Xu Yuan wrote:

Also I Love the whole of the Bento Box, and her paper thin hand bag, very observant of you.

And just think, the octopus, her rubber gloves, the snake, the snail, and the snail tongs all fit in there too!

I luckily happened to begin my rewatch right when you began yours! Do you mind contributions? I came up with a couple of questions to put to the forums as I watched, if you're ok with that.

Being a noob who has not yet read the entire back-catalog of analysis (although not for lack of trying) just let me know if these have been covered before.

My first question was this:

Miki:  She...
Miki:  I mean, Himemiya-san...
Miki:  looks a little like someone I know.
Miki:  That's all.

This is excerpted from the scripts on Empty Movement, however I'm pretty sure in my subs it says that Himemiya reminds him of someone, rather than looking like someone. I know nothing about Japanese so I'm not sure which is a more accurate translation, but the idea of him being reminded of someone really made me think.

I've always seen Miki's affection for Anthy as a displacement for his repressed feelings for Kozue--he picked a girl he thought was the most unlike Kozue, the most innocent, most submissive,  most unlikely to hurt him. So in this scene I can only assume he means that Anthy reminds him of Kozue, and I am forced to ask why? Any physical resemblance makes no sense whatsoever, and any personality-resemblance between the two is never revealed to Miki (he sees Anthy's performance, not her true self).

So why would he be reminded of Kozue? Or am I just reading everything all wrong?

lazypirates wrote:

Miki:  She...
Miki:  I mean, Himemiya-san...
Miki:  looks a little like someone I know.

This is excerpted from the scripts on Empty Movement, however I'm pretty sure in my subs it says that Himemiya reminds him of someone, rather than looking like someone. I know nothing about Japanese so I'm not sure which is a more accurate translation, but the idea of him being reminded of someone really made me think.

The Japanese is 彼女は...姫宮さんは、僕の知っている子に少し似ているんです。 The verb in question is 似る, and it can be used for any similarities, not just physical ones. I think your impression is correct. Since Anthy rather explicitly does not look like anybody else that Miki knows, "she reminds me a little of someone I know" or "she's kind of similar to someone I know" would probably be better translations.

Last edited by Dallbun (10-24-2009 09:16:49 PM)

Episode 5

The morning after, and we begin with a duel.

The sound of squeaking shoes across a lacquered hard-wood floor greets us as our two Duelists position and jostle. Unbeknownest to them, they are being watched by the hoi polloi. This is very common at Ohtori Academy. Utena plays basketball against the boy's team, and she has an army of young girls there to support her. Touga leans against a wall near the Garden, and girls flock to him. The Captain of the Fencing Team is facing down her greatest student, and he is giving her a run for her money. These two girls are witness to the only defeat Juri will ever suffer at Miki's hands. As he scores the winning hit, the girls run from the fencing hall, aware that they have witnessed something extraordinary.

Something that glows, that shines.

Miki is a new boy. He is on the cusp of leaving Sailor Mercury behind and venturing into unknown territory. Juri tells him that his power is a result of his purity. His strength comes not from his technique, but from earnesty and will. Earnesty alone is not enough. Juri already understands this, and she tells him that he is not meant for a true duel.

He isn't listening. He glows. Anthy waters the roses, and he is there with the golden pitcher to assist her. She makes him glow, she who has the gentle fingers and poet's soul. This Garden has replaced the one of a few tender years ago. He is home.

Utena steps in for a moment. She knows what Miki is feeling, even if she doesn't feel it herself. She wants to save Anthy, and for that, Anthy has to have friends. If Anthy has a boyfriend, that's healthy for her, isn't it? Someone that doesn't beat her like a pillow. She leaves the two of them be, hopeful.

Anthy plays Miki's music for them all. It's a famous composition; even Utena has heard it prior to Anthy playing it the previous night. Miki explains that his twin sister composed it with him when they were younger. Miki is remorseful; at that age he was seeking attention and recognition of his gifts. The concert was his idea, and he had not fallen ill, their life would be different. He would have never lost the glow. Utena is jealous; she's never known what it was like to have a sibling.

Miki says that all of his happiness rested in that garden where he and his sister played. This line speaks volumes about who Miki is and how he defines happiness. In the book Twins written by Bari Wood and Jack Geasland, a grandfather warns his children to separate his twin grandsons as soon as possible, that the more dependent they are upon each other in youth, the more they will be unable to function in life.

Kozue and Miki were separated early, and Miki is trying to reclaim what was taken from him. He does not feel complete; he is one-half of a duality looking for something to fill the emptiness. It does not have to be his sister. Just someone to fill that void. Perhaps he feels this will return him to the innocence of a few years gone by, before the troubling thoughts of adolescence manifested. His happiness rested in the garden of his childhood. Happiness is uncomplicated and simple.

The horrific period between childhood and adulthood is anything but.

Anthy watches the metronome as though it is the most fascinating thing the world.

Utena smiles wryly. She knows a crush when she sees one, and teases them both. Miki is unable to give her a response. Anthy, however, is having none of it. She has a part to play and she plays it perfectly.

Utena:  Is that supposed to be a confession of love, then?
Utena:  How about it, Himemiya?
Utena:  Do you like younger boys?
Anthy:  Well, I am your bride, Utena-sama.
Utena:  Hey, Himemiya. Would you stop saying "I am your bride, Utena-sama" all the time?
Anthy:  But still, I am engaged to you, Utena-sama.

