Here's a concept I've never seen properly explored as of yet (of course I may have just missed it...) but it's in regards to the damage that Mikage had done, and the seperate damage that Akio had done to the Duelists, from Utena to Mikage himself. I will try to explain why I think Akio may have been a Good influence on the Duelists, and why Mikage was a malevolent force to them that only encouraged dark behaviors. We know where the story begins, Mikage had to sacrifice 100 duelists, to make his "eternity" work, at least by the demands of End of the World. This is inherently blood stained from the start, not a good set up to try and "help" others, with his seminars.

             Thus we now come to the seminars, I really have to wonder who else was in the Black Rose Circle, and what were their daily activities? Considering that he's called a genuis I would guess a crash course in science and math, also the casual blackmail of college professors. Though according to him, what he tells to Utena, is that he looks for people of "special" quality, I really have to wonder who attends his ordinary seminars... in any case, I am slightly veering from the subject. We know aside from him he has an assistant who looks an awful lot like Tokiko, and those are the only people (bar Anthy or imaginary Mamiya) that are regulars there, to our knowledge.

              Mikage's goal is Fully selfish, there is no doubt to that, he justifies it in saying that it's for Mamiya but it's only for himself, he wants to win back Tokiko, somewhere in the deep recesses of his mind he knows this. By the time he appears actively on the scene (debatable if he was even there beforehand) his mind has devolved slightly, his memories are falsified and "sugar coated", forgetting that which pains him most (just as Utena had with her "memories"). His goal was first and foremost to grasp eternity, for Mamiya, thus for Tokiko, and in the end for himself.

             Now let us start with his "patients" as he drives them into despair and makes them able to fight by revealing their "true" nature, (the raging beast we all hold deep within ourselves, made of nothing but despair and aimless rage, with only deluded fantasies of "what should be", rather then "what is") this method is done by poisoning or watching a heart and mind being poisoned until it turns Black (I am surprised no one had brought up the fact that Kanae's rose was Black to begin with, does this mean she was much closer to the edge than she appeared to be?) Kanae is the first of Mikage's pawns, she is just an experiment, a hypothesis to see if the method has any worth. While it did create a "makeshift duelist", it did nothing for Kanae herself. Afterwards she was as clueless and fragile as she had been before the duel. Her growth from the experience is 100% negligible.

             Anthy, to engage in the next set of True trials, suggested the "dark Soul Sword" strategy. Even making an odd mention that Mikage has the skill to bring out latent abilities within young people. Thus the games take a darker turn, from either an estranged love one, or billowing jealousy, or sometimes a combination of both, Mikage rips the Soul Swords from their owners, and uses them to duel Utena. The next "patient" of his is Kozue, Miki's all too fragile and love starved sister, while he doesn't directly involve himself in this directly Anthy/Mamiya certainly does. She knows the pull she already has on Miki's heart, and how easily it can twist Kozue even further into darkness.

            What is Very interesting about this, he knows how to draw Soul Swords, as from this exchange when Kozue is to rip the Soul Sword from Miki, he explains to her that he taught her how to draw the sword, yet to our knowledge doesn't use a Soul Sword, even though his weapon is fully unique. Though we'll talk about that later.

           Someone pointed out that Kozue's elevator ride wasn't very long because she was already close to the bottom to begin with. Whether by virtue of time, or Anthy's continual interference she would have been driven over the edge eventually. (Mayhaps culminating in her actions in the Akio Arc?) What the Black Rose allows Kozue to do is not hide anything, such is with most recipients of the Black Rose. She need not pretend she can't play piano, as with many things in Kozue's personality, it's meant to annoy Miki, perhaps shame her even more in his mind. Though she shows here that she never lost the ability to play piano, as the dark urgings churn within from the Black Rose's influence, Miki's rejection allows her to draw his Soul Sword, as his rejection was the final step needed to bring her to drawing it forth in Mikage's first Soul Sword experiment.

          It is a complete and utter failure. Kozue's power with Miki's Soul Sword was nothing compared to Utena's Dios Rush. This whole ordeal must have affected Miki fully adversely, his family was being driven into the dueling game, and not to mention Kozue's affection towards him after all these years, still appeared to be as strong as ever, this must have set off a few nerves, but it's nothing that wouldn't have happened eventually. Though I'm certain what would have affected him most is the haunting vision of his sister once again playing the song they had written in the Sunlit Garden. While he does try to comfort her and show a slight bit more of affection, it seems they both try their best to forget the whole thing ever happened. (Miki stops asking her questions after he asks about the Black Rose Crest Ring.) Though he apparently recounts the experience to the student council, because he sees this as a real threat (as he should).

         If Mikage accomplishes Anything, it's burying dark feelings even deeper in the heart. In this case he was able to subvert Kozue's longing for her brother and even managed to seemingly place her back on a path of "innocence" (if the Milkshakes do indeed symbolize innocence of course). Though as we know this doesn't last very long by any measure.

         Next we move onto Shiori, who is played straight like a fiddle from the moment she reappears at Ohtori Academy. Something needed to break through the "Noble Rose" and there was only one thing which would accomplish that. Anthy knew that was Shiori, and thus so did "Mamiya". This whole exchange has been put much better than I ever could hope to do in a myriad of essays regarding Juri and Shiori, (and because of my relative ignorance on the subject) I won't go into much detail here. What is interesting about this now is that Mikage now directly interferes to make his pawns play the way he wants them, which is something he hadn't done until that point. Shiori rips Juri's Soul Sword from her. One Very interesting note about Shiori.... She does Not have a Black Rose when she draws Juri's Soul Sword, nor are her eyes dilated like Kozue and Kanae's. She is Fully aware of her actions and draws pleasure from the pain of her "best friend". This would have hurt Juri... well... a lot, to say the least. The damage it must have done would have been next to irreperable. Miki knows that Kozue was not conscious, or at least not in a right state of mind, but there was no doubt that Shiori was aware and enjoying ripping the Soul Sword from Juri.

