A Platonic Interpretation of "Revolutionary Girl Utena"

Introduction to the Setting: the Ohtori Academy

"Revolutionary Girl Utena" is a shōjo, or 'magical girl', animated series which presents the adventures of a tomboyish girl, Utena Tenjou and her ambition to become a prince. The series is set at the prestigious Ohtori Academy for teenage students.  The Ohtori Academy is apparently ruled by a Student Council of tremendous authority and self-importance, whose select members wear a rose-seal ring and are uniquely permitted to enter the forbidden forest arena. The Student Council is directed by a succession of letters mailed from the mysterious "End of the World", who gives millenarian instructions to bring the about the "World Revolution". The Academy is richly decorated in French fantasy Gothic architecture, stained-glass windows, and completed with grandiose organ music. French ornament, letters and Empire-style costumes are continually employed throughout the series; lending the Academy a classical north-European motif (at one point in the series, a teacher mentions there is a sister-school in the Netherlands). The geographic dislocation of this foreign (occidental) design hints at the spacio-temporal dislocation of the setting. Through a baffling variety of surreal psychosexual imagery and supernatural occurrences "Revolutionary Girl Utena" continuously problematizes a coherent and realist narrative of the characters and themes. For this reason, "Revolutionary Girl Utena" has been described as an example of a post-modernist fairy-tale. Any explanation of the plot requires an allegorical interpretation which examines the metaphysical significance of the imagery and storytelling. However, interpretations of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" vary tremendously due to the uncertainty of the show's internal cosmology and metaphysics. I will illustrate a Platonic cosmology and metaphysic with which to interpret the imagery, plot, characters and themes of "Revolutionary Girl Utena".

[*Warning: spoilers ahead*]

In the first episode, the show's pink-haired protagonist Utena Tenjou ascends the winding staircase of the schools’ forbidden dueling arena and is surprised to discover above her an immense inverted and rotating castle. Her dueling opponent, Saionji, tells Utena that this is merely "a trick of the lights". This brief comment warns the audience that much of what Utena, and by extension the audience, experiences through Utena's perspective is an unreal illusion whose extent is never made entirely apparent. The chairman of the Ohtori Academy is Akio Ohtori, brother to Utena's best friend Anthy Himemiya. As chairman of the Academy, Akio lives in a tower which dominates the skyline of the Academy and the sea-side town below.  Akio's room is an enormous astronomical observatory with few furnishings with the exception of a large planetarium projector. In the final episode, Akio reveals that he has used his planetarium to create the illusions of many fantastic settings and events when he exclaims "I shall now reveal reality to you... The end of the World"! It may be therefore be interpreted that much of what occurs in "Revolutionary Girl Utena" has been constructed and coordinated by Akio- the puppet master and illusionist of the cosmos.

In Plato's famed "Allegory of the Cave", Socrates describes to his friends how much of what people experience in the “real” world is merely an illusion similar to shadow-puppetry (a recurring theme in "Revolutionary Girl Utena"). Socrates describes how the philosopher who comes to know the Eternal Forms of Goodness and Beauty can ascend from their ignorant observations of shadows in the dark Cave to the sunlit world above. This ascent from the cave of Illusions to the sunlit world of the Real is an allegory of philosophic initiation from false to real knowledge. In "Revolutionary Girl Utena", the casts' drama of the self-discovery is mirrored by Utena's growing awareness of the source of illusions in the chairman's tower. The characters of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" are perpetually immersed in the idyllic illusions of the Ohtori Academy, whose imagery has been constructed by the chairman Akio. From the heights of his tower he can, like Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon, observe and presumably manipulate everything which occurs in the Academy. This creates an interpretive difficulty as the audience, like Utena, remains always uncertain as to what the "real world" might consist of. In a dramatic scene, in which Anthy Himemiya attempts to leap to her death, both the tower and the skyline of the town below bear no resemblance to anything commonly visible from the Ohtori Academy. This indicates that the pleasant sea-side town and the Ohtori Academy as whole may likewise be illusory fantasies to mask a troubling modern cityscape below.

