Final Student Council Meeting

[@IsaUrameshi]

I love how revolutionary the last few episodes felt...

[@helioabc]

Notice that Nanami is the only one who metaphorically 'left' her role in the Student Council by changing back into her regular school clothing... and that she's thus the only one who didn't appear normally in the movie.

[@revolutionary_thoy]

Yes! i love the idea that the reason she wasn't in the movie is because she also experienced her own revolution and left the academy just like Utena and Anthy

[@helioabc]

@@revolutionary_thoy That's definitely a valid reading! My reading was a bit more negative, because of my interpretation of the way that Donna Donna plays for her during the movie. In that song, a calf passively waits to be executed on the way to the market. Similarly, Nanami has given up on her chance to revolutionize the world by removing her ring, instead waiting to be 'slaughtered' within the confines of Ohtori Academy.

[@Mnemoniforma9.00]

@@helioabc Same. To me, the movie felt like a more "outward" layer of the closed, recursive reality of Ohtori Academy. A "thin albumin" of the world egg, if you will. Touga was the one who hung onto Akio the most as Student Council President, so in a level of reality further away from his control, he is quite literally a ghost. Nanami, in turn, couldn't even decide whether or not she wanted to let go of her brother's shadow at the end in the show's reality, so in the movie's reality, she's just a whispered, unnamed existence that's only faintly alluded to. The Biblical phrase "Remember Lot's wife" comes to mind. Juri, Saionji and Miki all wanted to move on in their own ways, and Wakaba was inspired by Utena in the show's reality and kept that inspiration in the movie's reality, so with her as a vehicle of escape, they were able to make it to the outroad from the school by following after Utena and Anthy. Nanami didn't choose between Saionji and Touga in their final kendo spar in the show, she only brewed tea for the both of them. To me, it looked as though that in the scope of the cycles of revolution coming into a losing conflict with the world, she hung onto the comfortable fallacy that doing nothing constituted true neutrality among the two sides, when in fact, her indecision enabled the world's status quo of purging revolution. As a result, she met the same fate as the closed world. It's a classic "Problem with Susan" scenario.

[@thedistinguished5255]

Guys youre all wrong, she fully turned into a cow in the movie, and she was expelled from school for being a cow :(

[@AndyBluebear-fi9om]

@@thedistinguished5255 Also, she is the only Student Council member who wasn't in the original manga.

[@Mnemoniforma9.00]

Note that the roses placed by the student council are their respective theme colors as they place them in the vase, but when the camera cuts back to the vase at the end of the scene, all the roses are a withered shade of white and new roses of that same color have started to bloom beside them. A telltale sign that in this closed world, life, death and all conditions thereof are farcical illusions that are renewed and revoked at Akio's whim. Existence and reality within Ohtori Academy is literally his plaything, that begins and ends with him, hence the pen name "End of the World".

[@reiko_u7784]

If it cannot break out of its shell, the chick will die without ever being born. We are the chick! The world is our egg! If we don’t crack the world’s shell, we will die without truly being born! Smash the world’s shell. For the revolution of the world!

[@implyingwelldiscussmusic7607]

such a brilliant series. Also, it's not all the members, there are 6 in total if you count Ruka.

[@johnphilipsnufable]

Ruka's technically a former student council member. That would explain why he's not with them in the end - he didn't belong with them.

[@Smartphone775]

@@johnphilipsnufable And Ruka passed away after Juri's second duel.

[@johnphilipsnufable]

@@Smartphone775 The Shadow Play Girls' report that he died was just an implication, after all, his name wasn't mentioned. Though since it's the "Utena" anime, both arguments as to whether Ruka's dead or not would be valid (depending on one's interpretation and bias, I guess .. I lean on the implication that he probably have passed away as what the Shadow Play Girls implied..) And even if Ruka is still alive, he still won't belong in the final student meeting. After all, he belongs on an older batch and not the current one (that's what I think) It makes me curious as who the Student Council are a year before (or a few years before) the first episode of the anime. Ruka's definitely a member before and I feel Miki and Nanami aren't (they're probably on their first or second year on the Student Council .. since they're technically the youngest members of the current / final batch - both at age 13, while the rest are 16-17+)

[@DaybreakTownGSA]

​@@johnphilipsnufable two year old comment, but if you look at the chair placement during episode 29, you can see that the chair representing Ruka has been removed at the end, so he's pretty much dead

[@johnphilipsnufable]

@@DaybreakTownGSA Just rewatched bits of that episode and good catch there! Although I've watched the anime for like 3 times in the span of around 10 years, didn't notice that detail at the end. Felt like learning new things on each rewatch.

[@nziom]

I like this version of the theme i couldn't find it

[@redintheblack888]

It's Called "Orpheus", there another version called Nova, it's the same without the organ and the chorus boosted

[@bastardblizzard]

student councils irl: "pls guys stop bulling ppl" student councils in anime: