Etrangere wrote:

I've just shown the Utena movie to a friend yesterday, and one of his reaction (beyond loving) was to say Shiori WAS Utena, or that they were two aspects of the same person.
His reasonment : both Utena and Shiori are the only ones able to see Touga, and seems to have been dating Touga before he died.

Thoughts?

Well, I don't see how their both dating Touga would prove anything - this is Touga who we're talking about, after all

On a more serious note: like so many other wonderful crackpot SKU theories, it works brilliantly when applied to some parts, yet kinda fails when applied to others. For example, how does Shiori's car-crash work into the whole thingamabob? Also, I can't recall this one too accurately, but as far as I can remember, Utena didn't seem to have any special knowledge on Juri.

Last edited by Joku_Krypfto (10-29-2006 10:44:41 AM)

Etrangere wrote:

I've just shown the Utena movie to a friend yesterday, and one of his reaction (beyond loving) was to say Shiori WAS Utena, or that they were two aspects of the same person.
His reasonment : both Utena and Shiori are the only ones able to see Touga, and seems to have been dating Touga before he died.

Thoughts?

Actually, I recall making the same comparison once. Both Shiori and Utena were in love with Touga when he died. Shiori tells Touga about how she blames Juri for his death, and Utena accusses Anthy of being the reason why Touga started acting strangely. Shiori finds out about the picture inside of Juri's locket, revealing her secret, and Utena sees the naked picture of Anthy, and then Anthy reviels her secret to Utena. Also, both of them turn into cars. This all could just be a coincidence, though.

Has anyone else noticed something interesting about the Shadow girls?

E-Ko: "I've got a big scoop! There's a mondo scandalous painting in the back of the headmasters room. This is controversy!"

F-Ko: "Oh, but I've obtained an even more controversial videotape! Now, this is a very scandalatious tape."

In the previous scene, Utena saw the painting, whereas Anthy had witnessed it first hand, and told Utena about it. At the end of the movie, E-ko is wearing a nametag that says "Tenjou Utena," and F-Ko is wearing a nametag that says, "Himemiya Anthy." And the last time the shadow girls spoke, F-Ko was dumped by her boyfriend for drawing on her boyfriends back while he was napping, just as Shiori did with Touga. And Shiori is the one who obtains that tape later on.


Are there any interpretations of the duel song Shura - Nikutai Seiza Seiun?

The song seems to describe the death of a star, or rather, the sun. Everything revolves around the sun, just as everything revolves around the prince, and so the beginning of the song describes the death of a star. "Blown to wild darkness, to the limits of the empty sky," the world is enclosed in darkness with the loss of the sun/prince. The second verse, "Shura, now ancient, the gaze fixed on the Earth's movement," refers to the Castle of Eternity. The fading of a firefly in the hugh refers to the fading of a star, or the prince.

"Shura, now transforming, every star rising to glory and power." This relates to the rebirth of the prince. The stars, or duelists, rising to glory and power have the chance to attain eternity, miracles, and shining things. Perhaps the most interesting line, and the one that got me thinking about this song in the first place, is, "Shura becomes the living stars, the stars become their source. Shura, cradling countless eras to that mystic star, the core of power - corona." The prince becomes Utena, giving her the power power of Dios. A corona is the light surrounding the sun, which makes me think of how Dios' image surrounds her.

Here is an indirect link to a very well thought-out theory of someone on IMDB. I would like to just copy the whole thing onto this forum but am not sure about the ethics of it. The theory works only for the movie I think.
Go to:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0243558/usercomments
Then scroll to the comment called: Here's a theory for ya.

I hasten to add that this is not a theory I agree with but it is very interesting. One thing I like about it is that it removes the villain's moustaches painted on both Anthy and Shiori.

Last edited by brian (10-29-2006 07:09:54 PM)

Romanticide's post just made me remember the 'shoe in the water' scene change device used in the movie... twice, I think?

I've always found that a fascinating use of foreshadowing for Utena's talk with Touga in the elevator and the flashbacks that go with it.  Maybe not foreshadowing per se, but some sort of hint that the events taking place around that scene change relate to the eventual talk in the elevator.

I'd attempt to try and pick it apart further, but I am hardly awake right now (forming complete sentences and typing is a challenge right now, hehe), and it's been a while since I've watched the movie.

But for now... must... sleep!

I've gotta admit I had a bad moment showing my girlfriend of the time the Utena movie - she actually went out and bought it (because somebody raves about Utena like an insane person ) and insisted we watch it.

I was like...DAMN, if she watches this first, she'll never ever agree to watch the anime. I think my concerns were legitimate...

Her reactions to it were pretty much WTF which I'm sure we can all understand. But luckily she did watch the anime. However we broke up at the beginning of the Akio arc (hey, it takes a long time to watch ). And now I feel really bad for her that she'll probably never see what I consider to be the best, most gripping bits (since she didn't really become a fan from watching it).

I'm telling you (no lie) in our amicable breakup I told her she just had to keep watching Utena. That it would be such a shame if she never saw the ending. And I meant every word!