The Ohtori Academy appears as an idyllic setting for adolescent social life with a pristine hill-top college and all types of teenage students represented. There are courses and faculty, who are wholly unimportant to the plot and entirely subservient to the Chairman. Apart from the dorms, classrooms and gymnasiums, the Academy is dominated by two gigantic structures with clear psychosexual symbolism: the immense tower of Akio's planetarium observatory and the gargantuan forest-mound which houses the forbidden dueling arena. The function of these structures, one as creative and the other as romantically climactic, neatly corresponds to their respective psycho-sexual imagery. The forbidden dueling arena is the sight of each episode's epee "sword duel" whose victor is rewarded with the possession of Anthy Himemiya, "the Rose Bride". The duelist who cuts the rose affixed to their opponent's breast wins the duel. The steel swords are a recurring phallic symbol in the show, while the rose likewise a uterine symbol. These duels represent courtship, and their loss represents (often with melodramatic trauma) romantic rejection and humiliation. As the "Rose Bride" and trophy awarded to the champion duelist, Anthy Himemiya is the personification of the procreative potential of Woman's womb. The aspirations of a variety of characters to possess Anthy, is a representation of their desire to gain mastery over their assorted romances. Utena continues to miraculously win these duels so long as she fights on behalf of Anthy with "pure" and unromantic intentions.

Akio Ohtori and Anthy Himemiya: [*FOR THE REVOLUTION OF THE WORLD spoilers*]

Akio and Anthy are first introduced in the second story arc as a charming pair of brother and sister. Yet Akio and Anthy immediately appear as a dramatic contrast in both role and stature. Where Anthy is exceptional in her passivity and submissiveness, Akio is just as uncanny in his booming voice and dominating presence. Anthy is a quiet and lonely girl who waters roses and generally goes unnoticed, while Akio is the Chairman of the Ohtori Academy. It is noticeable that the word “Chairman” indicates a majority stockholder of a modern corporation, unlike “Prince” which alludes to a “Prince du Sang” of the fuedal Ancien Regime. This bourgeois title in a fantasy-gothic Academy hints at the illusory nature of the setting. The superficial charm of Akio and Anthy also masks their cosmic significance.

Akio Ohtori is the Chairman of the Academy, who lives atop a tower in the heart of the school. Akio is engaged to the Ohtori’s daughter, which indicates a sort of usurpation through marriage of an original patrimony. In the third season, Akio is revealed to be the mysterious character "End of the World", who has long been orchestrating the duels among the student council.  As with much of the series' symbolism, Akio's role and significance is never made entirely clear. I propose that his pseudonym, "End of the World", reflects his cosmic significance as a supernatural being archetypically associated with a teleological or purposive "End". This "End" appears to be associated with both the mysterious "World Revolution" which is often referred to as the ultimate ambition of the Student Council, as well as the "Rose Seal" which Akio aspires to open. Akio's dominating stature, astounding foresight, and unrivalled seductive prowess buttresses a supernatural interpretation of his character. Akio is unambiguously preeminent as an aristocratic playboy among the characters. Even the monumental escapades of the Student-Council President Touga Kiryuu, appear childish by comparison. It is clear that all women adore him and all men aspire to emulate him. Yet as his character is revealed, it becomes increasingly apparent that his philanderings are more numerous, predatory and whimsical than those of other men.

Anthy Himemiya is titled "the Rose Bride", and she obediently partners herself with whichever duelist triumphs in the dueling arena. The dueling arena is hidden deep inside a forest, complete with the locked entrance and winding staircase which clearly invokes the symbolism of Woman's womb. Although Anthy sometimes subtly and sometimes remarkably demonstrates some design of her own, she is generally portrayed as wholly submissive, instinctively compassionate and absent of a distinct will or selfhood. Although Anthy illustrates that she is not lacking in intelligence or volition, she nonetheless submits to continually portray herself as though she were. In the final season, it is revealed that Anthy suffers unspeakable agony as "the Rose Bride", with the ceaseless penetration of harrowing multitude of steel swords. It seems that her voluntary humbling of her self-worth and assertiveness is the result of her selfless endurance of the agony of "the Rose Bride". She has nonetheless willingly endured these torments for all eternity due to her compassion for "Dios" and the world. When describing her suffering to Utena Tenjou, Anthy revealing tells Utena that "In the end, girls are all like Rose Brides"; a curious statement which implies that Anthy is somehow an archetype of womanhood in whose characteristics and suffering, all girls participate in.

