I always interpreted the plane as kind of... a reminder that the outside world exists. It has nothing to do with Ohtori, the people inside the plane don't care about Ohtori, and it reminds Anthy and Utena that they, too, can move on from the trauma and leave. I love your theories though! I'd never considered that the trail looks like a blade, and I think the engine sound probably is a call forward to the car scene. I really enjoy your videos, please keep it up! addition i thought of ten minutes later: the plane is unreachable. that's why it's going right to left but the girls are looking at it from the other side. it isn't a viable way of leaving and focusing on it, daydreaming about flying, will only hold them back - they need to find their own way out. you could also juxtapose the plane with the car - the plane looks effortless, but the drive free is hard, and that's the reality, that there's no easy way out.
I saw the clip of the observatory on TH-cam and I remember the buildup of the plane sound with Anthy’s reveal scaring the shit out of me. It sounded, looked, and felt like a horror scene.
I like how Ikuhara plays the art teacher saying "just find the essence of the person" - so it's literally the director telling us in the audience not to get bogged down, lol
i think utena and anthy looking out of the window and to the right is meant as a look back to where they started (the upper right is the very first panel in manga.) but in a more positive way. in the past, utena was emotionally shut in and now she's happy that she opened up. like "look at where we are now, it's going to be better" idk if that made sense, it sounded better in my head
People who dislike the movie because they took it too literally and didn’t try to understand that it’s symbolic as heck are really weird. Man the movie starts with tiny paintings that you have to squint at and get closer to the screen to really see. THE MOVIE IS STRAIGHT UP TELLING YOU TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK IN THE MOST LITERAL WAY POSSIBLE do you want a flashing red warning??? “Hey this is metaphorical don’t take it literally?”
1. By not setting it up within the context of the film itself, this movie kind of Warf's the athleticism that Utena had in the series and makes it seem like she's not particularly fit at all. I like the idea that it's a metaphor for the emotional difficulty of what she's doing, but I'm not sure the movie conveys that very well. 2. What you said about the painting scene defying sexuality is pretty insightful, but I also can't help but think the way that Anthy props up her canvas, almost automatically while staring straight at Utena, is code for an erection. I interpreted the sound of the plane's engine as being a euphemism for the build up of arousal as well. There's definitely more going on than sex, but it's definitely not NOT sex either. 3. The idea of emptiness has a lot to do with Buddhism, Daoism, and Zen. That probably has something to do with how we should read this scene, although I'm not exactly a scholar on Eastern religions, so I might just leave it at that.
Coming to this one extremely late, but my read on the plane’s symbolism is that it is an aspect of the “adult” world; something which exists outside of Ohtori. You can’t see the plane itself, but you can see the trail it leaves in its wake - much like how Anthy’s wound is a trace of the horrible, disgusting thing Akio did to her. His actions, too, were part of the adult world encroaching upon Ohtori for a moment of time. I’d say that it intersecting with the castle is part of that symbolism, given it’s the domain of Dios in the show. It also probably symbolises Anthy and Utena’s escape, with them having to pass through and transcend the fairytale castle as they escape the world of childish fantasy into the adult world.
Thank you for breaking down these scenes. The contrails of the jet always seemed more to me than just the outside world. How you described right to left compositions being progress and the reverse being true left me wondering why it seemed out of place for the scene in the observation room. Why were they being held back looking right? To me, maybe the intention was Anthy describing to Utena what was holding her back and so for Utena to be present before her, it indicates Anthy being ahead, allowing Utena to catch up before coming forth of the revelation. One more thing after geting to the end, the contrail being a blade stabbing Anthy, lines up with the same black and red outline of her wound. To an even darker extent, there isn’t just one slit visible in the silhouette, but two: The Chest and Thigh Gap. They both are indicative of a woman’s slit, while also being the subject of her torment. Her heart and body.
