the end of the world party 𖦹°⭒

I’ve been working on this since foreverrrrr, just a thing to go with the gods AU thing I drew a while back. Mane I had fun drawing this at first but then I got bad art block and hated to see it in my drafts, I would avoid her like the plague.🙏🏽😫

And I think about how that shaped RGU, especially with Akio and Anthy.

Again I know not a lot of thought was put into akio and anthy being SAsian by the creators, they just are because they thought it would be cool cause they liked Lalah sune

But I'm thinking about with how old akio and anthy are and how they're implied to be fallen divine beings. Do you think they could have possibly lived through the atrocities committed during British colonialism in south asia and they are the way that they are because those experiences shaped them too among other things?

Akio and Anthy are the only south asians in Ohtori academy, and in their young memories they seem to be the only south asians in a very euorpean setting. Why are they there?

I'm looking at anthy right now. She's gotta be like 6 or 7 years old here. Akio if I had to make a guess is 14. Even for a 7 year old she looks so tiny and scrawny. The dress she's wearing barely fits her despite clearly being for a girl her age. She's so little. I wondered why and I remembered for most of British colonialism in south Asia, there were a lot of famines throughout the years. Like there were two devastating Bengal famines that killed millions. How I interpret this is Akio and anthy fleeing from there to go find safety in some European place.

But another thing I find interesting is the clothing specifically. Look at Akio. He's wearing a European prince outfit that's nothing like what you'd see in desi culture. If we are to believe they are some divine beings that originated in South asia and not in Europe, he isn't wearing anything close to what a desi prince would wear. I like to think that he did this as a way to adapt to their new European setting for survival. Like he works overtime and practically tortures himself from a very young age to become the prince figure that Europeans would accept and eventually worship. At first it was for safety and security among them so that him and his sister could survive, but I wouldn't be surprised if the need to conform to European sensibilities got to his head. Like this is still a 14 year old boy here who is expected to protect all princesses (young girls ranging anywhere from children to young adults). Instead of y'know maybe their parents being responsible for them they push those expectations and give all of this unrestrained power to a young boy. What started as being in service as a knight figure to women for survival, ended up as a little boy getting a power trip over women. Because even if he was playing the prince role as a service to those above him, that is still a prince role he has over women as an absolute authority. Which to a 14 year old boy who lived in two very patriarchal societies could very quickly manifest into entitlement and enforcing patriarchal abuse. Because that's what society expects young boys to do

Now let's look at Anthy. Despite living in the same setting as Akio she is still in her raggedy clothes. Still scrawny, still unkempt. But also she still has alot more elements of her desi culture in her clothing like the bindi, the gold jewelry and even the red dress. I like to think that before they were struck with poverty, the dress was longer and better fitting and looked more regal. This is all she has left of it. But why? Why is she in still this bad of a condition if akio and her live together.

I like to think that because Anthy is still very young, she didn't feel the need to conform as quickly because she's still very attached to her desi roots. Additionally desi women are in this space they get despised by their own culture for adapting to western culture. Theyre seen as whores or people who think they're better than desi people who didnt conform to it. And they get scrutinized for it more than men who do. But at the same time Desi women who don't conform to western standards while living in the west are seen as strange, exotic and ugly by both their own people and people from the west. I like to think that since she saw her brother being forced to conform for survival, she thought it was her responsibility to preserve her desi roots and stick by them even if it lead to her being ridiculed or isolated

But here's the thing. In a world where princes protect princesses, Anthy doing this goes completely against that status quo. By doing this she removes herself from the catagory of being a princess. In a western world a prince is going to save a western princess. Not a desi one, and definately not an ordinary desi girl who is in poverty. By being related to Akio, it should by definition make her princess if he is a prince. But she isn't because she isn't a western princess. And Akio, in this universe has no incentive to save a desi princess over a western one. So he doesn't prioritize her. Hence why she is dressed the way she is compared to him. She is being neglected and othered.

It's heart breaking because despite all this she still loved and prioritizes her brother. She sees him suffering and how the world puts such high expectations on a young boy. And even if he doesn't protect her from the world, she protects him from it. But the world doesn't see this as a princess trying to protect her prince. Anthy isnt a princess to them because she never conformed to one.

And any woman who isn't a princess is a witch

But all that being said, Let's talk about the one time Anthy does conform to being a traditional princess when she's young . Adolescence of utena:

She wears a very regal, almost victorian white dress. Kinda like how Akio wears a white prince uniform. Her hair isn't naturally curly the way dark skinned south asian's usually are. It's straightened. She's white washed. I'm sure her being white washed has nothing to do with my analysis, AOU was a movie, I'm pretty sure she was white washed to cater to mainstream japanese audiance's because Asian countries aren't interested in stories with dark skinned female leads. But even then, This version of anthy looks closer to what a typical princess should be

Why now? Well what are the chances that AOU anthy conforms to typical princesshood in the universe where the prince no longer exists at all

How I interpret the character of AOU anthy is that while she's still 14, she's older mentally and more aware of the time loop. This Anthy has tried to go to the outside world multiple times in an attempt to find utena, and because of this isn't as sheltered. Now she didn't stay there long cause you need to remember that the world still despises her for taking dios away from them. But unlike before, Anthy is alone with no one to look out for her. No utena, no dios, no akio. No one

I think she too learned pretty fast that in order to survive she has to conform to western standards of princesshood. Hence why she is depicted this way in this timeloop.

I noticed that this Anthy while still neglected, abused and still a rose bride has more agency than RGU anthy. She's coy, she kisses utena the first time she meets her, she initiates sexual intimacy with utena. Alot of which she doesn't do in RGU. I think this change is because she was treated slightly better as a conformed princess/rose bride compared to her RGU counterpart who was constantly beaten and abused by everyone all the time.

And I think thats why there's also a difference in the way she finally leaves ohtori for good. In RGU she gets the courage to finally leave akio because Utena took on the swords for her thus letting her believe that someone loves her. But she is very passive agressive to akio when she does. She smiles at him, with disguist yes, but she still hides her true disguist as she leaves because that's how she's learned to express anger because of how everyone hated her all the time

AOU anthy however uses utena as a literal vehicle for her escape, takes agency by driving the car on her own path to freedom. Is stopped by akio, oh my god i forgot akio doesn't physically stop her in RGU but here she literally crushes her car and her path to stop her from leaving, because she keeps fighting back against him instead of being passive agressive. She scowls at him, she yells at him. All that build up of anger and resentment is finally taken out on him after years of abuse and attempts to leave.

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