Telling Nanami that mixing the Red and Yellow is probably just more of her egging Nanami's obsession with Touga on. Also the entire scene is based around Nanami trying to frame Anthy as being devious and bad, but every time the reality is so much worse than Nanami was even trying to frame her as. Which is true.
Love that shaved ice observation, makes sense to me. I think it's true that the reality is "worse" than what Nanami could even imagine, but it's also telling that Nanami's conception of something that would drive Miki and Utena away was something they perceive as totally innocuous. None of them have any idea how much worse things actually are than a couple of animals.
Mixing the yellow and red could be an insinuation about Nanami and Touga... mixing. Anthy probably knows that Nanami is weirdly in love with Touga and is making a sly dig, and who better to make it a better person who is also in love with her brother?
I loved to hear your hypothesis. But I always thought that they choose snakes, snails and an octopus due to their "sex-related-theme". Anthy is one of the more open about sexual things amongst all the girls in Utena (along with Kozue): Utena try to keep her distance from anything sexual for most of the series; Nanami is disgusted from sex when she discover about Akio and Anthy, and literally choose to date a little kid because "sex is not pure" Also if she would decide to grow-up (like starting a normal sexual life) she would loose her platonic relationship with his brother; Juri is always talking about how "wrong" her (sexual)desires are, and about the necessity to stay noble (not letting her feelings wins over her); Anthy is used to sex. It's a part of who she is. She has no problem to sleep with her owner. The 3 animals mentioned above, are usually utilized in hentai manga/anime as a "kink", so this could be read as critic about how society percive a girl who is okay with "having this animals" as pets (as to say "with a girl open about sexuality and sex"). Anthy is a witch, she "is evil" by definition and so is sex. (expecially for a girl) If you pay attention, Touga talk with this kind of close-mind set to Nanami about sex, or even about homosexuality (in the episode about Nanami's egg): He call a girl who had an egg (who had sex/who now had her period= she is the right age to start having sex) something disgusting and when Nanami says something about "liking girls" he misunderstand her words and get angry to Nanami for "her potentially being interested in girls" (what an hypocrite considering he has no problem with Akio and being himself a playboy always doing sexual things with girls arround the school.) So this animals could be set there to represent what society consider wrong for a girl to like: it's not what normal girls would like. Anthy on her hand, never try to hide her sexual side, she doesn't see it as something bad, it's just part of her daily life. She has been abused all her life, so she just accept her role as a "toy" to sadisfy her owner (and her brother). That's something that would shock anyone to find out so, metaphorically, Nanami is trying to make Miki and Utena disgusted by who Anthy really is, failing because Miki doesn't bother to know Anthy for who she is (he just idealize her), and Utena is the only one who will be able to emphatize with Anthy, trying to understand and help her without judging.
i think the three times repetition is very important to show the audience (at least in their second watch) that Anthy, who get slapped so many times already, can actually defend herself, not only that she completly wipes the floor with Nanami and as an audience the information that anthy is on a completely other level of manipulation and pranking than Nanami, the Queen of the mean girls, is very important to understand what is going on.
Nanami is such an adorable li'l brat. When I first watched Utena at 13 I was pretty annoyed by her. At that point, I’d been absorbing heaps of typical shoujo manga and anime, wherein characters like her were the primary antagonist. About five or so years ago, during one of my rewatchings, I realized how lovable Nanami can be. Sure, she’s a spoiled, entitled little bully… And maybe if Utena were a normal shoujo anime she’d actually be a threat - but it isn’t. And she isn’t. Her ineffectualness, haughtiness and naivety are really endearing in kind of a pitiful way. She thinks she’s the queen bee of Ohtori, but she’s just a small fish in the sea, and for the majority of the show’s run she’s completely ignorant of it. This poor little princess thinks she’s keeping that ‘weird’ quiet girl in her place, but she’s so in over her head and she's got no idea. You really feel sorry for her. I’ve always found the whole animals = witch thing is so interesting too, especially since fairy tales (and Disney) have always forged such a strong connection between princesses and animals as well. She’s basically the ideal princess and the witch in one person.
This is one of my favorite scenes in the series. Let me give you a different take on it. Like you said, it follows the rule of threes: first snails, then the garter snake, then the octopus. Each time, Nanami fantasizes that Miki and Utena will chide Anthy, saying "I've misjudged you!" But instead they are amused and say "That's just like Miss Himemiya!" But the punchline actually comes in the very next bit, where Anthy and Miki look on as Anthy amuses herself with the animated elephant she drew, instead of paying attention to the study session. Anthy is cracking herself up, and Miki and Utena are like "ummm why aren't you paying attention?" It's Anthy's own silliness, and not Nanami's efforts to embarrass her, that cause her friends to be a little >_>
I'm pretty sure that Mr. Mongoose was simply there to counter Nanami's plans in a humorous manner. In Asian cultures, snakes still have elements of danger and evil. Which could again stand for both Nanami and Anthy. But there is irony in that too, since a garter snake is non poisonous. This could represent that while Nanami is dangerous at times, mainly due to her jealousy and brother complex, she is no true threat to anyone. So much so that even Anthy can easily prepare a counter/defense against her.
[BURSTS THROUGH THE WALL] I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO SAY, My ADHD brain is gonna get sidetracked as hell but i’m gonna Try: 1. The fact that you continue to make Utena content in 2018 is a GIFT 2. Rosepetalrevolution’s Utena Analysis is 👌👌👌👌👌 (it makes me happy to see you reference her work) 3. I, personally, Love the Ball episode, mostly because upon a rewatch it shows us Anthy really playing into Utena’s prince fantasy. There are examples before that episode, obvs, but I feel like it makes it more Blatant that Utena consider herself a savior prince, but doesn’t really listen to or respect Anthy. Also, it’s...pretty gay. 4) I got!! really excited!! When you said you were gonna do a thing on Mawaru Penguindrum (&NGE, Also Good). I’ve been thinking abt giving it a rewatch recently so that video is Highly Anticipated from this side. best wishes !
