In the Rose Garden / Color symbolism within Utena

Hiraku · Back to Top

YamPuff wrote:
SleepDebtFairy wrote:
You know, I've been wondering about that one too.

Despite the different shades of blonde, they look pretty similar. Perhaps it is because Tsuwabuki wants to be like a big brother to Nanami?

I wonder if having the same hair color is significent. Miki and Kozue are brother and sister and have the same hair color, but Touga and Nanami don't look anything alike at all. Utena and Mikage have the same hair color and are the same height. And then you have Nanami and Tsuwabuki who are both blond. None of the hair colors are exactly the same shade though. Its as if having the same color indicates a special relationship between the two people. Also, Nanami's henchbitches (gotta love that phrase) all have brown hair.

Yay food for thought.

I'm pretty sure one of the henchbitches (I love this word, too) had black hair... don't really remember (Ooh, black hair, you don't see that often in Utena mythos)
I'm wondering if the hair color represents the characters' desires, too.
Nanami's duel is called Adoration, so her fight is spurred by her feelings for her brother, even though at that time, she's probably mistakened that feeling for romantic love. Tsuwabuki also looks up to Nanami and even wanted to become her boyfriend in the beginning. Both seemed to confuse admiration for love.

Kozue and Miki, having the same color of hair, I'm assuming that they both share a common reason to participate in the duels- attachment to something special. <- That's pretty vague, but both want to return to that shining garden (My shining thing, anyone?)

And Mikage said Utena is very much the same as he is because they both held a piece of memory that's precious and eternal to themselves.

So perhaps the similarities in motives are at works in hair colors, too.

Last edited by Hiraku (03-15-2007 09:53:29 AM)

Yams · Back to Top

Black hair? I don't remember....did anyone have black hair in the series?

dollface · Back to Top

YamPuff wrote:
Black hair? I don't remember....did anyone have black hair in the series?

Aiko did.

Also, Touga's floozies seem to.

Last edited by dollface (03-15-2007 12:46:10 PM)

Raven Nightshade · Back to Top

The reason Nanami's henchbitches have brown hair is that they're supposed to be unimportant generic characters. Brown hair tends to be the epitome of the "ordinary girl" in anime, especially if they have brown eyes. The only reason Wakaba gets as much screen time as she does is because she's the main character's best friend, the Naru-chan to Utena's Usagi, as it were. Keiko to a lesser extent is the same way.

Also, Aiko's hair is dark brown and the black-haired girls have navy-blue hair on my TV. After all, navy is the new black.

dollface · Back to Top

In some screens, Aiko's hair is black, and in some it's brown. I'm sure the animators were just lazy or something. Color information was distorted, making it black sometimes. And those girls both look black-haired to me. Different for everyone I suppose.

Hiraku · Back to Top

Well, if at all possible, maybe we can squeeze the answers out of the animators.

"Say it! What were you using to paint Aiko's hair! Say it!" *Ties them to a chair in a dark interrogation room and whacks them with a plate full of cookies*

Of course, that's never going to happen, but hey, it makes interpretation even more open than it might be intended to :p

Yams · Back to Top

dollface wrote:
YamPuff wrote:
Black hair? I don't remember....did anyone have black hair in the series?
Aiko did.

Also, Touga's floozies seem to.
http://www.ohtori.nu/gallery/revelation … ap0297.jpg
http://www.ohtori.nu/gallery/unveiling/ … ap0006.jpg

So black is symbolic of a Touga fangirl. school-devil

Giovanna · Back to Top

He picks the black haired ones because the black looks good on him. school-sherlock

Mai_Kanzaki · Back to Top

What about the chick that teases Wakaba for waiting for Utena at the begining of the show? She shows up in the strangest places... school-eng101

Raven Nightshade · Back to Top

Okay, back to my yammering about colors. Where am I? Oh, yeah, Juri and orange. I'm expecting this to be short, mainly because orange didn't get its own name until the 11th Century, and it was(and in some cases, still is) known as yellow-red.

As we all know, Juri's rose color is orange, even though the colored parts of her uniform are kind of a salmon/coral pink. That always confused me. Maybe it will make sense when I get to discussing pink.

