Break the Cutie: Utena only wanted to become the prince she admired. Said prince made sure that didn't happen.
Character Tics (Stretching, exercising — even in the middle of a conversation)
Composite Character: In the anime, as a child Juri witnessed her older sister nearly drown, causing a boy to attempt to save her but drown in the process; however, Juri's sister is saved by an adult. This backstory is given to Utena in the movie, but instead of an older sister, the drowning girl is a stranger (actually Juri, according to Word Of God), and the boy is Touga.
In the movie-manga, Utena is the girl who nearly drowned.
And in the original manga, Utena is the "boy" who jumped into the river to save a girl and nearly drowned. This is the one continuity where the rescuer actually survives.
Compressed Hair: In the movie, which leads to a dramatic Letting Her Hair Down moment in the first duel with Saionji. There are actually sketches in the artbook showing how she could manage to braid it tightly enough to fit it under her hat.
Conflicting Loyalty: To her prince, and her desire to be a prince herself. Some of the less scrupulous characters in the show exploit her through this.
First Kiss: After hearing Wakaba talk about this, she muses that hers must have been from Dios. In the manga and light novel, her Sacred First Kiss is stolen by Touga early on.
Godiva Hair: In the movie-manga during her sex scene with Touga.
Good With Numbers: According to Wakaba she does quite well in math. Her grades start to slip, however, once she starts dueling.
Meaningful Name ("Utena" translates to "calyx", a set of specialized leaves that protect the petals of a budding flower. Note that Anthy's name means "flower".)
Underwater Kiss (In the movie-manga with Touga. The actual movie has a variant; Utena and Touga are separated by a glass wall when they kiss, and only Touga's side is flooded, symbolising the fact that he died by drowning.)
Beautiful All Along (Often on the part of the viewers. In the first two arcs, she appears to have short, curled hair, but it's actually Rapunzel Hair instead. With her hair down and her glasses off, she's quite beautiful. The second picture here is an example.)
Catch Phrase (In the next episode preview: "zettai unmei mokushiroku")
Compressed Hair (Partially justified in that she does keep her hair bound most of the time, but it's hard to believe that such a large volume of hair can roll up so tightly.)
Damsel in Distress ( Subverted: she has potential to fight back, but her role as the Rose Bride doesn't let her do this directly)
Designated Victim (In the first arc, you could start a drinking game based on how much she gets slapped)
Detached Sleeves: Her Rose Bride outfit is a sleeveless dress with detached cuffs.
Despair Event Horizon ( Dios and Anthy crossed this in their backstories, which is what shaped them into Akio Ohtori the Magnificent Bastard and Anthy Himemiya the Rose Bride.)
Dissonant Serenity (Something that creeps out a lot of the people around her, especially her soon-to-be sister-in-law Kanae)
Driven to Suicide (When she sees the effects of her complicit manipulation on Utena, she tries to throw herself off the roof of the dorm. Utena stops her, though.)
And in the movie, it's heavily implied that she was about to do this before Utena shows up in the Rose Garden before their dance.
Green Thumb (Spends all her time in the greenhouse)
The Hecate Sisters (she can be seen as all three depending on the situation: the maiden in her role as the Rose Bride, the wife for the duelists, and the witch/crone.)
Jade-Colored Glasses (She's long since given up any hope of escaping her fate as the Rose Bride, and thus Utena's continued efforts to free her cause her either consternation or shock)
Lady in Red: Her Rose Bride attire. Anthy doesn't behave in a particularly sexual manner, but she is an object of desire for a few males in the cast. And she's far more sexually experienced than any of these kids.
Woman in White: Her original Rose Bride attire in the manga - changed once the anime eclipsed the source material.
Manipulative Bastard (Anthy manipulates many characters passive-aggressively. Her complex motivations for doing so and the subtle ways she manipulates make her a deconstruction of one.)
Meaningful Name ("Anthy" is derived from the Greek word "ánthos" for "flower". "Himemiya" means "princess shrine".)
Shrinking Violet (What she appears to be on the surface...appropriate, considering her hair color.)
Stealth Insult ("Take it easy, Saionji...senpai." Note that Anthy had been using the very respectful suffix "-sama" all this time, but after Saionji loses the duel, she only uses "-senpai.")
