Sunday, February 8, 2015

Revolutionary Girl Utena series recap part 2

This plot is very... I guess abstract? I dunno it's hard to explain, something about it is really hard to summarize...

Episodes 8-14

Saionji tells Utena why he's competing with Touga to win the Rose Bride... Several years ago he and Touga found this girl (Utena) lying in a coffin, saying she just wanted to hide in there because that's where her parents were. He said that it was Touga who showed her something eternal, something that would get her out of her depression...

Himemiya: "Someday, I'd like to go to the castle floating in the sky. Something eternal dwells within it."

The council got a letter from the End of the World, saying that the castle was going to come down... Saionji took Himemiya and brought her to the platform, determined to get the eternal power... Utena went up there looking for her... Saionji was knocked out and Himemiya was inside a coffin surrounded by roses... a bunch of stuff started happening, but it stopped when Utena grabbed Himemiya and saved her from the thing she was in....

Then, Saionji attacked Utena, but Touga jumped in and took the hit, saying that he wanted to be Utena's prince. Another scene happens where Touga is talking to someone, and I think he said that he set up the letter to manipulate Saionji, and now Saionji is getting expelled...

Next, Touga somehow set it up so that his sister Nanami would be chosen as the next duelist. Nanami started getting jealous of Utena for talking to Touga, and she challenged her to a duel. Touga then gave Nanami a rose seal ring and made it official... Touga watched the duel, and after Nanami lost: "The data has been gathered. The power of Dios will be mine"

Touga keeps saying he's acting like how a prince should act. He is making Utena start to doubt whether she can really be a prince or not. He keeps calling Utena a "lonely princess", and is getting obsessed with her. Utena is also staring at him quiet a lot.

Later, Utena sees Touga in the rose garden again, talking with Himemiya.
Your job isn't to cook. All you need to do is stay here and tend the roses. This birdcage is your domain. And you are the lovely little bird who lives within it. I wish to make this cage my own. and I would never let you out of it... ever.
He tells Utena that he is her prince from her childhood... he showed her "something eternal" when he gave her that ring. to stop her tears... suddenly Touga challenges her to a duel.

Utena is determined to help Himemiya go back to being a normal girl... so she will defend her even if it means fighting against her prince.

Touga defeats Utena... and Himemiya no longer wants Utena's help.
The Rose Bride obeys the wishes of her master. The wish to make her a normal girl was merely your own wish.
After that, Utena is in a complete daze... instead of sewing her uniform back together, she starts going around in the girl's uniform... her friend is trying to find out what's wrong with her, why she isn't acting "normal"... but Utena thinks this new her is the new "normal"... she's not responding to anything her friend says... and when Touga goes up to hit on her, she doesn't respond to that either...
If you're upset because something was stolen from you, take it back!
This message gets into her head while she's thinking about Himemiya...
She challenges Touga to a duel... not to take back Himemiya, but to take back her "normal self"...
she wins, even after Touga used the Rose Bride's power to make the sword stronger...

The "End of the World" people I assume... are talking about Utena having won the 7th duel... the guy looks a lot more like the prince in the intro than Touga does.
in that 7th duel... the Rose Bride saw something very familiar, when she saw Utena risking her life to defend her even while wounded, and that made her weaken her guard.
Friendship, choice, reason, love, adoration, conviction, and finally, self. But though she's cleared seven duels, she's still a Duelist. Could she be the person we've been hoping for? If she keeps going, there's a chance... she will reach the duel named 'revolution'. The day you will be completely released may be near.
The Black Rose... the rose that blooms at the End of the World.
A whole new plot thread has started now... Himemiya's brother, who she goes to see every week, is part of this black rose cult, which I guess is rivaling the student council's? The girl dating Himemiya's brother, is upset because she can never get Himemiya to like her.. she always has this cold, emotionaless stare that she gives to everyone who isn't her master... so this girl gets lead by the Black Rose team down to a secret room that leads to the End of the World... they give her a ring with the Black Rose crest (a rose seal worn by the deceased) so that she can fight a duel with Utena.
Creating makeshift duelists by freezing their heart... won't be enough to defeat Utena...

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