I thought the exact words Mikage uses to describe the Black Rose Duelists are people who "have a hold" on the Student Council's hearts, or people with "a hand that can capture their hearts", depending on which translation you prefer. They don't exactly need a "special place" in their hearts like an Anthy/Utena relationship. They just need to make their targeted Student Council member like them a little bit.

I always felt that the most important factor in picking the strongest Black Rose Duelists is not just how much love they gave or got, but how repressed they are in their hidden feelings. After all, all of the Black Rose Duelists are insecure, devoted, often passive-aggressive people who never openly or directly fight to improve their relationships with the SC, no matter how badly they want to, until Mikage and Mamiya artificially manipulate their extreme fear and repression into extreme anger and murderous intent. The more insecure and repressed they are, the better Black Roses they make, because the strength of their emotions channel into their killing intent.

The strength of the Student Council's love-hate for them is obviously still a factor. Otherwise, why target Kozue and Shiori when Miki and Juri have dozens of fans who have mini-crushes on them? But considering how Nanami and Saionji don't feel too strongly about Tsuwabuki and Wakaba, I highly doubt that's the deciding consideration in choosing Black Rose Duelists. If there's more love-hate between a Black Rose Duelist and his/her Student Council Member, then that means there's more pain Mikage can channel into a killing machine. But what matters first and foremost is how much "hidden darkness" a potential Black Rose Duelist has for Mikage to turn inside out.

Also, it's out of character to expect Touga to fall in love with Keiko. It takes 35-episodes for him to realize that he's even semi-in-love with Utena, and viewers aren't sure how much of that love is genuine. Perhaps the bulk of Touga's attraction to Utena stems from his attraction to Utena's power. Or maybe it's just easier to admire the one girl who manages to reject and defeat you. Either way, Touga is attracted to the powerful, the different, and the hard to obtain. Even if he's learned to honestly love people at the end of the series, it's unlikely that ambition would fade. Anyone coveting for his love will have to wait for the end of the series, and then do something to differentiate themselves from every other fling he's ever had. So while, Keiko's devoted (or at least as devoted as any girl desperately coveting the popular school-boy despite never actually speaking to and getting to know him), we don't see her do anything in the series which separates her from his throng of admirers.

Last edited by Nights1stStar (08-24-2009 02:39:08 PM)

Thanks. I'd like to think that I'm good with analysis...