I think e is most likely.  It seems like the fact that we're shown Utena's fangirls squeeing over her is meant to establish to the audience that Utena is popular and has friends.  Same with the shots of her having tea with Miki and Juri. Besides that, it looks like she plays a lot of sports -  I'm sure she's friends with some of her teammates at the very least.  It's just not important to show her hanging out with random people, so they don't.

Utena is naturally friendly and approachable, so I find it hard to believe she didn't have others.  Yet despite her popularity I think she's the type who only needs one or two best friends rather than a whole bunch of good ones. That's why we see her with Anthy or Wakaba most of the time.

Riri-kins: Utena is naturally friendly and approachable, so I find it hard to believe she didn't have others.  Yet despite her popularity I think she's the type who only needs one or two best friends rather than a whole bunch of good ones.

Yes, but she's also very very different. I think you have to take the show's context into account. Even if the show isn't necessarily set in Japan, it definitely includes Japanese cultural norms. The foremost being collectivism. In Japan, conformity is highly encouraged. It reinforces the values of modesty and humility - particularly in women. Hence why Utena received harassment from the guidance counselor/etc. and why she was considered such a campus novelty. The Japanese also depend on strict social codes to dictate considerate interactions with others. It is better for them to save face than risk interaction with an unknown element. Sure, the girls gather around and giggle about Utena, granting her a sort of pseudo-masculine role. But how many actually approach her? What similarities would they have to discuss? I think it's pretty telling that they all generally stand off to the distance, watching.

As for the other Council members, it's kind of the same thing. You just don't casually approach someone much higher on the hierarchy. There's a very respectful protocol involved. You may receive on from your superior, as Juri's student sometimes did, but there's still a very distinct boundary. Therefore I stick with my point: quite ironically, despite their popularity, most of the main characters don't have many actual friends. Mostly just subordinates and fans. And that's intentional because an isolated person is an easily manipulated target.

I don't think Miki and Juri could be considered Utena's friend until episode 37. But neither Miki nor Juri ever tell Utena that Akio is End of the world. Nanami does tell her (ironically) but not in a way that air-headed Utena would understand.

Another point that calls my atention is how Wakaba didn't complain (at least on screen) that Utena spent all her time with Anthy. Manga-Wakaba does complain about it. Was Himemiya even trying to isolating Utena? Anthy is very good at what she does; be it manipulate a whole school or help Utena win a duel when it suits her. Becuase of  this I wonder why Himemiya didn't try harder to separate Tenjou from Wakaba. An isolated duelist is an easily manipulated duelist.

Last edited by teyhy (12-01-2010 12:01:22 PM)

I think that this is a very good question and an interesting angle on the Utena having friends theory; she has various levels of friends/acquaintances in a verity of combination's.  Wakaba best friend, Anthy good friend/pet project/ best friend, Miki & Juri very good co-workers/ good/casual acquaintances, other people in the school good and casual acquaintances (not included due to not being relevant to the plot), also due to her friendly personality a number of folks whom she is on good terms with.

To clarify (not that Utena really cares for it I would suppose) you can guess how she would treat friends/potential friends using how she interacts and treats the folks she encounters.  In addition, to being a popular girl, she is nice and will interact with her general fan girls/classmates;  in a manor that is close to equality. In comparison, to how the other members of the student council might treat their Fan boys/girls I would guess that the most kind/non-manipulative and interactive would be Miki and Utena. Not that they don't have various blocking people/activities and or personality issues of their own but I can also see them actuality wanting friends as well as being approachable. So when one or two students have a genuine conversation after all the squeeing and fan girl/boy stuff they might remain/elevate themselves to a higher level of acquaintance albeit it slowly.

Sorry about that going on a bit; however Utena, I think has at the very worse a large group of friendly acquaintances that have friend potential.