In the end, all girls are like the Rose Bride.

Utena finally finds a reason to revolutionize the world…

We begin with Utena clearly remembering her meeting with the Prince.

Young!Utena: I swear I’ll become a prince!

Dios: If you never lose your nobility, even when you grow up, then that ring…

Utena: (internally) That ring will lead you back here, one day.

Then she takes her ring off. Maybe she feels like she hasn’t kept her nobility, or she thinks she simply promised something impossible, but whatever the reason, she’s given up on her mission.

Akio: Didn’t you sleep well? I can see it in your face…something bothering you?

Utena: Sorta. But it’s not something I can really talk about with anyone. Everyone has secrets they have to keep, right?

Akio: Yes. By the way, you’re not wearing it today. Your ring.

then utena flat-out asks him on a date, and says how lucky she should feel to be dating such a “cool” adult faculty member guy

And once again, Anthy interrupts Akio by talking to Chu-Chu, saying that something’s “yours” (toast for Chu-Chu, but obviously also implying that Utena is Akio’s now, too).

Anyhow, Saionji and Touga have apparently taken over the student council room, since all the Duelists evidently got letters just saying that Utena won, so there’s nothing left for them to (officially) do. So Touga’s riding an exercise bike with Saionji, taking them both nowhere.

Saionji: I just got a letter from End of the World. A farewell letter.

Touga: I’ll bet she got a letter of her own, as well. A letter quite different from ours. However, the revolution doesn’t interest her.

Saionji: So, the Power of Dios will remain sealed, and the revolution won’t happen?

Touga: I don’t know. I don’t know what End of the World’s ultimate goal is.

Saionji: By the way, do you think Utena Tenjou knows now? About who End of the World really is?

Honestly, at this point, it’s her own fault if she still doesn’t realize who Akio is.

So, after school, Akio drives Utena out for a date.

Utena: That was fun. Thanks for today.

Akio: You’re still not wearing your ring. Why?

Utena: I’m starting to think that ring doesn’t really suit me.

Akio: That outfit you’re wearing definitely suits you. If you like, I can give you a ring more suited to your new look.

Fortunately, Utena’s able to distract him so he doesn’t assault her in the car (friendly reminder that she’s in MIDDLE SCHOOL).

Utena: Is Himemiya…you think she’s asleep yet?

Akio: Tonight, you seem…

Utena: What?

Akio: You seem very girlish tonight.

Utena: Well, I am a girl. The Big Dipper…that reminds me. You haven’t mentioned the stars tonight.

Akio: Should I reveal the truth…? The stars don’t actually interest me at all.

so it was always about having an excuse to make the room dark, then? cool cool. girl, RUN

Then she returns to her room to find Anthy still up.

Utena: Are you mad?

Anthy: About what?

Utena: Of course you’d say that. I wonder if he was teasing me a little. “You seem very girlish tonight.” Akio-san said that to me. “Very girlish…” Just what does that mean?

Anthy: Girls are…In the end, all girls are like the Rose Bride.

I feel like Utena was “trying on” being a normal girl again…after she won rather than lost this time. Notably, this is also the first time she’s worn what appears to be the thing Anthy was knitting in the cowbell episode. In the patriarchy, all girls are meant to be trapped in place, moving only at the whim of a man, and hiding their pain. Anthy obviously understands that better than most, and maybe she wants to support Utena however she can, even if it means she’ll have nothing but her pain in the end.

Anthy: Did you get a letter from End of the World? If you go to that castle, you’ll meet your prince.

Utena: So much has happened since we first met. So much has happened…

Perhaps she thinks that she’s no longer worthy of her prince…or she’s starting to have feelings for someone else.

then akio’s taking pictures of some of his OTHER students

because now that he’s made up with saionji, touga’s having him tag along, too

Saionji: You actually sent us letters. Keeping up the act till the very end, huh?

Touga: What are your plans for her?

Akio: My plans? What do you mean?

Touga: I don’t think Utena Tenjou will pass through the Rose Gate.

Saionji: She has no reason to.

Akio: Doesn’t she? 

Touga: She never wanted to be the one who brings the world revolution. But now you’ve worked your way into her heart. She’s chosen you, a real man, over her fantasy prince.

