Revolutionary Girl Utena – episode 35
Dec. 22nd, 2005 11:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
narcasseI had a particularly stupid moment a little while ago, for a rather extended period of time. I was complaining that I couldn’t watch a certain episode of Utena that was up for debate because the fuckwit who will earn himself a good kicking on Christmas day had my Utena DVDs still. He does and he will get a good kicking but I do have the official Apocalypse Arc DVDs still.
So having recovered from my weeks of ineptitude, I sat down to watch this critical episode.
The question was over the matter of Touga’s position at that point in the series. He’d been the playboy student council president who had already tricked Utena into losing a duel via the ‘hamming up the fairytale prince stereotype’ before so was this simply a further extension of that trick?
I don’t think it was.
Granted, he’s following Akio’s orders but there does seem to be a certain note of reticence and misdirection going on in Touga’s compliance. He seems almost relieved when Utena considers refusing the earrings that are allegedly from Akio and then later even tells Akio that his present didn’t go over well because Utena didn’t like them.
Even during the infamous horse-riding scene. He seems to be actively trying to sabotage Akio’s plans for Utena, laughing a little at the princely stereotype that she clings to. Almost as if to suggest that she believes in an illusion that’s a little childish really. Of course she then falls off the horse and is caught by the perfectly-timed Akio. Whether it’s a set up or not Touga does look appropriately horrified when Utena falls and somewhat disappointed when Akio is there to save her.
Aiko’s “That could have ended badly.” could even be taken as something of an indirect threat to Touga, that while he has leeway to do as he pleases, it won’t go well for him if he interferes with Akio’s plans.
As for the meaning of poppies, they’re traditionally associated with sleep and/or love potions. They can mean things as extreme as oblivion and eternal sleep, and also imagination. While a red poppy will signify pleasure, Akio seems to be talking generally so the more general meanings would probably apply.
Sleep eternally in the dream of Ohtori Academy perhaps even.
And interestingly a cactus signifies either endurance or seemingly ardent love.
So simply looking at that circumstantial evidence it does seem that Touga may not be quite so absolutely cynical towards Utena any more. But moving on from that, his interaction with Saionji, especially during their conversation before they spar is fairly interesting.
Saionji accuses Touga of using everyone around him and actively appearing to play the role of the prince after which Touga retreats back into the security of his flippant misdirection.
Strangely enough, what seems to come from this is the suggestion that Saionji has been hurt by Touga in the past, not romantically in particular, but by Touga’s unrepentant sophistry and lies. Possibly he’s been hurt by being one of the few people close to Touga who can actually see through the image of the prince he’s constructed and which all his many admirers never seem to see through. Saionji knows that Touga is like and might even be capable of bringing him down but he doesn’t. He lets himself be cast aside for some girl wanting something eternal, a man who pretends that he’s still a prince and even for the sake of Touga’s vague ambition to possess the sort of power that Akio has. Throughout it all Saionji keeps his peace and pretty much sticks by the person who might actually be his dearest friend.
Bearing in mind that Saionji wanted ‘something eternal’ and Touga wants power in a vague sense, I’m not entirely sure that Saionji’s eternal something and Touga’s ultimate power would bring any benefit for the girls in the series but rather a strange sort of accomplishing everything for each other. Of course they both want to possess what they’re after themselves and then share it unequally with the other but it doesn’t negate the actual fact of each wanting the other to be a part of it.
But coming back to Saionji’s comments to Touga and Touga’s reaction. I’d say that the Touga that Saionji describes at this point is most likely the way Touga was before. It’s a clear, unembellished or whitewashed view of Touga by someone who has no urge to use that information against him, which makes it such a painfully honest observation. Yet by this point in the game Touga has changed or at least is starting to show signs of true nobility.
His response to the girl who brings him a love-letter, while categorised by his usual brazen attitude, is still remarkably kind. He could have scorned her obviously or thrown her letter away while she was still in his presence or even gone and stuck it up on a notice-board as Saionji had done previously with Wakaba’s letter to him.
