allaboardthechuchutrain - Tumblr blog

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

RGU pmv- Sundial (pspsps go follow the link + watch it over on youtube)

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

it's interesting that the word "shining" is used in utena and akio's conversation about childhood, in contrast to utena and anthy's "someday, together, we'll shine" being linked to their promise to have tea together in ten years, when they're both adults. they understand what he doesn't -- that the future can be better and brighter than the past. life doesn't only get worse as time goes on, and neither do people, because growing up is part of growing as a person. it's especially interesting considering that akio is literally just wrong here. stars actually become brighter as they age, not dimmer.

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

saito style study!

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

episode 37 my beloved. anthy kind of dryly mocks utena for wanting things to stay this way forever with the 3 of them which incenses utena (who now has seen a little of the darker underbelly of it) so much she rips the letter to shreds. but then, prompted and given time to think about it, she reformats what she wanted before to anthy in the cantarella scene. she’s like ‘no, i don’t want us to all stay frozen like this forever, i think 10 years from now you’ll be different and i’ll be different too. i’m not certain at all what the future will be, because it won’t be a reliable constant like this, but that uncertainty’s alright. i do consciously want to still be with you though. i want things to change but i hope that even if they change we can still be having tea together like we are now, because the future doesn’t only have to entail loss’

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

i hated you (i loved you too)

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

according to ep 4 anthy had told utena she was sick of their giant inflatable octopus and thought it should be thrown away, implying that anthy only kept it to antagonize nanami. funniest aspect of when shes leaving to move in with touga and nanami is that you can see its tentacle sticking out of the giant suitcase shes using to accommodate it – every other time in the show she uses a smaller suitcase, & notably when she moves back in with utena like a day later. she definitely ‘accidentally left it’ at the kiryuu residence

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

Akio trying to convince Utena in the last episode that Anthy's suffering is a tragic but inevitable facet of reality and nothing can be done about it despite him being the primary one responsible for her suffering, and this being part of his smoke and mirrors illusion through which he maintains control, acting like his tower is the highest place in the world and he is the end of the world and there's nothing beyond the limits of his power and it's naive and delusional to think otherwise...and Anthy having internalized this idea that there's no hope for her and there's no possible future for her beyond Akio's abuse...and Utena rejecting this ultimately not out of some abstract idea of heroism or nobility or some clear idea of how to fix things but simply because she cannot accept it and she loves Anthy too much to not try to do something...and that giving Anthy the hope and courage to believe in a future where she can be loved and be happy and the strength to choose to leave herself and even subtly mock Akio's own immaturity and self-delusion on her way out the door as she goes to step over the line to the outside world while Akio is shocked because he never considered that his power over her was not absolute and he too believed in the indestructibility of the system he created...the revolution was the power to imagine the future!! the world (the stage) is free and wide!!

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

why this contrast. how come they ended up so distant from each other in that period of time. i hate my life

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

we all love to joke about the handholding beds but it is genuinely so important to utena and anthy's relationship and the trust they build throughout the third arc and it's so heartbreaking that in the last arc (or actually from when nanami starts sleeping in the tower, though i don't really think that's the catalyst) not only do we never see that little scene of them reaching out to hold each other's hand again, we rarely ever see them sleep in it together at all.

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

I missed their anniversary but happy visibity week to the inventors of yuri‼️

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

ok anyway [starts projecting]

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

well I’m not sure how I never noticed this before (caps from empty movement)

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

Shoujo Kakumei Utena // by はすみ

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

rewatching episode 3 rn and something i noticed on my last watch is that these people's reflections are all sharp and pointy like the swords :(

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

i think it's so interesting that in several adaptations of the story (the movie, the movie manga and in after the revolution) akio is a painter, while in the show he does photography. both are visual media that he uses to capture his victims and his abuse of them (anthy in the paintings, touga and saionji in the photos). i've talked about photographs in relation to memory (and eternity) before, and i suppose the paintings are a similar but more abstract version of that. photos are of course not an objective or unbiased portrayal of reality, they are influenced by the framing of the person behind the camera, just like a piece of art is crated and shaped by the artist, but there is nonetheless the illusion that one is more real than the other. the symbolism of akio as director and cameraman is present all throughout the story in his subtle framing of the narrative, and it's interesting to extend that perspective to the paintings. a more abstract (and obfuscated) but no less real look into his abuse. no wonder they're all of anthy then.

and of course i can't help but also think about the parallel of akio being cut out of the photograph with utena and anthy holding hands in the show, and the painting of anthy in after the revolution turning into one of her and utena together.

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

What if we both had unhealthy, toxic fixations with our shitty brothers because they were the only source of comfort we had growing up in a cold, uncaring home, but now they only want to use us as means to an end? What if we both yearned for the comfort and simplicity of our childhoods, but were looking through rose tinted glasses at a perfect past that never existed, and now only serves to burden us? What if we were both trying desperately to grab onto any semblance of power, by any means necessary, in a system rigged against us from the start? What if it wasn't enough. What if the only way to escape was to walk away from everything we've ever known? What if we chose something better? What if we chose freedom?

.

and we were both girls 😳😳🙈

[allaboardthechuchutrain]

More kozunami parallels because I'm entirely obsessed with them,

Forever upset that they didn't get to interact more.