Hi, Tyler_!  Great question, and welcome to the forum!  We do already have a topic for that here -- one of the oldest threads on the forum.   I hope you'll give it a read and resurrect it from the dead!

Hi Tyler!  I also got a tumblr post on this topic:

http://gorgeousshutin.tumblr.com/post/6 … rd-the-why

Hope this helps

gorgeousshutin wrote:

Hi Tyler!  I also got a tumblr post on this topic:

http://gorgeousshutin.tumblr.com/post/6 … rd-the-why

Hope this helps

I've read it

You did a great job analyzing the implications of the scene in the context of Anthy and Akio relationship, it plays a big part in why the show went through such a dramatic shift in tone, because Anthy fucked up Akio plans which is why there was such big disconnect between the episodes before this and the episodes afterward.

before episode 25, there was nothing that implied that were tensions between the Akio and Anthy, the only thing that was worrying was the implied incest between theme but then Anthy screwed the game by getting Utena to use her soul sword during the duel against Saionji and that's were it starts to go downhill because now Anthy is sort of taking over Akio plans because she is sick of his shit so Anthy decided to put her faith onto Utena because of her sense of nobility in comparison to Akio plus they are on good terms thought she ultimately wanted Akio to succeed because of her attachment to Dios which is why she is still clinging to Akio despite his bad intentions.