This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
#1 | Back to Top01-05-2010 08:03:33 PM
- Alexa
- Anthy Assailer
- Registered: 12-13-2006
- Posts: 74
Akio as a witch.
I was thinking about how Akio's appearance changes once he's "fallen" from his role as Dios, and how some of his physical appearance takes on some "Anthy-like" qualities (his red shirt with the arm-bands and his light purple hair). I'd like to hear what people think about this*:
I think these design changes might be intended to link his Akio persona with the role of the witch. Remember, the dress-and-bracelets combo is only worn by Anthy when she’s most clearly playing role of “the witch”. One might even say it’s the witch’s costume.
If Anthy is a witch, Akio is equally deserving of the title: he uses magic and illusions, manipulates people, and generally causes pain (or at least discomfort) for his own ends and enjoyment. But since he is male, he escapes the label (even though he’s certainly no longer a prince). Even so, I think that SKU is careful to show that the archetypes the story is built on cannot give us a complete picture of the world. Akio is never called a witch, but perhaps he should be.
* I searched through some of the older threads and I wasn't able to find anything about this specifically. But if I'm just repeating what someone else has already said, I apologize, and feel free to delete.
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#2 | Back to Top01-05-2010 10:44:31 PM
Re: Akio as a witch.
Girls can't be princes and boys can't be witches. Heheheheh, neeeat! I like the symmetry, and if Ikuni had thought of it I bet he would have put it in the show. But Anthy gets called a witch, not because of her magical powers, manipulation, or evildoing, but because she sealed Dios away from the world. That's the event that defines the archetype of the witch as far as SKU is concerned. Akio doesn't do that, or at least not in the same way Anthy does. He's contemptible for quite different reasons. Possibly you could say he finds his own way of being a witch, in the same way Utena finds her own way of being a prince? Except that would imply some kind of growth arc or accomplishment for Akio, when all he did was sink into depravity. Honestly, I think calling him a witch is giving him too much credit. 
Besides, we already have a label for Akio: Ends of the World. It suits him.
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#3 | Back to Top01-06-2010 12:03:14 AM
- Alexa
- Anthy Assailer
- Registered: 12-13-2006
- Posts: 74
Re: Akio as a witch.
satyreyes wrote:
But Anthy gets called a witch, not because of her magical powers, manipulation, or evildoing, but because she sealed Dios away from the world. That's the event that defines the archetype of the witch as far as SKU is concerned.
I do think that’s when the world began regarding her as a witch. But are we sure that she wasn’t a witch before this happened? In episode 34’s shadow play, were told that “women who can't be princesses have no choice but to become witches,” and we know that Anthy couldn’t be a princess because she was Dios’ sister. And she was certainly Dios’ sister before she sealed him away. Maybe Anthy was always a witch, or maybe she chose to become a witch. Or maybe she was never a witch, and this was just a label that was forced on her by an angry mob looking for someone to blame. I don’t know that it’s entirely clear.
Personally? I’m not sure she made a conscious decision to become a witch, but once people started saying she was one, she accepted it as true.
Akio doesn't do that, or at least not in the same way Anthy does. He's contemptible for quite different reasons. Possibly you could say he finds his own way of being a witch, in the same way Utena finds her own way of being a prince?
I think that’s probably a better way of describing what I meant. I think that, in terms of SKU, “witch” (as well as “prince” and “princess”) are meant to be extremely simplistic labels that only show us one dogmatic view of the truth. So no, Akio wouldn’t be a “witch” by Ohtori’s very cut-and-dried standards, but I think SKU ultimately implies that those standards are limiting and shortsighted.
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