I don't really consider the Ball episode bad, just not as great as most of the show. I love the scene where Utena dances with Anthy especially. I'll have to read more stuff by Rosepetalrevolution I only discovered her through researching this video. There's a wealth of good writing on Utena and I've tried to avoid saying too much of what's already been covered, a lot of my interpretation is influenced by Vrai Kaiser's writing on the show in particular. Glad you're looking forward to them!
@@citycrusher9308 I think the restrictions were both good and bad. Some things like the duels could use more unique animations. But I do think the ambiguous relationship between Anthy and Utena in the show is more interesting than the overt one in the movie. I don't know if that is because of the restriction or just the change in mediums though. In general I think art often profits from adversity and I think Utena uses its restrictions to its advantage for the most part. For instance incorporating repetition into its themes was smart financially and artistically.
about repetition, ikuhara looooves repitition because, i believe, it makes things feel ritualistic and theatrical, and utena is all about rituals and theatrics. in fact, all of his shows are. i like this scene because i dont think of it as comedic as much as a character moment for nanami and the way she gets caught up in this strange plan, makes her look nuts and the frustration with the scene translates to frustration with nanami herself. also i just like the presentation and dont really mind to look at it three times in a row.
when he mentioned mongoose symbolism I immediately thought of The Adventure Zone, and the symbolism of mongooses (mongeese?) being immune to poison, so maybe that's something?
I think the snake works from both an Eastern and Western veiw. In Eastern culture, from what I've heard, snakes are considered symbols of protection or signs from various kami. In Western culture, the snake makes me think of Adam and Eve, where the snake tempts them into eating from the Tree of Knowledge, which makes them realize good and evil and "opens their eyes"/makes them grow up from their childishness, and eventually it leads them to being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. So Mr. Mongoose destroying the snake is Anthy destroying the influence and protection of the powers outside of Anthy and Akio, along with the temptation of leaving Otori (which one can argue was made to be like the Garden of Eden). Of course, this is all speculation lmao. Also, one thing I really like about RGU is that Anthy is shown to clearly love animals, but she never really mentions them unless they're right in front of the audience. As the Rose Bride, she has to take care of the rose garden and be a pretty, subservient wife, so whether she enjoys gardening, cleaning, piano, etc. doesn't matter. However, nowhere does it say that the Rose Bride has to like/take care of animals. Anthy makes no secret that she "likes" cleaning and gardening, but she doesn't talk much about her interest in zoology. This actually makes me think that because she loves animals so much, she never talks about them, because what if Akio or her fiancee decide she can't spend time with animals any more? If they don't know that she likes animals, they can't forbid her from them. I do think the way Anthy's love of animals is both emphasized and underplayed (by Anthy herself) is a very specific choice made by the director. I love your videos! Can't wait for your next one! Also, edit to add: Anthy mentions that she "should have made takoyaki" before playing the piano. Someone else (it might have been RosePetalRevolution?) pointed out that takoyaki is made from octopus. And they have some fresh octopus right there, thanks to Nanami... I think it shows that Anthy was being at least a little sincere in trying to make it up to Nanami for making her so upset (I personally think Anthy was trying to tease Nanami), but when Nanami lashed out at her, Anthy was actually hurt. She's seeing it as another reason to not trust the world to be nice or to care about her attempts to be nice, so she should be as cruel as possible. In this case, making Nanami eat her own octopus instead of trying to extend an apology. Of course, that's a lot of speculation. But RGU is best watched with heaps of speculation.
That animal theory is really good wow... (but it also makes me even more sad for Anthy... ;~; ) Also helps that all her animal friends throughout the series are in hidden places except for Chu Chu who some people say wears Akio-like clothing so he'll be under Akio's grasp/used by Akio (and Anthy) too.
That's a very interesting observation about Anthy and it makes so much sense for her character to not speak about the things she really cares for. I think another reason for this is that Anthy doesn't really want to open up to other people and show them the things she likes because to do so would be to acknowledge that she actually has likes and dislikes which is something she perhaps doesn't even want to acknowledge about herself. I should have noticed that about the takoyaki! I didn't make the connection between Nanami's octopus and the takoyaki but I think that explains it perfectly. You could read it as teasing for sure, but it could also just be Anthy being mean-spirited. I think it depends if Anthy knows that Nanami was behind the dress from the episode before which I am inclined to think she does. If Anthy does know that Nanami tricked her with the dress then I don't think she would try to open up to Nanami.
I love Utena Explain already. So great. I especially love the little manipulations and mechanations of Anthy's you point out along the way. I agree that the scene is drawn out longer than it needed to be, but I found it pretty funny following up the legitimate villain I thought was Nanami with this. I prefer basically every other Nanami episode over it, and it's not what made me love Nanami, but it's what made me more open to her character.
I agree the scene is a little drawn out and I hate Anthy being abused (even in Nanami's imagination lol) so I usually have to skip until the punchlines of Anthy's animals appearing to counter Nanami's. BUT I do love the idea of this scene for a few reasons: 1) ANTHY (technically) DISOBEYED UTENA so she could either get revenge on Nanami or get Miki to duel (or both). After each of her animals appear, Utena says, "I told you not to put (it) in there..." in this kind of exasperated but resigned way. We see that Anthy will instantly stop anything Utena doesn't agree with (like the exchange diary which Anthy freaking throws out when Utena just says "it isn't right") but will also ask "it isn't right" or some form of a question which will make Utena repeat herself to confirm whatever she's doing is against Utena's desires. So I like to imagine Anthy coming home with all the animals/balloons because she foresaw/planned this encounter and Utena saying "don't put that animal there" but then Anthy asking her if she really can't have animals in those places and Utena feeling guilty for telling her what to do and just letting Anthy do it. (Also I love their relationship so I like to imagine Anthy just bringing home animals after they left the Academy and Utena being like "Sigh...okay, let's go get some mongoose food at the store...") 2) A few people also pointed out that the 'Curry High Trip' episode was suppose to come out after these episodes (the one where Nanami is chased around "India" by elephants) but it got pushed back because of production problems. The fact that Anthy drew an elephant on her study notes and began laughing an uncomfortable amount of time infront of Nanami WITH THE FACT that in the 'Curry' episode even AKIO did not see the body switch coming is a hint that Anthy planned the 'Curry' incident herself either as revenge/being cruel or for some other purpose. (I read an interesting theory on Tumblr that Anthy is trying to save Nanami in her own weird way but unfortunately I lost the link...)
