Riri-kins wrote:

I honestly don't think there's anything complicated about Movie Shiori. I think Ikuhara made her the big bad because he decided to make the fandom hate her even more.

I don't think Shiori is the big bad of the movie even if she is worst than in the tv series. She is more a girl screw-up because of a trauma (Touga's death) and who let her negative emotions 'controlling' her.

I think it's because we never get to really see a softer side to Shiori in the series.

-Touga is absolutely terrible to people and even relishes in hurting them, not unlike Shiori. But we also get to see his genuine concern for Utena towards the end of the third arc. We also get to see him at perhaps his lowest point in the second arc.

-Saionji is ignorant of other people's feelings. I don't think he ever intends to hurt people emotionally with his actions (Aside from hitting Anthy, although one could argue that he views that as a normal way of asserting dominance in a relationship and ultimately the 'love' he shares with Anthy overcomes any other feelings.) After he gets kicked out of school we really get to see what a hot mess he is.

-Akio. He is a tough one. I think part of what makes Akio easier to accept is that he is such a magnificent bastard that, despite whatever horrible thing he is doing, it is entertaining to just watch him doing it. He does things on a grander scale and does have a slight justification (And I do mean slight) in that he isn't, presumably, human so he doesn't have to act in accordance to human morals. He also has his own demons where his altruism as Dios was repaid with ungratefulness.

-Nanami does terrible things but gets minor spurts of karmic retribution, especially of a humorous nature, so its easier to overlook the absolute trauma she causes to other people (Especially Keiko.) We see her when her whole world falls to pieces in the third arc as well when she discovers Anthy's secret.

-Kozue. Honestly I find Kozue more difficult to hate because she has always been honest with herself that she was doing terrible things to get under Miki's skin. She doesn't try to play it off like she's innocent. She may hide some aspects of what she does from Miki but I don't think she would hide them if Miki confronted her.

=Shiori on the other hand doesn't seem to have an 'excuse' for being nasty. She always gave off, to me, an air of being very well off. That she came from a good family and was part of the 'in-crowd.' And yet, despite having all these nice resources at her disposal all she does is try to hurt other people. Especially those that are closest to her. Sure we see her upset after Ruka runs her through the ringer. But the problem is that we still don't see a softer side to her we don't see her at her lowest point. We see her at a low point, but she proceeds to lash out at everyone and doesn't seem to grow from the experience.

I'm sure there's more to it than that. But that's my initial impression/thought process.