#wakaba and tatsuya

[asofterutena]

(Better or worse?)

[original comic by @diaryofadissembler]

[originalwinnercheesecake]

what if the Revolutionary Girl Utena characters were pokemon trainers

I went back to the Utena tab, as one does, to brush up on my philosophy... Suddenly the question pops into my head "With Anthy's love of roses which flower pokemon would be her favorite? I bet it would be x." Then i started to think "If Anthy had "X" then maybe Utena could have "Y". "Nanami should have "C" because of that one comedy filler episode" You know the one. "Also wouldn't it be fun to create a sinister pokemon team for Akio." I literally went to sleep rolling these thoughts and potential teams around in my mind, and have spent all day working on getting the teams right.

Before I post my teams here were my rules

1.) Six pokemon for the rose crest duelists, one-three for the black rose duelists. Ruka got two

2.) All the rose bride duelists had to have at least one flower/plant/florial pokemon. This was not required of the black rose duelists or Ruka.

3.) Normally I do not let characters have legendary pokemon on their teams. But because some of these characters are Gods or embodiment's of legendary themes/tropes I put fitting legendary on the teams for four specific characters

4.) Utena was the only character I allowed a pokemon that can mega evolve. She is the one chosen to wield the power of Dios in the duels.

5.) To challenge myself I did not use any of the eeveelutions, or regional type variations (Alolan, Galar, Hisuin). These are usally heavily represented on my previous lists and I wanted this one to be more unique

In honor of pride month here is the RGU cast as pokemon trainers

Anthy Himemyia

a team that is half cute and girly , and half very very frightening

White Flower Florgus: This one is representative of Anthy's love of flowers, whoch she incorperated into her role in the duels, as the Rose Bride. A flowery fairy pokemon that devotes itself to its gardens. The red one is to sweet to be Anthy's pokemon. Plus given that both the roses in her coffin and the one she puts on Utena are white, I think that white may be her favorite rose color.

Wooloo: Anthy used the Wool from her Wooloo (and some red fabric dye) to make the sweater she knitted and gifted Utena in season 2. I love that because there are no hints that Akio told Anthy to make Utena the sweater. Anthy chose to make a handmade gift for her friend. Utena wore it multiple times later when she and Anthy were hanging out in their room. That was a really sweet gift, and symbolic of how much the two were coming to care about each other, so I wanted to give Anthy a pokemon representative of that

Apom and Rattata: These two both represent Chu-chu, a monkey that was the size of a mouse. They can also represent aspects of Anthy's way of expressing herself during the games. How she was always handy at chores, but had what one would call a quiet and mousy nature. Apom is a shiny pink to match Utena's trademark hair, and the pink outfit Anthy dawns (leaving behind her red goddess/rose bride outfits) to go out into the world and search for Utena.

Mismagius: A ghost type pokemon that is representative of Anthy's witch persona. It's poxides entry says that it is a havic bringer that can cause people great hapiness or misery, and that some will pursue it as if their life depended on it, though owning it can sometimes have less than favorable results. A very Himemyia pokemon

Spectrier: Representative of Anthy's, now long dead, goddess persona. This beauitful, dark, spirit horse shy's away from sight and rely's on its other senses. It is also said that it can seperate a soul from a body with one kick (Similar to what Anthy did to Dios when she gave up being a goddess). Spectrier shares a connection to pokemon owned by both Akio and Utena

Akio Ohtori

Note it was actually a lot of fun making this cutesy/sinister team for Akio.

Morella: This could be Akio's floral pokemon if you view "End of the World" as a rose duelist. I mostly picked it because it is cute and whimsical looking, but is parasitic and will drain a person of their energy when they are asleep.

Driftloom: Another whimsical pokemon. What a fun and safe looking little balloon... that leads small children astray and can cause them to go missing.

Delibird: It is his messenger. Before the final arc he mostly communicated with his students by letters. Delibird delivers them. Bad bird, bad

Palossand: Representative of Ohtori Academy. A palace and a kingdom where everyone lives trapped, with Akio as the prince who is in charage of everyone

Dusktops: A hollow husk ghost that it is unwise to get close enough to look inside of. Am I talking about Dusktops or Akio?

Glastrier: Akio's Princely white horse. A wild and crazy steed (kinda like his car), counter part to his sisters Spectrier, and also connecting to one of Utena's pokemon.

Utena Tenjou

What pokemon are enough of hero's for our protagonist. Are flashy hero pokemon really the ones she needs?

Roserade: Utena's Floral pokemon, and her mega evolution pokemon. I like to think it started out as a little Bedew that was left for Utena after that day all those years ago when she met the prince and vowed to become one herself. Roserade is not really a princely pokemon, but Utena never actually became a prince. I think Roserade is a good representation of the revolutionary character she did become.

Spritzee: Scent seems to be an important senese to Utena. She will comment on food smells and the one thing she remembers clearly about that day is that she could smell Roses. Given her love of fragrance she would probably also love a perfume pokemon

Marowak: Utena and Marowak both lost loving parents when young. Now they have grown tough and made the decision to help each other and carry on.

Growlithe: Representation of Utena's courage and fierce loyalty to those she cares about

Corvisquire: this one represents both the dark uniform and the ingenuity Utena shows. How she descends on the games, has less experience then the other duelist, but she uses tools around her, and eventually the traits she can glimpse from the other duelist themselves, to win.

Calyrex: This is Utena's Legendary pokemon. It is connected to both Anthy and Akio's legendary pokemon, how they both need her, and the choice Utena ultimately has to make on which one she wants to be with.

