Shame on you, Nanami-san! Being a space alien!

And now, we get a blatant metaphor for menstruation!

First, Nanami dreams of finding an egg while she’s playing as a child…

And when she wakes up, she discovers an egg in her sheets, looking for all the world as if she laid it. This understandably freaks her out, and leads into the menstruation metaphor.

Nanami takes the egg to school in her pocket (not wanting anyone else, least of all her brother, to stumble upon the evidence at home). And Tsuwabuki mentions that her P.E class has been switched to a “girls only hygiene class”, which is evidently the closest they could get to saying “menstruation”.

Nanami: (internally) Calm down. Just calm down, Nanami. You’ve never heard of any people laying eggs, right? That’s right! This is just someone’s plot to get people to say bad things about me!

She imagines other schoolgirls insulting her for laying an egg, and then caging her with other egg-laying animals.

Tsuwabuki: Nanami-san, what’s wrong?

Nanami: Oh, uh…it’s nothing.

And then she’s hit in the face by an errant soccer ball, courtesy of Utena.

Nanami: Can’t you be more careful?! What if it had been broken?! Couldn’t you at least yell “look out” or something?!

Utena: What if what had been broken? Hey, what could have broken?

Nanami: Um, er, that is…! (internally) Hold it. Could she be the one…?

and since she’s so concerned about being perceived as “weird”, she naturally goes into another imagine spot

Nanami: My egg! My dear egg!

Utena: Oh, what’s this? What’s with you, Nanami? Why were you carrying that egg?

Tsuwabuki: Shame on you, Nanami-san! Carrying an egg!

Utena: You didn’t lay it or something, did you?

Tsuwabuki: Shame on you, Nanami-san! Laying an egg!

Utena: What are you, some kind of space alien?!

Tsuwabuki: Shame on you, Nanami-san! Being a space alien!

Nanami: Nooo!!

And this gets at what I imagine would be a common fear for girls who haven’t had any previous education about menstruation — thinking they’d be considered a freak and ostracized for something completely natural.

Utena: Is she sick or something?

Tsuwabuki: No, but she’s been like this all morning. Nanami-san, are you really all right? You’re acting sort of strange today.

Utena: She doesn’t seem to have a fever… […]

Nanami: Just shut up! A boy-girl like you couldn’t possibly understand!

I mean, Utena does presumably get periods, too — even trans boys get periods if they don’t get hormone treatment. It IS weird that, in investigating this phenomenon later, no one ever brings up the possibility that it has something to do with Nanami’s menstrual cycle (well, honestly, we KNOW why).

Anyway, the first person Nanami thinks to ask about it is Mickey.

Mickey: It’s definitely a very strange egg. No bird or reptile laid this. It also appears to have been freshly laid today.

Nanami: It’s freshly laid…?

Mickey: Where did you get this egg?

And of course she imagines him making fun of her like for laying an egg (like the rest).

Nanami: I can’t tell him…I don’t dare say it, not even to Mickey…!

Mickey: What’s wrong?

Nanami: Look, Mickey, suppose…just suppose…suppose that egg was laid by a certain girl.

Mickey: A girl?

Nanami: Yes, a girl.

Mickey: Hm, that’s an interesting thought. I have heard that certain mammals do lay eggs.

Nanami: Huh?! They do?

and she runs off before he can clarify that it only applies to platypi

Nanami: I had no idea! There are other people in the world who lay eggs! Oh, marvelous!

Keiko: Oh, Nanami-sama.

Yuuko: What are you doing there?

Aiko: You look a little sick.

Nanami: Oh, for heaven’s sake, it’s nothing! I just woke up with- (internally) Hold it. What if I was the only one who didn’t know this till now?

and then she imagines herself ostracized for a different reason

Nanami: Um, you see, I…I laid an egg this morning.

Yuuko: What?! You only laid your first one today?!

Keiko: Oh, wow! Nanami-sama, how old are you, anyway?!

Aiko: You’re really late compared to most people, Nanami-sama!

And this is a dilemma common at least in media about girls her age (I personally never experienced either of these).

Anyway, she opts to downplay it to her lackeys, too.

Then she runs into Juri and her ball.

This scene relies on a sort of Japanese pun (such that the subtitles have a little explanation), being that the Japanese word for egg is “tamago”, and one word for ball is “tama”, one syllable off, which Juri uses to refer to her bowling ball. And naturally, Nanami assumes it’s Juri’s egg.

Nanami: It’s…so big.

Juri: Want to hold it?

Nanami: It’s so heavy…! What’s with this thing?! Do they all get this big?

Juri: Well, I used to have smaller ones, but that’s the size I get now.

Nanami: Used to…?

Juri: Since I was about seven.

Nanami: You started way back then?!

Juri: I’ve got lots more of them at home.

Nanami: Lots of them?!

Juri: I think it just feels good.

Nanami: It feels good?!

Juri: You should try it some time. See you around.

Nanami: Juri really is mature!

And this conversation is what convinces Nanami to embrace the egg!

