Ask John: Why is there So Much Homosexuality in Utena?

Question:
I just got an artbook for the Utena movie and even though it’s a show aimed towards girls (shoujo-type), I don’t understand why there are so many yuri [lesbian] scenes between Anthy and Utena and the rest of the cast. What’s up with that?

Answer:
It’s true that Utena is, overtly, a shoujo series, but the strength of the series is in the very fact that it defies categorization. Utena, in a way, employs elements of shoujo convention, including an emphasis on characterization and emotional relationships, but in other ways Utena utilizes the shonen policy of regularly infusing the series with exciting action sequences and fights. On another level, Utena relates itself to the highly stylized, dramatic and artistic style of Angel’s Egg, Robot Carnival, Labyrinth Tales and Urusei Yatsura: Beautiful Dreamer: art merely for the sake of being art.

I’m not sure that anyone can say for certain, save for the enigmatic Kunihiko Ikuhara himself, who likely would never admit it, but I’ve always assumed that the focus of Utena has been on themes of beauty and love. The underlying fairy tale theme that structures the series (and become evident in the later part of the TV series and the middle of the movie), is based on an all-consuming, obsessive love. The entire look of the series, from the theme of roses, to the beautiful bishounen men, suggest a preoccupation with beauty. In keeping with this theme, sexual relationships in Utena, like the Kaoru/Shinji relationship in Evangelion and the Kamui/Fuma relationship of the X movie, overlook gender and even familial relations. In Utena, people love others, and are attracted to others based entirely on personality and character. The Utena TV series suggests several incestuous relationships: Anthy & Akio, Miki & Kozue, Nanami & Touga, as well as several same sex couples: Juri & Shiori, Utena & Anthy, Mikage & Mamiya, and the triplicate of Akio, Touga and Saionji. The movie quite explicitly suggests (but does not confirm) the idea that Anthy & Utena are a couple. I think that the point of these relationships is not for sensationalism or exploitation. These relationships, real or imagined, genuine or manipulated, have a twofold purpose. They creates a dramatic depth to the story, and they characterize the theme of the series.

Romantic troubles are a staple of all dramatic fiction. Taboo relationships draw and focus attention. Utena simply wouldn’t have had quite the same impact that it does had all of the relationships in the series been conventional ones. In such an unconventional series, it’s only natural that the relationships would also be unconventional. By making the relationships in the series all controversial or taboo, the series holds viewers’ attention and engages our analytical senses more so than commonplace boy-girl relationships would. Because Utena is different, viewers sit up and take notice.

The theme of Utena is revolution. The characters all strive to revolutionize the world. They seek to change the world. It’s only natural that they themselves would be different. They have worldly ambitions and lofty goals, so only naturally they would overlook the external and see instead what’s inside or hidden.The theme of both the TV series and the movie is growth and maturation- change and revolution. By utilizing both conventional and unconventional couples and relationships, the characters of Utena experience both the normal and the unusual. They experiment, learn and grow until, at the end of both the TV series and the movie, they break through their world, their youth and their experience, into a larger, adult world. This theme is especially central to the Utena movie, titled Apocalypse of Adolescence. The movie is about the end of adolescence and the beginning of adulthood, and about expanding the mind to be free to convention and expectations and the past.

The use of “yuri,” or lesbian scenes, is simply one of many elements in Utena that all point toward something larger and greater than what we are used to.

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