it is devastating. While Saionji may have the potential to change, he clearly isn’t going to this episode as he hands the hair clip over to Mikage in return for his expulsion being revoked. Mikage even calls the hair clip “a trifle” and Saionji calls it “that thing.” The words both boys use for this object that means so much to Wakaba tramples over her feelings.

Mikage clearly knows the importance of the hair clip because he uses it to push Wakaba to the edge. Through some kind of magic or collaboration with Akio, Wakaba sees Anthy wearing the hair clip. There are no words exchanged as she watches Anthy walk away, but the look on her face is one of devastating hurt and she ends up in Nemuro Memorial Hall. And, as viewers of the show know, nothing good happens in Nemuro Memorial Hall.

Another interesting word choice for Mikage and Saionji’s conversation is Mikage calling Saionji’s exile “purgatory.” The purgatory that people may be most familiar with (like me) is similar to limbo as a state neither in heaven or hell. Those who go to purgatory must undergo purification before they enter heaven as a kind of punishment. By implying that Saionji’s current state is purgatory, Mikage poses Ohtori academy as heaven and Saionji’s time with Wakaba as punishment rather than a kind girl being taken advantage of by a boy she liked.

Wakaba’s Confession

Every confession done in Nemuro Memorial Hall is striking in its own way, but Wakaba’s is painful to me in a way no one else’s is. As she pours out her feelings, she doesn’t blame Saionji for giving the hair clip to Anthy but blames Anthy. Wakaba says, “That girl, with a face that says she alone is special, will steal everything away from me!” In contrast to Anthy as having a special visage, Wakaba denotes herself as “a face in the crowd.” This is painful because she has been a face in the crowd until this episode. The only thing that distinguished Wakaba was her relationship to Utena for viewers of Revolutionary Girl Utena and this adds a meta layer to the confession. While Wakaba’s confession avoids the core issue of the problem, which is Saionji’s treatment of her exacerbating her insecurity, it succeeds in confronting the viewer in how we view those not special enough to get screen time and how this carries into reality (think of how we idolize celebrities and popular kids in school).

When Wakaba leaves Nemuro Memorial Hall and confronts Saionji, startling him, he offers no apologies or thanks. He tells Wakaba, “I’m going back to my old world” as if she doesn’t go to the same school as him. Saionji makes it clear that he has no intention of even acknowledging her once he leaves by stating that he’ll mail Wakaba something more expensive to replace the hair clip.

Wakaba isn’t visibly surprised by any of this at all. She rejects Saionji’s offer and tells him, “I have something nicer now,” showing off her Black Rose duelist ring. During this entire conversation, Wakaba’s face is blank and her eyes are almost dead. It’s a startling departure from her typically cheerful demeanor. She then proceeds to take her sword from his chest. Again, this is part of the typical formula for duels in the Black Rose Saga, but Wakaba’s is striking in how violent it is.

In previous episodes, the Black Rose duelists aren’t as aggressive and the sword that they pull from their victims usually comes out on its own. However, the way Wakaba is animated to rush at Saionji, physically overpower him, and rip the sword from his chest is uniquely hers. It’s the only one in which I see more anger than sadness and feels very appropriate as Wakaba’s feelings for Saionji are very one-sided and as Saionji, who prides himself on his masculinity, is physically overpowered by a girl he deemed weak.

Daily Dose of Shadow Girls

For this episode’s skit featuring the shadow girls, it’s a very short one! My reading of it was that the shadow girls are mocking the ridiculous games that go into dating and relationships in general, but specifically pointing out how girls often get the short end when in relationships with men. It’s also curious that the shadow girls divide themselves into a fox girl and a rabbit girl in a way reminiscent of how girls are either sanctified or demonized. I think this reading has more validity considering the depiction of the rabbit girl in a traditional hairstyle as if she’s presenting herself as more demure before switching to a Playboy bunny outfit. In reality, the rabbit girl is what she is either way but it’s a question of presenting oneself to be appealing enough for marriage.

In response to the conundrum, Utena tells the girls, “Why not just NOT get married?” Interestingly, this is right after the rabbit girl says that these traditions are law for them. Utena’s response is also ironic considering that she is part of this very system. The conditions for being the Rose Bride are just as arbitrary, something Utena even acknowledges at the beginning of the series, but this response demonstrates a certain carelessness to Utena’s character that we’ve seen previously and that will be important in the future.

The Duel

The duel in this episode is my favorite in the entire anime. The finale is a close second. For Wakaba, the tables that show up during duels in the Black Rose Saga are filled with the leaf hair clip in multiple colors. To me, this represents all of the possibilities and potential Wakaba, and potentially Saionji, could’ve had if things hadn’t gone the way they did. The spread of colors is once again reminiscent of how flowers come in all colors when you take natural and dyed ones into account yet leaves are never given the same treatment. Leaves are just seen as accessories, as background characters, to the flowers so seeing them in as many colors as flowers can be read as both touching and tragic. On one hand, Wakaba’s nature as a leaf will never change, it seems to say, yet the leaf is just as worthy and as full of potential as the flower, isn’t it?

As with Wakaba pulling the sword from Saionji, her duel with Utena is vicious and one of the most aggressive in the show. It’s also one of the few times I’ve been afraid that Utena may lose as she takes on the defensive position and refuses to pull the sword from Anthy. Utena still sees Wakaba as a friend, but Wakaba views Utena as an enemy and vents her frustrations with the entire system and Saionji onto her. She scoffs at Utena’s ability to understand her, yelling “You and that girl and the student council, too! You use the special gifts you were born with and, without a second thought, trample the rest of us!” It’s a powerful sentiment because there’s a kernel of truth in there.

There’s an earlier episode in Revolutionary Girl Utena titled “For Friendship, Perhaps” and I feel that this episode would’ve fit that title in some ways. Utena never pulls her sword on Wakaba and uses Wakaba’s own sword to cut the rose on her uniform instead. There’s a pivotal moment when she grabs Wakaba’s hand, acknowledges that she can’t fully understand her but still wants her friend to be happy, and spins her around. While previous duelists have fallen to the floor, signaling they’ve lost and have now been abandoned by the Black Rose Circle, Utena holds onto Wakaba.

Friendship doesn’t fix everything, but I like to think that Wakaba understood that Utena cared for her at that moment. It’s also the second time Wakaba cries in the episode as she finally resigns herself to the understanding that Saionji never cared for her, but that Utena does. To me, it’s pivotal that she cries while looking at the castle that hovers above the dueling arena–it’s as if she realizes how unreachable the ultimate special place is.

Black Rose duelists lose their memories after a duel and it’s significant that they still carry a large portion of the problem burdening them before it afterwards. As Wakaba takes her long walk home, there’s a sense of melancholy as she’s no longer rushing towards Saionji. But there’s also some peace in it as well even if no one is there to welcome her back anymore.

Concluding Thoughts

I feel as if I’ve been writing this post for a long time, but I know there’s some things I missed. This is such a packed episode and shows how successful Revolutionary Girl Utena is at utilizing its formulas and in creating visual imagery. I don’t rewatch the entire show every other month, but this is one of my favorite episodes to put on when that itch comes. There’s no doubt in my mind that “Wakaba Flourishing” is one of the best episodes on Revolutionary Girl Utena.

#Revolutionary Girl Utena #Analysis #RGU #Revolutionary Girl Utena analysis #Shoujo Kakumei Utena #Wakaba Shinohara

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inukag · 4 years ago

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I've seen some people say that Yashahime is canon only to the OG anime, but I'd make the argument that it's not even that! Think about it:

While the Inuyasha anime did mess around with the manga lore or make up their own here and there, they still did bring to attention some lore that they CLEARLY ignore/retcon in Trashahime. Like in one of the 1st episodes of the OG anime where Myoga explains how Tessaiga was made to protect Izayoi, Inuyasha's mother. Yet, later on in Yashahime we find through a flashback that Touga apparently had Tessaiga long before he met Izayoi? What?