Overall, while Touga does have a nascent nobility about him, that he seems to have only previously used on the most superficial level, he does seem to be finally realising his own capacity for actual princely behaviour by this point in the series.
And what Saionji lacks in cultivated nobility seems to be equally balanced out by his forthrightness and loyalty, though obviously on his own terms.
They’re a prickly pair certainly and I’m not entirely sure that I’d see them together in a romantic sense but there is an intense degree of attachment there.
They don’t balance, they don’t fit or make each other better in any way but somehow they’ve got their ‘something eternal’ right there, and as far as the flower analogies go, it’s pretty much a cactus.
So having recovered from my weeks of ineptitude, I sat down to watch this critical episode.
The question was over the matter of Touga’s position at that point in the series. He’d been the playboy student council president who had already tricked Utena into losing a duel via the ‘hamming up the fairytale prince stereotype’ before so was this simply a further extension of that trick?
I don’t think it was.
Granted, he’s following Akio’s orders but there does seem to be a certain note of reticence and misdirection going on in Touga’s compliance. He seems almost relieved when Utena considers refusing the earrings that are allegedly from Akio and then later even tells Akio that his present didn’t go over well because Utena didn’t like them.
Even during the infamous horse-riding scene. He seems to be actively trying to sabotage Akio’s plans for Utena, laughing a little at the princely stereotype that she clings to. Almost as if to suggest that she believes in an illusion that’s a little childish really. Of course she then falls off the horse and is caught by the perfectly-timed Akio. Whether it’s a set up or not Touga does look appropriately horrified when Utena falls and somewhat disappointed when Akio is there to save her.
Aiko’s “That could have ended badly.” could even be taken as something of an indirect threat to Touga, that while he has leeway to do as he pleases, it won’t go well for him if he interferes with Akio’s plans.
As for the meaning of poppies, they’re traditionally associated with sleep and/or love potions. They can mean things as extreme as oblivion and eternal sleep, and also imagination. While a red poppy will signify pleasure, Akio seems to be talking generally so the more general meanings would probably apply.
Sleep eternally in the dream of Ohtori Academy perhaps even.
And interestingly a cactus signifies either endurance or seemingly ardent love.
So simply looking at that circumstantial evidence it does seem that Touga may not be quite so absolutely cynical towards Utena any more. But moving on from that, his interaction with Saionji, especially during their conversation before they spar is fairly interesting.
Saionji accuses Touga of using everyone around him and actively appearing to play the role of the prince after which Touga retreats back into the security of his flippant misdirection.
Strangely enough, what seems to come from this is the suggestion that Saionji has been hurt by Touga in the past, not romantically in particular, but by Touga’s unrepentant sophistry and lies. Possibly he’s been hurt by being one of the few people close to Touga who can actually see through the image of the prince he’s constructed and which all his many admirers never seem to see through. Saionji knows that Touga is like and might even be capable of bringing him down but he doesn’t. He lets himself be cast aside for some girl wanting something eternal, a man who pretends that he’s still a prince and even for the sake of Touga’s vague ambition to possess the sort of power that Akio has. Throughout it all Saionji keeps his peace and pretty much sticks by the person who might actually be his dearest friend.
Bearing in mind that Saionji wanted ‘something eternal’ and Touga wants power in a vague sense, I’m not entirely sure that Saionji’s eternal something and Touga’s ultimate power would bring any benefit for the girls in the series but rather a strange sort of accomplishing everything for each other. Of course they both want to possess what they’re after themselves and then share it unequally with the other but it doesn’t negate the actual fact of each wanting the other to be a part of it.
But coming back to Saionji’s comments to Touga and Touga’s reaction. I’d say that the Touga that Saionji describes at this point is most likely the way Touga was before. It’s a clear, unembellished or whitewashed view of Touga by someone who has no urge to use that information against him, which makes it such a painfully honest observation. Yet by this point in the game Touga has changed or at least is starting to show signs of true nobility.
