Symbolisms Behind "Revolutionary Girl Utena".

“The Ohtori Academy. It's like a beautiful, prison isn't it? Students obey insignificant rules and yet they are surrounded by luxury. A cage worthy of a king. It's easy to forget the real world, the one that awaits us just behind the prison's gates.”

      -- Akio Ohtori

     Revolutionary Girl Utena is, at simple glance, a Japanese animation about Utena Tenjou; a tomboyish teenage girl who after meeting a prince as a child, swore to become a prince herself (in manner of dressing and personality) in order to save princesses. Guided by his promise to meet again using a ring he gave her, she arrived at Ohtori Academy where she meets a girl named Anthy Himemiya who is involved in an abusive relationship. Utena fights in Anthy's behalf and gets pulled into a series of sword duels against the members of the student council, who are also involved in this dueling game. Anthy, known as the “Rose Bride”, becomes engaged to the winner of each duel and is thought to be the key of “bringing the world revolution” since she is said to be capable of granting any wish when the game is defeated; so the champion of the last duel gets challenged constantly.
     This story about a “prince” saving a princess is told in its own unique way using elaborate metaphysical, surreal and allegorical symbolisms. However, all of these elements combined explain implicitly that this story is not just about a mere duel championship. Revolutionary Girl Utena is really about adolescence, it's scars and the process that every teenager must go through in order to mature.

     One of the biggest (and yet hardest to find) metaphysical symbols, is the high school campus itself. For instance, in the television series, the school represents that stage of the immature teenager who thinks he or she can live in his or her comfort zone; whether it is a psychological self-defense mechanism or an actual physical place that the teenager is scared to leave. In Anthy's case, for example, once she becomes conscious the awful position she's in by witnessing Utena's sacrifice, she decides not to continue being the Rose Bride, her comfort zone, any longer; leaving everything behind and implicitly telling us she does not have the need to be part of these duels any longer (Ep. 39); whereas in the movie, the school is physically her comfort zone. This symbolism is taken to another point of view throughout the film: the walls, stairs and blackboards move constantly; representing Utena's confusion or state of mind in a current situation. However, once she decides she does not want to dwell any longer in her self-pity and decides to take Anthy with her to “the outside world”, the campus' walls stop moving and become firm. In the movie, “the outside world” is a metaphysical metaphor of “maturity”; school life is considered immaturity and fantasies, compared to “the real world”.

     A great example of the use of allegorical metaphors in the television series, happens with Nanami Kiryuu, the most childish and immature character as she goes through her menarche during the series. This is represented in such a subtle way that this goes unnoticed until the episode is seen at least two times. One day, Nanami wakes up noticing she has lain an egg and, this being anything but normal, keeps it a secret. As the episode progresses, she suspects she may be the last person on campus to actually lay an egg. Embarrassed, she seeks the advice of the beautiful and wise Juri Arisugawa, the president of the fencing club. Hilarity ensues when Nanami is talking to her about an “egg” and Juri about a “ball” that she has had since she was younger which got bigger and heavier as she got older. Nanami thinks Juri is very experienced and feeling humiliated that it has taken her so long to lay an egg, runs away. Eventually, we realize it's a huge misunderstanding as we are shown that Juri was referring to a bowling ball. At the end of the episode, Nanami wakes up thinking it was all a dream, but when she looks under her covers, we see that very same egg, only broken.

     Akio Ohtori, Anthy's older brother and acting headmaster by marriage of Ohtori high school is the hugest allegorical symbol yet. He represents the adult world and all its components: lust, money, power, greed, politics, corruption and much more; he is the devil himself. Akio is the only character who physically resembles an adult, meaning, his dreams and nobility have been corrupted and perverted by power. He seduces Utena (and everyone else in the story for that matter) to do as he pleases, and just like irony and consequence should have it, uses it against her. He also enslaves his own sister for his very dark and sinister purposes.

     The movie offers more surreal metaphors than its counterpart, one of these examples is the beautiful dance scene between Utena and Anthy. In the film, these girls apparently switch personalities intermittently, creating some conflict that they need to solve in order to move on. This happens when they decide to get to know each other by dancing on the flooded rose garden. Not only the visual elements of this scene are breathtaking, but the fact that their reflection on water is different from what they really look like, makes you think if that is what they are to become. Or better yet: when the scene is turned upside down and their reflections have now become the real persons, tells you Utena's insecurities are being replaced by her true feelings about herself; and both Anthy and Utena are speaking now with their hearts.

     Also in the film, Utena has managed to overcome the majority of her obstacles except one. Enter Touga Kiryuu. Utena's (unrequited) love interest and ex-boyfriend who no one knows and no one can see but her alone. She harbors resentment towards him and it is incredibly hard for her to get over him as she feels abandoned unjustly by him. Eventually, she feels brave enough to confront him and we realize that Touga is dead and is a figment of her imagination. Soon we learn that he drowned when she was younger as he tried to save a little girl in a river. As soon as Utena comes to peace with this and is able to say her goodbyes to him, she is ready and confident to bring forth revolution and save Anthy, taking her in her ride to “the outside world.”

     There are so many symbolisms in both the movie and the television series that it is impossible to explain them clearly and see how important they are, given the fact that both animations are a metaphor inside a metaphor that, at the same time, is also inside another metaphor.
     Everything becomes a symbol in Revolutionary Girl Utena: colors, clothing, props, sounds, background music and the epic choruses that take part before every duel just to name a few. However, no matter how you look at it, once you get past the “where the creators on acid when they wrote this” phase, you can witness that the story is much deeper than it says it is, realize how great these animations are; and witness that apocalyptic battle of adolescence portrayed beautifully with all kinds of symbolisms. Or even better: you are left with a feeling that, when you conquer your adolescence, victory, does in fact, feels like you have just obtained revolution.