I actually talked about this next one with @loveyou-x3000 a long while back, but remember Hosenki l? Remember on how in the OG anime we found out he was the one whole created the black pearl that was in Inuyasha's eye? Well, I apparently found out that by Yashahime's logic, the black pearl was created by Izayoi's or somebody's tears? I'm sorry, but how does that make sense? (Correct me if I'm wrong there)

They even ignore the lore they created themselves from the OG anime, like when InuKag give Moroha the lip stick shell that was destroyed by Naraku in the Anime-only episode "Tragic Love Song of Destiny". What, am I just supposed to assume that InuYasha's been walking around with a bunch of his mother's old make-up stuff this whole time? And that he never thought to give one to Kagome, his wife, even tho he gave it to Kikyou and his own daughter?

Let's also not forget what the director has said in one of the recent interviews about demons apparently throwing their kids out in the wild as a "test of courage and cowardice", AKA Demon parents apparently not caring about their kids and abandoning them similar to how lions apparently treat their cubs. This absolute bullshit because not only is this not true in the manga, but the OG anime itself has shown several examples of demons caring about and raising their kids!!! Think about Shippo's dad, that little cat demon's dad when Inu trained with Totosai, Kuroro (demon cat that looks like Kirara), that demon dad who got his head chopped off by Hokudoshi, and even that insect demon that Jeniji killed who went out to teach its offspring how to hunt and feed! Its important too note that a good chunk of these parents are anime-only characters.

Hell, even the demon parents who didn't get to raise their kids still gave a fuck about them!!! Just look at Shiori's dad who clearly had every intention of raising his kid and even when he was dead STILL came back to protect her from her grandfather! What about Jeniji's dad who left his farm to his son so that both he and his mother would have a place to call home!?

What about Touga who sacrificed his own life so that his hanyou son could live??? (And that was from one of the movies mind you, so its anime lore.)

So now your telling me that the demon way of parenting was to leave your kids out in the middle of the woods when they're not even old enough to hold up their heads by themselves? If the OG anime series and movies followed that logic, then Touga wouldn't have even bothered to save Inuyasha's life on the night of his birth. Better yet, Touga could've just left Inuyasha in that fire, but saved Izayoi. He wouldn't have even bothered to give InuYasha his name if he just figured that his son failed his "test of courage" for being in that fire that he surely would have perished in if Touga didn't get there in time.

Also, and you can correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Yashahime's director HIMSELF (who worked on the OG anime too) say that a certain pairing that I won't name was never depicted as romantic in the original anime series? We all know it wasn't in the manga, but a while back I swear I read an interview where the director said it was never depicted in the anime either. Clearly, Yashahime threw that out the window, too.

And finally, I don't think I have to mention the retconning of all if the OG cast's character developments that were CLEARLY SHOWN IN THE OG ANIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And that is why I don't think Trashahime can even be considered canon to the anime either. I rest my case.

(Sorry for the long post. I just had to vent and get that out of my system)

Don’t worry about venting! I agree with what you said there, I would love to add more plotholes and inconsistencies that are in Yashahime to your list but... I get exhausted just thinking about it lmao

The Tessaiga retcon is especially bad. First, like you said both in the anime and manga it is said that Tessaiga was forged for Inuyasha’s mother, who in Sunrise-canon was born 200 years ago, but in Yashahime Toga had Tessaiga and was using a perfect meido zangetsuha 500 years ago to destroy the comet...

^^ He literally has Tenseiga on his hip even though Tenseiga was created to take Meido Zangetsuha out of Tessaiga lmao

You’re not wrong about the black pearl and Hosenki. Hosenki II says in chapter 298 that he and his father “cultivate” the pearls, it has nothing to do with tears, and Inuyasha’s father commissioned the black pearl before his death...

The rouge / lipstick is not even a different rouge, they imply in episode 15 that it’s the same one Inuyasha gave to Kikyo, but Riku somehow found it and gave it to Hosenki II for some reason.

That raises SO many questions... When did Riku find the pieces of the rouge? Was he spying on Kikyo and Inuyasha this whole time?? How did he know the rouge belonged to Izayoi?? Is he a time traveler?? Why did Riku and Hosenki II even work together to create the new black pearl?? Is this ever going to be addressed??

Oh man the interviews... I get a headache every time I read them. Personally, I don’t really think it’s ooc for Sesshomaru to set up some kind of rite or trial for his hanyo daughters to prove their strength. I never imagined him being soft and loving with them, especially not with the way he treated Inuyasha. But like you said, it’s definitely not a universal yokai thing, we all know that. Sesshomaru is just Like That lmao. I still don’t understand why his “rite” had to take 14+ years, why it involves Kirinmaru and Zero and what it has to do with Inuyasha, Kagome and Moroha...? If he wants to make his daughters go through that, that’s his business, there’s no need to also ruin Moroha’s childhood by letting her parents rot in the border to the after life when he could get them out whenever he wants (since he can go through the gate to the afterlife thanks to Tenseiga).

Other hilarious things that Sumisawa mentioned in the last interview: - Moroha knows Sesshomaru’s scent because he’s famous amongst demons - Everyone call the girls “yashahime” because Treekyo started the trend (no one was there to hear Treekyo except the girls...?) - Kirinmaru met Jesus Christ and Buddha at some point

And probably other stuff I’m forgetting... I’m so tired lol

#ask #long post #anti yashahime #creative-hanyou-girl #sorry i realized you're talking about the OG anime but i'm taking evidence from the manga #those scenes are pretty much the same in the anime if i remember correctly

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carbootsoul · 3 years ago

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omg please talk about saionji and utena and i want to know ur thoughts

ack anon i am. kissing u on the mouth rn thank u so much for asking !!! a fair warning before i write anything else: i have a stupid and inexplicable amount of affection for saionji kyouichi and this response will probably be kinda biased toward being understanding of him. don't get me wrong he is still very much a bad person throughout a lot of the series BUT he's also 17. anyway this got long bc i have many thoughts so its under the cut

my big thought about the two of them is that they're foils for each other! both to illustrate utena's good qualities and to point out what went wrong with saionji.

the main place we see similarities between them is their feelings toward both anthy and touga. saionji and utena are the only duelists to duel FOR anthy as a person rather than the power she wields. they're also the only two people that touga ever expresses unguarded affection toward, the only people with him in the church scene, the only people who reject him (other than nanami, whose rejection is more complex imo), and the two targets of his manipulation in season one. wakaba refers to them both as her prince and they both express at least the potential to be friends with her, they're both dragged into some kind of relation with akio through someone they're close with (saionji only for a few short scenes but the camera one does make me a little queasy), they're the only duelists to lose a duel and then rechallenge the winner. they're also the only characters to be "expelled" (not quite textually in utena's case, but the girls at the end of the last episode speculate that she was expelled for "getting in trouble with the chairman"). finally there are some vague thoughts i have about saionji's rose being a very pale green, which is a complimentary color to pink (while his hair is a deeper green, mirroring touga's red hair).

in terms of their personalities being similar it's mostly just the fact that they're both jocks and they both do the baffled face a lot which i think is fun from them both :) same 'interacting with nanami ever' expression. the two BIG things they have in common personality wise is their tendency to insist that their view of the world (especially!! their view of what is good for anthy) is correct, and obliviousness (especially to their privilege and the way it acts on other people, especially anthy). utena grows out of both those things, though, and they're two of her main points of character development throughout the series.

obviously, the differences between them are quite a bit more obvious. saionji is mostly used (especially at the beginning of the series) to contrast utena and to provoke her into protecting anthy. he's abusive, controlling, and cocky where she is... just cocky, and only sometimes. saionji is less aware of 'adult things' than utena (in some ways he's more childish than nanami- the scene that comes to mind is the one with the exchange diary, where utena worries that saionji is making sexual advances and saionji obviously has no idea what she's thinking. tbh i hold that saionji didn't really know what sex was before his car scene which is both funny and v upsetting to me). saionji is unwilling or unable to change the parts of himself that harm other people (or unaware of the effects of his actions) whereas utena, throughout the series, constantly does her best to be a better person and i love her so. so much. not-prince of my heart. also he has green hair and she has pink hair :) also he sucks so bad

anyway now that i've established their similarities and differences, here's the heart of my argument!! at their core, utena and saionji are very similar people (the church flashback rly illustrates this imo but maybe thats just bc children r all similar) but, because saionji grew up with power that utena didn't, he's. uh. who he is. (his eyes are purple, a color associated with akio's control. akio.. uh. patriarchy man.)

