#kiryuu touga

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

hm rgu just has a really nuanced take about how patriarchy harms men. it says that men are brought up in a society that encourages them to harm women and emulate other misogynistic, abusive men [touga emulating akio, and to a lesser extent saionji emulating touga and later akio]. this often does come at some cost to their own psyche, because the men they are emulating hurt and abuse them too [touga is abused by akio, saionji is abused by touga though touga is not nearly as skillful with it]. but regardless, they are punching downwards to mistreat the women in their lives the same way their abusive male role models do [touga abusing nanami, saionji abusing anthy], and they choose to act this way to women because, despite the conditions of patriarchy inflicting a toxic and self-destructive relationship with other men on them, they are willing to imitate and obey the same men that hurt them if it means they can keep the privilege and power over women that the patriarchy grants them by default for being men. [touga wants to be akio's successor, he wants to inherit the world that akio has constructed for himself, which is built on the foundation of patriarchal power over women. and to do this touga deliberately keeps himself on akio's radar rather than pull back once it becomes clear what akio's intentions with him are. touga believes he's letting himself be manipulated, he believes he is consenting to it, and that that will be worth it if it means claiming akio's seat of power in the future. (of course what touga doesn't consider is that he cannot meaningfully consent to any advances akio makes, because he's a minor and akio is an adult.)]

rgu asserts that yes, patriarchy does harm men, but that harm comes almost exclusively from other men. and, more importantly, while abusive men may have been hurt by the patriarchy at the hands of other men, it is still their choice to hurt the women around them. and rather than dawdle and sympathize with harmful men for how they themselves were hurt by other harmful men, it's more important to prevent them from hurting anyone else

[komaressa]

fell on the hayloft

[dharr5]

every episode with these assholes istg

[gemishrooms]

who will get the last piece

[fungh0u1]

only a sick man would take pictures of corpses!

[emberwritesinsight]

I find it so funny that Wakaba (sweetheart, horrible judge of character most of the time, especially when it comes to the pretty boys/men in her life) canonically hates Touga's guts like. In episode 35 she hears his voice and this is her immediate response

She looks ready to physically attack if necessary. Where's our "Wakaba tackles Touga down a flight of stairs, killing him instantly" episode Ikuhara

[anonymous-gambito]

Did this motherfucker just manage to do a sexism by telling a woman her place isn't in the kitchen??? What the fuck???

[utenarevolusionaria]

[hotwaterandmilk]

Series: Shoujo Kakumei Utena Artist: Saitou Chiho Publication: Ciao Magazine (05/1997) Source: Scanned from my personal collection

[number1villainstan]

been thinking about the concept of the 'self' and how it interacts with the roles we play. been thinking about how anthy's role as the rose bride is not her 'self', but it shapes what she is and what she's allowed to be. been thinking about how saionji's personality changes with the clothes he wears, the role he plays. been thinking about how kanae claims that this is her 'true self' during her Black Rose duel even though she's arguably been brainwashed. been thinking about how kanae even before her duel would have had her 'self' carefully controlled by her family and her obligations, up to choosing the man she marries. been thinking about how utena chooses the role of 'prince' because she thinks it's the closest one to her 'self', but has to abandon that role anyways. been thinking about all the masks and fronts and facades that touga wears like second nature, and what he must be like beneath all of that pretending. been thinking about how wakaba plays up her lovey-dovey-best-friend act to hide her jealousy of anthy and (potentially) her own lesbian love for utena. been thinking about how to define personality--is it patterns of behavior or something else? been thinking about how all these characters are teenagers, the stage of life associated with identity formation and choice of roles (at least with Erik Erikson's eight-stage model).

been thinking about the 'self' and how it's affected by the roles we play.

[artisticpizza]

[chaos-of-the-abyss]

y'all think your faves are embarrassing cringefailures until you hear kiryuu touga say word-for-word "oh yes baby, you light a fire in my heart" to a lesbian

[yelmosaur]

Two more

[komaressa]

very soon...

[gemishrooms]

the stage has been set for the final act

[fungh0u1]

bubble! pop! elec! tric! (redraw :P)