Orange got assigned to gluttony on the Seven Deadly Sins color spectrum. Unfortunately, it make absolutely no sense whatsoever because Gluttony is purely food-related, as opposed to its more generic sibling Greed.

Okay, so it's really damn short. Let's move on to yellow, Nanami's color.

Now, notice that nothing associated with Nanami is a true yellow. Her hair is a light, slightly desaturated yellow, also known as light blonde. Her uniform and most of the yellow things she wears are a golden yellow, meaning that there is a measurable amount of red involved(read: Touga). Everything Nanami does is because of Touga or something that associated with him: lust, passion. He is her motivation, her raison d'etre, as it were. She's only a Duelist because of him, and I don't feel like she gets her own motivation until her world is ripped apart in episodes 31-32. And even then, Touga is still the puppet master behind it all. But this isn't about Touga and Nanami, or their twisted relationship.

This is a color that is heavily associated with emotions and mental states. Yellow is connected with happiness and peace, two things Nanami is in short supply of but is fully capable of faking for the masses. In the U.S., yellow is the color of cowardice. If there's one thing Nanami isn't, it's a coward. In the Hindu religion, yellow is related to ntellect. Also, the South Koreans connect yellow with jealousy, while Christianity associates it with Greed.

It is also worth noting a concept that exists among the Arabic people and the French, yellow and insincerity. In the Middle East, it's known as a "yellow smile", meaning that they're hiding their true emotions behind that smile. Meanwhile, the French call it "yellow laughter", when you laugh at a joke that you don't find funny.

During the 19th Century, yellow was the color of mental illness. For the best example, read the short story "The Yellow Wallpaper." At the same time, it was also the color of the Decadent and Aesthetic movements of the 1890's, an anti-Victorian sentiment whose most known supporter was Oscar Wilde. Also, yellow is the color of royalty in most southeast Asian countries, especially China where commoners weren't allowed to wear it until recently.

Hysterical Woman · Back to Top

Juri manages to make orange look dignified, when orange is usually isn't. Prisoners and Buddhist monks wear orange. Does this mean something? Then again, that orange is usually more of a bright red-orange, while Juri's orange is more of a pinkish orange. Pinkish orange? There are some paralles between her and Utena. Hmm...

Hiraku · Back to Top

I couldn't tell if it's reddish orange or pinkish orange.

Personally, I still go with the idea that orange associates with age and idea of past-the-prime since Juri always stands alone in sunset

Raven Nightshade · Back to Top

But why look at it as a sunset and an ending when you could look at it as a sunrise and a new beginning? That's maybe the miracle she was asking for, a chance to start over.

dollface · Back to Top

Raven Nightshade wrote:
But why look at it as a sunset and an ending when you could look at it as a sunrise and a new beginning? That's maybe the miracle she was asking for, a chance to start over.

Wow. I'd never looked at it like that, but that's absolutely brilliant. It makes perfect sense*.

*Perfect Sense= The only remotely logical kind of sense Ikuhara has.

Raven Nightshade · Back to Top

Okay, I was going to continue my way down the color spectrum and work on green and Saionji, but I decided to write about Chakras instead. I'll probably finish the colors later, after I also cover heraldry in another post.

Now, an interesting, but not surprising, thing to notice is that the chakra colors line up with the color spectrum(from red to violet) starting at the base chakra near the genital/anal area, up to the crown chakra above the head. The concept is supposed to be that the path to enlightenment is surpassing or rising above what each of these points contain until you reach the crown chakra, represent by the color violet(sometimes white), so I think this should be read as the color representing their own issues.

Let's start with a brief review of what I wrote about the Muladhara chakra in my post about Touga.

Red is the color associated with the Muladhara, or root/base chakra. It corresponds with instinct, security, survival, and basic human potential. Now, the funny part is that it's located between the genitals and the anus. It is also associated with giving spiritual energy a physical manifestation.

