#utena thoughts

[periciles]

Mikage appearance is very utena-like but he wears a blue jacket and whites pants. His uniform connects him with the black rose duelists, who are the opposite of the student council. I think mikage wearing a blue jacket rather than a black one is because he isn’t in mourning. Utena wears a black because he still grieving over his parents while mikage never knew mamiya is dead.

[feferipeixes]

(Revolutionary Girl Utena spoilers)

I am obsessed with the ground punch scene in Utena.

One of the reasons for that is because of this scene from earlier in the show:

Utena's not doing so well in her second ever duel. She's crumpled on the floor, with Saionji's sword pointed at her. And then the ghost of Prince Dios flies down from the castle and gives her some of his power. This lifts her magically off the ground, after which she is strong enough to defeat Saionji.

Stuff like this happens repeatedly throughout the series, in most of Utena's duels. Although she is apparently a naturally talented wielder of the sword herself, she somewhat relies on this 11th hour assistance from the Prince. It happens so many times that you start to ask yourself: is Utena not actually good at swordplay without the Prince's help? But what we should really be asking is: does she actually need the Prince's help at all?

Akio's abuse towards both Anthy and Utena is a central point of this show. He makes Anthy feel completely dependent on him, telling her that she has no will of her own, that's she's just a witch that harmed him and can never pay him back for what she did, no matter how much she suffers. And once Utena moves into the chairman's residence with Anthy and they spend more time around Akio, he starts exerting a more obvious grip on Utena too. We see him coerce her into acting more feminine and demure, through the weird dates they go on and the gift that he makes Touga get her, to the point that other people start commenting on it. He tries to make her feel dependent on him too. She frequently visits him to ask for advice even before moving in to his home. She begins to feel like she needs him.

But this isn't the beginning of Akio's influence on Utena. She's been carrying this false memory for years about a prince on a horse saving her from her despair, and giving her a ring that he promises will lead her back to him. This is a pretty core memory for Utena, because despite her tomboyish attitude and apparent independent, deep down she still thinks about the prince often, thinks about how he saved her, and that's sure to influence the way she emotionally interacts with troubling situations. She decides she wants to be a prince too, to be strong like him, but what about when she can't be strong? That's when Prince Dios comes down from the castle to help her. Even when Utena is brandishing her noble sword, bravely defending Anthy against people who wish to take advantage of her or even kill her, she still subconsciously feels like she needs help in order to be a prince.

Now we come to the ground punch.

The reason I brought up the earlier scene of Utena levitating is because of how visually similar it is to this one. She's in the same place, and she's picking herself up after a rough blow in a duel. The lighting in both of these moments is quite distinct, and makes it look like the dueling arena is indoors and lit by fluorescent bulbs instead of sunlight (which, of course, we eventually find out is true). I think the ground punch is supposed to be a callback to this clip.

Before this happens, we see the illusion/hallucination of Prince Dios riding on a carousel, feeding Utena the same manipulative words that have held her down this whole time. He's going to tend to her wounds soon, because she's weak. Eternity lies beyond that door, but she wouldn't ever be able to handle that power because she's just a girl. She should be a princess, not a prince. The way he goes round and around in the carousel mimics the thoughts circling her mind, the conditioned beliefs keeping her glued to that floor.

Then Dios comes over and tells her that the best he can do for her right now is a kiss. He leans down to put his lips on her rose crest ring.

And that's when she punches the ground. Right where his head would be, if it were real.

Utena rejects the Prince's lies. She takes in all of the abusive tactics he's used to try to belittle her and make her distrust both herself and Anthy, and she rejects it. In the past, when she fell in battle, she needed him to fly down from the castle -- a false symbol of hope he was literally dangling over the duelists' heads -- and effortlessly pick her up again. Now, she uses every sinew, every last bit of strength in her bleeding, injured body, to push herself off the ground.

She doesn't need a prince anymore. She can see what she's capable of, what Akio wanted to steal from her by taking her soul sword and belittling her with these conditioned beliefs. And she vows never to give up like that again.

Why?

Anthy.

No matter how badly it hurt when Anthy stabbed her in the back, Utena knows it's nothing compared to how much pain Anthy is in. Utena got stabbed by one sword, and Anthy's been being impaled by hundreds constantly for years. Utena has this moment of clarity, where she sees through the Prince's lies meant to keep her down and meant to tear the two of them apart, where she sees how hurt and scared Anthy must have been in order to have done what she did. And it only makes her want to save her even more.

