Episode 13: Tracing a Path

A strange man comments on the seven duels Utena has fought.

This is a summary of episode 13 of the anime series Revolutionary Girl Utena.  You are welcome to link to it, but not to repost it elsewhere.  For more information, and other episode summaries, see the index.

Recap episode.  A man we haven't seen before - could he be End of the World?  - walks into the middle of the duelling arena.  He's got dark skin and pale purple hair, like the prince in Utena's memories (notwithstanding that Kiryuu Touga, with his pale skin and red hair, seems to have been the actual person from the "prince" incident in Utena's past).  Then we see this same man confronting another man, also with dark skin and pale purple hair, who seems to be catatonic, sitting on a sort of globe in a huge dark room.  This one seems to really be the prince; he's got the same white uniform we see in the flashbacks of Utena's fairy-tale memory.  He's also the same figure who appears when she is possessed by the Power of Dios.

The first man starts talking about the seven duels Utena has fought so far, saying that he hopes Utena's performance will bring the catatonic man some hope and stir his memories.  The duels seem to be associated with stained-glass windows in the colour of Utena's opponents' hair, and are named with French words.

The first one was against Saionji - he has green hair, the window is green, and the duel was named "amitié" (friendship).

The second one was against Saionji again - another green window, and the duel was named "choix" (choice).

The third duel was against Miki - he has blue hair, the window is blue, and the duel was named "raison" (reason).

The fourth duel was against Jury - she has orange hair, though the window is more reddish, and the duel was named "amour" (romantic love).

The fifth duel was against Nanami - with yellow hair and a yellow window, and the duel was named "adoration" (adoration).

The last two duels were both against Touga - who has red hair.  The windows are both red, and the duels are named "conviction" (conviction) and "soi" (self).  There's very little description offered on these two; the others got summaries, along with opaque comments about hoping that the prince will be stirred by them, but the last two duels are mentioned only in passing.

The stranger finishes by saying he hopes that Utena will make it to the final duel, the one called "revolution" - but before she does that, she'll have many other battles to fight.  The episode closes with a scene of Himemiya returning to the dorm, not telling Utena where she'd been, and finally, a mysterious shot of a black rose floating in a tank of glowing blue liquid, and a black rose signet ring.

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