Great points! It seems like no matter how much I try to cover in these videos there's always something else I hadn't noticed. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
I liked the animal scene. I think it uses subversion pretty well. Put snails in the box? It's full of them. That's a good subversive joke by itself. Snake in the drawer? She didnt even get to open the drawer before the mongoose ate it. Octopus in your closet? This time it's not even an animal but an animal shaped balloon. At this point we know very little about Nanami, so the repetition may be a bit much but it helps us understand just how stubborn she js
Thanks for explaining this scene. Personally I really like this scene, mostly for comedic purposes. It's funny to me how much Nanami underestimated Anthy's weirdness, and how heartwarming that Utena and Miki accept her for it.
a few thoughts came into mind while i was watching this video analysis. i think behind every bully there is a lonely person who lacks moral or/and emotional maturity. the show has showed us from the beginning that nanami is a classic bully with an unhealthy relationship towards her brother. she doesnt have a healthy mindset because shes stuck in the past where her brother is actually decent which made the relationship a bit weird for siblings (then again, name a pair of siblings in this show thats actually normal). nanami is too attached to touga but just the idea of him, not who he actually is now who is a playboy. i understood this thanks to your analysis for the shadow girls in the show. shes kind of like asuka from neon genesis evangelion, they both want attention and affection but both are probably too afraid to open up to people, so they put up this harsh persona towards others. nanami sees that everyone wants anthy, whether that be in a romantic way like miki and saionji or some other way with each duelist' personal goals. she wants people to want her as well, so bad that she allowed a damn kid play boyfriend with her. another thing with the weird pedo girlfriend nanami is that nanami herself probably cant differentiate between the many types of love, for instance the difference with how we love our friends and how we love our boy/girlfriend. she only knows the affection her brother gave her which was years ago before he turned into an ass. i interpret the animal scenes here as nanamis usual bullying towards anthy but in a more symbolic way. the snails can mean nanamis assumption that anthy is a closeted loser who cant even stand up to herself, like how a snail just retreats itself to its shell when predators bother them. while in fact, yes anthy probably is conscious of this character from herself because one thing i know about anthy while rewatching the show is that shes anything but stupid. shes not stupid but shes been abused by her brother for so long which made her like nanami in a way, too afraid to open up to people emotionally and deeply. anthy is like making a comeback to nanami, "yeah i am a fucking snail, so what bitch?". plus, anthy probably doesnt has much fucks left to give so thats why she probably thinks, "cant be fucking bothered," when nanamis minions come at her. the second one, i think nanami is trying to say that anthy is cunning and dishonest, like a snake. this is probably something that anthy doesnt see herself as, for me personally i dont think anthy is cunning too, again shes probably just trying to cope with her abuse. i know the scene where anthy stabbed utena from the back might look like shes cunning, but i see it as a normal reaction from someone who has endured abuse for so long (but more on that later, its not the focus of this topic). so the snake being eaten is anthys rebuttal for that statement from nanami. anthy replied with defense with a mongoose, cute and innocent, killing a cunning snake. lastly, i think anthy realises shes somewhat manipulative but of course she wont be upfront about it. how would you manipulate someone if they know youre manipulative? they would deny everything you say and label you as bad. so the octopus is a fake animal, a balloon to symbolise that. its probably like saying, "yeah lol im sooooo manipulative," to nanami. i realise how anthy is pretty manipulative when she cheered for utena in the duel between miki and utena. of course that made miki lose his focus, his girl crush is rooting for his opponent lol. but in anthys defense, i see that she has no choice to be manipulative in her environment, because she herself is unfairly controlled by akio.
I really loved your Utena videos! I personally love this scene and have some additional thoughts: 1. How over-the-top is it that Nanami brought all three of those animals? How did she think that would play out? 2. I personally love the repetition of the phrase "that's what is going to happen!" It's actually become a phrase I use when I or someone else seems over-confident in their predictions. I believe it also mirrors how viewers experience this show. It takes you down a path to make you think "that's what is going to happen" and then changes it. I'm curious now how many big "switches" happen in the series, and do those correspond at all to the animals Nanami brings? For example, does the giant fake octopus correlate to discovering that something in the show isn't real? Does the snake being eaten by the mongoose correlate to something in the show being destroyed?
Wooo! Rosepetalrevolution! Also, I agree that this scene was really slow and dull. It's a shame that it happens so soon in the show. I'm pretty sure the first time I started watching it I was so turned off by this scene and the surrounding episode I dropped it for a while. I went back to On the Night of the Ball to remember what I thought of it, and I realized that the scene where Nanami pranks Anthy foreshadows both her backstory and Utena's from "The Rose Crest." First because Anthy is horrified to be in a crowd like that and only does so to vainly appease the moral obligations of her stubborn prince (here represented by Utena), and second because Utena realizes that she dresses the way she does, not for her prince (here represented by Touga) but for Anthy.
Good observation about Utena's clothing, I had picked up on the parallels to The Rose Crest but I hadn't thought about it from Utena's perspective. I agree with you that a big issue with this scene is that it happens so early on. On the one hand it helps show that the tone isn't going to be too serious which is good, but it's a shame the first large comedic scene is maybe the least funny one in the entire series. Maybe they were still getting their sea legs under them. Thanks for the comment!
i really enjoy these videos~ i love how there is so much symbolism in this show and that you point out what they mean. cant wait for you to post more of this series :)
Anthy was plotting her next animal attack on Nanami when she was drawing in her notebook. The very next thing she does is send a pack of elephants after Nanami when she went to India, and although Nanami believes she caused the mind swap of Utena and Anthy, it was actually all Anthy's doing. Which she plotted because she was done reeling Miki in and didn't care about him anymore. Also illustrated by the fact that she was ignoring him to plan revenge against Nanami.
I'm pretty late to this video, but it's my understanding that mongoose are an animal often seen on the Indian subcontinent (with even the word "mongoose" being the English pronunciation of a Hindi word), so it's one of the things that imply Anthy had a connection to India. Of course, Nanami is also much more directly harassed by the Indian wildlife later in season 1.