This is, in essence, the chakra most closely associated with matter and the physical plane, explaining the relationship with security. It's real, it's concrete, even tangible, making it easy to manipulate and comprehend. Touga never really struck me much for dealing in hypotheticals. What does he want out of the Rose Bride? Power. What does power provide? Security. Why is Touga a raging man-whore? Because he's insecure. Why he's insecure is a question for someone with better analytical skills than I possess.

We move up to the Swadhisthana chakra, located at the groin just above the red chakra. This is associated with the color orange, Juri's color, and relates to emotion, sexuality, and creativity. This alone speaks volumes about Juri, I think. This is still very much a physical chakra, but not to the extent of the previous one. Juri doesn't believe in miracles, which is what's keeping her heavily anchored in reality. Like Touga, she's relatively grounded in what she wants as opposed to Miki's intangible "shining thing" or Saionji's attempt to grasp 'eternity". (Yes, I just said that Juri is similar to Touga, don't panic.)

The yellow chakra is called Manipura(or Nabhi), and it is located at the solar plexus, near the navel. Being yellow, this means we're going to talk about Nanami. Manipura relates to mental functioning, power, control, and the freedom to be yourself. It also is the point where we transition from base emotions to higher ones and converting matter back into energy as we do when we eat. Part of Nanami's problem is that she has no real power of her own, it all comes from her brother. She lacks control to keep her from, as Xander says in the last episode of Buffy, "always doing the stupid thing." As for mental functioning, let's recall...oh, all the filler episodes. And let's not forget her first duel where she goes batshit crazy after she loses. She's a victim of what I call surface thinking, not being able to see beyond the outer appearance of a person or situation. She lacks depth and introspection, especially when it comes to herself and her brother.

Then there's Nanami's problems with animals, mostly caused by Anthy. Nanami's power and control issues make her think that she's better than everyone else, referring to them as insects. What Anthy does in her passive-aggression is probably designed to knock Nanami down a peg or twelve, showing her that she is no better than the animals that humans are. An interesting moment to look at is when Nanami turns into a cow. One of many ways to look at it is to see the cow as food, which is what's freaking her out during the episode. Food is fuel, which creates energy, which is what her corresponding chakra does for the body too. On the other hand, cows are sacred in India, which can be seen as Anthy saying, "Oh, so you think you're soooo much better than everyone else? Fine, I can turn you into a cow and send you to India. There you can be as sacred and important as you think you are."

Once again, this is getting a bit longer than planned, so I'm going to cut it here. I'll post the rest tomorrow.

SleepDebtFairy · Back to Top

Chakra! emot-dance

Interesting to note that, like you said, the top chakra can be seen as violet... or white. etc-love

rhyaniwyn · Back to Top

Giovanna wrote:
The odds she'd actually have killed herself are slim, it's far more likely that for different reasons, but just the same, she'd be a complete emotional void.

Somewhat OT aside: That's another parallel between Anthy and Utena. Utena could have come out of the literal coffin, while remaining encased in a symbolic coffin. Which was Anthy's fate--and I see Anthy as being emotionally numb.

Color associations are a slippery thing. Check out this page on the 5 elements in Chinese philosophy and look at the sections "Music" and "Chinese medicine and cosmology" for color associations.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_eleme … losophy%29 Chinese 5 elements wrote:
Chinese 5 Elements (Listed by Color, with associations)

Azure (Blue/Green): East, Jupiter, Anger, Eye, Sight, Bitter, Dragon, Spring, Birth (Wood)
Vermillion (Red): South, Mars, Joy/Shock, Tongue, Speech, Sweet, Bird, Summer, Youth (Fire)
Yellow: Center, Saturn, Reminiscence/Reflection, Mouth, Taste, Sour, Dragon, Change of Seasons, Adulthood (Earth)
White: West, Venus, Grief/Sadness, Nose, Smell, Spicy, Tiger, Autumn, Old Age (Metal)
Black: North, Mercury, Fear, Ears, Hearing, Salty, Tortoise, Winter, Death (Water)

There are also a lot of color associations with via the elements that you can find by reading about Wicca. I couldn't find a good combo link, though, but Wikipedia's individual element pages will do. That's arguably relatively modern.

