It’s important to remember that Plato’s allegory of the cave is a description of how Plato sees the world, and the idea of truth. He goes on to use the allegory as part of a justification for the rights of kings and rulers to lie, to manipulate. He did not see the people forced to look at the shadows as a negative, or something to be escaped, but more so as an ideal of human relations. Which is kinda fucked but it fits Utena so well, at least from Akio’s perspective

It's not go fish, it's a different card game, we call it "witch", the one who left with two jokers is loosing.

2024😢😢😢😢

Omg yayyy

生存戦略

That Miki's stopwatch goes back to the start of the conversation might also show that this dueling game is a cycle that (spoiler) Akio suggests has happened many times before in search of someone who's Sword of Dios is strong enough to let him regain his princeliness. The end of one cycle just results in the start of another dueling game, just as the supposed end of the conversation circles back to the beginning.

Great video I enjoyed the analysis and editing ,I hope you continue making these! (Im quite late but i just recently finishied watching this show)

I personally read the penguins as a twofold metaphor again- sort of curse in one sense, or a physical ever-presence in another. The consequences of the Childrens parents actions, ultimately not the childrens responsibility, but inescapable. I think this doubles with the remainder of the Kiga cults influence on the childrens life, either through Kambas choices, or the potential and likely vulnerability of the children to fall back in with the organisation. This is why Masako also has a penguin, but why Esmeralda looks different to 1, 2 & 3. Masakos determination to prevent Kamba from falling back in with the cult speaks to her resolve; a refined quality. She outgrew her curse/pain and turned it into a reminder of her own growth, and her conviction in saving Kamba and Mario, the people she cares for most. Save for the time Kamba uses his penguin for morally ambiguous means, (which is still thematically relevant to his story arc) Himari, Shoma and Kamba actively ignore their penguins. However Masako and Esmeralda often work together to achieve the same goal, which appears selfish at first, but is ultimately revealed to be the salvation of her brothers.

I didn't get anything of the show, bc I'm not someone who understands symbolism 😭

THIS IS NOT COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT AHHHHHH

KZbin IS TRYING TO SILENCE CRABE FOR SPEAKING THE TRUTH DONT LET THEM DO IT AHHHHHHH

I’m not sure which episode but there is one scene later in the series which explicitly shows Miki’s stopwatch as usual but he doesn’t actually stop it.

I would like to append something here I may return to later, but I focus a lot on Anthy's agency in this video in a way that crosses over into victim blaming, though that was not my intent. I should have spent more time emphasizing Anthy's horrible abuse and empathizing with her character. It could be misleading and it doesn't do full justice to her character. My intention with the discussion here was to emphasize Anthy's agency as opposing the self-image of herself as the "Rose Bride" and that Anthy is in fact a real person deserving of love and empathy, not the doll she pretends to be to numb her pain. This self delusion ties in with the interpretation of yellow I discuss which is why I emphasized it, but it was too one-sided in its portrayal. Thanks for watching and reading my ramblings.

hiya, just wanted to ask if there's a re-upload of the new version? It's blocked 😥

could you make a video about yurikuma arashi

Very unique insight, thank you for the video, this is also my favorite fairy tale for adults

9:08 fun little fact: the label on the record says 'I grandi musicisti', which is Italian for (very literally) 'The Great Musicians'.

Open your eyes, Lain is everywhere.

Czartoryska - Zar-tohr-ee-skah.

nah the yellow was because they left the cells near the window and they yellowed B*)

I gotta tell you I never knew the origins of Anthy's name, or even thought that there was a significant origin, and uh ha yeah that uh, that makes ALOT of sense.

