Anthy. <- Previous • Next -> Dios.
Chu-Chu doesn’t have much of an arc. The only part that feels like a story thread is the ongoing byplay with the frog. Nevertheless, Chu-Chu is a complex character.
Chu-Chu is an aspect of Anthy. I interpret Chu-Chu as a dissociated aspect of Anthy’s personality. I think that Chu-Chu does not exist, despite interacting with other characters (Dios is the same that way). Chu-Chu is an imaginary friend, and is as solid as other illusions in Utena. In episode 4, Anthy’s psychological defenses become visible when she draws flipbook animation in her notebook, laughing with a hint of insanity. In the final episode when Anthy announces she is leaving, Akio ignores Chu-Chu on his desk. For more evidence, see character designs - Chu-Chu. For an example showing Anthy’s contradictory feelings, exposed when Chu-Chu is not around, see final showdown - the backstab - Anthy’s confusion.
Anthy closes her eyes to things she does not want to see. Chu-Chu is Anthy closing her eyes to parts of herself that she does not want to see. She copes with her intolerable world by actively ignoring large parts of it.
Chu-Chu is undisciplined and messy, the opposite of Anthy. Anthy’s role makes her do the cleaning; Chu-Chu scatters crumbs everywhere. Anthy hides her feelings; Chu-Chu is transparent. Anthy must plan ahead and be meticulate in carrying out Akio’s wishes; Chu-Chu does random stuff that doesn’t make sense (is this desiccant yummy? what about this eraser?). All parts of Anthy’s personality that don’t support Akio’s demands are pushed off onto Chu-Chu.
In the bulk of the series, Chu-Chu avoids Akio and reacts with fear when he is mentioned. Anthy suppresses her fear of Akio. In the epilog, as Anthy announces that she is leaving, Chu-Chu sits sadly on Akio’s desk. Anthy has changed her view, and suppresses her sadness at leaving Akio. As she heads to the exit, Chu-Chu jumps onto her shoulder. In the final credit sequence, as Anthy walks away, Chu-Chu is no longer visible. I think Chu-Chu is on her shoulder hidden by hair, but it’s possible that Chu-Chu vanishes when Anthy is outside the reach of the Academy, her psychological defense mechanism no longer needed and her personality re-integrated. Or the illusion of Chu-Chu as a separate being dissolves.
At the end of episode 2, after Utena has defeated Saionji in the rematch, she tells Anthy “I didn’t do it for you, I did it for Chu-Chu.” Under my interpretation of Chu-Chu, it is a pointer to the end of the series. Under Utena’s influence, Anthy starts to realize her suppressed feelings, and eventually decides to leave the Academy.
Utena draws from Jungian ideas. Based on Jungian theory, or what little I know of it, Anthy suffered severe trauma in childhood that psychologically shattered her. We see it in episode 34. The splinters reassembled into alternate personalities—in modern terms, Anthy has dissociative identity disorder (Wikipedia), that is, multiple personalities. One of the personalities is Chu-Chu, who is represented as a separate character. When Anthy leaves the Academy, Chu-Chu rides on her shoulder, bringing a large bundle of baggage. I think that leaving behind the source of the trauma should not solve her issue. Large bundles of baggage do not disappear, they have to be worked through.
Chu-Chu’s sex is never specified. I take it to be deliberately left open. Chu-Chu acts female with Tatsuya in episode 19 and Utena in episode 28 in the shampoo hat, gags that prove nothing. But if Chu-Chu is part of Anthy, then Chu-Chu is as female as Anthy—itself an always-open question in Utena-world. Utena is half male and half female, and following the logic of fitting together into one whole, Anthy must be too. Chu-Chu must include her suppressed male aspect, the one that peeks out when her epaulets make her Ganymede and comes into full view when she plays Mamiya. Chu-Chu is introduced in a frame of bananas that are both male and female symbols.
Chu-Chu shows Anthy’s feelings, for example in episode 2 aiming a fork like a sword against Saionji’s shoe: Anthy would like to take vengeance on Saionji, but she is not allowed to because he is one of Akio’s candidate miracle workers. Later in the episode, Chu-Chu reveals her disappointment when Utena decides to lose the duel against Saionji. When Anthy hides her real feelings, the audience needs the help. If I’m right that Chu-Chu is a dissociation, then Anthy does not notice her hidden feelings; she keeps up her facade with a fully internalized, automatic psychological defense. I’m pretty sure that’s true in many cases, like visiting Akio and leaving Chu-Chu behind. But Anthy and Chu-Chu are not separated by an impenetrable wall. They share a lot too.
Chu-Chu wears the tie from the girls’ uniform and a ring in the left ear like Akio’s: Chu-Chu is tied to Anthy and Akio and the Academy. Those details reflect Anthy’s feelings too. Anthy not only accepts but believes in the conventional female role that Akio assigned her; she believes in the girls’ uniform. Akio’s ring is silver for the moon, and Chu-Chu’s is gold for the sun and therefore Anthy’s love Dios.
Chu-Chu is not around for Anthy’s most serious actions: Duels, murdering Kanae, talking with Utena in the poisoning scene and the attempted suicide, attracting the Swords of Hatred. At those times we often get to see Anthy’s feelings directly. Arguably, Anthy has no hidden inner part then; the imaginary Chu-Chu is not imagined.