Touga Kiryuu

Touga' team is meant to be bad/dangerous but not necissarly as wicked or frightening as Akio's team

Vileplume: Touga's floral pokemon. I gave him a finale form in a 3 part evolution, similar to Utena's roserade, but of course not containing the same abilities or as powerful. I also really wanted him to have a flower that was also a poison type, because he himself is pretty poisonous.

Hitmonchan: Touga is shown to know how to box when he took out that kangeroo. So i figured since he would obviously have a fighting type pokemon, let's go with the boxing one

Purugly: He loves cats so he gets a cat pokemon. (Side note do we think he got to keep the kitten Anthy gave him for his birthday, or did it disappear after 24-48 hours, like the "gifts" Anthy sends Nanami). I decided to give him Purugly do them both having nice hair, being fairly rude, and most importantly, loving to sleep in someone else's bed.

Seviper: A snake is pokemon is another one that just fits Touga. Add that Seviper has a red sword like tail, and could maybe help Touga train, makes it Touga's perfect snake.

Yamask: Yamask's lore says it use to be a man who died. It came back as a ghost pokemon and it carries a mask that resembles the face it had as a human. I put it on Touga's team to go with Touga's own lore, and how there is all this discussion on if Touga is actually a boy or a ghost... Even if he is still alive he is kinda still a ghost, carrying a mask of the kid Saionji and Nanami remember.

Mudsdale: Touga has a horse because he wants to imitate Akio. But where as Akio's Galstrier is a beautiful and princely legindary pokemon. Touga only has a dirty mudsdale, a.k.a the one horse pokemon that is entirely based off of a regular, non magical, horse. Mudsdale can never be quite like Galstier. And Touga (thankfully) can never manage to be as manipulative and powerful as Akio.

Nanami Kiryuu

Her magistey the princess of ridiculousness, with her loyal court of fools

Carnavine: Nanami's floral pokemon. I did not want to give Nanami a more "delicate flower" looking pokemon, as Nanami is honestly one of the least delicate girls in the anime. Carnavine, like Nanami, is clingy and snappy so I think it fits her really well.

Vespaqueen: Becasue she is the school's "Queen Bee"

Morgrem: It is a prankster, who will sometimes employ false surrenders and dirty tactics, all of which are to hide its own insecurites and lack of self confidence. Nanami and Morgrem are kindred spirits in this regard. Hopefully she and it could help each other grow to accept themselves

Piplup: It has a tough attitude and a lot of bravado, but in truth it is pretty clumsy and falls down a lot. So piplup is another pokemon who I feel like it and Nanami would get each other.

Miltank and Exeggcute: You all know exactly why Nanami has a cow and eggs. No explanation needed.

Kyouichi Saionji

It was not my intention to give him the fluffiest team. I am laughing at it turning out that way though. Let's hope Saionji can keep himself and his teammates stocked on hair brushes

Cacturn: Saionji's Floral pokemon. He gets Cacturn because they are both green and prickly.

Fennekin: Well it is a hot headed pokemon that will have steam coming out of its fluffy ears when it gets really worked up. That certainly sounds like someone Saionji see's whenever he looks in the mirror. Also once it evolves, and starts carrying around sticks, he could teach it Kendo style staff techniques

Mankey: Saionji also needed a fighting type. I chose Mankey to represent just how Impulsive Saionji is. Both he and Mankey struggle to calm themselves down, and to stop fighting. If Saionji can ever manage to teach Mankey any control, then maybe he won't be completely hopeless himself. If not, it will at least be a funny ride.

Zangoose: Saionji got a Zangoose because Touga has a Seviper. Each of them have a rival pokemon that is always fighting with the other, but also can never help but seek the other out. I would say that is pretty accurate representation of Touga and Saionji's relationship, and how they feel about each other in their adolescences.

Farfetch: I was thinking because it carries the leak then maybe Saionji could teach it Kendo staff techniques now. Fennekin could watch. They would probably all enjoy that.

Shiny Sudowoodo: well it is bad at hiding and hates water, that is similar to Saionji. But really I gave it to Saionji because he likes poetry, and Sudowoodo (particularly its shiny form) are about the closest I could think of to a poetic looking pokemon. Another thing is that Shiny Sudowoodo looks like a tree in the fall, when things change. Change is a concept Saionji struggles with, and he needs to learn to better deal with it if he wants to leave his coffin

Miki Kaoru

I kind of wish his team could have been bluer, but I am happy that 2 are garden creatures and another three look a bit like childhood toys. Nature and nostalgia are strong themes if Miki's

Sunflora: This is Miki's floral pokemon. He gets an actual flower based one. A sunflower caught in the Sunlight garden back when he was a child

Baltoy: So Miki is a time keeper for the student council (supposedly, as no one knows what he is keeping time on with his stop watch) and carries a lot of nostalgia for his past. So I had to give him a "time" pokemon. However he is not a strong enough trainer to command a legendary, like Celibi or Dialga. Baltoy was the only one left, but it honestly works. I like to imagine that it stays next to Miki at student council meetings and every time he presses the button on his oh-so-confusing stopwatch Baltoy will cease its spinning and speak.

Chimeco and chatot: Two music based pokemon to sit with Miki and keep him company at the piano. Chimeco will try to calm him down when he gets stressed. Chatot will repeat things: notes or phrases that it has heard Miki/his teachers say. Miki loves Chatot, but it often makes him more stressed.