Like Akio, the cosmic significance of Anthy is never unambiguously revealed. However, if Akio has supernatural and cosmic significance, then as Akio's twin-sister it is reasonable to presume that Anthy shares in this significance. Yet Anthy demonstrates characteristics of submissiveness, passivity, and docility entirely inimical to Akio's god-like stature. I propose that their opposed characteristics indicate that Akio and Anthy are likewise the most extreme embodiments of the polar-archetypes of Man and Woman- in all of their unflattering and horrific excesses. This interpretation is buttressed by the respective sites of these characters’ principal importance: Akios’ phallic observatory tower and Anthy's Hidden Castle held aloft in the uterine dueling arena forest.

In the final season, Utena is told a story from the distant past in which Anthy was a witch who comforted Dios when he had become exhausted and ill from "helping mankind". Anthy's compassion leads Dios to repose and cease assisting mankind, which evinces the intense hatred of men. The cosmic significance of Dios in this past setting is unclear, however the results are illuminating: the nursing aid which Anthy provides appears to allow Dios to rest from his labors, after which he ceases to perform his princely function. "Dios" is recollected yet never on stage (notice the similarity to the Latin word for God, 'Deus'). Akio is "the End of the World"; a god-figure who has seemingly replaced "Dios" just as he has usurped the patrimony of the Ohtori Academy. If Akio has replaced Dios and his cosmic significance is found in the teleological end, then it is plausible that Dios's significance was alternatively found in the beginning. If Dios is "the Beginning of the World", then he must be the progenitor and creator of the universe, whose labors represent Creation. When Anthy nurses Dios after his labors, she allegorically arouses the intense hatred of a crowd of rioters, who represent humanities judgment. Nursing Dios was the crime for which Anthy is consigned to eternal torment. If Anthy is a personification of womanhood whose torments are likewise participated in by "all girls", then Anthy's crime for which she and they are tormented must transpire at the beginning of time, concurrently with the Dios’s creation- "the Beginning of the World".

This primordial resting of Dios and nursing of Anthy therefore represent a theodicy; or the supernatural origin of Evil. As Dios would later be replaced by the more malevolent Akio, these evils are presumably those associated with the archetypes of Man and Woman, as they pertain to love, sex and romance. Dios was, in the beginning, a heroic demiurge, or architect of the Universe, whose misdeed was to seek comfort in the care and compassion of Anthy Himemiya. Anthy was in the beginning a diminutive witch whose selfless aid to Dios caused him to abandon his herculean task of cosmogenesis. The repose of Dios is a cessation of his demiurgic labors in the service of all humanity, and the private care and intimate companionship of Woman, as Anthy. In episode 38, Akio describes how the "When she [Anthy] became known as a witch Dios, the Prince, vanished from this world. The Prince I was no longer exists." Although Anthy's aid was apparently altruistic, her actions are nonetheless the cause for the cessation of the divine labors of Dios. If Dios and Anthy are here interpreted as the primordial first Man and Woman, then their private companionship is likewise the first romance. Anthy, as Woman, is a temptress who like Eve naively brought evil into the world. Dios, as Man, is like Adam the irresponsible first Man whose love for Anthy allows Evil to enter into the world. Although love may appear innocent, it is irreversibly tainted with criminality from its first beginnings. 

In Plato's dialog "The Symposium", the great Athenian playwright Aristophanes tells a myth in which people long ago had two bodies, with two faces and two limbs turned away from one another. Aristophanes describes how these double-persons were very powerful than today and comprised of three sexes rather than two: twin males, twin females, and a mixed pair of one male and one female body. In their pride, these creatures attempted to climb to the heights of Heaven and attack the gods. As punishment, Zeus crippled them by dividing them into separate beings; some male and some female. Consequently, people today expend their time ceaselessly searching to unite with their lost "other half", and therefore cannot foreseeably challenge the gods. As the first conjugal union of Man and Woman, Dios and Anthy are likewise the parents of all later men and women. When Utena confronts Akio about his incestuous relations with Anthy, he appears wholly unconcerned and describes that Utena is just as guilty as he. That Anthy and Akio's relations are not "unnatural" follows from their cosmic significance as the archetypal embodiments of Man and Woman.  Their incestuous relations represent the procreative coupling, or "incest", of a formerly divided humanity. If the romance of Dios and Anthy at the beginning of time was the consummation of the archetypal personifications of Man and Woman, then their progeny would comprise all of humanity. Furthemore, the romance and sexual reproduction of all later men and women would perpetually reproduce the original love and crime of Dios and Anthy. Just as Dios reposed in Anthy's care, so are all later men and women are irreversibly attracted to one another in a never-ending repetition of this “original sin”- the romance of Dios and Anthy Himemiya.

