The Purity of Miki Kaoru │ Revolutionary Girl Utena analysis

[@ania7930]

My thought for Anthy being Miki's mother during the call: she is only portrayed as Rose Bride and her face is hidden. What it meas is, I think, that Miki sees his mother as a passive, pure thing, just like the Rose Bride, just as he wants to see Kozue. And maybe it's to imply that all women connected to him have to be this way or else he goes bonkers? Dunno, but I just think it's about what the Rose Bride represents, not about Anthy. :) Great video and I cannot wait for another one :)

[@artbunny9199]

Nobody: Kozue: now I've thrown him off his rhythm

[@parasemprealice5684]

I guess that Miki finally understands that "true purity" do not exist and that is ok to be more active with what you want, but he struggles to choose between be complet selfish, just fight and care about himself and screw everybody else or being selfless and being relatable. He probably is trying to find a balance between these two concepts now.

[@snakeeyedreams8181]

Well-said! But does he consciously understand this, or is that understanding still in development as well? Plenty of room for us to speculate as fans.

[@parasemprealice5684]

@@snakeeyedreams8181 I *think* he understands.

[@courtneycolbert8110]

I always saw Kozue kissing anthy as her realizing she could have that kind of power for herself; she was the one actively trying to break away from miki and become seperate from their relationship as twins, just like the tree reaching for the sky being cut from the trunk rooted to the ground. She was mad at miki because he got distracted and NEITHER of them got to attain that power in the end all because he's too rooted to their past relationship- too much of a coward to reach for the skies like she tried to do.

[@lucideandre]

To be fair, the symbolism being more important that what literally happens is…most of Utena

[@pendafen7405]

Made the mistake of watching the Utena musicals before the original anime. Imagine my confusion and frustration over trying to work out wtf was going on.

[@fukikoichinomiya]

i think miki changes by the end, at least a little bit. he turns his affections to utena, someone who is not passive. he is not projecting innocence on her or his past- hes looking forward to the future, to change. i can definitely see multiple sides though, im just really inclined to believe he can become better.

[@fukikoichinomiya]

OH this is for sure about the anime btw not the manga i havent read it LMFAO

[@HighPriestFuneral]

28:00 - Your idea of Akio's grand plan for Miki and Kozue is beautiful. I never even thought on why Miki was brought into the dueling game, but if it was to put them both the siblings through trials to see if they could forge a grandly unifying Prince's Sword... that makes a ton of sense. Overall this was incredible. I agreed with many points, but I do feel that the Badminton game does show him moving away from Anthy/Kozue, especially with the "Can't I change my mind?" in regards to changing his affection towards Utena. Of course this is all open to interpretation, I guess I just like the idea of Utena revolutionizing the Student Council in a positive direction. He sure had some... interesting interpretations in the other works. I did like how his "after the revolution" character was portrayed, the rest... eh... I could leave them be. Juri and Miki were so strange in the movie, I'm not sure how much they actually added to it. I love their designs but their screentime was so limited. I know it has been... a long time, but I do hope this series continues. (Granted with 80 minute explorations I can understand the delay, haha.)

[@snakeeyedreams8181]

Thank you for your kind words and your recent comments. I'm currently working on a video about Juri, but for many reasons it's been in the developmental oven for a long, long time. I hope you stick around for it! :)

[@_HOSHI_ZORA_]

Touga has to smash himself

[@les_edc]

