#Nozomi Entertainment

[animenostalgia]

News - Crunchyroll has announced they have acquired Rightstuf’s store. So far, the biggest and most immediate change is that they have removed all products they’ve deemed “erotica” from the site. They’ve said that these items will soon be available again on a different, separate webstore, Ero Anime Store. If you had an “erotica” item on pre-order, you will still get it, it will just be handled by Ero Anime Store instead.

Oddly, it seems that so far, they are still carrying BL and GL manga that could be considered “erotica”, but that could change in the coming months. 

It seems that it’s also uncertain if this means Crunchyroll now owns Nozomi Entertainment, Rightstuf’s anime label (and it’s various labels under it, like Lucky Penny, Critical Mass, etc.)--there’s conflicting information right now, so hopefully and official announcement will be released soon.

Also no word yet on if this will effect Rightstuf’s “Got Anime?” memberships or affiliate program.

[ljaesch]

Macross Frontier and Macross Delta Anime to Be Offered on Home Video Outside of Japan

Macross Frontier and Macross Delta Anime to Be Offered on Home Video Outside of Japan

Bigwest and Nozomi Entertainment announced during Bigwest’s Macross panel at Anime Expo 2022 that they will release the Macross Frontier and Macross Delta anime on home video. Nozomi Entertainment will be releasing the Macross Frontier anime as a full series Blu-ray Disc Box set. Macross Frontier is described as: Many years ago, the Earth was caught up in an intergalactic war. Humanity, having…

[newgabeorder]

Toon Time Theater Prediction

All of a sudden, a bright pillar of light emerged from the city, and a series of paranormal activity happens. Many of the city's population bumped into an urban legend who happens to be a goddess of death. This cartoon series aired as early as the turn of the century, and you know this will haunt your dreams. The first episode previously aired on the FUNimation Spotlight Show during T3's April Fools stunt. There will be a chance it will show up again on the Saturday morning animation cram session on the last days of Summer, so brace yourself once the climate changes for the worst.

[sapphosheiir]

If you haven’t watched Revolutionary Girl Utena for free on Nozomi Entertainment’s youtube yet I suggest doing that before Crunchyroll takes it down and paywalls it on their shitty site that barely works

[specterthief]

hey. don't cry. revolutionary girl utena is free to watch with english subtitles legally on nozomi entertainment's youtube channel

[snarp]

Watch Utena Now

[pyjamaart]

A looming presence... (A piece of fan art for Episode 11 of the Christmas Comeback Crisis)

Read more for an essay on all the memes and references ;)

So here it is. Finally. Only one month too late: This piece of CCC fan art I've worked on since the episode came out.

Sorry for the delay, but I just started at my new job this week and it's been a little stressful, so I didn't have much time to work on this. But now it's finally here!!! I gotta say, the hardest part by far was the background, lol. I didn't mean for it to escalate that much. At the end I was honestly running out of memes to draw.

I bet we can all agree that episode 11 of the Christmas Comeback Crisis was so worth the wait, right???? My god. Peak entertainment. I still can't believe I'm getting all this awesome lore and music for free, feels kinda criminal.

I'm so invested in this story, it's unreal. I can't wait to see how it will end. I can already tell it's gonna be pretty emotional. (And not to alarm anyone, but I have a slight feeling that the Voice is not gonna make it out of this story arc alive. I mean, after everything he's done, it's safe to say that he kinda deserves it. Of course I really don't want him to die, cause that would mean…….. Woodman would also have to die??? Otherwise the Voice will just keep coming back again and again because Woodman is keeping his memory alive…….. Oh man wait a moment….. I don't even want to think about that. Forget I said anything about this.)

Anyway, let's talk about this piece of art for a moment.

In the foreground, we have our brave protagonists. I really really like how Nozomi turned out, so I decided to make her my new icon from now on. Don't get me wrong, I love my old icon, but it's kinda zoomed out and you can't really make out any details when it's really small. So Nozomi it is. Meta Knights sword was shockingly difficult to draw, especially because I had to figure out how to draw it when he's holding it at an angle like that. Otherwise, drawing him was actually one of the easiest things about this whole thing. His design is really just two circles with some arms and armor. Figuring out how the circle tool in Gimp works has never felt this good. (Kinda crazy I can just draw him like this now, considering how obsessed with him I was when I was about 12-13 years old. Back then you had to download official renders of your favorite characters onto your computer, then print them out and hang them on your walls all around your room. Yeah I've always been like this.) Drawing Santa was really fun too, just his right hand was a little difficult. But that's just because I still can't draw hands in general. Maybe I should practice drawing hands more. (Naaaaaah I'm just kidding, I'll never do that.) Now that I'm looking at him again, he's also longingly staring at President Haltmann in the background. Doomed yaoi fr.