There may be a blue rose now, sort of. But given the difficulty even with genetic engineering, I'm on board with this statement, "Blue roses traditionally signify mystery or attaining the impossible. They are believed to be able to grant the owner youth or grant wishes. This symbolism derives from the rose's meaning in the language of flowers common in Victorian times." Interesting relation to blue roses: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baba_Yaga (Granted wishes to people who brought her blue roses).

I know everyone's probably seen this before, but for posting's sake:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_flowers Language of Flowers wrote:
The nuances of the language are now mostly forgotten, but red roses still imply passionate, romantic love; pink roses a lesser affection; white roses still suggest virtue and chastity; and yellow roses still stand for friendship or devotion. While these may not be the exact translations of the Victorian sentiments, the flowers still hold meaning.

Color symbolism of roses

* Blue: mystery, attaining the impossible
* Burgundy: beauty
* Coral or Orange: desire, passion
* Dark Pink: gratitude
* Lavender (violet): love at first sight
* Light Pink: admiration, sympathy
* Pink: grace
* Red: love
* White: innocence, purity, secrecy, reverence and humility
* Yellow: Friendship, dying love or platonic love. In German-speaking countries: jealousy, infidelity.

Color combinations

* Red and white together: unity
* Red and yellow: joy, happiness and excitement

Aside: Keep going, Raven Nightshade! I liked the part about color associations in heraldry especially. I have a giant Chakra book at home, I'll have to pull it out.

Sometimes I'm uncertain about Wikipedia, but this is pretty cool. Wikipedia on Red.

Last edited by rhyaniwyn (04-02-2007 01:37:31 PM)

Hiraku · Back to Top

Oh wow! Red and White is unity? Maybe it would refer to how Touga is in love with the noble Utena (Yes, she should be pink, but her rose as a duelist is white)

Or, more perversely, the fact that he and Akio is...

Or maybe the fact that Touga wants to be a prince just as badly as Utena does.

Tamago · Back to Top

rhyaniwyn mentioned about the Blue Rose representing attaining the impossible, I wonder if thats the reason why when all those people went down the Mikage elevator during the Black Rose saga, the rose symbols on the walls as the elevator moved down were all blue instead of black like you would have expected. Maybe its because the people who became the Black Rose duellists were all seeking the impossible?

I'm not in the same league as some of you girls (and guys) when it comes to understanding the meanings behind things but I like to think that I have the odd insperational thought occassionly.

Raven Nightshade · Back to Top

Okay, sorry I didn't post yesterday, but I got one of those stabby headaches behind my eye. I hate thsoe. Anyway, I spent today compiling this essay on Saionji and the Anahata chakra. It's a lot longer than I expected, again, so I'll get to blue and Miki later.

The Anahata chakra is associated with the color green, located in the chest beneath the sternum. The body parts that it’s connected to are the heart and lungs, both incredibly vital to life in general. Anahata is where the “higher emotions” that I keep obscurely referencing finally come into play: devotion, love, and compassion as well as healing. The “self” is still important, but not as much as it was previously. So what does Saionji have to do with all this?

On some level, Saionji might actually love Anthy. It’s a very twisted and damaged kind of love, probably the only kind he knows. As I said, the things associated with each chakra point are probably what each Duelist needs to work through, or it’s at the base of their issues. He doesn’t really understand the concept of loving someone or being loved in return, at least not without strings or obligation. That’s the problem with “loving” the Rose Bride, there’s always strings…and Akio’s the puppet master.

As for devotion, I find that it’s hard, but not impossible, to disassociate it from love. Why love something you’re not devoted to? Why devote yourself to something or someone you don’t love? It makes the entire act kind of hollow. It’s like the difference between having a job and a career, working because you need money and working because you love what you do. Saionji has a notion about the concept of devotion. You can see it when he deals with Touga’s lack of it throughout the series. It’s strange because he’s appears extremely devoted to Touga, at least in my eyes. Touga’s his best friend, or as close to a friend as he’s got. I use qualifying terms like this because I don’t really view Touga and Saionji as friends in the traditional, and sometimes functional, sense. But that’s a very deep rabbit hole that Alice isn’t equipped to go down.

