The Second Seduction. <- Previous • Next -> The Routine Date
Akio wants to separate Anthy and Utena, because the strong relationship between the two might disturb his plan. He wants to isolate Utena and ensure that Anthy stays under his thumb. During the Black Rose, Akio underestimated their relationship, but now in the Apocalypse Saga he knows. Anthy’s happiness around Wakaba in episode 25 angered him, and he has taken multiple countermeasures since. In episode 26 he pumped Anthy for information about Utena and she was reluctant to answer. One of Akio’s multiple reasons for bringing Nanami to his tower in episode 31 was to drive a wedge between Utena and Anthy; it worked to an extent. Having Anthy give the roses to Utena to deliver to Akio in episode 33 was in part to make Anthy jealous. In episode 34 Utena tells Akio that Anthy is a dear friend; in the following episode 35 Akio laments to Utena that the friendship cannot last, planting the seed to break them apart. In episode 36 Utena wanders into Akio’s room and sees Anthy with him, naked. It’s not clear how Akio arranged it to happen, or even that he did, but it is something he wanted to happen and he must have had some involvement.
Another important event comes first, Touga bringing Utena to the dueling arena. It is a step in isolating Utena. Akio’s final and biggest step comes after that, in the following section.
The order of events is at night with Touga - where were you last night? - the duel - seeing Anthy with Akio. All are steps of Akio’s plot.
Utena spends a night with Touga in the arena. Akio manipulated them into it, no doubt through Anthy. From Touga’s point of view, he is trying to save Utena from Akio; see Touga’s carrot. It is parallel to Ruka trying to save Juri from Akio; see Ruka’s arc. From the point of view of the story, it foreshadows the Routine Date of the next episode. Utena enjoys both dates, but realizes that Akio, like Touga, is not someone she should stay with forever. (Then she forgets, as so often.)
Utena’s view. She at first denies that the situation is romantic and rejects Touga. Though already girlish, her voice shifts to be more girlish. She is at least is coming to see the situation as potentially romantic, and may be lying outright. He soon turns her around, diverting her from the goal of marrying the prince to a goal of immediate pleasure. Spending a night with Touga is her most corrupt action of the series. She wants to hide it from both Anthy and Akio. How can she see herself as a prince? But Utena does not realize her own change of direction until the next day, when Anthy asks where were you last night?
It’s extremely corrupt by the standards of prince Utena. By the standards of ordinary people, it’s within the range of common behavior, especially at Utena’s age when the sense of morality still has a lot of growing to do. Utena is being made ordinary, and in Utena ordinary girls are corrupt (even Wakaba corruptly harbors Saionji and lies to conceal it).
Touga’s view. He has realized that Akio is up to no good. He seems to be the first Student Council member to realize that Akio is manipulating them all, and the only one to try to put a stop to it. But he has internalized his family patriarch role, and acts autocratically: He does not work together with Utena or Saionji, but lies to them and exploits them. His lies (as he sees it) hide his feelings, keep his options open, and protect himself. That already guarantees that he will fail, but beyond that he does not understand Akio’s plot well enough to know how to thwart it. He believes too much of the propaganda about how the duels work. He tries a variation of his plot to win the duel of episode 11. Utena is beyond that by now.
Touga’s plot is an approach-withdrawal maneuver of the kind Akio uses over and over. The events are parallel to episode 11: Touga creates attraction and Utena stands ready to be kissed; he withdraws; in the duel he re-approaches and she falls for it. Here Touga creates attraction in the night and withdraws. But in the duel Utena does not fall for it.
His red hair means that he has knowledge of good and evil. He sees Akio’s evil. He must see his own evil... and shrug it away. Apparently he tries to stop Akio to protect Utena, because he cares about her despite claiming to.
Akio’s view. He follows a two-prong risk-reduction plan. He continues the job of corrupting Utena further and separating her from Anthy, while Anthy and Touga do the work for him. In the final showdown, he tells Utena that if he is bad, she is as bad as he is—and he pretends not to know about the night with Touga. If Utena follows the reasoning, she may conclude that she is worse than Akio. As many of his plans do, this one serves more than one goal. Akio foresees Touga’s resistance and kicks Touga out of the path of his plot for Utena, separating him from her, cutting down his confidence so that he is sure to lose the duel, and tying him more closely to Saionji.
Utena wakes up at night, wearing her uniform in bed and sleeping on top of the covers—as in seeing Anthy with Akio below. The events are connected. Saturn and its moon Mimas appear in the false sky before Touga arrives. She wonders if Anthy is with Akio again. Touga arrives and lures Utena away with a promise to tell her about End of the World.