This is fascinating conversation, one that becomes absolutely vital a few scenes later. For now, however, Miki hears only that the duels are threatening Anthy's music. This cannot be allowed to occur.

He calls Touga and Juri to a meeting. Saionji cannot be bothered to attend. He is in mourning for his own particular glow. Miki is where Saionji was doubtlessly only a few weeks before.

Miki makes his motion: the Council should be dissolved and the Duels stopped immediately. It's killing Himemiya, and he cannot abide this.

Juri is disappointed, but she masks it with amusement. Her student is in love and it is adorable to see him try to move mountains for that love. One truth stands out to her more than any another, however. He fell prey to Anthy. The Rose Bride first got her hooks into Saionji, and Miki fell just as easily. Perhaps it was even easier.

Touga is nearing the end of adolescence. He has been through the stage Miki is currently at, and recognizes the fallacy of Miki's perspective. He also has a part to play, like Anthy, and he knows exactly how to put it in motion.

Miki is unmoved. Take the path they are on to its logical conclusion: if they smash the world's shell, are they ruining something that the people who live within it care about?

Juri and Touga have moved past this ethical dilemma. Change never comes easily. The shell must be shattered for the young bird to fly. Both of them do not want to remain in the egg.

Time passes, and Miki returns to the music room. Kozue greets him as she stumbles out of the door. Kozue, Miki's age, has already crossed one of the fences of childhood and is understanding of her sexuality. Miki is not yet there, and he he pushes past her. Touga waits for him.

Miki has no words. But Touga has plenty of them. The delicate things in life are spoiled by those who would claim them as their own. If you would not see that happen, you must protect that which you desire. Only the One Engaged can do as he pleases with the Rose Bride.

Miki repeats these words, just as he did when Saionji was the One Engaged.

What is it that you would do with the Rose Bride, Miki?

Touga leaves, and Anthy begins playing for Miki once more. The sound takes the pain away again, and restores hope once more. Juri's disappointment and Touga's seduction of his sister vanish under the piano's dulcet tones.

Anthy has been playing the piano since before she can remember, it was that long ago. A rare admission of truth that fits her needs. The world was a very, very different place when she learned to play the piano.

Miki hopes that she will play for him again. Anthy is firm on the matter: only if Utena allows her. Miki chuckles. So if Utena forbid her from playing, would she stop? Anthy smiles gleefully and plays her part, answering as though it is the most natural situation in the world. Of course she would. Utena can do what she pleases with Anthy.

Now, let's recall the conversation of a few scenes ago.

Anthy:  Well, I am your bride, Utena-sama.
Utena:  Hey, Himemiya. Would you stop saying "I am your bride, Utena-sama" all the time?
Anthy:  But still, I am engaged to you, Utena-sama.

Anthy routinely disobeys the One Engaged. Utena has asked for the "sama" act to end on several occasions, and Anthy continues to do so regardless. Miki was present for the last time this took place, and the connection does not click in his head. We are meant to believe that she is so trapped in her role that she cannot leave it, that for whatever reason, she has been conditioned to believe that she is the Rose Bride and she must obey.

If Anthy truly believed that, she would honor the request of the One Engaged and call her Utena-san or perhaps even Utena-chan. Anthy will not do this. And Miki does not catch on. He falls for the act, as Anthy knew he would. As Touga knew he would. As Juri feared he would.

Wakaba and Utena are speaking of the upcoming make up test. Math seems so long ago. We have been in the world of that which glows for so long. Miki hands Utena a rose. Another broken promise, another shattered vow.

ZUM ZUM ZUM. The second transformation scene is upon us.

We are back to the beginning. Utena and Miki have wind in their hair. All is quiet in the Arena of Duels, this place where promises are routinely made and broken.

Juri watches from afar. Her student is not ready for this, and she knows it. She warned him two days ago, but is here to see how it plays out. Maybe, just maybe, if he keeps his focus...

But even if he won, would that really be good for him?

Utena fights Miki left-handed, and she matches him strike for strike. With her off hand, she is able to match Miki. Perhaps she is overconfident. He is, after all, just a boy crushing on Himemiya doing this for the wrong reasons. She is older than him, and she took down the One Engaged with the hilt of a shinai.

He is impressed and expected this; she has beaten Saionji twice after all. He prods for the opening, and cannot find it. Her defensive skills are sound.

Utena recognizes that Miki will probably outlast him if she remains on the defensive, however. Fencing endurance is something she does not have just yet. She is breathing hard and he is not. She charges.

Miki prepares to meet her. Anthy is counting on him. Anthy needs him. Anthy wants to be free, and he can free her.

Anthy:  Well, I am your bride, Utena-sama.
Utena:  Hey, Himemiya. Would you stop saying "I am your bride, Utena-sama" all the time?
Anthy:  But still, I am engaged to you, Utena-sama.

Anthy shouts encouragement to her faux-champion, and Miki's heart breaks. Utena takes the rose mercilessly, not even needing Dios's assistance to vanquish this unworthy adversary.

The petals scatter. The mirror shatters. Hope is lost. The pain and the emptiness return.

The glow is dark.

Anthy spares a moment to thank Miki. It's horrifying how she can be honest and earnest and truthful, thanking him for thinking of her and desiring to protect her; yet, at the same time pushing the barbs further under his skin.

