Revolutionary Girl Utena S1E12: "Perhaps For Friendship's Sake"

Alright. This will be the first episode to come after a real upset in the status quo. And, while Revolutionary Girl Utena wasn't technically released as multiple seasons or cours, it IS divided into unofficial arcs that each appear to be around the standard 12-ish episodes cour length. The wikis all tell me that this is the last episode of the first arc, so I'm guessing it's going to be establishing a new normal and foreshadowing the next big conflict now that Utena has kinda struck out of the previous one.

That also means that this cluster of comissioned episodes will just show me the very beginning of the second "season," which should be interesting. Good or bad, it should be interesting. That's kind of been my experience with this show as a whole, tbh. Even when I don't like it, it at least makes me think (except for when my brain has been punched out by a kangaroo of course. I can't think those times. Those have been rare, but they've happened).

So. Let's go.

Watching the intro, I feel like the show's "seasons" might actually be more built-in than I thought. The OP's visuals notably include a sequence where the student council members and Nanami are framed, antagonistically, with their swords in hand, one by one, in ALMOST the correct chronological order (Miki and Juri are switched for some reason, but otherwise they all appear in the same order that Utena fights them). The OP ends with a shot of Anthy being pulled away from Utena, their outstretched hands yanked apart despite Utena's struggling, and then a final shot of Utena alone in a rose with another big blank rose next to her that - in previous shots - had Anthy in it.

In other words, it's a visual encapsulation of everything that's happened so far, and not really anything that HASN'T happened so far (there is ONE shot of the castle and arena starting to crumble, and Dios stirring in his sleep, but that could just be a slightly-exaggerated allusion to the third Saiyonji fight). Which suggests that it's just the season one OP and we're going to switch to a new one starting next episode.

"Perhaps For Friendship's Sake" starts with a reprise of Touga's parting words to Utena at the end of the previous episode. Only, embellished in an almost dreamlike way to make them worse. Telling Utena that she's just a girl. She never could have aspired to princedom. She was stupid to think she could. Maybe it's her, rather than Anthy, who should be figuring out what being a normal girl means. He notably did NOT say this shit before leaving last ep, so I think this is just Utena's brain tormenting her in her (alleged) prince's voice.

Then, we see a teacher calling class attendance the next morning, and Utena being absent. Which worries both the teacher, and Wakaba, since Utena only very rarely takes off for sickness or the like.

Now, personally, I didn't realize that any of these characters normally went to classes at all. But sure. :p

After class, Wakaba comes to check in on Utena. Who, it appears, has already moved back into a normal dorm room. On top of everything else, the Rose Bride rules really do throw the student housing logistics into chaos, don't they? Utena has her new (old?) door barred and its mail slot plugged, but when Wakaba knocks persistently and identifies herself by voice Utena gives her permission to come in. She finds Utena curled up miserably on her room's top bunk, still in her pajamas.

No roommate? It kinda seems like no roommate.

Or...actually, wait, hold on. Apparently Utena didn't move, Anthy did. This is still the same dorm room, just Anthy moved out.

But...before, we saw them being moved into a special little outbuilding nuptial-dorm thing together? Like, with its own outdoor entrance and stuff?

Weird.

Anyway, when Utena doesn't respond to any of Wakaba's inquiries about her health, she asked where Anthy is. Utena says that that's sort of the crux of her problem, at present. Cue flashback of Anthy clearing out all her stuff and leaving with a respectful bow to her previous fiance before closing the door. Chu-chu, horrifyingly enough, also bows before leaving with a little backpack of his own that's probably full of damned souls or something on his back. Good riddance, to the latter. Possibly the former too, depending on what's really going on with her, but definitely the latter. Back to the present, Wakaba continues trying to cheer Utena up, with little success. Wakaba herself is alarmed to find Utena's badass custom school uniform badly slashed open, laying over the back of a chair.

Mmm. Hmm.

On one hand, the slash doesn't appear to be in the same place where Touga cut the rose off. And he appeared to cut it off pretty neatly, for that matter.

On the other hand, we kind of had this same issue when Touga intercepted Saiyonji's attack a few episodes ago, with injuries/damage not appearing in the places where they should have.

