A’ight cause I had some people actually ask, here goes!
My (quick and dirty) analysis of ‘The Sunlit Garden’ theme and it’s use as foreshadowing!
‘The Sunlit Garden’ is what I would possibly peg as one of THE big themes of Utena, but an often overlooked one in terms of analysis.
The track ‘The Sunlit Garden’, or ‘Comforting Nostalgia’ in it’s rearrangements, is the first track played in the show (outside of the OP which I don’t count) and plays in 10 of the episodes (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 11, 12, 13, 15, 16, 20, 26, 30, 31, 33, 34, 35, 37, and 38), just over half of the entire show (possibly 1 or 2 more, but I’m not scrubbing through them again to check) , as well as an appearance in the movie.
If you’ll allow me to gush a moment, ‘The Sunlit Garden’ is an absolutely beautiful and masterfully arranged piece of music. It has the ability to instantly sound nostalgic even upon the first listen. Which, perhaps makes the rearrangement’s name, ‘Comforting Nostalgia’ even more apt.
Aside from that, little stands out about the piece in comparison to the other tracks of the show. Put alongside gut punching tracks that show up alongside it like ‘When, Where, Who, Which’, and the other duel themes, it perhaps pales.
That is, until, episode 4; The Sunlit Garden - Prelude.
Not only is the episode named after the arrangement itself, but the plot revolves around it. (I’m assuming those reading this know the episode, so I won’t summarize here)
I would personally consider this the first ‘off kilter’ thing the show does.
Sure, the premise of the show is a bit weird. But, not weirder than any other fantastical magical girl show.
But, episode 4 is the first episode where RGU does something a little unusual, as it specifically calls out a piece of music within the show itself. It actively pulls it from being just background music, to actually being a diegetic piece within the world of the show. It’s suddenly a piece of msuic that exists in the world of the show, and can be heard and experienced by it’s characters. It’s real.
The show doesn’t quite break the fourth wall here, but it certainly taps on it.
Revolutionary Girl Utena grabs this one specific track, and holds it up for the audience going ‘look at it!’
Well, let’s start with the composer of the piece, Miki Kaoru.
Miki is a character trapped in his own delusion of nostalgia. He longs for a more innocent and pure and happy time. A time when he played piano with his sister, Kozue. Back when she was “Pure” and “Innocent” and not, presumably, “Dirty” and “Impure” like she is now. (Miki, like just about all the men in the show, suffers from a case of ‘Madonna/Whore complex. His is just aimed at his own sister)
‘The Sunlit Garden’ is a song that reflects those sweet memories, as well as encapsulates the nostalgia and longing that comes with them.
But, Miki’s memories are a lie. Or, rather, they’re a half truth. There were good times there, but Miki views them with rose tinted glasses. Kozue played piano with him, sure, but at the end of episode 5 she reveals that she was never really that good or into piano. She started because a boy said he liked her playing, and in truth, Miki was always the musical genius, making up for her own mistakes. And Kozue was never the “Pure” being Miki thought she was, any more than she is “Dirty” now. She’s just a person with her own hangups and issues, same as anyone.
Miki is an unreliable narrator of his own past, because he views it through rose-tinted glasses. Because often, that’s what nostalgia does. Our ‘Comforting Nostalgia’ is just that. Comforting. But not always the whole truth.
So why is all that important?
Well, remember when I said the ‘Sunlit Garden’ was the first track (outside of the OP) to play in the show?
Well, it plays over this.
This little shadow play (that we see time and time again) exists somewhere outside the world of the show. It’s a fantasy. The World of Utena (despite it’s fantastical elements) is more grounded. It’s a place with schools, and uniforms, and cars. Not a place of princes and princess, and kingdoms, and magic.
It’s a non-diegetic piece of storytelling within the show.
After all, ‘The Sunlit Garden’ exists within the world of the show. It’s a thing the characters know of. Hear. Experience.
So, what does that say about this?
From episode 1, the show is telling us in big letters “THIS HAPPENED!”
BUT.
If Miki, the composer of ‘The Sunlit Garden’ is an unreliable narrator to his own past, what must that say about the narrator of this story? What does it say about Utena’s own memory and interpretation of the events of her childhood?
Sure, this may have truly happened to some extent, but episode 4 is very subtly calling into question exactly how it happened.
Before any big end-of-show reveal. Before Akio comes in to make Utena (an the audience) question her childhood. Before Touga steps in even earlier to do the same.
Before the show even begins to hint that there’s more going on behind the curtain, ‘The Sunlit Garden’ is very subtly whispering to us ‘yes, this really happened, but not the way you think it did! Pay attention!’
And with that, I’m out! *does a jump kick and twists my ankle*