Thank you for thinking of me. You have no idea what it means for someone like you to care about someone like me. It is touching, and I want you to know this. And though I like you, and genuinely enjoy your company,  I will ruthlessly use this against you later...

Kozue does her best to bang out the notes of Miki's music. The awful truth is that she could never play. It was always Miki, and he never understood that and refuses to believe it. And his misunderstanding of this truth took him from her.

He is her twin; he completes her and fills her void. She longs for him as much as he longs for her, but knows of no way to bridge the gap...

Last edited by Ashnod (10-29-2009 12:42:27 PM)

Episode 6

I've been putting this off because honestly, I hate this episode. I know there are fans of it who think highly of some of the more absurd moments, but I simply can't. It hurts me to even consider this part of the Utena canon.

Which is a real shame because I really like the character of Tsuwabuki Misturu to a point, and this is his introduction to us. However, I am quite firm of the opinion that if this was the first episode of SKU shown to someone, you'd never get a second episode past them. We've had five episodes of mystery, intrigue, and torment and suddenly we're introduced to something that just makes no sense whatsoever taken in the context of how it is presented.

Nanami is walking home. Along the street. In a tunnel. She gets the feeling that she is being watched, panics, runs, and nearly gets hit by a car. The driver, terrified, asks Nanami if she is okay. Nanami isn't paying attention to her. Her pursuer is visible in the shadows.

The next morning, she pleads her case to Miki and Touga, explaining this is but one of several terrifying events in her life of late. Next thing we know, she is literally on the lunch table, on her knees, begging Touga to help her.

Nanami always refers to Touga with the "sama" honorific. Touga always referrs to Nanami without any honorific. Nanami tries to impress Touga with her high regard for him. Touga dismisses her with the familiarity normally reserved for family.

He tells her that she has been reading too many murder-mysteries, and that her imagination has gotten the better of her. He leaves, and Miki tries to sympathize with Nanami. Sibling relationships are complex, but Nanami is having none of it. Miki's problems with Kozue are nothing like the relationship she has with her brother, at least in Nanami's opinion. The Kiryuu siblings are above the things that plague the Kaoru sibilings.

Miki asks if she has made enemies, but Keiko answers that for us. Nanami never lets her own hands get dirty. She must not have let them in on Operation: Humiliate Himemiya Anthy parts 2-4. Nanami even caught Mr. Snake herself, instead of having one of the triplets do it for her.

Utena's baseball overshoots its target and pegs Nanami square in the head. Nanami obviously suspects Utena, since Utena obviously is chasing Touga. Utena scoffs at that she would chase anybody, least of all the campus playboy.

This is beyond Nanami's comprehension of her brother. Girls chase Touga, not vice-versa. Even in her mind, her wrongly assumed notion that Touga was chasing Anthy puts Anthy in the position of being a trophy to be won or a challenge to be conquered. Touga's heart is off-limits.

At the rose garden, Touga and Anthy are conveniently talking in the utmost contrived fashion about killing a bug in dialogue no human beings would use to discuss an insect. "Kill her once and for all?" Seriously? "Even if everyone hates her, a life is still a life.." UGH...

Nanami freaks out and assumes she is the target of the intended death conversation. Even Utena is taken in by it, and storms in to voice her self-righteous assumption. Anthy reveals the can of insect killer that we knew was there the whole time. All this fuss over killing a tick. Not a ladybug, or a butterfly, but a tick.

Ashnod hits her head on the table part B happens here: a runaway horse somehow makes its way to where Nanami is having her little breakdown. Instead of finding cover, she stands there, unable to move. A handsome, dashing stranger comes to her aid.

Up until this point, the events of this episode are reasonable enough. The tick conversation is a bit...forced, and the runaway horse doesn't seem worthy of banging heads on table just yet. But now is when the episode ceases to make any degree of sense.

Utena and Miki track down Nanami's prince by following her. It is an elementary student. Say that again, an elementary student. The tall silhouette in the tunnel at the beginning? That was a deception on the part of the animators. We're not talking about a shadow as in an elongated absence of light. We saw the outline of Nanami's stalker, and this child was not it. The deep voiced upper classman who saved Nanami from the horse? Also a lie on the part of the animators and the director.

Now, MAYBE we are supposed to envision these lies as Nanami's perception of the events, that her imagination blew all of this out of proportion somehow...but if we were close enough to see the cut of the jacket of the guy chasing her in the tunnel, you'd think she'd have noticed he was HALF HER HEIGHT.

Nanami asks the child to be her boyfriend. Utena and Miki have the infamous parsley conversation, where MIki kindly explains that Nanami sees Touga as all the other girls at Ohtori do; so she's incapable of moving past the idea that she isn't his little princess, being blood relations and all.

There is more Anthy in Nanami than Nanami would ever permit herself to know. Anthy already knows this, and that's why she will torment Nanami far more than she ever will Saionji.

What follows is series of ludicrous scenes meant to demonstrate how loyal Mitsuru is to Nanami, and how Nanami uses him and treats him like Miki's aforementioned parsley. I'm not going to bother going into the how and what of it, except to say that the idea of that a grade school student is hiding between the legs of a middle school student providing her with cribsheets, completely unseen by any of the honorable students of the class or the teacher, is a symbolism I don't really want to investigate. Boom chicka bow-wow, Nanami is already a cougar and she's in seventh grade.

We'll just say she uses him and he enjoys it, and move on.