saionji's role in the show isn't just as the personification of rape culture, but as a statement on what the patriarchy DOES to teenage boys who don't notice their privilege. he is quite obviously less aware of his power than touga or akio are (they both use sex as a power tool, and both take advantage of the fact that they, as men, have power in most situations. saionji also takes advantage of this but it seems much less conscious on his part- again the scene with the exchange diary comes to mind. he is looming over utena-as-anthy but not in an attempt to scare her, but just bc he's found that when he is big and tall, people do what he want). this is shown especially in what we see of saionji when he's staying with wakaba! he's a much better person when he doesn't have this institutional power as close to his fingertips, even when he's unaware of this lacking. he goes back to being a douche the second he leaves, to, which is where his personal problems come into play.

saying that saionji is how he is just because he was born into privilege is way more forgiving of him than the narrative is or i would be, because the other bit that contrasts him with utena is his unwillingness to see or acknowledge his privilege. the fact that he's unaware of the bits and pieces of society that come together to give him that power over anthy doesn't absolve him, because he still takes advantage of the fact that he can do whatever he wants to her and he never tries to understand why. he sees that if he's engaged to anthy she will love him unconditionally (what he's looking for throughout the series) but he never tries to connect the dots between the power he has over her and the fact that she says she loves him. a scene that i think is rly interesting is the one in touga's last few episodes where touga and utena are talking and saionji comes and lies down in anthy's lap- it's such a small thing but i think it does a really interesting job summarizing his character! he actively seeks out affection/the love he wants from anthy and, because of the power he wields, she gives it to him. he's content with this, because he refuses to see the power dynamics that make her let him nap with his head in her lap. he allows himself to keep the safe blanket of his privilege, even when it hurts everyone else. utena sees that she has power as the rose bride's fiance and she (eventually) works against the powers that be to change that.

anywayyy that was a lot lol and im not sure it makes a ton of sense??? but those r what i've been thinking about! really it boils down to like. saionji would be a much better person if he took a feminist theory class with a completely open mind. and then he and utena could be friends :) the other thing it boils down to is that both utena and saionji's best and worst characteristics are being stupid as fuck BUT utena tries to learn and saionji refuses to. thanks again for sending this ask!! i hope my response made some sense haha

#leo.ask #i was thinking saionji for like half my shift today bc i was bored so u asked at the perfect time lol :)#rgu

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opalescent-analysis · 4 years ago

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“->in my next post, I want to tackle the visual language, discuss the lens i’m using to interpret Utena, and talk a bit more about why i think the movie and the show have to be taken as parts of a whole.”

Let’s unpack that a bit more, shall we? Utena uses a lot of layers of metaphor and surrealism in order to tell what’s honestly a *really* dark story, and do it in a way that’s both age-acceptable and entertaining. That’s a hell of a needle to thread.

Strip away all the swordfights, roses, and surrealism, boil the story down to the bare essentials, you have a story about these kids who are trying to grow up, this adult who’s manipulating them, and an examination of the gender roles and power structures that underpin the whole sick system. But to turn that into something that’s actually fun to watch requires a really indirect approach, hence the heavy use of metaphor. There’s also the matter of network censorship, even more of a problem in the mid 90’s than today, which is something the tv show had to work around more than the movie.

Which brings me to the movie. The abstraction is dialled up to 11 and it looks trippy as hell, (and lets the animation team flex, hot damn) but in a lot of ways it’s more direct and realistic about some things than the show. Being able to depict an on-screen kiss between Utena and Anthy, for example, which, HEART EYES. It’s also a lot more…. Visually blunt about the specifics of how Akio abuses Anthy (without being gross about it; i think it’s tastefully handled) which the show really had to dance around. Anthy’s a bit hypersexual, in the way that folks who’ve had sexual trauma can often get like, which really rings true. We get some info about Touga’s backstory that fills in so much about him that was left unexplained in the show; more on that when i get around to writing my thoughts on each individual character.

This is just like, a brief overview of why i view the movie and show as two halves of a whole; they’re telling the same story in 2 different ways, and the movie gets to dig into stuff that the anime wasn’t able to, for various reasons.

Now time to get a bit more specific about the visual metaphors, in no particular order.

The School - the child’s world, with rigid roles, and enforced conformity to the norm, but it’s what everyone around you is doing, so it’s “normal”. Notable that all the authority figures besides Acting-Chairman Akio in Ohtorhi (sp?) Academy are either narrow-minded (the teacher who’s always hassling Utena about wearing the wrong-gendered uniform), self-involved (the greasy, social climbing principle), corrupt (the chairman’s wife) or absent (the actual chairman). None o fthem give two shits about connecting with the students, or protecting them from predators (the music teacher is implied to be trying to perv on an innocent Mickey (sp?), and is stopped by miki’s protective twin sister, not an adult).

The Castle in the Sky - upside-down, foreshadowing that’s it’s an illusion, fake, not real. Less clear in the show and more clear in the movie, it’s a child’s dream of what adulthood is like, “you can have anything you want, you can even have eternity” and you can stay up all night and have ice cream for supper and no one can tell you what to do…. You get the drift.

Roses - beautiful lies, hiding thorns. You go to grab a lovely-looking rose and get pricked. The Princess and Prince roles, the heroic ideals, are lovely-seeming. They are not actually nourishing. Also, the black frame with coloured roses in the corners is used to help emphasize important moments and hammer home some of the colour-theme stuff, like getting us to associate Nanami with the colour yellow from pretty early on, often framing Utena with a white rose to denote her purity, that kinda thing.

The duels - childish conflicts solved with childish methods. Teenagers doing some “meet me at the baskeball court after school for a fight” bullshit, and also reminiscent of old childish play-pretend games. That said, the way Utena starts by pulling the sword out of Anthy’s heart (the Sword of Dios, the flawed ideal of the prince) and eventually changes to Anthy pulling a new sword out of Utena’s heart, which would be really beautiful, if it wasn’t for all the freaking flashing lights during these sequences.

THE CAR IS ADULTHOOD - the agency that you have as an adult, a thing you can’t do when you’re a kid; Akio in the show just drives his car around and around the same old boring track while he’s fucking with teenagers’ lives, but Anthy and Utena drive away from the school, out of the child’s world, at the end of the movie. I LIKED Utena turning into a car in the movie, and I thought it made sense. YES, REALLY.

Cabbage Moths - nope, they’re not butterflies, they’re cabbage moths; parasitic insects that can destroy a whole crop. The movie especially is really heavy handed with this one; Touga and Shiori are in bed scheming, which leads to a flashback of Touga’s childhood, where his “adoptive father” rapes him in a cabbage field. Moths erupt from the cabbages, and the ruined crop is a metaphor for Touga’s ruined life, destroyed by a human parasite. Shiori’s trippy ‘turning into a butterfly’ thing is reminding us that she might be pretty, but she’s a crappy person.

The Prince - the ideal that Utena is striving towards, the image that Touga embodies (and is destroyed by, on multiple levels); Akio appears to be a princely figure, until we learn more about him, and Dios, supposedly the perfect prince, turns out to be unreachable and non-existent.

Next time: Nanami and Touga as foils for Anthy and Akio, the way sick systems perpetuate themselves, and why I love Anthy and Nanami’s rivalry

#utena #rgu #revolutionary girl utena #adolescence of utena #no proofreading we die like men

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arentwelost · 5 years ago

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reactions to the bnha: heroes rising film

spoilers alert !