           Another duel is fought and another Soul Sword shattered, Anthy says at the end of the episode "it was pointless". Nothing had changed. Mikage had accomplished a lot more malevolence with that. He even says that they could make use of the "parasite's poison" again. Of all the Duelists I think he must have dealt the most emotional injury to Juri.

        Tsuwabuki is... an odd case, by any stretch of the word... what he shows most is that anyone, no matter how insignificant can be drawn into Mikage's game. His whole segment revolves around immaturity and impatience of being a child. It's a very believable and powerful part, as it shows a descent of innocence into innocent destruction. Some say there is nothing more "dangerous" then a "child's innocence with ignorance". In other words, not knowing what the meanings of Right and Wrong are. This episode displays that concept very well. Once again Mikage directly interferes, even if it is just slightly. All he really does is remind Tsuwabuki that the Mikage Seminar exists, also as Nanami is "being asked to join", going there might offer something of note for him. What he does find there is a deep urging to "wreck the world!" It is a frightening thought, but too uncommon in children to wish to destroy everything around them and start anew, in their heart of hearts. Mikage sends a message to Nanami by using Tsuwabuki, which was really "no one is safe". Like Kozue and Kanae his eyes are shaded over, and I believe he too has a Black Rose when he rips Nanami's Soul Swords from her.

       In youthful folly, Mikage is able to convince Tsuwabuki that he can become an adult, if he defeats adults and claims their experiences for himself. (...did Mikage play a bit too many RPG's to fill Tsuwabuki's mind with that?) Another failure in any respect. Though what is Unique about this experience is that Nanami respects Tsuwabuki a slight bit more, and Tsuwabuki seems as if he's on the proper track of maturity. This is the Only time where Mikage's Seminar actually succeeded in helping the afflicted, rather then bury the problem, or not do anything at all.

      What is most tragic about Mikage's machinations is his ability to destroy healthy and blossoming relationships, and may deserve a bad reputation for that. Mikage completely shatters Saionji and Wakaba's relationship all for his game. I think it's rather telling to see that Wakaba was the only one that had a hold on Saionji to draw his Soul Sword in good earnest. What is sad about this is not that he manipulated them both, but that the end result, forced them both into a state of unhappiness. Saionji returned to his "deserved position", and Wakaba returned to being a "normal girl" (both illusions on their parts of course.) To reiterate, of all of Mikage's schemes this is probably the most damaging to both the Duelist and the Black Rose recipient. Notably just as everyone but Shiori, Wakaba's eyes are glazed over and does not draw any emotion from ripping his Soul Sword from him.

     Keiko is another strange case... the actions she takes here do not become readily obvious until much later in the series. Mikage plays no part in this manipulation, just as shown, it would have eventually lead her to this road by any means, Black Rose or no. Keiko also is plainly aware of her actions when she draws Touga's Soul Sword. Like Shiori she seems to draw some pleasure from it, but rather then cruel and evil, it seems to be bliss. (though I really must ask... unless Touga had some sort of longing or any sort of feelings for Keiko herself, how was she able to draw his Soul Sword?)

         Keiko is a unique Duelist, she has a few unique moves of her own in her duel, and she loses the duel because of Lack of Confidence. She realizes that Nanami is what stands between her and Touga, Not Utena or the Rose Bride. Other cases of failures due to loss of confidence are Miki's duels, Juri's second duel and of course...

          Mikage is by far Mikage's worst enemy. He saw from the start that there would have been no way to defeat Utena in combat, I wonder, did he realize his world would have crumbled around him if he were to fight the girl so alike to him (and Tokiko)? His false memories and warped motive doomed him from before the duel began. Of course in a way he had dueled Utena six times thus far and lost each time, by sending out tools used from the Black Rose and student council. I believe that he used the pictures of the Black Rose Duelists in a way to show to Utena that he was the leader of the Black Rose Duelists (to clear up any misconceptions?) and over estimating his abilities as a puppet master. Utena will have none of his talk, despite it being completely on mark (despite him being half out of his mind). And she challenges him to a duel. The only time in the series that the Engaged challenges someone to a duel. Of course her reasoning is just as selfish as half-mad Mikage by this point. She cares nothing of winning or losing, she just wants to prove she is nothing like him (and intends to do that by beating him in a duel?)

          Mikage takes his own elevator and imagines his councillor as Mamiya, and sees nothing wrong with that. Then there is the question of his sword... in a way I'd say the swords are in a way symbolic of the character that possesses them. Mikage's sword has a large hand guard, a cloister in a way that protects his hand fully. Is the symbolism in this "living in a shell"? One other thing about Mikage is that he's probably the best Duelist in the show. He can predict all of Utena's moves and sees through her "Backflip, Blessed Sword, Dios Rush" set-up. No other character sees through this. Even Akio himself is taken aback with the backflip.  Mikage would have won had he kept charging her as she did the backflip, but at that moment, either from Anthy's favoritism or Mikage's mind literally breaking down on the cusp of victory (which he may have seen as a possibility earlier as to why he couldn't succeed). Mikage's full memories are restored and he falls prey to Utena's Dios Rush. He is set free from Ohtori, and is allowed to finally grow up. Of all of the Black Rose Duelists, only Tsuwabuki and Mikage (at least some people think) had learned something from their experiences, and came out better for it.


Wow this post turned out to be rather long... I will post the pros and cons of Akio's influence in my next post.