It was my interpretation that what lay beyond the Rose Gate depended on what the duelist wanted. Utena wanted to save Anthy, so she found the coffin of the Rose Bride.

I'm going with the theory that the cycle exists to allow him to lick his own wounds. The rapier's an obvious metaphor for the futility of "noble" sentiments, and the worst thing that someone could do is succeed where he had failed. The only way for him to save face after everything that happened to him would be for everyone who tried to follow in his footsteps to not only fail but also be defeated by him.

Utena using her own hands instead of the rapier is a metaphor for the essence of heroism: putting yourself on the line rather than hiding behind titles on one hand and herd instinct on the other.

It's also notable that in the end, both elitism and the rabble sentiment are symbolized by swords; they both reduce to a fear of physical peril and a desire for social dominance. The only thing that differentiates the two is that one exploits or demeans self-sacrifice, while the other, possessing the safety of numbers, openly despises it.

Last edited by Overlord Morgus (06-07-2012 10:45:15 PM)

I've kind of always thought of it as a Mirror of Erised. Only someone who didn't want the stone and its power could reach it. Therefore Akio who wanted the power of the revolution failed, whereas Utena- who only wanted to help her friend- succeeded.

Here's a little mini-opinion I wrote on this subject once. Actually, I'm not sure I still think of it this way, but I definitely believe that the Power of Revolution is real.

---- The Coffin, and the Power of Revolution

Now, would the coffin still have been there, if Akio had somehow opened the door? There's really no answer to this, simply because it's a circular question. Akio couldn't open the door because he can't feel princely compassion, and doesn't believe in the ideals of nobility and mercy that the Rose Crest represents. To put it more simply, the only way to open the door is to sympathize with Anthy so much it brings you to tears, and to cherish the meanings of the Rose Crest enough to wear it always.

See, it's all a loop. The Power of Revolution truly exists, and it's everything it's played up to be, but the only way to obtain it is to open the Rose Gate, and the only way to do that is to want to save Anthy, and the only way to do that is to free Anthy's heart, and the only way to do that is to reach her, and the only way to do that is to use the Power of Revolution, and the only way to obtain the Power of Revolution is to open the Rose Gate, and the only way to do that...

That's the great irony. The only way to gain the Power of Revolution is to want to help Anthy so much that you would use the Power of Revolution for that purpose, and that's the only way to obtain it in the first place!

(This idea is even more explicit in the movie, as Anthy is clearly stated to be the keeper of that power, and only the one who becomes her prince can access it. Once she decides for herself that Utena is truly her prince, she offers "any miracle and any eternity" outright to Utena, but Utena has other ideas.)

So, the moment the gate opens, and the swords stop, Utena's deepest wish was granted. But what did Utena want more than anything? To free Anthy, of course, but not to force it on her. Utena learned that lesson at Touga's hands. She doesn't want to force Anthy, she just wants the chance to reach Anthy's heart, and for Anthy to come to her by her own choice.

In the last scene, when the million swords come up, Akio says that they're stirred by the sight of the prince's sword. One interpretation is that they're stirred by hatred, but if that were the case, they'd impale Akio. The fact that they form a pyramid with him on top, however, seems to indicate that Akio and his sword are in actuality the epitome of whatever they represent, that the swords are not attacking him, but rallying to him. The contrast between the neatness of the pyramid and the haphazard ring formation that they take up afterwards supports this. They do not act on their own intentions; rather, they are a representation of his anger at his emasculation, of his loss of power. He claims to hate the rabble, but they are nothing more than a reflection of his sublimated desires. The reality is that he wants Anthy to suffer for "imprisoning" him every bit as much as the rabble do.

Also, in the last scene, he slashes at a door with roses covering it, which compounds the misogynistic imagery.

And I think the real reason that Akio couldn't open the door at the end is that he didn't really have a wish. He really had everything he wanted: money, power, secret knowledge, and the ability to look down on everybody, he was too much of an unimaginative coward to plan out what he would do after he Revolutionized the World. Utena, on the other hand, had something coherent in mind, something to seek out.

If you take the Jesus allegory at the end, then you could maybe say that Utena's death was a sacrifice that redeemed Humanity's original sin of dependence and ressentiment, which is an inversion of Christian ideals. Jesus is killed by the Will to Power, while Utena is killed by the rabble's sublimated jealousy.

One thing that I notice is that every character besides Utena and Himemiya seems to have an obsession with perfection. They all need to be The Best or to have a Shining Thing.

Last edited by Overlord Morgus (06-23-2012 09:44:36 PM)