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First of all, if you haven't seen the Utena movie, this will make absolutely no sense at all.
I suggest you watch it a few times first before trying to figure it out. I had to watch the
movie (again) and write down all the shadow girls' lines. Sometimes I get mixed up about
the voices and which is E-ko and which is F-ko, but I basically have everything here.
I also changed a few lines. "Kashira, kashira, dozonai kashira!!" Has been translated
as "I wonder, I wonder, do you know what I wonder," By The Utena Encyclopedia, so I have
that instead of the abominable "Cap'n, Cap'n!"
Secondly, I changed "headmaster" to "chairman" to coincide with the anime. There might be
a couple of other things, but they're pretty minor.
The shadow girls' dialogue is always preceeded by "F-ko:" or "E-ko:" etc. Description of
what is happening in the movie is in italics. My commentary is in normal text.
Okay, so now I present you with... the shadow analysis of the Utena Movie!
E-ko: Hi, everyone!
F-ko: If you can hear us, listen to our voices!
E-ko: We are the Ohtori Academy Broadcast Club duo, E-ko -
F-ko: And F-ko.
Both: Bringing you the noon-hour school show.
If you will remember, in the infamous clip show episode (where Akio finally gets into
Utena's.... shorts), A-ko and B-ko have a radio show. The radio show allows for
running commentary, as opposed to one 30-second play per episode. Fitting for a movie.
E-ko: It turned out to be a cool, beautiful day today. If you brought your lunch, you
can enjoy it outside.
F-ko: You shouldn't try that. You'll be inviting a capricious passing rain.
E-ko: Wait a minute. The weather report never said anything about that.
F-ko: The rain in my heart is sure to cloud the sky above.
E-ko: Did you get dumped again?
F-ko: What about me do you not like?
In Utena's flashback scenes later on, we see her sitting on a park bench next to Touga.
It's sunny, they're enjoying themselves, and quite probably having their lunch outside.
However, it's precisely because they were sitting outside that the "capricious passing
rain" came about. Touga jumped into the lake to save Juri, and drowned. Utena was "dumped",
and now no matter how sunny it is, she feels depressed.
E-ko: So, everyone... If you're going to scribble mischief on your boyfriend's back while
he's napping, make sure he doesn't have swimming class the next day.
Heh. Later in the movie, Shiori does this very thing to Touga. I suppose Touga did have
"swimming class".... he drowned. The little thing she's doodling on his back? That's
another story.
E-ko: I've got a big scoop! There's a mondo scandalous painting in the back of the
chairman's room. This is controversy!
F-ko: Oh, but I've obtained an even more controversial videotape! Now, this is a real
scandalous tape! Here we go!
(Nanami the Cow tape)
This tape is absurd, and I honestly believe it is just one of those weird Utena-esque
humor things, completely meaningless in its comedy. That, and an excuse to cameo Nanami
and Chuchu.
E-ko: Is this really your scandalous videotape?
F-ko: My mistake. And now for the real scandalous videotape! Here we go!
(Akio tape)
E-ko: Oh, it's acting chairman Akio. This must be back when he just got engaged to the
headmaster's daughter.
F-ko: He's such a textbook example of a Prince.
E-ko: So young, yet competent and kind and has good looks.
(Akio replies to their comments)
F-ko: Is this really a videotape?
Akio replying during the videotape adds another piece to the timeless, surreal atmosphere
that is Ohtori Academy. The videotape could have been made a years ago, or it could be
broadcast live... we don't know.
E-ko: A good-looking guy goes well with a nice car.
Cars, in Utena, nearly always represent control (in the case of the Akio car, control
by means of sex. However, it seems that darling Akio has lost the keys). Anyway, a true
prince is always in control. Of course, because Akio has lost the keys, he is not
truly in control, and is not a true prince.
E-ko: That's right, I heard Akio takes care of his sister. They truly are close as brother
and sister.
F-ko: But the scandal starts-starts-starts here.
