it's been a weird few days, really shouldn't be doing this at this time but still, going to watch Utena ep. 21 to prove I can have any semblance of a structured thought:
really do want to appreciate just how pretty the opening is and how gorgeous everyone looks
the yellow corner-rose throughout the backstory bit really does accentuate how these three immediately place themselves into some kind of narrative role. glad to meet Nanami and protect Nanami (... because she's an extension of Touga) and as with every corner-rose scene, they're making a fundamental mistake about like. how healthy relationships should work. also I think the rose is a little less yellow than Nanami's usual rose? as if it's been diluted by white (Touga) (loss of identity!) And Nanami, in turn, lionizes Touga just as much as they do...
this does answer the question I've had since the bodyswap-curry episode about why, if appearances and reputation are what matters to these people, does Nanami seem to have such loyal retainers even when she embarrasses herself or falls out of favour. it's because they also see her as a character, and so they are characters dedicated to their own roles.
"The only girl who can ever get near the prince is the princess from his fairy-tale world." how are you so close and yet so far from realizing the truth. this is like first-arc Wakaba where her distance from the details of the events lets her strike at the truth. everything IS an idealized narrative to Touga, or an effort to create one -- it also is to Keiko, and to Nanami, to "everybody who's anybody" in this school. I guess that's the point of these Black Rose duelists, to remind us that the inward-spiraling nature of the duels isn't wholly isolated from their surroundings
and also interesting because it emphasizes both Anthy and Utena's own princess-coding as well: now all three of Nanami, Anthy, and Utena have princess motifs and fucked-up relationships
IS ANTHY JUST FALLING ASLEEP THROUGHOUT THIS ENTIRE CONVERSATION LMAOOO she's really just like 'until they get more plot relevance again I'm tuning the fuck out'
aaaaand the stopwatch motif of marking out [important? expected? in-character? plot-necessary?] beats still confuses me
love how these nanami-adjacent episodes just get to have batshit ridiculous comedy and humour when nothing super important is happening. chu-chu wtf
on the other hand something I really admire about this show is its ability to stay thematically coherent and relevant even in its less-significant episodes
it must be like, physically painful for Anthy to hear Utena happily telling her about the stars only for Utena to say that she learned it from Akio. unless she's repressing anything to do with her brother so hard that she feels nothing. and after Utena leaves (in the cage-like rose-patterned elevator) and she's left under Akio's attention, the frame does not show Anthy's full body, only fragmented, zoomed-in parts of her.
on that note the celestial & mythological references from Akio are definitely also Significant, I just haven't been able to make sense of them outside of "echoes/foreshadows/tells a lesson about the events about to happen" when like. that's the entire purpose of the shadow-girls, so there must be something other than that
there's this interplay between the classic romantic tropes Keiko wants to invoke (new dress at party; holding an umbrella), and her own awareness of her role as a background character in this narrative, and the tropes that arise from that, which is exacerbated by Nanami's own (often clumsy) attempts to play into her role
and also Touga doesn't look at Keiko at all! unlike with Wakaba and Saionji, where he was at least appreciative of her, we don't see Touga's reaction to being offered the umbrella, only the result that he's willing to use her offer for his own benefit -- that for these small things, it doesn't matter to him whether it's Nanami or some other girl that's being useful to him.
Not an accident that the "wow Touga and Nanami are unhealthy for everyone" episode also includes Akio giving boatloads of dramatic irony to an unsuspecting Utena! especially when Akio is basically filling Touga's niche of being creepy and condescending to Utena & manipulating his sister
but like holy shit I really do feel bad for Keiko, all the things that make Nanami interesting also lead to her being a complete and utter ass about anything that makes her the slightest bit jealous, to the point where the black rose is plucked upon seeing Nanami's jealous face
haven't really commented on it because other things overshadow it, but the butterfly -> caterpillar reverse-metamorphosis frames on the wall are a nice straightforward representation of what's going on -- the "true" or "deeper" self is not necessarily the well-realized final form, but the uncomprehending child. They might be correct, insightful, "deep", but that doesn't make them good or healthy. And the black-rose transformation into someone more vengeful is to be framed, pinned down, boxed into a story and thrown away when unneeded. It's the false promise of easy self-actualization that ultimately hurts you. Going deeper, or going to your downfall? From butterfly to the leaf that it ate, they become consumed by their bitterness, prodded along by the elevator-ritual.
... which I guess is why these duels always return to the status quo, while Utena's duels at least led to some change in her dynamics with others and herself. False improvement, false revolution, turning around again.
Even when she's pulling out his sword, he never looks at her! she doesn't get the one thing she supposedly wanted. he never even speaks, because he doesn't need to, it's his prince-image that matters in this episode
I feel like the one pink umbrella thrown into the air during the duel might be notable but also like. what would it mean
Utena's just so done lmao like Keiko's grievances and obsessions are with Nanami and Touga, Utena literally doesn't have to be here
"I didn't even know her name." "It's scary how the roots of hatred can spread under the surface, where you can't even see them." meanwhile Himemiya "Rose Bride" Anthy, standing placidly right there:
"That's easy. If it's for someone you love, how you feel about others doesn't matter. You keep lying to yourself for as long as it takes." ...
anthy, what the fuck
even Utena figured something was off with that one
was going to watch ep. 22 as well but it seems like that one is An Episode and I'd like to be in a better state to watch that one, so until then. this is already a lot tbh I overthought EVERYTHING