I believe that in some Eastern cultures the snake represents growth and the stages of life. The shedding of the skin symbolizes moving to a new stage. Also if I remember correctly, in Japan they also represent femininity. I’m no expert though so take this all with a grain of salt!
Love the FLCL OST. As in FLCL, I think you should not interpret the scenes so literally. Well, what I am trying to say is that, maybe, those animals are used instead of something else. Maybe they are allegories. What's really happening here is Nanami trying to make Anthy seem weird for her habits, but Utena and Miki totally accept her for what she is. FLCL is all about allegories like this. As somebody said on MAL "FLCL is as close to a piece of literature as you're ever going to get with an anime series". I'm waiting for the MPD video. See you on /a/ ;)
I definitely could be reading too much into the specific animals used, but that's part of the fun with Utena. Sometimes things are just jokes but often I think there's something more there. I'm still discovering new things about the show all the time. FLCL was one of my first anime and I love it to death. I would say Utena is closer to literature than FLCL but I have an obvious bias haha. They're both fantastic either way.
I'm not the kind of person who writes comments, especially here in youtube but I wanted to thank you for making these videos they bring me so much joy and good memories. Utena has been always my favourite anime (you can guess by my username haha I chose it when I made this account and It's been 12 years already!) Besides I wanted to ask if have you ever considered making a video about "Utena adolescence mokushiroku" the movie, that would be great! Anyway I'm more than happpy with these videos so thank you again and pardon my english.
thanks for giving some further insight into this - on the whole - very boring scene of Utena. I'm surprised you don't like Episode 3 however - so much setup in terms of the prince-princess roles and their importance in the Ohtori universe!!!
I think my main problem with the episode is that it isn't plot relevant and is followed by this one. Very slow pacing right at the start! However having thought about it more since posting this video I think I was a bit harsh on it. It's still a good episode, and I love the dance scene. I didn't make a video about it because I didn't think I had anything original to say about it. Thanks for your comment.
my thoughts on the animals depicted- people make jokes a lot about a girl being as wet as a snail, so there’s definitely some yonic reference there. with the mongoose, there is the common imagery that mongoose and snakes will eat each other even if they both die in the process. i thought this represents, like, most of the relationships in the series- the characters are in such toxic situations but continue pressing on and destroying each other, even if it means their own demise. lastly, with the octopus, and i’m surprised you didn’t mention this, my first thought was tentacle hentai. obviously everyone loves to joke about japan and its tentacle porn but i think it has a deeper connotation here. a lot of tentacle hentai is nonconsensual and the woman has no control of her body. so. anthy, basically.
yer the scene is annoying and unessaery, but I think it's there to represent that Anthy isn't all she seems, people are meant to see Nanami as a spoilt brat, which she is, but she's not really a bad guy, she's learning and revealing everyone for who they really are, she knows she's faking it to make it, so she is exposing others like Anthy, who is likeable character but actually a bad guy, in the plot, misunderstood bad guy but all the same, she is being nice but manipulating people, Nanamis trying to show this, by starting off with Anthy, but because Nanami is a character whose often lives in cotton wool, her big reveals fall short and comical or annoying, cause it's not her revolution, she is not the chosen one, I know that's probably over kill, but that's my theory. I think Nanami wants to be the chosen one, but because her actions are comical, it gets weird, she learns it's Utena. it's kind of like the side kick wanting to be the hero. I love thanks explaining about Utena, its my favourite anime.
Thank you for making such an amazing video. I hope you keep uploading this series. Also, where did you buy the book shown in the video with the director's commentary?
The book came with the DVD box set and has a bunch of art and interviews too. Everything in the DVD booklets are probably in the new blu-ray release as well. The director's commentary is available online as well though I can't seem to post the link here, you can find it pretty easily on google. Sadly it seems to be missing a good chunk of the second and third season's episode commentaries.
i always thought it had something to do with “deflowering”, or the image of a cast aside schoolgirl uniform referencing rape. (that’s more of a madoka magica thing lol, how one of the witch’s lair is filled with empty uniforms as an allegory for her being sexually assaulted) also it just occurred to me now that it could represent anthy’s growing hatred, or how the plans of the game are quickly growing to the end. the way that it’s just a tiny bush at first and in a minute becomes an overbearing rose bush.
How much do I have to donate to get a video on an analysis of Anthys character? I know you've covered a lot via this video & Yellow and Youth but, Anthy is the most interesting character in the show for me, especially when you consider her manipulative capabilities. Since it's clear these videos take a lot of time, I'd be down to pay for your work.
I don't feel comfortable taking money for videos at this point in time. I really appreciate your offer, and it means a lot to me that you get something out of my videos. I've been rolling around an Anthy video in my head for some time so whenever that appears I hope that will satisfy you. Thank you for the support!
This episode turned me off of the show I stopped watching it for three months. It's still my least favorite episode, and if I'm ever re-watching Utena I usually skip the scene altogether.
Telling Nanami that mixing the Red and Yellow is probably just more of her egging Nanami's obsession with Touga on. Also the entire scene is based around Nanami trying to frame Anthy as being devious and bad, but every time the reality is so much worse than Nanami was even trying to frame her as. Which is true.
Love that shaved ice observation, makes sense to me. I think it's true that the reality is "worse" than what Nanami could even imagine, but it's also telling that Nanami's conception of something that would drive Miki and Utena away was something they perceive as totally innocuous. None of them have any idea how much worse things actually are than a couple of animals.
@@CrabeVideos That's why nobody is laughing when Nanami has her breakdown in the Observatory.
Mixing the yellow and red could be an insinuation about Nanami and Touga... mixing. Anthy probably knows that Nanami is weirdly in love with Touga and is making a sly dig, and who better to make it a better person who is also in love with her brother?
I loved to hear your hypothesis. But I always thought that they choose snakes, snails and an octopus due to their "sex-related-theme".