(i risked coronavirus to go to the cinema for this but no regrets because we all want to die anyway oof-)

the film was very 1a centred & that’s gr8 and all especially since we got to witness the bond they had between them & just. how incredibly amazing their teamwork is

but i really ,,, miss,,, aizawa (my fave, my tru love)

he had a total of 3 (?) scenes, each of them lasting like less than 10 secs - even toshinori had more scenes than that : (

but you know who even had less screen time (aka none),,, our boy,,, the valid purple son,,,, shinsou hitoshi : (

the person who had the most screen time was this new villain called nine and i really wanna yell begone thot at him because he was like “i want to create a utopia where the powerful rules” and i was like thinking,, yo that shit sounds like capitalism & neoliberalism

his character design was really pretty, but it didn’t make up for his ideology that came outta nowhere with no backstory - so it was really hard to empathise/sympathise

what makes a villain good is 1) sufficient backstory 2) being so damn predictable and familiar that you actually prefer them over every other new villain because better the devil you know than the devil you don’t know

anyway, what really slaps is kacchan’s fuckin character development !!

lil gremlin is still gremlin but ,, he’s working with other kids,, he’s minimising damage done to the area while fighting villains,, there was a scene of him all calm and shit while eavesdropping on izuku and katsuma (which once again proves that most of his anger is just a front he puts up in front of other people rather than a perpetual state, and ya know what, i love that introvertedness that he has),,, him being protective over the bakusquad and not blasting kaminari for teasing him,,, he and izuku fighting together like a hero duo ,,,, eye-

this movie really said bakugo character development hUH

anyway in the beginning when endeavour showed up and dabi and endeavour had this whole showdown with their fire quirks and we got this close up of endeavour’s thicc thighs and i was like : ) we don’t stan for this here but at the same time i was like @ hawks damn ur daddy really be like that, huH

which reminds me of my whole spiel about dabi/hawks and endeavour/hawks : ‘ )

but yea. dabi was unfairly attractive and i just want death to consume me

okay so the plot was like,, the hero commission (aka the dodgy ass institution): how about sending the 1a kids to an island where there are no active heroes ??

so the 1a kids get yeeted off to an island,, and they are having fun helping the locals out !! (this is the wholesome content we all deserve)

jirou and yaomomo asdgjhskgjahkj

kacchan who stays at home the entire day because he’s on ~villain duty~ and there weren’t any villains so he just sits at home and read manga asdfghjkl that’s a hard Mood

kirishima looking like the cutie he is eye-

the bakusquad teasing kacchan by calling him “kacchan of bakugo”

how is maharo & katsuma so damn cute *angery fists*

but izuku really be adopting children left and right hUh

dadmight and dadzawa whomst i only know dadku

ochako & tsuyu are so cute wtf eye-

these villains are overpowered af wtf

wow i love 1a having each other’s backs their teamwork,, was ,,, so good,,, so smooth ,,, (*whispers* poly 1-a anyone ??)

everyone be losing until kacchan comes blasTing in, saving kirishima & kaminari with sheer determination and stubbornness and manages to defeat one (1) villain

not going to lie though i feel like mummy got done dirty like that

but i like the little nod to the provisional exam arc

the inflated izuku mahoro projected was the Cutest

anyway what really clapped was you know,, both izuku and kacchan being the smort cookies they are: “DIDN’T I TELL YOU THAT ONCE I’VE SEEN YOU USE IT, I HAVE A WAY OF COUNTERING IT?!"

like oof

also i love how izuku is established as the image of hope (the saviour) and kacchan is established as the image of victory (the victor) - this whole “win to save” and “save to win” really got laid down really heavily

but we’re all hoes for that i guess

touga in her winter gear !!! eye-

yaomomo delivering the Goods (i.e. the cannons)

a o y a m a : (

the moment i realised that tokoyami was in the cave, i knew the villain there was Done For

i haven’t forgotten our resident eldritch abomination, dark shadow, y’all

i just ?? love ?? mina ???? so much ??????

ngl i didn’t know chimera was literally a chimera until this part i just thought he one big furry

oof

that flashback to endeavour’s advice when shouto was fighting chimera ?? the symBoLisM wow

shouto being able to rationally separate endeavour the hero and endeavour the shitty dad & using the advice endeavour gave him to empower himself -

- wipes tears

sero and ochako getting blasted away really badly by nine,,, and izuocha happens but we’ve all seen that before

it is kacchan,, ,, being protective of sero when he got yeeted,,,,, that is the Point

THE BEST PART ABT THE SECOND LAST FIGHT WAS LITERALLY BKDK BEING SO IN SYNC WITH EACH OTHER’S MOVES THAT THEY WERE FIGHTING LIKE A HERO DUO ??

LIKE IZUKU KICKING THE VILLAIN, REBOUNDING OFF THE SHIELD,, AND THEN FLYING OFF JUST FOR KACCHAN TO GRAB IZUKU’S HAND AND FLING HIM BACK AT THE VILLAIN FOR A SECOND ATTACK

THE WHOLE HANDHOLDING THING IS STARTING TO COME OUT AS A MOTIF

AND I JUST WOW ,,, BKDK,, (platonic or romantic or otherwise) OUT HERE,, HOLDING HANDS AS EQUALS,,, SYMBOLIC OF THEIR CHANGING RELATIONSHIP,,,,

s h o u j i : ( protecting mahoro and katsuma with his body : ( big cuddle boy doesn’t deserve this pain !!!

don’t think i didn’t notice the film using the same bgm as the kamino rescue

it draws such a powerful parallel ?? back then it was kacchan who needed to be ‘saved' but now it’s kacchan doing the saving & the winning - once again, such character development asdfghjkl

this film,, making me appreciate kaminari 10x more

also fellas is it gay to stare at your rival and being able to communicate non-verbally

bkdk detroit smashing the storm together & making a damn fucking hole in the stratosphere like all might,, dispelling the damn storm and letting sunlight filter in ?? that was some really obvious symbolism but regardless,,,, wow

this is the part where the whole twin stars motif really came right in kicking our houses down

kacchan breaking both of his arms because of one for all & all i can think of is ,, izuku,, stop sharing your bone breaking juice with people

i’m just thinking about how people @ izuku: wtf how do you deal with this bone breaking bs all the time

and izuku, pure bean: oh yea haha i thought it was normal ?? like everyone has to get used to their quirks like this ??

a concept: quirkless izuku not understanding how quirks are supposed to feel

anyway, dadmight cradling izuku in his arms only to leave kacchan a metre away ?? favouritism that we’re all here for

izuku : ( apologising : ( for : ( being : ( a : ( bad : ( successor : (

i just want to shake izuku’s shoulders & tell him that he did super well and that he shouldn’t be ashamed of himself and that he deserves everything good in this world

also imagine being so gremlin that all the one for all predecessors were like "nope we’re not dealing with this gremlin child, we prefer the pure broccoli”

disappointed that hawks didn’t get enough screentime

but we got some hawks & tokoyami and ryuukyuu & ochako time

kacchan ~conveniently~ forgetting what happened ?? i smell something fishy

our local crusty boy shows up & ahh yes, there it is - the close up shot that like to remind us that he needs to Moisturise

everytime i see red shoes on shigs i just think about the parallels between shigs and izuku and my heart breaks all over again

the scene where shouto got hugged super uncomfortably by endeavour ?? oof. the entire cinema just simultaneously laughed and heard the shouuuuutooooo

katsuma being like like “i’m going to become a hero like deku & bakugo !” and kacchan’s acting all cool and shit, telling him “you better” while izuku is like “katsuma, you can become a hero !! we’ll wait for you at ua !!” because he saw himself in katsuma and wanted to be the person he wanted someone to be for him when he was young

breaking my own heart like this

imagine the first years in ten years though

they’re just going to be a bunch of teenagers izuku or 1-a saved or adopted

and they’re going to give aizawa so many more grey hairs than the current 1-a

#bnha #boku no hero academia #boku no hero academia: heroes rising #heroes rising spoilers #heroes rising #this got a little long #excuse my language i'm just very excited #it do be like that sometimes #mine #everytime i see 1-a i just think about found family #and we're all hoes for found family

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whoslaurapalmer · 4 years ago

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utena musical time!!!! 🎵 🎵

-THERE’S SOMETHING A LITTLE BIZARRE ABOUT SEEING IT HAPPEN AS A MUSICAL WITH PEOPLE -i think there’s something that can be almost, slightly second-hand-embarrassing at the open and earnest honesty with which theater approaches a story, particularly live theater, because you don’t want to be that vulnerable right away and theater wants you to connect right away!! -to that end theater obviously has this way of telling a story that DOES have that open and earnest honesty, and has the potential more than any other medium to delve hard into emotions and feelings, and i think that comes through a little in anthy’s song about utena but not so much in the rest of the play

-i really liked the student council song!! me, suddenly: hey if organization 13 had a musical.......this song is what it would look like me: /high school kingdom hearts phase flashbacks..............

