The day after the duel, Utena walks to school as if nothing happened.
She’s greeted by some of her fans, a group of three young girls who call out to her. Utena waves back, while the girls stare and blush, and as she passes them by, they gush as one about how cool she is.
We get a few panning shots of locations at the academy as well, and are given its name (Ohtori Academy) for, I think, the first time. (That, or I missed being given the name while I was focusing on other stuff.)
We also get a good view, from above, of Ohtori Academy- showing us the general layout of it’s quite large campus, and the general shape of the location.
Something I didn’t catch on my first watch, but which I was told later when I discussed the show with the friend, is that the academy is designed similarly to a type of megalithic grave from Japanese history- the Kofun (
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kofun) – a large keyhole-shaped tomb/monument, either built into a hill or with a hill built around them, roofed with monolithic slabs of rock.
An interesting piece of trivia, for now. We’ll come back to this more later.
After the title card flashes- identifying this episode as ‘For Whom the Rose Smiles’- we see Utena entering class. Wakaba is already there- meaning she didn’t wait for Utena this morning at all- and Utena looks at her and remembers what happened yesterday (in the form of a brief flashback).
She takes a moment to gather her resolve, and then greets Wakaba, asking her about the book she’s reading.
Wakaba doesn’t respond.
In the first episode, Wakaba was incredibly lively and energetic- almost manic in her energy- and was, if perhaps not in love with Utena, still comfortable calling Utena her ‘boyfriend.’ Now, she’s closed off- silent.
It seems that vicious public mockery has had an effect on how she behaved, even if the people involved didn’t know it was her they were mocking. Who could have guessed?
Further, Utena hadn’t been there to comfort her while she was crying, but instead, immediately went to challenge Saionji to a duel- presumably without informing her. I imagine that, too, is a hurtful experience.
Utena waits a moment, and then turns and walks past.
As Utena makes her way to her own seat, Wakaba snaps the buck shut and raises it, displaying it’s title (Magnolia Waltz) to Utena, who turned at the noise.
Wakaba then speaks.
“Always.”
“She’s always loved this guy.”
“But, after she’s rejected, the next day she recovers, another man appears, and the heroine ends up with him.”
“When I read this before, I thought it was the lamest, stupidest book. Now I read it, and I think it’s the greatest thing ever!”
I suppose she’s gotten over her grief, without needing Utena there to help her.
Utena and Wakaba smile at one another, and Wakaba is back to her usual incredibly exuberant self. Wakaba declares her love for Utena.
And then Anthy walks in.
The scene cuts to an elevator, rising at some indistinct pace. There is a voiceover- one we can recognize as Kiryuu, the student council president- reciting the following speech as the elevator progresses upwards, with the members of the student council appearing on it as black shillouettes.
If it cannot break its egg’s shell, a chick will die without being born.
We are the chick. The world is our egg.
If we don’t crack the world’s shell, we will die without being born.
Smash the world’s shell!
For the revolution of the world!
At the top of the elevator, the members of the student council play cards. Kiryuu asks if the other members have received letters from End of the World, and the two attending members- the blue haired boy and the blond girl with ringlet hair- say that yes, they have received their letters.
Kiryuu drops exposition, and states explicitly that the student council has been receiving these letters, and then following the instructions within them. He then switches to a more justifiable conversation point- the previous day, Saionji had lost a duel, and now the Rose Bride is engaged to the winner (Utena).
The question of who this new participant is is floated, and Blue identifies her. Apparently, her popularity has preceded her- implying but not quite stating that this member of the student council is also a mddle schooler.
Kiryuu… basically pervs out on the idea of Utena being popular as well as ‘regal and lovely’. It’s pretty gross, but before things go any further, Ringlets interrupts to bring things back to the fact that most of them had literally not even heard of Utena before today, and now, Utena is the champion of the duel system. How did this happen? Could it happen again?
This concern is basically blown off by Kiryuu, who re-asserts that End of the World has everything under control, and that the council simply needs to follow their instructions ‘as they see fit.’