So, did Utena slash up her own uniform in a fit of self-loathing rage? Maybe. Her ridiculously vague answer to Wakaba's question could be meant to hint that she did this herself, or it could just be because the rose duels are semi-secret-ish. Touga also did score some very near misses on her over the course of the duel, so one or two of those could have theoretically cut her uniform in places other than the rose crest spot on the chest.

Could really be either.

In response to Wakaba's ongoing mother hen-ing, Utena finally agrees to come out of her room and attend the rest of her day's classes. She has a spare standard issue uniform laying around in the back of a closet somewhere, she'll get it out. She also, much more alarmingly, turns down Wakaba's offer to sew her custom uniform back together for her. In a way that suggests she no longer intends to use it at all.

Damn, she's really spiraling.

Later that day, Utena and Wakaba walk out across campus, and everyone reacts in surprise to Utena's new look. Many of these commentators telling me without telling me, in the process, that they are clinically blind.

Those uniforms look good on absolutely no one. Not a single person. Anthy manages to make hers look slightly, SLIGHTLY less hideous, and that's literally the least bad that those uniforms have ever looked. Anyone who says this uniform looks good on Utena hasn't seen Utena wearing it.

And yet, the consensus seems to be that this is the best Utena has ever looked. And, hilariously, that this is the happiest and most naturally she's ever seemed.

Now, considering that Utena's unique look and reputation as the tomboy champion of the school's underclassman girls is what earned her her popularity in the first place and that most of these girls wouldn't even know her name if not for them? This is almost certainly just the razzle-dazzle spell of novelty. They think she looks amazing because she looks different from usual. If she keeps wearing this standard uniform for a couple weeks though, they'll just forget that there was ever anything memorable or interesting about Utena in the first place.

Wakaba comments on how much everyone seems to like Utena's new look, but she has a very troubled expression on her face as she points it out. Like she not only knows it's hideous, but also is weirded out by everyone else seeming to like it. She also, seemingly bowing to peer pressure, comments on how happy Utena looks in this outfit. While looking about as happy about it as Utena herself does.

They walk forward together for another moment, neither saying anything to the other, as the peanut gallery continues to be stupid. Then, Anthy happens to walk by. Or..."happens" to walk by. You can really never tell with Anthy. She greets them politely, and Utena seems to come to life again a little as they exchange hellos and how-are-yous. Then Anthy bids them goodbye and walks on passed, leaving Utena looking even more miserable than she was before.

Utena looks back over her shoulder to see if Anthy is at least giving her any little furtive side-eyed glances, or if she's slowed down again. Anything that could suggest a desire to resist the new persona Touga has imposed on her. All she sees, however, is Chu-Chu sitting on her shoulder, grinning fiendishly as he devours the cookie that represents Utena's heart.

Utena whispers to herself to just act normal, be normal, pretend nothing ever happened, this is normal, she's normal. Wakaba infers that she and Anthy must have had a fight or something, and tries to get Utena to spill the beans. Utena just ignores her, trudging onward, zombielike, as everyone oohs and aahs at how great she allegedly looks.

Student council meeting! Not a particularly eventful one. Mostly just Touga confirming that he is now the standing champion, and that there are no objections to that claim until such a time as he loses a future duel. Well, he doesn't mention that "until he loses a future duel" part himself. Juri has to remind him, with an exhausted half-grin, that this isn't necessarily over yet. She also, with the same curmudgeony, facetious smirk, tells him that she's *sure* he won that duel fairly in a contest of pure skill without any underhanded bullshit at all. He just ignores the sarcasm and says yes.

Anthy, who has been standing at his side this whole time, asks him if she and her monstrosity can wait outside; she's afraid she's getting in her master's way, and he did say he wanted her in the garden whenever possible.

It's phrased in a way that could plausibly reflect Anthy doing what he seems he wants and expects of her, but I suspect she has her own reasons for wanting to slip away out of sight just now. What those reasons might actually be, I'm not sure, but she has them. Unfortunately, Touga contradicts what he said earlier in the greenhouse, and tells Anthy that he wants her by his side when he's doing student council business. She is his bride-to-be, his companion, his adjutant, and he has use for her in consolidating his power. She smiles, as if being an office secretary is just the job she was hoping for.