Anthy is one of the more open about sexual things amongst all the girls in Utena (along with Kozue):
Utena try to keep her distance from anything sexual for most of the series;
Nanami is disgusted from sex when she discover about Akio and Anthy, and literally choose to date a little kid because "sex is not pure" Also if she would decide to grow-up (like starting a normal sexual life) she would loose her platonic relationship with his brother;
Juri is always talking about how "wrong" her (sexual)desires are, and about the necessity to stay noble (not letting her feelings wins over her);
Anthy is used to sex. It's a part of who she is. She has no problem to sleep with her owner.
The 3 animals mentioned above, are usually utilized in hentai manga/anime as a "kink", so this could be read as critic about how society percive a girl who is okay with "having this animals" as pets (as to say "with a girl open about sexuality and sex").
Anthy is a witch, she "is evil" by definition and so is sex. (expecially for a girl)
If you pay attention, Touga talk with this kind of close-mind set to Nanami about sex, or even about homosexuality (in the episode about Nanami's egg):
He call a girl who had an egg (who had sex/who now had her period= she is the right age to start having sex) something disgusting and when Nanami says something about "liking girls" he misunderstand her words and get angry to Nanami for "her potentially being interested in girls" (what an hypocrite considering he has no problem with Akio and being himself a playboy always doing sexual things with girls arround the school.)
So this animals could be set there to represent what society consider wrong for a girl to like: it's not what normal girls would like.
Anthy on her hand, never try to hide her sexual side, she doesn't see it as something bad, it's just part of her daily life. She has been abused all her life, so she just accept her role as a "toy" to sadisfy her owner (and her brother). That's something that would shock anyone to find out so, metaphorically, Nanami is trying to make Miki and Utena disgusted by who Anthy really is, failing because Miki doesn't bother to know Anthy for who she is (he just idealize her), and Utena is the only one who will be able to emphatize with Anthy, trying to understand and help her without judging.
Oooh this makes way more sense to me!
And what's the quickest way to ruin a girl's social value in high school? Out her promiscuity.
I fully believe Anthy's giggling about that elephant because she's making plans for Curry High Trip
i think the three times repetition is very important to show the audience (at least in their second watch) that Anthy, who get slapped so many times already, can actually defend herself, not only that she completly wipes the floor with Nanami and as an audience the information that anthy is on a completely other level of manipulation and pranking than Nanami, the Queen of the mean girls, is very important to understand what is going on.
Nanami is such an adorable li'l brat.
When I first watched Utena at 13 I was pretty annoyed by her. At that point, I’d been absorbing heaps of typical shoujo manga and anime, wherein characters like her were the primary antagonist. About five or so years ago, during one of my rewatchings, I realized how lovable Nanami can be. Sure, she’s a spoiled, entitled little bully… And maybe if Utena were a normal shoujo anime she’d actually be a threat - but it isn’t. And she isn’t. Her ineffectualness, haughtiness and naivety are really endearing in kind of a pitiful way. She thinks she’s the queen bee of Ohtori, but she’s just a small fish in the sea, and for the majority of the show’s run she’s completely ignorant of it. This poor little princess thinks she’s keeping that ‘weird’ quiet girl in her place, but she’s so in over her head and she's got no idea. You really feel sorry for her.
I’ve always found the whole animals = witch thing is so interesting too, especially since fairy tales (and Disney) have always forged such a strong connection between princesses and animals as well. She’s basically the ideal princess and the witch in one person.
Nanami is a fresh take on the archetype bad girl comic relief. She matures the most of all the main cast.
She also reminds me(ow) of Anastasia in Cinderella and love them, too!
she's a bad person with a brother complex and would kill a kitten for him
@@marmaeladymeg5070 She's also a kid.
anthy laughing at her flipbook animation is god damn ADORABLE
These videos breathe life back into me.
This is one of my favorite scenes in the series. Let me give you a different take on it.
Like you said, it follows the rule of threes: first snails, then the garter snake, then the octopus. Each time, Nanami fantasizes that Miki and Utena will chide Anthy, saying "I've misjudged you!" But instead they are amused and say "That's just like Miss Himemiya!"
But the punchline actually comes in the very next bit, where Anthy and Miki look on as Anthy amuses herself with the animated elephant she drew, instead of paying attention to the study session. Anthy is cracking herself up, and Miki and Utena are like "ummm why aren't you paying attention?" It's Anthy's own silliness, and not Nanami's efforts to embarrass her, that cause her friends to be a little >_>
I'm pretty sure that Mr. Mongoose was simply there to counter Nanami's plans in a humorous manner.
In Asian cultures, snakes still have elements of danger and evil. Which could again stand for both Nanami and Anthy. But there is irony in that too, since a garter snake is non poisonous. This could represent that while Nanami is dangerous at times, mainly due to her jealousy and brother complex, she is no true threat to anyone. So much so that even Anthy can easily prepare a counter/defense against her.
[BURSTS THROUGH THE WALL] I HAVE SO MANY THINGS TO SAY, My ADHD brain is gonna get sidetracked as hell but i’m gonna Try:
1. The fact that you continue to make Utena content in 2018 is a GIFT
2. Rosepetalrevolution’s Utena Analysis is 👌👌👌👌👌 (it makes me happy to see you reference her work)
3. I, personally, Love the Ball episode, mostly because upon a rewatch it shows us Anthy really playing into Utena’s prince fantasy. There are examples before that episode, obvs, but I feel like it makes it more Blatant that Utena consider herself a savior prince, but doesn’t really listen to or respect Anthy. Also, it’s...pretty gay.
4) I got!! really excited!! When you said you were gonna do a thing on Mawaru Penguindrum (&NGE, Also Good). I’ve been thinking abt giving it a rewatch recently so that video is Highly Anticipated from this side.
best wishes !
I don't really consider the Ball episode bad, just not as great as most of the show. I love the scene where Utena dances with Anthy especially. I'll have to read more stuff by Rosepetalrevolution I only discovered her through researching this video. There's a wealth of good writing on Utena and I've tried to avoid saying too much of what's already been covered, a lot of my interpretation is influenced by Vrai Kaiser's writing on the show in particular. Glad you're looking forward to them!