Utena: Himemiya, you're type-AB, right? Let's see, type-ABs are elusive and seldom reveal their true feelings, huh? Anthy: And you're type-B, right, Utena-sama? Type-Bs are self-centered and prone to misconceptions... Utena: Yeah, sorry, okay.
The Three Faces of Eve (she can be seen as all three depending on the situation: the child in her role as a student, the wife as the Rose Bride, and the seductress as Akio's sexual partner)
Uncanny Valley Girl (to the point that Kanae compares her to an alien and Nanami thinks she's the scariest person she knows.)
What The Hell, Townspeople? (her backstory, where the townspeople's response to her trying to protect her brother, who was pushing himself to the point of sickness in order to save everyone, was to ignore her crying and inflict the swords of hate on her. No wonder she's so messed up.)
Wounded Gazelle Gambit (played straight and subverted, which tells you something about her character)
Zero Approval Gambit (combines this trope with The Woman Wearing The Queenly Mask. It turns out she's an ancient Goddess-Princess who watched her brother, the God-Prince, being responsible for all the evil on earth. As a child, she decided to take the blame and let herself be punished by the world for all eternity. She subsequently spends the entire series serene and calm, while suffering the anguish and hatred of the entire world... for her now evil prince and the fear to change.)
Celestial Body: Used symbolically at the end of episode 25.
Chivalrous Pervert (Very deconstructed. During his seduction sequences appears to be a perfect gentleman, but turns out to be the Enemy Without of a prince deity whose little sister Anthy has to suffer for his inability to cope with being divine. His seduction of Utena (including taking her virginity) is presented by him as the gentlemanly thing to do - kissing her feet, making her feel like a lady - it turns out it's all a ruse to make her into a very feminine, yet also completely passive bride for him to use in his cosmic plans, instead of her becoming a prince who could conquer him, and just like he did to Anthy.)
Despair Event Horizon ( Dios and Anthy crossed this in their backstories, which is what shaped them into Akio Ohtori the Magnificent Bastard and Anthy Himemiya the Rose Bride.)
Domestic Abuser (The entire series could be seen as a case study in how domestic abusers systematically destroy any resolve their victims have, eventually rendering them to the passive husks Anthy is at the beginning of the series. He undermines her confidence, treats her like property, cuts her off from any meaningful relationships, passes her around to any (potentially abusive) student that wins the duel, and rapes her weekly. Take out the duel aspect, and you could find the same behavior in a lot of domestic abuse cases.)
Karma Houdini ( Sort of. Even if Akio got to keep his place in Ohtori and Utena was gone, she had the last laugh as she finally managed to free Anthy from his control, so Anthy says "But Now I Must Go" and goes Walking the Earth despite his pleas. Keep in mind that it's implied Akio has no magic of his own, so with Anthy gone he's completely powerless.)
Samaritan Syndrome (As Dios, he constantly put the needs of the villagers before himself. Because of this, he grew weak to the point that he was on the verge of death. Anthy stepped in, and she was pretty much condemned to a Fate Worse than Death...)
Always Someone Better: Just as Saionji feels inferior to Touga, Touga is envious of Akio's power (at least partly because he's glimpsed far more of that power than any other duelist).
Anything That Moves: Touga is mostly into girls, but he also hits on Miki in an early episode, has quite a lot of subtext with Saionji, and sleeps with Akio.
Also, in the Akio Arc: "If your soul hasn't given up entirely, then you should be able to hear this sound, running about the Ends of the World. Now, come with us, to the world which you desire!"
Chivalrous Pervert (Touga seduces any girl he wants - three or four at a time — but cares for Utena, for his sister Nanami and for his friend Saionji. And yet, that doesn't stop them from being a Manipulative Bastard to them if the situation merits it. See the ending of Nanami's duel in the third arc for a truly horrific example of this.)
I Love You Because I Can't Control You (Touga falls in love with Utena because she seems to be the one girl who doesn't immediately fall under his charm.)
Knife Throwing Act (One of the Student Council meetings had Touga and Miki doing this with Touga as the knife-thrower.)
Multicolored Hair: In earlier manga illustrations, he has black hair with red bangs; this was later changed to red with a lighter front lock to match with the anime.
