Chu-Chu. <- Previous • Next -> Juri.
The picture is from the gallery at Empty Movement, a panning shot no doubt pieced together into one image by Giovanni, who deserves the credit. Notice the shadow: The image depicts Dios standing directly in front of a painted background.
The usual interpretation: Dios is a fictional character, a perfect all-capable fairy tale prince of the kind that appears in many stories for children. Akio invented Dios to teach children their patriarchal sex roles: A prince is an ideal boy, a princess is an ideal girl, every boy should seek his princess, every girl should seek her prince, and of course the prince is in charge while a princess is submissive and accommodating. They marry and live happily ever after. The stories are made to be appealing so that the patriarchy is appealing.
An alternate interpretation: Manichaeism provides a view in which Dios is real; Akio created him as a real person. Akio almost always (there is only one exception) speaks as though Dios really existed. When Akio says in the final showdown that there never was a prince, one take is that Dios existed but was not a prince. Utena symbols overlap in complicated ways and sometimes contradict each other.
The prince story in all its variations is an origin myth that explains how Dios, Akio, Anthy, and Utena came to be. As a myth, it’s a made-up explanation, of course. Real myths come with variations too, for the same kinds of reasons: Poor transmission, fuzzy memories, and creative alterations.
Anthy believes in the reality of Dios for the entire series. Utena believes until nearly the end.
Utena’s dream memory of Dios in episode 34 is not fully accurate. Anthy’s memories of Dios seem to be entirely confabulated.
Dios smells of roses because he is the Rose Prince, counterpart of the Rose Bride. When Akio played Dios for little Utena, did he arrange to smell of roses? Or did he (then or later) offer the illusion of smelling like roses?
• The children’s cartoon version of the prince story, repeated in many episodes, is what Utena remembers from when she (believes she) met Dios as a small child.
• In the present time, Utena calls on Dios in most duels, to perform a miracle and win. In some early duels, Dios seems to merge with Utena. In the Apocalypse Saga, his apparition descends from the castle in the sky to kiss her on the lips. Utena wants to become a prince. She doesn’t believe that she already is, though symbols like her hair length and prince uniform epaulets tell us when she plays the role. She attributes her victories to the prince, and does not realize that they are her own doing.
• In episode 34, the prince (not given a name) appears as a character in The Tale of the Rose.
• Later in episode 34, Utena dreams a more complete version of her meeting with Dios. It’s plain that her dream is not entirely true to events, but it is informative. And, of course, she did not really meet Dios, who does not exist. It was Akio playing Dios, manipulating Utena in one of his plots.
• In the final showdown, part of Utena’s miracle is that the prince of her memory appears in person. He praises her loyalty to him, dismisses her because she is a girl, listens to Akio’s monolog, and finally walks off and disappears back into imagination.
Jay Scott <jay@satirist.org>
first posted 7 August 2024
updated 21 June 2026