Nanami: Little egg, little egg. My dear little egg. Grow up, grow up, grow up fast! (internally) I had nothing to be upset about! Everyone’s laying eggs! (aloud) Grow up fast, you hear? Because I’m your mommy.

Then, there’s a musical montage set to a song originated by a Takarazuka Revue actress (“Hello Baby”), featuring Nanami simply doting on her precious egg.

But she still keeps it a secret from everyone at school, including Tsuwabuki, so he’s upset by her constant irritability.

So he consults Utena again.

Tsuwabuki: How do I put it…? She’s been really short-tempered lately. She looks sick, too. I’m worried about her.

Utena: Sounds like maternity blues to me.

Anthy: It’s like she’s just laid an egg.

Tsuwabuki: Huh? An egg?

Anthy: My pet hen Nanami got like that right after she laid an egg.

she just loves to name her pets after nanami, doesn’t she?

Utena: Even Nanami deserves better than being compared to a chicken.

Anthy: Oh, you think so? Still, I wonder who the father is.

Utena: Hey, now.

and then touga comes along to rain on her parade

Touga: You’re in a very good mood this morning.

Nanami: It’s because I’m working so hard! Working for our glorious future, Big Brother!

Touga: For our future?

Nanami: Tell me, Big Brother, a boy or a girl? Which do you prefer?

Touga: That’s an obvious answer. Girls, of course.

Nanami: Oh, good! So do I.

Touga: Nanami, you…you like girls more than boys?

Nanami: Yes.

While this is mostly just a miscommunication, it’s about as good a segue as I’m gonna get for my pet theory that Nanami is actually gay (while Touga goes off an a homophobic and rather hypocritical screed).

This is mainly based on my own experience, but my brother was also the guy I was closest with, and I almost exclusively prefer the company of girls (like Nanami). I feel like she’d still need to disentangle herself from Touga, but the fact remains that she barely cares about what boys think of her.

Anyways…

Nanami: What are you talking about, Big Brother?! You know you’re the only one I love!

Touga: But you just said you preferred girls.

Nanami: That’s not what I meant!

Touga: Then what?

Nanami: Look…what would you think of a girl who lays eggs?

Touga: Nanami. Do you know why we’ve been able to live together so happily? It’s because you aren’t the type of girl who lays eggs. I pity the family of a girl who would betray them like that.

He pretty much acts like she got knocked up (heaven forbid something like that actually happen to her with Touga running her life…), and then the show treats it like he’s telling her to get an abortion or something, and honestly, this metaphor is getting a little out of hand.

Nanami: How cruel, Big Brother! You didn’t have to say it like that! Juri and Keiko and the others lay eggs, so why isn’t it alright for me?! That’s right! What are they doing with the eggs they lay?! They wouldn’t…

She briefly considers EATING the egg, but is too squeamish, so she simply opts to abandon it. She was so happy with her egg! But Touga says it’s bad, so she has to give up her joy in order to keep living under his roof.

Nanami: It’s been a while since we’ve eaten together. It makes me so happy!

Touga: Nanami. Do you know why we’ve been able to live together so happily? It’s because you aren’t the type of girl who lays eggs.

Nanami: Y-yes, of course, Big Brother. Exactly.

but after she tries to go to sleep, her conscience is stricken, so she goes back for the egg

Nanami: This is for the best, Nanami. This is for the best! I can’t do it. I just can’t do it! It’s gone! It can’t be…where did it go?!

because of course saionji has to show up. frying eggs.

Nanami: What…what do you think you’re doing?! How could you be eating eggs?! Eggs! You’re eating eggs…!

Saionji: Eggs are normally something you eat.

Nanami: You monster! You monster! You monster! You monster!

Saionji: Hey, cut it out!

But after a while, he shows that he has a ton of eggs, including Nanami’s, safe and sound, so she grabs it and runs.

Meanwhile, Utena and Anthy are having a rather philosophical bedtime chat.

Anthy: Utena-sama, do you believe in reincarnation?

Utena: Hmm…I dunno.

Anthy: They say that when elephants reach the end of their lives, they leave the herd to die in secret.

Utena: Maybe they sneak off to die on their own because they don’t want their children to feel sad.

Anthy: Thoughts and feelings, passed on from parent to child, till the end of time…

Utena: Yeah…passing those on to your children, is like a sort of reincarnation.

but back to the egg show

Nanami: Is this…is this…my egg? Forgive me! I swear I’ll never abandon you again! I won’t abandon you!

And then it appears to hatch, and in the morning, she wakes up in bed to see a cracked eggshell, but no trace of the hatchling.

And finally, we return to Utena and Anthy.

Utena: Come to think of it, I haven’t seen him lately.

Anthy: He should be back soon.

And this is where you finally realize we haven’t seen Akio the entire episode…

…or Chu-Chu.

I feel like this might have been some sort of prank by Anthy, but Chu-Chu was evidently what hatched from the egg…

I guess some things are just a mystery.

Until next time…