He may have had a contingency plan to do that, but (as usual) he mainly wanted to hit on her. That’s all he ended up doing. By going along, Utena violates Wakaba’s episode 35 advice to not be alone with him in the dark.
Mimas. Of course I recognize the moon Mimas. It’s where I want to live. Metaphorically, Saturn is Utena, and Mimas is Touga. Mimas was one of the giants who challenged the Olympian gods and was defeated, as Touga challenges Akio’s power and is defeated. Akio is Zeus. Another sign that Touga is defeated is a visual reference to Sailor Moon episode 13.
Mimas famously looks similar to the Star Wars Death Star (Wikipedia); people noticed it as soon as the Voyager 1 space probe sent back images a few years after Star Wars came out. I don’t know if the reference to Mimas as the Death Star is intentional, but it works. In that reading, Mimas as Touga stands for Akio exploiting Touga as part of his plot to exploit Utena and later murder her: Touga has become Akio’s weapon to destroy Utena’s revolutionized world.
A contrast: In episode 25 when Akio first activated Utena’s attraction, Utena spontaneously said it was romantic, revealing her feelings. Here, in the elevator on the way up, Touga asks whether it’s romantic, and Utena denies it. Akio achieved more than Touga. It is part of the extensive parallel between Akio and Touga.
The two take the gondola up to the dueling arena. The castle in the sky appears in a way that makes it clear that it is not physically there; it is magical if you believe in it, or an illusion if you do not. An aurora-like light show and the background music promote the “it’s magical” view.
In the arena, Utena’s teeth show immediately as she looks around: The mood is set, and Utena is almost ready to treat Touga as her prince. Her teeth disappear when she turns her attention to the stars. Her hair is ordinary girl length and remains so for the scene.
The castle and aurora are surely projected. Akio or Anthy is controlling the planetarium projector to create a romantic atmosphere (the one Utena just denied) so that she will agree to spend the night with Touga. It’s blue for illusion and pink for Utena.
Setting up the aurora. In episode 9, we see enough to know that Touga and Anthy must have worked together to plot the events in the arena that end with Touga intercepting Saionji’s attack on Utena. This time we do not see how the events were plotted. But I think it’s a safe guess that Anthy had control, under Akio’s orders; that is how Akio normally works. Either Anthy manipulated Touga into manipulating Utena into it, or more likely they worked together to manipulate Utena. In any case, the aurora was planned ahead of time. Touga asking whether it was romantic was likely part of the plot; the aurora contradicts Utena’s denial, and that has to help convince her.
Touga’s question. Touga asks if she loves Akio. (We get a shot of a tower of the castle in the sky glowing yellow, the color of Touga’s jealousy.) He uses the word ai, which means strong, lasting, caring love, like the love of family that strengthens over decades (though the word is often used in weaker senses). He’s not asking if she’s in love with Akio (he’d say koi which also translates to love), he’s basically asking if she wants to eventually marry him. Utena is surprised, it’s a new question to her. She objects softly in a girlish voice, “but he has a fiancee.” This is after the Second Seduction; Utena has stopped making moral decisions and doesn’t give a second thought to cheating on Kanae, but she sees a practical issue in the betrothal (and she does not know that Kanae was brutally murdered in episode 32). Her answer is uncertain. She has moved from wanting to marry the prince to being unsure who she wants to marry. Touga reads her feelings and declines to say anything about End of the World. Would he have said a thing otherwise? I doubt it.
Utena is unsure in the moment. Her decisions don’t tend to stick. Her uncertainty doesn’t tend to stick either.
Touga’s question put a new idea in Utena’s mind. She had never thought of it, and now she has a chance to consider whether she wants to stay with Akio for eternity. With something to think about, she has a chance to be more thoughtful, a key to her victory. An answer to the question comes up in the shadow play of the next episode. It’s easy to imagine that having the idea in her head will make it easier for her to agree to marry Akio, but apparently the effect is the opposite. It seems to contribute to her refusal of Akio’s ring after the Routine Date. Akio’s method is to keep Utena in the dark and unbalance her with surprises; Touga spoiled the surprise.
One last time. Touga gives a “you’re my princess” speech, which moves Utena. When he repeats his claim that he loves her, she blushes, just as she blushed for Akio before he repeated his similar claim in the Second Seduction. Her teeth reappear: He is her prince for the moment. Then a “one last time together” speech that no one should ever agree to. But Utena agrees to it, and takes it on herself to snuggle up to his side. Her hair is ordinary girl-length and his is prince-length.