In the beginning Dios was both benevolent and interventionist. Yet with the introduction of evil, Dios is replaced with Akio; an archetypal Man who is ever-more predatory, aloof and seemingly unconcerned with the suffering of humans. Apart from Utena's dreams and the illusions of the Arena, Dios is alluded to yet entirely absent from the stage. In her dreams Utena is told by Dios that "He[the Prince] is now 'End of the World'". If Dios has been replaced by Akio, how this has occurred and what this might signify is a mystery. While Akio's powers are immense, his appearance, characteristics, and limitations distinguish him from an omnipotent and benevolent architect of the Cosmos. Furthermore, there occasionally occur “miracles” which greatly astonish Akio, indicating there to be hidden supernatural powers of which he has no knowledge or participation.   

In Utena's dreams (which in the world of illusions must reveal reality) Anthy is shown to be continuously pierced by a multitude of steel shafts and swords; an agony which represents the coitus and impregnation of Woman by Man and the very climactic moment of romance and reproduction. The pains of possessiveness, coitus, childbearing, birth, and nursing are felt most intensely by women. As the personification of all women, Anthy suffers eternal torment commensurate with the pains of all women. In episode 37, Anthy and Akio are displayed hurtling fiercely down the road. Anthy cries out in pain as Akio grimaces and accelerates. Akio distressingly tells Anthy: "In pain, Anthy? Well, I'm not the one who causes it. The world does!" Although Anthy suffers immeasurably, she nonetheless freely undertakes this burden. When Utena confronts Akio with the challenge that he had made Anthy a witch, Akio responds: "No. We both love each other. She can no longer be happy except like this". Akio explains to Utena: "A child like you cannot understand my ideals. The Rose Bride exists for ideals you do not know." As the archetype of Womanhood, Anthy's sacrifice preserves the romance, reproduction, and continuity of humanity. Although it is not as apparent, Akio too suffers and occasionally weeps in his role as the archetypal personification of Man. Both Akio and Anthy appear to share a supernatural concern for human destiny and sexual continuity, which would be inexplicable if Anthy and Akio were merely mortal humans.

Analysis of the Characters: [*Minimal Spoilers*]

Apart from Akio and Anthy, all of the principal characters in "Revolutionary Girl Utena" are themselves archetypal representations of distinctive romances; either as lovers, friends or siblings. There are eight characters involved in the "Rose Council" arena-duels: Akio, Anthy, Touga, Utena, Miki, Juri, Saionji, and Nanami. Of these, there are four men and four women:

Anthy - archetypal Woman
Utena - noble and naive tomboy
Juri - aloof strong willed lesbian
Nanami - comical insecure girl

Akio - archetypal Man   
Touga - treacherous preeminent playboy   
Miki - compulsive aloof intellectual    
Saionji - abusive aspiring playboy   

Of these characters, there are eight important relationships:

Utena - Anthy:     Best friends
Utena - Touga:     Unsuccessful romantic relationship
Utena -Akio:  Brief romantic relationship
Anthy -Akio:  Eternal romantic relationship
Touga - Nanami:  Devoted brother and sister
Touga - Saionji:  Estranged best friends
Miki - Kozue: Estranged brother and sister
Juri - Shiori: Estranged lesbian relationship

Touga Kiryuu: Touga is the President of the supremely important Student Council, as well as the preeminent playboy on campus; complete with godlike charm and appearance. Touga is uncannily aristocratic in dress and poise, and commonly corrects the moral and intellectual mistakes of his fellow council-members. Although Touga generally appears magnanimous, he occasionally reveals his hidden contempt for his friends, whom he is too willing to betray for his own pleasure and ambition. Touga aspires to dominate the duels of the Student Council arc, which are associated with childhood romance. However, he is ultimately unable to gain "the power to revolutionize the world", and afterwards reflects upon his infantile domination of naïve girls in this adolescent phase. As Touga is unable to realize this ambition, he cannot become the equal of Akio. The unrealizability of his ambitions eventually leads him to reconsider his playboy lifestyle. Although Touga has no romantic fixations, his principal passion of gaining the fantastic power to "Revolutionize the World" is his dramatic conflict.

