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feeing: brain fried
listening to: Ayumi Hamasaki - Whatever
Dum dum... today we went to a get-together thing for my mom's side of the family... I ate too much and it was waaaaay too hot. *~* In other news, I actually DREW something the other night. I broke my curse! Sort of! @_@ mehehe... I drew a crocodile morph chick with short spiky hair... booya. Of course, it's not done, but it's something I've never done, and it actually looks decent. Woooo.
I'm gonna do something I haven't done in a long time... *rubs hands together*
Big Ol' Utena Spoilers follow this point! nyahaaa
First I am going to spoil the ending of Utena. Then, if I feel like it, I may go into... um, some other aspects of the show. We shall see. So... ending first. That's an oxymoron or something, isn't it? XD Anyway. I have blogged about the ending before, but I've discovered/realized/learned a few new things since then, so this time I'll be going a bit further. Hmm, how to go about this... guess I'll start by giving a face-value walkthrough of the last episode or two, and a very general synopsis of the series to kinda set it up. Here goes~
So, there's this little girl named Utena whose parents die one day. She gets depressed and hides in a coffin next to them. Then a prince, Dios, comes to her and shows her an image of his sister, Anthy, the Rose Bride, impaled by the Million Swords of Hate. Utena asks him to save her, but he says he can't, because she can only be saved by a prince she believes in, and that's not him. He tells the story of how he used to be the Rose Prince who went around rescuing all little girls, and the ones he couldn't save were witches. Well, one day he got sick, so Anthy sealed him in a big castle, causing the hatred of the world to ensnare her in the form of the Million Swords. Dios then tells Utena that he can't save Anthy because he's not the Rose Prince anymore; he's been shown the Ends of the World, which eventually lead him to change paths and become Akio, the deviiiiil. So she says if he won't save Anthy, she'll become a prince and save her herself. So he gives Utena a ring, promising that if she keeps her strength and nobility, it'll lead her to him one day. Then he leaves. Then Utena's no longer depressed and goes on with a new purpose, to become a prince. Cause Dios saved her.
So Utena, at age 14, ends up at Ohtori Academy and gets caught up in these duels, apparently set up by the Ends of the World, whoever that is, and aimed at the school's student council, all of whose members have demons in the closet that make them want to fight these duels. Well, Utena immediately, then consistently, wins the duels she gets into. And as a prize, the winner of the duels is awarded the Rose Bride, Anthy Himemiya, who is said to have the power to gain revloution. This is what all the student council members hope to gain so they can escape their personal demons. So, Utena and Anthy become great friends, Utena taking the role of Anthy's protector, hoping to be her prince - and all the while still searching for the prince who saved her years ago. Dueling desires: is she a prince or a princess? Yay.
Well, eventually, Utena meets Anthy's brother, Akio. The devil. Ends of the World. Formerly Dios, the Rose Prince, now a sex-crazed evil guy who has a talent for manipulating everyone into doing his will, including (and especially) Anthy. Because, see, in actuality the Million Swords of Hate were supposed to be impaling him for eternity... but Anthy, out of love for her brother and a desire to protect him, took the swords for him. And now, his constant manipulation is the only reason she still puts up with having all the world's hatred aimed at her.