Speaking of the background, let's talk about that next. There's obviously the title-giving "looming presence" the Voice. I had his hands completely in the background at first, but I thought it looked cooler when they were hanging threateningly around Santa's shoulders. (You may ask yourself, 'man these hands look kinda alright for my usual hand drawing standards', and that is because I traced over pictures of my own hands. I love "cheating" at art.) I also gave him his stupid little bow tie and the colored buttons on his suit sleeves. Not only is that kinda my trademark for drawing him at this point, it's also supposed to show, that under all the threats and the evil villain persona, he's just kind of a loser. A real (male equivalent of a) girlfailure. That's why I made sure that half of the things shown in the background are there to make fun of him a little. I love the Voice dearly, but that's just what felt right.

And now let's get to the actual main course of this essay. I probably spent half the time working on this on the freaking background. I'm just gonna start in the top left corner and then go down each column and explain what each of these mean or what they reference. (Since there are some quite obscure ones in there.)

Let's start with the two ponies in the very top left. They're actually ponysonas of Nozomi Tojo (left) and Takane Shijou (right). Nozomi is an earth pony and has a tarot card as her cutie mark, specifically the ace of cups. Takane on the other hand is a unicorn and has some musical notes as her cutie mark, which you can't really see. I don't know enough about the Idolmaster to think of something more meaningful for her, sorry. ;)

Under that are Susie Haltmann and her father, President Haltmann. They were (after Woodman) the first characters I wanted to draw into the background. Susie has this black bar covering her face, since she was never really there to begin with. The whole story line with her father wanting to bring her back was actually so freaking sad. And when the Voice killed him in episode 11 and that image of Susie flashed on screen as the last thing he saw before he died….. Oof……… That's also why I drew that cursor looming next to her "window" about to click on the closing button. Haltmann himself is also the only character in the background to actually leave his little window, wanting to reach his daughter. He's also glaring at the Voice for causing him all of this grief and anger in the first place with his false promises.

Then there's…. ahem, "Hot robots in your area". With drawings of a random unnamed robot and Mettaton from Undertale. Which the Voice has apparently bookmarked. This is just a head canon, but I like to think he has a thing for robots, lol. ;)

Oh and on the left next to that on the very first column is Simpleflips' logo. Shoutouts to Simpleflips indeed.

Onto the next column. At the very top is Haruka Amami (also from the Idolmaster), who played a pretty huge role in the CCC, especially in the latest episode. That moment at the very end where she saved Grand Dad from certain death was just fantastic. Absolutely goated scene. She's kinda pressing her face against the window she's trapped in. I hope you can even see that from far away, haha.

Under that is one of the more obscure references. It's from a King for Another Day video, specifically one titled "The Hobart Hootenanny - SiIvaGunner: King for Another Day". It's a slideshow made of beautiful Hobart pictures. One that struck me personally the most was a little family picture of Hobart and the rapper Eminem, who was also a contestant in the KfAD tournament, looking lovingly over their son sitting in a cradle. Eminem is seen saying "Our son is beutiful". A truly touching photograph indeed. In that same slideshow is also another scene of Hobart together with the Voice, but we'll talk about that one later.

The next one is a reference to the CCC side story "I wanna thank me" and shows a pie chart with the election results that were discussed in that episode. Under the pie chart itself is a little box containing all the different parties and showing their respective percentages. On the left is a poster for the "Poké Poké Literature Party", showing Monika's head with the words "Just vote Monika" at the top of the poster. The words (and Misha.) are scribbled on the bottom, lest we forget that she's not running this party alone. This side story was first featured in the Christmas Comeback Crisis Watchalong in 2020, which was actually the first time I watched the CCC in its entirety. It all went downhill from there. ;)

Then there's the Voice's… thing? Object? Weird apparatus where no one really knows what it does or what its purpose is? Every time we see the Voice sitting in his office, this thing is sitting on his desk right next to him. There's been loads of jokes about its purpose. They've all been made before. I'm not going to repeat them. Only the Voice himself truly knows what this thing does. Probably. Could just be a decorative piece of art.

Then we have something veeeery self indulgent on the next column. It's Aquaman from Megaman 8 (With a not so subtle skull right next to him). You should all know by now that I'm the founding father of the Aquawood ship. And I also have the head canon that Woodman and the Voice are very divorced. Interpret into this whatever you want.

Next to Aquaman is the internets' favorite panel from the web comic Tails Gets Trolled. I fucking love that comic. If you haven't read it in its entirety, I highly recommend doing it. (Though be warned that it contains some pretty heavy topics, many many slurs and a plethora of gore.) Okay, maybe I don't recommend reading it. (Just read it with all of that in mind.)

Under that is a personal favorite joke of mine. It's supposed to be Spotify, with a playlist open that I created some time ago. I called it "Die Pizza Playlist" (Remember that die in German is just "the") which I always listen to when I'm baking my own pizza. Highlights include "Pizza" by Antilopen Gang, "Pizza Heroes" by Lemon Demon (You can actually see the album art for Spirit Phone on the left of the playlist.), "Pizza Pizza Pizza" from the Ratatouille musical and so on and so on. The first song in the playlist is obviously "We like pizza" by the Pizza kids, which is even playing in the image. On the side are two more music artists, at the bottom is the image for the Veggie Tales soundtrack, which also featured a song called "Pizza Angel". And over that is Mitski. I just feel like the Voice would listen to her music. Do not question me on this.