Juri and Miki both look absolutely miserable as they realize just HOW insufferably smug Touga is going to be until someone can knock him off the peak again. I feel them.

...

Hmm. I wonder. Does Touga ALSO suspect that Anthy might have ulterior motives for wanting to slip out of his sight? Maybe.

Also, his use of Anthy contradicting what he said before in the greenhouse, as well as the timing of said greenhouse exchange...did he know Utena was already listening in, when he said that? Was that all just part of his messing with Utena's emotions? If so, his goal might not have just been to throw her off kilter for the upcoming duel. He might have taken it on as a personal challenge to tear her down and turn her into a proper waifu for himself to conquer sexually. In which case, he's going to keep on harassing her (and possibly worse) now that she's wearing the girl uniform.

What I said in the previous episode, about Saiyonji NOT being the kind of sick fuck who would want a bride who hates him and wishes she could escape, doesn't apply to Touga. He may actually be that kind of sick fuck.

...

Next scene has Utena and Wakaba sitting in the student lounge/cafeteria type place that I keep mistaking for the Student Council chamber because it has kinda the same vibe. Wakaba is still trying to get Utena to open up and tell her what the hell has her so bummed out, her concern beginning to give way to frustration and resentment in a manner that is definitely not a thematic parallel of how patriarchal protectors end up resenting the helplessness of their perpetually needy charges that flips it around on Utena for that extra kick.

Then, just as I expected, Touga shows up. He still has Anthy tailing around after him. Utena cheers up again for a moment when she sees Anthy, but Touga doesn't let the two of them begin conversing, instead just acting like a longtime friend of Utena's who's simultaneously delighted at how she looks in her new uniform and concerned at how sad she appears and wants to help her.

Hopefully this ends in Utena being pushed too far and breaking her teacup across his face. It's either going to be that, or another really uncomfortable, unpleasant scene after a season packed with way too many of those.

Touga starts putting his hand around Utena's hand, and then her chin. She doesn't resist. She doesn't cooperate, but she doesn't resist either. She might as well be catatonic. Which, in Touga language, signals enthusiastic consent.

Wakaba shouts at him to stop doing that to Utena, she clearly isn't liking it. Touga completely ignores her. Wakaba shouts at Utena to do something about this, what the fuck, she's never let anyone just *do* this kind of shit to her before, she typically starts fistfights over much less. No response.

Touga starts petting Utena's cheek. Fondling her neck. Utena still sitting limp, an expression of utter exhaustion and misery hanging off of her downcast head.

Cheesy romance music plays throughout this scene, which is an artistic decision that was made.

Wakaba gets angrier and more distressed, barking, shouting, and finally SCREAMING at Utena to do something. Nothing. Touga looks like he might be considering making a comment about the annoying noise or something, but like he's not sure if it's worth the effort of opening his mouth. Finally, Wakaba is provoked into action. She grabs a water jug, stands up, and flings it right into the face of Tou-

-nthy.

Well, it makes sense. Doing that to Touga would have actual consequences. Either in the immediate physical sense, or through social (he has a fanclub) or official (if VP Saiyonji could threaten random students with expulsion, then president Touga definitely can) vectors. Anthy's the closest vulnerable target to the actual offender. The fact that she's most likely another victim of said offender's, and that hurting her doesn't so much as inconvenience the actual bad guy in the slightest, is an unfortunate detail but not a terribly relevant one.

Anthy just stands there unhappily, with water dripping down her face. Touga gives Wakaba a sort of pitying scowl. Utena, however, jerks upright in her chair and fixes Wakaba in a fiery glare.

So, naturally, Wakaba starts bitching anthy out more cruelly, and then tries to slap her. Which finally gets the old Utena to show herself again.

The legendary William Tell, made into an infinite archery machine.

Wakaba is glad to have finally gotten through to Utena, even if it required some collateral damage.

Hoping to continue this positive development, Wakaba straightens back up and throws a punch of her own. It's a pretty good one, considering that Wakaba hasn't come across as a fighty type up until now.

