Revolutionary Girl Utena Newbie Recap: Episode 9, “The Castle Said to Hold Eternity”

Coming off of last week’s Nanami episode, this episode of Utena snuck up on me like a sword-wielding psychopath. I refer to the “level-up” in a show’s narrative as their Soul Society arc (based on the arc of the same name from Bleach, my ur and favorite example of the trope), and well, it looks like we’ve reached Utena‘s Soul Society arc.

The episode starts simply enough: Utena gets wind of a Touga vs. Saionji Kendo duel. In a fantastic sequence, squealing fangirls are positioned around the arena as Kendo sticks jostling for their favorite fighter.

Just a great shot.

Utena watches, impressed by Touga’s princely bearing and the fact that he beats Saionji. Touga pretends that he and Saionji are actively friendly, but Saionji’s pissed at the loss and calls Touga “the one person I absolutely won’t lose to!”

Later, Chu-Chu is playing outside the greenhouse with a pill bug. Shenanigans ensue (a frog eats the pill bug); Saionji walks upon scene and blames Chu-Chu for getting between him and Anthy. Utena shows up to call him a stubborn ass rather than some devoted suitor; a distinction this ridiculous man doesn’t seem to grasp.

Saionji basically challenges her for duel two, but she pushes back that he couldn’t even beat Touga. Saionji drops a hint that he reeeeally wants to beat Touga, not even Utena, at the duels—Utena rightly asks, does that make Anthy some weird pawn in his friendship with Touga. Saionji’s cryptic response: “Together with Anthy, I will possess eternity.” Utena is rightly confused, and though Saionji doesn’t reveal the extent of his past with Touga to her (or does he, it’s unclear), he does so to the viewer.

It’s here that the episode takes its turn: A friendship flashback for Touga and Saionji, who’ve known each other for ten years. /insert an audio clip of ominous empty wind whooshing/

Saionji’s 50th time losing to Touga, probably.

It starts like this: Saionji and Touga are biking back in the rain together after a round of Kendo practices. They’re actually kinda cute, and have an older brother/younger brother kind of rapport going on.

Too bad about your futures.

The two boys bike past a church, where a funeral is underway: two parents, though their orphaned girl is revealed to be missing by a duo of foreboding folks on the road. One of them wonders if said girl was “spirited away”; the comment strikes both Saionji and especially Touga weirdly. Later, Touga sneaks into church, as he’d seen three coffins despite the report of two bodies.

Another just great shot.

Because he’s apparently fearless, Touga opens the lid of one of the coffins, to Saionji’s chagrin. There, he finds … Utena???

BABYYY

The pink-haired girl asks them not to expose her; Touga promises, but not before creepily fondling her hair.

. . . (Also, I think he later calls himself a feminist, but the subtitle translates to “chivalrous.”)

Baby Utena? delivers an extremely sad monologue about how she belongs in the coffin, and that living isn’t worth it because everyone dies—”That there’s no such thing as something eternal.” The harrowing comment strikes both boys, Saionji in particular.

Touga, for his part, turns around to leave the girl in the coffin. When Saionji protests, Touga says: “Show her something eternal,” with a smirk on his face. The next day, both boys see Utena? at her parents’ funeral. Saionji thinks Touga’s done something extraordinary, and bemoans the fact that Touga is always or always seems ahead.

Then, a flash forward: Anthy in her Rose Bride garb, looking up at the castle above the dueling ground, mentioning that she’d like to go there because it holds “something eternal.” What is this connection? Could Saionji actually mean every ridiculous and violent word that comes out of his mouth?

During a student council meeting, Jury reveals Utena’s prince past and aspiration; indeed, it was in the hopes of meeting this prince that she even attended this school. All of this leads the viewer and Touga himself to wonder: is it him?

Touga finds Utena alone on the school rooftop, where she asks him about the castle. He tells her that she’ll meet her prince there, then tries to swoon her as said prince.

HANDS OFF, YA JERK!!!

Utena tells him off, but Touga’s planted the seed of doubt. Meanwhile, Saionji opens a letter from End of the World and is smarmily shocked by what he finds.

Now, an interlude: The Shadow Girls riff on what it means to have the things you believe in pulled from under you. (The example they use is Santa Claus.) But, also included: true friendships. Wonder what the theme for this episode is!!!

Utena comes home from this eventful day at school, only to find: no Anthy. An anonymous tip call from Touga reveals that Anthy’s at the arena, and Utena quickly pieces together that she must be with Saionji.

A deranged Saionji thinks he’s fulfilling Anthy’s “promise” to go into the castle’s eternity, when in all likelihood, that was probably one of her many offhand comments, like what with happened with Miki. Then, he drops what End of the World wrote him: that tonight, the castle falls. When Anthy objects at her entering the arena without her actual engaged victor, Saionji full on smacks her with the butt of his sword. And here, any sympathy for this tortured character evaporates: FUCK OFF. He puts his hand on the lever that’ll activate that frustratingly-long stair-climbing opera sequence.

But! When Utena runs up to the entrace, she finds Saionji passed out in the shallow pool outside. When he comes to, they both realize that Anthy’s gone inside, or perhaps been “spirited away,” in a chilling callback.

On the dueling platform: a giant rose, and a coffin that mirrors the one from Saionji’s flashback inside. It creepily opens up to reveal Anthy in rose bride garb. Then on cue, the arena starts falling apart; random platforms raise the Rose Bride and Saionji. As the castle begins to crumble, Saionji is ecstatic that he’s finally been let into this cloistered moment—only for his shit-eating grin to vanish as the castle towers begin to fall onto Saionji, not raise him up as well.

Unfortunately, Utena’s platforms are crumbling as well, so she leapfrogs her way over to Anthy, “rescuing” her from the rose coffin in a stunning sequence.

This shot, combined with the gorgeous organ music, was more romantic than 90% of all the “romcoms” I’ve ever watched.

As Utena worries about Anthy, who doesn’t remember how she ended up on the platform, Saionji is bitter and furious; he was “supposed” to be the one to save the princess this time. He sneaks up on Utena in a bid to get the Rose Bride and his “eternity” back, unsheathes his metal blade, and goes in for kill, only! Touga takes the hit! (And, confirmed: Touga says “feminist” and it’s translated to “chivalrous.” Uh.)

Later, Touga reveals in bedside telephone call (surrounded by giggling girls) that he was the one who sent that letter to Saionji under End of the World’s orders. Saionji is now expelled, and Touga’s health is alright as the cut was shallow. Now, Touga’s long con is revealed: he’d planned to betray his “friend,” for “a person who truly believes in friendship is a fool.”

Though the actual *answers* in this episode are few and far between, it’s interesting to see what aspects it takes seriously in its most serious moments. Utena almost plays second fiddle to the drama unfolding between Touga and Saionji, whose character had actually been neglected for a while. But, it’s clear that she’s serving both as a disruption and also as a fulfillment. How deep was Touga’s probable betrayal? Is Saionji fully out of the narrative? When did Anthy make that comment about “something eternal”? Was the girl in the coffin actually Utena? If so, what’ll happen to the prince/princess dynamic now? What’s up with the show’s obsession with focusing on singular moments of memory connection? (See, Jury and “miracles.”) Until next time; I’m excited.

Tweet your thoughts on Episode 9 of Revolutionary Girl Utena to me here. This should go without saying, but NO SPOILERS PLEASE!

Lilian Min is an associate editor at HelloGiggles and has written for The Atlantic, Nylon Magazine, BuzzFeed, and others. Read her other work here and tweet her here.

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