--------- 

Copyright © 2010, MadderSky.

My Experience with Online Role Playing.

        Two years ago, I re-discovered an online Japanese animation community that took place in a specific chat room. However, the users did not behave like in a typical chat room; their conversations were intelligent, there was a topic and even when there were subtopics, they were still organized despite the fact there were many ongoing, apparently random conversations. However, something caught my attention: some phrases were either between asterisks or dashes and were (mostly) narrated in third person. I was no stranger to that system; I'd seen it before and used in on several sporadic occasions; but these were constructed in a more sophisticated and complex way. After a moment of careful observation, I realized: they were role-playing. After becoming an active member of this community, I became convinced that role playing1 can help you develop creativity and writing skills by practicing character creation and development, by stating actions and dialogues. However, there is a very dangerous side to this activity.

        Role-playing is a set of interactions between two or more people who interpret the role of an anime2, manga3, video-game or movie character using a system of dialogue and actions, which are distinguished by being in between asterisks and dashes. It was very intriguing to me because I read wonderful interpretations faithful to the character interacting with another; some of them, where fighting. I was immediately captured by this small cyber-world and, as I got to know it more, I discovered there was more to it that meets the eye.

        There are three types of role-playing: Social role-play, which is based on characters getting to know each other or doing mundane things; where characters merely interact in general, pacifist ways to kill time. Combat role-play is where characters fight in one of many styles which have their own set of rules and adult role-play (or hentai4), where it's pretty obvious what they do.
 
        Adopting a character to interpret can be done in two ways: by using a character that already exists from a video game or anime series for instance, or you can make one of your own. If you chose to use an existing one, it is expected to be faithful to his or her personality when interpreting the character; and use his or her exact same virtues and flaws. However, if you chose to interpret a character of your own, you can develop the character as much as you want and even add special abilities; however, God-mode5 is never well seen.

        One benefit that this type of role playing-games have is that it helps you develop creativity and writing skills. When creating a character, you must make note of how the character looks and thinks like, so when you are required to introduce it, you must detail what the character looks like, his or her personality, and character background. All these things must be taken into consideration when making your moves. Depending on the atmosphere of the scene, other characters playing, one is expected a certain degree of description: from simple to whole paragraphs.

        Non-dialogue descriptions and actions always are in between symbols. Asterisks and dashes are generally (even internationally) recognized and used as standard. Again, depending on gaming conditions, the length of description can vary. It can go from simple, one line actions using plain narrative to beautifully poetic written paragraphs. One can be as extensive as desired, but in this community the more the better, and good grammar and spelling is a sign of quality, status and professionalism; so most players develop an honest interest in learning new vocabulary and spelling.
 
        However, there are dangers that must always be taken into consideration which can affect the player tremendously. It was not long before I noticed that some, if not the vast majority, have ill will towards other players, high egos and lie. For instance, most of the times “pros” look down on those whose writing abilities are not good enough to be considered decent, which often leads to resentment. Normally, “pros” are elite people who have really high egos and think themselves better than the rest. They take the game quite personally, they are also very proud of their writing skills, and their influence on the rules that were accepted on combat RPGs. Generally more popular than the rest, they tend to only socialize with their “equals” or peers; they believe all there is to role playing is only combat, and look down on social and adult; it's quite hard to get along with them if they don't accept you first. Most of these players like to lie, cheat and abuse the trust of other more naive players. It is important to note that not all of them behave this way; there are respected players who don't have this kind of prejudice. “Noobs”, on the other hand, are quite friendly and easy-going; however their writing skills are not that developed, not to mention their descriptive abilities. They abuse the use of smileys and mix (bad) Japanese grammar with spelling.
        Another danger is that it's quite easier to lie and pass as someone else online. It is easy to cheat and fool the naive and innocent. Although there are some ways to try to find out who really is the user they are talking to, these methods tend to be somewhat inaccurate. The primal way of communicating is via Instant Messaging services, like MSN, so it's quite easy to have a lot of accounts and pose as someone else. Throughout my time spent in this community, I learned it is possible to make alliances, develop friendships and even romance. This is when the game can become something even more complex and dangerous. It is common practice for two players to have a relationship, leaving aside character use. However, the riskiness of being subject to lies is still there. Most of the users, whether “pros” or “noobs” tend to cheat, show off how they have more than one partner or using “love” as a tool for avenging others or hurt pride on earlier occasions. Liking someone or being in love with another player regularly used against each other; they tend to abuse and blackmail the other to do certain kind of things, whether in an RPG session or more dangerous ways, for example, over a microphone and web-cams that later can and will be used against them. Like any other relationship, it is important to get to know the other person and always apply common sense.
 
        In conclusion, even though Online Role-Playing can be dangerous if you believe everything and everyone without practicing common sense, you need to keep in mind that it is still a game, though a more complex and interactive one due to its nature. If you decide to engage in a more personal level, you need to make sure the other party is aware of it as well. However, if this activity is carried out with trustworthy friends, it can be a really wonderful experience since you can develop excellent writing skills and creativity as well as long-lasting friendships in other parts of your city, country or any other part of the world.

1 For the purpose of this essay, “role-playing” will only refer to this particular style. Massive Multi-player Online Role Playing Games and RPG video games will not be considered nor table-type RPGs.
2 Anime: A term for which “Japanese animation” is known.
3 Manga: Japanese comic books.
4 The word "hentai" has a negative connotation to the Japanese and is commonly used to mean "sexually perverted".
5 A character that is invincible; perfect in every single way.

Copyright © 2010, MadderSky.  16/04/2010