Utena and Miki, who are obviously really close now despite that whole bit about gardens and the glow and preserving Anthy's music even if he had to hurt her, debate on the morality of this whole affair. Saionji decides to quote The Offspring for us:

Now I know I'm being used but that's okay because I like the abuse...
Now I know I should say no but it's kind of hard when she's ready to go...
Well, I guess I should stand up for myself but I really think it's better this way
The more you suffer, the more it shows you really care.

It's very profound and very true, and it's very honest of him to fess up to this.

Utena isn't moved.

Nanami's middle school fan club are incensed that she spurned them for a child, and she orders Mitsuru to handle them. Which, by going Super Saiyan, he does. Mitsuru is in the 4th grade, and he successfully beats up three 7th grade boys. Which we are meant to take symbolically as a demonstration of his devotion to the philosophy Saionji shared with us, but it comes off as...dumb.

Nanami congratulates Mitsuru. It's so sad. He wants to be a part of her life so badly that he will endure this horrific situations and ridiculous tasks. Utena has had enough. Miki tries to explain the tick situation, and for the record, can we say that was symbolism in itself? I mean, we are going to have an episode coming up called Vermin which is all about troublesome insects, and isn't that what Nanami essentially becomes to Touga during her Akio episodes? And Anthy and Touga were talking about killing off an insect...

Specifically a tick. A parasite. Something that subsists of the life blood of others. A vampire that gets under your skin and is notoriously troublesome to remove.

Oh, I get it...MESSAGE!

Nanami blows them both off and leaves, and they fume. Mitsuru says that it's alright, he wants to be treated like dirt. This was his plan after all.

Ashnod hits her head on the table part A happens here: some time in the past, yet another run away animal caught a younger Nanami in the same corridor, where a young Mitsuru happened to be playing in the sandbox. Super Saiyan Touga, Mitsuru's whole inspiration, showed up in time to stop the rampaging bull dead in its tracks.

But since her attention spans seems to be waning, Mitsuru decides it's time to be a stalker again and remind her that he's important. This is some really, really devious and dark stuff from a 4th grader. Suddenly, Mitsuru is put into an entirely unflattering light.

However, the absurdity kicks into high gear here. We can debate the symbolism of it all we want, about how word eventually gets back to Nanami and she will announce it to the school, etc. But what we see is Nanami overhearing this on audio equipment, which is suddenly RIGHT NEXT to them all, and suddenly being broadcast to the entire school, and then

Ashnod hits her head on the table part C happens here: yet ANOTHER runaway animal. Roger from Tekken makes a cameo.

UGH.

Just UGH.

A ton of really dumb stuff happens, including mysterious boxing gloves that appear out of nowhere, a boxing rope that Touga leaps over and then is gone, but the crux of it all is that Super Saiyan Touga unleashes his special new fighting technique that KO's Roger the frakking Kangaroo in one blow. This is a string of events one right after another that is so out there and bizarre and unlike the previous five episodes, that it's hard to reconcile this episode as part of it all. And yet, in some ways, this will become the genesis for everything symbolic in the show later.

Mysteriously appearing Victor's uniform at the school dance, you are forgiven.

Then we reach, in the words of Jeremy from Toastyfrog.com, Thundercats level of hilarious denouement. Mitsuru and Nanami break up, Mitsuru resolves to be the Little Kiryuu that Could, Anthy comes clean on the tick killing bit, Nanami professes her undying incestuous love for Touga once more, and Utena for some inexplicable reason looks at Touga and feels the flutter of her heart.

Last edited by Ashnod (11-11-2009 03:04:48 AM)

For what it's worth, I think the unreliable-narrator stuff in this episode all has to do with whose point of view we're watching from at the time.  Early in the episode, the stalker has a tall silhouette because that's how Nanami imagines her pursuer.  Her rescuer on the Day of the Horse has a manly physique because that's the kind of person Nanami would imagine rescuing her.  Touga leaps over a fictitious boxing rope because he's iconic to both Nanami and Tsuwabuki, and both would see his entrance as dramatic (as we are intended to).  I think this episode has to be understood as lighthearted and slapstick, and although meaningful character development happens we're in even more of a twilight zone than usual when it comes to where literal reality ends and figurative imagery begins.

If memory serves, Anthy's conversation with Touga about the tick doesn't use any gender pronouns in the original Japanese.  Any subtitles saying "we need to kill her" show that the subber is following Ikuni's lead: this is how the paranoid Nanami would hear the conversation, even if what Touga intended was "we need to kill it."

Episode 7

Juri does not know happiness. Rather, she has not known happiness in some time. Even that happiness was shadow, though we don't realize it yet. Once, Juri was Utena, and someone shattered her. The parallels are there lurking in the shadows, and neither of them realize it.

Miracles. They do not exist. Juri has no choice but to give up.

"TSUGI! TSUGI! TSUGI!"

Miki watches in awe. Some part of him is aware that he will never defeat Juri again. She has eliminated, without loss, opponent after opponent. He praises her, but her mind is elsewhere. What does it mean to be a fencing captain, or the most formidable Duelist amongst all of the others.

Nothing. So long as the world's shell remains intact, it means nothing.

Which is not to say that she doesn't enjoy it. Fencing is, above all, her first and strongest love. But it is not enough to fill the void, that which is hollow.

Later that day, Juri and Utena find themselves opposite two members of the faculty. Juri is being praised, Utena is being admonished. Juri has performed admirably, Utena has violated school protocol once more. Juri takes a moment as the Vice Principal steps away to call out to Utena and beg a moment of her time.