Scyther: All of Miki's pokemon so far have been small and cute. But Miki is a tough fighter too. I wanted him to have pokemon he could sword train with, and that would come off as more imposing in battle. No fighting types really fit him so I got more creative. Scyther would make a pretty good fencing partner. He probably caught it in his garden like Sunflora, only he was older by then.

Male Meowstic: This one is representative of his caring yet strained relationship his sister Kozue-she has a female. Miki's male meowstic is both the male, and the more defensive of the pair, just like him.

Juri Arisugawa

before anyone asks Juri does not have a sward pokemon because she does not need one. She already has a sword.

Lurantis: Now this is the perfect floral pokemon for Juri. It is girly without being soft or frilly. It is vivid, tough, and glamours. It is also super sharp and does its best to fool people into seeing it as someone its not. Basically it suits Juri's strengths, while also highlighting some of her vulnerabilities.

Luvdisc: Okay the romantic heart pokemon that is considered a symbol of love might seem like a strange one for Juri,given how she feels about, well, romantic feelings and all that. One I do think Juri is a romantic, but, just like with miracles, she has some trouble believing in romance after what went down with Shori. Secondly lone luvdisc's can become despondent and disheartened... which again is kind of how Juri feels, when thinking about all the things she is scared to believe in. Both Juri and Luvdisc need hugs

Cloyster: This one represents how closed off and self motivated Juri has become

Brozong: It strong steel/psychic typing suits Juri pretty well, and it being a 360 degree shield does show how defensive Juri is now. Most importantly it can summon rain showers. The culmination of Juri's arc was her locket getting broken, her forfeiting her duel as she finally lets herself cry over what she lost, then stepping into a rain shower, to try and began herself again. That was such a powerful scene for Juri, so I gave her a powerful pokemon to represent that time in her life.

Jangmo-o: Here is a little dragon that personality wise is on almost the same wave length as Juri. Both are diligent trainers, humble, yet have the pride of warriors. I could see these two taking each other far.

Mienshao: This is Juri's fighting type pokemon. One that is very graceful and elegant, as well as being a skilled, and sometimes overwhelming, fighter. Like with her Lurantis I could see this one joining her in both a battle and on the runway.

Now on to the black rose duelists. Once again they were smaller characters so I am only giving them 1-3 pokemon.

Kanae Ohtori

Apples for the princess, fairy tales dictate she should have refused

Applin: So they are sometimes viewed as romantic gifts between people in a committed relationship. Akio gave this Applin to Kanae, who joyfully accepted it as a "symbol of their love". But another way to look at it was Akio telling Kanae his plans. Applin is a worm that burrows into the center of an apple and then feeds on the fruit to stay protected, plump, and strong. Akio is the worm. Kanae's family's academy is the apple. Kanae's Applin is most definitely not evolving into a Appletun.

Kozue Kaoru

I imagine Kozue and her girls are out to either get their party up or throw some shade down. No in between

Female Meowstic: the sibling pokemon to Miki's male one. Like Kozue this meowstic is the aggressive female counter part to its more defensive brother.

Bellossom: Kozue is not a rose crest duelist, but she still has a flower pokemon? Okay I am not saying Kozue should have joined the student council with Miki, or competed for the rose bride, or anything like that. Bellossom is also a party pokemon. It is always dancing and chatting away with others. Kozue takes Bellossom with her when she goes out to look for new boyfriends. It is also there for her after hook-ups, when she is all alone again. Bellossom might be Miki's favorite of Kozue's pokemon. Kozue likes Miki's chatoc, because she can teach it to say phrases that annoy her brother/ scare away anyone that might hurt him.

Taillow: This is Kozue's newest pokemon. She is shown to like birds. She found this one injured, became protective of it, and took it in. She told everyone she caught it because the injuries proved it was tough in a scrap, and it is tough in a scrap, but that was still a lie on Kozue's part.

Shori Takatsuki:

So cute on the surface, beneath that... well sometimes it is a little less pretty and a lot more messy

Psyduck: Because Shori follows people she likes/wants around like a duck, and she is driven to headaches by her own refusal to accept feelings. Both her own feelings and other peoples as well. It will be a long and stressful ride, but caring for Pysduck could possibly help Shori break this negative cycle of denial she has locked herself in.

Corsola: The tips of it spikes can be painlessly broken off and then made into pretty jewelry, that are prized as treasures. Shori deeply wants to be someones treasure, so I imagine she wears corsola jewelry a lot to try and boost her low self esteem. This also goes with Juri's luvdisc, as luvdiscs are a pokemon that love corsolas.

Phanpy: This is Shori's last pokemon, and probably her oldest. She is not able to/has no desire to evolve it. Phanpy's look like innocent little dolls, are very playful, and has a tendency to hurt those it feels affection for...Just like Shori.

Mitsuru Tsuwabuki

Gorwing up is really so tough

Impidimp: One evolution behind Nanami's Morgrim. Like their trainers the pair get along and are good friends, but often tend to prank the other. It is a bit of a ongoing challenge to see which is the most sly and devious

Bagon: Like Mitsuru with adulthood, Bagon dreams of the day it will be a full grown Salamence, and waits for all the things it will be able to do then. Mitsuru and Bagon want to grow, evolve, and achieve their dreams together.

Love Sweet Carmel Swirl Alcreamie: I gave Mitsuru an Alicreamie because he shown to be able to cook/bake, and likes to do it for Nanami. I really was hoping that their was a chocolate version of Alicreamie, because of the symbolism of the partially eaten chocolate bar his friend leaves behind in his black rose episode. But I was out of luck. I decided to give him a Carmel Swirl Alcreamie because its cream has a bitter taste. Right now Mitsuru is at a stage where he feels very bitter about still being a little kid. I figure his Alcreamie can help him learn to mix that bitterness with other feelings/flavors to create good results. Love Sweet because Mitsuru is a romantic of course.

