Hello and welcome to the forum. If you love Utena, you've come to the right place. I hope you'll find a lot of fruitful reading material here.

Your interpretation is certainly a valid one, and the ideas you've presented unquestionably mirror conclusions that many others have come to. You're on common ground with a lot of people. It would be hard not to find an empowering female message in Utena to those who seek such things. I certainly do so myself.

However - and I want to stress this is something that I did myself when I was younger in life - in my opinion, you are missing out on some of the complexity of Utena the character. For instance, your statement that she "doesn't fall into the trap of jealousy" is something I'm afraid I can't agree with. Late in the series, Akio succeeds in coming between Utena and Anthy because of the jealousy Utena feels. Of course, jealousy toward and about whom is the real question I invite you to ponder... Utena is not a saint and her motivations about "saving" Anthy are not purely altruistic, but also involve her own sense of self-importance. She is, in her own way, also pushing her own will onto Anthy, as Touga points out, I believe, during the climax of the first arc.

As to Utena's final fate at the end of the show...as I say, yours is a very valid interpretation. I couldn't and wouldn't ever say that it was wrong. But for me, it would be far too depressing to think of Utena as merely a construct of Anthy's subconscious, not to mention that it basically robs the character of her own independent role in the show. In the end this is simply a matter of what you want. I love Utena as a character and I want her to exist, so she does. She does not die or cease to exist at the end of the show, she merely departs from the closed world of Ohtori, and Anthy's certainty that they will be reunited is more than enough surety for me. After all, who would know better? (This is also supported by the creator's comments on the ending, but whether you choose to adhere to those is up to you. I am, I may say, mildly infamous around here for my convictions on that matter.)

So, although you may not have asked me for advice, I would give you two pieces of it nonetheless.

1. If and when you rewatch the series, as I have no doubt you certainly will do eventually, observe Utena the character hard, give thought to how her altruistic aspirations benefit her at the expense of others, and listen carefully when other characters comment on the topic.

2. See the movie as soon as possible. I won't attempt to influence you before you've seen it, but given the ideals you seem to hold dear, I believe you will find it greatly inspirational, if not actually transformative. Once you have formed your own firm impressions on it - which may take many viewings of it, as it is an intricate and thematically "dense" piece of work that seeks to present a huge amount of interlocking ideas in a short amount of time - I have some character analyses I'd be pleased to share with you.

Again, welcome.

Last edited by Aelanie (02-16-2014 11:07:40 PM)

I think the main problem in Utena's motivation is that she tried to create her own personality based on relationship with Anthy (she wants to be a prince, not a hero). Actually, she kind of told it in the episode 10 and 11 that she wants to take her identity back.
I think in SKU women's (and men's) conditions seem complementary instead of autonomous. They feel safe when they make a team of two co-dependent people. They don't know how to feel safe without this rituals of bonding. People define themselves inside the most powerful relationships they experience, even Akio needs Anthy. They all use each other just like Utena used Anthy - to make their dreams come true through a certain type of connection with others. A women's condition is very polarized - they control and they are controlled, so they are never freely chosen. They define the men - let me remind you that Akio is a chairman because of his relationship with Kanae.