@@citycrusher9308 I think the restrictions were both good and bad. Some things like the duels could use more unique animations. But I do think the ambiguous relationship between Anthy and Utena in the show is more interesting than the overt one in the movie. I don't know if that is because of the restriction or just the change in mediums though. In general I think art often profits from adversity and I think Utena uses its restrictions to its advantage for the most part. For instance incorporating repetition into its themes was smart financially and artistically.
about repetition, ikuhara looooves repitition because, i believe, it makes things feel ritualistic and theatrical, and utena is all about rituals and theatrics. in fact, all of his shows are. i like this scene because i dont think of it as comedic as much as a character moment for nanami and the way she gets caught up in this strange plan, makes her look nuts and the frustration with the scene translates to frustration with nanami herself.
also i just like the presentation and dont really mind to look at it three times in a row.
when he mentioned mongoose symbolism I immediately thought of The Adventure Zone, and the symbolism of mongooses (mongeese?) being immune to poison, so maybe that's something?
I think the snake works from both an Eastern and Western veiw. In Eastern culture, from what I've heard, snakes are considered symbols of protection or signs from various kami. In Western culture, the snake makes me think of Adam and Eve, where the snake tempts them into eating from the Tree of Knowledge, which makes them realize good and evil and "opens their eyes"/makes them grow up from their childishness, and eventually it leads them to being kicked out of the Garden of Eden. So Mr. Mongoose destroying the snake is Anthy destroying the influence and protection of the powers outside of Anthy and Akio, along with the temptation of leaving Otori (which one can argue was made to be like the Garden of Eden). Of course, this is all speculation lmao.
Also, one thing I really like about RGU is that Anthy is shown to clearly love animals, but she never really mentions them unless they're right in front of the audience. As the Rose Bride, she has to take care of the rose garden and be a pretty, subservient wife, so whether she enjoys gardening, cleaning, piano, etc. doesn't matter. However, nowhere does it say that the Rose Bride has to like/take care of animals. Anthy makes no secret that she "likes" cleaning and gardening, but she doesn't talk much about her interest in zoology. This actually makes me think that because she loves animals so much, she never talks about them, because what if Akio or her fiancee decide she can't spend time with animals any more? If they don't know that she likes animals, they can't forbid her from them. I do think the way Anthy's love of animals is both emphasized and underplayed (by Anthy herself) is a very specific choice made by the director.
I love your videos! Can't wait for your next one!
Also, edit to add: Anthy mentions that she "should have made takoyaki" before playing the piano. Someone else (it might have been RosePetalRevolution?) pointed out that takoyaki is made from octopus. And they have some fresh octopus right there, thanks to Nanami... I think it shows that Anthy was being at least a little sincere in trying to make it up to Nanami for making her so upset (I personally think Anthy was trying to tease Nanami), but when Nanami lashed out at her, Anthy was actually hurt. She's seeing it as another reason to not trust the world to be nice or to care about her attempts to be nice, so she should be as cruel as possible. In this case, making Nanami eat her own octopus instead of trying to extend an apology. Of course, that's a lot of speculation. But RGU is best watched with heaps of speculation.
That animal theory is really good wow... (but it also makes me even more sad for Anthy... ;~; ) Also helps that all her animal friends throughout the series are in hidden places except for Chu Chu who some people say wears Akio-like clothing so he'll be under Akio's grasp/used by Akio (and Anthy) too.
That's a very interesting observation about Anthy and it makes so much sense for her character to not speak about the things she really cares for. I think another reason for this is that Anthy doesn't really want to open up to other people and show them the things she likes because to do so would be to acknowledge that she actually has likes and dislikes which is something she perhaps doesn't even want to acknowledge about herself.
I should have noticed that about the takoyaki! I didn't make the connection between Nanami's octopus and the takoyaki but I think that explains it perfectly. You could read it as teasing for sure, but it could also just be Anthy being mean-spirited. I think it depends if Anthy knows that Nanami was behind the dress from the episode before which I am inclined to think she does. If Anthy does know that Nanami tricked her with the dress then I don't think she would try to open up to Nanami.
I love Utena Explain already. So great. I especially love the little manipulations and mechanations of Anthy's you point out along the way.
I agree that the scene is drawn out longer than it needed to be, but I found it pretty funny following up the legitimate villain I thought was Nanami with this. I prefer basically every other Nanami episode over it, and it's not what made me love Nanami, but it's what made me more open to her character.
I agree the scene is a little drawn out and I hate Anthy being abused (even in Nanami's imagination lol) so I usually have to skip until the punchlines of Anthy's animals appearing to counter Nanami's. BUT I do love the idea of this scene for a few reasons:
1) ANTHY (technically) DISOBEYED UTENA so she could either get revenge on Nanami or get Miki to duel (or both). After each of her animals appear, Utena says, "I told you not to put (it) in there..." in this kind of exasperated but resigned way. We see that Anthy will instantly stop anything Utena doesn't agree with (like the exchange diary which Anthy freaking throws out when Utena just says "it isn't right") but will also ask "it isn't right" or some form of a question which will make Utena repeat herself to confirm whatever she's doing is against Utena's desires. So I like to imagine Anthy coming home with all the animals/balloons because she foresaw/planned this encounter and Utena saying "don't put that animal there" but then Anthy asking her if she really can't have animals in those places and Utena feeling guilty for telling her what to do and just letting Anthy do it. (Also I love their relationship so I like to imagine Anthy just bringing home animals after they left the Academy and Utena being like "Sigh...okay, let's go get some mongoose food at the store...")
2) A few people also pointed out that the 'Curry High Trip' episode was suppose to come out after these episodes (the one where Nanami is chased around "India" by elephants) but it got pushed back because of production problems. The fact that Anthy drew an elephant on her study notes and began laughing an uncomfortable amount of time infront of Nanami WITH THE FACT that in the 'Curry' episode even AKIO did not see the body switch coming is a hint that Anthy planned the 'Curry' incident herself either as revenge/being cruel or for some other purpose. (I read an interesting theory on Tumblr that Anthy is trying to save Nanami in her own weird way but unfortunately I lost the link...)
Great points! It seems like no matter how much I try to cover in these videos there's always something else I hadn't noticed. Thanks for the thoughtful comment!
Please continue this series!