Tatsuya Kazami

I hope that he got back out of ohtori again quick, and that this time he and Wakaba stayed in touch....maybe as friends, maybe as more. In the end that is up tot he two of them, not to Mikage, Utena, or Akio.

Oddish: Oddish is a pokemon that kinda looks like a onion, at least that is what Tatsuya thought when he met Oddish. It reminded him of Wakaba and how she used to call him "The Onion Prince" , so he caught it and made it his partner.

Slowpoke: Slowpoke is called the patient pokemon, and Tatsuya's best and only quality is that he is willing to patiently support the girl he loves, while waiting for the day she maybe decides to give them a chance to be something more.

Wakaba Shinohara

You take care of everyone you meet. But who will take care of you?

Swablu: A very friendly and fearless, normal/flying type, bird that goes around with its head is the clouds and cotton covering its ears. That is definitely similar to our girl Wakaba. But it will also grow into a very strong dragon/flying type, Altaria; just like how Wakaba shows she will grow into a very strong young women one day. For now Wakuba and Swablu have got each other, and are committed to helping the other grow.

Chancy: A caring and nutruing pokemon. This one helps Wakaba take immaculate care of everyone in her life. It also tries its best to take care of her and reminder her that she is still important to it during her darker moments. Like when Saionji leaves her. Or Utena starts spending most of her time with Anthy/Akio and has less and less for Wakaba.

Shiny Skeledirge: Like Wakaba this pokemon is caring yet meddlesome. I could see them getting up to a lot of trouble that they had no business being in, but also helping a lot of people too. It likes to help wakaba with her chorus homework, and sing for Wakaba when she is feeling down. Hopefully it's powerful enough to at least intimidate the boys Wakaba does not have the sense to know are bad news. I also gave it to her because wiki says it is modeled after a tennis athlete (Tennis is implied to be Wakaba's favorite sport), and that the bird on its snout functions as a separate entity. So it was a sneaky way to actually give Wakaba four pokemon. Why is it a shiny, because Wakaba deserves a rare shiny pokemon. She was a rare bright spot in that hell school after all.

Keiko Sondo

I got the idea to give her all bug pokemon because her episode is called Vermon.

Meadow Pattern (a.k.a Pink) Vivillon: I picked Vivillon because it is very girly and frilly, and Keiko comes off as a being a really girly girl. I picked the meadow pattern because it seemed the most romantic, and at heart this girl is another huge romantic.

Male Combee: This one is her relationship to Nanami. Nanami had a female Combee that evolved into a Vespadqueen. But male Combee like Keiko's cannot evolve. No matter how hard either Combee or Keiko work and train they are not royalty, but mere parts of the hive. Combee shares Keiko's resentment that random chances of birth seemingly made Nanami and Vespaqueen more special than them. It is just not fair.

Grubbin: Yeah here is a not so pretty, underground, grubby buggy. But there is so much more to Grubbin than appears. They are attracted to sparks of electricity and will burrow to and stay by it, until he day they can evolve and generate their own. Also when worked into a enough of a rage they are capable of causing birds that try to prey on them fly away in fear. So I am giving her Grubbin to show that of all three conies, Nanami was not able to break Keiko as totally as she did the other two, and their were moments in the show where Keiko was able to stand up to/take on Nanami.

Souji Mikage

Yes I am calling Mikage the fourth most powerful character character in RGU. He was definitely a victor in some previous round of the duels, and for whatever reason Akio and Anthy kept their hold on him for 30 years... to use him to test future victors that won the first round to easy? I mean it is stated he used to have 100 back rose crests and flowers, but by Utena's time he only had 6 left... Off topic

Hypno: it helps him mess with the kids who come into his elevator for therapy; using its hypnotic power to pull their most jealous and anxious thoughts form their minds and mouths.

Bisharp: This one represents how professor Nemuro saw himself before meeting Mamiya and Tokiko, and what he, as Souji Mikage, became after their loss. This is a dark and steel type robot, that commands subordinates to fight underneath it, while it pushes towards its own goals.

Celibi: He slips backwards and forwards through time, while always remaing the exact same age. So I gave him Celibi because it can take itself and invited companions through time. Once he learns that there was really no way then or in the future to have saved Mamiya, can Celibi please take him back in time to tell the real Mamiya "Good bye"?

Ruka Tsuchiya

And here is the guy who in the two episodes he was in before dying, he seemingly made himself more hated than Saionji and Touga combinded, almost as hated as Akio.

Haunter: Because haunting was a thing he liked to do before dying, and from what I have heard, possibly afterwards too. It is also possible Haunter stayed with Ruka even after his death. Admirable loyalty on his pokemons part

Hawkamo: A dragon one evolution higher than Juri's Jaogmo-o, because Ruka was always one step ahead of Juri. After he dies I imagine Hawkamo stalks around the fencing dojo, trying to pick a new trainer. It would be interesting to guess who it would pick.

[transmascutena]

love it when utena tries to play matchmaker. me when i'm definitely straight and care about romance soooo much just look at how i'm helping all my friends with it while very much not pursuing it myself

(^ aromantic lesbian buddies)

[bestutenacharactertournament]

Hi everyone and welcome to the tournament for the best Revolutionary Girl Utena character!!

