I don't think Anthy and Utena has a physical relationship during the series b/c Utena tries saving herself for her prince and Anthy puts up an innocent act in order to win Utena over. If Utena even notices Anthy's chest-grabbing during pre-duel scenes, she's naive enough to just brush it off as typical prince-princess behavior, rather than anything sexual between the two of them. By the time Utena does decide to have sex, she's completely won over by Akio and can't focus on Anthy until the last two eps of the series.

That being said, if Anthy and Utena ever meet up after the series, I'm sure I would love to be a fly on their bedroom walls.

I remember hearing that the creator of the manga also aided in the creation of the anime, and didn't want the female leads to be in a physical relationship. That's why all of the romantic hints in the anime are subtle. The person in charge of the manga did not participate in the creation of the movie, therefore, the romance is much more obvious.

I think Anthy and Utena's relationship wasn't sexual but it could lead to that in some point. They were teens (at least Utena was XD) and they were in the experimental stage, so the all teasing and touch was part of process. Utena had her sexual debut with Akio, but if he hadn't manipulated her, maybe her curiosity could lead her to intimate more with Anthy. In the manga version of the movie the yuri spirit is more present, mainly at the end.

After watching the Apocalypse arc again, I have a question, and its really anyone's guess, but is it at all possible Anthy and Utena became somewhat more...physically intimate between the attempted suicide scene and the Akio duel scene (aka final boss battle)?  Because Ikuhara did state in some way or another that they were involved romantically right? I think it might have made sense that in their moment of confession, and mutually confessed hurt, they might have tried to express a form of comfort that only progressed naturally from their previous platonic(-ish, sans the Anthy groping in sword pulling scenes) relationship? I think it would have been the prime moment to do so, seemingly bringing them closer than ever and making Anthy's betrayal all the more of a surprise/shocker to Utena later on, though really I don't think Anthy had that in mind the night before.

It'd be really ridiculous  for everyone to be calling it a yuri series just because of a specific ambiguous outro in a handful of episodes. (Though I think the yuri reputation really comes from the movie.)

I agree with all the above comments. I think, and this is just my interpretation, their relationship evolves many times eventually leading to a romantic attachment that Anthy is clearly pursuing at the end of the show and that Utena acknowledges with her admission that the only time she was happy was when she was with Anthy.
I think Anthy realizes the extent of her own feelings at first but absolutely believes it can't go anywhere good (million swords is kind of a problem). Certainly she's having a tough time watching Utena with Akio (signified by the reflecting glasses and not wanting to look at the "real" stars). She wouldn't be jealous of Akio, besides he sleeps with everyone and she hates him. So she must be jealous of Utena. Akio realizes it after Anthy tips the duel to Utena instead of Saonji ("what do you think of her!") and decides to go after Utena, I believe, earlier than he had planned. Distracted by Akio, Utena doesn't realize the extent of her feelings for Anthy perhaps until Juri blatantly points it out during the badminton scene or even later at the suicide attempt scene.

is it at all possible Anthy and Utena became somewhat more...physically intimate between the attempted suicide scene and the Akio duel scene (aka final boss battle)?

I have always thought that this was a good bet. Certainly the next day, they seem VERY close. I think it is the only possible time during the series that something deliberately physical on both their parts could have happened.

So when you say 'in a relationship', are you asking if Utena and Anthy are bumpin' uglies or if they're in love? 

I know that sounds silly, but I'm very serious.  I think they're in a relationship, but since they're still trying to figure out just who the hell they even are in the first place, their relationship to each other is secondary to their relationships with themselves.  (and yes, I'm laughing at myself for typing that.  Damn you Beavis and Butthead, for forever warping my oh-so-innocent sense of humor)  It's one of those "know thyself" deals when being with someone and learning about that person allows a person to learn things about him/herself too.  So yeah, they're IN a relationship, but it's not quite the same thing as just being girlfriends.  It's like they MUST be with each other to become themselves.  Er, does that make any sense at all?  I think I sound kind of crazy there. 

I guess what I mean is that their relationship is based on what they can give to and take from each other, and how they apply what they've gained and lost to their development.  It's not quite mutualistic, since they almost seem to be feeding from one another at different times, but it isn't quite parasitic either.  They're greedy bitches one minute, taking anything and everything the other will give, then they're worried about each other and seek to better their other halves. 

Which...now that I think about it is pretty much like any other relationship.

Hm.

The TV series simply provides the watcher with the freedom to make his/her own conclusions. This is one of the things that make the series a real masterpiece: all speculations and opinions tell more about the watcher than about the anime itself.

People see what they want to see. Therefore, our conclusions about cultural phenomena can also teach us to know ourselves better.

I would say that even the Be-Papas staff members can only tell their own opinions. There is no definitive answer to be found for this controversial question.

As for me, I don't see a sexual relationship between Utena and Anthy in the TV version of the story.

Yasha wrote:

tuomastahti wrote:

As for me, I don't see a sexual relationship between Utena and Anthy in the TV version of the story.

I agree with you there, hon. Mainly because of Utena's little exchange with Juri where she says that her love is pure-- I think what she means by that is that she loves Anthy, but it's not a kind of love that demands anything from Anthy except that Anthy exist and be herself. Sex and romantic feelings are not necessary to a relationship like that. Not saying it would never happen, but that if it did, it would never be as important as the love.

I'd disagree with you guys on that. A major part of the symbolism in RGU is the transition from childhood (innocence/naivete/purity) to adulthood (maturity/becoming jaded) and obviously part of that change is the development of sexual feelings; Akio represents adulthood, and Utena's attraction to and relationship with him are representative of her own emerging sexual identity. Through that, I think she'd become a little wiser about her own feelings for Anthy, and be willing to act on it.

Anthy, on the other hand, has already become incredibly jaded and disillusioned from the various horrors she's lived through (thanks in no small part to Akio) and might refuse to accept that someone could actually care about her-well, consciously, anyway; her words to Utena about how she couldn't be her prince because she's a girl seems like both an affirmation of a refusal to accept Utena's friendship and anger at her for getting her hopes up and letting her down.

It all gets worked out in the end, though, because Utena opening Anthy's coffin and showing her the way to freedom allows Anthy to understand that Utena really did care about her all along and never gave up on her; in turn, Anthy finds the courage break free of her bonds and go find Utena and tell her how she feels (So I think, anyway<3).

So, in short, I think that it's not entirely a sexual relationship, but it is romantic and physical attraction is a part of that.

Yasha wrote:

I gotta disagree. While I don't think that their relationship was one that could never be romantic (indeed, I think it would definitely be romantic after the series if Utena's alive), Utena never evinces sexual attraction toward Anthy during the course of the series. Utena makes it pretty plain that Anthy has a huge chunk of her emotional investment, but as she says in the last episode, she does what she does because she's just happy to be with Anthy. Romance and sexuality inherently limit that because that's when there start to be demands on love-- look at all the marriages that aren't happy because someone's not getting laid. I think it's the lack of that limit that makes it possible for Anthy to leave Ohtori in the end-- someone who loved her just for her, without needing anything at all in return.

I agree that that's true during the series, but afterward, once it's been firmly established in Anthy's mind that Utena really genuinely cares about her, and in Utena's mind that Anthy actually has a will of her own, it would probably lead to romance and sex. I somehow get the feeling that Utena would not be the one to initiate it...