I liked the animal scene. I think it uses subversion pretty well. Put snails in the box? It's full of them. That's a good subversive joke by itself. Snake in the drawer? She didnt even get to open the drawer before the mongoose ate it. Octopus in your closet? This time it's not even an animal but an animal shaped balloon. At this point we know very little about Nanami, so the repetition may be a bit much but it helps us understand just how stubborn she js
Thanks for explaining this scene. Personally I really like this scene, mostly for comedic purposes. It's funny to me how much Nanami underestimated Anthy's weirdness, and how heartwarming that Utena and Miki accept her for it.
I watched all of your Utena videos and it's been a while but I hope you'll make more one day.
a few thoughts came into mind while i was watching this video analysis. i think behind every bully there is a lonely person who lacks moral or/and emotional maturity.
the show has showed us from the beginning that nanami is a classic bully with an unhealthy relationship towards her brother. she doesnt have a healthy mindset because shes stuck in the past where her brother is actually decent which made the relationship a bit weird for siblings (then again, name a pair of siblings in this show thats actually normal). nanami is too attached to touga but just the idea of him, not who he actually is now who is a playboy. i understood this thanks to your analysis for the shadow girls in the show. shes kind of like asuka from neon genesis evangelion, they both want attention and affection but both are probably too afraid to open up to people, so they put up this harsh persona towards others.
nanami sees that everyone wants anthy, whether that be in a romantic way like miki and saionji or some other way with each duelist' personal goals. she wants people to want her as well, so bad that she allowed a damn kid play boyfriend with her. another thing with the weird pedo girlfriend nanami is that nanami herself probably cant differentiate between the many types of love, for instance the difference with how we love our friends and how we love our boy/girlfriend. she only knows the affection her brother gave her which was years ago before he turned into an ass.
i interpret the animal scenes here as nanamis usual bullying towards anthy but in a more symbolic way. the snails can mean nanamis assumption that anthy is a closeted loser who cant even stand up to herself, like how a snail just retreats itself to its shell when predators bother them. while in fact, yes anthy probably is conscious of this character from herself because one thing i know about anthy while rewatching the show is that shes anything but stupid. shes not stupid but shes been abused by her brother for so long which made her like nanami in a way, too afraid to open up to people emotionally and deeply. anthy is like making a comeback to nanami, "yeah i am a fucking snail, so what bitch?". plus, anthy probably doesnt has much fucks left to give so thats why she probably thinks, "cant be fucking bothered," when nanamis minions come at her.
the second one, i think nanami is trying to say that anthy is cunning and dishonest, like a snake. this is probably something that anthy doesnt see herself as, for me personally i dont think anthy is cunning too, again shes probably just trying to cope with her abuse. i know the scene where anthy stabbed utena from the back might look like shes cunning, but i see it as a normal reaction from someone who has endured abuse for so long (but more on that later, its not the focus of this topic). so the snake being eaten is anthys rebuttal for that statement from nanami. anthy replied with defense with a mongoose, cute and innocent, killing a cunning snake.
lastly, i think anthy realises shes somewhat manipulative but of course she wont be upfront about it. how would you manipulate someone if they know youre manipulative? they would deny everything you say and label you as bad. so the octopus is a fake animal, a balloon to symbolise that. its probably like saying, "yeah lol im sooooo manipulative," to nanami. i realise how anthy is pretty manipulative when she cheered for utena in the duel between miki and utena. of course that made miki lose his focus, his girl crush is rooting for his opponent lol. but in anthys defense, i see that she has no choice to be manipulative in her environment, because she herself is unfairly controlled by akio.
This is actually one of my favorite scenes in the anime because of the purposely over-the-top and absurd quality it has.
Wait oh no, I just realized this is the last episode nooooooooooooo! Your work is so good! Please come back some day!
XD I love seeing nanami getting some karma via animals in all her solo episodes.
I really loved your Utena videos!
I personally love this scene and have some additional thoughts:
1. How over-the-top is it that Nanami brought all three of those animals? How did she think that would play out?
2. I personally love the repetition of the phrase "that's what is going to happen!" It's actually become a phrase I use when I or someone else seems over-confident in their predictions. I believe it also mirrors how viewers experience this show. It takes you down a path to make you think "that's what is going to happen" and then changes it. I'm curious now how many big "switches" happen in the series, and do those correspond at all to the animals Nanami brings? For example, does the giant fake octopus correlate to discovering that something in the show isn't real? Does the snake being eaten by the mongoose correlate to something in the show being destroyed?
Wooo! Rosepetalrevolution!
Also, I agree that this scene was really slow and dull. It's a shame that it happens so soon in the show. I'm pretty sure the first time I started watching it I was so turned off by this scene and the surrounding episode I dropped it for a while.
I went back to On the Night of the Ball to remember what I thought of it, and I realized that the scene where Nanami pranks Anthy foreshadows both her backstory and Utena's from "The Rose Crest." First because Anthy is horrified to be in a crowd like that and only does so to vainly appease the moral obligations of her stubborn prince (here represented by Utena), and second because Utena realizes that she dresses the way she does, not for her prince (here represented by Touga) but for Anthy.
Good observation about Utena's clothing, I had picked up on the parallels to The Rose Crest but I hadn't thought about it from Utena's perspective. I agree with you that a big issue with this scene is that it happens so early on. On the one hand it helps show that the tone isn't going to be too serious which is good, but it's a shame the first large comedic scene is maybe the least funny one in the entire series. Maybe they were still getting their sea legs under them. Thanks for the comment!
i really enjoy these videos~ i love how there is so much symbolism in this show and that you point out what they mean. cant wait for you to post more of this series :)
just watched utena for the first time. These videos are very insightful!
Anthy was plotting her next animal attack on Nanami when she was drawing in her notebook. The very next thing she does is send a pack of elephants after Nanami when she went to India, and although Nanami believes she caused the mind swap of Utena and Anthy, it was actually all Anthy's doing. Which she plotted because she was done reeling Miki in and didn't care about him anymore. Also illustrated by the fact that she was ignoring him to plan revenge against Nanami.
Man.... thats just perfect... please, do more videos about utena simbolism!