Notice: characters are anime only.

edit: I didn't think there would be discourse over it, but this is both a better written and you prefer them tournament. You can vote for these characters for whatever reasons you like. I made this because I was curious on who the fandom liked more. So with that in mind, please keep interactions respectful!!

first matches are:

Utena Tenjou VS Juri Arisugawa Anthy Himemiya VS Touga Kiryuu Akio Ohtori VS Tatsuya Kazami Aiko Wakiya VS Wakaba Shinohara Chu-Chu VS Mitsuru Tsuwabuki Kanae Ohtori VS Souji Mikage Keiko Sonoda VS Yuko Ohse Kozue Kaoru VS Shiori Takatsuki Kyouichi Saonji VS Mamiya Chida Mari Hozumi VS Miki Kaoru Nanami Kiryuu VS The three dudes who say "Ooooo" all the time Ruka Tsuchiya VS Tokiko Chida The Shadow girls/drama club VS Prince Dios

Second matches are:

Utena Tenjou VS Miki Kaoru Anthy Himemiya VS Chu-Chu Tatsuya Kazami VS Shiori Takatsuki Wakaba Shinohara VS Souji Mikage Keiko Sonoda VS Nanami Kiryuu Kyouichi Saionji VS Tokiko Chida The Shadows Girls/Drama Club VS Juri Arisugawa

Third matches are:

Utena Tenjou VS Wakaba Shinohara Anthy Himemiya VS Nanami Kiryuu Shiori Takatsuki VS Juri Arisugawa Kyouichi Saonji VS The Shadow Girls/Drama club

this is my first tournament thingy so I hope it goes well 😅

Have fun!

[kankuroplease]

Tenko's children are siblings of moles ✨️thank you Sumi and Sumi's father Izuku🤭

Izuku’s moles got practically everyone. Even some of the ones that think they don’t have them 🤣

[exilley]

Friendship is a pretty fraught concept in Utena. Within the text, it's something that's ridiculed, taken advantage of, even resented, and its metatext tells us that in the way each of the characters struggle to share genuine relationships with each other outside of Ohtori's literal and figurative constructs, friendship is just another temporal aspect of infancy. It's the furthest thing from eternity. There is no blood obligation, romance, or binary arbitrations in friendship. The characters' relationships being stripped of that as children is an act of violence. Touga's pursuit of the eternity he glimpsed forces him to compromise Nanami and Saionji, two of the people closest to him; it's an ideal that promises power at the expense of his own ruin. He's right. There is no such thing as friendship where he's headed, to the top of Akio's tower. Juri and Shiori are ultimately two people who tragically were never able to see through their own preconceived notions of what they each thought the other's love was supposed to look like. So long as both of them remained trapped in the history of their former friendship, there was no way they could've beat the odds already stacked up against them in the form of cishetnormative patriarchy. Wakaba's innocent affection for Tatsuya in childhood gives way for the latter to develop an unhealthy fixation on the former, where Wakaba had long abandoned her elementary whims in favor of pursuing a commitment with Saionji as a way to accumulate social capital. Nanami only keeps her clique around because it provides her a sense of surety that her brother still values her above everyone else, while her clique likewise stay with Nanami becuase it affords them the opportunity to get close to Touga. Anthy's dedication to her role is just as performative as the way she treats those around her; where on the surface she appears to seek to empower Utena on behalf of her brother's interests, she harbors much more complicated and personal emotions towards her companion than that, and in this sense the nature of even their mutual feelings are warped on account of Anthy's cynicism. Friendship, the audience is constantly told, is an immaturity. No one's priority in a system that's made to profit off of the abuse of others. Utena is the sole individual who subverts this message as part of her counter-symbolism-- she insists Anthy make friends, she tries to get along with everyone on the Student Council, she tries to sympathize with all of her opponents in the dueling arena, she refrains from fighting her best friend. Callous individualism is the symptom of an ideology that undermines our humanity in order to establish an unsustainable hierarchy of Honor.

[n2nataliegoodman]

Shiori during the Black Rose arc has always greatly intrigued me because while all the others follow a fairly similar formula, she is the only one that completely diverges.

Kanae, Kozue, Mitsuru, Wakaba, and Keiko are all fairly similar in their motives; they love their respective members of the student council, but their love cannot be reciprocated (Akio’s distorted love being focused only on Anthy, Miki being her brother, Nanami seeing Mitsuru as a child, Saionji being a gay who is misogynistic and only really cares about Touga, and Touga being a misogynist who is probably gay and has Nanami chasing most girls away from her brother). All of their relationships are doomed to an unhappy ending.

Likewise, this is why Tatsuya (the onion prince) is turned away by Mikage. His and Wakaba’s story can have a happy ending if they’re honest with each other. Their story doesn’t have to be a tragedy.

Now, Shiori is different. For all of the brides, they have romantic feelings for their student council member (Kozue is a little bit of a slippery slope with this because she probably wants a normal sibling relationship but doesn’t realise it?) and want love from them that the member is incapable of giving.

For Shiori and Juri, if we take Shiori’s words as fact, their story is the opposite. Juri is the one with the doomed love that Shiori is incapable of reciprocating. Now, we as the audience know this is definitely not the case. Shiori very clearly has feelings for Juri, but she’s so caught up in her inferiority complex and the heteronormativity of the world they live in that she is unable to admit that to herself.

But again, this sets Shiori and Juri’s story apart. They both feel the same. Their story is not doomed be a tragedy from the start like all the others. Don’t get me wrong, they would have to do a lot of work to make their relationship work, but it’s not impossible.