(Skipping record)
F-ko: The surprise secret of the Rose Bride is-is-is
SusPENSE! And here we see Akio tossing something into Anthy's drink... to the Utena fan,
it is now quite apparent that he is drugging her so he can have his way with her while
she's asleep. But why? In the anime, he never needed sedative to seduce his sister. :P
The answer? That's a whole other essay.
C-ko: Extra, extra, extra!!
All 3: I wonder, I wonder, do you know what I wonder?
E-ko: Is it the chairman?
F-ko: It's the chairman.
C-ko: Yes, it's the chairman.
E-ko: We were wondering where you were.
F-ko: And it turns out you've been six feet under.
C-ko: So we wonder how you died.
E-ko: Someone buried you, after all.
F-ko: Then who's the one who did this thing?
All 3: I wonder, I wonder, do you know what I wonder?
Yep, Anthy killed him. Or, as we find out later, she didn't REALLY kill him... he killed
himself. However, Anthy feels so guilty over his death that she might as well have been
the one who killed him. She buried him in the rose garden, the center of Ohtori Academy.
The grave of Akio is the center of Anthy's world.
(Shiori shows everyone the scandalous videotape)
F-ko: Hey, it's the scandalous video I found! When did she get it?
Shiori must really, really despise Anthy. She goes waaaay out of her way to give Anthy
a hard time.
(A lot of time passes, and now we're at the car chase. This entire segment is the shadow
girls' commentary on the events in the race)
E-ko: Hi, everyone. Are you all cruising? This is E-ko -
F-ko: And F-ko's -
Both: Live radio coverage!
Shadows: Road map display on main screen
Shadows: Chaser satellite system filter blue; filter amber, both A-OK.
Shadows: Engage racing mode.
E-ko: Today's main event is about to start!
F-ko: Currently, Anthy Himemiya is in the lead all by herself.
E-ko: Of course, there's only one car, so naturally it's in the lead.
F-ko: You're not supposed to say that.
In a nutshell, the race scene is all a metaphor for Anthy's battle to get past her own
personal demons to "break the world's shell" and "emerge from her coffin." The race
scene at the end of the movie is equivalent to Utena's final duel with Akio - only this
time, Anthy is in control.
When you first make the decision to move on with your life after a tragedy, the road is
clear. You've made the first big step in deciding to get into the car in the first place.
You can see where you will advance. It won't stay that way for long, though.
C-ko: Extra, extra, a black car is gaining from behind!
(Shiori the bitch-mobile approaches)
F-ko: She's fast!
E-ko: She plays rough.
F-ko: Oh, well, the black one just crashed.
E-ko: Anthy Himemiya leads all by herself again!
Of course, there will be some who will do anything they can to stop you.
Shiori's decision to turn into a car was not prompted by a desire to change herself. It
was prompted by a desire to make Anthy's life a misery - therefore, Shiori won't get very
far down the revolution highway. It doesn't take much to take her out of the running.
(The race continues. Suddenly, a number of black cars emerge from behind the Utena car)
E-ko: What's going on? The black cars are increasing in number?
F-ko: You know that bad things come in packs.
E-ko: They really are increasing in number!
F-ko: They're like the devil!
E-ko: I've never seen a swarm this large.
F-ko: Where did they come from?
The black cars are all the little misgivings and doubts that prevent Anthy from leaving
behind her past.
C-ko: Hello, hello, did you enter a tunnel?
C-ko: Extra, they went into a tunnel so we can't transmit to them for a while!
E-ko: Well, excuse me!
Of course there will be times when if feels like there is no light ahead, no hope, and
you'll always be depressed. This is the tunnel, the place where the little black cars
are the most dangerous.
The MASSIVE black thing is a big issue, though.
(Utena car goes through the tunnel, runs into trouble, but a car with Miki, Juri, and
Saionji helps them out)
F-ko: We have reception again.
E-ko: We can finally resume our broadcast.
F-ko: What do you know... it looks like the problem was taken care of while we were out.