I'm pretty late to this video, but it's my understanding that mongoose are an animal often seen on the Indian subcontinent (with even the word "mongoose" being the English pronunciation of a Hindi word), so it's one of the things that imply Anthy had a connection to India. Of course, Nanami is also much more directly harassed by the Indian wildlife later in season 1.
I believe that in some Eastern cultures the snake represents growth and the stages of life. The shedding of the skin symbolizes moving to a new stage. Also if I remember correctly, in Japan they also represent femininity.
I’m no expert though so take this all with a grain of salt!
Love the FLCL OST. As in FLCL, I think you should not interpret the scenes so literally. Well, what I am trying to say is that, maybe, those animals are used instead of something else. Maybe they are allegories. What's really happening here is Nanami trying to make Anthy seem weird for her habits, but Utena and Miki totally accept her for what she is. FLCL is all about allegories like this. As somebody said on MAL "FLCL is as close to a piece of literature as you're ever going to get with an anime series". I'm waiting for the MPD video. See you on /a/ ;)
I definitely could be reading too much into the specific animals used, but that's part of the fun with Utena. Sometimes things are just jokes but often I think there's something more there. I'm still discovering new things about the show all the time. FLCL was one of my first anime and I love it to death. I would say Utena is closer to literature than FLCL but I have an obvious bias haha. They're both fantastic either way.
Yeah, nice skirt, Saionji.
These vids are great, damn.
PLEASE I NEED MORE
I haven't given up just yet. Working on some stuff now, I wanna make more too.
Love these episodes
Waiting for more:)
I'm not the kind of person who writes comments, especially here in youtube but I wanted to thank you for making these videos they bring me so much joy and good memories. Utena has been always my favourite anime (you can guess by my username haha I chose it when I made this account and It's been 12 years already!) Besides I wanted to ask if have you ever considered making a video about "Utena adolescence mokushiroku" the movie, that would be great! Anyway I'm more than happpy with these videos so thank you again and pardon my english.
ladywakaba
I probably will get around to the movie at some point, though I have no idea when. Thank you for the very kind comment!
thanks for giving some further insight into this - on the whole - very boring scene of Utena. I'm surprised you don't like Episode 3 however - so much setup in terms of the prince-princess roles and their importance in the Ohtori universe!!!
I think my main problem with the episode is that it isn't plot relevant and is followed by this one. Very slow pacing right at the start! However having thought about it more since posting this video I think I was a bit harsh on it. It's still a good episode, and I love the dance scene. I didn't make a video about it because I didn't think I had anything original to say about it. Thanks for your comment.
Episode three is really important though,,,foreshadowing out the wazoo
Czartoryska - Zar-tohr-ee-skah.
Can't wait for more! Will you do an analysis video of ep. 33 in the future? Or even ep. 18?
i hope u come back...
my thoughts on the animals depicted- people make jokes a lot about a girl being as wet as a snail, so there’s definitely some yonic reference there. with the mongoose, there is the common imagery that mongoose and snakes will eat each other even if they both die in the process. i thought this represents, like, most of the relationships in the series- the characters are in such toxic situations but continue pressing on and destroying each other, even if it means their own demise. lastly, with the octopus, and i’m surprised you didn’t mention this, my first thought was tentacle hentai. obviously everyone loves to joke about japan and its tentacle porn but i think it has a deeper connotation here. a lot of tentacle hentai is nonconsensual and the woman has no control of her body. so. anthy, basically.
No wonder she was a cow in the movie, anthy was in charge lol
1:11 amongoose
yer the scene is annoying and unessaery, but I think it's there to represent that Anthy isn't all she seems, people are meant to see Nanami as a spoilt brat, which she is, but she's not really a bad guy, she's learning and revealing everyone for who they really are, she knows she's faking it to make it, so she is exposing others like Anthy, who is likeable character but actually a bad guy, in the plot, misunderstood bad guy but all the same, she is being nice but manipulating people, Nanamis trying to show this, by starting off with Anthy, but because Nanami is a character whose often lives in cotton wool, her big reveals fall short and comical or annoying, cause it's not her revolution, she is not the chosen one, I know that's probably over kill, but that's my theory. I think Nanami wants to be the chosen one, but because her actions are comical, it gets weird, she learns it's Utena. it's kind of like the side kick wanting to be the hero. I love thanks explaining about Utena, its my favourite anime.
Thank you for making such an amazing video. I hope you keep uploading this series. Also, where did you buy the book shown in the video with the director's commentary?
The book came with the DVD box set and has a bunch of art and interviews too. Everything in the DVD booklets are probably in the new blu-ray release as well. The director's commentary is available online as well though I can't seem to post the link here, you can find it pretty easily on google. Sadly it seems to be missing a good chunk of the second and third season's episode commentaries.
i ended here looking for an explanation for the tree growing on anthy clothings on the elevators 😅any theory?
i always thought it had something to do with “deflowering”, or the image of a cast aside schoolgirl uniform referencing rape. (that’s more of a madoka magica thing lol, how one of the witch’s lair is filled with empty uniforms as an allegory for her being sexually assaulted) also it just occurred to me now that it could represent anthy’s growing hatred, or how the plans of the game are quickly growing to the end. the way that it’s just a tiny bush at first and in a minute becomes an overbearing rose bush.
@@cuttleb0nes it makes sense. Those are things you certainly can feel while you re watching it. thank you so much!
How much do I have to donate to get a video on an analysis of Anthys character? I know you've covered a lot via this video & Yellow and Youth but, Anthy is the most interesting character in the show for me, especially when you consider her manipulative capabilities. Since it's clear these videos take a lot of time, I'd be down to pay for your work.
I don't feel comfortable taking money for videos at this point in time. I really appreciate your offer, and it means a lot to me that you get something out of my videos. I've been rolling around an Anthy video in my head for some time so whenever that appears I hope that will satisfy you. Thank you for the support!
@@CrabeVideos no worries at all, the offer will always be there if you ever re-consider. If not I'll be patient, cheers!
why eould you watch the subtitles here? the english is so good on this one
*amongoos*
This episode turned me off of the show I stopped watching it for three months. It's still my least favorite episode, and if I'm ever re-watching Utena I usually skip the scene altogether.