The audience laughs at the funny 7.

On the Voice's left shoulder sits a single green bean. It's flashing you a cheeky grin and a peace sign. While I didn't intend for this to happen, I accidentally referenced my own Woodman birthday gallery art from two years ago, where the bean also sits atop the Voice's shoulder. I know that next to "Yankin'", the bean is one of the most hated memes on SiIva, but I think he's just a silly little guy! :D

Let's head on over to the next column. Seems like the Voice has an incoming call from one of his guards, but he's ignoring it as he has more important things to do, like hovering intimidatingly over Santa Claus.

Next to that window on the right are the Voice's messages. I almost wrote "messanges". That would have been embarrassing, thank god I caught that in time. This is also (yet again) a little self indulgent, since the Voice apparently has the last message he sent Woodman pinned to the very top of his messenger app. His big triangular head is blocking most of it, but since I'm the artist, I can tell you exactly what it says: "Please call me back", which was sent on February 1st 2023, the day "The Disappearance of Woodman" was released. Yeah, I'm still very upset, how could you tell? :( Under that is a message to his trusty pizza guy asking for a pizza with extra cheese.

Next we have two of my favorite memes on the SiIvagunner channel (My absolute favorite being "Funny budots", since I never wrote that down anywhere.), one being Frisk Undertale becoming uncanny and the other one being the goat. I don't really know how to describe the goat, but apparently it was crafted by the same artist who made the stoned fox that's also very popular online?? I may just be stupid, but I didn't know about that until I looked up a reference for the goat. Since it often appears alongside Undertale and Deltarune, many have made the assumption that this is what Asriel would look like in real life. That's why Flowey is there next to it with an equal sign. Whoever drew up that calculation wasn't really sure of their work, which is why they drew a question mark right next to it. Between Frisk and the goat is a little Soul, also from Undertale/Deltarune.

Onto the next column, where I'm dropping very subtle hints that a specific character in this image might like pizza. Or might even be a little obsessed with it. On the left is a list with the contact details of three well known pizza chains, on the very top is Sonic the Hedgehog who just recently became a brand ambassador for Totino's and on the bottom right of this section is a flyer for some kind of pizza sale.

The next window contains my favorite joke of any rip on the entire SiIvaGunner Youtube Channel. "Peepoona 5. Let us shart the pants." Just typing this out is making me die of laughter yet again. (The rip in question is "Our Beginning - Persona 5".) But as you all know, I am very into toilet humor. That's why Aquaman is one of my favorite robot masters. And why I'm such a big fan of Youtube Poop. And why I watch Minion fart gun religiously. But enough of that, you get what I'm trying to say. I love funny poop jokes. That's why this is here.

Oh man. This next one is why I wanted to write this very detailed essay in the first place. A reference so obscure, even I can't find its origin anymore. And believe me, I tried. Thankfully, I took a screenshot of the original comment thread this was based on. A user called "The New Guy" commented on a SiIvaGunner rip, something along the lines about how much they enjoyed this specific rip. At the time, the comment had 920 likes, so I'm guessing it must have been a pretty popular video. (The comment should also be about 4 years old now?) Anyway, under that comment, someone asks them what their profile picture was from. They simply answered "wagon", since that was exactly what their profile picture showed. Someone on the SiIvaGunner team must have found this exchange so funny that they commented "wagon" as well. And that's the origin of this joke. If anyone knows which rip this is from pleeeeaaaase tell me. I need to know.

I don't think I need to explain who the next guy is. Just the love of my life. I specifically drew Woodman in his getup from the Nuclear Winter Festival, since that was the last time he appeared on the channel. He's looking kinda concerned in the general direction of the viewer, for obvious reasons. And right under him is his trademarked >:] emoji.

And last but certainly not least, the final column! Now I finally get to talk about this other scene from the Hobart Hootenanny. It shows Hobart and the Voice having a romantic stroll at a beautiful beach, while the sun is slowly setting in the background, making the water shimmer with its breathtaking colors. Okay, the last thing didn't really happen, since it's a shitty MS Paint drawing, but I like to imagine it did. Maybe I should draw a remake of this image one day. Now I'd like to quote the video in question: "A man and Hobart were walking together on the beach. He looked back and saw that in his times of sadness and need, there was only one set of footprints. He asked Hobart why he would leave him in his time of most need. Hobart simply turned to the man and said, VVVVVRRRRR SRRRRR RRRRGGGHHHH--" (Thank you SiIva Wiki for the transcription.) Now I don't think I need to explain why I drew Hobart in a bikini top and fishnets. The question answers itself.

The next image is actually quite easy to explain. It's mm5charge and smol Maki. In another universe, Chargeman and Maki might have been integral to the SiIvaGunner lore. This specific image is just stolen from my piece of fan art called "Megaman 5 Brainrot (featuring Acidman)", which I posted in 2022. I still head canon that Megaman and Love Live take place in the same universe. Just because I think it's funny. And because I want to see funny robot masters interact with the girlies from Love Live. How do I explain this? It's like…. balancing out the world? The robot masters are almost all male (with a few exceptions) and the characters shown in Love Live are all female. How would Thanos say? "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be." Don't question my cool head canons, okay?