Double-you Tee Aitch. Never mind how many times she has given Touga the cold shoulder, including multiple times in the last few minutes, this time her shoulder is warm. Utena is impulsive and easy to manipulate. The same thing happens in the final showdown when Akio easily manipulates Utena from angry to desirous. I imagine that, because it’s only once and apparently no one will find out about it, corrupt Utena impulsively gives in to her own desire. She seems to have just learned in the Second Seduction how good sex can be, and maybe she seeks more without regard to existing relationships; I’ve seen that effect in real life.
Utena’s attraction. Signs are that Utena has been attracted to Touga since episode 3 when he conveyed the impression that he was her prince. Wakaba called it in episode 3 shortly after. Here, after Touga goes on about how much he cares for her, she looks up at him with wide eyes—see Utena’s arc - mutual attraction makes Utena girlish. She is facing right for truth and blushing with attraction, and her teeth are showing white for the prince: At that moment, Touga is her prince. It’s very much like her look in the Second Seduction earlier in the episode, and suggests that the result may be alike.
The three red images come up in close succession in the episode 11 duel. Each targets the other sexually. First, Touga strongly parries Utena’s attack; she expects a kiss and he declines. Next, Touga attacks and Utena’s sword is in position to barely stop it. Last, Touga’s sword allows Utena’s attack. Utena resists Touga’s advances but has her own interest, which Touga exploits to win the duel. The background pattern emphasizes Anthy, the object of the duel; the metaphorical spotlight is white for the prince who will win her. Back then, Utena thought Touga was her prince. In episode 36 she is over that illusion, but the three images repeat in the episode 36 duel, with an altered background. The same feelings and reactions persist, and in her distractible way Utena takes Touga as her prince. The images are the same, but the actions to reach them are slightly different. In the third image of episode 11, Utena made an aggressive thrust. In episode 36, she reached the same position with a follow-through swing after Touga’s attack. She knows he’s not her prince, and she’s more passive (and so more girlish). But Touga’s trick fails this time.
Possibly Utena picked up the seed of her attraction to Touga as a child, when he opened her coffin in the prince story. Akio used his superhuman attractiveness against her shortly after. Years later, the two could easily have grown confused in her memory.
The scene is parallel to the Second Seduction, and like most parallels between Akio and Touga it shows Akio succeeding and Touga failing. To work out the parallel: Akio manipulates Utena into a date with a fake rescue; Touga manipulates Utena into a date with a lie (a weaker plan). Both dates start with travel to an isolated location where they are alone (the dueling arena is only apparently isolated; Touga was less successful). Akio tells Utena she is like a princess; Touga tells Utena she is his princess (Touga makes an admission that Akio need not make). Utena blushes, emotionally moved and showing desire in both cases. Akio has seduced her utterly, and she kisses him and has sex. Touga has seduced her enough that she snuggles close with his arm around her. It’s not clear what more they may have done, but they seem to have stayed together for hours, around the same duration as Akio’s sex dates. There was time for anything, and Touga is not shy. The comparison to his tryst with the shy girl—who he exploits but does not care about (see giving a red poppy to Touga)—is suggestive. In the end, though, Touga cannot be allowed to seduce Utena as successfully as Akio does. He promised it was the last time; he will give up on Utena.
The symbolism of Utena’s sex dates with Akio applies. See Akio-Utena date parallels. Utena does not talk about the fun she had, but looks happy in the morning; it was good. The travel to the date is by walking and gondola. Touga draws Utena along, the same way that Utena draws Anthy along as she walks, while Akio drives Utena willy-nilly to his destination. Utena is free to change her mind about going with Touga. The romantic light show is associated with the castle in the sky and stands for fantasy; Utena does not seek a serious relationship with Touga, just an enjoyable interlude like a daydream. Eternity with Touga is out of the picture. The event is entirely at night; Utena is already corrupted and chooses deeper corruption with no moral consideration, as in the Routine Date. The date is an illicit affair, and Utena expects that it will remain secret. Utena’s regret is not visible until the next day, which is a change from the dates with Akio. It may mean that her desires were not as well-satisfied (she likes but does not love Touga, and/or Touga does not have Akio’s full range of skills), so her illusions were less fully lifted. Possibly. Nevertheless she is more thoughtful. The thoroughness of the alignment suggests sex; why else make this event so similar to the sex dates?
A conclusion. Utena is now so corrupted that she cheats on Akio too without a second thought and arguably without a first thought. Akio knows about it, so it’s all part of his plot. Everyone around Akio is wrapped up in a net of secret trysts and relationships, and Akio controls the net.
