I don't know what happens to Utena, and I think that's the point.  Maybe she dies; we sure do see a lot of swords plunging at her, don't we?  Maybe she ascends to a higher plane of existence, though I'm not sure where we'd get that idea from.  And maybe she survives somewhere outside Ohtori; that seems to be Anthy's opinion, and Anthy presumably knows more about the metaphysics of the situation than we do.  I prefer to think that Anthy's right, because giving Utena a "Bad End" doesn't seem in the (subjective) spirit of the show.  That said, I think it's still a good story if Utena's dead or if Utena and Anthy never find each other.  I think the show very intentionally ends on a question, so as to make the point that Anthy's decision to leave was brave and strong whether or not Utena is out there.  It would have been trivial for Ikuni to put in a Harry Potter epilogue that showed how everything worked out in the end, but he didn't.  That was on purpose.

I hope Utena's alive, but she's certainly alive in Anthy.



[[Additionally, hooray for my first post ever using GIMP!  Amateurish though this is -- thank you, Leni!]]

maybe death is too harsh of a word for other fans to hear..

would "utena reincarnates" work better for some than "utena dies"?  (that's what came to mind reading this topic yesterday)

I don't think the popular opinion is that she ascends to a higher plane of existence. I think it's that she just lives in the outside world.

However, I like to think that she is in the real world as a goddess right now and will slowly make it a better place as well once she reunites with Anthy. Utena's special because she is the  first and only person to break the cycle at Ohtori.  (Some people like to think Ruka might have too, but I don't because there's no indication that things improved during his absence.) It's only fit that such a revolutionary person evolved to me.

allegoriest wrote:

Okay.
Popular opinion states that Utena 'ascends to a higher plane of existence.'

Never heard that one before. The Ōtori academy represents childhood/youth as a state of mind. When Utena lost Anthy and said "I guess that in the end I couldn't be the prince" she left her childish dreams behind and became an adult. Therefore she left the school (well, Nanami also left the academy in the curry episode but that was just a filler and a short journey). The swords in the last episode represent hatred and revulsion and can't physically kill Utena.

I see it as simple as Utena dies to Ohtori and to a world of illusions and "changes address" to the real world.  I kind of saw her as "dead" in that sense, but I don't at all believe that Anthy could/would never find Utena, meaning actually meet up with her in the physical sense.

If this were a realistic cartoon I'd think she died too...

But seeing that the creators of this anime couldn't lay off the drugs even during the last episode, I'm under the impression that everything happened inside Himemiya's mind and Utenasama could be back if she wanted. She's a witch after all.

At the end what matters is what you want to believe is canon. Much like their relationship, you know, Sapphic romance or Best Friends Forever... in less than 20 episodes.

Its your choice.

Last edited by Absolute Apocalypse (12-22-2010 03:30:59 AM)

It does not matter if Utena is alive or not. Utena's story was about her journey to become or find her prince. She did both, her story is ended. On the other hand, Anthy's has just begun. The fact that Anthy searches for her in "the real world", I think, is enough. Just as the search for the holy grail is not entirely about it/her, but the quest in itself.

"It is the question that drives us."

So be driven.

It always seemed to me that the world of Ohtori was a bit separated from the rest of the world. I read somewhere that the city around the academy was basically built around the academy, like the academy was a crown jewel or something. If that's so, then it would seem that Ohtori's a bit more than just a city or a school; it's a whole other world or plane of existence separate from reality. (This has also led me to believe that it's something like an underworld or a metaphysical limbo, seeing as how no one physically ages during the series, despite a birthday, maybe.)

With this said, if Utena really did ascend to a "higher plane of existence", it could mean that she moved on to the real world to live a true life outside of Ohtori, and Anthy followed upon breaking free of her ties to Akio (Think "Breaking Free" from High School Musical. *sorry*). (Expand upon that however you wish, since I'm too lazy to do so right now.)

However, thinking back to when she lost her parents, it's also quite possible, in some weird sense, that she "died" of a broken heart then, was met by her "prince" (which could've been a weird form of the Grim Reaper, or a Guardian Angel), which drove her to enter Ohtori (limbo) to find that prince. Now, if I remember correctly, a translation for the name Akio was from the Japanese name for Venus, which through its other name "The Morning Star" is tied to Lucifer, who, if one thinks in Christianity terms, is also known as the devil. (This, maybe then, can be seen as Akio trying to send Utena to hell for the sake of World Revolution, which can be in some way an attempt to take over the middle between Heaven and Hell.)

Now, Anthy can be seen as either a fallen angel or a captured/possessed soul, and with Utena seeing that, she fought to protect Anthy from Akio and anyone else who tried to get in their way. In the last episode, the swords could've been seen as Akio's attempt to keep Anthy in Hell, and Utena's breaking of Anthy's "coffin" could have been the way that saved Anthy from Hell, to truly protect her from what held her back, and the swords getting Utena could be Akio's final attempt to defeat Utena, who at this point may have taken on a more "god-like" aspect to Anthy (with Dios being a type of guardian angel to Utena, and his name meaning "God" in Spanish, and him having helped Utena on numerous occasions). But when the swords got Utena, Anthy must've seen Utena move on to the "higher plane of existence", which, if you follow what I just continued on, would maybe mean Heaven, so her leaving of Ohtori may have meant that Anthy is also going to Heaven to be with Utena. (And the Ending picture of them holding hands could be a sign that they found each other in the end.)

(MY GOD, I haven't written that much since the CT Connections page on DCJ. XD)

Last edited by Saito Hoshikawa (12-28-2010 04:30:50 PM)