larryhammer: floral print origami penguin, facing left (Utena in a green dress)
Larry Hammer ([personal profile] larryhammer) wrote2005-08-04 09:40 pm
Entry tags:

After the SPOILERIFIC apocalypse

More general discussion here.

Okay, let me see if I have this straight. The Anthy and Akio we were seeing were in some sense projections of the bound Anthy and Dios. I'm going to call the original Anthy, the one who bound Dios and was bound, Anthy1 and Utena's friend, the Rose Bride, Anthy2. We meet Anthy1 three times during the series: when Utena comes out of the coffin (as shown in episode 34), in the backstory Dios tells her then (also ep.34: I'm assuming what we were shown was correct, and it was Dios there, and when Akio said it was him he was lying), and in the coffin Utena opens at the end (ep.39).

Possibly because of his time in the world, Akio no longer shared Dios's goals -- he said as much in ep.13. Akio wanted not to free Dios, but (re)take the power of Dios for his own ends. Anthy2 was also changed, though she kept the goal of freeing herself (both selves?), but became willing to do anything to for that goal. Utena's friendship with Anthy2, however, changed her again, to being able to accept love and friendship (which is why Dios picked Utena). But this change was not enough for her to save Utena -- thus the failure of Anthy2 to grasp her hand -- but merely to want to. So while Anthy1 (and possibly Anthy2???) were freed, Utena was lost. But not irredeemably, given Anthy1's departure and vow.

Do I have that straight?

---L.

Re: Late to the party...

[identity profile] shanmuir.livejournal.com 2005-09-29 02:50 am (UTC)(link)
Not as much as nobility and righteousness per se, but it is. Sometimes it seems nobility and purity are used like synoymns, though I'm not sure I agree with that take.

In the second to last episode Akio descrinbes Anthy as a "poor foolish creature" whose "heart was so pure she sacrificed herself for a prince that never even existed". This is why I was thinking of it in application to the Anthy in the coffin and Dios; I find less support at the moment for its application to Utena.

I definitely have some rewatching to do as well...