Skipping ahead to the last two eps. Utena's final duel, the one who will determine whether she or Akio will be the one to revolutionize the world, is fought against none other than Akio. He starts things out by blabbering, saying stuff that stretches the truth in order to break Utena's confidence and make her not want to duel. Talks about how she's just as sinful as he is, and how she's only fighting because of her own selfish desires to be a prince, that she's not thinking about Anthy at all. He also says that Utena wasn't meant to be a prince because she's a girl; rather, she should be his princess. For a while, it works. But then Utena remembers her heartfelt conversation with Anthy the night before, in which it became clear that Anthy really did believe in Utena, and that Utena was really fighting to protect Anthy. At that point Utena bursts forward and the actual swordfighting begins, and she has Akio on the run. But then, Akio grabs Rose Bride Anthy from behind him and throws her, holding the Sword of Dios, toward Utena. She stands behind Utena, sad-looking, kisses her shoulder, then runs the sword through Utena courtesy Akio's manipulation (of course). Utena falls, Akio takes the sword and tries to open the Rose Gate which leads to the power to revolutionize the world... but he can't open it. Meanwhile, the Million Swords of Hate start flying up out of nowhere and, one by one, impale poor Anthy all over again. So Akio gives up, and Utena claws her way to the thorn-covered Rose Gate and pries it open with her bare, bloody hands. Inside is Anthy, or what I believe is her spirit, her eternal self, lying naked in a coffin, held prisoner by Akio. They try to grab each other's hands, but don't quite make it, and Anthy plummets, leaving Utena hanging halfway off the dueling arena platform thing. Then the Million Swords of Hate all swirl around like crazy, rejoining in a big ol' mad twister and flying towards Utena.
Then we cut to Ohtori Academy, where some faceless girls are chattering off-screen about their futures and stuff. One mentions Utena; the other doesn't recognize the name, so the first reminds her that Utena was the really popular tomboy girl, and the second girl finally remembers. They throw theories on what may have happened to her - expulsion, transfer, hospitalization - but then they drop the subject. Then we see all the student council members in action: Saionji and Touga have a friendly kendo duel while Nanami prepares tea; Miki teaches Tsuwabuki how to use the stopwatch with his twin sister Kozue's help; Juri and her (unrequited) beloved, Shiori, are friends and having friendly fencing matches; and Wakaba, who treated Utena as her own personal prince while she was still around, is glomped by her new best friend, reminiscent of how Wakaba used to glomp Utena. Everyone is happy, and their closet demons are no more. Yet Utena is for the most part forgotten.
Finally, we see Akio ranting about how his dueling game didn't work, because Utena failed to become a prince and revolutionize the world. He tells Anthy he'll be using her again to start a new dueling game. But he doesn't realize that the demons which led the former duelists to fight for Anthy are now gone. He also doesn't realize that Anthy's no longer under his power. She tells him that she won't be doing any of that anymore, that Utena is still out there somewhere, and that she's leaving to find her. She also tells him to please go on being a prince in this cozy little coffin of his forever. Then she sets off on her search for Utena. Fade to black.
You know what? I intended for that to be a face-value synopsis, but I ended up filling it with my own opinions and theories. Oops. XD;; Well, there's still plenty to address, so don't start backing away yet.
Now, here is what I believe was really going on. What really happened to Utena at the end, whether she was successful, etc. This is where I'll include the new stuff I've picked up since my last spoiler blog. Ok. Utena did become a prince, not a princess; she did revoutionize the world; and she is still alive. Here is my reasoning. At the end, Akio did all he could to make Utena a princess and not a prince, and then she did let Anthy fall into nothingness, and the Swords of Hatred converged upon her. But she DID become a prince through all that. Because Akio's manipulation didn't work, and Anthy's sword attack was not fatal. Utena opened the Rose Gate, which stopped the Swords of Hatred dead in the air (remember, till then they were all impaling Anthy one by one). See, as I mentioned earlier, I think the Anthy that's in the coffin behind the Rose Gate is her true, eternal, spirit self, not the physical Anthy who's a student at Ohtori Academy. Even though Utena failed to pull her to safety, she DID succeed in freeing her from eternal suffering when the Million Swords left Anthy and flew at Utena. So she DID save Anthy, thus becoming her prince. And through all this, Utena ultimately freed Anthy and herself from Akio's manipulation, after he learned that he could never again be the prince he once was (when he couldn't open the Rose Gate). In other words, she set everyone free from Akio's power, hence bringing revolution to the world she lived in, which was, of course, Akio's world. This is further evidenced by the student council members' actions in the end; they're free from their ties to Akio and stuff, and they're happy, thanks to Utena's breaking of Akio's manipulative powers. And, yes, Utena is still alive. Cause see, the Millions Swords of Hate that flew at her are not actual, physical swords; they're spirit swords, so they only wound one's spirit. So really, the only wound Utena received in the final duel was the stab from behind from Anthy. And that couldn't have been fatal. Why? Because it penetrated so far off to the side, it couldn't have hit any vital organs. In an overhead shot, it actually looks like she's just got the sword tucked between her ribs and arm, like a kid pretending to have been stabbed. So yeah. The wound wasn't fatal, and after the duel she left Akio's world (the academy) to recover in a hospital. And that, I think, is where she is when Anthy sets out to find her. By the way, notice I keep referring to the academy as Akio's world? That's cause it's a totally different reality than the outside world in which we all live. Students all end up there for one reason or another thanks to Akio, and no matter how well they know each other, when someone leaves Akio's reality, they're forgotten by those they left behind. Someone can die, transfer out, temporarily leave the academy, or even "graduate"; the only thing any of this means is that they've left Akio's reality. And if someone vanishes from a reality, it's as if they were never there. Which is why no one seems to remember Utena at the end.
