I just finished seeing UTENA, and my reactions are similar to mareth's.
I see Dios and Anthy2 as the "good, pure" sides of each of the respective folks and Akio and Anthy1 as the "worldly, corruptible" sides of each. As previously said, Utena brings revolution to Anthy's world not only by healing her and merging those back together, but giving her the strength to finally leave the game, which you get the impression that Utena may not have even been the first to have been sucked into (Akio talks about rewriting the rules for the Rose Crest like they either previously failed or he rewrites the game every time).
That said, Akio/Dios' world is never healed, and he remains a broken person.
Would also be the key as to why "never losing nobility" is important. Nobility can be seen as synonymous as purity, perhaps. And while Utena mainly still had that, by allowing herself to even be corrupted slightly be Akio's seduction meant that while her noble side is not yet totally locked away, the wordly side did for brief periods come forth. Which is perhaps, why, in the end she lost.
The main question I have is that since no one really quite remembers who Utena is or what happened, we cannot even be sure if Utena is even alive or if she is what her own mental state would be.
Also of note for anyone who runs across this thread and has seen the UTENA THE MOVIE (which ends quite differently), did anyone notice that Jury's story around the barbecue near in the second to last episode echoes elements of the feature film?
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Late to the party...
Date: 27 September 2005 11:33 pm (UTC)I see Dios and Anthy2 as the "good, pure" sides of each of the respective folks and Akio and Anthy1 as the "worldly, corruptible" sides of each. As previously said, Utena brings revolution to Anthy's world not only by healing her and merging those back together, but giving her the strength to finally leave the game, which you get the impression that Utena may not have even been the first to have been sucked into (Akio talks about rewriting the rules for the Rose Crest like they either previously failed or he rewrites the game every time).
That said, Akio/Dios' world is never healed, and he remains a broken person.
Would also be the key as to why "never losing nobility" is important. Nobility can be seen as synonymous as purity, perhaps. And while Utena mainly still had that, by allowing herself to even be corrupted slightly be Akio's seduction meant that while her noble side is not yet totally locked away, the wordly side did for brief periods come forth. Which is perhaps, why, in the end she lost.
The main question I have is that since no one really quite remembers who Utena is or what happened, we cannot even be sure if Utena is even alive or if she is what her own mental state would be.
Also of note for anyone who runs across this thread and has seen the UTENA THE MOVIE (which ends quite differently), did anyone notice that Jury's story around the barbecue near in the second to last episode echoes elements of the feature film?