I think that in the painting the row boat is showing how Anthy was metaphorically stranded at sea, distraught in a sense. The you have a figure standing in a door in the distance. The door being a slim chance at survival and the figures limbs spread meaning you cannot go through the door without having to deal with what that entails. The figure being in control of who can enter by blocking the entrance and making themselves inevitable. If Anthy was traumatized and with a slim chance at making it an ideal like that of a prince might have been the one thing that kept her going. The sinking boat being close, in the present, and the door far away, unreachable and in the possible future
I always thought that the plane was a reference to the outside world which they might be waatching. But also, the plane is going up, and then, in this scene and after we have a shot of the castle in the sky. I have always wonder if this Ohtori everyone can see the castle at any hour from everywhere, it is hinted that is right there, just like in the last shot of the dance scene.
13:59 - I mean, I feel like if we look to vehicles as vessels towards change and growth, the turbine engine (for me) is heralding change. Now that Utena knows what she knows about Anthy, and now that Anthy has exposed the system for what it is to Utena, there's no way they can turn back. If the rose garden is where the movie's instances of true learning happens in the movie, then the true journey is beginning here. 16:37 & 19:09 - I feel like this is Anthy's true test to Utena, and one that exists outside of the world's systems/Akio's will. The isolation, the stripping of oneself to their essence and the paintings' revealing. This is all Anthy: her trying to figure out if Utena is still legitimate; her seeing if Utena truly lives up to her own high goals through action and not mere words; and maybe wanting to experience what that means and what it looks like up close. There's a bit of facial recognition Anthy does that makes me feel like she now truly knows that Utena's intentions are truly honest and noble. 23:26 - 31:40 - Love it; here for it. 34:20 - I like that Utena cannot hide from Anthy's pain. The head turn can be seen as embarrassment on a multitude of levels, but the reveal of paintings themselves really points to how deeply Anthy wants to change or break free. But just by showing that, Utena has made the idea of change attainable, maybe even appealing, to Anthy. 37:35 - I mean...if the story of Anthy and the Lord of the Flies rings true -- and it does; there's no denying the paintings as her true childhood, story and burden -- this is literal. The artist (I really don't want to f up his name) doesn't shy away from fairy tale elements in this work, and as viewers, we've had to take the fairy tale aspects as literal so that they are legitimate. Only by doing so can we examine the trauma and harm it brings (again, you can only change a system via earnest participation, the simplest form of that being belief). Plus, Akio is a liar and uses Anthy's power for his own gains, so to ignore Anthy's scars is to treat his version of events as legitimate, or his treatment of her justified. Do either of those things would make Anthy, the longest and most victimized of anyone at the academy, the true villain. The hole/sheath/broken hymen has to be seen as literal before it's metaphorical. The fairy tale genre demands it as do Anthy and the author himself. 41:17 - This is probably the first time I'm viewing the paintings' style. I mean for Akio to have painted what is really Anthy's story in this rudimentary way really points to his abuse of power as well as his dismissiveness of what he's done to Anthy, and the million ways he robs her of her personhood.
I really Love this analysis. Any plans on doing the series? Many have tried but few make it past the Student council arch. Also are you interested in an invite to the Emptymovement Utena Fan discord server?
Your analysies are always well thought out and put together! And I believe in the show Utena was raped/coerced into sexual relations with Akio, an adult man. The symbols of him driving, and the signs saying stop, stop, stop, but him ignoring those signs really says something! And yeah, Anthy in the show probably had the same thing happen to her as Utena in the show. That scene really stuck to me
This is probably reaching a bit but: The only other time (that I can recall) when we see a plane in the anime is in the Body-swap episode when Nanami goes to India to find the legendary spice and "redeem" herself in Touga's eyes(at least she definitely sees it that way) or atone for her "sin" of concocting the plan to mess up Anthy and Utena's cooking. So maybe this is a sort of "act of redemption" or "atonement" for Anthy or something I don't really know. The more I think about this the less sense it makes...