-“saionji........senpai” literally NEVER gets old. it’s the funniest fucking thing

-dios DOES look like a grandma...........

-is that??? baby utena dancing around utena?? -oh that’s good i love that -in general i am a SUCKER for past self/present self comparison/etc sort of things it’s one of my FAVORITE tropes and it is done SO WELL in theater ugggggg -i mean that’s not so much what’s happening here?? maybe??? point stands though.

-slow 80s saxophone coming in hot......the romance......... -“now begins our life together / now begins our love together” kiss!!! kiss, dammit -okay the musical gets points for having anthy and dios sing together that’s the creepiest thing and i love it. good for you

-shadow girls song!!!!!! -SHADOW GIRLS GETTING THE RESPECT THEY DESERVE -GOOD FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -that song was a jam

-utena just booped anthy’s nose oh my god i had to pause it because the sweetness was that overwhelming -boop!!!!! boop...................... -lil nose boop.................................

-dios came in so suddenly during the fight with juri i actually looked around my own damn living room like ‘?????? is he in MY living room?????’

-good evening they’re looking at each other with love -“am i smiling?” 💞 -god the saxophone is gonna go fucking careless whisper i swear

-touga and utena gotta stop having heart to hearts, utena deserves better

-nanami!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! -if only for a moment!!!!

-human chu-chu -i have seen hell thank you

-wakaba is a delight in literally every incarnation of utena wakaba: /singing about “being a girl” to anthy, and then specifically and completely to utena utena: /just goes with it anthy, in the background: /chu-chu time

-utena: /singing wakaba’s song on the little revolving platform me: /flashbacks to watching my high school put on grease our senior year and one of my friends singing all alone at the drive-in movie -IN A GOOD WAY -i know it’s a completely different tone but. it came to mind and it was a good memory (-do you know how much googling i had to do to find the correct song title and to find the song itself???? and they didn’t put this song in the travolta movie????? rude. this song mentions werewolves.) -ANYWAY

-“do you no longer love me, anthy?” :(

-anthy’s song............. anthy: because you are my -- me: ......well it can’t be lover. is it gonna be friend? i would begrudgingly accept friend anthy: -- my only prince me: nnnnnnnnnnnnno

-oh shout out to the background dancers with the flowers growing around them!!!

-akio looks like he’s in a cologne ad while everyone else around him is in a play and he just happens to be there, vibing -cigarette and all -sunglasses and all!!!!

- “i’ll keep winning for you, forever” “i will always believe in your victory” It’s The Cycle™ -“i love you, forever” ..................... :’)

-it was a fun time, though!!!!

#lulu talks about utena

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fabrickind · 7 years ago

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Revolutionary Girl Utena Episode 3 Liveblog

Join me this week for episode 3: social anxiety, heteronormativity, authenticity, and schools with way too much goddamned money for their own good.

This one starts again with the fairytale framework, which was missing in episode 2. I’m making a note of this because I’m going to keep track of which episodes have this opening and if there are any similarities between them. inb4 ‘this is the episode where Nanami is introduced and that’s why there’s the fairytale since her episodes tend to have that opening

For this episode, I think it’s a combination of things. One is the somewhat obvious answer that we, as an audience, need to be reminded of this backstory. I think that it also speaks to the themes of this episode, though, in reminding us that Utena’s goal is to become a prince. Of course, as we come to find out, both the flashback and the goal of becoming a prince are false ideals, and the brilliance of this show (as I keep saying) is that it outright tells you this from the start, but in a way that makes you want to take it at face value. We will keep this idea in mind throughout this episode -- everything is precariously constructed, there’s a lot going on behind what we actually see, but we’re cued to take it all so earnestly, at face value.

And here we introduce one of Utena’s major concerns for the first arc: Anthy has no friends! We should give her some friends!

On the questions raised last liveblog about whether to take Chu-chu at face value or not, I think that we should take Anthy’s assertion here fairly literally, and this is one of the few times that I think I’m going to advocate taking anything in this show literally. I think that Chu-chu is her friend.

This exchange is interesting to me

Utena asks Anthy to stop calling her “Utena-sama,” and all of Utena’s fangirls call her that, but Utena writes it off as “a joke.” This scene seems to be calling attention to a weird sense of performance going on here. For the fangirls, it may be a joke on the surface level, but there seems to be something more authentic underneath that, especially considering that they all do it and that it seems to be a recurring thing. Oh, and Wakaba exists, of course. I’m not sure if this is Utena wanting to think that the probable actual thirst of the schoolgirls is a joke, or if it’s seen as a joke on all sides but they’re actually quite parched.

With Anthy, this seems almost inverted. Sure, she’s completely serious about being the Rose Bride. But she has no actual respect for Utena at this point, and while on the surface it may seem like she’s being deferential to her fiancee, deep down, she’s simply performing a surface-level role. It’s much more a “joke” to Anthy than it is to the fangirls.

(On a side note, my browser is flagging “fiancee” [the feminine form] as possibly incorrect spelling when I place “her” in front of it, but if I place “his” in front of it, it doesn’t. I get what it’s doing, but it’s still quite the heteronormative spell checker!)

Speaking of heteronormativity

Throughout this series, especially early on, “normal” and “heteronormative” seem to fully converge. Here, Utena wants to be seen as perfectly feminine (despite her clothing choice and fiancee) and as, more importantly, straight. To her, “normal” means “wants a boy rather than a girl.” Yes, there’s shades of “this whole dueling system is weird and I’d rather have a lover I met in an everyday way than someone I accidentally won in a duel” but I feel like the emphasis is placed on the gender of the love object here, and on Utena fitting into a model of heterosexual femininity.

Of course, no one believes her. At least, I don’t. The way to seem “normal” isn’t to parade around in a so-called “boys” uniform and declare your desire to be a prince. Her actions are seriously at odds with her words here.

And then this asshole shows up.

That hair says otherwise, Touga. That’s major character hair right there.

And Utena provides one of her better reaction faces at what has to be one of the worst pick-up lines in anime history.

[insert joke about Anthy knowing him in the biblical sense]

(Though maybe that joke is more appropriate for the movie, where that’s actually a major plot point)

I wish I could edit out the snippet of video where Touga tries to play with Utena’s hair and she slaps him away and dramatic music plays. Everyone in this series is so extra and I love it.

Oh no! Touga is wearing the ring! We have to go from “this guy is a total fuckboy who deserves to be slapped” to “could this guy be my prince?????” in the span of a few seconds! I guess Utena being the most oblivious character ever is part of her charm, though...

[insert joke about how Touga definitely means it in the biblical sense]

In this Student Council meeting, Miki uses the stopwatch almost right away, after Touga says that Saionji lost again. I think he’s timing when his own line should be. As per last episode, Saionji himself is still not present. Also still no weird antics at the meetings.

Anthy slap count: 3 For those participating in the drinking game ;]

So the latest Anthy rumors are about “what she did to a popular boy” (Saionji), which...middle school rumors often get things wrong, yes, but this is also the role of the Rose Bride. She’s taking on the blame for everything that went wrong, even if Saionji is the one who was an abusive asshole and is now being dramatic and refusing to leave his room.