It’s then revealed that the letters predict the future- they reveal things which will happen, before they happen. How they do so is left unclear- we don’t actually see the contents of any of the letters, or what they say.
However, since she’s seen the castle- and therefore had it proven that the letters are accurate predictions- Ringlets has decided to continue on as she has been, and to follow what she’s been told in the letters.
The stakes of the contest are then made clear- whoever wins in the ring, becomes engaged to the Rose Bride. At some point, the person engaged to the Rose Bride will be able to enter into the Castle in the Sky. The person who enters the Castle will then gain the power to bring revolution to the world.
Each member of the student council desires this power- and so, they must fight.
Now, obviously, in the real world revolutions don’t work by gaining possibly magical powers by participating in secretive ritual fights with other seekers of revolution. However, lets step back and consider this in a more abstract sense.
The student council have letters, texts which make certain specific and tangible predictions about how the future will go. The members of the student council are all given leeway to choose how to go about interpreting these letters, and deciding what to do with the knowledge within- but they have, for themselves, verified that at least some of the observations in the letters are true, and do genuinely predict things that happen.
These letters have also informed them that in order to bring revolution, they will need to do specific things- gain control of the Rose Bride through succeeding in conflicts with their rivals, and then maintain control of the Rose Bride until it is time to enter the unreachable castle and take power for themselves, power which will allow them to create the revolution.
When we consider things in this sense, the participants in this process- the ‘Duellists’- can be considered as abstract representations of existing movements, each attempting to position themselves so that they can be the one who takes power and does the revolution. Utena, then, is something new- a force which had not been expected by the established participants, even though she had apparently been hinted at in the texts they were engaging with, and who upsets the status quo between them by displacing the movement which had been thought to be best positioned to seize power, and puts herself- without knowing what she is doing, or the importance of it- in the position they have all desired to take for themselves.
Stepping away from the analysis by abstraction, and back to the show itself, Utena and Wakaba are walking out of the academy after class, and talking about rooming arrangements while holding hands.
Wakaba is surprised that they were assigned seperate rooms, because they are, of course, very good friends-
After Wakaba complains about God’s cruelty, Utena says that they can’t help it- the student council decides rooming arrangements.
What a perfectly normal thing for a student council to decide.
It seems Utena has been assigned a room in a building that hadn’t been used for 10 years. Wakaba teases her about having to clean up the mess, and then gives Utena directions to her room, in case Utena decides she doesn’t like living alone.
You know, like friends do.
The actual building is pretty nice- with a clean foyer and expensive-looking architecture. Despite looking well maintained, no-one is there, and Utena makes her way upstairs to her room assignment on her own.
Her room is… rather less maintained than the rest of the building.
Utena closes the door, stands outside, and thinks. It’s been 10 years, supposedly, but I’m going to be real- that’s way more than ‘left shut up for 10 years in an otherwise maintained building’ level of wear and tear.
After a bit, she psyches herself up to go in and start repairing things, and opens the door again.
It’s already been fixed- cleaned, repaired, everything- apparently by Anthy.
Utena has been standing by the door all this time, and frankly, doesn’t seem to have been sitting there all that long anyway. The room is on the second floor. How did Anthy get in? Given the show, I’m gonna just say it was magic and move on.
When Utena asks what Anthy is doing there, Anthy says that the two of them will be living together from now on. Utena objects that the room is a single, but, wouldn’t you know it, it turns out Anthy’s name is on the wall too:
Does it count as magic if what you used was a magic marker?
Quickly accepting the not-at-all-sketchy circumstances, Utena settles in, and observes that it’s a funny coincidence that the two of them are roommates, and apologizes for leaving Anthy to clean the room by herself. Anthy clarifies that it was no accident- as the Rose Bride, Anthy is ‘engaged’ to the reigning champion of mystical revolutionary fight club- with the implication that either she, or the rest of the council, pulled strings for the room assignment.