Utena's eyes are narrow and threatening. She sees the white tunic, the epauletes. Another challenger has arrived. She explains that now is not a good time.

Juri is undeterred. When the Vice Principal returns, she creates an elaborate fabrication and refuses to expound upon it. The Vice Principal either buys it, or is so dumbfounded at the audacity of it, that he obeys her. I'm not sure which actually happens here.

(The differences in translation between the subs and the CPM release are fascinating. In the CPM version, the teacher and the Vice Principal have a fascinating little argument about eating unagi which does not appear in the fansubs)

Utena is of the mind that a member of the faculty would rather quit than to challenge Juri. Such is her reputation among the school; opposing Juri means certain termination. Juri does not confirm or deny such a rumor. Rumors can be powerful things. Rumors are the tools of people that Juri is not.

One such rumor would have it that Utena is skillful with a sword. It is not a rumor, after all. She has witnessed Utena's skill firsthand. Utena defeated Miki, her most promising pupil. Even ignoring Anthy's distraction, Miki was unable to defeat her in the moments leading up to it, and Utena used her off-hand to do it..

Utena's modest, claiming that she doesn't like swordfighting. Yet, she was quite willing to challenge Saionji to a kendo duel, knowing how skilled Saionji is in that discipline. It's a deception as well; one does not become as skilled as she is without some degree of affection for the discipline unless they have been forced to study it. That is not the case with Utena.

Juri reveals something that Anthy has not told Utena: the winner of the duels shall gain the power of miracles, the power to bring the world a revolution. Utena doesn't catch on to this; wouldn't this be something Anthy was already aware of? Why would she withhold something of that nature, when Utena clearly had questions about this in the beginning. Anthy's answer was simply, "Mysteries." Almost on cue, Anthy appears from the garden, rose in hand.

All Utena cares about is that someone might be making another challenge. She calls the Duels stupid. Juri agrees, but doesn't really explain why. Utena doesn't let her guard down; Miki said something very similar and ending up challenging her regardless.

Anthy appears just as Utena has left. She turns to Juri, offering the flower. Through narrow eyes, Juri provides Slapdown #5. Anthy again remains silent. Does Anthy understand what happened between Shiori and Juri? Is the giving of the rose a deliberate attempt to spark that pain? Even if it is not, Anthy has made her move. This scene appears to be nothing more than yet another beat down on Anthy's behalf, but there is so much more here.

When Juri told Utena that fighting over the Rose Bride was stupid, she meant literally that. Fighting over Himemiya is stupid. The girl sunk her teeth into Saionji and wrecked him. She sunk her teeth into Miki and he followed her around like a lost puppy. Tenjou is utterly under her spell. Juri knows, more so than any of the other Duelists at this point, that Anthy is dangerous. Juri will not make the same mistake. Anthy will not get her teeth in Juri, as well.

The Council meets. Another Duel must take place. Touga says that either Juri or himself should be next. End of the World has not specified which of them must take turn. Miki is shocked. Why on earth should Juri duel? Touga says that Juri wishes to disprove the power of miracles. He chides her, shouldn't she want the miracle power to help with her unrequited love?

This is only partially true. Juri wants desperately to smash the shell of the world. However, the miracle power will not help her romance, and she knows this utterly. Even if it could, it would not be an honest love. Juri doesn't want love to come because of some miraculous tournament.

Touga, meanwhile, throws knives at Miki. Oooh, symbolism...he never quite hits the mark. Dancing around the surface without actually scratching it.

Unfortunately, this scene begins the lunacy that accompanies the Student Council meetings going forward.

Juri remembers the past as she reads a letter from Shiori. "He doesn't say it, but he seems to be thinking of you the most, Juri-san. But I couldn't help but steal him from you, even though I'm no match for you in anything. At least my feeling for him is...you must hate me for being like this."

The flashback shows us Shiori and a boy she assumed Juri was taken with. Rumors are Shiori's tools, her weapons. These are not weapons Juri or Utena will ever bring themselves to use.

Juri attempts to compose a reply. "Thank you for your letter. I'm more than happy to know you're doing fine. As I read each word of your letter, I can't help but realize how the days have passed. Back then, the three of us did everything together. It was really fun. But now, when I look at the two of you, beaming with happiness, I feel nostalgic and envious..."

This is, unfortunately, true. She wants Shiori to be happy. In some way, she is happy to know that Shiori is doing well. But the cost of this happiness is too big a price to pay. It isn't that Juri cannot have Shiori, though that pain is very real. It is that Shiori took the action she did, assuming it would also hurt Juri in the process. The depth of this pain is not yet clear to us, that is still episodes away.

Her reply goes unfinished, and Juri decides to go out for the night. While she is out, Utena happens upon her. Utena cannot help but comment that while Juri normally looks very gallant, at the moment she looks very lady-like.

Juri's eyes go from being curious to narrow and threatening. This is almost a mirror of the earlier situation in hallway. Utena's eyes did the exact same thing, though they did it between shots and not within a single shot. What does the comment about looking ladylike bother Juri? She doesn't comment on this, except with her eyes.

She asks Utena if she always wears her boy uniform. Utena admits that yes, she does, and proceeds to tell Juri the Prince story. No member of the Student Council has heard this from Utena's lips as of yet. Juri listens, curious at first, then slowly angering.

