#you know the theory that anthy “made” utena?

[biruesque]

anthy and utena as pygmalion and galatea!

[transmascutena]

there's this collection of utena analyses that left a really strong impression on me because it was one of the first things i read about the show after i finished it, and while there's some absolute bullshit in there, it also had a lot of good insight into small details and symbols i definitely didn't notice on my first or second watch. whoever wrote it really loved to use the phrase "akio's metaphorical sword" though and that kind of ruined the entire thing by itself

[frapajapa]

// Utena spoilers and discourse, tw: rape, victim blaming

I just want to say that that person getting dunked on twitter passes off episode 33 as not assault bc it also doubles as narrative seduction and LIKE IT CAN BE BOTH IT CAN LITERALLY BE BOTH JUST BECAUSE YOU THINK ITS A METAPHOR FOR UTENA BEING PULLED FROM ANTHY DOESN'T MEAN SHE CONSENTED OR IT'S NOT ASSAULT!!! SYMBOLISM HAS TO SYMBOLIZE SOMETHING WHAT DO YOU THINK THE STOP SIGNS ARE FOR???

if the symbolism doesn't symbolize something then there's no story no plot you're not looking at a story. you're looking at Pinterest.

also how is a thing that literally happens on screen in the present and is constantly referenced afterward as a real thing that happened

only a "metaphor" and "narrative device" therefore it didn't literally happen and if it did literally happen it's not actually rape bc of the aforementioned (the logic is not logic-ing)

but an extremely anachronistic flashback (When it has been long established that childhood memory is unreliable in this show) where a mob bangs down the door of a shack to find a well-dressed prince and then shish kebabs a 6 year old (who survives)

is unrefutable proof that Actually Anthy is 1 quintillion years old so she should know and act better

???

hmmm could the confusing anachronistic flashback serve as a metaphor to show Anthy feeling like her pain is eternal, neverending, has been going on forever? could it be about the timeless nature of misogyny itself? no no, it can't be, it's only a metaphor when I can use it to claim statutory rape can be consensual! it's only a metaphor when it serves my contrarian theories I made up to feel smart without actually thinking about what I'm implying!

[briebysabs]

Wait. Wait y’all. Is mochijun actually a fan of RGU? Bc hold on, and I’m probably going crazy, but lemme draw you in. And this will contain some RGU spoilers. Let’s start with Noé, I think he has some similarities with Utena. You might be like “Well, Utena is a naive, straightforward, pure-hearted character. It’s not that hard to share those characteristics.” Fair but think of it this way. Both Utena and Noé are “outsiders”pulled into the main story, the play if you will bc of an object of interest.

Whether it’s the rose ring or the Book of Vanitas. They are essentially anomalies that leave their impact and revolutionize people’s lives/way of thinking by being a kind person. Both of them encounter their partners almost like fate. Now I don’t know what Vanitas and Anthy have in common other than the need to be “saved” (whatever that entails) as well as being painted the witch or symbol of misfortunate by the world. Only being vulnerable and learning to reach out by being with Utena/Noé. But notice another thing, y’all ain’t gonna believe this. In the last episode of RGU, Utena fails to hold onto Anthy and their hands slip. Her last words in the tv series is I’m sorry Anthy I couldn’t be a prince.

I couldn’t save you.

GUYS PLEASE WTFF

RGU and VnC break the 4th wall to explain how these are characters, these are assigned roles. RGU has princes and princesses, VnC has observers and a narrator. We go through each “Act” of this tale. They portray the shift of adolescence into adulthood. Vanitas is 18, Noé is 19. I guess another thing Vanitas has with Anthy is growing up fast, both were shoved into the world of adults and thus believe they know how the system works. A pessimistic view of life, although thankfully Vanitas is not in eternal suffering. And we all know how much mochijun loves her flower symbolism, symbolism in general and honestly her art gives the same vibes as RGU. That sensual, like drop of eroticism idk how to describe it but you get my point. I don’t think it’s on purpose obviously but it’s cool to note. Do I think all this is intentional? Bc mochijun hasn’t come out and say she was inspired in some ways by RGU. I just made a couple connections, there might be more I can’t think of at the moment. But I think it’ll be really cool if it was.

Finally, we all got our time loop theories about VnC. RGU is a loop I’m just saying. Also I think this is kinda funny and interesting. The whole thing is this shojo manga au where Jeanne dresses up in boy’s uniform to school.

Dominique Saionji, prince of the school.....okay.

[aparticularbandit]

and another rarepair short thing - this time komaru and kirumi!

“So you’re a maid?”  Komaru looks up at her with soft eyes.  “What’s that like?”

Kirumi considers this for a moment before saying, not meeting her eyes, “Fulfilling.”

Komaru’s eyes light up.  “Really?”  She follows behind Kirumi like a baby chick follows its mother, hands clasped in front of her and that megaphone gun hanging at one side.  (Even if she doesn’t need it often anymore, she never leaves it behind.  Who knows when she’ll might need it again?  It’s not good for anything other than the various Monokuma variations anyway, so it’s not like she’s a threat!  (She’s not much of a threat for them, either.  Jack’s far better at that.  But she tries.))  “It’s not weird, is it?”  Her brows furrow together.  “I’ve never been around a real maid.  I mean, I’ve been to maid cafés, and those are real maids, but that’s not really the same, is it?”

“No, it isn’t.”  A small smile lifts the corners of Kirumi’s lips.  “Maid cafés give the illusion of what a true maid does.  Their maids are worthy of their titles, but their roles are specific to that job.  A maid like myself doesn’t have set hours to clock in or clock out; we are at the beck and call of our master at any hour of the day or night.”

“Wow.”  Komaru stops, not even realizing she’s done it.  “That’s a lot!  I don’t think I could do that.”  She suddenly notices she needs to catch up and rushes to do so.  “I thought about getting a job at a maid café once, but Makoto snitched on me.  My parents were so mad.”  She laughs and rubs the back of her neck with one hand, a move oddly reminiscent of her brother.  “Then I told them at least I wasn’t applying to a cosplay café, and they left me alone!”

Kirumi almost laughs.  “Don’t let Tsumugi hear you say that.  She’ll be very offended.”

Komaru blushes.  “Oh, she knows.  I thought she would get the joke, but then she didn’t speak to me for a week.  It was the worst!  I wanted to share my Oshi No Ko theories with someone between episodes, and Toko hates it.  She said I should go talk to Sayaka about it, but the last time I did, she made a face I didn’t even know she could make.”

“And you didn’t speak with Hifumi?”

“No.”  Komaru makes a disgusted face.  “He’s…kind of gross when it comes to Ruby and B-Komachi, and he won’t talk about what Aqua’s doing without giving me huge spoilers.”  She brushes her hair back out of her face.  “He forgets that I haven’t read the manga.  Tsumugi never forgets.”  She pouts.  Then her expression shifts.  “You know, you remind me of Anthy a little bit.  At the beginning of the series, anyway.”

Kirumi pauses.  She straightens, gently pressing her hand into the small of her back.  “That’s an apt comparison, although I choose my masters and don’t take on any request I don’t think I can fulfill.”  Her face grows firm.  “And I don’t take physical abuse from my masters.”