Akio: She has to make the choice. And the choice is not yet made…

She’s not yet resigned to the fate of a woman — she still remembers the prince of her childhood, and the promise she made to him, childish and naive as it may seem now. And now, she actually knows Anthy and considers her a friend (if nothing more). Her answer is not yet set in stone.

Then Anthy confronts her about it herself.

Anthy: It seems my brother loves you as well, Utena-sama.

Anthy: Utena-sama, I wish we could all stay like this forever…

And now Utena knows this is a lie, telling her what she wants to hear rather than her true feelings, just like in her first duel with Touga.

So she rips up the letter, probably because she understands that is a lie, too.

Then, after Utena plays basketball, Juri and Mickey meet her for a friendly chat (and badminton?).

Mickey: We’ve received letters from End of the World.

Juri: They say you have been chosen as the one who brings the world revolution.

Utena: So…?

Mickey: So, we were wondering what you planned to do.

Utena: The power to revolutionize the world, huh..? Sort of amazing, isn’t it? But, in the end, all I’ve been doing is playing prince.

Juri: In the end, none of us were able to beat you.

Her conviction was real, and even if part of it was based on a fantasy, there was a firm foundational belief that kept her going. Even before she remembered what her true objective was, she never stopped caring about Anthy.

Juri: When you think about it, even though I’m a member of the student council, all I ever did was think myself. And maybe this is a little pathetic, but even now, all I can do is think of myself.

Utena: Are you…talking about Shiori-san?

Juri: Why is it…why can’t I set my feelings free? What are you going to do with Anthy? You love her, don’t you?

Utena: Well…it’s different from the love you feel. I purely…not to say your feelings aren’t pure, but- but now, I’m…Himemiya and I…Himemiya and I…

Once again, they’re using the word “suki” here…but of course Juri would clock her feelings for Anthy before she did. Gaydar is real.

But it also makes sense that Utena would be reluctant to think of her feelings for Anthy as romantic. In this patriarchal society, friendship between two girls (even a very close one, like in Anne of Green Gables) is often read through a heterosexual lens. This comprises a whole subgenre of books called Class S Yuri, where two girls are very close as children, sometimes even fooling around a little (often in a school setting), but eventually grow up and find husbands. Often, it feels like the strength of the bond is somehow cheapened by tainting it with “impure” sexual desire (as Utena seems to imply here), when really, that’s often just the nature of gay attraction.

then nanami butts in

Nanami: Are you really that stupid?! Haven’t you figured out you’re being tricked?!

i mean, based on what she’s seen, she’s right to assume that utena’s still being fleeced

Juri: I haven’t seen you in that uniform for a while now.

Mickey: Does this mean you’ve resigned from the student council?

Nanami: Of course! I’m not doing that stuff anymore! It’s so ridiculous! And you’d better stay away from the Chairman and Anthy Himemiya for your own good!

Utena: Thanks for the advice.

Nanami: I’m serious! You’re always so meddlesome! You’re so dense!

Utena: Aren’t you being meddlesome by giving me advice?

Nanami: Talking to you makes me do crazy things!

This is basically the last we hear from Nanami (she kinda shows up in the movie, but doesn’t get a speaking role). In the end, I think she was more sensible than her brother (at least she avoided being added to Akio’s harem).

Mickey: Listen, Tenjou-senpai! […] I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately, Tenjou-senpai.

Juri: What’s this? Confessing your love?

Utena: But Mickey, aren’t you in love with Himemiya?

Mickey: Can’t I change my mind?

Utena: I’ll think about it.

Juri: I was wondering if you could give me a picture of yourself.

Utena: For what?

Juri: Figured I’d put it in my new locket.

Mickey: Uh-oh, I think a dangerous rival just appeared.

Nanami: You people are idiots.

So they can solve all their romantic problems by all going after Utena! (with the possible exception of Nanami, but who knows?)

But it’s just nice to see them hanging out and being friends…before the End.

And one last Shadow Play for the road!

Girl A: It’s time that we broke up! There’s only one future for me! I shall be an actress!