Not Blood Siblings (Nanami is crushed after finding out they are both adopted and not blood related after all. This is then subverted when it turns out that Touga was just playing with her head — while they are adopted, they were adopted from the same family and thus actually are blood siblings. For the record: This is the Double Subversion of the Inversion of a trope — a prime example of how Mind Screwy this show is.)
Smug Snake (he is very handsome, charming, and manipulative — but ultimately, he's a horrendous Jerkass even to his sister, and he can't hold a candle to Akio)
Wounded Gazelle Gambit (To gain Utena's sympathy in the first arc, he takes an attack meant for her from Saionji and plays up the injury. As a result, Saionji is kicked out of school and Utena takes Touga's side)
Badass (Just based on her performance against Utena, and contrasting that with everyone else's, one could argue that she's the best fighter in the whole series.)
Bifauxnen (Juri's typical attire is gender-neutral, and she does model gowns when not wearing the Student Council uniform, but her cool, icy bearing and fierceness arguably lead to her giving off this impression)
Clingy MacGuffin: Subversion — she throws her locket into a lake in one episode; by the end of that episode, it's back with her again. However, she ends up finding it because the locket was planted there, not by sheer chance.
Slave Collar (Her locket is a necklace variation of this. Its breaking at the end of her story symbolized her finally being free of her self-destructive, one-sided relationship with the person found inside the locket.)
Tragic Keepsake (Depending on whether you see it as a link to the happy days Juri shared with Shiori and the Nameless Boy, or as a reminder of Shiori's betrayal.)
Jerkass Has a Point: He's actually one of the more perceptive members of the main cast, but it's not like people listen to him (for understandable reasons)...
The Masochism Tango (He does have some sort of unrequited attraction to Anthy, but his claims that she should be head-over-heels for him fall short when he backhands her every couple of scenes. You could probably also make an argument for him and Touga)
Pet the Dog (When he's rooming with Wakaba in episode 20, especially when he makes a little hairclip for her. Too bad he botches it by taking up Mikage's offer and giving the hairclip away in exchange for being able to return to Ohtori. Thus, the hairclip goes to Anthy instead, and poor Wakaba goes Cute and Psycho.)
Shirtless Scene (Near the end — clearly he's been taking lessons from Touga)
Slasher Smile (Tends to give a lot of these - he easily has the most deranged expressions of any duelist when he gets pissed off. They're downright scary in The Movie.)
Uke (Depending on interpretation, he's arguably a Deconstruction of one. A lot of his problems stem from a mix of his love/hate relationship with Touga and the feelings of inferiority of always being second best and in his shadow. Ultimately, he wants to seek eternity to preserve the equal friendship he and Touga once shared. This also leads to him asserting his masculinity in very unhealthy ways, notably his abysmal treatment of Anthy.)
Used to Be a Sweet Kid: The younger Saionji we see in episode 9 wasn't halfway as horrible as the teen Saionji we met.
Character Tics (Timing his stopwatch. NOBODY KNOWS WHY, especially with Ikuhara's habit of leaving his answers vague or deliberately off-base. A good theory, though, is that he is timing the length of the dialogue from whoever spoke right before.)
Dub Name Change: The Enoki Films release makes Mickey his actual name.
Even the Guys Want Him: Besides his fangirls, Touga hits on him as early on as the fifth episode, and his piano teacher is implied to have a less than savoury interest in him.
Like Brother and Sister: His friendship with Juri has some hints of this; fanon and fanfiction have been known to take this in non-platonic directions. (It doesn't help that at one point in the movie she seems to hit on him, though she may have been teasing him.)
Loving a Shadow: At least in the beginning, his feelings towards Anthy stem from the fact that she reminds him of Kozue when she was younger - or rather, how he remembers Kozue.
Luminescent Blush (Tends to do this when embarrassed or talking to Anthy)
Nice Guy (Miki is one of the few genuinely good-natured characters, and is certainly the Student Councilor least inclined to use others as punching bags for his own issues. This being Utena, he doeshave flaws, but he is one of the few characters that never slaps Anthy)
Break the Haughty: Oh boooy, does this girl have a bad day: After discovering that her brother, whom she loved ever since she was a child, was not her blood sibling, she feels like the connection she had her whole life was a lie. After that, she runs away from home, into the house of a pair of close, happy siblings... only to walk in on them having sex. And after that she walks in on her brother making out with a member of her old gang, to hear that her brother said he not only never loved her to begin with, and to have her ex-friend claim she has no connection to her anymore. And then after that she gets the Akio Car treatment, where her brother attempts to rape her, much to her horror. Her proceeding duel has her break down in tears, claiming that she doesn't have any connection to the brother she loves, and is horrified at being just like the other girls he sees absolutely nothing in.. It's very hard not to feel sorry for her after all that, even if you thought she was a raging Rich Bitch.