Where Utena previously depended on the Prince's power, she now relies on herself. She stumbles beneath the circling swords, over toward the Rose Gate. Akio sees her in pain, tries to save her like he's done repeatedly before. He catches her, and immediately starts to belittle her verbally -- and then she grabs hold of his face and forcibly pushes him away from her. She's reaffirming herself: she doesn't need his help.

Of course, in the end, Utena couldn't be Anthy's prince. But this failure ends up empowering Anthy to reject the narrative of a prince saving a princess, and it's what leads her to freedom.

(I've had Missing Link stuck in my head for like the last three days)

[cyphyree]

Adolescence of Utena -- Architecture x Character Designs

Dunno if I read it from somewhere, but I realized that Utena's new uniform is styled somewhat like the architecture of Adolescence Ohtori, namely how her clothes are black and white (later with red accents) . Whereas Utena stands out in the world of RGU, she blends right into Adolescence Ohtori, almost as if she is a part of the architecture and vice versa.

The movie is also called The *Adolescence* of Utena (or Girl's Revolution Utena: Adolescence Apocalypse), and in the show, we see adolescent Utena wear black and white at the funeral. I think that her wearing this scheme again in the movie is a sort of return to her adolescence. Not to say that she regressed back into the child she was before the show, but more so to represent the child that Utena still is even after maturing. An adolescent is defined as someone roughly between 10-19; Utena is still a teen who's growing in this age range.

That said, Adolescence Ohtori seems to be an architectural representation of Utena's inner child/self. Like a mindscape of sorts. At the end of the movie, both she and Anthy would leave the mindscape of their adolescence and enter into the unknown "outside world" of adulthood.

Red is associated with the Rose Bride, ie Anthy. Before meeting Anthy for the first time in the show, Utena's clothing was absent of red (her child funeral dress); however Utena's RGU uniform afterwards would have red accents.

Similarly, Utena's Adolescence "boy" clothing doesn't have red, but her "prince garb" after meeting Anthy does.

Speaking of, if we continue seeing Ohtori as Utena's mindscape, the deep red of the Adolescence rose garden is like the part of Utena's mind that Anthy occupies. The tower where the girls draw is also Anthy's domain, as it's draped in red.

Even other black-white architecture of Ohtori is accented with red--Anthy has always been present in Utena's thoughts, even if subconsciously.

Alternatively, red in Ohtori could represent Anthy's mindscape "overlapping" with Utena's. Anthy is still wrestling with leaving Akio after all, and after the events of RGU, it would make sense that she and Utena share "spaces"/experiences/solidarity.

Anthy's Rose Bride dress also more closely resembles Utena/Ohtori's aesthetic (white, red with black accents), and we only see her transform into that when she is with Utena. It seems to signify that Anthy has become more familiar/recognizable to Utena, as her Rose Bride dress visually brings her closer to Utena, more so than her generic mint-green uniform.

When Utena first meets Anthy in Adolescence, a light flurry of rose petals fall from the garden above, crossing from Anthy's domain into Utena's-- they are beginning to cross each other's paths again. During the dance in the garden, a much heavier shower of roses blanket the school architecture below, as if Utena and Anthy's connection has now become much stronger. From then on, Utena would try to create a genuine bond with Anthy (as we see during the drawing session)

Alternatively, it could also signify a progression towards Anthy taking the spotlight when she and Utena decide to leave the school for good:

Near the end of Adolescence, we are back in Anthy's rose garden, we see the chairman's tower (associated with Anthy and Akio), and everything is washed in purples and reds-- Anthy's colors. Utena's black/white structures are now absent. From here on out, Anthy is going to drive (heh) the story forward.

I wanna talk about the architectural styles of Ohtori, but that'll be its own post once I do a bit more research. I wanna expand on some differences such as:

Adolescence- constructivist, Russian Revolution, industrial, "masculine"

Show- neoclassical/rococo? French Revolution, floral/decorative, "feminine" -- perhaps Anthy's mindscape in a way.

Anyway this was supposed to be a bullet point list of miscellaneous stray thoughts, but I guess that's impossible, so I'll just eventually write more individual utena thoughts posts lol

Please feel free to tell me what you think btw!

There's also another post by @nothing-suspicious-in-there about Utena's uniform that's a completely different take, please check it out!