Thank you for the answer. Really love your videos, I got a question what do you think of Mawaru Penguindru & Yurikuma Arashi & how would you rank Kunihiko Ikhuhara's works??? Here's my Ranking love to hear yours. 1.Mawaru Penguindrum 2.Adolescence Of Utena 3.Revolutionary Girl Utena 4.Yurikuma Arashi
I should really do another video about sexual consumption in anime fandom, talking about Beautiful Fighting Girl and hentai and all that. It was far too large a topic to get into here, admittedly.
Also if you watch closely you will see the contrail pointing at the castle in the shot where Anthy tells Utena about it. It is pointing the way out is through the castle which is correct. But looking to the right shows that the false part of this knowledge is that they both are looking at escape as an easy magical solution within the system of the Prince. Just enter the castlle and you get freedom. Where as the car chase scene is more to reality. You have to move PAST the castle and withstand it's efforts to try and crush you.
Eh, it's a mediocre show among legendary shows, so it suffers by comparison. Lulu, the aesthetic and the bear judges are the best parts, but they only really match Utena and Penguindrum. Kureha and Ginko are flat out poorly realized characters, and the themes are too hamfisted.
![ประสบการณ์ จ้าง Developer ที่ผมจะไม่มีวันลืม [ภาค1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/bzivN4KDg-k/mqdefault.jpg)
I always interpreted the plane as kind of... a reminder that the outside world exists. It has nothing to do with Ohtori, the people inside the plane don't care about Ohtori, and it reminds Anthy and Utena that they, too, can move on from the trauma and leave. I love your theories though! I'd never considered that the trail looks like a blade, and I think the engine sound probably is a call forward to the car scene. I really enjoy your videos, please keep it up!
addition i thought of ten minutes later: the plane is unreachable. that's why it's going right to left but the girls are looking at it from the other side. it isn't a viable way of leaving and focusing on it, daydreaming about flying, will only hold them back - they need to find their own way out. you could also juxtapose the plane with the car - the plane looks effortless, but the drive free is hard, and that's the reality, that there's no easy way out.
I really like your thoughts on the plane.
I was half way through typing out a response until I realized I was just retyping out your comment.
nice! i never thought about it like that.
I saw the clip of the observatory on TH-cam and I remember the buildup of the plane sound with Anthy’s reveal scaring the shit out of me. It sounded, looked, and felt like a horror scene.
Utena is a psychology class
There was a theory on Tumblr that said this movie might be a retelling by Anthy herself. Anthy is a lot more proactive in the movie an in the tv show.
I like how Ikuhara plays the art teacher saying "just find the essence of the person" - so it's literally the director telling us in the audience not to get bogged down, lol
How did I not know this fact???
i think utena and anthy looking out of the window and to the right is meant as a look back to where they started (the upper right is the very first panel in manga.) but in a more positive way. in the past, utena was emotionally shut in and now she's happy that she opened up. like "look at where we are now, it's going to be better" idk if that made sense, it sounded better in my head
Sounded good here too. A reading I like.
People who dislike the movie because they took it too literally and didn’t try to
understand that it’s symbolic as heck are really weird. Man the movie starts with tiny paintings that you have to squint at and get closer to the screen to really see. THE MOVIE IS STRAIGHT UP TELLING YOU TO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK IN THE MOST LITERAL WAY POSSIBLE do you want a flashing red warning??? “Hey this is metaphorical don’t take it literally?”
This movie has never made so much sense and I can't thank you enough for this series.
1. By not setting it up within the context of the film itself, this movie kind of Warf's the athleticism that Utena had in the series and makes it seem like she's not particularly fit at all. I like the idea that it's a metaphor for the emotional difficulty of what she's doing, but I'm not sure the movie conveys that very well.
2. What you said about the painting scene defying sexuality is pretty insightful, but I also can't help but think the way that Anthy props up her canvas, almost automatically while staring straight at Utena, is code for an erection. I interpreted the sound of the plane's engine as being a euphemism for the build up of arousal as well. There's definitely more going on than sex, but it's definitely not NOT sex either.