The Cassandra (Tries to warn Utena about Akio and Anthy after accidentally learning exactly what their relationship is like, to no avail)
The Chew Toy: In fillers; even moreso than Saionji!
Children Are Innocent (Subverted: she kills the kitten she gave her brother because she thought it was taking away too much of his attention.)
Nanami: What time do you think this is, moron? Nanami: Who is this? At least give me your name. Akio: The Ends of the World. Kiryuu Touga is waiting for you.
Imagine Spot (When Nanami is trying to embarrass Anthy [and win Miki's affection] by planting weird stuff in her room. She envisions each ploy going off without a hitch, only to have them fail because Anthy is already keeping weird stuff in her room. And Miki finds it cute.)
Jerkass Has a Point (like Saionji, by the end of the series Nanami has actually figured out a lot of what's going on, but given how she acted earlier no one is inclined to believe her. See also The Cassandra.)
Mistaken for Gay: When she takes care of an egg in the anime, she asks Touga if he prefers boys or girls [she's talking about the gender of whatever is inside the egg]. He believes that she is talking about his sexuality and answers "Girls, obviously," which then Nanami replies with "Really? Me too." Cue a lecture about "Homosexuality is wrong" by Touga.
Minor Injury Overreaction (When Touga gets hurt in the Student Council arc, Nanami is quick to blame Utena and Anthy for her brother's injuries)
Skintone Sclerae: It's a bit inconsistent in the first arc, however.
So Beautiful, It's a Curse (In one episode, she thinks that someone is trying to kill her: "These attempts must certainly be the result of someone being jealous of my cute looks, my popularity, and refinement!")
Used to Be a Sweet Kid (Played straight and then subverted. She did genuinely adore her brother as a kiddo, but then we see what she did to a certain kitty...)
We Named The Monkey Jack (Anthy named a cow after Nanami. This is obviously not meant to be flattering.)
Yandere (She's so obsessed with Touga that as a child she killed his cat out of jealousy.)
Character Exaggeration: Kozue in the manga was a very different character from Kozue in the anime, and nowhere near as warped. Basically, she was just bratty and overprotective of Miki, and she certainly didn't act promiscuous or hurt anyone who would get close to him.
Disproportionate Retribution: Show attention or attraction to her brother around her, or worse, hurt him? You're in for it big time.
Distressed Damsel: Becomes one of these in the manga and light novel, forcing Miki (who, in these versions, had been completely opposed to the dueling game beforehand) to duel against Utena in order to save her.
Freudian Excuse: When Miki was unable to attend their recital, not only was it revealed Kozue was a sub-par player on her own, but being alone in front of the crowd clearly traumatized her. And while Miki is the series' Nice Guy, he hasn't treated her with the same affection since she stopped playing the piano and projects her childhood self onto Anthy. No wonder the girl has issues.
Green-Eyed Monster: Don't take her brother's attention from her. Just... don't.
Green-Eyed Monster (Believes that Juri was always better than her at everything, and was only pretending to be friends with her in order to look down on her)
Incompatible Orientation: Truthfully, this is the least of the problems between Juri and Shiori. May be subverted in the end.
It's All About Me: In the movie, when, after she becomes a car, she rants to Anthy that the only who deserves to escape from Ohtori is "beautiful me. Me. Me. Me! Me! Me, me, me, me, ME!!!"
Pure Is Not Good (Juri calls her "cruelly innocent." This may be true, but she's also willing to do some pretty awful things because of her inferiority complex.)
Self-Serving Memory: In the movie, as she's recounting her so-called relationship with Touga before his death, she mentions that "my Prince and I were going to go steady". Considering he was still in a relationship with Utena at the time, chances are she's either lying or that's how she remembers it.
Everything's Better with Princesses (Deconstructed like whoa. Kanae is implied to fit the true princess archetype in this series, being very kind-hearted and sweet... but also very passive and lacking any control over her own future. This is not portrayed as a good thing.)
