watching Revolutionary Girl Utena: 12
In which… In which Utena takes a… ride… in… Oh fuck.
31: Her Tragedy
We start with the Fairy Tale Origin of Prince Utena. Unabbreviated.
A phone rings. Nanami answers. She talks in a completely static position; our eyes are drawn to a slowly-animating picture on the wall of a silhouetted girl running with a hoop. I suspect this will be a recurring image. Especially after the conversation ends and we have closeups on it and the other animated picture on the wall while Nanami preens about her incestuous crush on her brother.
Then Nanami watches her brother snog a girl in the Rose Garden while taking a phone call from another girl. He is Not Faithful To Anyone. Nanami is not happy. Later that night, her brother jokingly invites her to shower with him, resulting in the longest pregnant pause ever.
She broods alone in her room, feeling like her big brother doesn’t care about her at all. And then sneaks into the bathroom to watch him shower. THIS IS IMPORTANT, says a rotating red rose, as we watch this for like 15 sec.
She steals his phone and listens to girls calling him. And tells them all he’s dumping them.
Running theme: they are both blood type B and that is Not A Compatible Pairing.
Then she sees him inviting Utena to dinner… and confronts her in the stairwell. Anthy is seen eating a banana in two shots, then not eating a banana - and then Nanami slips on a banana peel just as she’s about to throw a statue fragment at Utena. Anthy saves her Prince while looking utterly innocent - and then Anthy’s big brother sweeps Nanami off her feet, catching her as she falls.
Then we’re in the Observatory, and Anthy’s big brother is bandaging Nanami’s ankle. Well he’s flirting with her then. We are reminded that Utena is hot for Anthy’s big brother - and Nanami picks up on it. And is jealous.
Nanami tells Utena she knows U is hot for Anthy’s big brother. And challenges her to fight for Big Bro. Meanwhile the statue they are speaking next to changes: two kids, someone with a lyre, a man with a girl (rape of the Sabines?) Internet says “rape of Persephone”, the Town Musicians of Bremen.
The trio of schoolgirls are perfect blood type matches for Nanami’s big brother! And now she is saying he’s type A - which leads to a conclusion that he’s adopted! Which devastates her.
She stops sleeping at home. And ends up moving into the Observatory with Utena, Anthy, and Anthy’s big brother. Because of School Rules, of course.
The Shadow Girls show up in the window of the Observatory, doing a skit about cuckoos. Which feels pretty appropriate given what Nanami now thinks about her big brother. And about Anthy’s big brother. And what Utena thinks about him, and what Anthy thinks about Utena thinking that about him…
Nanami’s big brother shows up and wants her to come back home. She reveals that she thinks he’s adopted; it’s the truth! And she confesses her love for him!
Nanami takes Anthy’s place in the bedtime discussion. She doesn’t want Utena’s advice. And gets an eyefull of Anthy’s big brother - with Anthy naked on the couch next to him? Or does he turn into her? It’s ambiguous. Mostly we just see her Arena dress falling off the couch and revealing her hair and arm dangling down.
Cut: Nanami. In an elevator. Going down. Not THAT elevator but… Flashes of: Anthy’s glasses on the floor. Anthy quite definitely naked on the couch with her Arena dress on the floor beside her. Yes, you just saw what you thought you saw. Anthy’s bare foot, with a red shoe on the floor nearby. Anthy’s face, upside down, looking fearful. We hold on this last instead of getting a half second flash amidst Nanami’s weeping. And then we slowly pan up the tower the Observatory’s atop.
Brief flash: Anthy from behind, naked. She rises into the frame, hair swirling around behind her motion, light flickering. Credits.
Well it’s not as if we weren’t already pretty sure Anthy’s big brother was fucking her without really caring if she wanted it or not; this just confirms it. And makes the kiss in the duel elevator of the credits more poignant. Utena is the only good person in Anthy’s world, and she’s being tempted.
Next episode: Anthy’s sleeping with her big brother while Nanami’s sleeping with Utena. And she’s utterly perky about this in that horrible way she suppresses everything. Also she probably really wants Utena. As if we didn’t know that already.
Just who’s tragedy was this episode, anyway? It focused on Nanami so one would think that she’s the one meant by the “she” in the title, but… well, really, the whole show is The Tragedy Of Anthy And Utena already.
