This is a static copy of In the Rose Garden, which existed as the center of the western Utena fandom for years. Enjoy. :)
I found a Wikipedia article about female relationships in Japanese schools. It seems to have some bearing on Utena.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_S_%28genre%29
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Do you mean it has bearing on Utena and Anthy's relationship? Because I can totally see their relationship being a friendship that is just slightly romantically tinged. It kills the yuri fan in me, but yeah, I can see their relationship being a Class S.
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I always see their relationship as being more about love than about sexuality. Regardless, I think the wilkipedia article is implying that sexuality was a common part of "Class S" relationships. I absolutely know I've heard of this before in that context.
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It's an outdated concept, as noted in the article. It was a literary thematic from the early twentieth century, and has no bearing on Utena except insofar as Utena is descended from classic shoujo like Rose of Versailles and Onii-sama e, which were themselves more directly influenced by and descended from the "Class S" line of thought.
Regardless, I think the wilkipedia article is implying that sexuality was a common part of "Class S" relationships. I absolutely know I've heard of this before in that context.
Quite so, or it would be more correct to say that it was a way for the society of the time to discount genuine lesbian attraction as something less threatening. As stated in the article, Yoshiya Nobuko was herself a lesbian with a lifelong female partner to whom she left all her worldly goods - except that Yoshiya's family did not allow her posthumous wishes to be fulfilled.
In any case, I think Ikuhara's well-known intentions for the characters go far beyond even the broadest interpretation of the concept.
Last edited by Aelanie (07-13-2013 10:31:33 PM)
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I actually always thought that Wakaba/Utena was closer to what Class S is supposed to look like. Two female friends have somewhat of a romantic/sexualized dynamic without actually going there, then one of the girls finds a boy and "grows up" aka starts liking some dude and completely leaves her friend in the dust for the guy. Thankfully, Wakaba doesn't roll that way, she's still definitely friends with Utena after she has her Saionji drama. But she really isn't around as much after all that, is she? (Until she realizes Utena and Anthy are living with Akio... ) That could be just as much because Utena is getting more and more wrapped up in the craziness with the duels and all that comes with them, but the way I see it, the Utena/Wakaba dynamic is supposed to reflect a more stereotypical Class S relationship on some level to foil against Utena/Anthy which is pretty detached from Class S. The idea of Class S is that once they discover boys they'll pretty much forget about each other. With U&A, they end up having nothing to do with any portrayed male love interests, and instead their love for each other (though ambiguous) is deemed stronger and Anthy goes to look for her instead of taking the easy route and staying put. Really, they went through a lot to hopefully get their someday together, and in Class S the relationship is supposed to mean nothing in the long run and fall by the wayside.
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I'll be honest. I was horrible person and completely forgot about Wakaba being so affectionate with Utena. Class S makes more sense with her.
I'll go stand in the corner for being so horrible.
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I've spoken about this before, but I think that Class S is very similar to the old concept of romantic friendships in Western culture, if not the same.
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