It's great that Utena can still react to things after all, Wakaba exclaims. But now, please, perhaps she might consider reacting to more things in a greater variety of ways. Utena is silent. Glaring at Wakaba, but not retaliating. Either because she thinks she deserved that punch, or because she just doesn't know what to do about anything anymore unless her hand is reflexively forced in someone else's defence.

Touga saya that Utena's friends are a spicier crowd than he feels like engaging with just now, so he'll try and catch up with her later when she's alone. He makes those words sound even creepier than they do on their own, with his special Touga bonus. Anthy starts to leave after him, but Utena - taking her eyes perhaps dangerously off of Wakaba - turns after her and offers her a handkerchief to wipe her face and uniform with.

For juuuuuuust a tiny fraction of a second, Anthy looks like she might be having a natural reaction to this gesture. It's over very quickly, though. Afterward, she just takes it, thanks Utena with a plastic smile, and then says goodbye and follows Touga away while wiping herself off.

...

Of course, was that split second *actually* a natural reaction coming through? Or was that Anthy play-acting a moment of clarity from a brainwashing victim in order to goad Utena into something or other?

This is almost starting to turn into the p-zombie paradox. How well can something mimic a consciousness without actually being conscious? In Anthy's case its more a matter of ego and emotions than self-awareness, but the same principles apply.

What if someone needs help, but is both consummately skilled at pretending they need help in order to trick people into doing other things besides actually helping them, and persistently motivated to do so?

How do you reach someone when they have an entire modus operandi based on tricking people into thinking they can reach them?

...

As Utena stares after the departing pair, Wakaba asks her to please, PLEASE just come back to normal. Or at least tell her friend what her problem is, because there's obviously something seriously wrong. Utena just barks at her to stop getting on her case about everything; she doesn't understand anything. Closely echoing Touga's words to herself at the end of the previous episode.

Wakaba agrees. She really DOESN'T understand any of this. And that's why she's not going to stop getting on Utena's case about it. For now, she storms away, but she makes sure Utena knows that she's not going to give up on her yet.

Utena is left alone, miserable, disempowered, and at the risk of becoming friendless.

...

You know, I wonder. Maybe Utena and Anthy aren't actually that different?

No one's going to judge a preteen (at best) girl for sinking into despair and inaction right after being orphaned. I didn't think anything of it at the time, when we saw Utena's backstory scene with the church and the coffins. But looking at it in broader context, including her older self, there's a REALLY weird pattern emerging.

She lost her parents, and then latched onto Dios. Spent her next seven-odd years trying to be like him.

She lost her belief that being like Dios was a possibility for her, and then latched onto Anthy. Started dressing like Anthy. Acting like a (mopier version of) Anthy. And also, it must be noted, lost interest in trying to interact with anyone besides Anthy.

Thiiiis might be why Utena had such a strong impulse to save Anthy, in particular, from the start. Why she decided that this was the specific damsel who she needed to white knight for. She was already, in a very, very abstract and subconscious sense, aware of the problem with the Way of the Prince. Or at least, of one of the problems with it. She saw Anthy tailing after abusive patriarchs like a moth absolutely determined to get to the electric zapper, and identified with that. She's been tailing after her own male overlord ever since the night in the coffin, and part of her wants to be free of him. Once again, Anthy is a Rorschach blot that people project onto. Just, for Utena, she was projecting her entire self. And thus sublimating her own discontent into a desire to help Anthy.

Nanami is the most obvious foil to Utena, as I pointed out in the episode where she dueled her, but she isn't the only one. Saiyonji also plays that role, in certain specific ways. So too, I think, to at least a modest extent, does Miki. But Anthy though. Anthy is Utena's real shadow self.

Or at least. The type of entity that Anthy is pretending to be is Utena's real shadow self.

Chances of Anthy being the final boss are...I'd say like 85-90% at this point. Pretty much overlapping entirely with the odds of her and Dios being one and the same. There could still be a curveball, but as it stands the thematic buildup and textual evidence are forming a pretty damned strong case.

Heh. Well. Anthy can produce blades from inside of her body, and another aspect of her may be hibernating inside of a stone edifice. It only makes sense for her to be the Kars to KONO TOUGA DA.