I don’t take it from anyone.

“Then you don’t need an Utena to step in and protect you.”

Kirumi glances over to Komaru and reads her expression before relaxing.  “No,” she says, “I don’t need an Utena to protect me.”

Komaru frowns at this.  “I think you still need one.  So you’re not only obeying your masters all the time.  You have to take a break, you know.  It’s not healthy if you don’t take breaks.  Or have fun.”

“Is that so?”  Kirumi meets Komaru’s eyes.  “Are you suggesting you take on that role?”

“N-no!”  Komaru flushes a bright red and looks away.  “Someone should.  That’s all!”  She bites her lower lip.  “Here, um.  Let me help you with that!”  She reaches over and takes the broom from Kirumi’s hands.  “I’m actually pretty good at this!”

I’m sure you are.

[voretetas]

Theory: Anthy and the personification of Dios are the same person (transgender allegory)

I'll start off saying that this is only a theory and that none of these things mean it's canon. I personally love the headcanon of transfemenine Anthy himemiya but y'all are free to have your own opinions! ^^

WARNING: Mentions of abuse (physical, sexual and psychological) as well as mentions and criticism of internalized and structural transphobia, misogyny and transmisogyny. TMA people i strongly encourage you to tell me if I said something wrong or odd.

Points i think would have another explanation from this theory:

•the scene of her in her childhood with the prince is actually her with Dios and not with Akio, it's her watching her former self, made by people's expectations about her gender, die in her arms

•before getting impaled in the swords of hatred, Prince Dios last words were Anthy's name, which makes it actually more powerful. It's the name she choose herself, it's her saying her name outloud while the personification of the people's expectations dies.

•"Dios is no longer here" line, knowing damn well Dios is a personification of princehood, hits different within this theory. Dios is no longer there because Anthy has rejected princehood, Because she never was a prince, people forced a part of herself to be one. Once she confronted the people with her real self, they're furious, they blame Anthy of killing Dios when he wasn't even real, he was a mere illusion. The only real person there was Anthy, but in disbelief people decided to hit Anthy with all of their hatred.

•Dios after Anthy grows up exists only as a concept, a ghost that appears to push utena to do the impossible, and that feels oddly similar to Anthy. An idealized "man" that never existed ("princes aren't real") who actively tries to help girls (a thing that you shouldn't do, since "all women are like the rose bride, in some way or another" aka all of them are doomed to suffer). Meaning that Dios was the first one to stand up and go against these established structure, inspiring Utena to change the world

•This actually gives Utena a whole other twist: the reason she thought Akio was her prince was because she met Anthy when she was still Dios. The prince, as former Anthy self, showed Utena Anthy's true self, which was shut down by hatred and gender normatives.

•Dios saying that Anthy killed a prince could be interpreted as Anthy still struggling with self acceptance. She's still blaming herself for her identity, seeing it as some sort of betrayal towards society. This means that the person who saved Utena, the person who made the first contact when she was a child and showed her how much Anthy was suffering was no other than Anthy herself. Or, well, Dios, her former self.

•Anthy then is pushed towards conformity within the femenine rose bride role. She knows the most small mistake she makes will put her life in the line. That's why she accepted every order and still got a lot of backlash from everyone. She's seen as the lowest and some sort of witch people are allowed to abuse because she had the prince role in her hands and actively rejected it. For everyone, whether it's Akio or the rose crest, it doesn't matter if her identity didn't fit within princehood, she should have been the prince, but since she decided not to, she deserves to be shamed and abused because of it.

•The sword symbolism plays a strong role within this theory because Anthy is the carrier of "the sword of Dios". A sword that is supposed to belong to a prince with pure heart and Anthy does have a pure heart but it's not a prince. I honestly have been seeing people say that the sword of Dios is Akio's sword but honestly it doesn't make a lot of sense to me because the one who carries it is Anthy, the only who releases it is Anthy. And when Akio takes the sword of Dios, it just breaks, showing that the sword does not belong to him.

•In the black rose arc, the whole arc is led by Mamiya and Mikage. Mamiya, who is later revealed to be Anthy, dressed as a man who looks oddly similar to the personification of Dios/illusion of Dios, and successfully deceiving Mikage and everyone else with that stolen identity, might be a key piece of Anthy being an androgynous person, which by itself doesn't mean she's trans (trans people can or cannot be androgynous) but it's an important point too;

Tbh i might be wrong, or i might have said something dumb since i haven't rewatched RGU in a while, but this is all I can recall

[colossalsquidz]

2, 7, 13 and 18

2. favorite episode (bonus: favorite scene in it)

Basic answer but episodes 38/39 (I can’t seperate them lol)!!! My favourite scene in the whole show is Anthy’s suicide attempt in episode 38 because I feel like it’s the first time Utena and Anthy genuinely shed all their pretenses and are truthful with each other… it feels like what all the bedtime scenes have been leading up to. It makes me tear up to this day. In general 38/39 are just SO good, if I listed all the reasons why we’d be here forever

7. favorite symbol/motif (example: the car)

Horse/carousel motif my beloved!!!!! I’ve made a whole post about the carousel before. The coffin motif is also very good… it’s basically emblematic of all the main themes of the show and I LOVE death as a literary topic, so ofc it’s very striking to me. Very versatile in its use but still coherent.

13. character you think is underappreciated by the fandom

Kanae!!! Yea she’s a side character and doesn’t get much screentime but like… ohhh my god there’s so much you can pull from what little is there. I like to think about what her relationship with Anthy is like. It’s fascinating to me how much contempt Anthy has towards her. Also I really like the theory that she was a failed duelist who became Akio’s bride, it adds a lot to her character imo and I’d love to read or even write a fic with that premise one day…

18. how did you first hear about the show, and what made you want to watch it?

Unfortunately it was recommended to me by an ex-friend who I have since blocked for their awful political views lol. At first it was the aesthetics that drew me in, the character designs of Utena and Anthy really appealed to me, and I’ll admit I thought it was a much more, uh… feminist girl power show. Not that it’s not feminist, but you know what I mean. I was uncritically onboard with Utena’s prince thing until episode 11 blew my mind.

[mieowkoid09]

Take my Ramblings on how I think relationships work between the Lustrous because 2/3 of my personality is made up of these gems' dynamics

So before I get into the main meat of what I think, I should probably talk about the families. first of all. I think that the families can have romantic relations between each other. Insert booing and rocks being thrown. Okay wait! let me explain myself before ya'll start abusing your rocks you heathens. basically, this is gonna get into territory that i'm not fully equipped to explain, so you know how the "Uchihas" from naruto are? they basically inbreed with eachother ya know but they still aren't fully related at all so they can have healthy kids but they still share the same dna, you could even say they share the same "structure"? yeah, thats basically how I think the gem family relationships are. they do share the same structure and name and call themselves family but they don't have to restrict themselves to JUST being siblings, they can be lovers too. they can call themselves "brothers" while being romantically involved. they aren't like us and they don't share the factor that we could produce unhealthy offspring if they are involved with their sibling, since they can't have children nor do they have blood!!(thankfully, since that would be insanely gorey) and I may be wrong but I don't think that the term for "Brother" in japan is only limited to siblings. fact check me if i am in fact wrong please.(Btw i'm not in the naruto fandom at all, I've just watched some theory videos and watched some video essays, also i watched a few episodes of naruto when I was younger)

Now, before I get myself hit with more rocks. time to talk about how I believe the gems' relationships are. mainly the romantic ones since tbr, romantic relations are some of the most complicated things ever and that's probably why we're so drawn to them (sorry romance nonfavorable/romance repulsed aromantics, you will be missed)

I personally think that romance in the lustrous world, is actually incredibly discouraged. these gems can still enter romantic relations but it is incredibly discouraged because, we have seen what happens when these gems lose that person that they love.

