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Here’s nanami slagging off akio for those who celebrate

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23.06.2025 🔴 today's anthy!

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together at the end of time

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Revolutionary Girl Utena Wakaba Shinohara

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the new Los Campesinos! album got me thinking about them.

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episode 16 is a haha-clever-allegory episode that pretty much mirrors all of the black rose duels until now but here's a couple of things: the theme of transformation-into-something-else during adolescence is a device that is often used to explain identity crisis, and it's intended to be (comically/dramatically) horrifying here for nanami. you also have the frame with a full moon which i think is supposed to parody the cliche werewolf-reveal? girls-as-werewolves is something media like ginger snaps use to combine something feminine with something not feminine, but you could also interpret it being more about gender identities and the queer experience of transformation and the body in general. nanami, however, invokes the opposite effect-- cows /are/ considered more subdued, more conforming, and has much more derogatory implications (livestock, as well as an insult geared towards women specifically).

tangentially: bulls are more commonly associated with the enraged-by-the-color-red myth than cows. there's also the fact that it was a red sweater. time to chew on that.

two, nanami reads like any teenager conscious of how they appear to others-- in this case, how sophisticated and 'classy' she comes across. she doesn't seem to know much about dior until miki talks about how significant the name is. it's very european, it's a status symbol, and it sounds posh. she may not know what a cowbell (in english) means, but she won't embarrass herself by admitting she doesn't. she's also concerned regarding her popularity and how she's perceived. at first glance, it makes sense-- she hosts social events, is very driven, and she has many traits you would associate with a classic mean girl: her bullying and humiliating anthy in her introductory episode, her seeing other girls as competition. her influence seemingly also coincides with touga being her older brother, the student council president.

the mean girl trope, in an especially white audience i've noticed, is something that's sometimes recast as a more empowering role (but ultimately, played straight). typically, though, the trope relies on casting ambitious women as being 'evil' because their 'arrogance' seems undue. it's also a trope that relies on accessory roles, prescribed by the patriarchy. the mean girl's father is x, her boyfriend is y, her brother is z. these figures are also sometimes written to be the 'real' reason she gets away with so much or even has any power at all. you get the idea.

nanami certainly appears to check off some of these boxes at the very start. except her search for popularity and special-ness in this episode rapidly devolves into a loss of agency. she's anxious regarding touga, she doesn't like the idea of being irrelevant or being just another face in the crowd to him (wakaba/nanami parallels yet to come hello hi hello). like hey, remember when she thought he was out to murder her in episode 6 and in this episode she dreams of being sent off to be butchered by him? that she may just be a piece of meat to him? she also wants unconditional love-- so she plays a role she is socialised into: a princess. besides idolising him as her prince. it's not a role or trope that's based in complete confidence of a patriarchal system. it very rarely is. and the system very often operates on the fear of a loss of relationships.

but i think what makes nanami especially deconstructive of the trope beyond this episode, is everything in the apocalypse arc. her decision to step back from touga, her maturity and resolve, and the fact that she demonstrates herself as someone who doesn't need to rely on him. there's also the black rose arc: i always found it interesting that the student council had a much more humanised? feeling, i guess? when she took the lead. it could be due to the shift in power, what with the lack of any letters, mikage, and the black rose duels. you also had many scenes without the egg monologue, and nanami's own version of it the one time they do have it… which is something for another post.

tl;dr: nanami rules. and episode 16 will haunt my dreams.

credits for the translations referred to go to haru-dipthong given i've largely been using their fansubs for this rewatch. it's been super illuminating!

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utena: i ... i have to save himemiya. she's my friend ... i have to help her. she may have given up on herself, but i have not! i refuse to give up! i will set her free from her eternal coffin so that one day, together we'll shine.... akio:

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Hi!! :] This is my first post on tumblr and my contribution to the Revolutionary Girl Utena fandom! I'm proud and happy to finally be done with this, enjoy!

I referenced this meme here! Link here

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i don't get how some people watch all 39 episodes of rgu and just. feel normal about it. like it hasn't changed their life somehow.

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stupid stupid joke

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Juri dump cause literally me

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And the gates of night open

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rgu/twin peaks thematic comparisons are. something. because on the one hand you have rgu breaking down societally-enforced narrative structures you're led to believe and providing you with some tools understand its overall resolution-- you can't save anyone, you can show support, and you can make the decision to exit the narrative. you make your own path out of this cycle!

and twin peaks is sort of hanging around, doomed to repeat itself all over again (as it is intended to), because you can't make the rot and the trauma just leave, sometimes it just won't be bottled up and you've got to live with it, even if you can travel across time and space to change that. and you try anyway. so the narrative looks you dead in the eye and goes, "hey buddy. you fucked up. big time."

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Idek how im going to draw them if dance dance revolution option wins . Anyway!!! First time drawing Mamiya Say hi mamiya

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thinking about how the overall openness of the tower is emphasised. it's the excess of unwanted, hollow space and it gives you the creeps just looking at it. it makes you feel small, and it's intended. it makes you feel exposed, which is also intended. empty space is a luxury; you can afford to have all this space unoccupied and then some. there's also the manga which talks about the (interior of the castle) space as some place no one has lived in for years. it's too clean. and it's the perfect stage: if you create a place to be empty in the way you want it to be, you get to pick what happens, what enters, and what exits.

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39

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