In the last episode, they were talking about how they couldn't remember if Utena had died, graduated or transferred. Intentionally, I would assume, Ikuhara left it up to us to decide what that means. I mean, he seems to do that with most everything in the series.

My interpretation is along the lines of SKU being allegorical for transforming from a child to an adult and coming to terms with who oneself is. So I kind of take graduating/death/etc. as meaning they "grew up" or "moved on" or "recovered from whatever crazy complex they might have had." But in Ruka's case, I really don't know. It didn't quite seem to me like he reached any healthy conclusions before he "died" in either the manga or the anime. Although what he did was along the lines of Utena; he tried to save the person he loved from the other person who was having a notably adverse effect on them. In Utena's case, she succeeded; in Ruka's, it didn't seem to me like he did quite enough.

Eh, really, your guess is as good as anyone else's, I would posit.

Naji made a good point, it's really up to the viewer.

Personally, I like to think he really did die. Didn't his episodes have the comet metaphor in it? It was something along the lines of only being able to shine for a short time and then disappearing; much like Ruka's comeback to Ohtori and the subsequent leave. I guess you can take his "death" in many ways but he really was sick and sometimes people don't make it. Even in anime.

I never thought he died until I came to this site/forum. And then I suddenly realized a whole heap of people thought he did.

They make a VERY good case...

I guess I'm on the fence. I support interpretations of going to the outside world and trying (and prob miserably failing) to "get his shit together".
I also support the idea he turns to ash like a vampire, cos he's so darn old. And ash is dead.
But hang on Tokiko is around...whatsup with that? Hehehe.

Er regardless, he could be dead. Which is great in the sense that it's really depressing. *loves angst*
I also support (and love) the idea of Mamiya running into Anthy in the outside world and finally figuring out that Mamiya is still around, although he's er...devolved...

Yes... yes he did.

LOL Well, thats my opinion at least. I don't I never questioned his dead-ness. I suppose you could definitly see it as allegorical and that he didnt really die, but I suppose I was just so damn happy he left that I never second guessed it. ^_~ Totally what he gets for molesting Juri, good intentioned or no. LOL

Aika

ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL

High Five Katvenklavier, high five.

Aika

maybe i'm being romantic, but i like to think that he didn't die at all...
D;

that he, like Utena, had the strength to leave, though maybe he didn't quite resolve his "unfinished business" before then.
i don't even like Ruka, but it just seems to terribly lonely to think that he recovered just enough from a hospital to come back and try to win eternity for Juri, only to fail. AND DIE.

Last edited by Soukougnan (04-24-2009 12:15:54 PM)

My gut feeling was that he just moved on from Ohtori, making him as good as dead for them, if not literally so. For the shadow girls, since they only seem to exist inside that world, it would probably be the same thing.

I come down on the dead side. Mind you, I'm actually a Ruka fan, and I don't care who knows it. But it seems like a bit of a stretch to assume that he's alive. The Shadow Girls as well as say that he's dead, he's been sick, and there's no evidence anywhere in the show that he DIDN'T die. Besides, it would diminish his horribly horribly angsty story otherwise.

Aaaaaaand. As others have suggested, it doesn't look like Ruka moved on. It looks a lot more like he gave up. Or just plain failed. The idea that he graduated and moved into the outside world, for me, would need some kind of...epiphany. I mean, maybe he realized that "freeing" Juri isn't for him to do, I guess you could call that some kind of enlightenment, but...nah, I think he's dead.

Clarice: And you know, you remind me that I always want more Mikage/Mamiya in the real world fic. But I haven't got the time to write it. [shakes fist at the sky]

Please please please get the time. I love that combo in the real world.

Katz: DING DONG, THE WITCH IS DEAD!

Not quite the reaction I had seeing Juri stand outside the hospital room door but...hilarious nonetheless.

Chani: Ruka is a potential tool. Akio never lets his tools leave his land unless they are completely worthless (i.e Mikage, and even then, I'm not sure if Mikage would be gone), and Ruka has potential still.

A good point. And in line with this point...that means that Mikage could have "lived" before. He could potentially be as old as Anthy (yeah, you heard me, a gazillion years old) and have been the master of hundreds of cycles of black rose duels.

Only I suppose he can't be older than whatever style of clothing those hundred boys who die-by-burning are wearing. Is Professor Nemuro a professor in the 70s? *scratches head* SKU actually tells us when the fire tragedy happens doesn't it? Approximately?

So in that sense he is a future tool, not a past tool. Hmm. *chews thoughtfully on idea*
At any rate more good fodder for Mikage-centric fanfics right here. Get writing authors!

But with Ruka...does Ruka really have potential still? Once Juri has been milked for all the Shiori-manipulation she can be milked for? And presumably Akio is planning on raising up a new generation of duelists, from a new student council, and has done that many times before. Thus Juri's usefulness is outlived (she wasn't the victor). So Ruka is not needed. So Ruka can die.

Lady Chani wrote:

sharnii wrote:

But with Ruka...does Ruka really have potential still? Once Juri has been milked for all the Shiori-manipulation she can be milked for? And presumably Akio is planning on raising up a new generation of duelists, from a new student council, and has done that many times before. Thus Juri's usefulness is outlived (she wasn't the victor). So Ruka is not needed. So Ruka can die.

As I mentioned, it's not for Juri that Ruka could be kept, but for others, the newer generation. Potentially any of the nameless fencing admirers could become centered on Ruka and become something else.

And, perhaps, Ruka may end up as stuck as Mikage once was (still is?), and will end up being the leader of the next Black Rose Circle.

This is an interesting theory, and I like it. So following on from this, I'd like to ask 'what would Ruka's reason for coming back be'?

do it.