the black rose episodes seem to not only have raised the stakes in a narrative sense but also in a thematic sense, bringing the ideas that once undergirded the show into the forefront, much as the black rose circle draws out its duelists' deepest desires and frustrations into violent action. here, tsuwabuki's subservience to nanami rots into emotional growing pains, as everyone around him continuously reminds him of everything he's missing out on by not being a grown-up.
it's fittingly comic that the episode opens with a reminder that even the older characters in the main cast often feel confused and lost about what's going on around them, as the student council debates the significance of the black rose circle's rise to prominence. rain falls as they wonder if end of the world has abandoned them, especially as now juri has been victimized by their schemes, which provokes nanami's repressed curiosity. yet, tsuwabuki is excluded from this space and discussion: it's grown-up talk. mari exacerbates this relegation, and though she's actually a year older than tsuwabuki, i suspect the show is acknowledging how girls are often expected to mature faster than boys - in utena's world, that worldly maturity often comes from the acceptance of pain and trauma, usually at the hands of men, as mundane occurrences. "there's lots of things about us that are grown up," anthy says, all too familiar with the adult demands of self-suppression and erasure.
maturity is also explicitly linked to sex and sexual characteristics through the episode: tsuwabuki insults mari by saying she's physically underdeveloped, while mari hints that eating a banana is dirty for reasons only understood by adults. i find utena's question "is dreaming about my prince weird?" particularly potent in this regard - though she deflects to wondering about whether believing in a prince is a childish act, i think the show intends to consider the other sort of dream she might have about a potential love interest. as always, i appreciate how the show situates these more mundane segments firmly in the high school setting as reminder of how young and still-growing the characters are. akio muses that stars lose their brilliance from year to year, but utena supplies a vision of the bright future she and her peers have to look forward to: "aren't you at your brightest now, with your beautiful wife?" as with kozue, "experience" serves as a prime indication of maturity.
to that end, tsuwabuki seeks out every source of information he can find on "experience," studying textbooks, consulting the older students, obsessively watching footage of kisses from films (where'd he find this?). throughout, he's haunted by the feeling that he isn't where he wants to be, nor does he even belong where he is. nanami tells him "for a kid, you sure don't act cute," and mari says, cuttingly, "you're smart but you're not using your brain." everything he does is wrong. like most of the cast, tsuwabuki is caught in the middle of something, unsure of how to escape, and that desperate state propels him towards destruction.
rejected by mari for his unwanted advances ("you really are a child," she shouts as she runs away), tsuwabuki returns to his room, despondent. he considers eating some chocolate to comfort himself but throws it away instead, deeming it a childish indulgence. it seems maturity must include both the embrace of new desires and the denial of the old. nanami comes to visit, and he begins to let his frustration show. nanami listens, trying to be sympathetic, but there's still a sense of separation between them, visualized strikingly by the imagery of nanami on one side of the door in the light and tsuwabuki on the other, in the darkness. trying to comfort him, nanami makes the fatal error - she puts her hand on his head, a gesture of condescension, and tsuwabuki's interview is sealed.
as usual, the elevator confession crystallizes everything. tsuwabuki admits that just being with nanami isn't enough any more, verbalizing the common pubescent experience of new and unfamiliar desires. he's angry with her and mari for mocking his lack of maturity - something he feels he has no control over, especially when it seems so tied to age and "experience." this tension leads him to wish he could be an adult right away, to seize power, revise everything, and become the one in the right, the one who is understood and respected and desired. souji offers the solution. it interests me that of all the black rose duelists so far, tsuwabuki is the first to trouble mamiya, who calls souji a terrible man for taking advantage of him. souji concedes this, saying "beauty alone will not get us the rose bride." compared to manipulating kanae, kozue, and shiori, what's different about tsuwabuki, i wonder? kanae and kozue bore grudges toward anthy, shiori had ill will towards juri - perhaps tsuwabuki's difference is that he wasn't filled with a personal disdain, but the all-encompassing disenfranchisement of the young, and channeling that into a personal dispute was more exploitative than the other duels. i'm not incredibly convinced of this, but i do wonder. his sword-drawing ritual does align with the others - having summoned nanami to the screening room, he puts his hand on hers and refuses to remove it at her request. yet again, a physical violation, and a crossing of an emotional boundary as tsuwabuki refuses nanami for the first time.
as befitting of his impatience to grow up, tsuwabuki launches into the duel before utena even draws her sword. surrounded by figurines holding chocolate bars, they fight, tsuwabuki moving more quickly than utena expects. and yet utena has the upper hand, coming down on him from above and cutting away his rose. following the duel, tsuwabuki accompanies nanami on the walk to school, and she's noticeably flustered, presumably because she's finally had the experience that she was so curious about. yet tsuwabuki also seems to have a new sense of independence, leaving her side to chase after mari, and finally possessing an air of maturity in nanami's eyes that his subservient persona lacked. the gloomy rain clears up, and the sun comes out.
stray thoughts:
i didn't notice before, but i think almost every elevator interview (except kanae) includes a photo of the person who will provide the duelist's sword. this feels very appropriate for their confessions - they vent their frustrations on a static image of the object of their feelings, seeing them not as a person but as a thing to be hated or craved.
very cute how the figurines in the duel break open to reveal a smaller version of themselves inside - the inner child peeking out.
the silhouettes were very pointedly on-theme this episode, performing a farce about a young woman "doing it" for the first time and eventually revealing that she means donating blood, something you can only do once you're 18, as utena confirms. a fitting reminder of how arbitrary certain customs and signs of age and adulthood can be.
nanami's trio of suitors returns, apparently now converted into himejoshis eager to learn if utena and anthy have "experience in certain things."