Jump ahead to Touga and Anthy sitting at the table on the student council balcony place, alone. I guess this doubles as Touga's personal office when the council isn't holding a meeting. As Anthy pours them each a fresh cup of tea, Touga talks on the phone to someone who I first assumed was End Of The World (which would have implied that if EotW and Anthy are indeed the same, Touga is being kept in the dark about it), but quickly turns out to be some random girl he's buttering up.

Anthy looks kind of miserable. Kind of. Only in subtle moments, when she's facing down toward the tea. Is this just for Touga's benefit, though? Is she conforming to some wish of his, or else tricking him into doing something that will further a plan of her own? No way to tell. Back to the emotional p-zombie problem.

After making some hasty arrangements with phonegirl, Touga tells Anthy to wait for him here for a bit, he'll be back shortly. She acquiesces with a smile and a nod. He leaves. Utena sips her tea. Chu-Chu sits on the table, where he's still slowly gnawing away at Utena's heart.

Silence. Stillness. Anthy sits, staring at her tea. Chu-Chu gnaws.

Then, the camera goes into Anthy's POV. For a moment, she imagines a smiling Utena sitting in Touga's customary chair across the table from her. Anthy's own face loses a little of its doll-like serenity, at the imagining.

....oohhhhhhh?

What's this now?

It looks like things might be more complicated than I thought. Or else, less complicated than I thought. Either way, I may have jumped the gun on final boss Anthy. Maybe. This scene could still end up subverting itself.

After looking down at her tea again, Anthy pulls out the handkerchief that Utena gave her to dry herself off with again. It's one of those monogramed ones that anime characters all carry an infinite supply of. She stares at it, as Chu-Chu continues nibbling on the symbolic representation of its owner's left ventricle right behind it.

She just stares. And stares. Not moving. Her expression is unreadable, but it isn't *neutral.* She's feeling something, but it's not at all clear what.

...

I wonder. Maybe I just slightly miscalculated with how all these moving parts interact with one another. Maybe Anthy isn't Dios himself, but just his primary host?

That actually makes a LOT of sense. She has the sword inside of her almost all the time. If holding the sword makes it easier for him to control you, then...yeah, that would follow pretty naturally.

Anthy only being herself part of the time, or only being partly herself and partly remote-controlled by Dios, that would fit the themes much better. And would sidestep the victim-blaming issues that I've previously raised when the show first started hinting at Anthy being the master manipulator. The metaphor of her being the vessel for the sword of Dios, with Dios embodying patriarchal power and the sword being a phallic symbol as I commented in the pilot...yeah. Yeah, this is fitting together much more elegantly.

Also makes it a pretty strong mirror of Utena's current situation. Her being so insanely broken and brainwashed into submissive traditional femininity just because of one incident is clumsy on both the storytelling and metaphorical levels, imo, but the stark transition does parallel a possession thing much better than a slow fall into depression would have.

Okay, "Anthy is Dios' current primary host, the purpose of the tournaments might be to find him a better one" is my new working theory. And, heh, that actually makes it EVEN MORE like Diablo 1.

...

We leave Anthy on that note, and cut to Wakaba wandering sadly around campus, worrying about her friend. Eventually, Utena catches up to her, and finally seems to be ready to talk. At this point though, Wakaba is the one who needs some cozying up to, because seriously.

Back in the pilot, Wakaba was the one who Utena was coming to the aid of (or at least, it was strongly implied that that love letter was from her. Maybe it was from Anthy immitating Wakaba's handwriting or something lol, that wouldn't even surprise me at this point). It seemed at first like she was the helpless traditionally feminine one, and Utena was the steely tomboy. Wakaba is showing some real backbone here, though. And earlier, she was shown (albeit with difficulty, after a bit of a struggle) resisting peer pressure to approve of Utena's recent femme turn. Also, she started - and then escalated - a physical altercation today.

Utena rubbed off on Wakaba. In a good way, it seems. Ironic, considering the toxic origins of Utena's own "heroic" persona, but also like...getting back to the social allegory, that's always kind of true? Human history is hierarchical, inequitable, and abusive through and through. All the pieces we have to work with are tainted. But we still need to work with those pieces, and they can still be arranged into something better than what we've got.

