#also I love how Ikuharas commentary touches on this subject

[rabarbarzcukrem]

Incest in Utena

(warning: long.

...and probably incohesive)

So, I have once encountered an opinion that Revolutionary Girl Utena doesn't take a definitive anti-incest stance. This person argued that while there are abusive and unhealthy relationships in the show, their toxicity doesn't stem from them being incestuous, but from the abuse itself. So in their opinion, incest wasn't presented as being directly related to abuse in Utena.

And I disagree. I think that to ignore and overlook the incestuous elements in Utena, to say that they simply happened to be that way with no purpose and connection to be made to their abusive nature, is to do a great disservice to the creators and the show itself. For a series that is so complex in its ambiguity and usage of metaphors, that crafts its symbolism so deliberately, to simply put such a major factor into the story without intention of a deeper reading is just... extremely unlikely?

I think familial dynamics play a crucial part in relations between characters. When in comes to the Kaoru siblings, for example, the central point of their obsession with each other is their shared childhood, and the unique bond between them, on the account of them being twins.

It's also interesting how often the show blurs the lines between romantic interest and familial love. Kozue's possessiveness over her brother, which at first glance resembles jealousy, can also be read as a deep longing for Miki's understanding and affection that she used to get when they were children. Her brother is fixated on his idealized vision of her, perfect and pure. His distaste for her sexual relations with other men also comes off as a desire to keep her to himself - which may lead to an incestuous interpretation. Their unhealthy fixation on the past stems from a desire to restore the special connection that they lost when they started growing up, even though its perfection may have not existed in the first place. The innocent world of their youth, where they were free of worries and completely compatible. They share a deep longing for closeness with each other, but the fact that they grew up into very different people, whose worldviews are in conflict, makes it impossible for them to regain it. I think it could be also quite useful to take their parents into the account - whose separation and cold treatment of their children played a part into shaping the tight connection between the two siblings. They are the closest two people can be, they share everything - their room, the milkshakes, their parents, their blood, their memories and history. They are (to each other) the only person that could ever understand what the other went (and is going) through. And yet they don't. Their siblinghood and kinship is the very basis of their relationship and it could have never become this intense if they had not been twins.

The lack of love from the parents being the factor that brings the two siblings closer together, is a phenomenon that also occurs in Nanami and Touga's storyline. The girl has become thoroughly dependent on her brother and has built her entire identity and personhood around being his sister, which starts falling apart the moment she finds out they aren't blood related. This stems from the concept prevalent in the whole series - that familial relationships are fundamentally superior to chosen ones. This notion is supposedly true because of the fact that blood relationships are something one is born into - they are stronger, natural, and eternally binding. It's not difficult to notice how easily this belief can be used to diminish the meaning of abuse in the family and prevent the victim from pursuing escape. And it is used that way, both in the show, as well as in real life.

Nanami is aware of how insignificant the girls Touga dates are to him, and has accepted his way of evaluating people as her own. She thinks of them as vermins, after all. But while he can play with their feelings and discard them one after the other, she will always be his sister, which grants her a right to Touga's affection and a place by his side for the rest of their lives.

However, the fact that she feels the need to assert her superiority over other girls so frequently and violently clearly shows that the relationship between the siblings is far from stable and points to Nanami's deep insecurities, resulting from her brother's manipulation. He deliberately witholds affection from Nanami as a form of control and purposefully maintains the ambiguity of their relationship. This specific type of emotional abuse she faces can only happen if they are siblings and is very closely related to the pseuo-incestous nature of their bond, resulting from the very problematic environment that the two have grown up in and Nanami's feelings being twisted and used by Touga to his advantage.

Nanami prides herself in being "in love" with her brother only as long as she doesn't realize what that entails. The moment she recognizes the implications of her behavior and sees the consequences of a real incestuous relationship, it immediately becomes clear that this is not what she has ever desired. But it is her separation from Touga that allows her to do that, and to wonder about who she is and what is it that she really wants.

And so we move onto the most abusive incestuous relationship in the series, which is thought to be the one every other relationship in the show mirrors in some way... Akio and Anthy's. This example is the primary reason why I think that omitting the connection between incest and abuse means misunderstanding one of the core elements of the show. The very reason Anthy keeps on enduring her torment is the fact that Akio/Dios is her brother. He's her only family - the one person always tied to her, that has seen all of her, that knows and has experienced what she had done - and will not leave her.

The knowledge that Akio will always be her brother is a curse - but a comforting one. It absolves Anthy of having to experience the new, which is scary. After all, a coffin is a cage and a prison, but is it not safe? She stays both because of this resignation and fear, and because she holds onto the sweet memory of a person who used to love her, and who she loved in return. One could argue that Anthy perceives herself as deserving of this suffering simply because of being a witch - but upon a closer look it becomes obvious that Anthy is a witch...because she is Akio's sister. It's outright stated in the play performed by the shadow girls that the reason why she could not become his princess is the fact that she's related to him. We are shown later, in the true version of events, that Anthy locked Dios away out of love and care for her brother, but that becomes twisted into selfishness and jealousy in the play. This is also a way to shift the blame for Anthy's abuse onto her - "Isn't this what you wanted?"

Again, we encounter the phenomenon of the line between platonic affection and romantic desire being extremely thin. However, it's not entirely clear if this is simply a way to visualize the intensity of the complicated feelings between the characters, and to obscure the true meaning and nature of them by symbolism (as Utena often does) or something that is supposed to be read as a commentary on the omnipresent sexualization in Ohtori/society. Perhaps it it both.

And now... How does Utena fit into all of this? She is an orphan - a fact that is frequently overlooked and treated as a "protagonist thing" that makes a simple yet impactful backstory. But it is crucial to Utena's personal journey and the way she perceives Akio and Anthy's relationship. She doesn't have any close family that we know of, no point of reference to what healthy familial bonds look like. This is the main reason she stays ignorant and oblivious of Anthy's abuse for so long.

When it comes to Akio's advances and her own feelings towards him, it induces a certain sense of wrongness and unease in her (although she explains it to herself using incorrect reasons: Akio's engagement status, and not the massive power and age imbalance between them). But the way Anthy is treated and her strange behavior goes unquestioned by Utena, as she's always able to explain it by thinking of it as a part of a perfectly normal sibling relationship.

A lot more can be said about incest in Utena - its role in the system of Ohtori, or how gender and age play into it (I haven't even mentioned Tsuwabuki...) But it seems evident to me that the familal dynamics are inherently tied to the toxicity and abuse that occurs in the relationships discussed. It is purposeful. All instances of incest in Utena are shown to be harmful and this element is never excused or glossed over.

Because this contrast between blood bonds and the bonds one builds (for Anthy, between Akio and Utena) is crucial to understanding the show, and is precisely the thing that makes Utena's queerness so revolutionary. Instead of compliance and conformity, it signifies defiance, choice, agency and freedom. Akio's control is built upon the notion that he's the only one able to accept Anthy for the terrible witch she truly is, but this is not true, and Utena proves that. She experiences cruelty at Anthy's hands, she's stabbed and betrayed by her, and yet doesn't give up on her. Anthy can only stop being afraid of the world beyond Akio once she sees that it is worth it, that there is a person out there, waiting for her. That she is not forever doomed by being Akio's sister, and the outside world holds hope and love for her.