I recently fell back into the wormhole that is the incredible Revolutionary Girl Utena franchise so finding this video was an absolute joy. I adored this longform analysis of all of the iterations of Miki. Thank you so much for taking the time to make this and I truly look forward to the rest of this series. If I can throw in my two cents… I have always interpreted the various cases of incest in the series (including Miki and Kozue’s complicated relationship) as arguments about the ways in which hetero-patriarchal power dynamics manifest themselves within the family unit. I say this because you two mention the madonna/whore dichotomy when addressing Miki’s warped view of Kozue. I can’t help but ask myself… Is it not odd that despite Miki still being a child, he has *already* internalized this dichotomy and has begun to use it as a metric for his own sister’s value? While jealousy is a normal feeling within sibling relationships (to an extent!) I would argue that the gender norms and power dynamics present in the society that is molding both Miki and Kozue are what ended up laying the foundation for the inappropriate relationship between the two siblings-a foundation that their complicated childhood was able to build on. I think this reading would kind of prompt us to look at how the society of Ohtori (and by extent the society that Ohtori is an analogy for) produces conditions in which these kinds of abusive relationships are far too common (I mean, we only have three sets of siblings in the main cast and they’re all… not at all appropriately bonded). I would argue that when ideologies regarding gender and sex work to reduce everyone to their bare reproductive functions in order to figure out where they fit in its hierarchy… you end up actively sexualizing all of the members in that society and reproducing heterosexual relationships between them, regardless of blood relation. This is not an argument that excuses incest in any way-but rather I think the reoccurring theme of incest may an argument about the rottenness underneath the surface of “princehood” and all that it requires in order to exist.

[@snakeeyedreams8181]

Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts! It was great to read this. These are my favorite kinds of comments. There's certainly a lot to dive into here. I think that looking at the culture/society of Ohtori Academy, like you’ve been doing, is definitely a worthwhile pursuit and can lead to interesting lines of thinking. Often, it feels like sexuality is baked into the language of Utena. Outside of the brother-sister relationships, Touga and Saionj, as well as Touga with Akio, have tons of sexual imagery, but it’s not necessarily the case that those relationships are actually sexual outside the surface imagery - and notably, those two relationships exist outside of heterosexuality. In many of these cases, sexuality is intertwined with power and control. I think of it in regards to ownership and possession - the “you belong to me” kind of mentality. A big part of that links back in with patriarchy, for sure, whether it’s with toxic men like Akio and Touga or with female characters who have internalized these aspects (see also: the complicated case of Anthy). But it also extends past male/female connections into power dynamics between men and between women. Returning to the Kouru siblings: Miki wants a perfect angel little sister, and if Kozue has changed, he’ll resent her and shift to Anthy (not consciously, for the most part). And Kozue recognizes Miki’s jealousy and feelings and, at least on some level, dates multiple boys as a response to Miki’s attention. Sexuality becomes the language at times, but it’s up to viewers how much to really read into the Kaoru relationship as incest. I’d say perverse for sure, but more psychologically? Outside the drawing of the Black Rose sword, there’s not as much incestuous imagery with the Kouru siblings - so it’s interesting how these three sibling pairs are different. Nanami sees her big brother as her prince and protector, and as she veers into adolescence and is already so confused, she is at an odd place with understanding her own feelings on how her relationship with her brother is changing, now that they’re both older. Touga plays with that. She’ll interestedly watch her brother’s silhouette in the shower, but I think Nanami is mostly naïve, and I don’t think she really wants to sleep with her brother. When Nanami sees the *actual incest* of Akio and Anthy, she’s horrified. So many relationships and ideas are echoes and foreshadowing mirrors of each other - and at the heart of it, there’s this consistent idea potentially of the female “belonging” to the male, whether it’s Kozue expected to stay this (false) image of perfect for her brother, Touga expected to stay the close protector for his sister, or the expectation that Akio will always be the prince and Anthy will always stay his princess/witch/sister/lover/godthisseriesiswild. - Kalil

[@kelpo6304]

tw: sexual abuse, incest I think the last part of your analysis, about how heteronormativity and patriarchy ultimately sexualizes all relationships, is right on the money. My abuser's misogyny played a large role in my CSA. Because I was female, my abuser reduced me to a tool for sexual gratification and someone whose needs were secondary to his wants; even though I was a child, even though we were family. My experience was the inevitable result of heteropatriachal ideology that frames men as strong active subjects, and women as weak passive objects. RGU very concisely skewers how sexism replicates itself within the family in emotionally and sexually violent ways, and alienates us from both others (Utena's white-knighting preventing a genuine connection with Anthy, Akio's sexualization of the sibling relationship) and ourselves (Nanami's lack of identity, Anthy's total dissociation)