I think this is why their ending during the finale is also so different. For all of the other Black Rose brides (save for Kanae because, you know, she’s presumed dead) they’ve gained space from the people they were so obsessed with. Mitsuru is hanging around Miki rather than sticking to and following the orders of Nanami; Kozue is letting someone else get close to her brother; we don’t see much of Keiko at the end, but presumably she’s no longer chasing after Touga or living under Nanami’s shadow as we see her with Aiko and Yuuko; and Wakaba has moved on to her onion prince.

But because Shiori and Juri’s relationship isn’t doomed to be a tragedy from the start, they seem to have actually gotten closer. While all the others grew apart to have a more healthy relationship, Juri and Shiori have grown closer to have a more healthy relationship.

I’d like to think that means that they’ll have a happy ending together once they work through their issues.

[complimentaryculler]

reading the color brown in revolutionary girl utena as a symbol of "ordinariness" makes so much sense. wakaba is an ordinary girl; she doesn't get to be special. keiko is an ordinary girl; she doesnt get to be the girlfriend of a cool guy, to be special to someone special. tatsuya is an ordinary guy; he is a plain, regular student. when tokiko leaves the academy, the garden where one can never grow up, her hair shifts from corruption purple to brown; married women are the natural state. and of course anthy has brown skin. because ordinary girls are used and abused by ordinary ordinary men, like akio. because all girls are like the rose bride.

[utenaesque]

[azuresquirrel]

Extremely underrated part of RGU episode 19 "Song for a Fallen Kingdom" is that during BOTH scenes where Tatsuya is being a total boyfail talking about Wakaba, and Utena (compromised as usual whenever the word "prince" is thrown around) is encouraging him to confess, Anthy is fully not paying him the slightest attention at all. HER ASS IS NOT LISTENING!!!! GO GIRL GIVE US NOTHING!!!

[ariadnesweb]

Witches in Utena are extremely elusive figures, contrasted and scapegoated by the 'Prince'.

By context, all of the Black Rose Duelists (except for maybe Mikage*?) are witches, existing only in relation as the shadows of their princes. Of course, by the nature of duelists, they are also princes, though noticeably more pitiable and weaker than the student council. Ms. Himemiya, the notable witch herself, is at her most active, vindictive, and empathetic during this arc, helping push and break the other black rose duelists.

Kozue and Shiori are notable even within this array, having a strong presence in the first and third set of duels, and notable for having 'enchanted' their princes through manipulation, leading to an easy understanding of their 'witchiness' in the fandom and the audience. But having done so successfully, they become immortalized as their princes' princesses, who are unwilling to scapegoat the girls. Is this a victory? In the 3rd set of duels the pair return as Rose Brides, having established a solid foothold within the realm of women, either by maintaining an indispensable job (Kozue as Miki's adult counterpart, a bride), or by subsuming her entire character into getting a noble prince to take her (Shiori in her relationship with Ruka, a princess, loyal and bitter to the end).

The other notable witch in the cast is Nanami, Kiryuu Touga's younger sister, and known darling terror of the school. Her abrasive and cold-faced attitude easily places her as the antagonistic jealous counterpart to Himemiya, but this abrasiveness is shortly subsumed. Touga makes Nanami a duelist, and soon after abdicates his responsibilities, leaving Nanami as the Student Council President Pro Tempore for the rest of the series (or until Nanami's last duel - it is her decision, Touga never returns, and the Student Council is never disbanded). Until said last duel, Nanami joins Miki and Juri in the maintenance of the student council theater, theatrically musing on the stabbings and workings of the arena. It takes the events of "Her Tragedy" and "The Romance of the Dancing Girls" to shake her out of her cyclical anxieties, as the growing pains of adulthood snap the idling dreams of princes into perspective; Nanami is Touga's witch, his excuse, shadow, and scapegoat - the thing he uses to keep the other girls at bay, the thing that will never be respected or loved in its anger. The reprieve of a witches power, adult intimidation and sensuality, is only cold misunderstanding to her peers.

Himemiya is Akio's witch, the younger sister he uses to terrorize his fiancee and students, who is terrorized in turn by everyone else in the school.

In lieu of his now-implied-dead fiancee, Akio has no qualms turning Anthy and Utena against each other, functionally leaving them as each others witches. The victory of one is the disappearence of another, and so on.

Though disappearing is its own sort of victory, anyways.

*Mikage is technically Utena's shadow, being the negative chosen one, but due to the nature of princes, he maintains his position by 'Princessing' Utena/Tokiko/Mamiya and scapegoating the other researchers (the ghosts of Nemuro Memorial Hall). The closest Utena has to a proper black rose counter part are Anthy/Tatsuya/Wakaba, who face the emptiness of her idealism.

[asofterutena]

(According to whose standards?)

[leonawriter]

One of my favourite ideas with regards to Ryoji is this sort of... thing where he can just exist outside of time somehow, because of how short a time he's allowed to exist in reality.

(massive spoilers for P3 onward past this point, obviously, if you haven't already gone through the game.)

[EDIT: I've cleaned it up a bit and edited and put it on AO3. So, if you want like... an entire extra scene plus some, go here.]

Which is great in theory, but a bit more complicated if you wanna put it into practice, other than going "well, he's here because... oh, a wizard did it." There are possibilities and plausibles, but they're frankly limited if you have (like me) a logical mind and a need for something to suspend your disbelief.

Except then I had a thought - Ryoji is also known as Death, or Thanatos. He takes on that role at the climax, even. So, I started thinking along those lines, and wound up with-

Ryoji the psychopomp. Ryoji, the grim reaper.

