I second episode 22 and parts you mentioned as being sad.  Many sad moments there though I wouldn't call any of them, from my personal stand point, as being THE saddest (though the grave, the shadow play and how it relates to the character(s), and such are up there). 

For me it was originally ep 37 where everyone hates on Anthy, including Utena, and how it resolves strikes a chord in me.  The end of ep 23 with Mikage is also...just sad.  Scratch that, make the entire episode.  Rukia's ending, too, but it's not that high up there compared to the others.

Though I now feel the last episode does it for me and would rank number one.  The whole part after Utena...well...you know, greets major pain, with the aftermath is really sad to me.  Maybe it's the music, but how things change subtly without overtly changing (as Akio says nothing happened) to Utena being gradually eased from Ohtori's memory, to Anthy clinging to hope beyond reason but to where you believe she will find Utena.  It is all very profound in a very authentic and bitter sweet manner.  The way it was pulled off just stuns me.  What an incredible ending and the best I have seen for any anime, but the best of endings tend to be the saddest, (though when an element of hope remains, it comes off even more emotionally grabbing to me than a cliche ending where everything goes all to shit and hell, I guess.).

Last edited by spoon-san (10-12-2009 04:18:19 PM)

Speaking of the Nanami Akio Arc episodes...just... the entirety of them.  This is a set of episodes that show a girl being cruelly and systematically broken down.  Everything about her is questioned, twisted, and belittled.  Her love for her brother, their relationship, her dream of having a prince, her sense of self-worth, her individuality, even the way she sees the world is thrown back at her face and told is pathetic. 

You have a character whose emotions are usually seen in a comedic manner suddenly radiate with a much more devastating display of feelings.

Her confession to her brother, riding in the elevator after seeing Akio and Anthy together, her tears after losing the duel, and at the very end, Touga's cell phone, representative of Nanami's last desperate attempts to love him and thus herself, abandoned in the seat of Akio's car.

And speaking of the Nemuro episodes, oh god, the shadow play, with Tokiko's straightforward and honest, "but it pains me to see you this way."



Adding to the list:

Wakaba's Black Rose duel, the moment where Utena does not let her touch the ground, which to me means that she is unable to go to sleep and forget all the events surrounding it, and her returning home to an empty door and greeting no one. 

Kozue standing outside of the piano room listening to Miki's music and staring at the sky.

The carousel in the final episode.

Young Utena desperately pleading for End of The World when he still resembles Dios to save Anthy, and him telling her he cannot.

Anthy stabbing Utena, and then kissing her shoulder.



Gonna go have a good cry now, kthnx.

Last edited by OnlyInThisLight (10-12-2009 10:58:08 PM)

minervana: For me, the saddest moment in the anime is when Mari (?) returns to Ohtori to visit Mamiya's grave (Episode 22).

Yep sad.
And that's Chida Tokiko, Mamiya's older sister.

For me it's the HORRIBLE scene between Utena and Anthy in episode 37.

Flash to Utena playing basketball angrily. She's thinking about this happening:
Anthy:  It seems my brother loves you too.
Utena is sitting on the couch staring at the letter from Ends of the World. She keeps staring at it.
Anthy:  Utena-sama,
Flash to angry basketball.
Anthy:  I hope we can be together like this forever.
Utena leaps to her feet and rips the letter into little pieces. Anthy stares at her deadly. The pieces fly everywhere, and Utena's anger is plain to see, although her face remains hidden.
Utena slam dunks the basketball.

Oh my God that scenes gives me physical pain to watch.
The words Anthy picks are...just so cruel, and yet the kindest thing she could say if she wants to protect Utena. Utena's reaction to them is...just so unprincely. Anthy's reaction is...characteristic pain-filled giving up. Utena's reaction is...uncharacteristic pain-filled giving up.

It's the moment that Utena might not have gone on to revolutionize the world.

Other than that, I am incredibly sad through every moment in episode 39, especially at the ending.

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

Wakaba's Black Rose duel, the moment where Utena does not let her touch the ground, which to me means that she is unable to go to sleep and forget all the events surrounding it, and her returning home to an empty door and greeting no one.

Even worse, it's Saionji's sword that takes her rose. Utena never drew the sword of Dios, but instead used Saionji's soul-sword to defeat Wakaba. Horribly, horribly sadly symbolic.

Lady Chani wrote:

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

Wakaba's Black Rose duel, the moment where Utena does not let her touch the ground, which to me means that she is unable to go to sleep and forget all the events surrounding it, and her returning home to an empty door and greeting no one.

Even worse, it's Saionji's sword that takes her rose. Utena never drew the sword of Dios, but instead used Saionji's soul-sword to defeat Wakaba. Horribly, horribly sadly symbolic.

OH GOD I KNOW. 

You know, one of the essay topics that has been floating around in my head for quite some time concerns this, focusing on the parallels between Wakaba and Anthy based on how Utena reacts to each, and what that says about what Utena believes the Power of Dios really is, or is for, with references to Touga's Student Council Arc Duel.   Wakaba's duel is just so shockingly different from the other black rose duels, in tone and consequences and character interactions. 

hollow_rose wrote:

...I find the end sort of sad, when Anthy leaves Akio there, simply because he has no clue about...well...anything.

HOLY CRAP. How does anyone beat me to my semi-comedic Akio answer?



LOOKIT HIM. He looks so confused and helpless. Like a kitten.

He looks lost because he doesn't know how to use Vista.

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

He looks lost because he doesn't know how to use Vista.

Giovanna wrote:

OnlyInThisLight wrote:

He looks lost because he doesn't know how to use Vista.

http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q60/ … r-Akio.jpg

I....want to see someone make a facebook page for Akio.

DO NOW.

/threadjack

The kitten.

Another sad moment for me is when you see Saionji and Wakaba laughing and smiling together. Even the first time I saw it I knew it couldn't last, and it's one of the few times in the series you see two characters who are genuinely happy.

I have to agree with people who said Ep. 39 was devastating. For me the worst part of that episode was that Utena thought she'd failed, and that she deserved that punishment. It's ambiguous if she was really pierced by the swords of hate, that's another thread entirely, but her sense of failure was very heartbreaking. Beats a shiny, happy ending though.