[@retroanimemike]

One deep take! Really you spared no effort in compiling all there is to know about Kaoru Miki. Still there is always more to consider, such as Miki Sayaka from Madoka, I feel she is a direct reference to our idealistic blue musician boy. Or, more directly from the franchise itself, Miki uses an épée, the sword most commonly used in 19th century duels in France, from where it entered the modern sport of fencing; it is the heaviest weapon in the sport and as such the slowest, which leads to the prevalent strategy for its wielders being immediate counterattack. I feel the choice of blade for the duelists would add to the analyses - I just pulled this from Wikipedia, I'm sure one could... go deeper! ;)

[@HighPriestFuneral]

I always thought Miki's fighting style was fast and measured, I guess it shows his sense of self discipline to use such a heavy weapon but still maintain strong poise.

[@padparradschas9623]

freaked out when i realized the nier music in the background lol you have excellent taste

[@xxcelestialdreamxx7709]

What im hearing is everyone needs to form a circle a smash touga at the same time

[@proxima8219]

what a nice video!! I have only watched the anime, and only did it once, so there's a lot of stuff i couldn't wrap my head around and turned to youtube. I very much appreciate your commentary on every major version of Miki and separate treatment of all of his iterations, it really helps to shed some light onto his complex character. I, personally, really couldn't help but see mostly positive in this child throughout the show, he doesn't feel like a complete a-hole like every other male character, his behavior, while still being somewhat misguided, is fairly genuine and well-meaning, he also isn't destructive towards others, instead focusing on preservation (even if it goes against the idea of the show).

[@snakeeyedreams8181]

Thanks for sharing your perspective on Miki. One of my fav things about Utena is how our thoughts on a particular character can be challenged and evolve with subsequent viewings, and I'd say since making this video I'm a little less wary of Miki ruining Mitsuru's life! :D Although, I can't say I'm without concern for the Kozue twins following the conclusion of "After the Revolution". In any case, I'm happy to also let you know that we finished the Juri video late last year, and it's up on the channel alongside other Utena videos if you're interested! :)

[@ilovemanasama5339]

I just found this video and i rlly need to THANK YOU for making a deep analyses on Miki, most Utena analyses are only abt the main characters (Utena, Anthy and Akio) and i personally never rlly understood Miki's character and his relationship with his sister so TYSM for explaining and giving the "side" characters more attention

[@SleeplessSheep]

Beautiful video, absolutely love the way you describe so many things with such reverence. God, I need to make anime related videos. YOU EVEN TALKED ABOUT THE SATURN GAME.

[@genesischaparro8954]

WHY DID I HAVE TO FIND THIS BEFORE MY BED TIME!? I'M TOTALLY WATCHING IN THE MORNING!!!

[@SirLokiMadmonk]

Finally! A Kaoru deep dive!

[@pendafen7405]

Yes, good take. Miki exemplifies the regressive sexism of the Nice Boy. Perhaps it seems sweet and harmless, but it's coming from a place of infantilising, objectifying and limiting women, estranging them from their own agency. RGU writers were ahead of the curve taking on this topic.

[@chr0mep0p]

yoooooooo i just started watching and that intro was already a banger

[@pendafen7405]

'Purity' is an interesting choice of word. It's used in the Palace Perspectives as well, but in a more nuanced way. I question the semiotics of it, as by implication and comparison it casts Kozue in a shaming light that suggests she's sullied or tainted or ruined by her choices (esp. sexual). What if she's just made more whole and powerful by her experience?

[@snakeeyedreams8181]

It's that ambiguity (and contradiction) that draws me to it for the title, actually. Miki seeks an idea of "purity" - sometimes in ways I'd describe as harmful or toxic to himself or to others. I've recently been rewatching the series, and I find myself more sympathetic to and interested in Kozue's character recently, so if I were to make this video now I'd probably nuance the tone a bit more. But, even then, I hope this video communicates that I never thought of Kozue was fully "bad". She selfishly wanted his attention on her, but she also wanted to protect him, and Miki himself has flawed and skewed perspectives of himself, of her, and of others.

