MagnificentLilyWitch
Active member
- Pronouns
- She/Her
Juri deserves better!
and here we see Utena just *not get* Anthy yet again.
and here we see Utena just *not get* Anthy yet again.
So, breaking that down... The counselor hadn't told Juri about any lunch dates with the Vice Principal. But apparently there was one planned, and Juri knew about it. Moreover, she knew that it would be an effective way to get the Vice Principal off of her own back about what seems to have been an attempt to pressure her into a lunch date- and, importantly, to make Utena suddenly not-occupied, and free to talk with.
Which she immediately does.
Utena begins to stretch and asks if she's in possession of that miraculous power- and, more importantly, whether the power will help her pass her finals. Then she turns to Juri and asks- Is everyone actually serious about these stupid duels over who gets to have Himemiya?
Um. Yes, Utena, they're clearly quite serious.
As she leaves, Anthy walks up the stairs. She walks by Juri, pauses, turns back, and offers her a rose- one that looks that same as the one held by the girl in Juri's memory.
Juri rebuffs her with a smack that would do Saionji proud.
As Anthy sits on the floor, cradling her face, Juri looks down with cold eyes. "Don't get too familiar." She then turns and walks away.
We then move to Utena walking through a dark park, or perhaps a pavillion, with Chu-Chu clinging to her shoulder. She chides him for being afraid of the dark, and begs him to go to sleep soon. As she muses that she needs to sleep too, she notices Juri, sitting by the (very large) fountain she's walking by. They say hello to each other, and Utena comments on Juri's outfit- one much more 'girly' than her uniform.
On the flip-side, there's still clearly a part of Juri who still dreams of miracles, if the Shadow Play Girls' incredibly blunt metaphor is any indication. Otherwise, she wouldn't be lashing out nearly this hard.But I wasn't able to place Juri in this framework neatly. It seems, however, that the friend-of-a-friend had an observation that fit- Juri is the revolutionary who has become convinced that 'revolution' can't happen, who has fallen into their depression and into a sense of malaise about the world- the sort of revolutionary whose favorite pastime is tearing into the hopeful, the young, and the innocent for their naivety, because they can't help but remember their own heartaches and pain every time there's someone whose hopes and dreams are still alive nearby.
In short; she's revolutionary sour grapes.
I think this episode backs that reading up astonishingly well, and I'm honestly embarassed that I hadn't picked it up myself before having it pointed out.
The two stand, swords drawn and pointed at each other. Utena charges and lunges, and Juri parries- clearly more skilled on every level than Utena, controlling the fight, coming just short of causing her injuries before stilling her blade.
As she fights, she observes that Utena is already tired- but while she speaks, she keeps flashing back to herself with her friends, standing between them, both of them looking past her to each other. As she does, she demands that Utena show her her miracle, and prove that miracles are real after all. As she does so, Utena lands in a crouch- and for a few moments, the image of the prince flickers over herself while she lunges forwards.
As the two close, Juri once again remembers the other girl- the one who told her to believe in miracles. Utena's blade comes close to striking the rose from Juri's chest, but is then parried aside by Juri, who howls, "There are no such things as miracles!"
The force of the parry is such that it launches Utena's sword into the air. Juri grabs the disarmed Utena, and bodily throws her to the ground, holding her at sword point and demanding her surrender.
And then Utena's sword falls, straight and true, slicing the sword off Juri's chest as it plunges from the sky.
Juri turns to Anthy, who was watching, and insists- that was an accident. It wasn't a miracle. It couldn't have been. Utena stares at a cleanly impaled rose and wonders- could it have been?
After looking a moment, Juri closes the locket.
Honestly, it might seem weird but I've got a soft spot for Touga?You know. Saionji may be a trashfire masquerading as a human but Touga is just *vile* maybe it just shows which kind of mysogynist I've had to suffer through but Touga gets a much more viseral reaction from me the Saionji...