It’s very obvious that Saionji had some measure of compassion for Anthy in the first arc, otherwise, he wouldn’t be trying to save her. I also think that’s part of the reason why he continues to hang around Touga, and why he’s as perceptive as he is. His compassion occasionally borders on empathic. He knows and understands why Touga is the way he is, but when it comes to Anthy, he sees only slightly more than she wants him to see. She gives him just enough to motivate him, and knocks him back down to earth when he gets too far ahead of himself, or Anthy, or the game in general.

Before I begin, I openly admit that I’m not a huge fan of Saionji. I’ve only watched the series once from beginning to end, and he didn’t create the best of first impressions at the time. Until I got to this forum, I’d essentially dismissed him as a total asshole. With a better understanding of him, I still think he’s an asshole, but a redeemable one, so forgive me if my analysis wanders in that direction. If not, then you probably won’t see this paragraph.

Now, the primary attribute of Anahata is that this is the first level of awareness that where we should be able to act outside the law of karma. If you think about where the other chakra points are located, it means you’re not thinking with your gut or what’s in your pants anymore, you’re using your heart. (Cue sappy music.) Is Saionji doing that? Maybe. He’s trying to be selfless and save/rescue people, like the prince he aspires to be. On the other hand, what is he getting out of it?

It also says that the Anahata chakra is where the kalpa taru, the wish-fulfilling tree, is located. To put it bluntly, it’s the power to revolutionize the world with a side of “be careful what you wish for.” This story explains it best.

From Desire Under the Kalpataru

Into a room full of children at play walks the proverbial "mama" (maternal uncle)" who invariably "knows better." He tells them to lift up their eyes, look out of the window and see the huge Kalpataru outside. He tells them that they should cast aside their silly indoor games, and go to the tree which will grant them whatever they wish – the real stuff! The children rush out, stand under the all-encompassing branches, and ask. They ask for what all children crave: toys and sweets. The tree grants them their wishes. But with it, they also get a bonus: the built-in opposite of the wish! Along with the toys they get boredom; and with the sweets they get tummy-ache. Sure that something has gone wrong with their wishing, the children ask for bigger toys and sweeter sweets. The Tree obliges, along with greater boredom and more painful stomach-ache. Time passes. The children grow up into young men and women. Their wishes change with their age. Now they "know more". They ask for wealth, fame, power and sex. Unquestioningly, the tree grants their desire, but also gifts them cupidity, insomnia, anxiety and frustration. Time passes. The askers are now old. They gather in three groups under the tree. The first group exclaims that all this is an illusion. They are fools and have learned nothing. The second group is "wiser" and decides to wish better next time. They are greater fools and have learned less than nothing. The third group, disgusted with everything, asks for death. The tree grants their desire and, with it, its opposite, re-birth, and under the same tree. For, where can one be born, or re-born, but within the cosmos! They are the most foolish of all.

All this while, one child has been unable to move out of the room. Being lame, he was pushed aside in the rush to the door as his playmates ran to get to the tree. He has been riveted to the window, watching the lila (the play) of the Kalpataru unfold itself. He has watched his friends make their wishes, get them along with their built-in opposites and suffer; yet, compulsively, continue to make more wishes. Transfixed by this fascinating play and counterplay of desire and its fruits, a profound swell of compassion wells up in the heart of this lame child, reaching out to his companions. In that process he forgets to wish for anything (not even remembering to forget). In that moment of spontaneous compassion for others, he has sliced through the roots of the cosmic tree with the sword of non-attachment, of niskama karma. He, alone, is the liberated one, the mukta-purusa.

So, in conclusion, the kalpa taru is similar to making a wish in D&D. You’d better have all your angles covered before you open your mouth, or it will come back and bite you on the ass in very short order.

Raven Nightshade · Back to Top

Alright, kids, after this I've only got to cover the Crown Chakra and its connection to Akio, Dios, and Anthy.

Okay, now we’ve moved away from the torso, into the throat where the Vishuddha chakra is located. This corresponds to the specific color azure blue, halfway between blue and cyan on the light spectrum. There is probably a good reason why pure blue isn’t employed here, but I don’t know what that would be.

