Personally, I've wondered if movie!Shiori could be considered to be movie!Utena's "shadow", in a sense. (This is for desperate want of a better term, because I fail at Jung forever.) Utena represses the memory of Touga's death, whereas Shiori is not only aware of that event from the start, but she also knows some other messed-up things about him - namely, what his "father" did to him. Also contrast how the two girls deal with the death; Shiori, rather than shutting out the memories like Utena did, instead holds a grudge against Juri and blames her for what happened. She also refuses to move on, and she doesn't seem to like the idea of other people moving on either, hence her going after Anthy as a car in the end.

I can't see her as Ends of the World, though, even if she has been described by Enokido himself as the "greatest darkness" in the film. I think it just speaks volumes about how pathetic movie!Akio is when Shiori comes off as a bigger villain than him.

Atropos wrote:

What is this chick's deal?
It seems that she loved - or, more accurately, desired - Touga prior to his death. It is likely that she would have been familiar with Utena, and we know that she was a friend of Juri's at this point. It has been suggested that she is End of the World, and she chose the members of the Student Council.
But what does she symbolize? What brought her to Ohtori? Is she dead? Discuss!

Movie-Touga is the perfect prince, such as Juri often tries to be, and he's a dude, which takes care of Shiori's homophobia/concern-for-others'-homophobia, but... he's dead. Dead, dead, deadski.

Meanwhile, her scenes/interaction with Touga is all about her, as much as her ineraction with Juri or anyone else. She's not really attending Touga in any of those exchanges, she's just talking to a mirror who can do her nails.

Aelanie wrote:

As I explain in my examinations, Anthy is. The duels in the movie exist for the sole purpose of finding her a new, true prince, as compared to her brother, who was a false prince.

The 'Shiori as EotW' theory is based on her first appearance in the movie, where she appears to be writing a letter.
Really, that's it.
But considering that she's the ONLY character in the movie to do this, and EotW's trademark is his letter-writing, it seems like a conscious choice made by Ikuhara.
I mean, who the hell would she be writing to otherwise? They're in a school/afterlife/metaphor for adolescence/dying dream surrounded by a car-filled wasteland!

Last edited by Atropos (09-04-2012 04:13:25 PM)

Here's what I'm talking about:

The perspective may make it hard to tell, but I don't see anything to suggest that it's a diary.

Aelanie wrote:

Yes, I looked at the screen. I don't see anything to suggest its a letter either, or indeed anything important at all. She might even just be doing homework.

Homework, in Utena?

(Ok, I know they did homework at least once in the show, but it seems like a rarity.)

No wonder she's so bitter.

Atropos wrote:

The only time we see characters in class in the movie, they immediately ditch so that Anthy can exposit to Utena in private.

Aren't they're still in class during the sketching/disrobing sequence, just not in a classroom?

Last edited by Decrescent Daytripper (09-05-2012 01:09:05 PM)

Atropos wrote:

Decrescent Daytripper wrote:

Aren't they're still in class during the sketching/disrobing sequence, just not in a classroom?

Wouldn't the class have ended by the time it took them to get there?

How far away did they go? My memory may be off on this (wouldn't be the first time), but I remember the teacher sending them off in pairs to sketch each other, cut to Utena and Anthy having walked to the observatory. For all I know, they walked two buildings away and stripped down in a scene exactly replicating high school but with more airplane drone.

I think that Shiori is as phantom to Anthy as Touga to Utena. She seems to be a princess, she has a prince and control with no responsibility. Anthy rejects that part of her personality, it´s her darker side. I think that movie!Shiori is to Anthy like a siren compared to a mermaid. She spellbounds her in her castle.
Shiori appears after Touga´s rape scene and smiles while Anthy rejected the incestuous part of her sexuality.
Shiori seems to enjoy sex with her Prince while Anthy is more drawn to women after being punished for enjoying it (¨Weren´t you asleep?¨).
Shiori is focused on exterior goals - Shiori!car doesn´t want Anthy to be free - while Anthy is focused on interior ones. That´s why Shiori wants her to fail and Shiori´s lack of autonomy is the reason why she cannot reach her Adolescence.

I wonder if Akio x Dios dynamic is similar, where Akio is sexual and Dios is not. It would mean that a witch is basically a woman that have sex with men (and enjoys it!), so a sexualized princess turns into a witch.

ArthurianRoseKnight wrote:

Shitori was a jealous slut. Her getting wrecked was the best moment in the entire movie.

Since when sleeping with one person make someone a slut?

Utena is not the only person so special she can turn into a car. Or, talk to Touga. Or, eat Anthy.

And unlike Wakaba, or Kozue, or Ms. Tenjo in car mode, Shioricar is frilly and manic.

Shiori is special too. She cant see that "too," bit she's a kid in a high-competition, abusive world. She's still a pretty car who had the guts to race, and throws her head back orgasmically while Touga paints her nails.

I honestly don't think there's anything complicated about Movie Shiori. I think Ikuhara made her the big bad because he decided to make the fandom hate her even more.