Hi BlueRoseTree!  I love your theory!  I myself have always seen Anthy and Akio as being two sides of the same yin-yang symbol.  And Akio did say in EP 39 that he felt Anthy's pain with his own body, so it's definitely possible that they are in fact one

My guess would be that Akio and Anthy are shown as separate characters precisely because they represent the conflict inside the original person: on one hand, the decision to embrace the Bad Guy persona and do things for your own benefit because people aren't worth your being kind to them (Akio), but on the other hand, your youthful idealism might not be entirely dead yet (Dios) and it makes you despise yourself for what you've become (Anthy). Plus you can remember what awesome potential to do great things you used to have, back in your early days (the Power of Dios), and you wish you had it back, but alas, you can  only do great things when you have that innocent faith - that's why Akio could never get anywhere near the Power of Dios because he was the antithesis of a Prince, and that's why Utena could. (But did she *get* the Power, or did she just *rekindle* it in Anthy? I lean towards the latter interpretation.) Also, Anthy & Akio being the same person explains why they have just one soul sword between them.

As for why Akio is nasty to Anthy... I've always seen their relationship as mutually abusive, Anthy having as much hold on him as he had on her. Only that he went more for the physical abuse (yanking her arm when she hesistated for a moment before coming into his tender embrace, allowing bride-beaters like Saionji into the duelling game) and she went for the psychological ("Goodnight, Onii-sama" - "Why do you keep tormenting me?"). That is not to say that I believe in the shitty explanations of domestic violence ("Oh he beats her because she won't stop nagging and provoking him, they're equally bad!") but in this case I do think they're equally nasty to one another, in different ways but for the same reason: self-hate. Note that in the end it turned out that Anthy could have walked out on him anytime had she chosen to, and her only problem was that she lacked what it took to make that choice. (That is not the case with most real-life abusive relationships because the victim is in the greatest danger from the abuser when she/he chooses to get away, there are often factors of social isolation and economic issues  involved etc. Whereas Anthy just packed her suitcase and left at her earliest convenience while Akio could only shout after her from behind his desk.)

Or more specifically, instead of a loving relationship between siblings (which would represent a normal, unconflicted person, and would be redundant for such), they have this love-hate between them that is the source of them being portrayed as separate characters. They do love each other, albeit not in a healthy way, because no one can exist without at least a trace of self-love to drive them to exist on.
However, the Akio self doesn't want to be good, and the Anthy self hates him for that - for not being Dios anymore. Akio looks derisively (as well as patronizingly and nostalgically?) to the no-longer-operating Dios self, and hates Anthy for her longing for Dios, like a husband hating his wife for still having feelings for her high school sweetheart. And he hates Dios like a bad person might hate a good one for them being everything that the bad one isn't.

One more thing that in my opinion hints at them being possibly one person is the incestuous sex between them. It is there to drive home the idea that their once-healthy relationship has gone the wrong way, too far, twisted etc. It illustrates that the dynamic has changed from innocent cuties caring for each other to one of a pair of sadomasochistic lovers, with all its trappings, and partners in crime (Bonnie and Clyde?). That's why Anthy calling Akio her Dear Big Brother* right after they had sex counts as twisting the knife in his wound because it is meant to rub it in: you used to be such a wonderful person and look how low you've fallen, you sister-fucking devil wannabe. In other words, this person is beating themselves up in the quiet of their mind's privacy.

*: it's worth remembering what is implied between the lines with all those Japanese social stratification markers. Older siblings are by definition higher in the hierarchy than younger ones and it is reflected in the very fact that there are different words for an older brother/sister and a younger one. If you're higher in the hierarchy, you are privileged and allowed to talk down to your juniors but you're also expected to do the job of looking after them, acting as their mentor, protect them and so on. The -sama suffix can indicate great respect but also adoring uber-familiarity. Now look how it came out in the beginning: Dios was the big bro (the stronger part of the personality? the one who made all the decisions?) but he did not protect Anthy, ie failed his job as the main pillar of the mind. Instead, Anthy ended up protecting him, at a great cost to herself (mental breakdown from disillusionment? feeling like shit for sticking up for yourself because you wanted to be 100% perfect in your selflessness?). And now we've got Akio who is an abuser and all kinds of bastard but nominally still the big brother to look up to - isn't it a hilarious piece of gallows humor?

Last edited by BlueRoseTree (02-20-2015 05:46:01 AM)

I've heard a number of theories positing that SKU is just Anthy's internal conflict, with all the events playing out inside her head. In that case you could say that the Student Council members represent various social forces impinging on her consciousness, Akio is her alienated shadow self that keeps her trapped in stasis and Utena is an emanation of the hopeful, optimistic part of her consciousness that acts to restore her balance.

As for the movie as sequel to series theory, I wrote a post about that a while back:

http://forums.ohtori.nu/viewtopic.php?p … 35#p233135