I never drew my fav rgu ch before. So here she is.

when i wake up remind me to make a post about the lack of blood in utena and what it means to have a world where suffering can only be beautiful or hidden

oh i should probably finish this thought lmfao. anyway of course there r the genre limitations of a shojo not being expected to show much blood, and of course the fact that the wounds caused in the duels are largely spiritual rather than physical. but there’s also something about how the entire world theyre inhabiting has a false quality to it: it’s a stage, an endless and eternal play where akio is the director. because the characters operate inside akio’s construction, wounds are only allowed to be as “real” as anything can be in this world. there’s no true bloodshed in a stage play after all; the characters need to be able to get up and perform again the next night.

i also think it signifies akio’s perpetual immaturity in its unwillingness to deal directly with difficult subjects. akio, as much as any of the other characters, is trapped at the school, perpetually unable to “graduate” and thus deal directly with the real world.

instead, bloodshed is transferred to the rose petals. losing your rose in the duel indicates an erosion of self, a loss of innocence, and anthy’s role as the gardener indicates her complicity in the violence of the duel games. is made even clear by the moments of real violence that are obscured by the endless spinning roses and reinforced in adolescence of utena when we see the dueling grounds now covered in a field of red roses, signifying the “bloodshed” that has occurred across countless duels.

oh i guess i should also add in contrast to the performative, beautiful violence of watching roses blow away on the breeze is the very real violence hidden at the center of the story: anthy, trapped by hundreds of swords piercing her, rendering her unable to move. violence against anthy is the mechanism that keeps the whole performance spinning, so that duels can be about flowers

Fencing club trio

Revolutionary Girl Utena - Chiho Saito

"LA FILLETTE RÉVOLUTIONNAIRE"

🌹Seconda Illustrazione del Capitolo I ("La Sposa della Rosa")

"Una lite tra innamorati?"

_____________________________

🌹Second illustration of Chapter 1 ("The Rose Bride")

"Is it a lovers' quarrel?"

My version of an illustrated novel about Utena's story by Chicho Saitō and Be-papas

"true love is possible

only in the next world"

symbols and similarities

revolutionary girl utena designs | the shadow girls

9 lives......right?

Juri Arisugawa - Utena, la fillette révolutionnaire

I might repost later because, as of now, it won't appear under the corresponding tags

i wanted to draw utenanthy w their og hair colors