#akio

[arctik-fox]

insp. Forgetting is a kind of mercy, by nerdylizj

[transmascutena]

the idea of eternity in utena is so interesting. initially "there is no such thing as something eternal" is the thought that sends utena spiraling into suicidality, which is understandable, since the idea that everything will end someday is terrifying. especially to a child. especially to a child who just encountered one of the most traumatizing and violent "endings" possible, the deaths of her parents. but then she's shown that apparently something can be eternal. and that something is pain, which is even worse, but at least gives her something to live for. and then by the end of the show it's like. no, pain isn't eternal either. "there is no such thing as something eternal" is reframed as a positive. eternity is Not Good. eternity is everything staying the same forever, never changing for the better. it's the opposite of revolution. it's what akio wants, perpetuating the system that benefits him at the cost of everyone else forever and ever. and no matter what utena might have thought, it is not what she wants.

[biruesque]

"I'm going to become a prince!"

[forfriendship-perhaps]

[ruthimages]

[revacholian-girl-utena]

Just extremely difficult.

Alt text: Screenshots from Revolutionary Girl Utena with overlaid text. 1: Shadow girl B-ko onstage dressed as a prince with a sword and broomstick horse. Text: "You're like a fish that's only now discovering that her whole life has been dictated by the movements of sea currents."

2: Anthy, Utena, and Akio sitting in an empty theater with no other audience. Text: "That's what ideology is."

3: Akio sits on a couch with his back facing Utena. Utena stands some distance away with a confrontational stance. They are dwarfed by the silhouette of the massive planetarium behind them. Text: "is. It's like there are these invisible forces everywhere,"

4: Utena sitting in Mikage's elevator with the sword of Dios in her lap. Her rose bride dress is on a mannequin beside her. Text: "pushing and tugging you this way and that,"

5: A closeup of the camera that took the family photo of Utena, Anthy, and Akio. Text: "and you don't even know they're *there*."

6: Utena leaning against the tower's bedroom window with her shoulders hunched and a hand on the glass. The view is of a starry sky. Text: YOU — "Is it even possible to imagine a world without ideology?"

7: Anthy standing at the other end of the window and looking at Utena. There is no text.

8: Anthy's hand laid on top of Utena's, both pressed to the window. Text: "Of course it's possible." End alt text

[chipsncookies]

Akio and yukiko with their sygna suits bfjsfa 🦊❄️

[mangalho]

ELENCO PRINCIPAL !!!!

fiz bustos tipo foto-passe, e acho que ficaram bem giros. :)

[quitesins]

They don’t understand what I understand…

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

Utena's hair in her "backstory" looks like Anthy's as the rose bride and the crown is the same as the rose bride's. Also the ring is an "engagement ring" (engagement, bride, you get what I'm trying to say)

The narrative (Akio aka the embodiment of the patriarchy) introduces this idea that Utena was a princess/rose bride and thus she will continue to be one: she is a girl, her only options are to be a princess or a witch, and a rose bride in either way

But just as the backstory is false, the ideas it introduces are false. There is no prince riding on a white horse and never was, the ring wasn't an engagement ring, Utena wasn't a princess/rose bride. Even though society tried to make her one (the backstory, Akio's grooming), she is not.

At Ohtori, all girls are like the rose bride, but there is an outside world. Girls are like the rose bride not because they are predestined to be from birth, but because Akio/Ohtori/the narrative forces them into these roles.

More on the hair style: Anthy's hair is pinned up, made to look sort of like a bob/short hair, to resemble her hair as a young child (shorter) while in the present her hair is long. The illusion of eternity that Ohtori perpetuates (her hair is made to look like it's the same as when she was younger but in reality it's grown)

[teacupballerina]

Being “Everything Nasty”, Berserk’s bad breath became a new power: fire breath, burning magical blue! It can torch through evil, so being a villain using such a power is like doing the cinnamon challenge.

[ginabiggs]

Utena - Take My Revolution

Ended up needed to get this illustration out of my soul, so I've been working on this for a couple days. 

Posted using PostyBirb

[transmascutena]

it makes me feel crazy how much this frame in particular looks like a stage. the way it's framed by the curtains. utena in the middle, the actor, not looking at akio, the audience and the director, unaware of the role she's playing. the bouquet of roses, a stage prop, and anthy somewhere behind the scenes, not visible, there but not really. the lights of the amusement park and the ferris wheel, a symbol of childhood, the backdrop setting the scene, she's looking at it but it's not real.

[footballering]

Augusto Akio, the cutest skater at the Olympics. 🇧🇷

[inbarfink]

[cyphyree]

Revolutionary Girl Utena spoilers.

I think what guts me the most is how Utena tries to rise above the mistakes of others, tries to do good, tries to be kind in the name of becoming like the prince she was inspired by...... only to fall short just like everyone else.

She's hypocritical, willfully ignorant, insufferable, malicious even.

When confronted by others who reflect her worst qualities, she tries to defeat them, tries to tell herself that she's not like them at all, when in fact she is all of them to some degree.

The fact that she's "trying to do good" doesn't even make her special or morally better. Lots of well-intentioned characters try to do good in the show, and try to break the rose-tinted windows of their cages. They still end up hurting others, willfully or not. So does Utena.

Utena also tries to drive change, but so does everyone else. All everyone manages to do is reinforce the status quo.

Is Utena a bad person? No.

Is Utena a good person? She's trying, but again that doesn't make her any less malicious than anyone else.

I think what ultimately sets Utena apart is her pursuit for honesty.

Honesty isn't something that's talked about in the show in the most explicit way, and why would anyone talk about it? To be honest is to make yourself vulnerable and open to abuse. To seek honesty is to shatter the lies that offer comfort and confidence, and expose the ugly, dirty little truths underneath. It's to break the rose-tinted windows of their cage: it's painful and sharp and cold and the cuts will be deep and will they even heal?

Utena is honest to a fault, making her susceptible to manipulation and mind games. She's also DIShonest to a fault, therefore perpetuating the illusion that continues to harm Anthy (but it's hard, isn't it, when that illusion is the reason you're still alive?). Utena being naive also has trouble perceiving truths that others more experienced can see.

However--while everyone else resorts to deflecting blame, mind games, or neglecting the inconvenient truth--in the end, Utena continues to pursue truth and be truthful. Not out of naivety like in the beginning, but knowing full well that it's a hell-ridden road worth walking.

She doesn't want illusions and deceit to lull her into false grandeur anymore. She doesn't want to see herself or anyone else through rose-tinted lenses, because to live a pretty lie is to die without being born. She eventually becomes honest with herself, sees the ugly truth of her flaws, and confronts them. She refuses the final illusion Akio offers her because it's dishonest to who she is and what's really important to her. She becomes honest with Anthy, and when Anthy is finally honest with her, Utena receives it in full however much it hurt.

In the end, she didn't save Anthy, because the truth is that Anthy was never hers to save. But by shattering the lies between them, and baring her truth, Utena became the vehicle for Anthy to save herself.

And that is revolutionary.