Miki Kaoru: Micki is a kind, intelligent and intensely compulsive young man. His recurrent motif is the thought of musical notation and the checking of his stop-watch. Despite the adoration of many women, Miki remains too stern and aloof to womanize as Touga and Saionji do. His romantic longings are the result of his nostalgia for the childhood companionship of his twin-sister Kozue, with whom he continues to room despite their evident maturity. Miki is contemptuous of Kozue due to her imbecility and promiscuous relations with men. His aloofness and disinterestedness towards women in general may be an extension of this relationship with his sister.

Saionji Kyouichi: Saionji is Touga's dueling partner and long-time best friend, often displayed riding a tandem bike behind Touga. Saionji is the first dueling champion whose abuse towards Anthy motivates Utena to become a duelist in her defense. Saionji is continually frustrated by his unrealized ambition to match the heights of Touga's prestige. Although he shares in the appearance and womanizing of Touga, he is shown to be inferior in charm and subtlety. Touga comes to feel contemptuous of Saionji for these deficiencies, and their friendship is estranged. Saionji is often presented as a satire of an arrogant, cruel and over-aggressive man with anxieties of impotence and inferiority. Saionji's comical frustration is the source of his dramatic conflict.

Juri Arisugawa: Juri is the strong-willed and aloof captain of the fencing team, whose outward nobility hides an embarrassing weakness. Juri obsessively maintains an infatuation with the girl Shiori who taught her to believe in miracles, and afterward betrayed her trust by stealing away her boyfriend. Juri is a terrific fencer and the most noticably stern, athletic and masculine woman. Although both Juri and Miki intend to remain aloof from romance, Juri's explicit sapphic attraction towards Shiori continues to trouble her.

Nanami Kiryuu: Nanami is the fiercely devoted sister of Touga, for whom she has a "big-brother complex". She aspires to be the first woman in Touga's life and for this reason resents his incessant womanizing. Nanami is often the subject of the shows' satirical portrayal of women. She comically aspires to embody the archetype of esteemed womanhood, yet instead exemplifies all the frivolities, insecurities, and pompousness which are associated with the silliest aspects of women. In this regard, she is the female equivalent of Saionji's frustrated attempts to realize the archetype of manhood. Both characters idolize and aspire to achieve the awesome prestige of Touga, and therefore suffer from a relation of inferiority which they come to resent.

Utena Tenjou: Utena is an orphaned and assertive tomboy whose compassion for Anthy motivates her to defend Anthy from the other duelists. Late in the show, Utena reveals that her friendship with Anthy is “pure” and presumably not erotic like Juri’s sapphic relationship with Shiori. When compared with the manipulative or erotic relationships of the other charactesr, Utena and Anthy can be considered the most devout and authentic friends of “Revolutionary Girl Utena”. Utena’s pride, princely ambition, and fierce loyalty to Anthy permit her to long remain aloof from the tangled romances which the other characters partake in. Several men court her, yet for much of the show no man succeeds in seducing her. Her unavailability and personal magnanimity nevertheless attracts to her the greatest of suitors, whose affections she cannot remain forever without. This dramatic conflict between Utena’s ambition to be a Prince, who protects Anthy her figurative princess, and her romantic longings to be the object of a man’s affection, or a Princess, is a microcosm of the series’ broader conflict between the characters' autonomous individual actualization and sexual determinism. 

[*More Spoilers*]

In defending and befriending Anthy, Utena intends to similarly emancipate Anthy from her perpetual role as the “Rose Bride”. When the series begins, Anthy presents herself to the champion duelist (then Saionji) as wholly subservient, passive, and compassionate. After defending Anthy from abuse, Utena befriends her without the foreknowledge of Anthy’s cosmic significance. Utena intends to continually defend Anthy from the duelists while teaching her to be more assertive, self-actualized, and to eventually find new friends. Insofar as Utena intends, through example and education, to inspire Anthy to become an autonomous woman, her emancipatory role has the semblance of heroic feminism combating the abuses of concubinage and sexual determinism. As Anthy is both the first woman and archetypal personification of the suffering of all women, her emancipation by Utena then embodies the historical dialectic between patriarchal obedience and liberal feminist autonomy. It is questionable whether Utena ever fully realizes the cosmic, rather than merely personal, significance of her role as Anthy’s liberator, and could thereby be correctly described as a self-conscious feminist. The ahistoricity of “Revolutionary Girl Utena”, implies that it cannot simply be interpreted as historically situated in the modern era. “Revolutionary Girl Utena” rather subtly avoids any explicit ideological references to feminism, while advancing Utena as a non-ideological moral exemplar whose “pure” friendship with Anthy motivates her heroism.

