Thank-you. I have been trying to convince people that Utena is a second person show, because in the end, Anthy is the one who has revolutionized the world. Utena is stuck there with a thousand swords in her back. Everyone in that show becomes a rosebride at one point or another, but Anthy is the only one who breaks the cast. Of course, you could argue that it's all Utena's doing, but it's like she gave Anthy a boost, and Anthy took control. I feel the movie demonstrates this way better, but I still adore the show most. If you look at SKU, all the things are displayed literally, but should be taken symbolically. Anthy broke away from the arena, but Utena was left behind. I think this is a good place to bring in the idea of the Dalai Lama, who supposedly is the reincarnation of Buddha, staying on earth until everyone makes it to enlightenment. By becoming a prince, Utena has decided to take Dios' role of supporting others. She has to become selfless.

Last edited by MemorySpice (04-22-2012 08:24:57 AM)

Anthy as protagonist does seem to follow the Hesse tradition of assisted self-discovery - the main character is shown the way and more often than not is spoon-fed new ideas by more polarized and spiritually/intellectually potent characters. It is understandable as both SKU and a sizable amount of Hesse's work (Siddhartha, Demian, Beneath the Wheel, for example) deal with adolescents.
I guess it calls for a fundamental review of what a protagonist is; I tend to see him/her (at the most basic level) as a hero/heroine. Personally, I have always found Utena's symbolic victory more impressive than Anthy's, even though Utena's literal fate was much worse. That she was the vehicle for change makes me think of Utena as the true protagonist, the true "revolutionary girl," even if the forces that drove her were potentially misguided. Anthy reaping the benefits of this is just, well, good for Anthy (over-simplifying, I know).
SKU, which so often likes to remind its viewers that a revolution is also just the completed turn of a wheel, may be indicating a cyclical nature in the end when we see Anthy venturing out of Ohtori to (I believe) find and save Utena. In this next chapter, I would imagine Anthy as the protagonist. Being inside or outside of Ohtori is irrelevant to me; Ohtori is simply the binding setting of one of these cycles, an empire rising and falling. The prince/princess relationship, and the endless handing off of these roles, to me, is the core of the SKU universe.

To me, Anthy is clearly the main character; SKU is her story more than anyone else's. So why is Utena the series' namesake and why does the main narrative follow her? Because if Anthy was the protagonist in the traditional sense, the show wouldn't work. It would be totally inaccessible. Anthy is a tortured, magical being whose nature is far removed from everyday human experience and common narrative tropes. If the show was "Revolutionary Girl Anthy" and it followed her adventures, can you imagine how it would play out? "Anthy follows Saionji, saying nothing. Anthy gets slapped. New girl challenges Saionji. Anthy gets slapped again. Wait, new girl wins! Anthy moves into her new digs, scrubbing floors and sleeping through classes while her new friend defends her honor before bullies."

For the show to function within its medium and narrative structure, it needs to build a bridge between our expectations and Anthy's reality. So we get a boisterous protagonist who enters the plot without understanding what's really going on, just as the audience does. We learn about Anthy's history once our minds are primed for its impact, instead of hearing "Once upon a time, there was a little witch, and she got stuck with a million swords because she tried to do her brother a favor" as the prelude to the first episode.

One theory I'm fond of is that the entire story plays out in Anthy's mind, with every character embodying a component of her consciousness. So Utena is really her long-buried sense of self-worth or what have you re-emerging to guide her to self-actualization. I could write whole volumes about this interpretation, and the meaning of Utena's disappearance at the end, but that can wait for another time.

Well, Anthy is the one whose character changed the most from beginning to end of the show, the one whose self was revolutionized in the most dramatic way; with her large portions of screen time, I'd definitely see her as a protagonist, if not THE protagonist.

You could say that Utena forgets too much and Anthy remembers too much.

The movie manga implies that it all starts with Anthy and that she might have even created Ohtori and the duels.