It leads us to believe that it was all a dream, but I think Chu-Chu put it there since we see him coming back at the end of the episode. He probably did it as revenge for how Nanami treated Anthy. That's my guess, anyway.

There were speculations that Chu-Chu actually died, when Nanami gave birth to a new Chu-Chu.

Remember how Anthy asked Utena at night about "Reincarnation"? And, the expression Anthy shows when Chu-Chu comes back. Kinda down, isn't it?

It's probably a metaphor. On some level.
Like most things.

And it shows that Juri has the biggest balls of all.

Hiraku wrote:

Mock Puppet wrote:

And it shows that Juri has the biggest balls of all.

She's a priced hen. It's a shame she may never pass on her gene because she's in love with the one person who will never love her back

The only way Juri can truely pass on her genes is to go to a sperm bank and make a withdrawal or find a nice feminine looking boy to get knocked up by.  I would suggest Miki for that role.

This may be the wrong forum but I was watching a TV series called Maison Ikkoku in which a character gives a big egg to another one with no explanation and then vanishes. The whole rest of the episode everyone was in a big flurry about the egg, what did it mean? What is he up to? What kind of egg is it? It does not occur to anyone to put the egg in the fridge and forget about it. I am pretty sure this series predates Utena.

I think we are missing some kind of really strange Japanese in-joke.

purplepolecat wrote:

My guess is that it was an incredibly subtle psychological prank, masterminded by Anthy and executed by Chu-Chu. The Cowbell of Happiness and the Curry High Trip were also planned by Anthy.

The first time I watched the series I didn't suspect that Anthy was capable of such spiteful deviousness, but now I'm convinced. Don't cross Anthy, she is the queen of passive-aggressive scheming.

this is exactly what i think.
at first watch, i just thought it was more weird symbolism, but after watching it later i concluded the same thing as purplepolecat. i love Anthy, and everything, but i'd never mess with her.

RadicalSam wrote:

Hiraku wrote:

I still the episode is PERFECT to show to middle school kids to teach them about the phase of teenage biological changes AND issues with teen sex.

There's parallel to having period and teen pregnancy (laying eggs), fears of  alienation due to having period or expecting (Nanami's an alien), issues of abortion (Juri bowling and Nanami leaving the egg outside in the woods). All the fun with none of the boring lecture.

wow that's a new way to think of it

That's how I always thought about it, some sort of cracked out version of one of those "special" shows for girls. A parody of one at least. Esp. with Touga and his lectures about not laying eggs LOL.

Hiraku wrote:

There were speculations that Chu-Chu actually died, when Nanami gave birth to a new Chu-Chu.

Remember how Anthy asked Utena at night about "Reincarnation"? And, the expression Anthy shows when Chu-Chu comes back. Kinda down, isn't it?

Do you realy belive that Chu-Chu actualy died and reborn? I´m not sure but i always belive that it was his way of bother Nanami

Late to the game, but I have to resurrect this thread and write a comment about Nanami's Egg.

I eventually came to the conclusion that it was Touga who planted the egg in the first place, just to mess with Nanami. Throughout the episode, we're seeing things as filtered through her. Everything she sees and hears winds up egg-centric. This, despite the intentions of everyone involved.

Everyone, that is, except for Touga. He says to her, with little room for misinterpretation, that he loves her because she does not lay eggs. It has been a while since I've gone through the series but I recall the lecture as being very specific.

I know, this seems a lot more mundane than Chuchu's reincarnation or Anthy performing her magic but it feels more plausible to me than the other interpretations.

I thought he was interpreting Nanami's "lay an egg" comment as a veiled reference to teen pregnancy. In which case his response would be reasonable-albeit-scummy.

I always thought the egg was a bomb (remember Nanami seeing it explode into a fire phoenix?), and the whole thing was Anthy and Chu-Chu's way of 'dropping a bomb/traumatizing revelation' on Nanami, so to speak. 

I also think it was Nanami showing genuine love the the egg that kept it from bombing/seriously hurting her outright.

All of the above is personal canon only, of course.