It is notable that none of the other characters in "Revolutionary Girl Utena" so extremely embody the masculine and feminine characteristics as do Akio and Anthy. If the romance of Dios and Anthy at the beginning of time was the consummation of the archetypal personifications of Man and Woman, then their progeny would comprise all humanity, which would afterwards be divided into the two sexes of men and women. All later humans would, as in "the Symposium", be particular instantiations of these primordial archetypes of Man and Woman. However, no later human could thereafter instantiate these archetypes with the characteristics of masculinity and femininity as completely and unreservedly as this original couple. As all later humans are the result of this consummate union, they then share in some relative portion of the characteristics of both Anthy and Akio. The relative instantiation of masculine and feminine characteristics explain the distinct romances and aspirations of the characters. For this reason, much of the dramatic tension among the characters results from their inability to achieve or subvert, in their person, these ideal archetypes of Man and Woman. 

Much of the psycho-imagery and recollection follows upon the private experiences and memories of the characters. These ecstasies of regret and expectation are possible because, in “Revolutionary Girl Utena”, time and space are presented as entirely subjective to the characters' private experience. If much of the drama of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" is interpreted as the personal illusion of Utena Tenjou, then the cast may plausibly be considered to be the archetypes of girlish romantic fantasies. This in interpretation is supplemented by the flamboyant hair of the duelists which encompasses the whole of the color spectrum from blue purple to red. With this understanding, Akio is clearly the supreme representative of aristocratic Manhood, whom Touga idolizes and aspires to equal. Similarly, Saionji and Nanami idolize Touga and aspire to match his prestige according to the distinctive archetypes of their sex. Utena and Juri are both masculine women with female companions, yet Utena's relationship is fraternal while Juri's is romantic. Utena and Micki are noticeably less concerned with romance than the other characters, yet remain attached to the women, Anthy and Kozue respectively.

Progression of the Series:

The philosophic initiation of the characters into the mysteries of the sexually charged duels, and the illusions surrounding the Ohtori Academy, is representative of these characters' psycho-sexual maturation from childhood fantasy into the adult knowledge of the “real” world. This awakening is memorably described alternatively as "escaping from [their] coffins" and "crack[ing] the world's shell". This psycho-sexual initiation echoes the Platonic ascent of the philosopher from the Cave of illusions to the world of the Real. In Plato's dialog "the Phaedrus", Socrates describes how learning wisdom is similar to the initiation of pederasty. As a wise man must teach his pupil that his thoughts are inadequate, the pupils' most intimate ideas must be exposed and humiliated before the pupil can attain true wisdom. This theme of philosophic and psycho-sexual initiation is represented in the three thematically distinct story arcs of "Revolutionary Girl Utena"; each of which contain distinctive psycho-sexual imagery. Each thematic arc represents a more advanced stage of romance and maturation, which concludes in the final episodes, or the "Absolute Destiny Apocalypse", when the true meaning of the themes and cosmology of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" is finally revealed to Utena and the audience.

The first is the Student Council Arc with episodes 1 to 13, during which Utena duels with the members of the Student Council culminating in a two-part duel the Student Council President, Touga. These duels are openly challenged in person by the combatants. The conclusion of these duels are characterized by a loss of innocent expectations of idyllic romance. Much remains unexplained and modern machines rarely intrude into the fantasy-gothic setting. Throughout this arc, the characters retain an undisturbed psychic unity which is then fragmented upon their first loss of a duel. The childhood psychic unity is represented by the featurelessness of the arena which hints that the romantic illusion remains believable.

