Utena meets her fate.
This is a summary of episode 39 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.
Himemiya has ended the duel between Utena and Akio by stabbing Utena in the back. As she lays Utena on the floor to die, Himemiya comments that Utena reminds her of Dios, the prince she loved - but Utena can't take his place because she's a girl. Meanwhile, Saionji is about to take off his rose ring, and Touga stops him, saying that the game isn't over; Utena is representing them all as Duellists, and they must remain Duellists until the end.
Standing over Utena's body, Akio and Himemiya briefly discuss their cruel fate. Although she's hesitant to do it, Himemiya gives Akio the sword, and he carries it along the red carpet, which leads off the edge of the arena, forming a bridge out into space, to the "Rose Portal" of double stone doors held closed by twining rose plants. Himemiya takes a few steps as if to follow him; Utena clutches at her skirt and tries to speak, but can only gasp out "Hi...me...". Himemiya thanks Utena for having given her a taste of true friendship, then vanishes out of her clothes again; and far below, a triangular pattern of flashing lights starts climbing toward the arena. Akio announces that the million swords that shine with human hatred are attracted to the Prince's sword.
The swords fly up past Akio and orbit in a ring centred on Himemiya who is floating nude in mid-air above the arena. Then, one by one and faster and faster, they begin flying at her, piercing every part of her body. Soon there's very little visible of her except the eyes, from which we see that somehow she's still alive and suffering despite being a pincushion of swords. Utena, though mortally wounded herself, struggles on her elbows toward Himemiya, calling her name. Meanwhile, Akio hacks with the sword at the roses binding the Portal.
The sword breaks, and Akio tosses it away. Utena somehow makes it to her feet and stumbles down the carpet towards him. She pushes past, crawls to the doors, and pulls at the roses with her fingers. Akio sits back and relaxes, making discouraging comments and sucking juice through a straw. [One of very few plot-relevant comments in the director's commentary on the DVD is that Akio's sucking the juice is supposed to represent sucking away Utena's life force.]
Utena makes some kind of breakthrough on opening the doors, and the swords that were attacking Himemiya suddenly freeze motionless. The Rose Portal changes, too, and now Utena is instead trying to pull open a coffin like the one she'd hidden in in the past. Akio cautions her to stop, saying "Don't you know what will happen?", but it's too late. Himemiya has vanishes, and the swords are orbiting wildly again. Utena pulls the coffin door further open. Himemiya Anthy is far below on the inside, naked, begging her to go away before the swords do their thing. But Utena talks her into reaching out, and their hands meet for an instant. Then everything falls apart. Himemiya Anthy drops into the clouds, Utena realizes that in the end, she couldn't be a prince after all. "Forgive me... forgive me, Anthy..." The swords home in on her, and she is annihilated. Then they run wild throughout the duelling arena, smashing it to bits.
A montage of scenes of school life reveals that Utena has disappeared from the school. Nobody really knows where she went, and they're rapidly forgetting that she ever existed. Miki is training Tsuwabuki to use a stopwatch; Nanami is having a tea party; Wakaba has a new best friend; and so on. Akio tells Himemiya that now Utena has failed, they're going to have to start over from the beginning. He's got a whole fresh set of End of the World letters ready to send off. But Himemiya tells him that everything is changed. She takes off her glasses, and Chu-Chu takes off his tie, and Himemiya declares that Utena isn't gone at all, only vanished from Akio's world. She walks out the gate of the school, swearing to find Utena no matter where she's gone.
Comments
ARANE from 69.236.163.230 at Tue, 27 Jun 2006 22:23:43 +0000:
I love the movie too, and have seen some of the series, it is so great. Touga really likes utena and i think that they should have ended up together in the movie.
Lady Lee from 64.113.98.38 at Thu, 29 Jun 2006 11:43:26 +0000:
Actually...
I LOVE the series... Very emotional. And VERY deep, complex stories and involvements. It's a rather complicated story, full of strange and intimate things. Very beautiful, and powerful.
I personally believe it's best to see the series first, and THEN the movie.
But I love them both. *^.^*
Karito from 219.117.111.92 at Thu, 13 Jul 2006 07:53:51 +0000:
Just wanted to say thank you for the descriptions of episodes. I'm in Japan at the moment and i've seen the series in Japanese with your explanations as subtitiles. Love the series tough.
Thanks again.
K.
Savia from 125.31.32.183 at Tue, 01 Aug 2006 15:21:06 +0000:
I wanna watch it again......When I watched it , I was just 7~8 year-old. so I did't understand the story of this series bcoz the relationship of those characters is too complex =.=
\So I wanna watch again and hope that I can enjoy it ...
kait from 70.71.194.122 at Fri, 25 Aug 2006 19:44:32 +0000:
yes thank you for this . i must have been very time consuming but we all appreciate it. and i cant wait to see the last 13 episodes on tv !
Krystal McIntosh from 66.109.193.179 at Thu, 10 Jul 2008 01:58:08 +0000:
... Guys, I CRIED when Utena was "Killed" at the end of the series.
but when Anthy was finally free, that's when I realzie why Utena did what she did; she took Anthy's place as the rose bride to end her sufering, let her be free--
I guess, within everything there is always a scarifice need to be made.
