#tbh if anthy didnt pursue mikage idk if this man woulda fucked at all

[shipofthesis]

Wild to me that some people entertain the notion of Mikage and Tokiko being Utena’s parents when a) Mikage’s defective (homo)sexuality and inability to fuck is so central to his arc and character defined by ineffectiveness and b) TOKIKO LIVES.

No Tokiko can’t be a ghost because her entire point is to Live A Normal Life. If she had a daughter surely she would mention it as she recounts her mundane, domestic, as-scripted existence. Especially in combination to her remark about flowers must die to fruit.

Mikage’s whole problem is he cannot cross the barrier.

Even years later as a “better”, more effective man, he can’t. He’s disconnected. With himself, with others, with time and space.

He is inanimate, a robot, revolving in place. Nothing he does in the Black Rose arc has any lasting consequences, he leaves no mark on the world. He is not a dynamic character, but a plot device. He is a transformative catharsis for his duelists and a warning for Utena and little more. Being something so significant as Utena’s father is antithetical to how the narrative treats him.

[mikka-minns]

I think they might symbolize something about Utena's parents, however Tokiko and Mikage have probably not have seen each other in years, maybe decades.

Tokiko's whole purpose is that out of the three of them (Mamiya, Mikage and her), she is the one that could AND chose to leave Akio's system. Her brother wanted to, but he couldn’t cuz he died. Mikage is alive, but he is buying Akio's lies and thinks he is the key to "eternity". Tokiko grew up. She realised that eternity isnt worth so much that you lose yourself and everything that made you human. She decided she must leave Ohtori and be Someone who truly gets to live.

Mikage "died" the same way all the princes die: he saw he was decived but it was too late. The end of the world didnt need him anymore.

Wild to me that some people entertain the notion of Mikage and Tokiko being Utena’s parents when a) Mikage’s defective (homo)sexuality and inability to fuck is so central to his arc and character defined by ineffectiveness and b) TOKIKO LIVES.

No Tokiko can’t be a ghost because her entire point is to Live A Normal Life. If she had a daughter surely she would mention it as she recounts her mundane, domestic, as-scripted existence. Especially in combination to her remark about flowers must die to fruit.

Mikage’s whole problem is he cannot cross the barrier.

Even years later as a “better”, more effective man, he can’t. He’s disconnected. With himself, with others, with time and space.

He is inanimate, a robot, revolving in place. Nothing he does in the Black Rose arc has any lasting consequences, he leaves no mark on the world. He is not a dynamic character, but a plot device. He is a transformative catharsis for his duelists and a warning for Utena and little more. Being something so significant as Utena’s father is antithetical to how the narrative treats him.