"Vary" weird creature

really proud of grace’s second expression here. that’s all. it was a pain in my cojones but i think i got it

Honestly, I think people being weirdly possessive is more of a recent thing but my sense of time is bad.

tfw ppl are bizarrely invested in the label a cartoon character would use for her sexual orientation

So first and foremost: Utena is a cartoon character who never explicitly states her sexual orientation and Ikuhara saying that he wanted to portray Anthy and Utena as having something "like a lesbian relationship" in a translated interview does not mean Utena is a lesbian and cannot be interpreted in any other way.

It boggles my mind that people have gotten so weird about this? Like if you say you read Utena as being bi or w/e, you're Wrong and Why Won't You Let The Lesbians Have This. Like, I literally saw these takes when the Empty Movement twitter said something in this vein, and got QRT'd to hell and back by a bunch of people INSISTING that it is INCORRECT to read Utena, a cartoon character with no canonly stated sexuality, as anything other than a lesbian.

It is ABSURD that people behaved this way. It's absurd that people cite that Ikuhara interview as gospel. It is PARTICULARLY absurd that people will post shit like "WHY CAN'T YOU LET THE LESBIANS HAVE OUR LESBIAN REP" like ??????? what in the fuck are you ON about. You can interpret Utena as being a lesbian all you want, and I can still read Utena as being bi. I can read Utena as being bi, and you can still read her as being gay. In typing this, I have not taken Utena away from anyone--how COULD I? Even if I know a bunch of people who read her as bi, how does that STOP you from reading her as being gay???

It doesn't!

See normally if you're not a ridiculous person, if someone has an interpretation that contradicts yours for a story, even if you don't agree... you just go "oh ok" and idk get over it? If there's anything to get over in the first place? If someone says to ME "Personally, I read Utena as being a lesbian." my whole ass response is "Oh that's fair."

But because Utena has become A Lesbian Media, apparently a non zero number of people find "I interpret Utena as being bisexual" to be a Crime Against Lesbians or some shit??

On the topic of Ruka Tsuchiya

CW: talking about the concept of corrective rape, etc

So before I get into this, I'd like to reiterate that my interpretation of this show does not negate YOUR interpretation of this show. Like, I can think you are wrong and you can think I'm wrong, right? Right.

So something I've seen occasionally is the idea that Ruka kissing Jury was... an attempt at making her NOT a lesbian? That his actions were in the vein of corrective rape? And honestly this is the (second) most mind boggling thing I've ever heard??????

I legitimately do not understand how people land on this outside of the fact that he is a dude forcing a kiss on a woman who is in love with another woman. Like yes, that was bad, no shit... but to assume that the intention behind the kiss was to make her STRAIGHT is ascribing a lot of intent to his actions that is simply not there? Like, I've watched this show three times and have yet to spot the part that even remotely suggests that he thinks it's bad that she's in love with a woman vs his problem being with Shiori.

In the scene where Ruka kisses Jury, he's trying to get under her skin, and IMO he is PRIMARILY operating with the mindset of "Jury, I know you're in love with Shiori, but you shouldn't be. She sucks! She really sucks! She is manipulative and a liar and you should really get over her."

And listen: I LOVE Shiori. She's a great character! But I love her in part because she can be quite terrible! If a friend of mine was clearly in love with someone who was CLEARLY TOXIC AS HELL I would not kiss them but I WOULD be like "hey uh you know your crush sucks right?"

So when I see this take that says "Ruka assaulted Jury because he wants her to not be a LESBIAN" I can only assume that people landed on this conclusion because to them, Jury Being A Lesbian is THAT ingrained into the show for them, because this is a Show About Lesbians or something.

But a kiss in itself is simply an action. Alone, it doesn't have any specific meaning. People kiss because of attraction, sure, but sometimes it's an impulse. Sometimes a kiss says "I love you" and sometimes it just means "I like you enough to put my mouth on yours."

When Ruka kisses Jury, I don't think he's doing it because he wants her to be straight. Hell, I think he does have a crush on her but I don't think his intent is "make my crush straight, for me or otherwise," I think he does it because it'll let him get close enough to her to steal the locket AND piss her off. It is a shitty thing to do, duh, but to say his intent was akin to corrective rape is ascribing an intent to his actions that is simply not there!

Why are you so mad about this

I'm mad because Utena is one of my favorite shows IN PART because it is a story with a lot of room for interpretation, and when people boil it down to just being About Lesbians, you're ignoring like 40% of the show, and oversimplifying a lot of it! Like the Ruka thing only makes sense if you operate under the assumption that Ruka thinks Jury is a lesbian and like... does he? Or does he just know that she's in love with a woman? You can be in love with a woman and not be a lesbian!

Utena is an incredible show that yes, is PRIMARILY about a queer woman and her relationship with another queer woman but there is more to it. There is more to it, and it is not a show that The Lesbians own just because you can interpret Utena as being a lesbian.