They go absolutely crazy. they even break themselves. and this is off topic but now that I think about it, Diamond and Bortz's relationship is like how trans people see other trans people who look more like what they want to look like, at least from what I've heard from some videos on youtube. and ngl, its kinda scary- anyways, back mostly on topic with Rutile. I've recently watched RGU(Revolutionary Girl Utena) and tbh, how Rutile treats Padparadscha kinda reminds of how Utena treats Anthy. Utena practically puts Anthy on a pedestal and wants to help Anthy end her job as the Rose Bride even though, Utena practically knows nothing about Anthy because Utena projects what she thinks is right onto Anthy, although it isn't entirely off, Utena doesn't even try to understand Anthy. JUST LIKE FREAKING RUTILE AND PADPARADSCHA- Rutile and Utena practically lose their identity when they lose Padparadscha and Anthy. just- UGH it's so good. Now time to stop talking about Rutile, and go to our very shiny friend and my Autoromantic/Panromantic/Polyamorous headcanon, being Diamond, since they were the one to bring up the fact that Cinnabar may have Romantic feelings for our beloved Phosphophyllite.

Dang both Ventricosus and Diamond ship CinnaPhos. they can't get a break lol. especially with most of the fandom practically shipping them lmaooo. And this is just a little headcanon but I think Diamond used that "Are you gay?" card on Cinnabar when Cinnabar was rambling about how much they "despise" Phos because that's practically what happens when these gems lose the ones they love. They probably start blaming the ones that got taken before they start blaming themselves because it practically starts becoming a pattern in Yellow's case. omg now I can imagine Yellow just talking about their romances with their former partners lol. and now that I think about it, Yellow did blame Zircon for being an idiot for trying to save Yellow, more toned down than Cinnabar's rant and how much of an idiot Phos was but still, that stings. and now this has become not just a little headcanon and more of a parallel it seems. wow, how we can change during writing.

ALSO DID ANYONE ELSE FEEL INCREDIBLY SAD WHEN THE GEMLUNARIAN THING THAT WAS KISSING DIAMOND IN THE PARTY AT THE END ARTBOOK WASN'T ACTUALLY NAMED!?

WE WANNA KNOW WHO YOU ARE!!!

Also- possible romance between Aqua and Emerald???

Eh probably. anyways ima end this tangent even tho ima probably gonna get a lot of backlash from the people in this fandom for my controversial opinions but that's fine, hopefully. yeah no i'm probably gonna get murdered.

[hydrajones]

I am in the middle of third Revolutionary Girl Utena watch. My mom (foolishly) agreed to watch it with me, and is having a lot of really cool insights/theories/reactions that I might post about later. But that's not the point rn-

Because as RGU girlies know, each time you watch this high concept doctoral thesis disguised as an artsy anime disguised as a cute lesbian anime, you have DEEP THOUGHTS (tm) about random shots.

TLDR: I am having losing my mind over the goddamm curry episode and I both love and hate it

I have been sitting here for 30+ mins thinking about what the deeper symbolism of the fricking elephant gag in the body swap curry episode becuase I made ONE (1) offhand comment to my mom of "lol maybe that means something about "the elephant in the room" becuase of the Saonji side plot or something". AND I COULD BE RIGHT ABOUT THAT-

Like, Saonji is clearly a ticking time bomb rn that went completely unaddressed and exploded in the next ep but IT GOES DEEPER.

Because the Saionji situation is being influenced by Touga, so it could be about him too (especially with his connections to Nanami). BUT! That's being influenced by Akio- who to be fair, we don't know about yet, but the make it clear that "The End of the World" is doing SOMETHING behind the scenes, so that could work too

And then you have Anthy Himemiya my beloved, who is ACTIVELY helping with both these manipulations, and LYING to Utena constantly. And this episode actually has one of the best examples of this! We find out she's been sort-of secretly meeting with Saionji and writting in his exchange diary. Which she justifies as being okay becuase Utena never told her NOT to write him. Which only happened becuase Utena isn't a possessive asshat who snooped on Anthy to find out she'd been doing that in the first place. So really, ANTHY is the biggest elephant in the room. Especially with episode 12 quickly approaching.

But like, that might not be the only elephant symbolism interpretation. My brain has been slowly weaving yet ABOTHER exhaustive analysis of a NANAMI FILLER EPISODE. Using elephants as symbols of wisdom and/or memory and just-

Someone, send help. Please. My brain is full of nothing but metaphor heavy visuals and iconic leabiams and I will fail my classes-

[theanimeview]

Why “Wakaba Flourishing” is a Masterful Episode

Source: Episode 20, Revolutionary Girl Utena

By: Beata Garrett | @zhongxia246

It’s difficult to pick one episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997) as my favorite because they all lend weight to the overall story and the themes. Removing one, even the silliest such as “The Cowbell of Happiness,” feels wrong. However, I can safely say that Episode 20, titled “Wakaba Flourishing” is not only one of my favorite episodes, but one that deserves to be rewatched solely by itself for what it brings to the table.

Revolutionary Girl Utena is no stranger to fleshing out its side characters and making even the most unlikeable and shallow-seeming ones complex and fascinating. “Wakaba Flourishing” is special though because Wakaba doesn’t have the same level of a relationship with one of the council members or Utena in the same way as someone like Nanami or Shiori. Wakaba is Utena’s supportive friend, nothing more than that, and that’s one of the aspects that makes Episode 20 so successful. The show understands how it’s depicted Wakaba up to this point and how the audience views her so its focus on her struggles are rooted in that very “ordinary-ness” that she conveyed.

This post is an in-depth look at how “Wakaba Flourishing” peers into the inner lives of the “ordinary” at Ohtori Academy and theories about visual symbols throughout it. If you’ve read my other post, “Why ODDTAXI’s Episode 4 is a Masterpiece” (https://theanimeview.com/2022/01/18/why-oddtaxis-episode-4-is-a-masterpiece/), this post will be similar to that one.

Without further ado, let’s get into why “Wakaba Flourishing” is a masterful episode.

[Editor’s Note: Please assume from this point forward that everything–quotes, images, and summaries–in this post, unless cited otherwise, comes directly from Episode 20 of Revolutionary Girl Utena (1997). This post also goes into spoilers for the entire series. Thank you.]

Disclaimer: This post mentions domestic violence, which may be upsetting for readers, and I highly recommend looking up warnings if you plan to watch the entire show. Please click “Keep reading” if you’re comfortable with this warning.