Not "the Reaper" as in the one that roams dungeons (he exists during P3 and is implied by design to be connected somehow to Tatsuya Sudou, anyway).

More like, that it's a case of "Life gave her creations to Death, no matter what they both knew would happen the moment he touched them."

Minato (or Kotone) dies on the school rooftop, and there he is, able to talk to them, and they're able to tell him that everything worked out, that everything will work out. Their spirit lingers at the Door, and they talk like it's passing notes in class.

A young girl finds herself on the receiving end of unwanted advances, and then she's somewhere strange, confronted with uncomfortable and unwanted truths, and then- then, there's a boy in a yellow scarf wanting to know all of the things that she loved about her life. At first it's strange, and more than a bit hard to think of things for this weird guy who she's never met before, but the more she talks the more she realises that she really did have things she treasured.

He thanks her for telling him, and as she makes her peace with the fact that this is it, he tells her that he'll keep them in his heart now, too.

Wakaba Isshikki knows about the cognitive realm - a little too much, perhaps, but not enough to stop. Enough, perhaps, to see the shadow of a boy following her for a day or two. Enough to feel as though she's already living on borrowed time, when she feels that surely she knows what's happening, and she simply... doesn't care.

She's a little wispy, still, when he leads what's left of her toward the Sea of Souls where she now belongs. He's concerned, and rightly so, about what that means. Wakaba's more worried about the kids.

(A few people don't get Ryoji. Those unhappy few get the floating mask of Death and a series of coffins to tell them that their time has come. For some it's because even in death they have no humility, and for others still it's simply easier, that way. Easier to not be Ryoji wile dealing with it, even if it would have been easier still to simply walk away and let them find their own way to the Sea.

But Kunikazu Okumura had sent so many his way, that it was only right that Death came to meet him personally.

"I didn't even get to finish my speech," the man said, blubbering after the towering figure that Death made.

You had a daughter, Death reminded him, and he was silent the rest of the way.)

Goro Akechi comes to, and the first thing he sees is a bright yellow scarf.

The first thing he does is swear, because boys with slicked-back hair wearing yellow scarves aren't supposed to exist when you're dead. The second thing he does is look around, and realise that you aren't really supposed to exist in a sea of stars and sit on nothing when you're alive, either.

"Please tell me this isn't the afterlife," he says, mostly because although he figured it could be worse - he could have found himself in hell, or surrounded by all of the people he'd killed over the years, all of the ones who had every reason to make his afterlife hell if it wasn't already - it could definitely be better.

"It is and it isn't," comes the cryptic answer. "Usually it is, more or less. Each of those lights represents a soul, after all." And there were so many of them. "But you're a special case! You're both dead and not dead right now, which, usually that doesn't happen? People can almost die but not actually die, but they aren't usually both at the same time, I mean."

"Maruki," Akechi practically spits out. "In that case, I'm surprised you're not inundated right now."

Blue eyes - far too blue to be human, they almost remind him of Morgana, and he was neither human nor a cat, apparently - duck down, glancing away.

"I felt what happened. Everyone caught up in a lie, completely oblivious... if the one controlling that power had wanted to bring ruin, then..." But he shakes his head, bringing himself out of his own thoughts. "It's a good thing that didn't happen, really! And- you're wrong, by the way."

"What?"

"Like I said, you're a special case. I've been able to talk to a lot of people, but I've never been able to ask anyone to send a message back before!"

"Back?" For a moment, Akechi is reduced to parroting back words. Surely they mean something, but the obvious meaning is impossible, and he can't think of anything else. "Who would someone like you even want to send a message to, anyway?"

"Would you believe me if I said they were old enemies, who were also old friends? But, I guess you've had a few of those yourself, right?"

"What would you even know about me?"

Akechi got a lopsided, bittersweet smile in return.

"I've been following you for a lot longer than I think we'd both have liked," come the words that send a shiver down his spine as instincts and senses that were rusty from disuse told him what that meant even as his more conscious mind shied away from the idea of it. "But I hope that after this, we won't be able to talk again for a long, long time."

Something tells Akechi that he's both in no danger whatsoever, and also that he really shouldn't refuse. He expects to be on a strict deadline (ha, dead) but time moves differently here, and apparently they have exactly as much time as they need. No more, and not a second less.

When he opens his eyes again, he can remember everything-

Someone really wanted you to live, Ryoji had said, with a teasing smile, and bright eyes.

It makes him feel small. It makes him feel indebted - to Akira, to Ryoji, in ways that he can't even begin to examine or think of how to repay. It makes him want to give it all back, so that he doesn't have to deal with it, but that would be purely theoretical and besides, he has promises to keep.

First, a debt to Akira, something that to Akechi feels like barely a drop in the ocean and that hopefully Akira and his friends will feel the correct amount of gratitude for.

Secondly-

"Hello- yes, this is Goro Akechi speaking. Is this Mitsuru Kirijo-san? I have a message to pass on to you. Are the names Ryoji Mochizuki and Minato Arisato familiar to you, at all?"

[transmascutena]

I think it's interesting how one of the healthiest relationships in the show is Wakaba and Utena's friendship. Obviously, it has its flaws and tensions. But those tensions arise directly from the concept of being "special," from Wakaba dealing with their sense of inferiority towards Utena, who actively puts their sense of self-worth in winning these duels to keep Anthy at their side (a noble Prince...) People talk about Tatsuya being rejected as a Black Rose duelist a lot, but it's so notable that he's rejected because he's just...a more emotionally mature, less toxic person. Yeah, his heart is broken, but there is something decidedly human and mundane about how he approaches the conflict by asking, "What's wrong with me?" He sees him and Wakaba as two equals, he doesn't put their love conflicts on a pedestal, and he wants genuine solutions and hopes to confront his own flaws to understand why Wakaba rejected him.