There are multiple implied comparisons. In episode 12, due to Touga’s manipulation Utena had lost her “self” and tried to become an ordinary girl, when in fact she was still a prince. Here, due to Akio’s manipulation she has become an ordinary girl. She wants to be with Touga, as the ordinary girls do. Another: Kozue sees her mother, who left, as unfaithful to the family. Even so, she unconsciously takes her mother as a role model and is unfaithful to the family. She becomes promiscuous in an attempt to hold Miki’s attention and keep his loyalty to the family; she wants him to be jealous, and it doesn’t seem to work. Here, Utena becomes promiscuous and is unfaithful to Anthy and to Akio. Her aim is to fulfill her (easily diverted) desires, but the effect is to make Anthy jealous (an example of Akio tormenting Anthy outside of Utena’s sight). Another: Shiori does not understand that she loves Juri, and tries out two different boys instead. Utena does not understand that she loves Anthy, and tries out two different boys. Utena is worse, and more like Kozue; Shiori broke up with her old boyfriend before taking another. Think about that: Utena is more corrupt than malicious Shiori!
Cassiopeia. Utena returns home and stays up until dawn, standing at the window. It suggests that she was up most of the night with Touga. In the morning, with Cassiopeia in the sky, the sun rises, though Utena is looking away at the moment it appears. The sunrise should symbolize realization or enlightenment, but all she seems to realize is that, hey, I used to wonder if he was my prince. She looks happy, so nothing happened that she regrets (yet). The shadow play is about knowing what you want, and Utena seems to feel that she knows what she wants, and just got some of it.
She does not know what she wants. Utena misses the sunrise because she looks at Anthy with a smile. It is like an event after the episode 25 duel, where she unconsciously associates her sexual interest in the prince with her feelings about Anthy (see the discussion of the episode 25 image under other symbols - fingernail length). She enjoyed the night with Touga, and her feelings about it remind her of her feelings about Anthy. But she doesn’t know that she loves Anthy.
Cassiopeia is another who challenged the Olympians and was punished for it. The constellation appeared earlier in episodes 33 and 34, and becomes prominent next episode. See after the Routine Date, when the meaning is made clear—Cassiopeia is Utena’s bad end. The sky says that Akio’s plan has progressed.
Closure. The episode provides closure to the relationship between Utena and Touga. Despite her frequent brush-offs, she always felt an attraction to Touga, not unlike the girls who crowded around him. I think she brushed him off because she felt that attraction; she believed she wanted to marry the prince. A part of her is the regular girl she claimed to be in episode 3. In snuggling up to him, as much as acceding to his request, she is acknowledging her own feelings and saying goodbye to them. In their duel not long after, the two say a final goodbye: They exchange thoughts wordlessly, and their fingers linger on each other and part. It’s like the lingering touch of Anthy and Utena in the last episode before Anthy falls away. Utena, I suppose, still feels the warmth of their night together.
Kicking Touga out of the picture was part of Akio’s plot. The meeting acts to maintain Utena’s girlishness, keeping her under Akio’s control. It causes Utena to become confused and unbalanced, as depicted in where were you last night?, making her susceptible to Akio’s manipulation. Nevertheless, it was also useful for Utena. Resolving her issues with Touga leaves Utena in a stronger position to face the bitter difficulties of episode 37. She stayed up the rest of the night thinking, a change for her (though the rest of the night was likely a short time, not long enough to be worth sleeping through). Apparently giving in to Touga on his date gave her another period of thoughtfulness like her dates with Akio, and she needs to be thoughtful to win, so (counterintuitive as it seems) it was the right choice. Until now she has lived in the moment and ignored basic questions like “what are my real feelings for Akio?” and “what do I want for the future?” And that’s what Touga asked her about. In the next episode, she has a lot more thinking to do.
After the duel, Utena lies flat on her back backwards on the S-shaped bed (picture below), so that we see her right-side up rather than inverted as usual. Utena falls asleep that way. Anthy was waiting for it. Utena murmurs Akio’s name in her sleep; whether she would like to marry him or not, he’s certainly on her mind.
A shot of the Swords of Hatred piercing Anthy. Utena is dreaming it, and though it is an illusion it is a true dream.
Utena gets up to seek Anthy, and finds her with Akio. Anthy stands, ruined, as Utena stares back.
Utena wakes up and finds out an important truth. Being awake is associated with realization; see Buddhist awakening and compare the sunrises where she stays up all night. But she discovers only one corner of Anthy’s situation. Utena has made Anthy jealous since episode 25; Anthy blames Utena for betraying her, even though she knows that Akio’s sex appeal is nearly irresistible. Now Utena comes to blame Anthy for betraying her, and it is another misunderstanding. To be sure, it’s complicated and both misunderstandings are partial.
