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Ruka appears only in episodes 28 and 29, and is dead by the end of episode 29. (I conclude he was dead before then.) See Juri’s arc - episodes 28 and 29 for his story from Juri’s point of view. In short, in episode 28 he shows up out of nowhere, seduces Shiori (easy), duels and loses, and coldly dumps Shiori. In episode 29, he seduces Juri (difficult). She duels but gives up after Utena shatters her locket. Ruka disappears again, and we’re told he died in the hospital.
Ruka’s uniform does not have a breast pocket, meaning that he is heartless—or at least, his heart does not show. (He does have hip pockets; he seeks sex with women. Even though his epaulets suggest he is gay.) He treats others coldly and cruelly. He runs roughshod over Shiori and Juri, and even Nanami seems upset to see him. I suspect he loves no one, though his epaulets suggest that he loves Akio. He does care about her in some way—when she is heartbroken after her locket is destroyed, he tries to comfort her. Though earlier he battered her feelings until she did what he wanted.
He is like Touga in his bad personality, his two-tone hair, and his uniform. It is a clue to his story.
In episode 29, he describes Shiori to Juri: She is willful, pushy, and self-centered. (A “proper” girl would be the opposite, obedient, submissive, and supportive.) His description of Shiori seems fair, but it is a better description of himself.
Events are in Juri’s arc - episodes 28 and 29. This section explains them from Ruka’s point of view.
Backstory. To follow Ruka’s story—assuming that I understand it—I think it’s necessary to decipher his backstory. Ruka seems to be in his 12th year of school, the same as Kanae and older than other students. I think his similarity to Touga means that he was Akio’s former top candidate to develop the Power of Dios. He went through a process similar to Utena’s. He gained great patriarchal power, though Utena wins the duel so his power is not as great as hers. His epaulets say that he is gay so (like Utena) he was in line to “marry” Akio—and I expect that (unlike Utena) he accepted the fake marriage. (If I misunderstand the epaulets, then he was in line to “marry” Anthy.) He does not fight with his own sword, because he made it far enough that Akio stole his sword and kept it. But the sword is drawn from his heart, so it should represent him and his beliefs. That level of unfairness must teach Ruka about Akio’s true nature. He becomes a risk to Akio, and Akio will want to eliminate him, like Utena. His illness and death are due to Anthy’s poison.
Too many people near Akio die when it is convenient for Akio. It is not a coincidence.
Ruka is dead. The shadow play seems to imply that Ruka was alive until “yesterday,” but a shadow play is a story about the past, as in The Tale of the Rose, not a depiction of current events. The title of episode 28 suggests that Ruka is already dead, and that Akio and Anthy are controlling him. Additionally, Ruka taught fencing to Juri, which means that he trained up her patriarchal power, in the same way that already-dead Mikage trains Utena’s. The patriarchy’s power of stories continues to operate after death, or in other words, the entire story we see of Ruka and Juri is an illusion brought about by Ruka’s great power (as exploited by Akio). That’s the interpretation I prefer. Alternately, if you want Ruka to be alive a little longer, Anthy decided to delay his death slightly and use him to manipulate Juri into dueling again. As soon as his job is complete, Anthy completes his murder. It’s less likely because Akio should prefer to eliminate dangerous people quickly, and Ruka is dangerous because he tries to work against Akio. Ruka likely died in the previous school year, shortly after his sword failed to open the Rose Gate (or Akio otherwise gave up on him). He is the same age as Touga but seems to be older because he has been dead for a year.
When Ruka arrives at the Student Council platform, he emerges from darkness from the feet up. It is certainly Akio’s evil darkness. I think it is the darkness of death, like Mikage’s dark lair.
Being dead is not what makes Ruka heartless. Dead Mikage has a breast pocket. Possibly being betrayed by Akio made him heartless. But it’s at least as likely that he was always that way.
Motivation. Akio’s process of bringing Utena under control teaches her about the patriarchy—metaphorically, it prompts her to become thoughtful and begin to see through her Buddhist illusions, and teaches her Christian knowledge of good and evil, where Akio is evil.
Ruka must have gone through the same process. He did not get as far as Utena, but he got far enough that Akio wants to eliminate him. Ruka understands Akio’s evil, not perfectly as Utena eventually does but well enough, at least at the level that the current Student Council comes to understand it. He wants to rescue Juri. He’s not trying to cure her love of Shiori, he’s trying to cure her desire for Akio. There’s independent evidence: He tells Juri that you have to sacrifice others to achieve a miracle, but only “undeserving” people like Utena succeed. Utena is undeserving because she does not sacrifice others—yow, is Ruka evil enough?
Ironically, Juri’s desire for Akio is what enables Ruka to control her. Juri wears lipstick for Akio when she wonders who End of the World is in episode 25, and wears lipstick for Ruka, desiring him at the moment when she most hates him (see Juri’s arc - lipstick for Ruka). As I read it, she desires Ruka’s patriarchal power.
Ruka’s power. Akio caused Ruka to develop patriarchal power, and Ruka does not come up with Utena’s idea of helping each other. Ruka acts like Akio, only more crudely: He shows off his power and belittles Juri’s. Juri is a defender of the patriarchy and cannot fight against it (see Juri’s arc - episode 12), so for all her skill she is helpless against Ruka. His methods are vicious, combining gaslighting with violent assault. Like Akio, he completes his control plan with sex.
Ruka seems to stand for men who attempt to work against the patriarchy, but use patriarchal methods and end up working for it. He personifies false feminism. Ruka’s attempt to save Juri fails; it is Utena who saves her. And Ruka could only fail; you can’t free a woman from patriarchal control by exercising patriarchal control over her. That’s not feminism, it’s bald selfishness.
Ruka and Juri. The title of episode 29 portmanteaus Ruka’s and Juri’s names into one word, meaning “the color of lapis lazuli,” that is, blue for illusion. Ruka’s lapis lazuli-colored hair contrasts with Juri’s orange hair, but stands for an illusion that the two share. (Alternately, it stands for the illusion that Ruka is alive.) Ruka taught fencing to Juri, which means that he trained up her patriarchal power. Ruka and Juri are made into a unit and stand for the same idea: They try to escape the system by joining it. They believe that the way to overcome the patriarchy’s abusive power is to gain the abusive power. They think the gangsters are free, so they try to become gangsters.
Ruka and Touga. Ruka’s parallel with Touga continues. Ruka’s attempt to free Juri from Akio corresponds to Utena spending a night with Touga, which is Touga attempting to free Utena from Akio. Both succeed in manipulating their target into sex, and both necessarily fail in their ultimate aim. To free women from patriarchal control you need an idea that goes beyond controlling people—an idea like Utena’s idea of helping each other.
Touga wants to take Utena from Akio and keep her for himself. I conclude that Ruka doesn’t want Juri for himself, though his hip pockets suggest he does seek sex with her. As the hospital shadow play says, his key goal is to free her.
Jay Scott <jay@satirist.org>
first posted 10 July 2024
updated 21 January 2025