Below is purely my Interpretation of the series.

- Dios is the child version of Akio. The "girl in the coffin" is the child version of Utena.
- Childhood is a symbolism for innocence/purity and fixation on idealisms such as a prince saving a girl in need.
- This is what motivates Dios, who was "innocent" (i.e. completely, thoroughly believes in his idealisms) at the time of meeting child Utena, then "saves" her.
- This restores hope in Utena, who was also "innocent" at the time, and after this meeting, her belief in idealisms are solidified after she adopts this idealism of being a "prince," a heroic figure, to save others in need.
- This sense of belief/hope rescues Utena from utter despair and this idealism becomes her way of life: to become a prince and save others.
Conclusion: Innocence/belief/will to go on/hope is metaphorically represented by the "absolute/magical power at the end of the world that can revolutionize"


Now somewhere after this (which we are not shown), Dios grows up, and comes in touch with the adult world to have his beliefs/idealisms shattered, and becomes corrupted. This is when Dios turns into Akio, the adult version of Dios. Akio loses the 'absolute power' after he lost his innocence. Metaphorically representing how once one becomes an adult, one cannot become a child again to regain lost innocence.
- this is where "The Prince" identity splits into 2 distinct identities: Dios and Akio
Dios is more of an abstract identity being Akio's lost innocence/belief ---> i.e. the "lost/trapped power" the series refers to.
Akio is more of the physical self of of "The Prince," who is corrupted with desires for power and sex etc, and no longer has "the great power", but longs for the lost power (metaphor for his lost innocence).


- To make himself feel better, Akio creates a fabricated world full of pretentiousness, superficiality: The Campus, a seemingly beautiful magical world on the outside only to hide its true identity of Akio's darkness of secretive corruption (incestuous relationships, constant conflict over power, etc).
- To further distract everyone away from his "darkness/corruption" (metaphor for adulthood) and to hide the fact that he has lost his "absolute power" (metaphor for innocence), he uses his remaining powers to create the dueling game + Anthy to feel better about himself and tries to convince everyone that "the absolute power" exists while it is actually lost.
Conclusion: The school (along with its rules) becomes "The World" that the series keeps referring to. and Akio targets his disappointment, self-hate, condemnment onto Anthy to make the loss of innocence more bearable.


- thus everyone who exists in this "world" is driven by superficiality and strives for what is presented to them as desirable (power/sex, etc) by Akio. And everyone existing in this world is no longer innocent and perpetuates the chase for the illusion of power in Anthy while not focusing on questioning what the power really is or where it is or who it is or which it is, All of this being Akio's original exact intention.
- so basically at this point everyone (including Akio) in the school are puppets controlled by desire
- but Utena comes along, and she is the only one who is innocent, because she comes from a place outside of "the world", (aka the school created by Akio), she hasn't been corrupted and keeps questioning the Game and hopes to abolish the system for she sees it as pointless and victimizes Anthy then takes on the obligation of a "prince".
- Notice all the while others are skeptic (including Anthy) of Utena's goal because they have all lost the ability to belief/hope, ie. they've lost their innocence.


- Utena hopes to free Anthy from the system because that's the meaning of her life, to become a prince/hero to save others in need. And in this hope/belief/innocence, she receives the "great power/power to perform miracles" from Dios by having the abstract existence of Adios live on through her since Dios cannot live through Akio. This can be exemplified by the numerous times when Utena gains access to the "great power" in duels and Dios falls down and possesses her.
- All this while, Akio is pissed/jealous to see Utena possessing "the great power", the one he had greatly missed. Since he can't gain the power himself, he tries to corrupt Utena with sex/power/manipulative romance etc.
- But this doesn't work cos Utena keeps holding on to her beliefs and idealisms (she is staying innocent). So Akio's next plan is to wait until Utena releases the "great power" with her successive victories, then take it from her.


- All this while, Anthy is convinced fully that Utena will fail to free her as her prince. Not only because Utena is a girl, but also because her brother, the original prince, has not only failed in saving her, but was the one who trapped her in the first place. Notice how Anthy, along with everyone else, also has lost the ability to believe (i.e lost her innocence). This is evident when at the end she betrays Utena and she was like bitch i knew all the long you were gonna fail so dont even try.
- Thus, she has nothing to exist for other than for the purpose of the game and Akio. It is in this mentality that she becomes an abstract existence with no free will, like a puppet.
- However, in Anthy's heart she had always hoped for Utena to succeed because she truly wanted to be free.


- Utena, with her innocence, idealisms, and sense of obligation as a prince (Dios' power) being reinforced by her love/friendship for Anthy (Utena's own power) along with knowing how Anthy truly wants freedom, defeats Akios and the system, and successfully frees Anthy.
- Anthy finally sees that the hopelessness she felt was only applicable to "The World" she lived in, but not to the world outside, so she leaves "the world" (the school) to look for her own prince, Utena.


- Utena has inspired Anthy to embark on a similar journey the way Dios had inspired Utena --> to become a strong heroic figure saving others in need.
- After the ending, Anthy could or could not find Utena again, she could have went to some other school to save a weakling being bullied, or she could have became a social worker helping others in need, or a policewoman, etc. All of that is irrelevant because Anythy has regained her lost innocence, more precisely, she gained the "great power" from Utena, which is the ability to believe and to hope. This was the same sort of feeling, the will to go on, that Utena felt when she was rescued by Dios.
Conclusion: Utena has revolutionized "the world" in that she has shaken up the very fabric of its existence and ended the perpetual torment of Anthy. And Anthy reaches the "End of the world," which is the end of the campus by leaving the school.


Final Thoughts:
So i think the series is one big metaphor for the process of growing up and explores how adulthood often diminishes our ability to belief/hope/dream and we must regain that childhood innocence (ability to hope/belief) in order to escape the seemingly purposeless daily routines of adult life. And we truly live to the fullest, or exist to the fullest when we look beyond our present circumstances, and have the courage to hope and dream about whats to come, which is what children are so good at doing.

Notice how in the end of the series, Akio (who was a physical being at the beginning of the story) turns out to be an conceptual being (a puppet who ends up being controlled by his self-hate and superficial-desires), while Anthy (a puppet created by Akio) after Utena instills life into her with hope and innocence, a seemingly impossible, or as the series calls it, a miraculous task, becomes a REAL person at the end for she has her own intention and her own free will.

and lastly, I LOVE THIS SERIES.

Last edited by utenatea (02-01-2011 12:41:03 AM)