Anyway, the Vishuddha chakra is the chakra of speech and self-expression, rather appropriate for its position. It’s also quite appropriate for Miki, being a musician. Even more so, the Vishuddha’s element is sound. We’ve noticed that Miki is a very nervous individual, especially when latent emotions come to the surface.

This also associated with growth and maturity, due to its proximity to the thyroid gland. This might be Miki’s issue with adults and his inability to trust them, one of few things that he’s quite vocal about. I’d bet that his other emotions find their way out through his music or his fencing, something he and Juri have in common.

The Vishuddha is connected to a lesser chakra point in the back of the head called the Bindu chakra. When the Vishuddha is active, so is the Bindu. Apparently, the Brahmins grow a tuft of hair back there. (Akio’s ponytail?) The Bindu is the spot where its namesake “fluid” is produced, and it’s a dual-natured beast at that, referred to as the “nectar of immortality” and the “poison of death”. As a nectar, it helps one to learn from negative experiences. As a poison, these same experiences cause decay and stagnation.

Since that managed to be so short, I can move on to the Ajna chakra, better known as the Third Eye, situated right between the eyebrows. This is the chakra of time, awareness, and intuition, signified by the color indigo. Now this may be a source of disagreement here, but I firmly believe that this corresponds to Ruka.

If we again take the position that the Duelist in question needs to conquer their associated issues in their next step to enlightenment, then Ruka lacks awareness and intuition or he has it and it’s subpar at best. One would think that this would mean that he had no clue what was going on the entire time he was at Ohtori, and he didn’t. However, he had his instinct to rely on. Instinct is a less refined form of intuition, I think, meaning he’s got the basics, but he doesn’t quite grasp the advanced part.

This means that he probably had a general feeling about what was going to happen from the beginning, but not to any great detail. If he truly knew that he wouldn’t win against Utena, why would he bother fighting? If he truly KNEW anything, then would he have bothered coming back at all? Maybe, but he knew one thing…he wasn’t going to be around for long.

On the bright side, the ajna chakra is an indication that he was truly not there for himself. He was there for Juri. Ruka has conquered desire, greed, lust, hatred, and other simpler emotions. He understands love, devotion, and compassion, and has little trouble expressing his true feelings. Ruka is so close to being the prince that gets to save Juri, but he lacks what the Ajna chakra provides, foresight.

dlaire · Back to Top

White - Akio/Dios has hair like old man, because they are much older than they looks, they live from the beginning of fairytale (remember that Utena begins from "once upon time"). White flowers stand for purity, goodwill.

Yellow - color of jelausy. Nanami is possesive towards Touga, and Mitsuru is envy about adulthood. It could be impatience too. Yellow flowers also represents jelaosy.

Orange - I'm not sure, maybe perfectionism, sarcasm?

Red - obviously it's passion. Red roses symbols desire and attraction.

Pink- it's color of naiviety, dreams. Mikage's hair seems to be watered, as if his life washed up his purity. He's machiavellian type, his high ideas turn into evil.

Violet -I agree that it is symbol of torture, violet means sacrife and agony. Anthy is also a witch, and this color represent occultism, misteries and riddles (9th episode is full of it)

Blue- idealism.

Green - no idea.

Brown - boredom, something typical.

Black - dark side of person, something buried.

Pairs of them:
Red-Green - Van Gogh used to said that it's madness symbol (he painted himself in these colors). It's also the biggest contrast on rainbow.

Anthy-Sajionji- she has violet hair and he has got violet eyes, she has got green eyes and she has got green hair. They are totally different, and it's exposed in that way.

Utena-Mikage, Himemiya-Mamiya - Mikage WAS just like Utena, and Mamiya TRIED to be Rose Bride.

I was suprised when I saw Baba Yaga in this page, it's pretty popular person in polish and russian fairytales. In one of them there was Black and Red Knight, Black was Night and Red was Sunset. (I also have book with picture which is on wikipedia page emot-smile )

Imaginary Bad Bug · Back to Top

dlaire wrote:
Orange - I'm not sure, maybe perfectionism, sarcasm?

Hmm, for Juri, maybe. I can't see that description fitting Wakaba though.