This girl wears a ring and tunic to be closer to someone who comforted her as a child. Because he looked "cool." Because he impressed her. This girl doesn't believe in miracles, but believes in fate. In destiny, even. She is trying to be noble without really understanding what being noble means.

Juri lays her hand upon Utena, this girl who has the optimism she herself once possessed. It's charming, and cute, that Utena acts the way she does. It is also misguided, and Juri will strip her of those illusions.

They struggle, and the challenge is made. The two women stare each other down with angry eyes. The Realist vs. The Optimist.

Elsewhere, Anthy sings to herself. The pieces continue to move.

ZUM! ZUM! ZUM! The transformation scene eats up nearly 2 full minutes of animation, 2 minutes of story we could have had and is lost.

The wind is silent in the Arena today. This duel is observed by no one; no one holds the opera glasses and watches from afar. This is the first duel that is witnessed only by the challenger, the Victor, and the Bride since Utena's entry into the game.

Utena boasts that she will not lose, power of miracles or not, and charges.

Everything Utena tries, Juri has an answer for. Every offensive motion is countered and responded with an immediate reply. Juri plays with Utena, shoving her to the ground.

Utena looks up with fear in her eyes. She has never faced an opponent like this. Even with Saionji, she wasn't this outclassed.

Anthy watches, almost a bystander. This fight has absolutely nothing to do with her, unlike the previous three duels.

Utena has nothing to offer in the way of opposition. Dios comes to her aid, infusing her with speed. She leaps with miraculous speed.

With reflexes just as miraculous, if not more, Juri's blade catches the Sword of Dios. It does not shatter, as Saionji's did. She twists hard and upward, and Utena is disarmed and prone.

The fight is over. The Realist stares at the Optimist. All that remains is the final cut. Utena stares Juri down. This isn't over. Unlike before, she's ready to duel again. She will challenge again, she will win back Himemiya. But a glint of light catches her eye, and she looks skyward.

The Sword of Dios should have hit the ground many seconds ago. Juri has already forgotten about it. And yet, there it is, impossibly, plummeting downward, taking her rose at an impossible angle. The center of Juri's rose is towards Utena, and yet, the Sword skewers it as though was centered from above. The Sword of Dios impales itself into the stone of the Arena floor, the rose sliding down it.

Juri has no words. Not a miracle. Just a coincidence. But she is a realist, and she knows better. No sword could remain airborn so long. No disarmed weapon will come straight down. Something interceded on her opponent's behalf. Dios? The Bride? It doesn't matter. Her precious seconds of pride cost her the match, allowing either of them to fix the outcome.

Anthy looks on passively. She knows the truth, but will never reveal it. She tells Juri that she hopes Juri's wish will one day come true. Perhaps this is some small comfort she feels obligated to offer in the wake of stealing victory away from the challenger. But it's not genuine, and Juri knows it.

Later, Touga asks if she believes it was just a coincidence. Juri won't comment. Miracles do not exist, but the miracle power does. She destroyed the One Engaged, but wasn't counting on having to face more than one opponent.

This is not a mistake she will repeat. The next time, there will be no hesitation. Only her pride cost her this victory, and nothing more. She will not hesitate, she will not delay.

Touga ruins it all by mentioning a secret wish. The locket is suddenly heavy around her neck. Shiori doesn't regret what she has done. Doesn't Juri hate her for this?

She was so close. So close. Next time.

The Realist hopes.

Last edited by Ashnod (11-14-2009 01:22:26 AM)

Razara wrote:

I really well thought out analysis of this episode that I wish I had typed up when I wrote an analysis of the duel song, because now I can't even remember it off the top of my head.

Something important about her meeting with Utena in the hallway... Hmm... I need to rewatch this episode myself...

I'm actually not that happy with mine. I think I entirely missed the point of what I was trying to say now that I've re-read it. Maybe I'll edit it, I dunno.

Ashnod wrote:

Juri is undeterred. When the Vice Principal returns, she creates an elaborate fabrication and refuses to expound upon it. The Vice Principal either buys it, or is so dumbfounded at the audacity of it, that he obeys her. I'm not sure which actually happens here.

I read this as Juri giving him a direct order (without any explanation) and him obeying. I think it's especially cool because of the politeness levels involved: throughout the conversation he has been talking down to her since she is much lower in the administrative hierarchy; then suddenly we find out who is really calling the shots.

I deliberately avoided this episode on my initial re-watch because its importance to the mythology is crucial but yet can be waved away with a simple smokescreen depending on one’s interpretation. Time to tackle it. Even then, I'm skirting the issue for now but will recall it later. As it is, it's almost 5 am and while I should completely re-write this, I'm posting it raw anyway.

Episode 9

Another pretend duel. Miki defeated Juri in such a duel a few days prior, and in the end that victory meant nothing. Juri understood this and tried to dissuade Miki from choosing the path he inevitably took. The smallest victory can seem like the greatest accomplishment, or the most certain starting block.

Touga and Saionji stare at each other, surrounded by Utena and their respective flocks of admirers. Neither moves. It’s strange, but even if you’ve never seen this moment of the series before you still know exactly what will happen. Saionji will become impatient, headstrong. He will move first and telegraph just enough of his intent that Touga will capitalize.

What’s heartbreaking is that one can literally see the defeat in Saionji’s eyes before he makes his move. It’s there, clearly visible in those two violet windows to his soul; he’s resigned himself that this will be yet another in a long string of defeats. It plays out exactly as expected.

