#c ko

Let me just say that I absolutely adore Wakaba and this is one of my favourite Black Rose episodes because of it.

I love the beginning of this episode because it gives Saionji some semi tolerable screen time, which is to say he actually acts like a human being for once lol. That said I also adore Wakaba’s little Kappa coffee maker, I want one.

Just after the previous picture he nyooms out of the shot too fast for me to get a screencap, but I did get his little scuttle out from under the bed! I love these little goofy bits and their sound effects!

Throughout the show up to this point, Wakaba has considered herself to be “normal” not “special” like Utena and Anthy and the Council, all of whom have some sort of charisma that draws people to them (Akio also mentions this to Utena but I’m not grabbing screencaps of him if I don’t need to.)

However, once Wakaba has this secret, she begins to think of herself as “special” and because she thinks she’s special now, everyone else begins to see her that way too and she shines. In some clips quite literally!

This gift is cute. It’s handmade and simple but there’s thought and care and effort put into it and it means so much to Wakaba! But it doesn’t mean nearly as much to Saionji, it isn’t worth more than his return to school/the duels, so when Mikage asks for it he gives it freely. Of course Mikage wants Black Rose Duelists, so those sunset backgrounds that tell us the time but tell us the feelings, those red skies prove it’s a manipulation when Anthy strolls by with the clip after. Wakaba snaps.

Break from heavy stuff for a sec, yeah nothing escapes you Mikage, you’re a ghost! You can be basically omnipresent via Ohtori magic!

Wakaba is fast. Fast enough I didn’t get the shot of her attacking Saionji and pulling a sword from his chest. Instead we stop on their matching cups, forced to bear witness.

This shadow play is about marriage, specifically the conditions required for bunny/fox girls to get married. Marriage makes you special in another person’s eyes, like Wakaba thinks she has because Saionji chose her. Utena however asks what’s wrong with being single, in effect asking if you can be special without any one else’s approval.

Or, what matters more, what you think are or what others think you are? This whole show is about images and expectations: Anthy is the Princess that needs to be rescued (or later the Witch that needs to be dealt with but that’s for later). Utena is the Hero so she must always be in the right at least morally right? And how do these roles affect our sense of self? Is believing you’re special enough to make it so?

The song is about an old man and I’m drawing blanks on how it relates. But Wakaba looks great! She’s so serious! Utena hesitates but Wakaba doesn’t, because you Utena this is a pointless fight against a friend, to Wakaba this isn’t even about the boy as she says it’s about her right to occupy the same sphere of existence as those deemed special.