His response to the girl who brings him a love-letter, while categorised by his usual brazen attitude, is still remarkably kind. He could have scorned her obviously or thrown her letter away while she was still in his presence or even gone and stuck it up on a notice-board as Saionji had done previously with Wakaba’s letter to him.
Overall, while Touga does have a nascent nobility about him, that he seems to have only previously used on the most superficial level, he does seem to be finally realising his own capacity for actual princely behaviour by this point in the series.
And what Saionji lacks in cultivated nobility seems to be equally balanced out by his forthrightness and loyalty, though obviously on his own terms.
They’re a prickly pair certainly and I’m not entirely sure that I’d see them together in a romantic sense but there is an intense degree of attachment there.
They don’t balance, they don’t fit or make each other better in any way but somehow they’ve got their ‘something eternal’ right there, and as far as the flower analogies go, it’s pretty much a cactus.
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Why the Prince is a Whore, and Why Akio is a More Effective Role-Model (an essay in reply)
Date: 2005-12-23 01:54 am (UTC)His response to the girl who brings him a love-letter, while categorised by his usual brazen attitude, is still remarkably kind.
Touga's always kind to his fans. Ruka scorns, and Saionji pins up love-notes to notice-boards, but Touga always gives his fans a thorough servicing. Because that's what Princes do, isn't it? That's what the Shadow Theatre in #34 says Princes do; they save girls through good old fashioned chivalry and wholesome sex, and thereby make them into Princesses. Touga doesn't turn girls down, for that would be... well... ungentlemanly, or rather, unPrincely; he's generous, and he gives them all a piece of himself. There's enough Touga to go around, just like there's enough Prince to save all the girls of the world.
Except there isn't. The Prince can't give all the girls of the world what they want, and he falls weary trying. Touga can't give everyone all they want of him, because sometimes they want more than just a piece. Utena wouldn't be content with being one of Touga's fan club, just as you say that Saionji is not content with it either. This, I think, is the realisation that Touga comes to during this episode.
Whether it’s a set up or not Touga does look appropriately horrified when Utena falls and somewhat disappointed when Akio is there to save her.
Rather than "disappointed", I'd call that a mask of thwarted frustration. I agree wholeheartedly that Touga is, maybe for the first time, trying to act under his own initiative. Unless Touga's a better actor than I give him credit for, that horror from seeing Utena fall into Akio's arms is unfeigned, and the horse-riding was his own idea.
That he was undermining the myth of the Prince is an interesting idea. That hadn't even crossed my mind! He does seem to reject the role of the Prince, the role of the playboy, but whether he tries to take on instead a "true nobility" is ambiguous. It looks to me like he might actually be becoming more cynical, that he's progressing from a sort of Dios-stage where he believes he can satisfy everyone- including, of course, himself- and believing that everyone wants to be satisfied by him, to realising that there are those who would ask more than that.
Saionji says on the balcony (#35, 18mins), surrounded by cameras (like the camera Akio uses, but without Akio present), that Touga is Akio's creature. Saionji asks why Touga is content to be Akio's sidekick, and we've never heard Touga quite so turned on as when he replies "I want to be like him, I want power like he has."
What power is this though? Not the power of Dios, for Akio doesn't have that any more, and Touga knows this quite well if his gift of Dios'-Tomb-shaped earrings is anything to go by. This power, I believe, is the power which makes Utena choose Akio over Touga. The power to give the illusion of love rather than inspiring only desire. We all know what Akio does with that power- he gets people to offer themselves as pawns, puppets and sacrifices to Akio's ends.
So, this horse-riding scene: I still think that Touga was trying to conjure up the same sort of magic that Akio conjures when he takes his passengers to the Ends of the World. He tries to recruit Utena as his Rose Bride all by himself, rather than do it via Akio and his car, for when he fails he uses a tellingly similar tactic to recruit Saionji in the motorcycle scene (#36, 5mins). He wants Utena because Akio has Utena, and good little Tougas follow Akio's example. Utena's no good to him, though, unless she's in the pink dress so Touga can get the driving seat all to himself.
