Revolutionary Girl Utena/Fridge

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Fridge Brilliance

  • Due to their Bait and Switch tendencies, I never really paid much attention to the opening or closing credits of Revolutionary Girl Utena-- until the final arc of the show, when we discover that Akio used to be Dios... and is boinking his sister Anthy. Suddenly, the slightly-unsettling shot in the closing credits of Anthy wrapping herself around the Prince in a possessive and sexual way takes on a good deal more significance. Especially when you consider that they were foreshadowing this since the very first episode. -- JadedLady
    • At first I thought that Anthy having a lot of pets and taking care of animals was just a hilarious character quirk. But after seeing understanding her character, it took a sinister edge as enjoying the company of animals rather than the company of people... --User:P 0 W 4 H-L 4 D 33
    • After watching The Movie with a friend and thus being able to bounce ideas off of him, a lot of the seemingly crack-induced symbolism suddenly started to make so much more sense. Just to give one example, look at the scene where the girls are scrubbing down the empty swimming pool. It seems like a completely random location, and Anthy even says something to the effect of "it's only normal to get wet at a pool" despite the fact that no one is swimming, but remember that this is one of the few places in the movie where Utena meets Touga. Think about it. If you had drowned while rescuing a young girl from the same fate, would you want to be near a large amount of water while more girls, including your ex, who has been suppressing the memory of watching you die, were nearby? For bonus points, the scene even cuts away with the image of water filling up the screen as a lone shoe floats upward... --User:Roses Spindle
    • At first I disliked the "Animals hate Namami" episodes and found them rather pointless. Then I understood WHY animals hate her: It was all Anthy's doing as a revenge. Calling her pets "Nanami" was probably some kind of magic. It can also be seen as karma: She drowned a kitten when she was very young, and now mother nature is out to get her.
    • When I began watching the series, I thought the theme song was about Utena learning to be a prince through protecting Anthy, what with all the scenes of her looking into Anthy's eyes, fighting for her, and the lyrics ("I will find out who I am, the value of being me"), not to mention that all the shots of them being pulled apart seemed to be foreshadowing a Bittersweet Ending. Then came the finale, and I realized that the song is from Anthy and about Utena, and the legacy she passed on to her; "take my revolution" referring to leaving Ohtori to find Utena, like how Utena became a Prince to save younger Anthy and everything she learned from watching the duels. - User:Ms Devin 92
      • And one more, but this is a small one. In Keiko's Black Rose episode, there are some overt Cinderella references made, with the other members of the Girl Posse as her wicked stepsisters and Nanami as the stepmother keeping Keiko and her prince apart. Then I re-watched the duel and realized that Keiko's umbrella was orange...like a pumpkin!
      • The show is filled with Fridge Brilliance. Who are the girls in a stereotypical fairy tale? Damsels or witches. Anthy ends up playing both roles, representing her status as a Fallen Hero and Dios counterpart. That's why everyone was upset at Utena becoming a prince, she was defying the tropes to a fairy tale that Akio wrote. The whole story works on fairy tale logic because a fairy tale character wrote it.
  • This is possibly my favorite piece of Fridge Brilliance in the show: after every duel in the series, bells ring to signify Utena's victory. In the last episode, the bells ring only after Anthy walks out of Ohtori and saves herself.
  • The ending of SKU also casts a reflection on the ending of the other two arcs: in the Black Rose arc, with Mikage leaving Ohtori and being erased from everyone's minds, and in the Student Council arc, with a "helpless damsel" fighting for and eventually saving themselves.
  • In the first recap episode, most first-time viewers assume that the shadowy figure Akio is talking to is Dios -- or the spirit of him, at the very least. If you pay very close attention, though, you can see Anthy's silhouette as they walk out of the planetarium at the very end. And then when Utena asks where she was, Anthy smiles and doesn't answer.
  • When Utena duels Akio, the castle begins to crumble when Utena brandishes her sword and tells Akio she’ll become a prince. Used to anime conventions, I first assumed that the castle was breaking down due to the power of Utena’s convictions, if not her words. But then the camera shifts subtly to Anthy, who looks totally lost, and it becomes clear that it’s because of Anthy’s perceptions being completely thrown about.
  • In the very first episode, Saionji tells Utena to think of the castle as a mirage, a trick of the light. Utena dismisses him, but in the end, that’s ‘’exactly’’ what the castle ends up being all along. Also, the viewer is disinclined to believe Saionji about the love letter Wakaba gave him –- Utena accuses him of pinning it up, and he claims that he didn’t. Since he comes across as a total jerk, no-one assumes he was telling the truth, but in retrospect, it makes perfect sense for Anthy to have been the one who pinned it up instead.
  • Why is Anthy scared of crowds? If you know how she became the Rose Bride, now you also know why she was so terrified during the champagne and dissolving dress incident.
  • When I watched the movie, I was surprised to see Utena with short hair when not dueling, then I thought this was made to make her look like a man, but then I noticed her hairstyle... She has the same hairstyle as Tokiko (Mamiya's sister), and Mikage DID call Utena "Tokiko" during their duel! It wasn't only to raise her Bifauxnen status, it also counts as Genius Bonus.
  • Why do they find Akio's body right after Utena's duel with Juri in the movie? Juri's nickname on campus is apparently "The Prince," and by defeating her, Utena has effectively killed the prince of Ohtori.
  • In the movie, during his first scene with Shiori, the first thing we see of Touga is when he's sitting on a chair under a sheet that falls off him. What else tends to be kept under sheets? Corpses.

Fridge Horror

  • In the first episode, Utena recognizes Dios's scent on the Rose Bride. Later, we find out that Dios became the Magnificent Bastard Akio and has been forcing himself on his sister, Anthy. It only gets worse when Akio, after having seduced Utena, comments the three of them are like family and AFFFGH.
    • Oh, and there's also the fact that Akio, who is Really Seven Hundred Years Old, is posing as the principal of a high school where he frequently coerces the students into sex in the back of his Cool Car...while he's driving. He even slept with three students on-screen and was engaged to one of them (whom he had POISONED)!
  • Utena and Anthy switch bodies in one episode. The switch lasts for at least a couple of days, if not a week. And once a week Anthy goes to visit her brother... Therefore, it's highly likely that Akio got a taste of Utena far earlier than even she thought. And without her consent.
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