Agreed, and I'm pleased it was helpful to you.

dlaire wrote:

Maybe I missed someone's post that says that, but I think that there are no princes in Utena Mokushiroku.To me, the castle is destroyed because the fairytale illusion dies and Utena and Anthy become two independent individuals. Utena doesn't save Anthy, but she inspires her to save herself. Anthy faces all her temptations while trying to leave Ohtori and she manages to do that because she destroys her idea of princehood.
And I think that becoming autonomous and rethinking your childhood fairytales is actually adolescence. That's why they cast their petals at the end of the show - the time of flowers ended so fruits could appear.

Perfectly fine interpretation. You're actually agreeing on a lot of points. I'd certainly concur that what Anthy realizes she wants at the very end isn't a prince, just Utena, the real human being in front of her. However, the question of whether Utena "saved" Anthy is one of semantics. Even if you wanted to say that her influence over Anthy ended at "inspiring" her...well, if that's what got her out of the situation, then it is still "saving" her.

What I'm proposing though, is a more proactive series of movements, by both of them. Utena DID "save" Anthy, directly, in a number of ways. And Anthy did the very same for Utena. I don't mean it only in the sense of "one made the other save themself". That's a concept that gets thrown around a lot when people discuss Utena, and my sense is that people gravitate toward that outcome because they perceive it as "better", more fulfilling to their sense of the characters' taking charge of their own destiny, rather than more directly owing their improved situations to someone else. People dislike that idea because it falls back into the active/passive binary, where one person is acted on and the other merely receives.

But that's not the case here. They were both very active in helping each other. There's no question that Anthy was mired in her closed fairy-tale world, hunting for a prince, stuck. There's no question that Utena was badly emotionally wounded, still suffering from the "betrayal" of Touga dying. And the one who saved each of them from those situations was the other. Not simply in an inspirational sense, but also in a real sense. They are each other's savior.

I always find myself reposting this, because it really is my most earnest thoughts and feelings on the matter:

In the end Utena and Anthy have succeeded in escaping, body and spirit, from everything that constrained them. Just as the song says, they have "stripped down to nothing at all, become like a rose petal blowing free!" They recline side by side, bare and magnificent, on a most unusual traveling conveyance, gazing blissfully into each other's eyes as they reflect both on the past and on their journey towards the future. As they continue to speed along, Anthy catches Utena's hand in both of hers. It is by no means a safe or certain journey, but they are together. They are in fact, very very close together...

...and then it happens. Anthy's eyelids flutter, and she moves forward tentatively. Utena responds, smiling, and turns her face nearer. Anthy presses ahead, now urgently, and Utena meets her...their lips touch, and their kiss deepens...and deepens...and deepens...

That's our last sight of them: embracing nude, bodies entwined, locked in a kiss that immortalizes their triumph, their joy, and their love. Their two glorious manes of windblown hair, purple and pink, coil together as one stream just for an instant before whipping out of sight. As they disappear from our view, a flurry of rose petals obscures everything, and then nothing is left but a radiant blue sky...

Nothing can equal that. Every time I watch it, every time I even think of it, I am humbled by the power of the movie's finale. As deeply affecting as the climax of the series was, to me the movie is even more fulfilling. This time, Utena and Anthy are together as they depart from Ohtori, and the greatest part of it is that they both made it possible in equal measure.

Like one of her roses, Anthy made Utena bloom. Through teasing invitation and earnest intimacy, she healed Utena's emotional wounds and gave her the chance to become the person she truly wanted to be. In becoming that person, Utena showed Anthy that to be alive means to grow and look ahead, even if it is sometimes scary.

They freed each other, they saved each other, and so many messages are interwoven with their personal happy ending: believing in hope, bettering yourself, holding onto your ideals, facing your fears, finding comfort in sharing your vulnerabilities with another, freeing yourself from past tragedy, allowing yourself to love and be loved, and onward...and onward, in endless permutations, every one of them an exultation of optimism and idealism.

Yet in the midst of that exultation is the same admonition that the series carried, and if you think these things sound naive or maudlin or trite, then here as there, the joke's on you. That may be what I love about Utena most of all. It is an unmerciful indictment against "adult" cynicism and indifference. Not only is it unshakably idealistic, but it impeaches those who refuse to accept that message of idealism. There are so many wrecked cars on the side of that road...

Last edited by Aelanie (07-09-2014 04:41:11 AM)