Touga is not content to simply win. He can see the pain that Saionji is suffering since the loss of the first two Duels to Utena, be can’t understand it. Touga has never felt loss the way Saionji has. He’s never had to. And yet, all that would be required of him would be a respectful gesture, preferably a silent one, to allow Saionji to save face.

This is step one towards breaking Saionji. And ever predictably, Saionji reacts precisely the way Touga intended.

Utena finds Saionji later staring into the birdcage. Birds are chirping as the scene begins, and we hear nothing else. Literally a birdcage, it seems.

Saionji is defiant, but Utena is having none of it. At this point, having beaten him twice and witnessing a third beating at Touga’s hands, she’s not below mocking Saionji either. For all her princely aspirations, she mocks him as assuredly as Touga does. She is not, as the saying goes, the better man here.  Apparently, in matters of one’s prowess with a sword, a prince is allowed to boast.

Saionji smirks and dismisses her arrogance. He’s fought Touga before, and has defeated Touga before. Just…not today.

He says he wants to touch something eternal. Anthy, apparently, has said the same thing to him. They want to obtain eternity.

Suddenly, we’re looking at the past. Two young boys are sparring. One wins, knocking the shinai from the hands of the other. The victor takes a moment to tenderly wrap the hand of his wounded friend.

At this point, the two of them are already skilled swordsman. Saionji is the only young man who can challenge Touga. They have practiced far beyond what the weather would have permitted. It rains and the two of them share a bicycle and head out. They stop at church; Touga recognizing the sounds of funeral.

Except this isn’t quite a funeral. Not yet. Perhaps more a visitation, or the mourning before the burial. A couple was killed in an accident. Today. Apparently, the logistics of death are fast in Japan; the deceased are already at the church and placed in their respective coffins mere hours after their lives expired.

Their daughter is missing. The boys are queried by adults if they have seen her, and having just arrived, they have not. Touga is suddenly curious and they head down the hill into the church.

Inside are three coffins. Two deaths, and three coffins. What an odd coincidence. We see no signs indicating which of them are occupied, and Touga naturally chooses the one without a corpse on the first try. Saionji begs him not to open it, but Touga is having none of it. The daughter is naturally hiding the coffin that Touga selected. We shall forgive the conceit of the show that the girl somehow managed to close it herself from the inside, despite an older Touga having to exert himself in opening from the outside. 

The girl wants to die; who can possibly go on living when you must one day die? There is so much truth in this statement. From the moment we are born we are told that life is a gift and we must do everything to savor the time we have been given, but that’s a lie and the girl knows it. Why bother savoring it when it must end? Why bother making your mark when you will inevitably be forgotten?

This is something that a much older Saionji fears.

This is also something that a much older Touga and a much older Juri already recognize.

Smash the world’s shell, for the revolution of the world…

It is a cruel joke of our existence that a mind that can conceive of eternity has no means to experience it.

Touga walks away, saying that he’s a gentlemen and respects the girl’s wishes. Saionji protests, but Touga is unmoved. If Saionji wants her out of the coffin, then show her something eternal. Prove that eternity can be touched.

The next day, the boys return to the church. Such a morbid thing to do. What if the girl had perished in her coffin? What feelings might they have had? But that is not what happened, and Saionji is certain that Touga knows the reason why. Touga denies it, of course, but Saionji is unconvinced. Something about his demeanor is odd, as though he’d know the girl would be fine.

The girl looks on from the funeral proper with eyes of iron. The girl that came out of that coffin is not the same girl that went into it.

In the present, Juri shares with Miki and Touga what she has learned of Utena and the girl’s desire to meet her prince. She sees something interesting in Utena’s situation; the girl came to the Academy to meet a Prince she met her in youth. She thinks there is some connection between that, the Duels, Dios, and End of the World. The girl’s Rose Signet was delivered to her in a manner much different than that of the Council.

Surely, this is important?

Touga has no comment. His mind is already processing this data and examining how it can be made advantageous.

He confronts Utena later that day. She is musing on eternity and the castle in the Arena that Saionji believes holds it. Touga says that is where she is meant to meet her prince.

Utena frowns. Someone told Touga. Whom has she revealed that to? Wakaba? Juri? Were there others?

Touga grabs Utena by the waist and purrs something about being like her prince. Somehow, despite this horrifically emasculating and chauvinistic gesture on Touga’s part that is completely un-princelike, Utena falls for it again. Her composure returns a few moments later, but she is visibly shaken.

Elsewhere, Saionji returns to his dorm to find a letter from End of the World. His eyes go wide.

Utena returns home and receives a mysterious phone call on her cool hipster retro dial-pulse analog phone. Ohtori has apparently never gone digital. Anthy is going to be spirited away, and Utena needs to head to the Arena. The caller is of course Touga…

At the Arena, Anthy is pleading with Saionji. She is not allowed to be taken into the Arena by someone unengaged to her unless it is for a Duel. Saionji is hearing none of it. The letter has given him permission to do this. He puts his hand on the locking mechanism.

(Here is where the mythology of the series becomes important. I have written several paragraphs on this that I will bring back at the end of the first Arc. )

Utena arrives to find Saionji unconscious in the pool surrounding the open Rose Gate. He has apparently not been there long, otherwise he would have drowned. Anthy is nowhere to be seen. The two of them race to the top of the stairs to find Anthy in a coffin identical to the one Saionji’s flashback girl hid inside.

