#and the shadow girl skit is about a mouse who makes a deal with a cat not to put a bell around its neck | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

talesofsymphoniac · 5 months ago

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So I'm speedrunning Utena again to see how I feel about the "Shadow Girls are Anthy's Projections" concept, and instead I'm thinking about how Chu-chu spends a lot of time hanging out with Utena without Anthy.

Like at first he's with Anthy all the time but you start having Utena take care of him when Anthy's not even there-- obviously Chu-chu stays behind when Anthy visits Akio but also things like Utena taking him for a walk at night because she's taking care of him.

And this is based on vibes only but it's always seemed to me that Chu-chu does not necessarily play the same manipulation games that Anthy does. He's not luring Utena out or purposefully distracting her, imo. He's just. Anthy's friend. Her first one.

#very dog hanging out with alfred in serpent mage if you ask me #rgu #mine #meta #anyway its hard to separate out 'the shadow girls are Anthy's thoughts' and 'theyre a greek chorus'#but to me the most interesting skit to make that case was the one about being normal #it's after utena loses the duel and starts dressing in a girls uniform #so ostensibly its about her #but if you read it as an anthy thing it becomes like #'yeah im the rose bride. normal has nothing to do with me and im going home to where MY normal is'#which is interesting because while she is clearly truly touched by the way she sees dios in utena when she wins her back #the shadow girls also land their ufo and black rose arc starts immediately after #aka when anthy amps up the manipulation to eleven. normal for her.#oh the other interesting one is the cat bell #because on rewatch its so so obvious that the cowbell of happiness is about utenas naivety re: princehood #'you wore this shiny bauble without knowing its meaning and now youre an animal like the rest of them'#and the shadow girl skit is about a mouse who makes a deal with a cat not to put a bell around its neck #so it can eat the other mice instead #but then it eats the mouse too #something something you cant escape the monster by working with it itll eat you too #oh and the other one is the william tell archery one #i don't remember the context as well but. apples. a relative shooting at you and you letting them. apples getting pierced by sharp weapons #sitting there and taking it

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