This does make me think, though...do you know? do you know? Doesn’t that sound like the start of someone about to share some juicy gossip? I wonder how much of the Shadow Girls plays are basically the level of highly allegorical, surrealist rumor, and if we should take them as such?

I am a firm believer in the idea that Nanami is the only other character in this series who has the potential to be a protagonist, only she’s the protagonist of the wrong show (that and she doesn’t interact with the system in the way that Utena does, which is what allows for Utena to make it to the end of the dueling game). (I never said these liveblogs were spoiler-free :P) I think that her introduction here is an indicator of that -- she’s introduced in much the same way as Utena is, only without quite as much pomp and circumstance to her unveiling. There’s a strong visual parallel here, though, and to my memory, the only other character to be given this type of introduction. That is, she’s given the slow tilt up her body, starting at her feet, with the spinning rose frame, much like Utena was. Other characters may have the rose frame, but not that same level of “self-important theme music and the slow reveal of the character” that Nanami is given here. (I know Juri has her very sad theme music mostly used in highly emotional moments, Anthy has theme music but she’s a more major character, Miki sorta has theme music but it’s mostly used in other places...do Touga and Saionji have theme music at all? Do any other side characters have theme music to the level of Nanami? Maybe Nemuro [not Mikage]? It seems as it it plays almost every time there’s something related to her on screen.)

I always go to beat up girls I don’t like with the school’s Forbidden Forest™ in the background.

Actually, I wonder if this is some sort of really weird foreshadowing -- that’s where the dueling arena is, and this is pretty much a cropped (and daylight) version of the shot that opens the Shadow Girl plays for this arc. I’m probably reading too much into it and it’s just a nice, convenient location to get into fights at. You know. In front of the big, ominous forest that all schools have.

The editing and angles in the next scene are nice -- of /course/ Anthy is playing cards with Chu-chu and Utena is just sitting in the corner, stewing. Isn’t this how most friends spend their evenings?

That is exactly the reaction I have to all of the party dresses in this episode.

Utena insisting that Anthy go to the ball and make lots of friends is an interesting moment for me

There’s that fake Anthy smile we all know and love.

I can’t remember my first watchthrough of the series and how I reacted to this particular moment. I wonder how many first-time viewers (who don’t yet realize just how complicated Anthy is) take this response at face-value, and how many realize that Anthy is quite literally obeying orders here, even if Utena didn’t intend it as such?

This scene seems to really align us with Utena’s perspective, though, in wanting Anthy to go and make friends, and having us feel sorry for Anthy for being shy, not for...well, being the Rose Bride and having been abused and tortured her whole life. Utena is trying to make Anthy into that perfectly normal girl that she so desperately wants to be herself, and is coming at this from the perspective of having average problems, not highly symbolic magical problems.

The Shadow Girls play here is a bit obscure. On the surface, it’s about how the ball is just an excuse to catch a man, and how the girls are shameless for wanting to do so, and yet our actors move back and forth between playing the town gossips and actually participating themselves as the prince and princess archetypes. That all seems relatively straightforward -- words not lining up with actions, judging others but having the same desires (even if someone queered by the fact that the prince is one of the same actors as before), setting up what happens between Utena and Anthy as explicitly romantic.

But why are there two dogs? There’s one dog when the SGs are playing the town gossips, and then two dogs when they’re the prince/princess at the ball.

Another question of “just how rich is this school?”: they sure do seem to have a /lot/ of fancy dress parties. No industrial-looking cafeterias or gyms strewn with cheap steamers and girls in JCPenney dresses here. Nah, we have classical music and champagne. I bet the tuxedos the boys are wearing are ones that they own, not even rented.

On the point of the fangirls “joking” about calling her “Utena-sama”: clearly, they’re all /hella/ thirsty. I don’t think they’re joking as much as Utena wants to believe they are.

Yes, Utena. Yes it is.

Besides being one of the best visual representations of social anxiety I’ve ever seen,

this is also something to keep in mind come episode 34. As we get more information about her backstory, this comes to be a surprisingly authentic reliving of trauma for Anthy, and not just a display of anxiety or shyness for its own sake.

I’m actually fascinated by these moments, since they seem to be one of the few places, especially this early on, where we are allowed to see something authentic from Anthy rather than the mask she wears. Of course, we don’t realize it yet. I wonder how much of this is her allowing the mask to come off for a bit, and how much is that her trauma is too difficult at this moment to keep hidden? She does a very good job of hiding it the rest of the time, so it’s interesting that we get this scene. Or is it simply a performance of trauma, and not authentic at all?

Back to shitposting: Yuuko is the only one in the entire goddamned episode who has a passable dress.

I’ve actually looked to see if there’s a fabric that dissolves in alcohol, and the closest I can find is a rare type of rayon that dissolves in a combination of alcohol and...something else, ether maybe? It’s been a while since I’ve looked it up. Still very impractical for a garment, and nothing is going to dissolve that quickly unless that dress was made of rice paper or something.

Though, it’s mostly to give Utena an excuse to act the Prince and save her girlfriend from being humiliated and naked in front of a bunch of strangers.

I love these kinds of early series pranks, though. I feel like as we get further into the series, the whole thing becomes almost like a giant prank somehow (the cars. the cacti. the severe shortage of men wearing shirts.), but all of the problems are very serious and heavy, so it’s interesting to see the early episodes seem to take themselves so seriously and yet all of the problems are things like “someone spilled wine on someone at a party.”

I would do the [insert obligatory joke about how she was wearing the uniform underneath that dress somehow], but that’s not actually what happened here. She’s not in her school uniform. She had her magical girl transformation.

Of course, this is to visually set up the idea that she’s acting as the prince here. But it begs the question: whose powers cause her transformation to happen? Does this solve the mystery of why only Utena seems to get a transformation, no matter who is in possession of the Rose Bride, if those powers are somehow inherent to Utena, not to Anthy? And if so, what would that mean for the framework of the show?

Cosplay goals: make the tablecloth dress actually out of a tablecloth. Is it possible? No. But I can try.

Actually, the quick change seems to be another magical girl transformation, rather than an actual outfit. ~Suspension of disbelief~ is overrated.

And our main ship is established. Now, for the delicately constructed life of these two to come crumbling down over the course of the next 35 episodes once we learn more.

That concludes this week’s liveblog! Congrats if you made it to the end, as usual. Next Sunday (July 2nd) is the scheduled date for our next liveblog.

A quick closing note, since I never actually talk about the next episode bits unless they’re somehow important -- it seems significant that Utena mentions that Miki has only fought one duel before this, but I can discuss that next week. Or, probably, the week after.

#not blog themed #revolutionary girl utena #utena liveblog #utena analysis #long post is long #there's not terribly much serious to say about this episode #but i do try #it's at least 75% shitposting this week though #but there's a few good questions raised

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some-triangles · 8 years ago

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PART 3

The following morning: it’s art class. Utena is spacing out because she was up too late last night ballroom dancing in rose space. Anthy takes her by surprise and they have a bit of a chase sequence through 20th century architecture’s greatest hits. Hey, it’s the Guggenheim!

They finally make it to the erstwhile chairman’s residence. Utena is knocked out by the view.

Who’s that girl and her girlfriend? Standing right where her brother used to stand?

Utena sketches Anthy and thanks her for everything she did last night. Anthy brushes it off with an “I’m engaged to you, after all.” Utena takes her ring off and says she wishes Anthy would cut it out with the whole engagement business and just be honest with her, so they can be real friends. (The jolt of emotional intimacy she got last night really hit the spot.) Anthy essentially says “you first.”

So Utena strips. Anthy was possibly not prepared to have her bluff called in this instance.

Anthy begins to sketch Utena, very, very slowly. Utena summons up the maximum amount of princeliness she can muster while naked and says “it’s not fair if I’m the only one doing the modeling.” Smooth! Or would be, if she wasn’t trembling so much. Anthy gets up and takes off her uniform.

Utena can’t look at her. (This is Anthy’s response to the “why didn’t you just say something” critique. Who’s going to listen? Who can listen?) She turns away and looks at the paintings instead.