One thing Juri and Wakaba seem to have in common is the desire for things they can't seem to get... the proof that miracles don't exist and reconciliation of her relationship with Shiori in Juri's case, and being special and Saionji's affections for Wakaba.

brian · Back to Top

dlaire wrote:
White - Akio/Dios has hair like old man, because they are much older than they looks, they live from the beginning of fairytale (remember that Utena begins from "once upon time"). White flowers stand for purity, goodwill.

That makes a lot of sense. White can also be the color of death, it's a a very ambiguous color and there is a mini-essay about that somewhere in Moby Dick.

dlaire wrote:
Anthy-Sajionji- she has violet hair and he has got violet eyes, she has got green eyes and she has got green hair. They are totally different, and it's exposed in that way.

That's a great catch. You have probably found something significant, but it may be a sign that they are complementary on some level. What that might be I don't know.

dlaire wrote:
Utena-Mikage, Himemiya-Mamiya - Mikage WAS just like Utena, and Mamiya TRIED to be Rose Bride.

A lot of us have puzzled over that. Ikuhara said explicitly that Mikage was drawn to resemble Utena. If you look at the front and back covers of volume 5 of the first manga you'll see Saito's version of their relationships. Intellectually Utena and Mikage seem to be opposites but could it be that they are both caught in their own abstract ideals and not looking at human reality? Morally they seem to be opposites but I wonder.

As for the rest, I don't necessarily disagree but the problem is that Japanese anime may have its own unique color code which few or none of us fully understand.

Raven Nightshade · Back to Top

UBER NECRO!!!

Okay, I know I more or less threadjacked this at least 100 years ago, but I just ran across this on Wikipedia and I had to share.

Wikipedia wrote:
In Japan, red is a traditional color for a heroic figure.

On the Indian Sub-continent, red is the traditional color of bridal dresses, and is frequently represented in the media as a symbolic color for married women. The color is associated with sexuality in marriage relationships through its connection to heat and fertility. It is also the color of wealth, beauty, and the goddess Lakshmi.

While the first statement is interesting, it's the second I focused on. Red is a wedding color in India. That's why Anthy's dress is red, aside from being the color most commonly associated with roses.

#26 | Back to Top03-15-2007 09:53:03 AM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

YamPuff wrote:

SleepDebtFairy wrote:

#27 | Back to Top03-15-2007 11:24:01 AM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#28 | Back to Top03-15-2007 12:40:24 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

YamPuff wrote:

#29 | Back to Top03-15-2007 03:54:33 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#30 | Back to Top03-15-2007 06:56:06 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#31 | Back to Top03-15-2007 10:25:37 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#32 | Back to Top03-16-2007 03:04:21 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

dollface wrote:

YamPuff wrote:

#33 | Back to Top03-16-2007 04:13:55 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#34 | Back to Top03-16-2007 04:46:44 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#35 | Back to Top03-16-2007 05:35:54 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#36 | Back to Top03-16-2007 07:51:13 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#37 | Back to Top03-16-2007 08:05:26 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#38 | Back to Top03-17-2007 08:50:10 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#39 | Back to Top03-17-2007 09:05:12 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

Raven Nightshade wrote:

#40 | Back to Top04-01-2007 06:14:28 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#41 | Back to Top04-02-2007 12:15:28 AM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#42 | Back to Top04-02-2007 01:36:10 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

Giovanna wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Five_eleme … losophy%29 Chinese 5 elements wrote:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_of_flowers Language of Flowers wrote:

#43 | Back to Top04-03-2007 12:37:38 AM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#44 | Back to Top04-03-2007 06:59:01 AM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#45 | Back to Top04-03-2007 08:01:57 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#46 | Back to Top04-05-2007 09:10:58 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#47 | Back to Top05-26-2007 11:13:56 AM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

#48 | Back to Top05-26-2007 03:39:24 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

dlaire wrote:

#49 | Back to Top05-30-2007 11:27:00 AM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

dlaire wrote:

dlaire wrote:

dlaire wrote:

#50 | Back to Top02-26-2008 06:56:22 PM

Re: Color symbolism within Utena

Wikipedia wrote:

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