More ruminations. Akio made a couple key mistakes, but two seem paramount to me, because they made his scemes inherently self-defeating. He needed a prince of the noblest heart to open the Rose Gate, and believed that wielding the sword pulled from that heart would do it. Apparently this was wrong, but then he made it worse: he weakened the heart of the strongest prince (determined by the dueling competition) by seducing her, so he'd be able to take her own sword away. But that, of course, weakened her heart's sword -- making it not strong enough to open the gate, even if that had been the key.

Three things I wish had been shown in the last episode, but weren't for obvious reasons: Where Anthy got the sword she stabbed Utena with, the moment Anthy realized Akio's schemes had failed (and what her reaction was), and what effect Akio's breaking Utena's blade had on her.

---L.