Touga might be trying to shake off Akio's influence, but he does this by imitating Akio. He isn't very imaginative, bless. He tries to undermine Akio's power in order to claim that same power. Poet Audre Lorde once said that "the master's tools will never dismantle the master's house", but then, Touga doesn't want to dismantle Akio's car so much as set up shop in it himself.
Touga x Saionji is Cactus Love (though Some are More Equal than Others)
Date: 2005-12-23 03:05 am (UTC)I'd looked up the significance of poppies, as Akio all but orders the viewer to, but I hadn't looked up what cacti signify. Gosh, that adds a whole new dimension. What you say about how Touga and Saionji relate to each other is true.
Touga's a funny one. He seems to want to be everything for everyone- the locus of desire- but when he does gain that position, he abuses it wildly. Nanami, who may have been a guinea pig for honing his charm during their childhood, is pushed away, pushed about, and pushed into the Akio car. Saionji gets expelled from Ohtori for trusting Touga, who puts him in the role of the villain to be a foil for his "heroics". At the start of the series, Touga isn’t a very nice boy at all.
By the end, Touga might want Utena solely as a tool and a token of power, but he does seem to treat Saionji differently. Touga explains nothing to Utena, neither in the horse-riding scene nor the moonlit arena scene (#36, 7 mins), but he shares information and plots together with Saionji in his bid to gain the sort of power Akio has.
During the farcical motorcycle scene, Touga is indeed in the driving seat but he does allow Saionji a little more equality there, perhaps because he's been shaken by his previous failure- "You don't like it because it's me driving?" (emphasis mine) he asks, letting a bit of insecurity slip. Saionji does not sit behind Touga on the motorcycle, like Utena sat behind in the saddle, but almost side-by-side. Again, with "more equality", it's Saionji who performs the equivalent of Akio's backflip, not Touga, and Touga certainly shows more concern over Saionji's safety there than he did over Utena's safety in the horse-riding scene
because if Saionji fell off the sidecar into Akio's lap, he'd only have Nanami left to try for a Rose Bride. He does, as you say, "share unequally" the limelight in this scene, and he similarly shares unequally the roles of Duelist and Rose Bride between himself and Saionji in his final duel when he has Saionji take the handlebars. If Touga does have any nascent nobility, it is with regard to Saionji rather than Utena that he shows it.In another balcony scene (#36, 11:30mins), Saionji asks about the answer Touga got from his visit to the moonlit arena with Utena. "It is clear that she is important to me." Touga says. But rather than wanting Utena for who she is (trousers and all), he wants to "save" her- he wants a Princess, the alternative being that Utena will "fall into the grasp of the Ends of the World". He sees no possibility of Utena besting Akio, or breaking out of the coffin for herself- after all, Touga's having an absolute bitch of a time trying to do that very same thing, and Utena's only some girl.
The depiction of Touga and Saionji as being in a more equal relationship than the one Touga suggests he wants with Utena could be Ikuhara's take on shounen-ai being a more equal sort of romance. As you say, it isn't clear whether this is in fact romance or not, but all relationships in SKU are sexualised and perhaps after seeing all the open shirts in episodes 36 and 37, I ought to have used "yaoi" and "sex" in the previous sentence.
Touga is limited; he is "chivalrous" (ironically, the Japanese used to mean "chivalrous" is a katakana mutilation: "feminisuto"), and can't see women in roles other than that of the Princess, but with Saionji he is able to be less solely dominant. Though Saionji is in the sidecar, in the role of the sidekick, Touga seems to offer him more respect than Akio offers Touga in the passenger seat, and certainly Touga offers Saionji more respect than he does Utena. This could go towards suggesting that Touga is, as you say, capable of some sort of nobility and is capable of more than being a poor imitation of Akio.
They're not equal partners perhaps, but that's why it isn't the Revolutionary Boy Touga show, I suppose.