Literally no one else is doing it like him.

A key theme in this show is critique of the nuclear family, but an extension of that theme is how said family unit breeds deep dysfunction into the characters' lives. The lack of communal infrastructure means characters are constantly putting their eggs in one basket. Everyone wants to return to their past because Ohtori and the patriarchal system doesn't offer chances to form new connections outside of the ones born of your trauma/childhood. Their lives are defined by their suffering. I view Wakaba and Utena's relationship as so important BECAUSE of how mundane it is, these 2 people met and they became friends and they eat bentos together and Wakaba views herself as non-special, but she doesn't realize how severely fucked up and lonely all the special people are.

I could go on. I want to write essays about this anime, for real. But it's something that struck me as I watch the show for the first time.

one of the reasons i find utena and wakaba's friendship so interesting and appealing is the fact that it and its issues are so mundane in the middle of all melodrama of the duels and the student council relationships and all of those things. their flaws feel very real for a teenage friendship, and they're all things i can personally relate to on some level. they obviously genuinely care about each other, but their friendships suffers from them not truly understanding each other, mostly because of their own lacking communication (utena doesn't tell wakaba any of the weird things going on in her life, probably out of some desire to protect her from it, and wakaba doesn't tell utena how upset that makes her, and ends up resenting her.) and it's completely accurate what you said about the tragedy of wakaba wanting to be special like utena is, but not realizing that said "specialness" comes at the cost of abuse and trauma. ohtori (akio) purposefully obfuscates that abuse to make it seem like something you should want. trying to disguise grooming as romance, etc. etc. the beauty of the rose hides its thorns and all that.

i'm not sure i'd call it the healthiest relationship in the show (although the bar is so low that it probably is by default) but it's important that the ways in which it is harmful are so normal. who hasn't ever been bad at communicating their feelings to people they care about? who hasn't kept secrets that they probably shouldn't? who hasn't grown apart from a middle school friend once new things started happening in their life? i'd argue that the flaws in the show's other relationships are also pretty normal when you strip away the layers of metaphor and symbolism from them (in the sense that abuse is exceedingly common.) but utena and wakaba's friendship exists almost entirely outside of that, which makes it stand out.

[cafeleningrad]

Wakaba thoughts again. There're many things to say about the Black Rose Arc but one of them is not only how the gendered order is enforced with a lot of violence but also the social order. Those who have not been deemed special by Akio, non-duelists, are treated terribly as probs, as means to an end. And if they wish to change that they're faced with (emotional) repression.

Akio categorizes people either special by default (although he selects duelists by the degree he can use them for his own goals, and only ocassionally special if they appear unplanned on his radar. What a terrible worldview, as he says this in "Wakaba flourishes", because actually... Wakaba can be great at sports and schools. I mean alwaready way before Saionji's presence was a motivation in her life, on her way home, many friends asked her to hang out, she's well liked. Anthy and Utena both genuinely enjoy her cooking. Wakaba has not only one but three love intersts, in Tatsuya, Saionji (out of his necessity but curious that it was Wakaba of all people), and Utena, all genuinely close. For someone who would stereotypically occupy the role of genki girl side character that's way more than for even some popular duelists. In episode 12, she was the one capable of pulling out Utena of her depression because she understood and adored her so much. Wakaba always was well liked, has some genuinely good skills, her shining in sports, and school was due to her feeling special enough to dare step out of the role of the regular girl although she already had it in her. It's so insidious that the motivational push to bring out the most of herself depends so much on male attention. As the shadow girl play tells us, Ohtori is a place pushing the idea that people, specifically girls, need princes, specifically male attention, but actually, they don't why they need them in the first place or what they should actually do with them. (Girls like Juri or Nanami get a chance at beig special individuals on their own. in spite of being girls. That rug is pulled away from them when Ruka tries to converse Juri by force, and Nanami's exceptionalism entirely depends on her relationship to a boy, namely being Touga's little sister).

Wakaba was always great but all her potential gets locked away behind the social indoctrination of only male attentiondetrmining her worth, and not by the potential she obviously has in herself. However, Akio's social order that she isn't allowed to be anything than a side character although she, with three love interests, being quiet popular for "a normal girl", and the potentieal to be top of her class, could break down her box easily. Further on, she doesn't recognize that it all could be sourced from her won well.

[roarinsaurus]

rewatching a clip from utena episode 19 because i wanted to see the context of the screenshot i was redrawing. and like. it’s kinda weird that mikage lets that kid go and says “you’re actually a good person and aren’t meant for this path.” and then it cuts to setting up wakaba as the next duelist, which made me go?? you’re insinuating wakaba is a bad person??

then i realized like. 1. this is judgement based on a high school boy’s perception of who is good and bad. 2. could just be judging people based on whether they want to change someone else to suit their life. and like tatsuya just says that he’ll wait for wakaba no matter what she does. he doesn’t want her to change, he just wants to be there for her. whereas the other kids wants to take control of their scenarios.

and probably some combo of the two. either mikage hypocritically seeing a selfish or childish desire to control others (by children! who are being forced to be held to the emotional standards of adults) as a moral failing or recognizing that that want to mold someone into your ideal image of them is such a necessary part of being a duelist. that he needs that to create them