In the twenty-seventh episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena, Nanami believes she laid an egg while sleeping, and this episode spends twenty minutes willingly living in absurdity until it DESTROYS ME IN FIVE SECONDS. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Utena.
Trigger Warning: For brief mention of a character’s homophobia, and for incest.
I keep falling for every single sleight and every single red herring AND THIS MIGHT BE THE WORST ONE YET.
- I thought this was a silly episode, like “Curry High Trip” or “Cowbell of Happiness,” and in some ways, it is. The premise – that Nanami wakes up to an egg in her bed and then drastically entertains the notion that she laid it – is so ridiculous that the only thing that grounds it is Nanami herself.
- This episode stood as a good reminder of how Nanami operates under a constant mode of paranoia. We’ve seen this many times before. She imagines scenarios that’ll give her positive attention, and she imagines scenarios that’ll strip of said positive attention. And given all the issues she already has about her big brother and her own self-worth, I don’t think we could have had this episode be about anyone else.
- Here’s the thing: While a great deal of the humor in “Nanami’s Egg” is derived from miscommunication and wordplay, I still think the themes brought up by those conversations are meaningful to discuss!
- Initially, Nanami is terrified to discuss the egg with anyone because she’s certain she’ll be bullied for it. I think I finally understand all the UFO imagery that keeps popping up in the Shadow Play Girls’ work: it stands for alienation. That’s what motivates Nanami to keep the egg a secret at first. She’s convinced that she’ll be ostracized by everyone at Ohtori Academy. Of course, it’s not lost on me that she would know this because she is often the source of bullying. She knows how quickly she can turn people against others, and now she might be the next target.
- But then her perception of the egg changes after a couple misguided conversations, and she stops thinking of herself as a freak for having laid an egg. She then becomes worried that she laid her egg late. I thought it was a pretty clever way to metaphorically refer to a person getting their period for the first time. When you look at Nanami’s conversation with Juri through this lens, it fits, right?
- I do have to admit that I might not entirely understand what Touga was talking about. Is “laying an egg” slang for having a child? Having sex? WHAT THE HELL WAS HE TALKING ABOUT?
- Regardless, it was clear that the very thought of losing her brother’s favor was a frightening concept. Also, Touga is a HUGE BIGOT. Dude, if you truly believe in God intending for men to be with woman, maybe you should cut down on your strangely homoerotic shirtless car rides with Akio. JUST MAYBE.
- I actually entertained the thought that Saionji was permanently living out in the forest until he squashed that theory. I MEAN, IT’S NOT LIKE WE’VE SEEN HIM SINCE HIS LAST EPISODE. Maybe it was a shame thing!
- The video for this episode also contains evidence that I actually became emotionally invested in that fucking egg, because I was horrified when Saionji appeared to be cooking it.
- It also contains evidence of me saying, out loud, without any knowledge of what was to come, “Where’s Chu-Chu?”
- oh god
- OH GOD
- I was very aware of the fact that there was less and less time left in this episode and I still had not a single answer to what the fuck was going on. Why did we get that brief flashback at the beginning of the episode with Nanami finding the egg in the sandbox? How did the same egg appear in two places? Where did the egg actually come from? Was my suspicion right that someone had put the egg in Nanami’s bed just to torment her or manipulate her?
- YO, WHAT’S WITH THE CONVERSATION ABOUT REINCARNATION? THAT CAN’T BE NOTHING.
- I don’t know that the “flashback” at the beginning is real. It could have been a dream. Whatever it was, I think it’s a necessary framing device to understand why Nanami unravels so fast. Her conversation with Touga references a “dream” of hers that pretty heavily implies that she wants to start a family with her own brother. The entire episode is surreal enough to feel like a dream, but it’s not one. Nanami is so wrapped up in her adoration of Touga that the egg essentially brings it all out of her.
- Which I think is the point. Because at the end of this episode, the egg is broken, we don’t see what comes out of it, and then there’s the ring of the doorbell over at Akio’s place.
- And Utena answers it.
- To find Chu-Chu standing there.
- CHU-CHU
- WHO HAD BEEN MISSING THE WHOLE EPISODE
- AND THEN IT CUTS TO ANTHY AND SHE MAKES A FACE AND THIS IS FUCKING UNREAL
- DID SHE DO THIS??? DID AKIO ASK HER TO?
- BECAUSE NANAMI DEFINITELY JUST TOLD ALL OF HER SECRETS TO THAT FUCKING EGG, AND NOW CHU-CHU KNOWS THEM ALL AND
- WHAT THE
- WHAT THE FUCK
- WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS SHOW
The video for “Nanami’s Egg” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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