Utena asks if Anthy’s all right with that. Anthy doesn’t answer.
A bit later, the two are sitting at a table having tea. Utena has some questions- what was that castle? The sword Anthy pulled out of nowhere?
Anthy responds that they’re mysteries.
Utena asks whether this means that Anthy doesn’t know where they came from either, and why Anthy goes along with the whole thing if she doesn’t understand what is happening.
Anthy responds with a question of her own: Why does Utena dress like a boy?
Utena responds that she likes to, and Anthy says, “That’s my answer.” Then she asks whether them being there is a problem for Utena, and Utena dissembles for a bit before realizing that Anthy used a plural term, and noticing a very small monkey eating a cookie.
Anthy introduces the monkey as her friend, Chu-Chu. After a brief interaction where Chu-Chu chokes on the cookie it was eating, and Utena gives it a spoonful of tea to wash down the drink, Utena asks Chu-Chu if it wants to be friends with her, too.
Chu-Chu accepts (nonverbally, of course- the only noise it makes are repeated ‘chu’ sounds) and the two shake on their new friendship. Anthy is impressed- apparently, Chu-Chu doesn’t usually like new people.
Next, Utena asks about her ring- or rather, the Rose Seals. The Rose Seal marks it’s wearer as a ‘Duelist,’ and every member of the Student Council wears one. Now that Utena is the reigning champion, other Duelists will come to her, and challenge her to duels.
Utena does not accept this. She’s not interested in being part of some secret society and fighting meaningless fights.
Meanwhile, Saionji sits in his dojo and stares ominously at a pair of Katana, resting on a decorative stand. He takes one and draws it from it’s sheath, doing a quick drill to familiarize himself with it’s weight and balance, before spinning it around and pointing it at Kiryuu’s neck.
After realizing it is Kiryuu, Saionji lowers his sword, and the two talk. Kiryuu asks if the Kendo team captain (ie, Saionji) intends to fight a middle school girl again. Saionji confirms this, and asserts that power and revolution belong rightfully to him. Utena’s earlier victory was a mistake, and nothing more.
He also asserts that Anthy belongs to him, and that she’s his to “do as I command forever,” as is written in his exchange diary.
Kiryuu’s response is either a deadpan joke or genuine confusion- “You keep an exchange diary?”
Later that evening, Utena sits down to a meal that it seems Anthy made. Utena is surprised that the two of them are the only people in the entire dorm, which is a pretty fair thing to be confused about, given the place is quite expensive looking and seems to be made to seat dozens of students.
Chu-Chu shows up, and Utena asks it to get Anthy, but Chu-Chu refuses to leave without Utena.
Outside, we see Saionji confrontin Anthy, angrily asking why she won’t obey him. She apologizes, and says that she is engaged to Utena now. Saionji challenges this- didn’t Anthy dedicate herself to him entirely when they were engaged?
Anthy admits that this was the case, but says that that is the past. Her engagement to Saionji is over. Saionji should forget about her.
For a moment, Saionji appears sad- pure sorrow, no other emotions.
And then he lashes out, crying ‘You shameless-!’, and slapping Anthy so hard she literally gets flung to the ground.
As Anthy gathers herself up, hand to her cheek, Saionji watches her, literally trembling with rage, and tells her that she is a disgrace.
It’s at this point that Utena shows up, and objects strongly- saying that it is Saionji who is the disgrace, and glaring at him.
Chu-Chu is also there.
Saionji congratulates Utena on her timing, claims he lost their duel because he let his guard down, and demands a rematch so that he can reclaim his ownership of Anthy.
Utena tries to refuse, re-asserting that she doesn’t care about any of this- she fought him yesterday to get revenge on behalf of her friend Wakaba, and she doesn’t care about this ‘Rose Bride’ business. Saionji says that she’s already a dues-paying member of the Mystic Swordfight Party, since she’d fought with him the day before- and that if she refuses to continue participating, the Student Council will make her disappear from the campus, according to their highly specific regulations.
