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saionjeans · 3 months

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yet another moment where saionji says something incredibly trenchant and insightful only to be completely dismissed due to the ridiculous framing and the general cringiness that pervades everything he says and does (eg, pointing out that the castle is a trick of the light, announcing that they must shed the coffins end of the world has prepared for them, etc etc). obviously in this instance, he is both saying something that is proven correct throughout the show via a myriad of dynamics, but is also shown to be a precept that is teleologically challenged and rejected by anthy’s final choice.

upon a first viewing, one might assume saionji himself is talking about anthy here, whether by presumptuously assuming that she loves him despite his abuse, or claiming that her rejection of him does not lessen his love for her. either way, he seems totally delusional and moronic. i can only assume that utena, who has even less information than we do regarding saionji’s true feelings, assumes that he is talking about anthy, and thus dismisses him out of hand for being a violent idiot. and rightfully so. but also, he’s clearly not talking about anthy, even if he may think he is (or at least would claim that he was if questioned). and this statement is truly definitional to his relationship to touga, whom he resents, envies, and maybe even loathes, but whom he cannot seem to ever actually abandon.

even when he’s given the chance to start fresh, he returns to ohtori (and in this case you can say that it’s because he has nowhere to go, no family, the outside world is scary, ohtori is all he knows, he felt he had no other choice… but this was also true of anthy, and she eventually found the courage to leave! it’s very very hard, but it’s not impossible, which is the point). even as he vocally condemns akio’s system, he nonetheless participates in it, albeit reluctantly, for touga. he is freer, healthier, and kinder in wakaba’s dorm, but he is also deeply unhappy. which isn’t to say that he ever seems happy (at least, not after losing the rose bride), but his unhappiness in “wakaba flourishing” is that of depression, whereas his unhappiness around touga is that of resentment. he’s rightfully angry over constantly being mistreated, but at least he’s not lost. he has a purpose. even if it’s just the purpose of receiving abuse and putting up a futile fight, it’s a role he can play with the only person who has ever truly mattered to him. it’s all he knows; it’s the closest thing he has to real love. and so he stays.

nanami is in a very similar situation as saionji is. they both idealize a version of touga who never really existed, and cling to him despite his blatant mistreatment of them because he is the only person who has ever shown them true affection in their entire lives. he manipulates them, makes a laughingstock of them, facilitates and participates in sexually abusing them, but also makes sure that they are too dependent on him to leave them. nanami is even more blatant in illustrating this idea than saionji is, as for most of the show, she does not even resist against touga like saionji does, rather she purely venerates and worships him, to the point of parody. he is a terrible brother to her, but in such a way that makes it seem like he’s actually a good brother to an obnoxious, ridiculous sister. he is actively grooming her, and she has nowhere to run, because he has fashioned himself her entire world. she cannot fathom a world beyond his limits, her very own personal end of the world.

it’s somewhat unclear whether touga thinks that controlling saionji and nanami is necessary to keeping them around, or whether he only wants them around because he enjoys assuming control over others. it’s probably a mix of both. he probably does hold some affection for them, but cannot conceive of a way to keep them as close to him as he would like without exploiting them, because he believes that true friendship is for fools and true love is impossible. to touga, if every relationship must be imbalanced in some way, then he at least wants to be the one with the power in his deepest relationships, unaware (or at least, willfully ignorant) of the fact that by corrupting and perverting their dynamics, he is slowly tainting their naive childhood love and affection that drew them to him in the first place. so in touga’s case, he inverts saionji’s logic to refigure it as “love can only be facilitated through abuse, no one will truly show you love unless they have to (through exploitation).” it’s the logic of someone who sees the world through an almost 2D framework of abuse, exploitation, transaction, and control. it’s the logic of someone desperately sad and desperately cynical. nanami is very wise (and brave) to ultimately reject him/it, even though it, too, is all she knows.

tsuwabuki complicates the nanami/touga dynamic by aspiring to inhabit both their roles simultaneously, and so he allows himself to be subjected to nanami’s exploitation while simultaneously subjecting her to violence. he is happy to be abused by nanami not because he loves her per se, but because their abuse is mutual. shiori and juri have a similar dynamic, wherein they are both at fault in different ways, both attempt to avoid the other (physically and psychologically) and yet constantly collide like magnets. however, the i would argue that the abuse they face is largely systemic, and their behaviors are primarily a symptom of their internalized homophobia rather than overt malice (even though shiori may pretend otherwise). miki and kozue’s tension is also mutual. they both harm the other despite loving them deeply. because love is not a bandaid that revolves all pain, misunderstanding, and miscommunication. see: the utena and anthy ledge scene.