3. The idea of emptiness has a lot to do with Buddhism, Daoism, and Zen. That probably has something to do with how we should read this scene, although I'm not exactly a scholar on Eastern religions, so I might just leave it at that.
Coming to this one extremely late, but my read on the plane’s symbolism is that it is an aspect of the “adult” world; something which exists outside of Ohtori. You can’t see the plane itself, but you can see the trail it leaves in its wake - much like how Anthy’s wound is a trace of the horrible, disgusting thing Akio did to her. His actions, too, were part of the adult world encroaching upon Ohtori for a moment of time. I’d say that it intersecting with the castle is part of that symbolism, given it’s the domain of Dios in the show. It also probably symbolises Anthy and Utena’s escape, with them having to pass through and transcend the fairytale castle as they escape the world of childish fantasy into the adult world.
Love the childlike innocence reading! I think that would contribute to a number of the other symbols as well, and I never mention it.
YOU TAKE THAT first 18 SECONDS BACK! Passion IS GOOD.
Thank you for breaking down these scenes. The contrails of the jet always seemed more to me than just the outside world. How you described right to left compositions being progress and the reverse being true left me wondering why it seemed out of place for the scene in the observation room.
Why were they being held back looking right? To me, maybe the intention was Anthy describing to Utena what was holding her back and so for Utena to be present before her, it indicates Anthy being ahead, allowing Utena to catch up before coming forth of the revelation. One more thing after geting to the end, the contrail being a blade stabbing Anthy, lines up with the same black and red outline of her wound.
To an even darker extent, there isn’t just one slit visible in the silhouette, but two: The Chest and Thigh Gap.
They both are indicative of a woman’s slit, while also being the subject of her torment. Her heart and body.
I like this take!
I think that in the painting the row boat is showing how Anthy was metaphorically stranded at sea, distraught in a sense.
The you have a figure standing in a door in the distance. The door being a slim chance at survival and the figures limbs spread meaning you cannot go through the door without having to deal with what that entails. The figure being in control of who can enter by blocking the entrance and making themselves inevitable.
If Anthy was traumatized and with a slim chance at making it an ideal like that of a prince might have been the one thing that kept her going. The sinking boat being close, in the present, and the door far away, unreachable and in the possible future
I always thought that the plane was a reference to the outside world which they might be waatching. But also, the plane is going up, and then, in this scene and after we have a shot of the castle in the sky. I have always wonder if this Ohtori everyone can see the castle at any hour from everywhere, it is hinted that is right there, just like in the last shot of the dance scene.
13:59 - I mean, I feel like if we look to vehicles as vessels towards change and growth, the turbine engine (for me) is heralding change. Now that Utena knows what she knows about Anthy, and now that Anthy has exposed the system for what it is to Utena, there's no way they can turn back. If the rose garden is where the movie's instances of true learning happens in the movie, then the true journey is beginning here.
16:37 & 19:09 - I feel like this is Anthy's true test to Utena, and one that exists outside of the world's systems/Akio's will. The isolation, the stripping of oneself to their essence and the paintings' revealing. This is all Anthy: her trying to figure out if Utena is still legitimate; her seeing if Utena truly lives up to her own high goals through action and not mere words; and maybe wanting to experience what that means and what it looks like up close. There's a bit of facial recognition Anthy does that makes me feel like she now truly knows that Utena's intentions are truly honest and noble.
23:26 - 31:40 - Love it; here for it.
34:20 - I like that Utena cannot hide from Anthy's pain. The head turn can be seen as embarrassment on a multitude of levels, but the reveal of paintings themselves really points to how deeply Anthy wants to change or break free. But just by showing that, Utena has made the idea of change attainable, maybe even appealing, to Anthy.