[@pendafen7405]

@@snakeeyedreams8181 Ah, thanks for clarifying. That's interesting, and I certainly agree with your updated assessment. You're right, Kozue's covetuousness and possessiveness was the issue on her end of the relationship as well as his, and sexuality or lack thereof was probably the least of their worries. Don't worry, I didn't think you demonised Kozue unfairly in this essay--my comment was only meant to stress for viewers/commenters who may be less familiar with the work not to see her as some sort of 'evil slut'.

[@martha3782]

Thank you for this. This is one of the most formative shows for me and i scour youtube for videos about it. This is beautiful.

[@lillianadkins5378]

TOUGA AND MIKI DO WHAT IN THE LIGHT NOVEL

[@snakeeyedreams8181]

Heavy implications happen... 😬

[@pendafen7405]

timestamp???

[@cozbu9694]

Honestly one of the creepiest bits in the whole franchise IMO

[@blablablubb7623]

​@@pendafen7405about 57:00

[@samijett8527]

I have so much to do this morning. What an absolute blessing to get to listen to this while I work. 😭

[@catarinarodrigues4829]

Not watched yet but, YES!!!!1h MIKI DEEP DIVE but really, really glad to see this series back

[@mala7116]

what a banger, so worth the wait. looking forward to the next one

[@TheTricksterCoyote]

Fantastic analysis on Miki!

[@milkdudz]

i really like how you devoted time to comparing miki's characterisation in all the iterations of utena! as someone who's only engaged w the anime and movie, it was super interesting to see what aspects of his character remain 'central' across all the different media and creators. really look forward to seeing similar analyses for the rest of the cast, which i assume is where the series will be heading!

[@Keysandcrystals]

cannot wait for more this analysis is so amazing I keep rewatching!!

[@sopranophantomista]

The fact that the game is a dating Sim is wild. 😅

[@randomuser1105]

1:13:09 People often draw that male character with darker skin because a lot of people associate darker skin with masculinity for some dumb reason. I've noticed this quite often in anime and other art.

[@kelpo6304]

it's because men go outside to do manly things and women stay in the house to cook, obviously

[@ilovveharu]

Utena analysis???? In 2022???????? Nice.

[@wuba5456]

FINALLY TALKING ABOUT MIKI A

[@khole5809]

YO A UTENA VID LETS GOOOOO.

[@purbsi]

NieR and Madoka music in an Utena video? It's more likely than I thought it was, I guess 😂😂

[@lolyoutoobe]

Fresh utena content

[@pendafen7405]

51:58 fyi a man cannot sing true (modal) soprano, only a head-voice countertenor, falsetto or castrati (the latter likely to be Miki's vocal fach, as he is so young). Soprano in its proper form is a female-only tessitura. Perhaps that was the joke.

[@trol_8889]

REAL SHIT??

[@iceluvndiva21]

Are you going to cover the other characters? Specifically the black duels or ruka? OH TOO SOON! #sayaka4life

[@snakeeyedreams8181]

That's the plan! We're in the early stages of working on the Juri video, which is next and will involve Ruka. :)

[@tiglionabbit]

Repeated voice-over around 48 minutes in.

[@pendafen7405]

30:18 Male moment basically

[@AloyImpact]

So are you essentially saying Miki and Kozue are like two halves of a whole being?

[@snakeeyedreams8181]

Right now, I feel like they're two people who feel incomplete without the other, and it's an unhealthy fixation for both of them. They need to grow to be their own person. But with Utena, like for a lot of fans, my perspectives will always change/grow after each rewatch, so ask me in a year and I might have a different answer! :)

[@blablaowo]

I feel like this video fails in exploring Miki as a character because Miki is never shown to be a puritan. Sure Miki is a perfectionist but I’m not sure that really equates to Miki seeing the things he likes as pure.

[@CLOCKTHULHU]

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