And, I think that's going to be the solution for Utena's problem too. Wakaba showing her that, in her misguided attempts to emulate the Prince, she's already created something distinct from him. She doesn't need to give that up. She just needs to understand that it's not what she thought it was.

It's also nice character development for Wakaba, even if it must have happened mostly offscreen. She's a surprisingly compelling eleventh hour hero. Even if she reminded us that she's also still very flawed, what with her lashing out at Anthy earlier due to Touga's untouchability.

Utena's mood has stabilized enough at this point that she gets where Wakaba is coming from, and acknowledges that she's right to feel the way she does. And, that's most of what Wakaba needs to hear to start forgiving her, provided she continues to not be weird.

Utena tries to explain. Just...it's hard. Even before getting to the parts she's literally sworn to secrecy about.

She confirms that whatever is wrong with her has something to do with Touga, and that it's probably *more* his fault than any one other person's, though she doesn't outright blame him for anything either. When asked why the girly uniform though, Utena just meekly says "It's normal, isn't it?" And, that sets Wakaba off on a whole speech.

The female uniform is cringe, basically. It's cringe in general, but it's extra cringe when Utena wears it.

When that isn't enough, Wakaba stands up and says that it feels like someone stole her entire spinal cord and left her as a pathetic little coward. It...kind of feels like Wakaba is going through a version of Utena's own arc, honestly. Utena's current state is what Wakaba herself is trying to move away from, and there's some extra venom in there because of the projection. At any rate, when Wakaba phrases this as it being like something was *stolen* from Utena and she needs to take it back, something clicks for her. Utena starts thinking about...

Oh no.

Anthy.

Utena, no, don't. No no no. Don't be doing the thing that it looks like you're doing.

Yes, Utena says, that's just it. Something was taken from her. She needs to take it back.

UTENA WHY.

She stands up, smiles at Wakaba, and apologizes for hitting her earlier. That must have really hurt. And also, she thanks her for helping her figure this out. She's going to go and "take back who I am."

...oh. Okay. Alright, cool, she hasn't decided she needs to own Anthy like it seemed like she was deciding, lol. Though, in that case, what exactly does Anthy represent in terms of Utena's own identity? She's not just reprising her old Prince aspirations, I don't think. It SEEMS like she's learned better than that, now. Hmm.

She hugs Wakaba, and gives her an ambiguously Platonic kiss on the forehead before setting off to take back who she is.

This could be good, or this could be extremely bad. We'll see what Utena actually has in mind.

Greenhouse. Anthy is quietly tending to the roses off by the side while Touga makes out with Rando Girl by the central pillar. Lol, why is he doing that here, of all places? Does he think it's some kind of power move or something? Maybe he just didn't want to let Anthy out of his sight, but also the flowers just really needed urgent pruning lol.

Also, I'm becoming more and more sure that that greenhouse is bigger on the inside. The Rose TaRDiS. It's not really that far out a suggestion, given that this school landscape also includes an infinite staircase to Castlevania.

Touga, looking over RandoGirl's shoulder, sees Utena approaching the greenhouse, still wearing her girl uniform. He smirks wolfishly while Rando's face is blinded by the crook of his neck; clearly, he was expecting this to happen soon enough, and was just using Rando to tide himself over until then.

Next thing we see is Rando running out of the greenhouse in what looks like a panic as Utena enters.

We don't see or hear anything of what happened in between. Frankly, it's probably better that way.

Touga still has Anthy off tending the garden when Utena comes in. Is this a sort of test, I wonder? Trying to see if Utena will still have any reaction to Anthy? Or to see if there's any jealousy? It could also just be empty sadism, rubbing salt in Utena's broken ego for funsies. In any case, he doesn't appear to notice Utena's more purposeful stride and more tightly balled fists than the last time he saw her. The determined neutrality on her face, likewise, might look a little like her previous zombielike apathy, from a distance.

He asks her on a date. She says no, not later, right now. Hahaha, is he about to get his dick bitten off? Lol this is going to be great. He says that if she's really that impatient then sure, he can treat her. She says that that's great, they can go to the arena immediately. Aw, just the normal, non-surprising, sword-centric kind of violence then, oh well.