The episode begins with Wakaba walking to her dorm amidst a voiceover of students talking about Saionji’s recent expulsion from the academy. Near the end of this voiceover, one girl says, “I really had a thing for him for a while there, too” and his previous popularity is made evident–as well as the fact that no one truly cared for him. Amidst this are flashbacks to the duel that caused Saionji to get expelled as he fought Utena and injured Touga when the latter jumped in front of Utena to “save” her.

As the girls continue talking, the show hammers in how pathetic Saionji has become in the eyes of the students and his previous admirers. He’s no longer special to them in the same way that the rest of the student council is. Yet, despite all this, the girls reminisce on how cool he was before he was expelled and wonder where he is now. Using this voiceover at the beginning of the episode conveys just what kind of image Saionji had built for himself at the academy and a larger commentary on the lookism that allowed him to prosper for as long as he did. As the audience, we know Saionji regularly hit Anthy and that his goal was to one-up Touga by achieving something eternal.

However, Saionji’s cruelty was ignored by everyone because he was an attractive boy who was good at kendo and who served on the student council. Even Wakaba, when she and Utena witnessed Saionji hitting Anthy, dismissed his violent tendencies and blamed the victim instead. Unfortunately, Saionji’s reputation hasn’t been completely damaged by his expulsion and instead given him a new air of mystery that works in his favor.

As Wakaba walks home, it’s interesting to note how far away she is from the academy. Unlike Utena and the other council members, she lives off-campus. Her route home takes her down stairs and inclines, symbolizing that even in terms of where she lives, she’s not as special as those who are allowed to live on-campus. It also demonstrates how distant she is from the true core of Ohtori academy and the duels and power struggles that occur there. She lives amongst other “ordinary” people who live their everyday lives away from the academy and the show takes the time to show all of this so the reveal that Saionji is now living with Wakaba is made even more shocking.

What’s really jarring to me is not Saionji actually living outside the academy, but that he’s no longer wearing his uniform. Costume design is really interesting to look at, especially in a show where the outfits are so homogenous for the most part. Saionji’s new outfit emphasizes how he’s fallen, especially when we see his uniform on a hanger in some shots, but also humanizes him. He’s always been a teenager, but only now does he look like one for the first time.

In the shot above, you can see Saionji’s bag is still there. He hasn’t made himself at home quite yet because he still holds out hope that he’ll return to the academy and regain his place there, but Wakaba’s decision to buy matching cups for them both indicates how serious she is about him and how much she wants him to stay. It’s a recipe for disaster as these two characters are clearly at odds with how invested they are in this relationship.

The Matching Cups

Let’s get more into the matching cups themselves and what they could possibly represent.

First of all, they’re pretty cute and represent Saionji and Wakaba respectively, as seen by the bow on the sheep cup and the green bowtie on the ram one. As I mentioned before, Wakaba buying them indicates how much she wants Saionji to stay despite her agreeing to help him return to the academy. I don’t think she recognizes this desire yet as it’s a subconscious wish until she’s threatened by him actually about to leave and return to the academy (and to Anthy).

The matching cups also indicate to me that Saionji and Wakaba are more alike than perhaps either one would like to admit, and for a reason that may be unpalatable to them both. Sheep and rams aren’t seen as animals that are threatening or special in any way but as submissive, domesticated animals. Despite Saionji seeing himself and being seen by others as special, the matching cups and his role throughout the story is far from being anything special.

At the beginning, Saionji is almost bland and comical in how evil he is and it’s made clear after the first two episodes that he isn’t as big of a threat as the other council members, especially Touga. He’s easily manipulated by those around them and pushed into leaving school. When he does leave, he still believes Touga is a true friend and has his best interests at heart.

Saionji’s naive nature and role in the anime makes the matching cups very appropriate as, in the eyes of the audience, Saionji is ordinary and gullible too. He’s a supporting character who couldn’t even cut it as one of the big villains. By getting matching cups, Wakaba is noticing that the two are similar than he wants to admit and signaling this to the audience.

Manipulations

It’s made immediately clear how much Saionji is manipulating Wakaba by playing upon her pity and love for him, but Wakaba isn’t entirely a victim either and is also using him, subconscious as it may be. When Wakaba arrives at the dorm, Saionji greets her. In response, she smiles and quickly locks the door. Wakaba’s first question to him is, “Did anyone come by?” and while it may come off as concern that he’ll be discovered living with her, I read these actions based on the fear that someone will take him away and the desire to keep him to herself.

Throughout the episode, Wakaba calls Saionji her “secret” and there’s a clear pleasure that she gets out of doing so. It makes her happy to feel relied on and she thinks to herself, “he was a distant dream that I thought I could never reach. When you think about it, I never could have had him.” These thoughts are important because they show how Wakaba’s love for Saionji now is partially based on possessing something that was previously unattainable. Despite his cruelty towards others and even her when he posted her love letter for everyone to see, she still helps him out because she wants to be close to him and to be special. Unlike all those other girls at the beginning who wondered where Saionji was, Wakaba knows where he is. In her mind, she’s different from them and has begun to be separated from ordinary people.

On Saionji’s end, he apologizes to Wakaba for still staying in her room but has no intention to leave. I find it funny and sad that Wakaba ignores most of his posturing and his flattery towards her as if she’s heard this before (and probably has), but the moment he pretends he’s leaving, she practically begs him to stay.

Unfortunately, Wakaba never gets to ask him if he’d like to begin dating as she clearly wants to when they’re interrupted by a fellow student knocking. In one of the funniest bits in the show, Saionji promptly spider crawls away and hides under the bed. When he crawls out, he pretends to be cool again. It’s a ridiculous scene but emphasizes just how in love Wakaba is with him and what he represents that she’s willing to ignore his pathetic moments.

A Special Secret

On the surface, Wakaba seems happy, but it’s shown that she’s neglecting other things in her life like hanging out with Utena to return to Saionji at home. Ironically, Wakaba’s desire to keep Saionji with her to make her special, as if some special quality of his will rub off on her, is similar to people’s desire to possess the Rose Bride or Sword of Dios throughout Revolutionary Girl Utena. By possessing both, a duelist is supposed to have “the power to revolutionize the world” yet no one has done it yet. Even Utena doesn’t revolutionize the world by the end of the series.

Saionji doesn’t actually make Wakaba more special, but the show implies that there is some change that comes over her. Utena notices it and asks Wakaba whether something good happened to her, which she laughs off. There’s a montage of Wakaba “flourishing” and doing well in school and, most importantly of all, being the center of attention. One question I’d like to pose though is whether this would’ve happened anyway without Saionji and I truly believe it would have. Rather than it being a case of Saionji transferring some special quality to her, I believe that this is more a result of distancing herself from Utena and of showing us the results of confidence.

When Wakaba is around Utena, Wakaba fades into the background. Even in terms of character design, Utena is meant to stand out amongst everyone, including the student council and we’ve never seen Wakaba around other people without Utena. Perhaps, when not focused on the most “special” person at the academy beside her, Wakaba truly does flourish. It’s also important to note that this kind of flourishing is one that our society typically deems successful–that is, Wakaba flourishes academically and socially, but, like many other successful characters in the series, there remains a fragility beneath this exterior. It’s surface level and built on a shaky foundation.