37:35 - I mean...if the story of Anthy and the Lord of the Flies rings true -- and it does; there's no denying the paintings as her true childhood, story and burden -- this is literal. The artist (I really don't want to f up his name) doesn't shy away from fairy tale elements in this work, and as viewers, we've had to take the fairy tale aspects as literal so that they are legitimate. Only by doing so can we examine the trauma and harm it brings (again, you can only change a system via earnest participation, the simplest form of that being belief). Plus, Akio is a liar and uses Anthy's power for his own gains, so to ignore Anthy's scars is to treat his version of events as legitimate, or his treatment of her justified. Do either of those things would make Anthy, the longest and most victimized of anyone at the academy, the true villain. The hole/sheath/broken hymen has to be seen as literal before it's metaphorical. The fairy tale genre demands it as do Anthy and the author himself.
41:17 - This is probably the first time I'm viewing the paintings' style. I mean for Akio to have painted what is really Anthy's story in this rudimentary way really points to his abuse of power as well as his dismissiveness of what he's done to Anthy, and the million ways he robs her of her personhood.
I really Love this analysis. Any plans on doing the series? Many have tried but few make it past the Student council arch.
Also are you interested in an invite to the Emptymovement Utena Fan discord server?
Your analysies are always well thought out and put together! And I believe in the show Utena was raped/coerced into sexual relations with Akio, an adult man. The symbols of him driving, and the signs saying stop, stop, stop, but him ignoring those signs really says something! And yeah, Anthy in the show probably had the same thing happen to her as Utena in the show. That scene really stuck to me
Anthy decided to clip through the walls to mess with Utena
Thanks for keeping uploading this analysis series. I'm really loving it. :)
This is probably reaching a bit but:
The only other time (that I can recall) when we see a plane in the anime is in the Body-swap episode when Nanami goes to India to find the legendary spice and "redeem" herself in Touga's eyes(at least she definitely sees it that way) or atone for her "sin" of concocting the plan to mess up Anthy and Utena's cooking. So maybe this is a sort of "act of redemption" or "atonement" for Anthy or something I don't really know. The more I think about this the less sense it makes...
I'm pretty sure it is Akios grave for sure tbh.
Nice work. Keep up with it.
Thank you for the answer. Really love your videos, I got a question what do you think of Mawaru Penguindru & Yurikuma Arashi & how would you rank Kunihiko Ikhuhara's works???
Here's my Ranking love to hear yours.
1.Mawaru Penguindrum
2.Adolescence Of Utena
3.Revolutionary Girl Utena
4.Yurikuma Arashi
You're right on, just throw Sailor Moon R, S, and SuperS above and below Utena the series depending, and put the R movie below Adolescence.
29:20 "everybody's really been lusting for". Who? Not me. Who's "everybody"?
I should really do another video about sexual consumption in anime fandom, talking about Beautiful Fighting Girl and hentai and all that.
It was far too large a topic to get into here, admittedly.
If you do, please let me know! I would love to here your take on it!
Also if you watch closely you will see the contrail pointing at the castle in the shot where Anthy tells Utena about it. It is pointing the way out is through the castle which is correct. But looking to the right shows that the false part of this knowledge is that they both are looking at escape as an easy magical solution within the system of the Prince. Just enter the castlle and you get freedom. Where as the car chase scene is more to reality. You have to move PAST the castle and withstand it's efforts to try and crush you.
I shall return
I have returned
What is the song at the very end?
Don't remember exactly what I used but it's certainly from The Adolescence of Utena OST
@@clearandsweet Thank you. I’ve been listening to it since this video. lol
Why the hate on yurikuma? It's good :(
Eh, it's a mediocre show among legendary shows, so it suffers by comparison. Lulu, the aesthetic and the bear judges are the best parts, but they only really match Utena and Penguindrum. Kureha and Ginko are flat out poorly realized characters, and the themes are too hamfisted.
what's wrong with yuri kuma arashi :(
Flat characters, mostly. Other than that, just kind of an obvious allegory that makes it a bit simpler than I might like.
Not a bad show tho