Utena’s hair when she wakes up is prince length. At the same time, her white teeth show as she sleeps and after she wakes. It could be because she remains a prince (she believes she saved Anthy in the duel), but I think it’s because she has been thinking of Akio (she spoke his name in falling asleep). If I’m right, the symbols of princehood are opposed; she plays the role of prince while believing Akio is her prince. It stands for Utena’s confusion that Akio is exploiting to manipulate her.
I’m having trouble with cause and effect in this scene. Utena woke up immediately after a vision of Anthy which was a true memory and therefore not Akio’s doing—apparently? The vision is what prompted Utena to look for Anthy and find her. I interpret it as Utena’s power of miracles showing her a truth that she needs for her ultimate victory. And yet it is an event that Akio seems to want to happen. At the minimum, he does not object to it; if he did, he could have kept Utena away. Akio’s position and Anthy’s reaction look as if they are stage-managed by Akio. Did he somehow know it would happen? Did he do something to awaken Utena, and only the vision was a small miracle? Was he ready in case it happened? Or did he react on the fly?
There is one case where Akio feeds Utena a true vision, as a projection. At the same time, he drugs her so she will forget it. Is that event related to this one? But this vision does not seem to be a projection.
My best theory is that Akio arranged the meeting by depriving Utena of sleep. He arranged the earlier events of the episode to leave her so tired that she would fall asleep early and wake up in the night. And he somehow knew that that would send her seeking Anthy. But I can’t explain how he knew. His arrangements could leave Utena expecting to see Anthy in bed, but that doesn’t seem like enough. Presumably Anthy told him, but how would she know?
The dream of the Swords of Hatred piercing Anthy goes with the waking vision of the Swords piercing Anthy as they were sitting on the grass in episode 36. They’re not identical: This time she sees little Anthy, as in the final version of the prince story. Utena remembers a little more, though she is dreaming.
Akio’s hair tie is larger than usual. I think he is using his full power of illusions to ensure that Utena draws the “correct” conclusion that Anthy has betrayed her.
In the picture to the right, Utena is mostly right-side-up because she is about to be shown the truth, though it is a partial truth and functions as a lie. A moment later we see her from Anthy’s point of view, and Utena is at a diagonal angle, partly inverted. Anthy does not see Utena quite correctly. She speaks in her cool Rose Bride voice, pretending to accept Utena’s misunderstanding of Touga’s non-promise that the Student Council would now leave Anthy alone.
Anthy was noticeably under orders before she left the bedroom, though likely the orders were only to spend the night with Akio. As I read it, Akio staged the scene so he was facing away from Utena and appeared clothed, and required Anthy to stand naked and face her—he stages it as Anthy’s doing, nothing he had a hand in. In reality, see Anthy’s hands disappearing behind her hair: Metaphorically, Anthy does not have a hand in it. She is unable to take her own actions.
When Nanami saw Anthy and Akio together in episode 31 (a close parallel comparing Nanami and Utena) Anthy was unconcerned (picture). Her role required her to appear unconcerned, but still—she didn’t care what Nanami thought. Both images have blue backgrounds, but the lighting was warmer and softer in episode 31. Here, in contrast, she is devastated. That face is the picture of desolation. She believes she knows how Utena will react, and she knows that Akio wants that reaction.
Anthy is pleased to be with Akio. Anthy is desolate, but she has not given up on Utena. The camera draws a comparison between scenes: In the episode 25 vertical panning shot, Anthy was flat on her back, full of love and yet defeated by Akio. This time, before she knows that Utena is in the room, we get a horizontal panning shot of Anthy lying on her front. Anthy wears a smile, as when holding a hand on Utena’s breast—she is happy to be with Akio and fulfill her sexual desires. But Akio has not defeated her.
Most events in episode 37 are colored by Utena’s sudden tension with Anthy.
Anthy’s massive hair is for censorship, for disturbing visual and dramatic effect, for the symbolism of the hands, to mark Anthy as a princess (compare when Utena becomes a princess), and above all to tie Anthy to Rapunzel. This scene corresponds to the point in the Rapunzel story where the witch captures the prince and blinds him; Utena (captured by Akio, as emphasized by murmuring his name in her sleep) becomes blind to Anthy’s feelings.
When Anthy’s voluminous hair is rolled up, it must be under tremendous pressure. Don’t release Anthy’s hair suddenly, it’s dangerous!
Jay Scott <jay@satirist.org>
first posted 9 December 2021
updated 5 December 2024