Episode 7: Unfulfilled Jury

Arisugawa Jury doesn't believe in miracles because she can't admit to being in love with the girl who stole her boyfriend.

This is a summary of episode 7 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.

Arisugawa Jury is captain of the fencing team, and virtually unbeatable.  She rescues Utena from a scolding (over having brought Chu-Chu to school) by setting teachers against each other, neatly avoiding a date of her own with the vice-principal in the process.  She and Utena get acquainted, and she explains that the reason everyone is duelling for the Rose Bride is to gain the power to revolutionize the world; but it's all stupid because there are no such things as miracles.  Moments after Utena leaves, Himemiya walks by and offers Jury a rose; she refuses angrily, and slaps Himemiya.

The student council meet, and the other members speculate on why Jury is participating - is it because she really wants the miraculous power, is it just to prove the power doesn't exist, or is it because of her long-lost love?  Throughout the meeting, Touga throws knives at an unconcerned Miki.  Then there's a flashback explaining that Jury once loved a boy, and had a friend who stole him away while encouraging Jury to "Believe in miracles, and they will know your true feelings." She has a memory of the friend handing her a rose, in exactly the same pose Himemiya used earlier.  Jury wears a gold locket now in rememberance of that time in her life.

In the middle of the night, Jury is hanging around beside a fountain outside, wearing a nightgown-like dress and brooding on her lost love.  Utena shows up and compliments her on how gorgeous she is.  Then they argue about whether there are such things as miracles, with Jury insisting that Utena ought to throw away her rose ring and forget her prince.  When Utena refuses, Jury challenges her.

Jury is a significantly better sword fighter than Utena, and quickly disarms her.  Utena's sword is flung high into the air.  As Jury is gloating about the fact that no miracle occurred to change the outcome, the sword falls back down from the sky, perfectly skewering the rose from Jury's buttonhole; Utena wins the duel.  Jury stomps off, sputtering that that was an accident, not a miracle.

In the last shot, Jury opens her locket and we see that the picture inside - Jury's lost love - isn't the boy.  It's the girl who stole him.

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