The second is the Black Rose Arc with episodes from 14 to 24, during which time Utena duels with the romantic partners of the Student Council. These duels are initiated by psychologically vulnerable and psycho-therapeutically manipulated characters, whose challenge is issued in secret with a letter in Utena's locker. The psychologists’ ambition of self-discovery through ingenious research is a preeminent anxiety, which mirrors modern man's troubled understanding of himself. The imagery of these duels is of death, descent into an abyss, and self-annihilation. The challenger's desire to duel arises after intense psychological introspection into the innermost macabre concepts of sadism, excess, death and rebirth. Throughout this arc the characters struggle with the consequences of their prior romantic humiliation, as well as the resulting fragmentation of their original psychic unity. This fragmented self is represented by the multitude of swiftly-collapsing desks which hold aloft the objects of their desire.

The third is the Akio Ohtori Arc with episodes from 25 to 39, during which Utena duels all of her former opponents in pairs. These duels are excitedly initiated by the Student Council members, as well as their lovers from the "Black Rose" arc, after a ride in Akio's supernatural automobile; his chariot of enlightenment. This automobile ride with Akio represents an ecstatic initiation into the true meaning of love and romance. The acceleration of the automobile approaches a distant of point on the horizon of infinite movement and intensity. This forthcoming singularity represents the climactic moment of consummation when the world dizzyingly drifts away and all that is left is the eternal now. The duelists who emerge from this experience appear with complete knowledge of love, romance and the Real. Akio's automobile is a deus ex machina, a god-machine, with which he imparts the duelists with divine illumination of reality. This ride restores the duelists to their psychic unity, yet initiated with a zealously renewed purpose.

Conclusion: "the Revolution of the World" [*ABSOLUTE DESTINY APOCALYPSE spoilers*]

All of the characters struggle to resolve their romantic fixations and anxieties, coming to the fullest realization of their social and romantic selfhood in "Revolutionary Girl Utena"'s final arc. This conclusion of the series and teleological end of the characters' maturation is the actualization of their "Absolute Destiny Apocalypse".  In conformity to her childhood dream, Utena Tenjou is offered an idyllic marriage with Akio, her prince, as her reward for triumphing in the duels. In a typical fairy-tale, this would be the conclusion of the drama. However Utena rejects this escapist fantasy and rather fulfills her princely ambitions by challenging Akio, "the End of the World", to a duel to liberate Anthy. At this moment when the cross-dressing Utena challenges the god-figure Akio to liberate her girlfriend Anthy, "Revolutionary Girl Utena" could most plausibly be interpreted as a feminist allegory. In this final duel, Akio reveals how he had scripted the "fairy-tale" illusions of the duels, the arena and the inverted castle. Akio discloses his metaphysical preeminence when he describes how "there is no place higher than this room [the Planetarium]. This room is the summit of the Ohtori Academy; the summit of the world itself." Akio discloses that the prior duels had been arranged as an illusion without any real danger, while victory in a duel against him is both dangerous and impossible. In this climactic scene, Utena is backstabbed by Anthy with the Sword , as she will not allow Utena to interfere with her cosmic role as the "Rose Bride". Akio's revelation and the injury of Utena demonstrate that this final duel is entirely real, rather than merely an illusion. As the embodiment of all women, Anthy's betrayal represents the betrayal of Utena's emancipatory ambitions by her womanhood- the biological determinism of her sex. Utena then collapses and concedes that she could never have become a prince. As Utena renounces her princely ambitions, it appears that sexual determinism has triumphed over an emancipatory feminist narrative.

How does Akio intend to "Revolutionize the World"? Consider that to 'revolutionize' something is to overturn and make something anew. The conflicts of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" are centered on romance, sexuality and gender roles. There it must be this sexual-order which the duelists intend to "revolutionize". However, the sexes were biologically fixed as Man and Woman in the beginning with the "original sin" of Dios and Anthy's primordial union. With this knowledge, Akio may conspire to "Revolutionize the World" to reverse this "original sin", whose result has been the "fallen" romances of Man and Woman. He aspires to gain the demiurgic potential which Dios possessed in the beginning before "the Fall", so that he might recreate the cosmos by his design. Akio appears to require to duelists to gain this potential, and to have coordinated these duels many times previously at the Ohtori Academy. The duels represent the contest of wills between lovers in a traumatic romance. With these duels, it may be the frustrated passions of the duelist's love, incarnated in their swords drawn from the heart, which grants Akio "the power to Revolutionize the World". All of the duelists covet this power, but none are fully aware of its nature nor can feasibly achieve it. As no finite being can overturn and reconstruct the order of the cosmos, the characters' initiation eventually discloses to them the futility of their ambition. This realization, along with the actualization of their sexed role in the order of the universe, allows these characters to be contented with their humility and finitude. If feminism means a revolutionary emancipation from these sexed roles, then the characters of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" concede that this option as an impossibility. Characteristically Utena and Touga are the last to surrender their fantastic ambitions.

