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feeling: really freaking hot, and short of breath from the mugginess
listening to: Cowboy Bebop - Rain
Big Utena Spoilers beyond this point! it's been a while...
Anthy's glasses are hiding something. From her, or from those around her... that is what I haven't decided about yet.
Yeah, remember in the blog after my Black Rose deciphering blog, when I said I'd just watched the last two Utena eps again and noticed a couple more things, but didn't feel like making a spoiler blog? I don't feel like it now either, but I'm gonna try anyway, before it slides out of my roasting brain. Actually, one of those new things I've already forgotten... >_< *kicks self* But the other I remember. Just as the final duel was about to begin, while Akio was just starting his attempts to break Utena's confidence once and for all, Rose Bride Anthy stood behind him, and the glare on her glasses hid her eyes. This happens many times throughout the series, and I was never really able to figure out why. But this new occurrence of it puts me a liiiittle closer to an answer. Ok... Akio was blabbering on, when Anthy, glasses glaring, all of a sudden collapsed to the ground - and the glare did not go away even as her head swayed and dropped. Normal glares don't do that; they move when the light moves, or when the thing they're glaring off of moves. So how could this glare remain in place while Anthy was moving? Come to think of it, in some of the previous instances of Anthy's glasses glowing, she was in dark locations with minimal light to glare...
Well, anyway, to fill out the scene... Anthy collapses. Utena watches and expresses concern, but Akio tells her not to worry - Anthy is "right over there". He points toward some stairway of some sort, leading into the castle or something, I think... and there's Anthy, lying seemingly unconscious on the steps, wearing a little red dress that is not her Rose Bride dress, and with her hair down and cascading around her. And not wearing her glasses. Now, this sudden "teleportation" brings up many questions of its own (that's not the only time it happens, either)... but I'm not gonna go into them here, because my poor mind is too fried to theorize on the tough stuff right now. I'm sticking with the glasses.
So, this new glare that moves along with Anthy as she falls to the ground indicates to me that the glasses are definitely hiding something - at least when they're in "glare mode". I haven't decided, though, whether they're hiding something from her or from the people around her. Because when the glare is there, no indication is given that she can't still see through it, but also none is given that she can. It usually comes up when she's standing perfectly still, and usually there's no one else around to see it (that or she's behind everyone)... except in that last episode, where she was directly facing Utena. I don't know if Utena noticed the glare, since she was busy being undermined by Akio, but she could have seen it. I don't think anyone saw it any other time it appeared.
Anyway... but yeah. The problem is, right now I can't remember all of the scenes in which the glare appeared. I remember a few, but I can't really pinpoint a common link between them that would give some clue as to the glare's purpose. All I do know is that it's creepy looking. *_* Which I guess is a clue in itself... in this show, anything that looks creepy... generally is creepy. Of course, pretty much everything is creepy in this show, even the innocent looking stuff... but point being, if it stands out as being creepy, it was definitely intended to be taken that way. I think so, at least.
Actually, there might be one link between those glare scenes... I think that it only shows up in situations where Anthy becomes angry or otherwise witchy. Her witchiness isn't always 100% obvious, remember. Once the glare appeared as she slowly waved and whispered a creepy "bye-bye..." to Akio as he drove away with Utena for a date. Normally her speech is very sweet sounding, in the respectful sense. But in that scene it's just... not. o_o I can't tell if it's anger (that Akio took Utena away from her), or sad/lonely (same reason), or like, discreetly malicious. But it's not sweet sounding. Another situation in which her voice carries that same tone, the "witchy" tone: when she's alone in the planetarium talking to Akio on the phone. The glare is there, too. There are other scenes with the witchy voice, but I can't recall which ones at the moment... but about the glare in that "bye-bye..." scene - she was standing in the exact same location and position before Akio drove off, and before Utena even got into the car... but the glare wasn't there until after they took off. The light didn't change, her position didn't change... but the glare appeared.
But yeah, most of the situations in which the glare appears are situations in which I would expect to see the "witch look" on Anthy's face. The witch look is this reeeally creepy look she gets where her eyes go all narrow and flat, and she just looks... *shiver* But there are places where we see the witch look without the glare. Like the later ep where Utena and Anthy are in the greenhouse having a pretty serious chat, then Akio just pops in and invites Utena on a horseback ride. Anthy approves with a smile and all, but after they leave her alone in the greenhouse, her smile sloooowly fades and her eyes sloooowly narrow and she dons the "witch look". No glare. All the other instances of the "witch look" occur when she's not wearing her glasses. I'm not sure what's different about that one... maybe they threw it in to show that she really does have thoughts other than "yes, master"? To show what really goes on behind that glare? See, I like that theory. But why would the glare decide not to show up there? What's different about that scene, besides it being a good chance to show viewers what happens behind the glare? Maybe I'm reading too far into that... :P
But as I said, I thiiiink there are scenes where the glare appears where you wouldn't think she'd be doing the "witch look". Can't remember any at the moment, but I seem to remember them being there.
Anyway, so that's my new theory: the glare exists to hide the witch look. Which keeps Anthy's true identity secret. But that still doesn't help me much in figuring out what the glasses are for. >_< Or maybe I'm just too hot and wiped to ponder on that right now...
Speaking of that, I'm gonna cut this short now. Have I mentioned it's really freaking hot? The keyboard is getting all sweaty under my hands.
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dragged from Becky's stream of consciousness at 6/04/2002 10:43:00 PM
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