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Symbolism and Themes
By its plays on such archetypal figures as the Prince, the Princess, or the Witch, and by the literary symbolic role carried out by such plot elements as coffins, thorns, or castles, Utena can be seen as the quintessence of the Postmodernist fairy tale. One important aspect of Revolutionary Girl Utena is that it grabs traditional ideas and perseptions, and twists them around. For example, it is often debated-and indirectly shown, in the series- that Anthy and Utena are both the princesses of the prince who is Dios, or Akio, or both. This is a stark contrast to the generally accepted theory that princes have only one princess, whom they love and protect. Dios and Akio are both shown to be protective of Utena and Anthy, in their own way. Another example can be the splitting and the imprisonment of Dios. It is generally believed that a prince is brave and gallant, without any flaws or any evil in him, and capable of defending himself and escaping any sort of captivity. In Utena Dios is imprisoned by Anthy, and his evel side Akio creates a better impression than Dios himself, which may lead some to believe that Dios is not that noble either, though he may be so.
It should be noted that the series addresses sexual themes quite often, including yuri (lesbian) and yaoi (gay male) elements - as well as other sexual matters such as incestuous desire, actual incest, and sexual abuse. While the themes are important to the plot, they are usually not explicit in the series. There is somewhat more explicit sexual imagery in the motion picture, although it is still far from pornographic. Sexuality is quite fluid in Utena; most characters are at least hinted at having both same-sex and opposite-sex attractions.
Another very important theme is about gender roles (freely chosen or socially imposed), which play a large part in the series, from its very premise in which Utena wishes to be a prince and not a princess. The omnipresence of phallic symbols, such as swords, towers, cars, and poles, and the sexual connotations of flowers contributes to these sexual themes.
Chief among the romantic relationships in Utena is that between Utena and Anthy. It is more ambiguous in the TV series than the movie - the director has a dislike of the strong shipper tendency in fandom and even complained about Sailor Moon's leads' idealized relationship. While Utena (especially in the movie) is boyish, strong, and physically aggressive ("masculine" traits), she is more emotional and innocent than the wearily experienced Anthy.
Much of the series -- arguably, in a way the entire series -- revolves around the transition between childhood to adulthood and all of that implies, notably development of sexual feelings and identity and the loss of "innocence." Most of the characters are estranged from a loved one in their childhood, something which affects them deeply and arguably stunts them, and this relationship is often complicated or corrupted by a sexual element.
Another theme of Utena is the reinterpretation of classic shōjo themes and motifs. Examples may be seen in the failure of "heroic" male characters, Utena's refusal to become a princess (and refusal to sacrifice her femininity in order to become a 'prince'), Anthy's subversion of the demure female role, and various plays on conventions in the genre, such as the transformation of outfits and idealized notions of friendship and love.
Visual motifs
Some of Utena's architecture.
The dominant motif of the entire series is the rose, which fills the decor and landscape of the Academy as well as the ritual accoutrements of the Duelists. Highly stylized, they are reminiscent of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's.
Another motif is the use of elevators, which are used as places of transition or transformation. These include the Council's elevator, the one found in Nemuro Hall (scene of the confessions in the Black Rose arc), and the one found in the final version of the dueling arena.
Cars may be considered one of the most oblique motifs seen in the series. In the anime, they appear in the third version of the dueling arena. In the final act of the movie, Utena is transformed into a car.
Repeated use of animated sequences can be seen in almost every episode, most noticeably Utena's entrance to the dueling arena. While this is usually seen in anime as a practical consideration to reduce production costs, it may also be used to reinforce certain themes.
Utena also takes the typically shōjo poses and dramatic effects intended to heighten the mood or tension of important scenes and exaggerates them, often to the point of being deliberately comedic. Examples include characters framed with spinning roses, or a dramatic scene accentuated with a baseball match in the background.