After that we have a poster featuring the Jazz Cats! I really really love the little animations that showed their backstory when KfAD2 first came out. I don't know if it's okay for me to say this, but I also really really enjoy the song "But Not You" written (in universe) by Doge and Naxx. The text is veeeeeeery questionable, but man, does it sound good regardless… And shoutouts to wolfman1405 for the heavenly vocals.

On the right of that is a missing poster for Wade L.D.. Nothing much to explain here I guess.

Left of that is the Voices shopping list, which lists flour, oil, yeast… Wait a minute…. All of these are ingredients for pizza dough! Guys, I'm beginning to think that this guy might like pizza.

On the very bottom of this column is Mario 7 Grand Dad himself, who has his hostile gaze directed at the Voice. I would be pissed off too if someone kept me locked in a glass tube for 7 years.

The last little window just shows the Vineshroom with the words "fecal funny" written under it.

And with that, it is done. The entire background thoroughly explained. (I may have gone a little overboard this time.)

It's been a while since I posted new art, huh? In the meantime, a lot has happened. As I said before, I started a new job, got a tattoo of Woodman on my leg (best idea I've ever had btw) and I also started watching MLP, which explains the Love Live / Idolmaster ponysonas, lol.

And that's all I wanted to say. I hope that the next piece of art isn't that far off. Jenny out. (I think this might have been the longest essay I've ever written here. I'm so sorry. By which I mean, I'm not sorry at all. I'm not forcing anyone to read this.)

[rei-does-stuff]

HAII !!! wanted 2 know if u could help me find the official sub of rgu (the one on yt) for download because I have LOOKED far and wide and tried my best 2 rip it myself but it won't work and I can't find it ANYWHEREE ,,,, I need it so I can watch rgu on my 3ds offline and without lag :'3 the only 2 full subbed copies I could find didn't work (one crashed every time I tried 2 play it and the other would speed up and unsync the audio n subs for some reason ???) If u have anything that's amazing but if not that's SOSOSO cool too dw Abt it oh god this is so long sorry

Here you go!!!!

For downloading it specifically I’m not sure since it’s not on any homebrew sites, you could record it on your 3ds camera and watch it, thirdtube might let you download, haven’t tried it yet tho!

You can also try converting the videos yourself and use this to play em (only for new 3ds tho!)

I haven’t tried either of these tho so yk

[greentrickster]

Okay, currently on episode 9 of 26 of The Irresponsible Captain Tylor, and I’m honestly enjoying the heck out of it? Picture someone taking a setting that probably wouldn’t look out of place in a series like Gundam or the old Voltron anime, but then grab a guy from some slice-of-life comedy and make him the main character, and also have him getting his genre all over everything. The result is stakes enough to make you pay attention, but scenarios and interactions that tend to leave you grinning, and a surprisingly good dub (especially considering that it came out in 1993).

Anyway, it’s a Nozomi Entertainment anime, and they have the entire series for free on their youtube channel, both subbed and dubbed, so if you’re looking for some fun, old-school sci-fi and humour, I’d definitely recommend giving it a look!

[dregs-leftovers-parsley]

hii do you know where i can watch utena... i remember the atla x utena poll had a long list of links, but tumblr search refuses to show it in mine or your blog

go forth soldier and remember: there are no “filler” episodes

[animenostalgia]

HUGE news! Macross will be getting some bluray releases North America for the first time ever! Anime Limited will be releasing Macross Plus on bluray in the US, Canada, and Europe, while Animeigo will be releasing Macross II on bluray. Nozomi Entertainment also announced releases of Macross Frontier and Macross Delta, while Udon Entertainment will be releasing Hidetaka Tenjin’s Artistry of Macross: From Flash Back 2012 art book in English as well. More info will be released soon, but this is fantastic news, considering the franchise’s difficult release history! Hopefully this is just the beginning.

UPDATE! Nozomi has also announced they will also be releasing Macross 7! 

[kanamori-kamper-moved]

HEY DID ANYONE ELSE NOTICE THAT ALL THE NOZOMI ENTERTAINMENT UTENA SUBS WERE NUKED OFF OF YOUTUBE BESIDES EPISODE 13?? OR AM I TRIPPING??? I WAS TRYING TO SHOW MY FRIEND AN EPISODE IM LOWKEY CONFUSED

[ljaesch]

Crunchyroll Is "Evaluating Rights" Regarding Nozomi Entertainment Following the Purchase of Right Stuf

Crunchyroll Is “Evaluating Rights” Regarding Nozomi Entertainment Following the Purchase of Right Stuf

Anime News Network is reporting that it reached out to Crunchyroll and Right Stuf regarding Right Stuf’s Nozomi Entertainment division following Crunchyroll’s acquisition of Right Stuf. According to ANN, Crunchyroll responded that there is no news about Nozomi Entertainment at this time as they “evaluate all of the rights.” The company has no other updates at this point regarding Right Stuf’s…

[travelerstakes]

Local girl who is Fine

[kirric-the-fan]

Power of Hope Episode 7

(inhales) AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH IF THAT WASN'T 25 MINUTES OF THE CUTEST SHIT! AAHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Goddamn the fairies were really winning this episode, it was a delight! (No fairy Natts or Coco for those who struggle with those voices btw)

Anyway, more details and spoilers below the cut:

URARA EP! So Urara is in a slump with her acting, being made to take a break by her director. She thinks she's going to be replaced.