There are some fascinating parallels between the young girl and Anthy here. I don’t want to face the world. I’ll stay here in the coffin. It’s safe here. This might be Anthy for real, we just don’t know it yet . At the very least, we’re meant to believe this to be the case.

Some really trippy stuff involving Utena playing a platforming video game with Sailor-Moon sized jumps happens while Saionji stares lovingly at the image of a shattering castle above him.

Utena rescues Anthy and this drives Saionji mad. Again, he has failed to pull the girl from the coffin. Touga beat him to it once, and this girl has beaten him to it now. Eternity again has been stolen. It’s too much for him.

Anthy tells Utena she has no idea what happened, and then she sees Saionji getting ready to swing his katana. Touga literally teleports between them and takes the strike for her, and Utena falls for the orchestrated prince routine again.

Touga’s overly convenient arrangement of the setup is something that I find hard to buy. He could have told Saionji in the letter when to take Anthy into the Arena, but he had no way of knowing when exactly Utena was going to make it back to her dorm. These events have to coincide in close enough proximity that they can intersect. Somehow, Utena gets a phone call almost immediately after returning to her dorm room which implies a heavy amount of espionage on Touga’s part. Either that, or he’s just been calling off and on non-stop hoping she’d pick up. I must confess I find the latter amusing. Regardless, somehow this plot comes together (as it must for the episode to work and I realize that...) and Touga gets inside the Arena unseen and remains hidden throughout the trippy rescue.

It’s also so painfully deliberate that he intentionally wounded himself on Saionji’s blade that I find it difficult to believe Utena would feel so indebted to him. The fact that he was present at all had to be suspicious to her considering the circumstances, and that he managed to appear at the precise moment to intercept Saionji’s strike from the front is so far beyond coincidental as to be painfully transparent. He couldn’t have tackled Saionji? Yelled at him while on a dead sprint to stop? Grabbed Saionji’s hands or arms from behind? (And while we’re at it, dare we comment on how positively absurd it is that Saionji’s overhead strike did nothing more than flesh wound?)

No “why are you here?” No “how did you know to come here?” Perhaps while he sits there bleeding isn’t the best time to ask these questions, but the problem is that she never asks them. Neither, apparently, does Saionji, but since he has always felt that Touga is always one step ahead of him it makes more sense that he’d just sulk away without asking them. We know Touga would dodge the question with some crap line about how “the Prince always knows when a Princess is in danger,” and Utena would melt over him again, but she doesn’t even go that far.

Later, Touga is shown to be in cahoots with End of the World. Something that has been suspected, but now has merit. I will confess this was a heart-shattering moment for me the first time I watched it, realizing that End of the World was simply some dude who Touga had on speed dial and not some greater power. Well…almost…

Last edited by Ashnod (06-14-2011 03:53:38 AM)

satyreyes wrote:

It makes me happy to have this thread to chew on again

A couple things going on here, I think.  Utena's relationship with Touga for most of the first arc, I think, relies on the fact that Utena still hasn't acknowledged that there's a tension between wanting a prince and being a prince.  It is difficult to keep your strength and nobility when you're really still looking for someone to swoop in, wrap you in a rose-scented embrace, and wipe the tears from your face.  All those flashbacks, I think, are meant to highlight this point.  Utena is at Ohtori looking for her prince, perhaps even expecting to find her prince -- so when Touga claims to be her prince, she doesn't ask too many questions. She wants to believe him.  So she handwaves away the inconsistencies.  Princes always appear at just the right moment to save the princess.  They always take the blow for her.  And maybe, as you said towards the beginning, they're allowed to be arrogant and insensitive.  Again, we are early in the series.  Utena will have a much better idea what nobility means in three episodes' time, and an even better idea by the end of the thirty-ninth.

I have a harder time buying this line of thinking. Yes, Utena is still very young and still very naive, but the holes in her prince narrative vs. Touga's narrative should be enough to warn her. Her prince gave her the Rose Signet, but everyone else who has a Rose Signet (Touga included) came to it by very different means. That should be enough there to warn Utena that Touga cannot be the same individual she's looking for. Saying that she overlooks this because she wants Touga to be the prince in question is okay to a point, but she clearly recognizes in Episode 3 that "a playboy like that could not be a prince on a white horse."

The fact that she completely ignores reason in lieu of her own desires is typical of someone her age and it does make her character more true to life, but I still feel the need to call her out on it. The problem for me is that Touga's scheming here is just as transparent as Nanami's, but he is rarely called out on it. (more about that in later episodes)

The other thing -- less profound -- is that Utena is credulous more broadly.  Because she's naturally naive, as a matter of general principle, or both, she doesn't ask a lot of questions.  She doesn't press for details on what the duels are, what revolution is, who Ends of the World might be, or, yes, whether Touga is really her prince.  In the very first episode she judged that "the duels are stupid" [take a drink] and that "Anthy is a normal girl" [take a drink]; Utena likes simple answers.  It takes her until the last arc of the series to begin to grasp subtlety, and it nearly kills her.  This is her biggest flaw, and it's why we love her.

Not me. I've never liked Utena for her naivety. I liked her for her pursuit of nobility and her willingness to be an individual. When someone is acting dumb, they're acting dumb.

Moreover if she hadn't been naive when the series started she would have gone insane living with Anthy.