E-ko: It looks like friendship saved the day.
...Which proves that there are something things that you can't do alone. Friends will be
there to help you along the way - even if you didn't think they were your friends before.
E-ko: Good work, you should reach the exit soon.
E-ko: Yes, not that we've seen in ourselves, but it should be near.
F-ko: Wait, we have a visual of something.
E-ko: What is this? A castle?
F-ko: Is this the landmark for the exit?
The castle in the sky: This is the goal throughout much of the anime. Is the castle of
eternity truly what we have been seeking all this time?
E-ko: It's a trap! That's not the exit! Run!
The answer is: No. The castle of eternity has always been an escape, the same illusory
palace where "The prince and the princess can live happily forever, and ever, and ever"
that Akio offered to Utena near the end of the anime. In the movie manga, Utena briefly
experienced this eternity with Touga. But the castle of eternity is not true life; it is
merely an endless repetition of the past where everything that you love still lives and
never changes. The castle of eternity is a trap, preventing those trapped inside their
coffins from accessing the real world.
E-ko: You'll see a bypass to the left in a kilometer.
F-ko: Go down there and come back to our world!
Take the easy way out! Go back into your circle of pain... where you can continue to be
a living corpse.
(Anthy says that the exit is beyond the castle)
The only way to escape is to get past the castle, to reject the false beauty of eternity.
F-ko: Eeh?
F-ko: What gives you that idea?
C-ko: Extra! Now scanning the inside of the obstacle ahead!
C-ko: There are countless tires of roaming racers.
C-ko: It seems to be the tires are there to crush any intruders from the outside.
E-ko: There's no way to get through there.
The tires are Anthy's defenses. They are what keeps the world at bay and away from her
pain. They crush anyone who tries to get close to her. This is why someone from the outside
world could never help Anthy... only Utena, who experienced the same pain, and help her
to emerge from the inside out.
F-ko: They sure have a nice job.
C-ko: Extra, extra, the exit is near! Commencing countdown.
(C-ko counts down from twenty to 1)
Shadows: Yeeeeeaaaaaahh!
E-ko&F-ko: They made it!
(The Ohtori campus is flooded with a shower of rose petals. The shadow girls' station is
now filled with straw dolls. Where F-ko was sitting is a straw doll with the nametag
"Himemiya Anthy", and where E-ko was sitting is a doll with the tag "Tenjou Utena".)
In truth, the shadow girls were the alter-egos of Anthy and Utena. If you remember back to
the commentary, nearly everything the shadow girls said reflected the hopelessness of the
situation. "The black cars are increasing in number!" "Turn back!" "There's no way to
get through!" Where Utena and Anthy were determined (for the most part) to escape, there
was still this voice inside each of their minds that told them it was too hard and it
couldn't be done.
E-ko: That's right, the outside world has no roads.
F-ko: But you can always build new roads.
THIS, ladies and gentlemen, is the theme of Adolescence Mokushiroku: You can stick inside
your cycle of pain and remorse forever, or you can emerge from your shell and make your
own path.
Think about the Utena anime for a moment - Utena is "following the path of the duelist" -
"the path has been prepared for her". She is not in control of her own destiny.
But once she chooses to revolutionize the world, all the roads disappear. Nobody is telling
her where she should go.
It may be new, and it may be scary, but Utena can make new roads now. She can make her own
decisions now, without being controlled by her past, locked in the illusions of Ohtori.
The movie merely switches roles - Anthy is now the one revolutionizing the world, with
Utena as the vehicle that helps her to freedom.
At any rate, shadow girls' final lines after it is revealed that they are, in fact,
seperate aspects of Utena and Anthy, suggest a couple of things:
1) That those aspects are still alive in Utena and Anthy - just because Anthy has emerged
from her shell, it doesn't mean that she will suddenly feel nothing over Akio's passing.
2) The shadow girls are actually seperate entities.
Who knows? These questionable elements are what makes Utena so fun. As the shadow girls
would say, "It's an eternal mystery!"
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