Turns out Urara is so focused on the getting the acting right (or what she thinks is 'right' by a rigid set of boundaries), she's lost touch with the singing side, which is where she shines.

Thankfully Syrup arrives and reconnects with Urara, reminding her what she loves about it all

(That said, I spent 90% of the first half dearly dearly dearly wanting to give Urara a hug :( girrrrrl)

ADULT SYRUP: Holy heck that is a glow-up

The music thing is cute as hell

JIIYA BACKSTORY (kinda)! Love this! Him in his youf.

DARK NIGHT LIGHT!!!!!!! I ALMOST FUCKING SCREAMED!!! They appeared!!! Kinda!!! Another social media boost to Urara's new song. BUT WE GOT THE BEST LOOK AT THEM YET!!! We're going to see them properly at some point, I know it, but ahhhhh, the anticipation!!!!

Milk and Natts getting Coco's ass good on the whole Nozomi thing. Hilarious. Entertaining as hell.

URARA TRANSFORMED! Okay, we kinda know it's going to happen at this point, but I really like how they did hers.

INTERESTING POINT:

Internet haters generate shadows. We entered a kinda electronic-scape type thing (which I thought was pretty), for Lemonade to fight the shadows with Syrup (the shadows can fly now), and all of that came from the phone screens. Given how attached people are to their phones, and the presences of Dark Night Light, I wonder how that's going to continue to pan out.

Next week: Komachi ep!

Komachi is investigating.

My town -.-

she is on Bell's ass

She has also picked up that all of this is happening within the town, and is trying to work out why. She's found the bell, if nothing else. I'm gonna bet that things start picking up on the plot front next week.

Looking forward to it.

I think this was one of my favourites so far.

So if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go watch it again.

[moral-economy]

René Girard’s mimetic theory is an attempt to understand the effects human desire has had on the creation of human societies and relationships by analysis of both historical persecutive texts and fictive narratives. In Violence and the Sacred and The Scapegoat, he identified a process known as mimetic theory, a useful tool in literary analysis for identifying structural properties that are common across different tales. He argues that reading past the face of the narrative and into/behind how the myths form allows us to access truths and meanings otherwise obscured by bias. This theory is similar to the common idea that history is written by the victors and so obscures the loser’s perspective.

Girard’s way of reading texts has so far been applied to ancient stories like Oedipus Rex and medieval writings, like those of Guillaume de Machaut, and can also be useful for modern works. Specifically, the mimetic process helps to interpret the surrealist 1997 anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena by Kunihiko Ikuhara. This 39-episode show is fully available on Youtube by its licensor, Nozomi Entertainment, in both the original Japanese with English subtitles and with translated English dialogue. Differences between the two are minimal, but I will consider the former as it is closest to the original author’s intention. In this essay, I hope to show how Ikuhara’s Revolutionary Girl Utena not only displays Girard’s mimetic theory in action but explores the ways it encourages replication in an enclosed social system. First, I offer a brief overview of Girard’s mimetic theory to establish key aspects that I will use to interpret Utena. After, I will attempt a close reading of the Tale of the Rose plotline, which will briefly discuss incest, rape, and gender essentialism, but never graphically.

Girard’s mimetic theory begins with misplacement of desire. It can be understood best as a triangle in which one point, a subject, finds themself desiring an object because another, a mediator, desires it. Really, the object itself is not the subject’s focus; they want what the mediator has. In other words, they want to be the mediator. This occurs in two forms—external and internal mediation. External mediation, when the mediator is unavoidably different from the subject, minimizes the subject’s ability to effectively challenge the mediator and so has the least risk of enacted violence. It’s opposite, internal mediation occurs when the subject and mediator are similar and so as the subject is able to imitate the mediator. As they become more and more similar, Girard terms them mimetic doubles. This decrease in differentiation creates a mimetic rivalry that demands expression. There can be no satisfaction, however, because the root of the subject’s desire is the mediator and so the subject is in a double bind. They can never become the mediator, but they cannot destroy the mediator as that would eliminate their reason for desiring, for being a subject, and so tensions develop between the two.

As a result, the doubles engage in violence that further reduces their differentiation, eventually resulting in a sacrificial crisis. Defined in Violence and the Sacred:

The sacrificial crisis [is] a crisis of distinctions—that is, a crisis affecting the cultural order. This cultural order is nothing more than a regulated system of distinctions in which the differences among individuals are used to establish their “identity” and their mutual relationships.