finally, i think this quote is actually most powerful when figuring it through the lens of utena, anthy, and akio. of course, akio has fostered a dependency in anthy much like touga has with nanami, and so she does not know how to leave him despite being in incredible pain at his hand. but she is not “happy,” as saionji puts it. she is the most miserable girl in the world. she doesn’t love akio as much as she loves the memory of him, the idea of dios (which is of course also true for nanami and saionji re: touga, arguably also true for juri re: shiori, miki re: kozue, etc etc) — but anthy needs akio. or at least, akio has convinced her that she does. he is end of the world, she cannot envision a life beyond his imposed limits.

but i actually find it more interesting with regards to utena and akio. i don’t think at any point in the show, utena ever actually has real, romantic feelings for akio. i think that she is terrified of him, and in her desperate feelings of trapped helplessness as he ensnares her, she convinces herself that those heart palpitations, startled movements, shocks and thrills she feels in her presence is the emotional response not of fear, but of affection. but we know that in anthy’s presence, she doesn’t feel afraid, she feels calm, relaxed, happy. being with anthy isn’t wildly exciting, constantly requiring rationalizations to explain away the dread and internal rejection she feels towards akio’s advances. being with anthy feels like coming home. and it’s why she is initially so happy to be accepted into anthy’s family, to have a big brother like akio, to live under their roof. in utena’s naive, hopeful mind, she is joining anthy’s family in the most innocent possible sense. and she endures it, the grooming, the abuse, the rape, the end of the world; she fights til her very last breath, because she is in love. no matter how [utena] may be abused (by akio), she’s always happy to be near the one she loves (anthy).

#remind me to write an analysis on the moniker ‘end of the world’ next #bc i only rly allude to that here #id in alt text #u #analysis #manalysis #saionji #utena #touga #anthy #akio #nanami #miki #kozue #juri #shiori #tsuwabuki #dios #utenanthy

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tanuki-kimono · 8 months

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Fantastic greens for this tsuwabuki (leopard plant, Japanese silverleaf) themed summer outfit.

The kimono has a kanzemizu (swirling water pattern, originated from Kanze school of Noh) ground, while the obi also presents kikyo (Chinese bellflower) over ryuusui (running water/stream).

#japan #fashion #kimono #obi #summer in japan #tsuwabuki #leopard plant #japanese silverleaf #kanze mizu #ryuusui #swriling water #running water #stream #kikyo #chinese bellflower #着物 #帯

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transmascutena · 2 months

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episode 6 has so many moments where the characters just casually drop the main themes of the show in conversation with each other. and, well, the whole episode is about the themes of princehood and siblinghood and what that actually looks like in ohtori. so that makes sense.

#i love this one. one of the deepest early episodes in the show #i forget if i've ever talked about the utena-tsuwabuki parallels in it but if not i'll get on that. they're very interesting #revolutionary girl utena #miki #nanami #utena #saionji #tsuwabuki #m

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utenaposter · 2 years

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merry pride time from the utena cast! they're at a pride parade together <3

#rgu #revolutionary girl utena #utena #sku #shoujo kakumei utena #pride #pride parade #arisugawa juri #tenjou utena #tsuwabuki #kozue kaoru #miki kaoru #touga kiryuu #kyouichi saionji #shadow girls #takatsuki shiori #wakaba #nanami kiryuu

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noeggets · 1 year

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i went to sleep on this show ngl i went back to finish it and (i didn’t yet but) it’s a good concept but i feel like it could do better by the plot team monkey is really funny i think team dog is my favorite but they are lowkey the funniest squad

#a #c #in the heart of kunoichi tsubaki #tsuwabuki #Hōsenka #Mokuren #sazanka #team monkey #not me posting about anime nobody even watches

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kurayamineko · 2 years

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biruesque · 6 months

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me and my buddies (cult of children who desperately need therapy that i, a sham therapist, cant give them)

#revolutionary girl utena #rgu #souji mikage #black rose arc #shiori takatsuki #wakaba shinohara #mitsuru tsuwabuki #kanae ohtori #keiko sonoda #kozue kaoru #biruesque art #i hope he looks horrible enough in this one #idk what i was going for tbh i just wanted to draw him (again)

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skywitchmaja · 1 year

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why is it every man in rgu acts like they’re in a competition for “Worst Person Alive?” by the time you get to akio saionji looks like gentleman smh