That said...can any duelist just call for a rematch at any time? And, End-Of-The-World will honor those rematches? I thought the duels had to be scheduled by EOTW in order to be legitimate, how could Utena have known there was one set up for this afternoon?

The lack of consistent rules here makes it very hard to tell what's at stake when, in terms of the tournament. And sure, it's all just sociophilosophical metaphor so those crunchy details don't necessarily matter, but...I know, I know, I'm beating a dead horse with its own trail of dead chickens with this, but I much prefer it when a work can function equally well as an allegory AND as a story.

Regardless, seeing the smug get wiped off Touga's face even just for a second makes up for that at least partially. Meanwhile, Anthy gasps in surprise, her eyes going wide. She's facing the wall at present, so neither Touga or Utena can see her reaction, but it happens.

Very short shadow puppet skit follows. This one about rejecting normalcy. It ends with the puppet duo agreeing to give up all these human hobbies they've been pretending to have and human aesthetics they've been indulging, and climbing back aboard their flying saucer.

What this is meant to reveal about Anthy, well. The simple part is that Utena's example might be inspiring her to try and resist Dios and his sycophants as well. The complicated part is that her true, non-possessed self might actually be further from - rather than closer to - the human norm.

Jump to that evening; looks like Touga was still able to push things back at least a few hours, heh. Utena heads for the arena, still wearing her hideous standard girl uniform for some reason (presumably, until she manages to "take back her true self" from Touga her custom uniform will just burn her skin on contact). On her way to the park, she is approached by Juri, who hands her a very sturdy looking sword and gives her instructions on how best to wield it.

She doesn't explain why she's suddenly being so helpful, and Utena doesn't ask. It doesn't take a lot of intelligence or imagination to realize how absolutely fucking insufferable things must be for the rest of the student council these days.

I was expecting the familiar ZUR sequence to start once Utena reached the gate to the stairway, but no. There's a much shorter sequence of her ascending, still in the ugly uniform, while an instrumental piece with a heavy wind component and Flemenco guitar background plays. Almost like a luchador theme. Wonder why this is? Maybe because of Utena's changed motives for fighting? Could be that, could just be a combination of screentime limits and Utena's different outfit requiring them to not do the stock sequence, so they just figured they'd do something very different for the heck of it. Maybe both. Anyway, the combatants face each other on the flying arena, while Anthy reminds them of the rules as she always does. Touga asks Utena why she demanded this rematch. When she explains that she intends to take back something of hers, Touga somehow understands that she means her "self" instead of Anthy, and says that that's cool and all but he needs to win this too, and he intends to.

...

I'm not really digging this "somehow Touga is able to steal away a part of Utena's personhood that she can only get back by facing him again in battle" thing. Wouldn't the real power move be to just not give a shit? Like, the next time Touga meets Utena, she's back in her custom uniform, acting exactly the way she did in the early episodes, and acting totally baffled when he asks her what changed?

Basically, this whole dynamic gives Touga a kind of power that he shouldn't have. Utena shouldn't NEED anything from him to recover, even if he was the cause of her having the problem she needs to recover from.

I'm okay with Utena not always learning the best lessons or taking the healthiest approaches to dealing with her struggles, but the way this is being framed makes this seem like it's supposed to be triumphant and cathartic and stuff. To me though, it seems like that's the exact wrong framing. Accepting the premise that Touga has "stolen" something from Utena in the first place is already an act of submission. It means that she's agreeing to play his game, by his rules, for no real reason that I can fathom.

...

Before the beginning of the fight can be declared, Touga adds something new to the equation.

The Sword of Dios is magical, obviously. He trusts Utena to have figured out that much at least the first time she saw it materialize out of Anthy's rib cage. But, does she know what all the magic of the sword can do? Most people don't. In fact, he is in a uniquely privileged position with regards to this topic.

Uh oh. Sounds like being phone buddies with Dios might be about to do Touga some serious favors. Not that he tells Utena that this is how he knows, of course, but for the audience it's pretty obvious.

He turns to Anthy, and gives her a command.

A command that she obeys by doing...um...

Yeah.