The Myth of Being Special

As Utena’s curiosity over Wakaba’s recent change increases, she turns to a recently growing confidante and the true antagonist of the show, Akio. By this point, Akio has successfully charmed her into believing they’re truly friends or that, at the very least, she’s found a caring and trustworthy adult to talk to about her problems. Instead of telling Utena to talk to Wakaba though and communicate in a healthy manner, Akio only isolates Utena more by perpetuating the myth of being special.

Akio even tries to sever Utena’s ability to empathize with Wakaba by telling her, “You wouldn’t understand, would you? You’re born for a special destiny […] Most people exist as one among many. But, given the chance, they can shine as they never have before.” However, he points out that this ability to shine is only temporary though. This talk with Akio reminded me of the ways in which adults burn out children by putting their worth onto their abilities and some intangible thing like being gifted. It’s true that some kids may be more advanced in areas than others, but the special treatment that’s given to them and the conditional worth placed onto them has many negative consequences. A lot of kids labeled as gifted grow older and find themselves burned out by these expectations.

Akio’s speech places Utena on a pedestal, but it also reveals his own arrogance as he clearly believes himself to be special too. When Akio fell from grace as Dios, he still sought power in any way that he could and believed himself to be above all law, including morals, because he was the prince.

Similarly, other characters in Revolutionary Girl Utena believe in this myth of being special that is cultivated at Ohtori and fixate on their relationships or being good at something. For example, Nanami believes that being Touga’s sister makes her special in ways other girls can’t compare to but remains threatened whenever her brother becomes romantically or sexually intimate with someone else. Miki is applauded for his academic intelligence and Juri for her athleticism, yet both are unable to attain happiness and yearn for someone who truly understands them beyond those traits. Being special is not fulfilling, the show seems to tell us, but is actually rather lonely.

One last note I have about this scene is the lighting. I assume the two are talking in Akio’s planetarium and while there is enough light to see them, it’s still pretty dark in there. I believe this is representative of how Akio is misguiding Utena, leading her into the dark if you will, and that despite the stars that Akio is looking at, he doesn’t have any intention of truly enlightening her.

That Leaf Hair Clip and Girls as Meat

About halfway through the episode, Wakaba comes home one day to find Saionji making a hair clip for her. What’s especially interesting to me is the choice of color and motif for the clip. Roses are so prevalent in Utena, but they belong solely to those connected with Utena’s prince and to the duelists. Wakaba’s hair clip is not any kind of flower, but is a simple leaf in a color not quite gold. Despite this simple gift, Wakaba cries because of it and the hope that it may mean Saionji has feelings for her or is beginning to. To her, the hair clip signifies that she’s almost completed her transformation into being someone permanently special.

However, life is cruel and, as more time passes, Wakaba realizes that Saionji still cares more about Anthy (or the Rose Bride, specifically) than about her. He asks after Anthy while not even looking at Wakaba; it’s as if he can’t either be bothered to or because he’s a coward. For the first time, Wakaba consciously realizes that Saionji going back to school will mean forgetting about her. The hair clip, while nice and still meaningful as Saionji truly did it out of a moment of appreciation, doesn’t erase the fact that he’s still clearly set on Anthy.

The setting for this realization is at a supermarket. As the Absolute Destiny podcast points out in their great episode on “Wakaba Flourishing,” Wakaba’s grip on the packaged meat she’s holding parallels the tension in that conversation with Saionji. As she presses her fingers against the plastic wrapping, almost but not quite breaking it, the tension in the other scene and their overall relationship is increased.

I also love the supermarket setting because the choice of packaged meat instead of something else brings the animal imagery in the show to mind again.

Throughout the show, girls are compared to animals and have animal counterparts. This is most evident with Nanami, who has a pretty antagonistic relationship with many animals because she doesn’t get along with Anthy, who is an animal whisperer of sorts (similar to witches or princesses having familiars and affinities for wildlife). In “The Cowbell of Happiness,” Nanami is literally turning into a cow and this comes with the realization that she’s actually been treated as livestock for most of her life by her parents and Touga. There’s more cow imagery later with even Utena and Anthy being connected to it through bell earrings and certain poses that call back to “The Cowbell of Happiness.”

In short, the idea of girls as livestock to be used and consumed by the men in their lives who are in a position to hurt them is brought up time and time again. Because of it, I read much deeper into Wakaba’s scene in the supermarket than is perhaps reasonable. I believe setting this realization in the meat aisle and having signs that even point out that the meat is on sale points to how Wakaba realizes that she herself has a limited time to win Saionji over. She is meat that will go bad soon and that is being sold.

Simultaneously, she’s also in a position of power as a consumer buying the meat. In this vein, I read it as the power she has over Saionji as she’s also keeping him like livestock in a sense. It would be easy to see the relationship as one only of Saionji using Wakaba and while I do see it as him manipulating her more, Wakaba is also possessive over him and stops having his best interests in mind. This isn’t to say that she’s the true villain of the episode, but rather to say that she’s been so conditioned to think of herself as unordinary and to value the idea of being special that she is using him subconsciously. During her confession in Nemuro Memorial Hall, Wakaba despairs that “A little longer and I would have changed myself forever.”

The show has told us how important the hair clip is to Wakaba so the loss of it is devastating. While Saionji may have the potential to change, he clearly isn’t going to this episode as he hands the hair clip over to Mikage in return for his expulsion being revoked. Mikage even calls the hair clip “a trifle” and Saionji calls it “that thing.” The words both boys use for this object that means so much to Wakaba tramples over her feelings.

Mikage clearly knows the importance of the hair clip because he uses it to push Wakaba to the edge. Through some kind of magic or collaboration with Akio, Wakaba sees Anthy wearing the hair clip. There are no words exchanged as she watches Anthy walk away, but the look on her face is one of devastating hurt and she ends up in Nemuro Memorial Hall. And, as viewers of the show know, nothing good happens in Nemuro Memorial Hall.

Another interesting word choice for Mikage and Saionji’s conversation is Mikage calling Saionji’s exile “purgatory.” The purgatory that people may be most familiar with (like me) is similar to limbo as a state neither in heaven or hell. Those who go to purgatory must undergo purification before they enter heaven as a kind of punishment. By implying that Saionji’s current state is purgatory, Mikage poses Ohtori academy as heaven and Saionji’s time with Wakaba as punishment rather than a kind girl being taken advantage of by a boy she liked.

Wakaba’s Confession

Every confession done in Nemuro Memorial Hall is striking in its own way, but Wakaba’s is painful to me in a way no one else’s is. As she pours out her feelings, she doesn’t blame Saionji for giving the hair clip to Anthy but blames Anthy. Wakaba says, “That girl, with a face that says she alone is special, will steal everything away from me!” In contrast to Anthy as having a special visage, Wakaba denotes herself as “a face in the crowd.” This is painful because she has been a face in the crowd until this episode. The only thing that distinguished Wakaba was her relationship to Utena for viewers of Revolutionary Girl Utena and this adds a meta layer to the confession. While Wakaba’s confession avoids the core issue of the problem, which is Saionji’s treatment of her exacerbating her insecurity, it succeeds in confronting the viewer in how we view those not special enough to get screen time and how this carries into reality (think of how we idolize celebrities and popular kids in school).