Sacrificial crises threaten the existence of the community, and so the tension must be released. This happens by the process of scapegoating, when an innocent person or group is identified as monstrous or sinful, distinct in a notable, horrible way, and blamed for the falling of the culture. They are subjected to collective violence, murdered or banished, destroyed in some way. In doing so, the mimetic violence that was the cause of the sacrificial crisis is resolved, establishing a new social order, the sacred order.

At first glance, “sacred” is a curious word to signify the new system. This term comes from the process of double transference: the scapegoat is simultaneously the poison and remedy of the community and in this power becomes sacred. Girard writes: “The sacred, as they see it, involves order as well as disorder, peace as well as war, creation as well as destruction.” This new order must be upheld, which occurs through prohibitions, rituals, and myths. Girard explains how these prohibitions come about:

Whatever the pretext for the conflict may have been—food, weapons, land, women—the antagonists suspend their struggle, now and forever. Henceforth everything touched by the sacred violence belongs to the gods; as such, it becomes the object of a most solemn prohibition. The antagonists have been sobered and thoroughly frightened. From now on they will do everything possible to keep from relapsing into reciprocal violence. Moreover, divine anger has taught them that preventive measures are necessary. Wherever violence occurs, a prohibition is proclaimed.

Where prohibitions limit the ability to desire things that would otherwise create another mimetic crisis, rituals call attention to the original sacrifice in prescribed, controllable fashions. Rituals release tensions and divert violence towards another surrogate victim that symbolically represents the scapegoat. Rituals and prohibitions are both supported by myths, texts that are “the reinterpretation of these crises in the light of the cultural order that has arisen from them.” These preventative measures develop into systems that enforce patterns that continually enact violence against an innocent scapegoat or its substitute far past the original mimetic crisis.

The mimetic process occurs in differing levels of obscurity in Revolutionary Girl Utena. The constant substitutions, repetitions, and surreal nature of the show make it difficult to follow at times, reading it with a focus on these cycles can make it easier to understand. Divided into four story arcs, the show mainly follows the life of an orphaned teenage girl, Utena Tenjou, at the private Ohtori Academy. Often anachronistic and abstract, Utena’s story begins with her oblivious entry into a dueling tournament with the school’s Student Council for the prize of engagement with the Rose Bride, a student at the school named Anthy Himemiya. This engagement is accompanied by the “power to revolutionize the world,” though that means very different things for each competitor. Once she has Anthy’s hand, Utena is obliged to defend her position against the other students as she perceives Anthy’s role of Rose Bride as inhumane and wants to protect her from the abusive Student Council. This is emphasized by Utena’s desire to become a prince, inspired by an encounter with a nameless Prince as a young child. The tournament is directed by a secretive “End of the World” character, slowly revealed to be Anthy’s older brother and chairman of the school, Akio Ohtori, who eventually becomes a duelist himself.

This is where the first inklings of mimetic theory can be found: the duels are incredibly ceremonial and repetitive. It’s likely the repetition was budgetary—they use the exact same shots for each duel. Still, the ritualistic nature of the dueling game aggrandizes the game and brings to mind religious ceremony. The rituals also elevate the dueling stage to a supernatural state, as several of the mechanisms are magical. Anthy controls many of the supernatural elements, emphasizing the sacred feeling of the Rose Bride. They duel in a secret sky-arena, accessible by endless circles of stairs or a lift, which stands below a floating, upside-down castle. Costumes change magically, swords are drawn from Anthy’s chest, and occasionally a spirit named Dios engulfs Utena, letting her win duels easily. Reality is muddled at the least. In a Girardian reading of the ritual, one finds a clear mimetic triangle: the two duelists both desire the Rose Bride. Ikuhara plays up the mimesis of the duelists through their similar uniforms and shared goal. The duels release tensions from desires that each duelist holds, encouraging them to focus on the Rose Bride as the answer to their problems rather than engaging in emotional development. Akio is eventually revealed as the gamemaster and final duelist—a horrible realization that comes from a slow, horrific unrolling of his incestuous and pedophilic inclinations. Akio is the ultimate mediator for the duelists—not only is his dueling outfit the amalgamation of each Student Council member’s outfit, but he is the culmination of many of their true desires, unknown to them. Touga Kiryuu wishes for his social power, Kyouichi Saionji for his appeal to Touga, Juri Arisugawa for his supernatural ability, and Miki Kaoru and Nanami Kiryuu for his hold over his sibling. The mimetic doubling is spotlighted when it is revealed that Akio is a bastardized version of Utena’s childhood prince. As the winner of the Student’s dueling contest, she must fight with him in the same ritual manner for Anthy, the Rose Bride. What is missing is the surrogate victim: who has replaced the scapegoat? As Girard writes, “It is more difficult to spot a victim in a supernatural being who is a cult object.” Forced into a dehumanizing role as the Rose Bride, Anthy is continuously made into an object that bears the brunt of conflict—which occurs both in and outside the dueling arena. In episode 38, “End of the World,” Anthy finally admits this pain: “Because I’m the Rose Bride… Because I’m a heartless doll… I thought no matter what happened to my body, I wouldn’t feel the pain on the inside.”