32: The Romance of the Dancing Girls.
Nanami is continuing to listen to all the girls calling her big brother. Anthy’s big brother serves breakfast with help from Anthy, as Nanami has brief flashbacks to seeing Anthy naked on the couch last night.
Nanami doesn’t like living in the Observatory any more, she tells Blue Hair. We look at a sheet of music full of rests. She’d go live at home again but she’s super embarrassed about confessing her love for her big brother. Who is snogging a girl in the rose garden, and says everything he ever did for her was because their father commanded him to be nice to her. The girl is glad because she doesn’t like Nanami. Nanami hears all of this; we cut away to Anthy filling her watering can and lightly slapping a recalcitrant tap, then cut to Nanami slapping the girl and being Possessive and Hurt. A slap comes back. And she’s left alone in the rose garden, with her brother’s ringing phone. She essentially disowns him, and breaks the phone. Cut: the watering can is overflowing because the tap’s handle has been removed, and Anthy’s holding it, not sure what to do.
Night. The Observatory. Anthy’s big brother is feeding Ominous Apple Slices to his fiancee. Anthy is nervous and tries to make food for Utena and Nanami so he can have time alone; Nanami notes that Anthy is scary.
“It’s so weird that you sleep facing each other. It’s like you’re crazily a part of each other, even in sleep.” - Nanami, in bed where Anthy belongs. She’s also both jealous of Anthy’s incestuous relationship, and sad she’ll never have it with her brother - until he calls her from the End of the World, and summons her home.
Her brother presages Anthy’s brother driving through the window, to take her on a ride to the End of the World.
Her brother tries to tempt her with his sweet love. It’s not what she wants. Not any more. “What? What is it you want?” Shot of Anthy’s big bro with his shirt open.
And then the flip over the hood, and the Ghost Ride to the End of the World.
School: Nanami’s former minions are uppity. But she beats them into submission. Then challenges Anthy to a duel.
Shadow play: One girl is bending cutlery with her mind. The other insists it’s a trick, even after she’s bent in two by psychic powers.
Absolute Destiny Apocalypse (elevator mix). Full thing, this is a Sanctioned Duel.
Nanami poses on the car’s hood, ready for a sword to be drawn from her. She now wants to Be The Best. But hey, fight. Anthy pulls the Rose of Nobility from Utena while Nanami’s brother pulls the curved sword from her. Fight song is about science? Ugh these translations of oblique lyrics.
She is beset by flashbacks to her brother not loving her. She loses.
And then the two big brothers lounge around in bed half naked and reveal that Nanami and her big brother are actually related: they were both adopted. She just happens to have the same blood type as their adoptive parents.
Next time: Anthy is a great gardener… who wants Utena to take roses to her big brother tonight. This can’t end well.
33: The Prince Who Runs Through The Night
A new story about a princess? No, the same one. But with a slow pan across a night-time carnival instead of the usual images.
The Observatory. Dark. Anthy stares at the false sky.
She is called on her phone.
Utena had a good time alone at the fair. And the Shadow Girls are on the radio… while a car drives to the End of the World. They call Anthy’s big brother for a radio competition of some kind. They ask him which of three things is eternal; another call comes in. And he has to go to work. For the End of the World.
This is a flashback over much of Green Hair’s End Of World episode. Perhaps over much of the entire arc? Yeah, the whole thing. Intercut with Utena hanging out in her room after the fair, talking to… someone. Who? We don’t know. Not Anthy.
In bed, Utena worries about what she will have for lunch tomorrow. She seems… distracted. Possibly because Anthy’s brother is fucking her as she speaks. And is who she spent the day with.
Cut: The other side of the conversation Anthy had in the beginning. It’s with her brother while he drives. She asks if he got the roses she sent him. Which feels like a terrible symbol for her giving Utena to him.
We come back to Big Bro driving to the End of the World.
With Utena in the passenger seat in the same dress we saw her in earlier. Big Bro touches her face gently. Utena VO: “I never thought we’d do what we did today.” Big Bro’s hand shifts the car into high gear; we see it drive off. Both are shots from a ride to the End of the World.
Credits. They’re shots of the drive to the End of the World instead of the usual Love Elevator With Anthy.
Next Episode: Utena’s identity is ambiguous.
Originally published at Egypt Urnash. You can comment here or there.