Chu-Chu reflects how others treat Anthy. Utena makes friends with Chu-Chu immediately, the first sign that she will act to save Anthy in the duel of episode 2. It can be read as meaning that Anthy likes Utena from the start (though she still expects that Utena will go wrong at some point as Dios did). Saionji harasses Chu-Chu at every opportunity. When Anthy visits Akio for sex, Anthy carries her desires to Akio and leaves her misgivings behind with Chu-Chu. For a symbolic example, see comparisons - Chu-Chu hangs on. It’s parallel to how Utena dissociates her desires into body language and her misgivings into babble in the First Seduction—as Utena becomes girlish, she takes on Anthy’s needed defense mechanism. Chu-Chu avoids Akio completely and acts afraid when Akio is mentioned, because Chu-Chu carries Anthy’s misgivings about Akio. The only time we see Akio and Chu-Chu together is in the epilog, when Chu-Chu reflects Anthy’s hidden sadness in leaving behind the central relationship of her life so far. Akio does not appear to notice Chu-Chu’s existence; he does not know about (or does not believe in) Anthy’s defense mechanism.
Plots. Chu-Chu follows Anthy’s orders, or at least participates in her plots, as when harassing Nanami (Chu-Chu plants the egg) or when interfering with the photograph in episode 34. In Nanami’s Egg, Anthy looks satisfied when Chu-Chu returns at the end. Chu-Chu is not entirely about suppressed feelings; participating in a plot means sharing a goal.
Following Utena. Chu-Chu likes to follow Utena around and imitate what Utena is doing. How much of it is because Anthy wishes she could be with Utena, and how much because Anthy is spying on Utena to manipulate her? I expect it’s both.
Eating. Chu-Chu’s gluttony reads as stress eating, Anthy’s reaction to her traumatically stressful situation displaced onto Chu-Chu. Eating in Utena sometimes means sex, as in devouring fish (women). That reading doesn’t seem entirely natural to me for Chu-Chu, but if you accept it then Chu-Chu’s uncontrolled eating stands for Anthy’s uncontrolled sex life. She has no choice, but is required to satisfy Akio’s demands plus those of the dueling champion. Saionji is captured by a vision of eternal true love (see Saionji’s television world), so maybe he doesn’t make sexual demands. But does Touga restrict himself to his fangirls? He seems more interested in controlling and protecting Anthy to ensure he can access her power, but she is still his bride at the start of episode 12, and they work together for nearly all the series. Besides that, Akio has run many earlier plots. We know that, as much as Akio would like to do it all himself, Anthy is sometimes assigned tasks that involve seducing people—she plays Mamiya to seduce and control Mikage. She likely seduced Mr. Ohtori. The Kaoru mother likely left the family because Anthy seduced Mr. Kaoru, as in Miki’s imaginary scene in episode 26 (it’s imaginary, which in Utena is evidence).
Mouse. Chu-Chu is compared to a mouse in multiple ways. Chu-Chu physically resembles a mouse. In episode 2, Chu-Chu is parallel to Utena’s imaginary mouse. Chu-Chu makes “chuu” sounds, and in episode 15 Miki misnames Chu-Chu as Chuu-Chuu; Utena answers that “chuu-chuu” is the sound a mouse makes. In episode 22, Mikage says he found Chu-Chu caught in a mousetrap.
The frog that harasses Chu-Chu corresponds to Saionji. See Saionji’s arc - the frog.
Balloon. Chu-Chu sometimes inflates like a balloon and floats. I take it as a sign of unreality, but otherwise, I don’t know what it’s about.
Chu-Chu’s gags are not there just to be funny. Here are some.
Episode 2. Chu-Chu stabs at Saionji with a fork. It shows Anthy’s feelings: She hates Saionji and wants vengeance. She can’t get it, because Saionji is a duelist and it would go against Akio’s wishes. The fork ties to several other events. A comparison with Saionji shows that the fork is a sword. In episode 16, Utena removes Nanami’s cowbell with a pitchfork that is a sword, with duel-like imagery. In episode 34, Akio and Anthy murder Kanae with a poisoned apple stuck with forks. The apple image equates swords and poison as deadly weapons. Wanting to use a sword against Saionji, and equating the poison for Kanae with swords, foreshadow that Anthy will use an actual sword against Utena in the backstab of the final episode.
In the preview at the end of episode 36, Anthy says she despises Utena. That’s all the information needed to connect the dots. A superhumanly alert viewer could predict the backstab. I doubt anyone ever has, without an outside hint!
Episodes 3 and 4, non-food. These two are about Anthy’s attitudes. The desiccant absorbs water, which means illusions, to prevent mold—to preserve Nanami’s dress for Anthy. The dress dissolves when wet. It is a symbol of Anthy accepting illusions to preserve her status quo, which like the dress is a trap. It’s inedible: It stands for Anthy’s rejection of her situation, which she passes off to Chu-Chu to suppress.
The eraser is about correcting mistakes. Anthy rejects that too, and sticks with her situation. It’s presumably passed off to Chu-Chu because she does not admit her mistake of staying with Akio.
Episode 28. Chu-Chu is showering under Anthy’s water as she waters her roses—naked except for a shampoo hat (that is, not wearing the tie). Utena says “beautiful as always” and Chu-Chu reacts with joy, as if to say “I am?” Utena deflects it, claiming she meant the roses. But her hands are behind her head for embarrassment, and her eyes are closed to what she is saying. Utena really means that Anthy is beautiful, and insightful Anthy understands the true meaning. Chu-Chu shows Anthy’s feelings (whether suppressed or not).
I think the rose colors are from Anthy’s point of view. Pink is for Utena and white is for the prince. Yellow should be for Anthy’s jealousy over Utena’s interest in Akio, explaining Chu-Chu’s sudden joy. The yellow ones are next to Utena’s head, which might mean that Anthy thinks Utena’s interest is illusionary (all in her head). If so, she’s right.
Jay Scott <jay@satirist.org>
first posted 22 July 2023
updated 20 October 2024