My Brain Wouldn’t Let Me Rest Until I Made This

me: you know, juri x shinohara wakaba would be a really cute ship

me: juri would make shinohara feel special and show appreciation for her acts of service/acts of love, and shinohara's loyalty and honest, open affection would help juri have hope and even be a good partner for her to practice vulnerability with

me: and it fits with my bi wakaba headcanon

me: this would be so good actually - let me look for this relationship tag on ao3

*4 works with Arisugawa Juri x Shinohara Wakaba*

me: oh no

"The sun had not yet risen when she saw the Prince's palace. As she climbed his splendid marble staircase, the moon was shining clear. The little mermaid swallowed the bitter, fiery draught, and it was as if a two-edged sword struck through her frail body. She swooned away, and lay there as if she were dead. When the sun rose over the sea she awoke and felt a flash of pain, but directly in front of her stood the handsome young Prince, gazing at her with his coal-black eyes..."

"...The Prince asked who she was, and how she came to be there. Her deep blue eyes looked at him tenderly but very sadly, for she could not speak. Then he took her hand and led her into his palace. Every footstep felt as if she were walking on the blades and points of sharp knives, just as the witch had foretold, but she gladly endured it. She moved as lightly as a bubble as she walked beside the Prince. He and all who saw her marveled at the grace of her gliding walk."

- "The Little Mermaid" Hans Christian Andersen

絶対運命黙示録 - Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku REVOLUTIONARY GIRL UTENA (1997)

“sotr is mid because you already know how it ends” shut the fuck up, the point of the book is that despite knowing how it ends you would have never known what actually went down because that’s the point of propaganda, the whole book is about the power of propaganda

really enjoying Utena so far cant wait to figure out whats going on

From a little zine I made :)

My next analysis of Utena is the famous cow Transformation of Nanami. I know the theories behind "Nanami Was always an animal", "the egg Episode is about pregnancy", the egg Episode as a partly retelling of the OVA Angels Egg, and other theories. I would like to put forward another theory.

In Buddhism and Hinduism, roughly speaking, your biggest character flaw decides your next rebirth. If its fear, you Stay a human. If its Ambition, you become an asura god. Asuras are basically norse gods (its proven that the term aesir is derived from asura) or saiyans. If your biggest character Flaw is Anger and hatred, you get into Naraka/hell.

And if its delusion (or moha in sanskrit) , you become an animal next time. Delusion here is not about having untrue and outlandish beliefs but more a refusal to think and question your own beliefs. (Interestingly, in catholicism, the famous irish saint Patrick also told stories about people becoming animals via this character flaw and the bible helping them to overcome that.)

In that infamous cow Bell episode, other characters point out that this is a cow bell and not a fashion item from a Designer. But Nanami refuses to Listen and doubles down. This doubling down leads to her becoming more and more cow like.

The Nanamis Egg also shows Nanami not asking very obvious questions like how a mammal like her would be able to Lay an egg and instead going to extreme lengths for her belief.

Nanamis egg shares some Thematic similarities with Oshiis Angels egg, a Surrealist OVA, where a girl Transports an egg. Many people see the egg as an Allegory for hope and religion in the wake of the Nietzschean "death of god" (see my previous analyses for that topic.)

In that movie, in the end, the male protector of the girl destroys her egg and many people interpret this act as a result of him seeing the egg as dangerous (in the sense of a flight from reality.) This fits here very well.

While both episodes are rather humorous and absurdist, Nanamis relationship with her brother is also a sign of delusion. She makes personal illusions, refuses to accept that her brother cares far less for her than she hopes, and she is even willing to commit acts of cruelty for the sake of maintaining her fantasy.

Best example is what she did to the cat.

Thus the connection between delusion and Nanami are pretty obvious.

But I need to mention that in Buddhism, delusion, among with greed and hatred are the 3 poisons which keep the circle of suffering from continuing. Which maintain the "revolution". Thus, everyone has delusions. In Utena, this is the case as well. Every character klings to personal illusions in the Story and these delusions are one of the Main reasons why they are at ohtori.

Another interesting aspect here is that the student council mantra tells you to "smash the egg shell" to destroy the illusion and to finally grow up and be free. In the egg Episode, Nanami does the opposite and tries to prevent the egg from cracking at all costs. She wants ro prevent her illusions from being smashed.

The Adolescence of Utena (1999)

Just take my heart.. It's already full of you