When Wakaba leaves Nemuro Memorial Hall and confronts Saionji, startling him, he offers no apologies or thanks. He tells Wakaba, “I’m going back to my old world” as if she doesn’t go to the same school as him. Saionji makes it clear that he has no intention of even acknowledging her once he leaves by stating that he’ll mail Wakaba something more expensive to replace the hair clip.

Wakaba isn’t visibly surprised by any of this at all. She rejects Saionji’s offer and tells him, “I have something nicer now,” showing off her Black Rose duelist ring. During this entire conversation, Wakaba’s face is blank and her eyes are almost dead. It’s a startling departure from her typically cheerful demeanor. She then proceeds to take her sword from his chest. Again, this is part of the typical formula for duels in the Black Rose Saga, but Wakaba’s is striking in how violent it is.

In previous episodes, the Black Rose duelists aren’t as aggressive and the sword that they pull from their victims usually comes out on its own. However, the way Wakaba is animated to rush at Saionji, physically overpower him, and rip the sword from his chest is uniquely hers. It’s the only one in which I see more anger than sadness and feels very appropriate as Wakaba’s feelings for Saionji are very one-sided and as Saionji, who prides himself on his masculinity, is physically overpowered by a girl he deemed weak.

Daily Dose of Shadow Girls

For this episode’s skit featuring the shadow girls, it’s a very short one! My reading of it was that the shadow girls are mocking the ridiculous games that go into dating and relationships in general, but specifically pointing out how girls often get the short end when in relationships with men. It’s also curious that the shadow girls divide themselves into a fox girl and a rabbit girl in a way reminiscent of how girls are either sanctified or demonized. I think this reading has more validity considering the depiction of the rabbit girl in a traditional hairstyle as if she’s presenting herself as more demure before switching to a Playboy bunny outfit. In reality, the rabbit girl is what she is either way but it’s a question of presenting oneself to be appealing enough for marriage.

In response to the conundrum, Utena tells the girls, “Why not just NOT get married?” Interestingly, this is right after the rabbit girl says that these traditions are law for them. Utena’s response is also ironic considering that she is part of this very system. The conditions for being the Rose Bride are just as arbitrary, something Utena even acknowledges at the beginning of the series, but this response demonstrates a certain carelessness to Utena’s character that we’ve seen previously and that will be important in the future.

The Duel

The duel in this episode is my favorite in the entire anime. The finale is a close second. For Wakaba, the tables that show up during duels in the Black Rose Saga are filled with the leaf hair clip in multiple colors. To me, this represents all of the possibilities and potential Wakaba, and potentially Saionji, could’ve had if things hadn’t gone the way they did. The spread of colors is once again reminiscent of how flowers come in all colors when you take natural and dyed ones into account yet leaves are never given the same treatment. Leaves are just seen as accessories, as background characters, to the flowers so seeing them in as many colors as flowers can be read as both touching and tragic. On one hand, Wakaba’s nature as a leaf will never change, it seems to say, yet the leaf is just as worthy and as full of potential as the flower, isn’t it?

As with Wakaba pulling the sword from Saionji, her duel with Utena is vicious and one of the most aggressive in the show. It’s also one of the few times I’ve been afraid that Utena may lose as she takes on the defensive position and refuses to pull the sword from Anthy. Utena still sees Wakaba as a friend, but Wakaba views Utena as an enemy and vents her frustrations with the entire system and Saionji onto her. She scoffs at Utena’s ability to understand her, yelling “You and that girl and the student council, too! You use the special gifts you were born with and, without a second thought, trample the rest of us!” It’s a powerful sentiment because there’s a kernel of truth in there.

There’s an earlier episode in Revolutionary Girl Utena titled “For Friendship, Perhaps” and I feel that this episode would’ve fit that title in some ways. Utena never pulls her sword on Wakaba and uses Wakaba’s own sword to cut the rose on her uniform instead. There’s a pivotal moment when she grabs Wakaba’s hand, acknowledges that she can’t fully understand her but still wants her friend to be happy, and spins her around. While previous duelists have fallen to the floor, signaling they’ve lost and have now been abandoned by the Black Rose Circle, Utena holds onto Wakaba.

Friendship doesn’t fix everything, but I like to think that Wakaba understood that Utena cared for her at that moment. It’s also the second time Wakaba cries in the episode as she finally resigns herself to the understanding that Saionji never cared for her, but that Utena does. To me, it’s pivotal that she cries while looking at the castle that hovers above the dueling arena–it’s as if she realizes how unreachable the ultimate special place is.

Black Rose duelists lose their memories after a duel and it’s significant that they still carry a large portion of the problem burdening them before it afterwards. As Wakaba takes her long walk home, there’s a sense of melancholy as she’s no longer rushing towards Saionji. But there’s also some peace in it as well even if no one is there to welcome her back anymore.

Concluding Thoughts

I feel as if I’ve been writing this post for a long time, but I know there’s some things I missed. This is such a packed episode and shows how successful Revolutionary Girl Utena is at utilizing its formulas and in creating visual imagery. I don’t rewatch the entire show every other month, but this is one of my favorite episodes to put on when that itch comes. There’s no doubt in my mind that “Wakaba Flourishing” is one of the best episodes on Revolutionary Girl Utena.

[mokushiyami]

what's your opinion on the theory that kanae was a former duelist (with the same purpose as utena in that she was being harvested for power)

I cannot say for certain wether it is true or not but i do lean on believing it as it can add another layer of depth to both her character and the whole storyline. In the post i will be discussing it as though it is true.

First off we know the duels have been going on for a very long time and i don’t remember exactly why i arrived at the conclusion cause i wrote a semi essay about it years ago but from the black rose saga i started believing that for a very long time the duelists or at least the winners of the cycles were male. Kanae being 18, 4 years older than Utena makes me think that maybe she was the first girl to ever win the cycle. We know Akio is set in his beliefs in gender roles but i do think his encounted with utena as a child might have made him consider that even a girl can get up to that point, while still maintaining her rolse as a princess.

Her winning the duels and not remembering is completely believable as we know time and memory work in funny ways in Ohtori. It would also explain why Akio is so certain in manipulating Utena through a romantic relationship, he’s done this before, he’s influenced the duels before. It’s also why he was so certain that Utena would accept her role as a princess and why he was so taken aback from Utena refusing and continuing to fight for Anthy’s freedom. Someone else accepted the role before her and that was Kanae.

With Kanae being a former duelist it also adds a layer to her duel, the sword she used was her own. While all the other had an extra motive, an extra strength (or weakness) to their duels, she is only fighting for herself as her own identity, an identity that might have been lost when she previously surrendered to her princess role.

Also If the theory is true, Kanae’s fate becomes a lot more detrimental to the show, as i said in my previous post, she does not only suffer the rola and the fate of the rose bride ultimately dying (in anthy’s case though she cannot die she would ultimately succumb to the role and lose any semblance of identity if it went on for long enough) but also the would be role and fate of ‘girl who tries to be a prince’, accepting that she is a princess and ending up being manipulated and then discarded by the prince.

Also it would add nuance to Anthy’s distrust of Utena. Utena is indeed special to everyone around her, yet Anthy is unimpressed because she’s see this before. She’s seen how this ends in Kanae. And that adds more venom to her words when she says ‘ You cannot be my prince because you are a girl', she has seen it fail before so she has no reason to hope that this time it might be different.

