This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
#1 | Back to Top08-12-2016 02:25:37 AM
- ordinary.day
- New Student
- Registered: 08-12-2016
- Posts: 3
armor and flying horses in the opening animation?
i was just wondering, does anyone know why we see anthy and utena wear armor and ride flying horses (and appear to be jousting or preparing to joust?) at the end of the opening animation but never in the rest of the series?
this has bothered me since i first watched the series back in high school. i remember being a little confused/disappointed when i got to the last episodes and the armor and flying horses never happened. i had thought their armor looked so cool!
does anyone know if perhaps there was a change to how the last episodes were going to play out as the series progressed? (perhaps after the opening animation was already finished?) did kunihiko ikuhara ever comment on this?
if not, i could see it as somehow tying in to the carousel symbol in the last episode, or being a metaphor for anthy and utena's rivalry for akio near the end of the series, buuuut... i wanted to see them wearing that armor, dammit! ><
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#2 | Back to Top08-12-2016 10:11:41 AM
- Flah
- Belladonna Buster
- From: British Columbia
- Registered: 09-05-2013
- Posts: 211
Re: armor and flying horses in the opening animation?
Funny enough, this was brought up before on this site. A short ways down in this thread, you'll get a quick and dirty breakdown of the Sailor Moon movie that Ikuhara wanted to create before he helped form BePapas. You'll notice a lot of elements that wound up in Utena, including the inexplicable flying horses.
Why they didn't feature in the plot of the show is a bit of a mystery, but I chalk it up to Ikuni having a bad habit of trolling his audience.
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#3 | Back to Top08-12-2016 07:38:58 PM
- ordinary.day
- New Student
- Registered: 08-12-2016
- Posts: 3
Re: armor and flying horses in the opening animation?
aahhhh i see! thanks so much for helping clear this up for me! 
it had been bothering me for years! lol
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#4 | Back to Top08-12-2016 09:51:42 PM
Re: armor and flying horses in the opening animation?
According to what I've heard other people say, at the time of the OPs' creation the ending was in fact different. Notice how at the end of it we see Utena spinning on her own when previously it was her and Anthy. It would serve as neat foreshadowing - except that Anthy should be spinning on her own, not Utena.
The armor and horses may have been to appear in that alternate ending.
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