Akio’s paintings, in fact.

And the subject.

Something inside Anthy is missing. There’s a prince where her heart should be.

To find out why, we’re gonna have to go back to the shadow puppet girls. They present a brief filler interlude (featuring Nanami’s only appearance in this film, in cow form – Anthy never did like Nanami, did she?) before delivering the goods.

Anthy’s version of Akio is a sad clown. He’s got his sex car but he lost the key, so he has to take a taxi. (Poor Kanae!) Seems like the only thing that really turns his crank is painting pictures. Pictures of his drugged sister, specifically, starring in her own Henry Darger afterworld.

So, we’ve got an updated take on what those tiny paintings from the opening credits were about. They’re the remnants of the old academy, capsules containing the entire rose bride mythos. They persist even after Akio is gone. They are not literally Akio’s work – one of them, after all, depicts his fall from the tower – but they remain inside Anthy, coloring the way that she sees herself. This movie is about her setting them on fire, one by one by one.

(Good save? Good save.)

Anthy shows Utena the secret of the rose bride, but we don’t get to find out what it is, cause this is the point where time starts to dissolve.

Holy shit what happened!

Utena and Juri are dueling now. OK! Juri says Utena’s not gonna beat her playing half-prince, so Utena swaps her bichrome outfit for the full white Dios suit and wins. No time to soak that in, though, as revelations are flying thick and fast. It turns out that the significant thing Anthy showed Utena up in the tower wasn’t the hole in her chest, but the castle in the sky, which is a shame, because we get from that lie to the actual truth within about five additional minutes of screen time, and it would have felt like a more complete gesture if everything had actually come out up there in the mutual nudity zone. Instead, another cavalcade of compressed rigamarole has to go down, of which this is the most significant element:

The crime of the Rose Bride: her complicity. This is a problem because Akio can only “find his key” if he thinks his sister is innocent. Knowing that she’s willing to go along with it all because she loves him deflates his boner completely and he ends up doing a bit of a murder/suicide.

(Anthy gets better.)

She’s blamed for his death, of course, and flees. (This is happening now, rather than in flashback, because cause and effect collapsed pretty much entirely after everyone got naked.) Utena has the presence of mind to run after her, but ends up in the Black Rose Arc somehow, except where you’d expect to find pointy fingers there are road signs. Utena runs into a Do Not Enter but the distant beep of a car horn tells her where to go next.

I’m going to be honest with you: it is at this point that it becomes difficult to pretend that anyone other than Ikuhara is calling the editorial shots. You can feel the hypomania ramping up.

Utena stumbles across the elevator of truth and prepares to Go Deeper. What personal delusion could she possibly have to address? That Touga’s still alive, of course. (The fact that this is a delusion she shares with Shiori is not addressed. Maybe Shiori’s also a ghost? Which makes Juri, maybe, a half-ghost? We definitely saw Anthy get murdered, also, and nobody seems to have a problem with that. It is ultimately difficult to tell if anyone in this story is actually alive or not.)

Touga’s ghost tells her she can stay in this world with him forever if she wants to. Utena declines, saying there never really was a prince. Her memories are coming back, you see. It turns out that Touga gets to be the rape victim and the drowned boy in this version of the narrative – meaning that he takes the suffering of the female characters upon himself, rather than the other way around.

We’ve figured out a way to atone for toxic masculinity! Get buggered in a cabbage patch and drown.

Having cured Utena of her prince complex, Touga swims away. He kind of pulled a Ruka here, startlingly enough, as he returned from the dead just long enough to fix his ex-girlfriend’s brain by manipulating her into swordfights. (Assuming he’s an actual ghost, and not a figment of Utena’s imagination.) This is the problem with Ikuhara’s habit of returning endlessly to his thematic hobbyhorses: every time he goes back to the well he seems less and less critical of what he finds.

Whatever. You were a relatively decent phantom this time, Touga, and we’re going to interpret you as a Jungian combo of Anthy’s guilt and Utena’s masculinity, both now integrated and put to rest. Godspeed.

The basement elevator goes down so far that it arrives at the top of the tower, and Utena steps out into the rose-infested dusk. Anthy says Utena’s now the prince of this academy and all the shiny things she wants are hers forever, as long as she stays here. Utena, fresh off having been healed by a dead boy, says:

“Let’s go outside!”

These, unfortunately, are the magic words which activate the machinery of the denouement. It’s time for… oh, jesus

If all of this felt a bit rushed to you – the unpacking of Anthy’s abuse, the explanation of the nature of the academy, Juri’s entire arc, the revelation that Touga and possibly a few other people have been dead all along, Utena’s internal unraveling of the prince myth as it applies to her – understand that it is very important that we save an entire half hour for what happens next.

#utena #utena liveblog #cw rape mention #some heavy lifting in this one #I feel like this movie should have been an OVA series #or else basically everything not directly pertaining to anthy/akio/utena should have been cut

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raguna-blade · 5 years ago

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Revolutionary Girl Utena Episodes 30-34

Thinking the Next Time I do this, I’m gonna cut down on the reactions thing, and do more a recap after the fact. I should in fact, but for right now i’m just kinda going at it you know.

Came too far and all that. And also, I would like to scrub some of the events in these episodes from my mind because goddamnit they were setting it up for 20 odd episodes and you hoped they wouldn’t and they did and it’s exactly as horrifying (if honestly, put together in such a way that if it wasn’t as uh...Objectively horrifying as it’s played, it’d be a pretty lovely scene I think, but that just makes it worse honestly, cause it is not played as a good thing and yet...) as you’d expect with fuck face mcgee.

Well next time I guess.

Episode 30

First Kiss to do it...uuuuuuugh. Goddamnit

Akio. Noooooooooooooooooooooooo

Wakaba does not give a single fuck, she want's what she wants. However bad an idea it is.

Saying this for your own good.

God, he's everywhere this episode. I don't like where this is going.

Please for the love of god....the shading is ominous. Pls. Plssssssss.

Anthy sitting there staring. Um. Um....

“Her, no my very special friend” aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Seeing this car a lot lately. Uh...Uh...Wakaba.Where.

Stop stroking the car Akio.

WAKABA NO NO NO NO NO

WHY DO YOU NEED 2 HOURS. PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD.

I mean points for her getting the dream, but also, like, aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

It was just a drive don't overthink this.

Why for the love of god do you keep coming back to these birthday candles.

The fucking dread in this episode man. It's unreal.

Car....oh man. Maaaaaaan. OH FUCK where did it come from.

STOP THE JAZZ PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD

Ok, candle out. That's...It's fine. It's fine.

WHY CAN'T ANTHY COME SCUZZLORD

DON'T JUST WAVE HER OFF LOOKING HELLA OMINOUS LIKE THAT FUCKING ANTHY ANTHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY

Please stop talking like that Akio. You won't because you're the worst but

PLEASE STOP TOUCHING HER. JESUS.

YES HE IS A PLAYBOY.

I can do without

YES HE IS DANGEROUS. SIMILAR YOU AND I

As I was saying, I could do without this ominous intimacy.

Anthy. Jesus christ anthy that's terrifying.

OH SHIT HES KISSING HER FUCK FUCK FUCK.

Shadow Girls! Oh, the red shoes. I know this fable. Doesn't it end with her cutting off her feet?

But...Uh...Uhhhhhhhhh.

Last Candle.

No such thing as a love that's wrong...But there are people you shouldn't be in love with.

A PRINCE OF YOUR OWN HUH. DO TELL.

...What's with this music.

Kanae! PLEASE.

What's with the roses...and her mom....

Is he banging the mom too...?

Engagements can be canceled feels ominous as fuck.Goddamnit Akio.

Goddamnit Akio.

Last Candle out. YUP. BAD BAD TIMES

EPISODE 31

oh goddamnit it the prince opening thing again. That's never good. I thought this was supposed to be a nanami episode (...have these only been on nanami eps aside from the opening? I haven't been paying attention)

...Shadow girls in the picture...? Also, what the hell is going on with thepicture....