After the final duel between Utena and Akio, Anthy submits to be immolated by a ceaseless torrent of steel swords from every direction. As the swords are phallic and Anthy is the embodiment of Woman, this self-sacrifice represents the consummation of the Child within Woman's womb. Anthy appears to submit to this and Akio to allow it, because both believe it to be inevitable and necessary for the procreation and continuity of humanity. Anthy must continually be sacrificed and rebirthed to allow for perpetual sexual reproduction. Like the transience of memory and generations, she is continually borne anew with the natural world, while Akio remains eternal and unchanging like the Platonic Forms. At this moment of consummation, Akio intends to force open the now revealed "Rose Seal" which is thought to contain within it "the Power to Revolutionize the World". The intentions of the characters in this scene might only be explained if their symbolic actions had supernatural cosmic significance. As consummation constitutes the creation of an entirely new person, this Rose Seal in this moment uniquely contains the hidden power of Woman’s womb- creation ex nihilo! Although Utena is stabbed by Anthy, she nonetheless struggles to release Anthy and succeeds- to Akio's bewilderment- in opening the "Rose Seal", which reveals a coffin in which a reborn Anthy sleeps. Utena had heretofore enjoyed the aid of miraculous intervention in her duels because she was uniquely uninterested in the romances or ambitions of the other duelists, and rather dueled in defense of her friendship with Anthy (recall that Utena's only loss occurred in the Episode 12 when she briefly fancied Touga). Many of the characters allude to the power of "Eternity" and "Miracles" which lies hidden in the heights of the inverted Castle. What this could mean is not clearly revealed, yet it seems that due to Utena's selfless courage she enjoys this power's favor. This is likely the origin her miraculous opening of the "Rose Seal". Upon doing so Utena desperately reaches for Anthy's hand with which to pull her from the coffin. She cannot do so and the swords which had formerly been directed at the sacrificial Anthy are suddenly redirected towards Utena. Then the camera pans away as Utena's body is immolated as a surrogate sacrificial Bride, in Anthy’s place.

In the final scenes, Utena is revealed to have apparently died and then been forgotten by next years' students of the Ohtori Academy. The possession of loved ones, like the eternity of memories, is a principal theme in “Revolutionary Girl Utena” which continually highlights the private experience of time and space.  That Utena had died and been forgotten emphasizes that eternity, fame and remembrance, like friendship and romance, are ultimately impossible to achieve. The new students occupy the same spaces as Utena's classmates without an appreciation of its emotional significance; alluding to the ephemeral quality of memory, emotion and self-importance in the succession of generations. Akio is shown working at a heretofore unseen desk with piles of paperwork, planning to recruit a new group of student duelists. Upon politely asking for, rather than commanding, Anthy's assistance, she informs Akio that she is leaving the Academy to search for Utena. Akio's desk and paperwork, like his car and planetarium, represent the distinctively non-heroic bourgeois culture of the modern world, in contrast to the former aristocratic dress of the 18th century Ancien Regime. The conclusion of "Revolutionary Girl Utena" announces the psychological and cultural shift from the pre-modern to the modern world. As Anthy leaves, she is therefore depicted as an independent woman, walking assertively and wearing modern cosmopolitan clothes. As Utena was the consummate surrogate-sacrifice, Anthy intends to search for Utena as she is reborn as the "Rose Bride". Utena's self-sacrifice exemplifies the theme that, although maternity forever requires self-sacrifice for the chain of generations, the bonds of friendship shared among women can elevate the conscience of all women from the condition of the "Rose Bride" to that of the heroic "Prince".

Download the illustrated PDF:  http://drop.io/avm5xgt/asset/a-platonic … -utena-pdf

Last edited by thepopeami (07-17-2010 05:37:23 PM)