I could swear someone told me once that the school is built to imitate ancient Japanese burial grounds or something, but I never really did my homework on it...

This here is no surprise though, SKU pokes its nose in and out of France repeatedly...

It is definitely an interesting observation to compare different places to Ohtori, but it would be even better still if we could a real life place that has a much closer layout, especially the tower and the forest setup.  I had been trying to google search for any other pics that might match it better but I haven't really done too well as of yet.

Giovanna wrote:

I could swear someone told me once that the school is built to imitate ancient Japanese burial grounds or something, but I never really did my homework on it...

I've read that some where aswell, but I think it was the fact it sat up on a hill, though I could be totally wrong.

Sskessa wrote:

And actually, I always thought the academy was kind of like a giant sex symbol, with the big phallic tower on one end and the giant bush on the other.

Crikey! You noticed the hermaphrodite like look to the Ohtori academy as well? The symbolism here is starting to take an unusual payh with keyholes and body parts and things, if you think too hard you will hurt your brain.

Giovanna wrote:

I could swear someone told me once that the school is built to imitate ancient Japanese burial grounds or something, but I never really did my homework on it...

One theory a friend of mine had, was that the school is shaped to resemble a coffin. And considering the number of times a coffin is shown or mentioned in the show, it's not surprising that the entire world would be a fashioned like one.

The following link leads to an interesting page concerning Japanese coffins and burial mounds, which are apparently well known for their key hole shape.

http://www.ozlab.osakac.ac.jp/KOFUN_E/

Hmm, they do a sort of pull back effect twice in the series, one is in Episode 23 where Utena's in the Rose Garden then it pulls out to what simply could be the inside of a window, but they make sure to emphasize it is not the next shot shows the graveyard and that "piece of window" turns out to be a grave. I think what they are getting at is that the school and the graveyard are one in the same. This same scene is also shown later in Episode 37 I believe.

*Puts up hand* Anecdotal evidence here, but I've been to the kofun site in Miyazaki (one of the better-preserved ones), and they really really resemble the shape of Ohtori.

Also, anyone noticing the interesting placement of the forest, which is the entrance to the Duelling Arena, where the coffin itself would go? And Akio's tower, the source of all the illusions, being right in front of the entrance/exit of the burial mound? Symbolism aplenty!

To me the gate to the arena looked simply like a stone spiral, not a bird, before Utena opens it. If it's a phoenix, it's so abstractive that my eyes can't see it.

And I like the security system Akio has on that thing: only a Rose Seal, worn on the proper finger, will pass the water test. Maybe it's a form of hand scanner designed to look like what an ancient archmage would produce, or something you'd see in a RP session.

It's fairly pointless to give "modern-day" explanations for the fairy-tale events taking place in the series. Illusions and impossibilities are everywhere and even the architecture of the Academy itself defies reason. You might just as well suggest that Touga's voice booms over loudspeakers in the elevator-speech and the duellists teleport to the elevator one by one.

The purpose of the gate is to create border between the more, though not entirely real enviroment of the Academy and the purely fantastic enviroment of the Duelling Arena. It also mirrors the Rose Gate, both by appearance and the implication that one must walk through it and encounter what's inside in order to Revolutionize the World. It's technical features, if they even exist, are largely unimportant. No offense meant, but you're kind of missing the forest from trees, by concencration on the possible modern explanation for the gate-mechanism. Whatever Akio is, he isn't an engineer - the only thing he builds is illusions.