It’s not clear whether this is a death threat, or a threat of expulsion from the Academy. Either way, Utena is forced to accept the challenge, and agree to another duel. As Saionji leaves, Anthy asks why Utena agreed- she had said she wanted no part in further duels. Utena says she had no choice, since otherwise she’d be expelled, which I suppose clarifies how she interpreted the threat, at minimum.
Utena decides she’ll lose on purpose, so there’s no problem. Anthy is visibly not happy about this, but says that Utena should do as she pleases.
Utena, I think it is worth noting, is an incredibly oblivious dumbass who hasn’t put together two and two to come up with ‘Abusive relationship’ quite yet.
The scene cuts to another shadow play, where shadows on the wall talk about the upcoming fight. They do a bit about a western duel, where one of the two gunslingers throws the match- and then say that losing might be harder than the Hero thinks, as a hand carries a small potted cactus in front of them, as if the shadows are passing behind actual terrain.
Utena finds herself once more in front of the gate, and we revisit the scene from before- ripples unrippling into a droplet that unfalls, unlocking the environment into an indescernable mass of twisting forms and shifting shadows, mechanical-organic-environmental noises echoing from the mists. She climbs up the stairs- but this time, waiting for her at the top is Anthy, who summons various pieces of regalia onto Utena’s uniform as she climbs.
It’s an excellently animated sequence, which, I suppose, is why they use it over and over and over again throughout the show. (I’ll probably not describe it again until we get to the alternate ascension scenes)
Anthy pins a rose, once again, to both Utena and Saionji’s chests.
Saionji says there’s no point in explaining the rules again; Utena already knows them. Utena agrees, and Saionji draws his sword and settles into a ready stance.
And then Anthy summons the Sword of Dios for Utena.
And then the fight is on.
This time, Saionji is on the aggressive, and charges in to try to strike Utena down quickly. He strikes again and again, and she simply parries, until he finally knocks her sword away and strikes at her rose.
Utena instinctively protects the rose and dodges, even though it puts her life at risk.
Saionji approves- you don’t lose the duel by taking blows, you lose the duel by losing your rose.
They clash, again, and Saionji says that just because Utena has the sword of Dios doesn’t mean that she knows how to use it; she doesn’t have the skill to stand against him, so he will win.
He then kicks Utena in the stomach while their swords are locked, launching her backwards into a tumble as Anthy watches, wide-eyed. I wonder why she’s supposed to be surprised. Because she expected Utena to have thrown it, or because she’s realizing that this is what it looks like when Saionji slaps her around?
Saionji now has Utena on the ground, disarmed, and at his mercy- so he gloats. He’s won. The sword is his now, Anthy is his now, his glory has been restored.
He raises his sword above his head to strike Utena down, and after a cutscene where a spirit that looks an awful lot like the Prince from Utena’s memory descends from the castle to possess her, over the course of about fifteen seconds or so that must have taken a fraction of a second for Utena to not have been struck, but also, to still have the opening Saionji had left when he raised his sword, Utena lunges and strikes the rose from Saionji’s chest, breaking his sword in the process.
Amusingly, his sword is broken in the same place as hers was in their first duel.
Everyone is surprised- even Kiryuu, who had been watching through binoculars from the observation platform- so clearly the thing with the possession wasn’t like, a thing that didn’t happen. But what they saw isn’t exactly clear, so I guess we don’t know for sure what they’re even reacting to.
After a few moments, we return to the dorm, where Utena briefly holds Chu-Chu back from eating an entire fucking cake. Anthy enters, Utena lets Chu-Chu go, and the cake is gone forever.
Anthy asks why Utena didn’t throw the fight, and Utena says she didn’t do it for Anthy, she did it for… Chu-Chu, so Saionji wouldn’t tease him.
Anthy stares at this absolute dumbass as she laughs at her stupid joke, and after a few moments, her eyes soften.