Some ponderings on Mikage, Utena and Tokiko
In RGU, we are given memories from Utena that show her as a child believing that nothing is eternal, until she decides to become a prince because she was âshown something eternalâ and was saved by Dios. We are also given memories from Mikage that show us him not being able to love or care about eternity until he meets Tokiko. Both of their memories are intentionally warped. The âeternityâ that was actually shown to Utena was Anthy's eternal suffering. Utena responds by deciding she must become a prince to save her, yet forgets Anthy herself. She remembers only the prince and convinces herself that her devotion was always meant for him, when in reality it was Anthy she was devoted to all along.
Nemuroâs memories operate in a similar way. He sees Mamiyaâs suffering and comes to believe that the only way to save him is through attaining eternity. When his memories are examined more closely, their contradictions reveal that his desire for eternity does not originate in his attachment to Tokiko as it is presented to us, but in his love for Mamiya. Eternity is a displaced solution to a love he is not allowed to recognize directly.
Both are expressions of queer love, but neither Nemuro or Utena are free to imagine this love on their own terms and their responses remain structured by the dominant ideology that produces them. Utenaâs love is constrained by the patriarchal illusion of the prince. Nemuroâs attachment is constrained by his self-understanding as a living computer and the want of disembodied rationality. Both are violent and patriarchal systems that enforce heteronormativity and it is only when both Utena and Anthy break free can they achieve actual love and happiness.
Prior to putting on the ring, Nemuro explicitly distances himself from the concept of eternity, and in a conversation with Tokiko he insists that people should be grateful for the life God has given them. He notes that eternity would not heal Mamiya and understands that Mamiya himself resists the idea of eternity, as implied by his reflections on the flowers lack of agency. Tokiko overrides this by questioning whether eternity can nonetheless be attained. The wish to make Mamiya eternal is not his own, but with Tokiko, who articulates this desire on his behalf and as she says this she cries.
This is where I feel like a lot of people forget that Nemuro is 16-17 here and Tokiko is an adult. Not only is he a child, he is clearly incredibly isolated and objectified by his peers as a âliving computerâ which I elaborate on here. Tokiko is subtly breaking a boundary here. Nemuro previously said he is working on the project just for business reasons, but now she is attaching eternity to humanness/what it means love, etc to a boy who is consistently dehumanized. To love somebody is to want them to be eternal. She is placing the burden onto Nemuro and is suggesting he take responsibility. There is nothing inherently wrong about Tokiko crying in front of Nemuro, but she is crying at a very convenient time. His feelings for Mamiya, feelings he has never felt until now, is being exploited. She apologizes, but she does not take back her expectation. He is being made to feel as if the feelings are actually for Tokiko. Her apology functions as a removal of adult responsibility and a transfer of decision-making onto a child. Now Nemuro must choose eternity and believe it is his own choice, his own feelings being deliberately muddled.
Nemuro saying this is the first time he has seen a person cry exemplifies this because instead of being told what she means, or that it isnât his fault, etc, he is left to infer this alone and he, the child, becomes the emotional stabilizer for the adult, a reversal of care roles. This is one instance among many where Nemuro tries to assert and correct that he is a child just like the other students (When referred to as Professor Nemuro, he says âweâre the same ageâ to the other student, for example) but it doesnât change how anyone sees him.
Based off of his reaction, Tokiko further dehumanizes him and implicitly suggests that because he is uninterested in eternity, it is not possible for him to love. This is reaffirmed by Tokiko calling Nemuro a genius despite his refusal of the label just a few moments ago. By suggesting Nemuro cannot love, Tokiko removes the possibility of him loving Mamiya and positions herself as the sole meaningful emotional reference point. This is an adult authoritatively narrowing Nemuros conception of who he can even be. Tokiko tells him he may be incapable of love at all and Nemuro believes her. This leaves him of course incredibly confused and eventually leads to him putting on the ring.
It is unclear if Tokiko is intentionally doing this to him or not. One other moment weâve seen an adult cry to manipulate a child is when Akio sheds tears telling Utena there was never a prince in this world to begin with. In that moment, he is manipulating Anthy into thinking those are tears of compassion for her suffering. We also know Tokiko aligned herself with Akio in the project for attaining eternity. However, there is a good chance she was just ignorant in her actions and did not know the damage it would do to Nemuro and was just under the influence of Akio. She does tell Akio what he is doing is wrong. After all, Akio IS the one reconstructing his memories, and could be doing so in a way that makes it seem this way. But even if so, that does not absolve her of her very weird manipulative behaviour towards him as a child.
As Mikage, he projects Tokiko onto Utena. What is very interesting here is what he delusionally remembers of Tokiko outside of the Nemuro memories. He says that she doesnât have to regret abandoning him. This is the same emotional logic Tokiko taught Nemuro, where he already expects himself to do the emotional labour. Mikage repeats this pattern even after Tokiko is gone, which tells us the manipulation has fully been internalized and he really does think of himself as a disembodied living (dead) computer, genius, etc. This of course foreshadows Akios manipulation and grooming of Utena later on.
One reason I believe Mikage projects this version of Tokiko onto Utena is because all three Mikage, Utena, and Tokiko perceive and use Anthy/Mamiya in structurally similar ways through the pursuit of eternity. Â Mikage already recognizes that Utena is attempting to preserve and protect her false memory of an âimportant person,â and that she does so by using Anthy to embody princehood. Beyond the overtly unnatural heteronormative script seen in how mechanical it sounds when Mikage claims to be âattractedâ to Utena, I believe that Mikage is recognizing Tokikoâs logic in Utena (and himself). In both cases, Anthy and Mamiya are used against their will as means toward eternity. Yet Mikage cannot recognize himself in Utena beyond their shared attachment to Dios and Tokiko, because he is reproducing the same structure, using Mamiya while remaining constrained by the living-computer paradigm that controls his personhood and being emotionally bound to Tokiko.
In the duel against Utena, Mikage genuinely thinks heâs battling Tokiko. The scene of Tokiko slapping his glasses away is emblematic of the collapse of his living-computer façade, a moment of forced clarity in which he confronts both his manipulated, used self and the loss of the real Mamiya he could have loved. To compare with Anthyâs glasses for example, they are apart of the Rose Bride costume that she removes only in moments of enforced intimacy or submission. Mikage is forcibly stripped of his glasses too late and gains clarity without escape, while Anthy leaves hers behind at the end because her perception has changed and the system that required the mask no longer holds power over her.
Mikage is told by Mamiya that he cannot win against Tokiko. This is a very obvious parallel to Utenas duel against Akio, and Anthy here also believes that Utena wonât win against Akio. Just as Utena cannot be Anthyâs prince because sheâs a girl, Nemuro canât love Mamiya because he is a living computer, a genius. These are ideological roles enforced by the system of Ohtori, which dictates in advance what kinds of desires and forms of love are legible.
I think it is very beautiful how similar their final meetings are especially. To be really saved is only possible when these imposed roles collapse and eternity itself is refused for the reactionary, violent and heteronormative ideal that it is. Nemuro and Mamiya may not have escaped, but Anthy and Utena did, and were able to break down these violent systems and love each other for who they are.