Anthy doesn't end up literally abandoning her physical body. In fact, it's not clear what of herself she's giving up (temporarily or otherwise) to fuel the blowjob supercharge, because she seems the same afterward and returns to her customary place looking and sounding no different afterward. Whatever it was though, it causes the sword to sheathe itself in scintillating crimson-rose energy and give off a ruddy halo that engulfs Touga's body and lights up the arena. The full power of the sword, with its pseudo-sexual activation method, has synergized with Touga's innate supply of rape energy to create something new and uniquely formidable.

The fancy sword that Juri gave Utena gets cut in half barely a few parries in. Touga doesn't let up. He presses in. He already had better reach than her, thanks to being a tall dude, but now it's not even a fight. It's a chase.

A chase that sees more and more of Utena's ugly uniform get sheared off by near misses, because Touga.

Anthy watches. Her face looks neutral. But, for the first time in the series, we start hearing her internal monologue.

Her mental voice sounds...floaty. Half asleep, or hypnotized, or drugged. It muses on the one-sidedness of this match, and wonders why Utena is even still trying at this point. It's unfortunate. She's likely to get hurt, or worse, with the Sword of Dios in this state. Anthy just hopes the battle will end soon, and not too painfully for Utena.

Touga manages to corner Utena and knock her down to one knee. She manages to parry his follow-up attack, but the blowjob sword is just burning its way through the already-sundered stump of Utena's weapon. In a moment, it'll cut all the way through, and then Utena will only have a hilt. At best.

This situation reminds Anthy of something. Something that, implicitly, happened to Anthy herself a long time ago. Her placid face twitches. Her eye goes .damp

The lyrics of the fight song are about silence. Darkness. Saying nothing. Having nothing to say. But then, just for a moment, starlight flashing, before the darkness returns.

Anthy turns off the blowjob energy. The red glow vanishes, with the Sword of Dios wedged two thirds of the way through what's left of the sword Juri gave Utena. A twist of Utena's hilt drags him off balance.

Touga probably should still be in much better shape than Utena, but the sudden shutdown has him so confused and discombobulated that he just loses his bearings. We've seen him deal faaaairly well with surprises and complications, in the past. He's not normally the "n-n-nani????" type. But this seems to be different. Like it's hit him harder, somewhere closer to home, than any other failure or disappointment he generally has to deal with.

It throws him off for long enough that Utena can get under his reach and swipe what little is left of her blade against his rose crest.

Battle over.

I uh, guess there's a reason he can't call a rematch to the rematch? There's a limit?

...if everyone gets one, then why didn't Miki call a rematch to his own duel with Utena, considering the attitude he had after it?

Meh.

Utena happily declares that she has her self back. Touga is still trying to figure out what the hell went wrong as the Sword of Dios vanishes in his hand, no longer his to have fellated.

When she makes it back to the ground, draped in the loose rags that used to be her uniform (from a fashion perspective? Strictly an improvement.), she finds Anthy waiting for her. Just like at the end of the pilot. This time, Utena shuts her up before she can give the scripted Rose Bride speech that the new winner is always supposed to get, and tells her to just come on home already. Utena smiles the same smile that Anthy imagined when she was daydreaming about her in the student council lair. Anthy smiles back. Genuine this time? Probably moreso than usual, at least.

Meanwhile, it turns out that what I thought was a cookie Chu-Chu was gnawing at before was actually a missing button from Utena's custom uniform. It has now been joined by a stack of others, from her slashed-apart standard one.

These represent Utena's brain, kidneys, ego, superego, id, ka, ba, and akh, among other things.

End episode.


One more to go after this. And, moreso than at any previous point in the series, I'm very curious to see where it's headed. This episode's string of minor Anthy reveals paints a much more interesting picture of who she is and what her role in this might be than I'd suspected. Whether we're talking story or allegory.

I'm still not super impressed with Utena's little "lost my self" thing, particularly on account of how it was resolved. But, this episode was about people other than Utena stepping up to the plate since she's been shown her limitations. Using her as inspiration, in Wakaba's case, or just having a flash of empathy with her that's able to cut through the demonic brainwashing or whatever, in Anthy's.

I think I'll have to see at least the first few minutes of episode 13 before I can decide if I'm more satisfied than not with how Utena bounced back from her depressive femme fugue. If I do any kind of season wrapup, it'll have to be after that.