[ganymedesclock]

Hornet

First impression

Extremely cool lady who personally bullies me by being a scary boss fight.

I remember feeling an incredible sense of momentum about it, though- when I first played Hollow Knight I spent a very long time stuck at the crossroads and made it through the toll gate into crystal peak without ever really understanding where I was going, then dropping to the resting grounds. Actually defeating the false knight and going to Greenpath was a big deal; and then following Hornet through it to the boss fight gave me such a powerful sense of momentum, purpose, here's the plot.

Impression now

both missing and being entertained by back when I thought Hornet was a super difficult boss because now I'm stuck on other bosses and crying about the idea of Radiance when I can't even get to her ;v;

Hornet is... honestly I think she's really interesting for how confidently she presents but how brittle her actual living situation is. Her vulnerability is something the player really has to earn; her loyalty can be made and broken, and when, if you do listen to her, she potentially dies on your behalf... it's a lot.

I think she deserves a nap and an opportunity to not feel personally responsible for everything. Maybe a pretty dress but only if she's into it.

Favorite moment

I always structure my gameplay so as not to kill Herrah before getting the King's Brand, because it's extremely important for me that Hornet gets to say goodbye, and talk to anyone about what this means. Part of it is the emotions of the scene in general, but a close follow-up is this particular poetic line that always haunts me:

Allow me a moment alone before this bedchamber becomes forever a shrine.

It's just such a line, drawing this distinction between a place someone lived and slept, that is suffused with the sense of them as a real person with feelings, and the alternative- as somewhere that is only a shining, idealized memory. It's kind of a perfect statement on the fate of... really, if you go with the "Three Queens" theory that Team Cherry proposed- was kind of the fate of everyone who either loved Hornet, or could have but didn't. Herrah, the White Lady, the Pale King, and Hive Queen Vespa. In the most distant of those number, the Pale King was kind of a person becoming a shrine before Hornet was ever even born; there was never even the chance for them to close that chilling emptiness.

Hornet is a strong, principled fighter, but she was given ideals and paragons instead of people to emotionally relate to.

Idea for a story

SO I don't know if anybody's picked this up yet but in RFR, I actually wrote Hornet out of the story- ironically because I wanted it to be Silksong compatible. (Relatively early in the story, PK gets glimpses of several places- one of them is the caravan from the beginning of Silksong) This may or may not be shooting myself in the foot, but, I have a vivid idea of a sequel of Hornet making it back home and having to deal with everything that happened in her absence.

That, obviously, will depend a lot on Silksong in its time- but I definitely feel like she deserves at least PK consenting to be extremely awkward about it considering their nigh-total absence of a relationship when- in RFR- he's ironically her only surviving caretaker besides his wife.

Unpopular opinion

I'm interested in the potential of Lacenet and I understand people are having fun about it / absolutely don't judge them but just for me personally I'm intrigued by the possibility of like. fucked-up-progressing-towards-something-more-supportive Anthy and Utena vibes. I think both of them have immense amounts of problems rattling around and as invested as I am in the notion of Hornet getting to have a soft gentle break, I'm also really invested in both Hornet and Lace having the right to go absolutely ape shitt

Favorite relationship

I REALLY wanna know more about Herrah's POV in her relationship with her daughter. Give us your secrets, giant terrifying spider woman. There's not even much prototype text with her- they seemingly were planning her to be pretty secretive from very early on.

Honestly also I want to know how close Hornet was to the Midwife, as well.

Favorite headcanon

Hornet is a horrible demigod spider and everybody has to deal with it, including herself, because she was seemingly removed from the weaver culture before she was able to have much to do with it, and her genetic sire was not about to even try to start having something to do with another wyrm, even a half-wyrm, so everything Hornet knows about her own body and health is kitbashed, most of it alone in caves. Some day she's going to encounter an actual doctor and make medical history in several directions at once.

Both of Hornet's parents were kind of horror movie monsters for this setting (which is already pretty spooky by our standards) and the one of them Hornet wanted to relate to couldn't and the one she didn't want to relate to may or may not have contributed more problems.

[allegory-allegorier-allegoriest]

So I'm not sure if I've mentioned this theory before or if I've seen it here (I can't remember who started this theory, OP whoever you are I love you and I'm sorry I forgot you) but I'd like to talk about my favorite utena theory:

Kanae was a duelist. And not only was she a duelist, but she was the previous cycle's duelist winner--and she acted as Anthy's prince, just like Utena did. However, unlike Utena, when she was given the chance, she gave up her sword to Akio and agreed to be his princess. But of course, it didn't work, and they had to start the cycle again. Only this time, because Kanae is Akio's princess, she has come back as his fiancee. Anthy already couldn't be Akios princess due to her being his sister (save for in their private moments), but now the girl she considered a best friend has shoved Anthy even further out of the princess role.

So, to support this theory, I bring up her black rose duel. Unlike everyone else, it was not shown how she got her sword. However, later we see that Anthy can pull a sword from Utenas chest, which is a separate sword from Anthy's. So perhaps Kanae used her own sword (and we could even say that Anthy herself pulled it from Kanae for her, since we know Anthy was Mamiya). The sword she developed fighting with Anthy.

Also, I feel like Utena and Kanae have some parallels in their relationship with Anthy. I feel like the animosity Anthy feels towards Kanae reflects the way Anthy hated and loved Utena when she got involved with Akio. Like, Anthy doesn't seem to care about Wakaba, even though Wakaba does have that car date with Akio and expresses interest in him (though that could just be because she doesn't see Wakaba as a threat, unlike Utena). Also, the parallels between the cantarella scene and Anthy poisoning Kanae. Anthy tells Utena "I will poison and hurt you" because she has been through this before. That's why she betrays Utena in the final duel as well--she knows how this goes and decides to betray Utena before Utena can betray her (like Kanae did).

And the reason I especially like this theory is because it makes Utena almost... Less special. But also more special at the same time? Like, I like the idea that Anthy HAS seen everything before. Utena is not the first female duelist, and (according to this theory) she is not even the first female prince. It's unusual, sure, but Utena is not the first. And I like that because it highlights that it wasn't Utenas attempt at playing a traditionally masculine role that made her special and able to reach Anthy--Utena could have always been the type of girl to wear dresses, and it wouldn't have mattered. It was always the fact that Utena reached out, and kept reaching out to Anthy.

And I just really like that.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[spiribia]

What do you think of the theory that Adolescencr of Utena is a sequel to the series? At first I disagreed, but after looking at some theories, they may have a point and I think it explains some things in hindsight

im pretty ambivalent! i dont really include the movie in my own consideration of the shows 'canon' either way, but i've personally liked to see it as a retelling because of how backstories and characters and character relationships are shifted around, ex. touga is utena's and shiori's prince and he drowned to save juri and not her sister, & how it echoes the same arc. though i haven't really looked into theories about it so i don't really actually know what the arguments are, and i can respect why some people might see it as a continuation. some things like anthy not wearing glasses and referring to utena as just "utena" pretty much the whole time, though imo there's always the chance that was a stylistic choice - they made some other unrelated changes to her design. & utena being jaded and having to reconcile herself with the death of her idea of the prince. if it was a continuation that'd imply they didn't truly escape the cycle in the show and ended up falling back into those same roles anyway, but i think that could still possibly have merit as something to explore in terms of like, unlearning lasting mindsets

[impudent--strumpet]

RGU - Moon and Star

I was working on this drawing for like a week. And a few of those days were spent trying to get a decent shot of it. This is the best shot I think I'll get, and it's still a wee bit crooked. Oh well.

