In the fifteenth episode of Revolutionary Girl Utena, I’ve lost count of how many different ways this show is messed up. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Utena.
Trigger Warning: For incest, abusive manipulation.
What the hell is this show?
- If anything, I feel bad for Kozue and Miki. I don’t want to absolve her of her wrongdoing, but oh my god??? They’re both victims of Mikage and Mamiya’s plan to kill Anthy, and it’s horrifying to watch. The whole “Sunlit Garden” arc proves to be an essential plot point, and now it’s also clear that the Student Council are still vital to the story at large. I actually thought we wouldn’t see much of them ever again. BUT NOPE
- NOOOOOPE
- SO MUCH NOPE
- “The Landscape Framed by Kozue” follows Kozue, Miki’s previously unnamed twin, as she deals with her obsessive jealousy of Miki and anyone she views as making him happy. The parallels to Nanami and Touga are undeniable, of course, and both those characters even show up for a brief scene. (Even that moment was a deliberate mirror of Utena’s depressive episode in “For Friendship, Perhaps.” Except I DON’T FEEL BAD FOR TOUGA AT ALL.) But instead of focusing on Miki’s reasons for his attraction to Anthy, we spend time with Kozue, learning why she’s so obsessed with her brother. Like Miki, Kozue’s past informs how she behaves in the present. And like so much of this show, we’ve got entitlement, possessive behavior, and obsessiveness. That’s built into the framework of Utena!
- How this manifests in Kozue is complicated, to say the least. Her promiscuity seems aimed to keep her brother engaged with her, which is… lord. Even if she’s getting negative attention, it’s still worth it for her.
- IT’S ALSO REVEALED THAT SHE PUSHED MIKI’S PIANO TEACHER DOWN THE STAIRS. WHAT THE FUCK.
- Also, that teacher was clearly hitting on Miki, so WHAT. Yet another inappropriate relationship on Utena.
- It’s this sort of terrible vulnerability that Mamiya and Mikage exploit. Like Kanae in the previous episode, they somehow are able to understand the deepest fears and most perplexing emotional issues of these people, and I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW THAT’S POSSIBLE. Regardless, they do it, but their aim is different with Miki and Kozue. They’re targeted specifically as a pair, and it suggests that there’s a reason why the duelist who is engaged to the Rose Bride can pull a sword from their heart. It’s an emotional connection that makes it possible, and now that I think about it? There was always an emotional justification for every duel. (Hence the official “names” of them!)
- So, what I think happens is that Mikage interrogates Kozue in a manner to bring about the intense jealousy and resentment she feels so that she can then pull a sword from within Miki’s heart. There are heavy overtones of mind control, too, and when Kozue eventually fights Utena, she doesn’t even look like herself.
- All of this is exacerbated by Miki’s continued pursuit of Anthy. Free of Touga’s manipulation, Miki seems a lot more genuine about his attraction to her. And their interactions are pretty cute, you know? But as he gets closer to Anthy, Kozue gets more and more furious. It’s actually fascinating to compare Miki and Kozue’s internal monologues because both characters are unaware of how much they unironically enjoy one another. Miki held his sister in high esteem because his childhood with her made him happy. Truthfully, the same is the case with Kozue, but both characters are twisted by their bizarre obsessions.
- I noticed that during the big duel between Utena and Kozue, the items on the desks changed to the glasses of milkshake that she rejected earlier. So, do those items always have to have something to do with whichever Black Rose Duelist is in the arena?
- Y’all, both of these new duels have been SUPER FRIGHTENING. This show is not playing around anymore.
- Of course, I still don’t understand practically anything. I did figure out that those moving tiles during the interrogation sequence were actually the boxes contain the bodies of the Black Rose Boys. I STILL DON’T KNOW WHY THEY’RE THERE. WHAT IS THAT PLACE?
- And what the fuck is going on between Anthy and Akio? I honestly tried to look at their scene at the end of this episode in non-sexual terms and I COULDN’T DO IT. It’s visually coded to be sexual, and Akio’s line earlier describing his sibling relationship as if he were the moon only makes this worse, given that Akio and Anthy only see one another on the weekends.
- What’s happening? WHY IS THIS SHOW DOING THIS TO ME?
The video for “The Landscape Framed by Kozue” can be downloaded here for $0.99.
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