Having established a clear ritual, Ikuhara has shown the present to be the post-sacrifice society, the sacred order. This means that there should also be prohibitions and myths present that guide cultural norms. The myth is more identifiable: the root of Utena’s world and the seed of the dueling games is a story known as the Tale of the Rose. Stories in Utena are told and re-told in different manners, intensity, and with different characters including in small, humorous interscene “shadow plays.” These scenes, acted by the “Shadow Girls,” tell the ongoing story, or parts of it, in ways that offer a different perspective and/or new information that one might only catch upon re-watching Utena. Their existence offers useful exposition and comic relief, and also reminds the audience to, like Girard encourages, read behind the plotline and past the characters as given on-screen. They tell the Tale of the Rose a few times, in various states of obscurity until episode 34: “The Rose Crest.” Here, we finally get an answer to whether the Shadow Girls are real (they purport to be student members of the “Kashira Players,” a theater group), but they seem unnaturally knowledgeable of the going-ons of Ohtori Academy. Their play begins with a vague warning; “Beware! Beware! They still exist somewhere in this world…so you, too, must beware!” Considering their audience consists of Anthy and Akio, who are at this point clearly mythic, and Utena, this warning seems directed at both Utena and the watcher. Then, they begin the tale:

“This story takes place when all the girls of the world were princesses. The world still hadn’t fallen completely into darkness then. The reason for this was because there was a Rose Prince.” The Rose Prince, a typical-looking prince on a white horse (in this case, a toy hobby-horse), slays monsters like Godzilla and loneliness for the girls, giving them a “promised kiss” when the job is done. These acts are what make the girls into princesses, and the world overflows with light. One day, an old woman tells the Prince that a Witch, who lives in a castle that floats in the sky, is plotting to steal the light of the world. (Here, the camera flashes into a close-up of Anthy’s face. Then, the shadow image of the castle is a clear representation of the castle that floats above the dueling arena.) The Student Council’s voices define the light as “That which is eternal… which shines,” “miracles,” and “the power to bring the world revolution.” Vowing to defeat the witch, the Prince flies to the castle where the old woman reveals herself to be the Witch. She traps him in the castle, then reveals herself again to be his little sister in disguise! (Here, Akio is spotlighted when the phrase “Rose Prince” is spoken, followed by Anthy at the words “Your little sister.”) The Witch/little sister is jealous that she cannot be made a princess by the Prince. This is upsetting, of course, because “A Girl who cannot become a princess is doomed to become a witch!”

The play ends with another warning for Utena to “Beware!” and more clips that shove the Anthy/Witch, Akio/Rose Prince parallels down the reader's throat. As told by the dominant culture, this myth feels incomparable to Girard’s persecutive texts. However, myths cannot be treated the same as histories. Girard writes:

… mythology cannot be directly assimilated to the pattern of representations of persecution that can be decoded, but it can be so indirectly. Instead of bearing certain faintly monstrous characteristics, the victim is hard to recognize as a victim because he is totally monstrous. This difference should not lead us to decide that the two types of texts cannot have a common source.

Since Ikuhara has already made the audience sympathetic to Anthy and morally disgusted with Akio, it’s clear that there is more past the surface of the myth. We’re further encouraged by the medium—the Tale of the Rose is delivered by actors with a history of obscurity and double meaning, who perform as two-dimensional shadows behind a screen. They must be hiding something.

Luckily, Ikuhara does not make the viewer complete the impossible decoding task alone. A scene shortly follows wherein the audience is reminded of how disgraceful Akio is. Alone with Utena, he speaks down on Anthy and attempts to “seduce” Utena again. She evades, and recalls the memory of meeting her childhood Prince. We’ve seen this before but only in story-book illustration. Here, it’s clear that this is the real event—the Prince (who appears to be Dios {the spirit that helps Utena win duels} and/or a young Akio) takes her to see a Witch/the Rose Bride (a young Anthy). Swords of Hate impale her as punishment “for taking the prince away from the girls of the world” according to the Prince. “It is the Tale of the Rose… they still tell the story even now.” Then, seemingly remembering something new, the truth, the Prince launches into a second story:

An exhausted Prince lies in a straw bed, tended to by the young Anthy. A machine prints out rolls of paper, jobs for him to complete, but he is fatigued. A desperate mob forms outside, begging him to save their daughters. Anthy begs him to rest and seals away his power to make him rest, then faces the crowd, claiming “Dios is no longer here! He belongs to me alone now. I’ve sealed him away where you can never touch him again!” The mob declares her a witch, and impales her with the Swords of Hate, where she is stuck, (spiritually, at least), to the present day. Exhausted by society and feeling some betrayal towards Anthy, Dios becomes the End of the World, Akio Ohtori. He creates the dueling game as a ritual to find a way to break the Rose Gate that Anthy is tied to, and regain his power. Seeing this result, the young Utena vows to become a Prince and save Anthy in Dios’ stead, though she is told that this is impossible because she is a girl, and thus will become a woman, not a Prince. The episode ends with Anthy asking Utena “Who are you?”

