Orikan wrote:

So, I've just finished re-watching the series, and there are still quite a few things from this episode I really don't understand.

1. During the duel, when Utena declares that she's going to be a prince and everything is falling apart, Akio is visibly shaken and on the defensive. Why? What exactly does he have to be afraid of? Even if Utena had won, I don't fully understand how that would affect his plans. Aren't there more Rose Brides he could find to use?

1a. What would have happened if Utena had cut him down then and there, without interference from Anthy?
1aa. Is he even mortal anymore? Was he ever?

1b. How much of the duel is actually real? Is it just a metaphor for a verbal sparring match, or are there actually swords in there somewhere?

1. I doubt he was really scared. By acting like he wasn't anticipating something like this, he could make spur Utena on and make her sword truly noble. Then he stabs her and takes it.
1a. She couldn't, quite simply. As long as Anthy remained under Akio's thumb, Utena could never have defeated him.
1aa. He's mortal, but his control over Ohtori is such that it doesn't really matter.
1b. Well, nothing in the duels is real, but there is actual physical combat taking place, yes.

That just raises more questions! So he plans to win using Anthy as his trump card, and use Utena's sword to open the Rose Gate and regain his power...and then what? He certainly isn't going to go back to playing prince. He definitely doesn't want to rule the world or anything stereotypically villainous like that. Is he just going to lounge around and indulge in hedonistic pleasure for the rest of eternity, and if so, why couldn't he just do that without all the plans?

I really prefer simple solutions to these questions.

The duels are of course real, although it's fairly certain that the outcome is always decided more through a battle of wills than through skill with a sword.

Of course Akio was scared. The rules of his safe, comfortable, well planned-out little world were crumbling around him. Someone had appeared who was challenging his power to shape reality, challenging his hold over Anthy, and challenging his chance at opening the Rose Gate.

These things matter to him because, deep in the innermost dregs of Akio's heart, he wants the one thing he can never obtain: the same admiration and love that Anthy once felt for Dios. That's why he wants to open the Gate and obtain the Power of Revolution - yes, he does want to open it, because he thinks that will finally allow him to become a being on the same level as Dios, and thus someone Anthy can adore.

That's why he was so afraid of Utena, because it seemed for a moment that she might actually claim victory over him and be able to open the Gate herself. (The latter of which she in fact did, I might add. He was right to be worried.)

However, I do agree that the prospect of change does definitely frighten him, and that he was more than slightly relieved it once again didn't work.

Last edited by Aelanie (12-04-2011 05:28:27 PM)

Akio wants to open the Rose Gate and yet he doesn't. In the same way that your friend who lost his job and moved back in with his parents wants to find another job... he assures Mom and Dad he's sending out applications and going to interviews... and yet he doesn't. He'd rather just play World of Warcraft all day, microwave a pizza for dinner every night and let his mom do his laundry. But if he tells his parents that, they won't take it well, so he keeps up the illusion that he'll be rejoining the workforce and getting his own place real soon. Any day now. In the back of his mind he knows his folks are disappointed, and in the backs of their minds they know that he's not going to get a job until there's no other option for him, but it's a lot more comfortable for everyone involved if they keep believing each other's bullshit.

The thing between Akio and Anthy is like a highly glamorized and supernatural version of this same situation. Except instead of a basement-dwelling WoW player, Akio is more like a guy I once knew who lost his job and started smoking weed as his full-time occupation while his girlfriend worked her fingers to the bone to keep both of them from getting evicted from their apartment. Eventually she shacked up with a Marine veteran who beat him up and threw him out, so I guess it turned out kind of like Utena. Kind of.