I miss you so much, I loved your video essays

I assumed Mawaru Penguindrum was so dense and hard to understand because Ikuhara didn't want the Japanese public catching on to his critiques of family and how abusive it can get. On the face of it, there's absolutely no reason for this show to be so ridiculously cryptic and pull out the most random references to highlight its themes unless the point was to be so obscure as to escape scrutiny. You did a good job on the video, but honestly i don't see why this show had to be so convoluted. Utena is also very dense but didn't feel as annoying, meandering and whiplash-y as penguindrum did. Literally half the words do no make sense while watching the show, which i'm happy to put down to essence being lost in translation, but tf is the viewer supposed to do with "survival strategy", "penguindrum", "child broiler" and the like? You kinda get it by the end, but it is SO dream like that it is genuinely hard to go back to the beginning and connect it. I mean Utena turns into a goddamn car in the movie and it was still fun to enjoy, i don't get why we had to have penguins representing the main cast only for the gag to be... something? I don't even know. I guess it's just a cute little mascot, every anime has to pretend to have one. It's a weird show because the characters are very sympathetic but the plot is genuinely confusing and wants to keep you out of the loop. It's weird and while i like watching people discuss it, i will absolutely never re-watch or recommend it. It's just too convoluted for its own good.

I'm gonna binge your channel

Agreed and another reason for this is when the stopwatch is used in episode 10, Miki has been timing since the beginning of the sequence (not counting the egg speech), and stopped it when the additional duelist was mentioned. This represents how Nanami doesn’t care about the laws of time in the face of her obsession with her brother (smth along those lines), which Miki and Namami both say out loud. So yeah, the characters’ obsession with their past childhood strongly impacts their present childhood, and keeps everyone trapped in time, unable to grow up or mature.

Wait oh no, I just realized this is the last episode nooooooooooooo! Your work is so good! Please come back some day!

the topic is more specific than the plots of my fever dreams

I did watch the entire Utena series and didn't Miki's stop watch refer to how long each duel for the rose bride lasted?

Just realized that her name is “RINGo” lol

I think this show has things that are both literal AND symbolic/metaphorical at the same time. So I think both theories are true. I think the literal reason Miki checks it is because of the weird time flow at Ohtori. But I think it probably also does represent his deep and unhealthy desire to return to an idealized version of the past. Maybe that's a cop out on my part but it's how I see it.

My only gripe with this video is how "Anthy could leave if she wanted" or "She can stop being the rose bride at anytime". I'm sorry but that's not how abusive relationships work. The victim feels powerless or unable to be valued by anyone else and therefor can't leave. Abuse is about controlling other people by making them feel like they are nothing.

Could it be that Anthy posted the letter at the direction of Sanji? Then he can legitimately say that he didn't do it. In general, Anthy shows very little agency throughout, so... I mean - it could be, your reasoning isn't wrong, but I don't think it is the only possible explanation...

Mrow. :3 That's interesting though, I never noticed the difference in Lain's eyes lol. 😅

Worlds funniest failboy

thank you very much for this video

4:07 durring the whole of the first arc the stopwatch represents either the start of the scne or of the shot, precanned animation and audio are not counted for the stopwatch so for example the breaking egg speach does not count as the start of the scene

This weirdo is insanely smart

Loved this comic and great video! Though I personally disagree that the hunter killed the girl (he wouldn't have just left the corpse lying there out in the open)

I hope you'll be back one day. Your videos are very enjoyable.

Thank you so much for your analysis on Ikuharas work. I’m a huge Utena fan, also love Sailor Moon anime because of Ikuhara. I’m watching now Penguindrum thanks to your videos. Very interesting.

im glad i didn't watch this during my psychosis days😅

Buena

Really enjoyed this! Surprised you never brought up Sanetoshi in your commentary - his position as "the curse" and "the ghost" feels like it relates to the larger "fate" themes.

Great now you got me wondering if Lain is real or not…

Ego death is very real.

I did love it. Best video on Utena I've seen.

Utena states very clearly lots of times that she's a girl.

I actually came for the stopwatch --- why do we have a Powerpoint presentation of Old Maid at the beginning of it?

Thank you, amazing video!