Utena scarificed her own life, her freedom...for Anthy's freedom.
I thought the ending was very suitable.
elina from 62.65.192.83 at Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:20:54 +0000:
oh! now i remember what was the meaning what ruka said in episode 29. He talked about Jury and Shiori. He said that Shiori is a fool because she don`t realize that you get miracles only standing the sacrifice of others. So thats the story with Utena and Anthy too! The series was very good, especially because when i watched it once i didn`t realize half of the things, but now i have read fan writings and watched series so many times that i have start to understand better, it seems that there are many connections.
Itsuke from 173.52.245.103 at Fri, 26 Dec 2008 14:38:37 +0000:
I don't think Utena was dead at the end of ep 39. No doubt she replaced Anthy as primary target for the million swords of hate, but since they were not real swords in the physical sense (not implying they were not capable of hurting one's psyche), Utena would not be killed in the physical sense as well.
Notice how the series offered three explanations to Utena's sudden disappearance after the last duel? All three reasons are actually true, and given what Anthy said to Akio at the very end, I truly believe Utena was merely removed from Ohtori Academy (given her real injuries, I doubt she merely walked out on her own two feet).
Besides, there are official artworks showing Anthy finally reuniting with her one true prince. If those pictures aren't solid proofs then it was a good waste of time to draw them in the first place.
Matt from 70.67.17.161 at Fri, 26 Dec 2008 17:26:53 +0000:
What is death?
I think that Utena definitely died. But part of the point of the story is that dying is not really such a big deal; even death, and the border between worlds, is not enough to separate the lovers. It seems clear that Ohtori Academy isn't exactly the "real world" - there is something very strange about the universe where most of the action takes place. It might even be accurate to say that nobody is alive at all as long as they're in Ohtori Academy, and they *start* living when they graduate. (See also http://ansuz.sooke.bc.ca/creative/teebee/darkest.php, linked on this comment.)
I'd certainly agree that Utena was "removed from Ohtori Academy" but I think that "dying" is a good description of that, to the extent our words are adequate for describing the cosmology of the series at all. It seems certain that Utena will always exist somewhere; all that talk about ETERNITY isn't just for poetic value. Anthy goes off looking for her, and Anthy is many things but not stupid; she wouldn't do that if Utena were really lost forever. The movie makes it a lot more explicit, too - Utena and Anthy drive off into the new world, but that definitely seems to be the same thing as dying in the old world.
Even the name of this episode is a clue that they'll end up together somewhere.
Note the mythological parallels, too. I think the Utena story is another retelling of the descent of Inanna into the underworld, in which one character dies and another has to go into the world of death to save him, thereby making a compromise with death itself. Other people think she's supposed to be Jesus - who dies and then rises. Either way the message is "Yes, she really dies, but that's not the end of her."
Laura from 76.94.131.64 at Thu, 05 Mar 2009 22:07:40 +0000:
I had to watch the show a second time around to gain a better understanding of what the hell was going on, and even now I'm still a bit lost. But when it comes to the arguement of whether Utena died or simply vanished from the world which is Ohtori Academy, it is clear that she left. As I watched the last episode there were a few things that caught my attention. For example did anyone notice that when Anthy stabbed Utena she didn't spill a single drop of blood? I mean she was on the floor for a good couple of minutes and nothing came out and it wasn't a shallow stab, it went all the way through. Which made it clear to be more a symbol of Anthy's betrayal than an actual wound.
Think about it, everything in that episode was symbolic, like teh million swords.. Another thing I noticed, was that when Akio approached the gates, he wanted to open them to regain the power of Dios. But when Utena finally got them opened what was inside was Anthy's coffin. This obviously signifies that the gates hold whatever is most precious to you.
Throughout all the series Utena wanted nothing more than to protect Anthy and free her from having to be the Rose Bride. Even though she was unable to fully reach Anthy, the fact that she got impaled by the million swords of hatred doesn't mean she replaced her as the bride it meant that she was willing to be the sacrifice. Towards the very end as students are gossiping about what ultimately happened caught my attention. One comments about Utena having been terribly injured and subsequently hospitalized, another thought she had been betrayed and thus transferred while another had heard she was expelled by the chairman. If you put it all together those things did happen to her, not exactly as they say but pretty damn close. And as Anthy herself explained, Utena had simply disappeared from the world Akio had created. Let's face it, Ohtori Academy was anything but normal. Whom ever wears that ring will not age as long as they stay there.
Regardless of what Utena had thought, she had really become the prince. By opening the coffin which held Anthy, she gave her the courage to stand up to her very disturbed brother and refuse to take part of the duels any longer. In the end Utena accomplished her goal to set her free. This makes me think that in the end they will reunite and be together.
Turkey-sama from 94.171.180.45 at Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:49:23 +0000:
Thanks for this, it was useful for sharing with friends =)
Utena was an amazing series
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Walpole from 64.40.63.17 at Fri, 26 May 2006 20:23:49 +0000:
Well, thanks for posting up an ep by ep summary of the series. I watched the movie and I fell in love with the chracters, espicially Utena. Maybe I'll watch the actual series some day. =)