Why Utena’s Uniform is Black

(and Not That Questionable Toothpaste Color Everyone Else Has) This is probably be me arriving fifteen years later with starbucks, but. Ok s

[starredforest]

Just curious, what are your favorite moments in Utena? :o And what do you think about the show vs the movie?

The last three episodes make me go feral. "Tell me Ms. Utena, are you familiar with cantarella?" Nominated for the richest scene on planet earth.

I also think Abt the juri rematch like crazy.

Juri's duels use a lot of the same choreography, which I love. In her flashback duel with ruka, she's in utena's original position from their first duel. She's getting tossed around and is clearly frustrated. Her duel with ruka is presented in flashback while she's once again fighting utena, back in that original position, only now she's aware no matter which end of this duel she plays, she always loses. I love that the second juri's locket breaks, the sky turns cloudy. when she looks up, she doesn't see the castle anymore. We see the castle in isolation during that sequence, but the rain falls just under it, as if to say there's now a barrier in between juri and the castle.

I'm sooo gonna write smth extensive Abt the movie at some point, but I think it's actually a rlly weird sequel. I think it's got a lot going on to suggest that at least our two main characters have already been developed pre movie. I don't think it's a coincidence that they were designed to all appear older.

I think adolescence of utena is a movie about people who tried to grow up, but fell back into their old ways trying to cope with what the adult world looked like. I might have to write some sort of novel length post Abt this idea at some point. I love this movie so much honestly tysm for asking Abt it ‼️😭😭

[iztarshi]

The Homestuck in me keeps thinking of Saionji's Apocalypse Arc role as "so concerned about Touga's upcoming duel he performs a rare black/pale flip".

[periciles]

I had thoughts that kanae was more like utena and dressed more masc before she met akio. And akio feminizing her when they got into a relationship

[periciles]

Mamiya wearing magenta is probably to foreshadow that he isn’t “real” and an illusion

Magenta is a weird color because it doesn’t correspond to the visible spectrum and it was used to depict something strange

[cyphyree]

Revolutionary Girl Utena spoilers.

I think what guts me the most is how Utena tries to rise above the mistakes of others, tries to do good, tries to be kind in the name of becoming like the prince she was inspired by...... only to fall short just like everyone else.

She's hypocritical, willfully ignorant, insufferable, malicious even.

When confronted by others who reflect her worst qualities, she tries to defeat them, tries to tell herself that she's not like them at all, when in fact she is all of them to some degree.

The fact that she's "trying to do good" doesn't even make her special or morally better. Lots of well-intentioned characters try to do good in the show, and try to break the rose-tinted windows of their cages. They still end up hurting others, willfully or not. So does Utena.

Utena also tries to drive change, but so does everyone else. All everyone manages to do is reinforce the status quo.

Is Utena a bad person? No.

Is Utena a good person? She's trying, but again that doesn't make her any less malicious than anyone else.

I think what ultimately sets Utena apart is her pursuit for honesty.

Honesty isn't something that's talked about in the show in the most explicit way, and why would anyone talk about it? To be honest is to make yourself vulnerable and open to abuse. To seek honesty is to shatter the lies that offer comfort and confidence, and expose the ugly, dirty little truths underneath. It's to break the rose-tinted windows of their cage: it's painful and sharp and cold and the cuts will be deep and will they even heal?

Utena is honest to a fault, making her susceptible to manipulation and mind games. She's also DIShonest to a fault, therefore perpetuating the illusion that continues to harm Anthy (but it's hard, isn't it, when that illusion is the reason you're still alive?). Utena being naive also has trouble perceiving truths that others more experienced can see.

However--while everyone else resorts to deflecting blame, mind games, or neglecting the inconvenient truth--in the end, Utena continues to pursue truth and be truthful. Not out of naivety like in the beginning, but knowing full well that it's a hell-ridden road worth walking.

She doesn't want illusions and deceit to lull her into false grandeur anymore. She doesn't want to see herself or anyone else through rose-tinted lenses, because to live a pretty lie is to die without being born. She eventually becomes honest with herself, sees the ugly truth of her flaws, and confronts them. She refuses the final illusion Akio offers her because it's dishonest to who she is and what's really important to her. She becomes honest with Anthy, and when Anthy is finally honest with her, Utena receives it in full however much it hurt.

In the end, she didn't save Anthy, because the truth is that Anthy was never hers to save. But by shattering the lies between them, and baring her truth, Utena became the vehicle for Anthy to save herself.

And that is revolutionary.