But here's another theory I've just come up with: people who just temporarily leave the academy, who Akio intends to summon back at some point, are not totally erased from reality. Examples: Shiori only left for a few years, and all that time, Juri pined for her, and everyone who knew her before seemed to know her still. Also, Ruka only left for a few years, hospitalized with a nasty illness; and Juri thought of him often while he was gone. And part two of this theory: people whom Akio is finished with, who leave the academy by death or graduation or whatever, are the ones who are erased from everyone's memories. Example: Ruka again. He comes back only for two episodes, then is hospitalized again and dies this time, and is never mentioned again. Also, the whole Black Rose arc, which I've blogged on before, is based on Mikage and his home base of sorts, Nemuro Memorial Hall. Throughout the arc, characters go by that hall all the time, and everyone who matters enters it at least once. They tell of rumors that it burned down long ago but was rebuilt. Then, at the end of the arc, after Utena defeats Mikage, Akio tells Mikage that he's failed and is no longer needed. He tells Mikage he can now graduate. The next scene shows Utena and Miki walking by the charred remains of a building they can't even remember the name of; it's Nemuro Memorial Hall. It's as if all that time, the building and Mikage never existed. Because Akio released him to die at last - or let him "graduate".
But, see, that brings up some interesting questions about Utena's fate/future. After the final duel, people DID remember her, but only a few, and only vaguely. Maybe because there was a passage of time that wasn't addressed... enough for people who didn't know Utena really well to sorta move on and forget some about her? Cause she was very clearly remembered by Wakaba, and of course, Anthy... there's absolutely no indication given either way as to whether the student council members remember her though. Dunno. But all of that indicates to me that she was not really forgotten, as were Mikage and Ruka. All it suggests to me is that much time passed, allowing people she didn't know well to forget SOME things about her, just like if you knew someone for a long time but wasn't really friends with them and they left and years later you were trying to remember what they looked like. You know? Anywaaaay... if she wasn't forgotten, then based on the theories I mentioned above, that would mean Akio isn't done with her yet, and that she'll return to the Academy one day. Interesting, ne? BUT... on the other hand, one must remember that Utena revolutionized Akio's world, the world she lived in, the world everyone she knew lived in. She did so by cutting off the manipulative power he had over everyone. This would indicate that his reality is no longer under his control after she left, which means that even if he has let her go from Ohtori forever (which it seems like to me, since he thought she failed), she can still exist in everyone's memories because his reality is no longer his own, and it's now part of "real" reality. That made so much sense... I amaze me.
No, but... see what I'm saying? I think the latter is true: that because Utena revolutionized Akio's world, it's no longer his, which means he can no longer control whether or not people who leave remain in the students' memories. I know what I'm talking about. That's all that matters. Cause if I didn't, I'd qualify as insane. Thank you, thank you. :P
Still though, I can't help but wonder whether the student council members remember Utena... or whether anyone will remember Anthy since she left Akio... yay, I love this show.
Ok, I'm done for now. Can't think of anything else to spoil, so I won't. G'nighty.
comment! (0)
dragged from Becky's stream of consciousness at 7/01/2002 12:56:00 AM
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