And so, Ikuhara brings the story back to the mimetic triangle. The crowd and Anthy both want the Rose Prince’s energy, though for different reasons. The Rose Prince Dios, being an embodiment of the power of miracles, to revolutionize the world, etc., is wanted for his power by the crowd, but wanted by Anthy out of familial love. Anthy becomes the ultimate scapegoat—blamed by society and her brother alike for Dios’ loss of power, which was inevitable from overwork. She takes the violence and pain, the “darkness” that Dios would otherwise fight off, as the Swords of Hate. Though not dead, she is a sacrificial object and loses her sense of agency. As the next ritual duel commences, though, Utena is aware of the truth, of Anthy’s relative innocence, and by Girard’s claims, this should be enough to break the cycle or at least catalyze a revolution.

First, however, the prohibitions of Utena’s sacred order must be considered. From the first seven minutes of the very first episode, there are clear gender roles, a strong sense of heteronormativity, and student/teacher hierarchies. Though not explicit bans, these social customs still function as prohibitions that relate to the original crisis. Gender is very rigid, with boys needing to fulfill the Prince role and save the girls, who then become princesses, or doomed to become witches if snubbed. There are clear boy’s and girl’s uniforms, though Utena is depicted in a modified boy’s uniform. Homosexuality is not even considered, (except for Utena as an aspiring Prince), as it would not apply to the Prince/princess binary. Those who do feel homosexual inclinations, besides Utena and those girls interested in her, are forced to repress themselves. Specifically, we see this occur in three of the Student Council members (Juri, Touga, and Saionji), who release this tension in the duel rituals. Students are meant to be obedient to the teachers, who enforce prohibitions like the dress code.

Utena is the notable exception to these guidelines, indicating from the start that she will play an interesting role in the story. She is curious to Anthy and Akio, the two supernatural beings who have seen their myth process cycle over and over, as a new type of character who could potentially cause a real revolution, and not just revolve within the story. That she is this way because she wants to be a Prince, which we later learn is because of the truth she was shown as a child, is not negligible. After all, by breaking prohibitions, Girard would claim that Utena would unleash mimetic desire once more (which she does, by attempting to become Dios/a Prince to save Anthy), and by knowing the truth, she acknowledges the victim, Anthy, as a victim. Ikuhara plays with memory and reality throughout Utena, and Utena is easily manipulated and confused by Akio, stories, and Ohtori Academy’s social norms, but eventually she is able to identify Anthy’s suffering as unjust and fight to save her.

This is where Ikuhara splits slightly with Girard. It is not enough for Utena to just identify Anthy as a scapegoat, she is required to fight to help her. And Anthy is not immediately willing to be freed. It’s reminiscent of Simone de Beauvoir’s discussion of women being complicit in and/or resigned to their unfreedoms. Anthy stabs Utena in the back, allowing Akio to take Utena’s sword and attempt to get his power back from the Rose Gates. He fails, and in an incredibly moving scene, Utena powers through her blood and pain, drags open the gates with her bare hands, and finds Anthy within. She reaches out, begging Anthy to grab her hand and escape, though Anthy warns her to leave or be harmed by the Swords of Hate. Finally, she reaches back, and when they finally touch, the arena collapses and Anthy falls from Utena’s view and Utena is impaled by the Swords. Tragically, it would seem that she failed, and she cries for forgiveness in her last strained last words: “I guess, in the end… I couldn’t be a prince… Forgive me, Himemiya [Anthy]... For pretending to be a prince.”

The final minutes of the final episode reveal that Utena has disappeared from Ohtori Academy. The other students look the same, but act more maturely and talk of graduation into the real world. Utena is a dim memory, recalled back as a strange girl who wore boy clothes. Akio is shown planning another round of the Duels, but, having been replaced as the sacrificial object by Utena, Anthy refuses. She leaves Ohtori Academy and heads into the outside world to find Utena. Perhaps this is out of ignorance, as she did not see Utena receive the Swords of Hate. On the other hand, because she is also a supernatural being with knowledge of the ritual’s mechanics, her knowledge might transcend the audience’s. Thus the audience is left uncertain of Utena’s wellbeing and whereabouts. Whether she is optimistic or naive, the final statement Ikuhara makes on cycles of victimization and scapegoating is that the victim must not only be acknowledged, but aided in the process of re-gaining agency and identity. They must choose to end the cycle for themselves, though not without help and support from those who saw their truth and reached out in love.

René Girard’s mimetic theory is not necessarily universal, and Kunihiko Ikuhara’s Revolutionary Girl Utena is certainly not fully explained by it. This essay washed over many and skipped even more sections of plot, theme, and symbols, and there are several other instances where the mimetic triangle can be seen or myths affect reality, namely the Black Rose arc. However, understanding the base mythic premise of Utena through Girard’s framework not only offers insight into Ikuhara’s cult classic but offers an exploration of what could occur when myth overtakes memory but the scapegoat is still present. Both authors encourage audiences to look past texts and stories, to question myths and prohibitions in order to uncover the truth and thus better understand the functions of the world around us. Girard and Ikuhara have a shared desire to break through false worldviews, summed up in a line repeated by several characters throughout Utena:

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