Girl B: And just like that, you land a role in a movie, get thrust into the limelight, get caught in a flashy scandal, and end up with all the magazines talking about you! That’s what you’ll do, right?

Girl A: No! I won’t do that! Well, maybe just a little…

Girl B: A little? In other words, you just want a taste of what that life is like!

Girl A: Exactly!

And they fake-kiss three times in this play…

Girl A: A girl from a high school drama club, trying out for a movie, they’ll just laugh at me!

Girl B: I won’t laugh at you!

Girl A: Really?! So we really are…

Girl B: …true friends!

and they kiss again at that, to drive home this show’s interpretation of “true friendship”

And the punchline is that they’ll both be competing for the same role, but Girl A hooks up with the judge first…

Then, instead of a duel. we cut to Akio in his car — with Anthy, for once.

Akio: Does it hurt, Anthy? Well, I’m not the one causing it. It’s the world.

This feels an awful lot like victim-blaming. She stuck out her neck for her brother, but the world turned against her when she took his power away — and then, he turned on her, too! Life is just agony for her now.

But then, Utena brings up the future.

Anthy: The future?

Utena: After you’ve graduated from here. Isn’t there something you want to do?

Anthy: As long as I can raise roses, I’ll be happy.

Utena: Well, maybe you can be a florist or something.

Anthy: That might be nice.

and she says that with the lack of conviction that you’d expect from a person trapped in hell

And they’re in the middle of tea and biscuits (as in, cookies).

Anthy: Tell me, Utena-sama, are you familiar with cantarella?

Utena: “Cantarella”? What’s that?

Anthy: It’s something that was used by the Borgia family in Italy long ago. A poison. So, do you like those cookies? I made them myself.

“Cantarella” might have just been arsenic, but it was the 1400’s, so there’s some debate over whether it existed at all.

Utena: What a coincidence…I put poison in your tea.

Anthy: You don’t say. This tea is delicious.

Utena: So’s the cookie.

They both refer to poisons that may or may not exist, and express contentment with the outcome should they really be lethal, because they were gifts for each other. The combination of eating “poison” from the other and the red rose is the clearest the show has gotten to making their love explicit. Before, Utena would frame her view of Anthy with white roses, indicative of her goal of saving her, but that’s changed now that she’s starting to understand what mature love can look like.

Anthy: Utena-sama, where will you be in 10 years?

Utena: I don’t know either, but…[…] I hope we can still drink tea together, like we are now.

Anthy: Yes…I feel the same way.

Utena: Yeah…That would be nice. In 10 years, we’ll be together, laughing and sipping tea. I promise.

Anthy: Yes. Surely we will.

I feel like Anthy’s actually expressing an honest desire for once, if one far more tempered by experience.

and that night, she stands on the ledge of their tower bedroom

Utena: You’re running away?!

Anthy: It’s no use! Forgive me! Just let me go!

Because even if Utena wants to be with her, Anthy knows that she can’t comprehend what that sort of suffering even is. And it’s unclear is death could even get Anthy out of it at this point!

Utena: You’re just going to run?! Don’t we have a date to have tea and laugh together in 10 years?!

Anthy: Forgive me, Utena-sama…! Forgive me!

and anthy’s voice here is just heartbreaking

And THIS is what finally convinces Utena of the need for revolution.

and the prologue music is playing and i cant

Touga: I didn’t think you’d go. You really want to see your prince so badly?

Utena: It’s not just that.

Saionji: Then why are you doing it?

Touga: For Himemiya? Whoever believes in true friendship is a fool.

Utena: Didn’t you know? I am a fool.

I feel like at this point, Saionji might be able to relate more to Anthy (on some level) than the rest of the cast. Being an afterthought to someone you love when they’re caught up in a heterosexual relationship? Perhaps there is no such thing as “true friendship”, but I believe there is such a thing as true love.

then anthy puts the letter back together

Anthy: “The time has come. When you pass through the Rose Gate, the path to the castle will open. There, you will gain the power to bring the world revolution. And there, we will meet once more. Signed, Your Prince.” Utena-sama. There’s still time. You can still turn back.

But Utena has equipped her ring again, determined to see this through.

Utena: Let’s go.

you are not prepared

until next time