God is this a nanami episode?

Obssessive brother blood bind

Touga akio apprentice for sure?

Taking a shower care to jin me...Nanami hot shut the fuck down.

So...is the thing about Anthy and Akio then...?

Yo wait, what. Is she just staring at her brother in the shower and this fucking rose again. They're just....Holding on this for like 10 seconds what the hell.

Jesus Nanami. Goddamn Akio. I mean Touga. Fuck.

...If this is reflective of Akio and Anthy uh...uh.......I'm not sure how to parse this.

WHO ARE THESE THREE DUDES. Are they ...what's the deal with...hm.

FUCKING HELL AKIO LEAVE GO AWAY.

PLEASE LET ME JUST HAVE THIS NANAMI EPISODE.

...And where did anthy go.

Please i'm just...

Nanami, most people don't want to fuck their brother.

And nanami just being the huge bitch here is...what is...

So I looked this up and type b parents should have a type b child. So...Uh.

She's looking mad torn up about this actually. One would think for her banging her older brother ambitions this would be a huge plus but uh...Uhhhhh.

Damn Touga getting booty calls in the middle of the night. Am I using that right...?

Uh...What the hell was that pose Nanami.

PUTTHAT ROSE AWAY. AWAY

...Nanami just kinda dipping the fuck out. You that traumatized.

….AKIO...FUCKING PLEASE LEAVE. JUST GO AWAY.

YOU WERE NOT KIDDING ABOUT THAT AT ALL YOU FUCK AAAAAAAAA

ANTHY STOP LYING PLEASE.

Do I sound like a mental case? Yes. Still savage.

...Shadow Girls what...? Parasitism.

THEY ARENT ON THE GROUND WAIT A MINUTE.

Nanami Shooketh.

HE IS YOUR BROTHER YOU DINGBAT.

Oh shit she just admited it. Though I don't know if it sank in.

So if the anthy nanami parallel thing holds her taking spot in bed is you know. Sensible.

Oh shit. Akio and Anthy and hooooooooooooooooboy nanami ain't taking this well.

I THOUGHT THIS WAS A NANAMI EPISODE. IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE FUN. GOOFS AND GAFFES AND YOU PULL THIS SHIT AT THE END LIKE THIS.

DID SHE SEE IT ALL GOD DAMN.

EPIDOSE 32

Nananmi is traumatized as FUCK right now.

Anthy andAkio.

Nanami playing it cool.

Nope not playing it cool at all. She's...Ok, she's doing better. Nope she's just...Trying her best.

CALL THE POLICE NANANMI.

Nanami: You'd be eaten Alive.

She's not wrong but...THE POLICE NANAMI.

….Wait. Would it be fair to call Nanami a third main character....?

Yo touga what the fuck. Just

YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. KEIKO

JESUS WHAT THE FUCK ITS ON.

This is fuuucked.

Why does kanae look so fucking gone.

Anthy keeping utena from walking in on some fucking shit.

Anthy: THANKS FOR ACKNWOLEDGING I TERRIFY YOU.

Nanami in the anthy bed,

NANAMI THANKS FOR SAYING WHAT WE'RE ALL THINKING JUST SAY SOMETHING GOD.

Also, it's like you're a part of each other or something. Given the yinyang thing in the intro I'm wondering.

Nanami, making choices. Being...Duel time. And a ride in the Akio mobile.

Fuck. Goddamn. Uh..

Why is Nanami the fucking Realist Person on this Show. Like seriously. I'm actually kinda considering her as a third main character, which feels weird but....

Keiko Talks Shit, GOT THE SHIT KICKED OUT OF HER JESUS

SLAPPED ANTHY

Challenged ANTHY to a duel. That's..new.

Nanami just fucking coming out swinging.

Shadow Girls...What...What the fuck is going on....

Did...Did they change the openin? Thing again...no, it's not. Just been a while.

But for real, Nanami is not remotely fucking around in the LEAST. My vibe of Nanami as a third main character is interesting and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Yo that pose though. Nanami, I wanna the best. Dunk you, dunk my brother, dunk me, I will be the best. Fuck ALL of this hot bullshit though. Fuck it all.

Nanami is whooping Utena's ass right now which is surprising.

I know where those feelings lead.

Oh they're both adopted. And what the FUCK are you two doing on that bed.

Can we just delete Akio.

Episode 33

THEY'RE DROPPING IT AGAIN? PRINCE INFO AGAIN LIKE TWO EPS?

But...none of the animation...Uh...hm

Why is it night.

Pattern broken. Some shit is about to happen isn't it.

Anthy...?

….Uh. Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

SHADOW GIRLS ON THE RADIO?

Also, I didn't want to look at the real ones?

What DOES it mean to be eternal?

It'll work out so long as I don't get caught. YEAH I BET.

STOP STOP STOP I agree.

Wait a minute is this a clips episode.

I think it is. Guess they had to give us a space before the last hell ride.

….What if Green Hair wasn't just talking shit, and whatever he saw

King of Imposters...? That's Akio. Right?

Also, wow Utena.

So, Every Sibling pair is fucked in roughly the same way. Which...Concerns. What's the deal.

And what the FUCK is with Anthy. Saionji, what did you SEEEEEEEE.

...Wait, the teacher is actually important? I mean yeah of course she is. Recurring character. The Teacup...? Forgotten huh...?

What is Eternal: A Diamond, A Beautiful Memory, Canned Peaches

What is Miracles: Edisons Inventions, A Prince, Canned Coelecanth

Oh this dude again.

WHEN DID I START LOSING. Hoo boy. Hooooooboy.

Watching this repeat of everyones duels kinda homes in how much Utena REALLY doesn't seem to understand people. And hasn't changed in the LEAST. At least, nothing particularly dramatic. Which is...uh..hm.

DON'T.

FUCK. FUCK NO.

oh god this mad uncomfrotable.

The food thing....repeats like...4 times...

AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaSTOP SOTP STOP STOP

GOD FUCKING DAMNIT

In a fucking filler episode they would do this.

Akio just...

Anthy...Anthy did you set this up.

This is mad fucked. I am....not ok.

CAN WE PLEASE DELETE AKIO I BEG YOU.

Just...Why did they change the ending again.

God this is such bullshit.

Episode 34

GOD CAN WE NOT WITH THIS AKIO BULLSHIT.

Oh my god the stars are...

Must you still torture me...? Wh-what. Anthy...?

Oh hey the shadow girls are real.

Showering you with flowers has a terrible meaning now.

Stop that: Anthy to Akio. Uhhhhhhh.

The Shadow Girls...Play...Uh. Huh.

….Um.

A rose Prince...?

A Witch: Cut to Anthy uhhhhhh. Rose....Castle...?

Is...Is anthy the big bad?

Trapped the Prince in the castle.

The Witch is The Princes's Little Sister.

A girl who cannot become a princess is doomed to become a witch.

Uh...Anthy.

Wow, Akio just looks...Tired.

She's still around somewhere in this world :CUT TO ANTHY

oh Touga gonna duel.

I do like that even they're confused as to why they lost.

Shadow Girls...? Again. What was that all about.

Why is anthy's shadow so fucking huge.

Sacrificing Noble Souls huh.

Tiring to be friends with her.

God the dread is no longer here but...uuuuugh.

Anthy, why do you look sad...?

oh shit is this Utena's flashback on the scene.

Dios? Not an Angel of death.

And Utena' walking the same path as him..?

uh....uhhhhhhhhhh..That's a witch. The Rose Bride.

Lives on in agony as punishment for taking away the prince...?

Anthy....? um...

They're calling for the prince...That's a huge crowd.

Anthy sealed away Dios. Oh...

oh shit.

Little Utena noooooo.

The only one who can save her is the prince she believes in.

If you never lose your nobility even when you grow up, you may be able to save her.

May huh.....Does...Anthy remember her...?

Who are you really?

Well fuck shit's worse than I thought.

#revolutionary girl utena #Liveblog #uuuuugh #we're almost at the end you can do this

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