So, yeah. Akio and Anthy in silhouette form, except I detailed their hair because I love that majestic hair of theirs so freaking much.

Star and moon because Akio's name, as explained by him in Episode 25, means "morning star":

"The Morning Star... My name, Akio, was derived from the name of this star. The Morning Star...also known as Lucifer. The star that was originally an angel, but chose to become the Devil."

He also says Anthy is like the moon, and I have this theory on that in part of my Utena review on cultural connections:

"There's also, when Utena asks Akio what having a little sister is like since she has no siblings, Akio saying that Anthy is like the moon, which -- according to him -- serves no purpose but makes you smile when you sometimes catch a glimpse of it.

...

Even on my first watch, this struck me as really fishy...since the moon actually does have a purpose; it controls the tides. At first I was like "AKIO, YOU'RE AN ASTRONOMER. HOW DO YOU NOT KNOW THIS?!"

But that...might not be it...

To take a serious dive off the deep end: The moon is really freaking important in Japanese mythology...as in, all across East Asia, it's recognized as the home of the gods. The Tale of Princess Kaguya in particular is one of Japan's most treasured on it. If you don't want to read it all, here's the TL;DR from Gaijin Goombah:

"Once upon a time an elderly bamboo-cutter found a tiny, regally dressed girl sprout up from one of the bamboo stalks he was cutting. Believing the child to be of the gods, he and his wife raised the girl as one of their own, and when she was of age, began introducing her to the royal lifestyle she was destined to have. Such a lifestyle included 12 layers of dress, royal stoicism, lackluster, all-talk potential suitors, and pretty much every stuffy, pompous stereotype that that lifestyle brought. However, Kaguya being the witty girl that she was, was able to shrug off or get out of the numerous annoyances that came with being a regal woman in the 1500s in Japan. That was up until the emperor himself made his own advances on Kaguya. She had nothing to save her, except calling out for help from her own true home-- the moon. Yeah, apparently there was some kind of celestial war going on at the time, and the heavens sent their moon princess to Earth in a bamboo stalk to be looked after while things were resolving. Anyway, it was only a matter of days before the Buddhist holy folk of the moon came to take Princess Kaguya back to her original home, much to Kaguya's dismay, who wanted to stay with her foster family. But in the end, the heavenly beings placed a feathered mantle on her, making her forget all the troubles of the mortal world, and returned her back to her celestial home. Yeah, it's not exactly a story with the happiest ending, but it does go to show that, for Japan, the home of Nintendo, the moon is a far more wondrous and holy place."

I mean...it's kind of a weak theory that this has anything to do with a few lines of dialogue. At the same time, though, nothing is coincidental or meaningless in Revolutionary Girl Utena, and Utena, Akio, and Anthy are the most important characters. The Tale of Princess Kaguya is a fairytale kind of Japanese myth, and Revolutionary Girl Utena has some fairytale themes. It's very possible too that, as deeply disturbing as this is, the possible reference to the tale means to convey Akio very much undermining and minimizing a beautiful, sacred, precious, and treasured thing as existing only for his pleasure...well, two things 😥

[whoslaurapalmer]

boy howdy was adolescence of utena sure an, experience 

-okay so going in i know the theory that, what is it, this is ~a direct sequel~ and this is utena dreaming in the hospital or whatever and after watching it i definitely see where that theory comes from but??? i don’t buy it  -i would rather think ‘this is Yet Another Version Of These Events, Sounds Good’ -there’s just so much emphasis in utena on like, Repetition and The Story and Making A Story so why would you not say ‘this is just another iteration of events, this is just another way’

-opening production screens: sega miku’s voice from the original project diva game for the psp that i played in japanese in high school, still living rent-free in my head ten years later: 🎵 sega~

-the best part of everything was the shadow girls just out there not only having a radio station but just like existing as a mass of alien shadow girls in the radio station and i love them so much with all my heart 

-OH WOW THAT IS SOME INTENSE ARCHITECTURE -i’m not making a hp reference in this the year 2021 but know that the part of my brain still with a terrible amount of hp information had The Thought You Think I’m Thinking, About The Staircases And Architecture Here  -those roses.......with the.........those are swords, a+ 

-the bathtub scene actually made me think about, akio + anthy vs kozue + miki which i hadn’t considered before like touga + nanami but there’s a parallel there too, huh  -and it all goes back to akio, doesn’t it 

-i was rewatching ep 13 earlier when i thought, is akio trying to open the gate to get back whatever power he had as dios? because he’s clearly not dios anymore. and he clearly doesn’t have whatever he had then  -he has no keys  -the movie also made me think about, the significance of utena being able to.........acquire dios’s power, in a way  (-and when anthy said “you remind me of dios when i first loved him”)  -but only when.....utena is still focused on The Prince because that stops after the black rose arc, when utena’s Prince Vibe starts to get picked apart, and utena has the sword drawn out of her instead  -there are once again more words i could put here but. i’ll have to think it over more 

-nanami  -NANAMI

-hypersexual because of abuse trauma anthy himemiya 🤝 hypersexual because of abuse trauma laura palmer  -speaking of, the......skipping record..........

-miki: who’s touga? me: excuse me 

-akio: /dead me, eating a snack bag of doritos: oh so he’s just dead now???? wow great good for him  (me eating doritos is not imperative to this moment. but also. it is.) 

-“have you never been asleep?” vs leland in fwwm saying “i thought you knew it was me”  -godddddddddddddddddddddddddd  -AND THEN HE STABS HER LIKE THAT -my brother, earlier, putting the movie on our media server: so is this like the fwwm of utena?  me, earlier: maybe! me, at that moment in the movie: yeah. yeah. y e a h 

-noooooo my girl got in the elevator again  -“there was never a live prince to begin with” well i mean yeah that’s the whole thing WAIT -GODDAMMIT YOU GOT ME AGAIN  -i thought touga was gonna be revealed to be akio all along here. idk. not that it was PULLING A MIKAGE AND MAMIYA -respect, though, honestly, for managing to put the black rose arc in here 

-you know what.............sure. okay. yeah. i’ll take the car wash. somehow i can get behind it being a car wash that turns utena into a car. somehow. somehow, but i can  -you lost me a little with shiori though.  -AND WAKABA’S THE GREEN CAR???? power of friendship indeed. 

-me, no longer eating doritos: run him over, anthy!! me: ......did she? hope so.  

-the.......straw dolls......... -oh wait! like a, self you left behind, sort of thing, right 

-utena: so now we’re headed into a world without roads. me: i know what you’re saying with that but. my hell brain: where we’re going, we don’t need roads.

-it was still, a little emotional............they both got out for sure............

-i will probably never watch this movie again. but good for them for getting to kiss 💗