#mikki and uh. the blond elementary schooler are fine i guess #tsuwabaki?#tsuwabuki #i mean he’s literally a fourth grader so #rgu

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thegooblet · 25 days

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thought too hard about dynamics of abuse in rgu and blacked out

#rgu #revolutionary girl utena #utena tenjou #anthy himemiya #miki kaoru #juri arisugawa #nanami kiryuu #touga kiryuu #kyouichi saionji #akio ohtori #kozue kaoru #mitsuru tsuwabuki #sorry for all the character tags but these are the main people i was thinking about when writing this

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anonymous-gambito · 1 month

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Black Rose Arc duelists be like

#mitsuru tsuwabuki #revolutionary girl utena #shoujo kakumei utena #sku #rgu #black rose saga #black rose arc #utena sillypost #ambi utena post #utena meme

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saionjeans · 1 month

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thinking again about the touga wrapping saionji’s hand flashback framed as this moment of romantic tenderness but also I find it very difficult to read touga so charitably, especially when he then thanks saionji in a way that implies that he likes being able to hurt him??? which isn’t to say that I think touga utterly lacks all genuine feeling, but he obviously conceives of love through a logic of power and domination (due to his own formative abuse), and thus enjoys the ability to not only hurt saionji but also then tenderly patch up the wounds he caused as a way of making saionji vulnerable and thus dependent on him.

to help or care for another can be a genuine, tender moment of affection, but based on what we know of touga and the framework through which he has learned to view the world, even saionji’s cherished shining memory is permeated with this logic of power and control. touga appreciates saionji because saionji doesn’t seem to mind being made vulnerable to soothe touga’s highly fragile ego.

and what makes that scene so fascinating is the way it’s directly contrasted with touga actively manipulating saionji into hurting him in the present. touga admits that the wound is in fact minimal, but he makes a great show of being in tremendous pain, exaggerating the force with which saionji struck him. even when touga is ostensibly making himself vulnerable, a reversal of their formative kendo injury moment (sparring practice versus a “real” duel), he is still the one in control of saionji, playing up his pain to exacerbate saionji’s guilt, without revealing any real pain, certainly no pain true enough to render him actually vulnerable.

touga fosters a dependency complex with saionji and nanami just as akio does with anthy and utena by positioning himself as the ultimate victim even as he hurts and manipulates others to hold power over them. when nanami spends all day trying to catch a stray kitten to give to her brother who she knows loves cats, she is admonished for getting her dress dirty, at which point touga swoops in an comforts her, so that all nanami can remember is the comfort he provided her instead of the sacrifices she made for his love. when touga hurts saionji during kendo practice, he then tenderly wraps his hand so that all saionji can later recall is the intimacy of the act instead of who hurt him in the first place. when wild animals stampede across the school, tsuwabuki swoops in to recuse her until all she can remember is the boy who saved her from peril.

except, not really. tsuwabuki exists to emphasize the problematics of this logic, to signal to the viewer the exact mechanisms of manipulation touga is employing, and how creepy it seems even to nanami herself when these tactics are not employed with care and subtlety. even touga is nowhere near as subtle as akio, who fosters an environment of stifling conformity and then presents himself as a subversive rebel who is both powerful enough to excite but grounded enough to be a comforting presence.

and that is the entire function of the prince, is it not? to save princesses from the violence of a system they themselves have an active role in maintaining. to foster a dependency complex wherein they cannot envision a world beyond your imposed limits, and then scoff and dismiss and deride them when they struggle to escape. to blame the victim for being victimized by a victim who was, once, victimized in turn. to sit back to back on a stationary bicycle — cycling in place as the sun goes down.

#u #analysis #manalysis #touga #saionji #nanami #akio #tsuwabuki #it’s funny because if you defined ‘favorite character’ by ‘character you hold the most affection for’#touga would probably be at the very bottom of the list alongside like. ruka #but in terms of characters I find most COMPELLING #he’s honestly up there right next to nanami and anthy #he and tsuwabuki and akio are just three sides of the same hamantaschen (topical reference)#some just have more tact and more practice than others!!

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tanuki-kimono · 9 months

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Serene deep greens for this outfit, featuring a tsuwabuki (leopard plant, Japanese silverleaf) kimono, paired with a perfectly matching embroidered azami (thistle) obi

#japan #fashion #obi #summer in japan #tsuwabuki #Japanese silverleaf #leopard plant #azami #thistle #着物 #帯

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transmascutena · 6 days

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