Poor Wakaba is unseen; clearly, having been betrayed by Utena and replaced with a new Best Friend, she has fled.
Alternatively, it's because she's not the focus of this filler episode. But search your heart, and I'm sure you'll find yourself recognizing that my interpretation is actually the truer, even though it is unrelated to the 'facts'.
Miki blames himself; he says that he told Himemiya he wanted to eat a really spicy curry, and the explosion was, he thinks, the result of him telling her that. He feels an intense sense of personal shame, since, clearly, Anthy risked her own life to deliver the pinnacle of spicy curries to him.
Touga's response is a flat "I don't think we can lay all the blame on you, Miki," delivered in a tone that makes it clear he's doesn't really believe Miki can be blamed at all. Which, to be fair, is absolutely true.
Thus banished to India, Nanami and her crew set off on an adventure of a lifetime- filled with high adventure, incredible action, and several elephant attacks.
Of course, since this is a filler episode, that's constricted to a shadow play talking about divine justice and a few snippets scattered through the rest of the episode showing them being attacked by elephants.
Utena is conflicted- she doesn't know what she's supposed to do, since she's sort of intruded on an existing state of affairs without having intended to. She doesn't really understand what Saionji thinks, or what Anthy thinks, or how to deal with any of that.
Anthy, on the other hand, doesn't seem to care- since Utena 'is Anthy' at the moment, she views it as Utena's responsibility to handle the whole issue, and basically tells Utena to do whatever she wants.
Then, when Utena is like, 'it isn't right, though,' Anthy shrugs and literally throws the exchange diary in the trash, saying 'Well, then, I'll stop.' When Utena objects, Anthy clarifies- she continued with the exchange diary because Utena hadn't ever told her it was wrong, or to stop. If Utena thinks that it isn't right for 'Himemiya Anthy' to have an exchange diary with Saionji, then Anthy will simply stop doing it.
There's... a bit of framing here that makes it seem, to me, like Anthy is a little more canny than she usually lets on, though she's operating on an unusual sort of logic. She isn't simply listening to Utena- she's interpreting what Utena says in a way that lets her do a certain thing, which it would appear she has wanted to do for a while. But she didn't do so until she had the fig leaf that Utena had told her she was supposed to do a certain thing- thus putting the responsibility for her action on Utena, and absolving Anthy of any responsibility for what had happened.
But while Anthy treats herself as a non-actor, her 'non action' is very deliberate- she lets Saionji corner Utena and give her the diary, tells Utena that she is Anthy right now for all intents and purposes- and then when Utena says 'I (Utena) shouldn't do this,' Anthy interprets it as 'I (the person who is currently Anthy) shouldn't do this.'
To cheer everyone up, Anthy makes them some curry. Right before they eat, Nanami's confederates swing back in, to reveal that Anthy hadn't used the 9-billion folded curry at all last time- meaning that it was never the cause after all.
The group stare at their plates in trepidation, realizing that the true culprit was Anthy's cooking.
Anthy is such a subtly terrible person its great.Anthy enters, and asks Utena why she is depressed. Utena admits that it's because Touga was injured while saving her. Anthy wonders if 'he' is doing all right, and Utena decides that she needs to check up on him and see for herself. If nothing else, she still hasn't thanked him for saving her.
Anthy- suddenly animated- comments that 'You' must be hungry. There is a moment where Utena is confused, as Anthy pours a saucer of milk out, but then Anthy reveals that she'd been talking to and about a kitten she'd rescued, rather than Touga and/or Utena.
As the two watch the kitten drink milk, Anthy observes that there are a lot of roses in bloom right now, and says that maybe they should visit Touga. "There's nothing wrong with bringing flowers to a sick person." Utena thanks her.
KILL THE KITTEN MURDERER!!!!! KILL! KILL!We return once more to the drainage ditch in Nanami's memory. She shoves the cardboard box- containing the kitten she gifted to her brother- into the water, and watches as it is swept away.
The kitten drowns in the river while she watches.