How Do You Like Them Apples? (In the third arc, Akio and Anthy feed a BSODing Kanae an apple pin-cushioned by forks. It is strongly implied that they're poisoning her, and the apple also obviously stands for Anthy's swords of hate. One of the background music tracks, which plays during Akio and Anthy's familial bonding is called "Fruit of Sin", as well. Make of that what you will.)
Cinderella (Subverted. At first, Keiko seems to follow this tale straight to the point of parody, Nanami being a sorta "evil stepmother"... But then her attitude to her "prince" appears to be much more "rose-bridish" than "cinderella-esque". And as she gets close to Touga at last, she switches roles with Nanami, starting to humiliate her. To crown the subversion, she ends up beaten and "princeless".)
The Nondescript: Taken to new heights when the audience realizes that Utena doesn't even know her name after she duels her. The other two members of her Girl Posse have similar names as she does also.
The Chew Toy (his horrible luck is played for utter comedy, even in his Black Rose episode.)
Combat Pragmatist: In his Black Rose episode he attacks Utena before she can even draw the Sword of Dios; he also puts to good use the intrinsic advantages of dual-wielding against someone with a single weapon.
Creepy Child: Has a cheerful demeanor, but initially places Nanami in a series of deadly situations so he can rescue her, apparently not realizing that this is very bad. Also qualifies during his tenure as a Black Rose duelist.
Dual Wielding (Wields Nanami's sword and knife as a Black Rose duelist.)
Embarrassing Nickname ("Prince Onion." To clarify, in Japanese referring to something as onion-make means it's shoddy or second-rate)
Dogged Nice Guy (To Wakaba.Upon hearing him confess, Mikage rejects him for the Black Duels and sends him home. And immeduately afterwards, he uses said knowledge to put Wakaba as the next Black Duelist in line)
Despair Event Horizon (Weaponized, sorta. He uses tactics that arguably predate those of Celestial Being, approaching young people who are in their lowest with promise of a chance to change their worlds and end what's making them suffer by defeating Utena: it's specially obvious in the cases of people like Kanae, Wakaba, Keiko, or Mitsuru Tsuwabuki. And then we learn that Mikage himself also went past the DEH in his backstory, and is pushed even further in the last episode of the Black Rose arc.)
Expy (Of Fiore from the Sailor Moon R movie, which Ikuhara also directed. In addition to their appearances and role in the narrative, they also have the same seiyuu, Hikaru Midorikawa.)
He also functions as a twisted version of a therapist in the Black Rose arc, urging the students who visit him to confess their psychological problems. Of course, having Mikage listen to your issues is really not a good way to solve them.
Fallen Princess (in a series that loves playing with princess tropes, she represents what happens when the princess grows up, gets older and is still unfulfilled)
Hidden Eyes (we never see her eyes while she's on screen)
Mrs. Robinson (an almost textbook version of this trope, since she's an older woman trying to reclaim what's left of her girlhood in the worst possible way)
One-Scene Wonder (and how! Despite having around a minute and a half total screentime, we're told everything we need to know about her in that time. There's even a fanlisting for her that analyzes her appearance)
Ready for Lovemaking (it's very subtle, but a close look at what she's wearing shows this)
Wicked Stepmother (She acts in this fashion, cavorting with Akio and caring very little about her ill husband's health or Kanae's well-being)
Your Cheating Heart (something Akio passive-aggressively reminds her of constantly when they're on screen together)
Manipulative Bastard Subverted. At first we're led to believe he's another manipulative prick just like all the other male leads, but by the end of Juri's duel it's revealed that everything he did was to discredit Shiori and free Juri from her self-destructive obsession with the girl.
Dead All Along: Unlike Mikage, whose status was ambiguous, Chigusa is explicitly stated to have died in the fire at the fencing hall 15 years ago.
Even the Girls Want Her: Gets her share of squealing from fangirls when she's in class, and Kozue is even seen dating her at one point.
Everything's Better with Princesses: Completely subverted in her mind. Chigusa hates passive girls that she perceives to be "princesses," in contrast to commanding girls like her whom she believes to be "queens."
God Created Canon Foreigner: The Sega Saturn game was created by all the original TV series team, and is officially counted as canon.
God Save Us from the Queen!: Chigusa identifies with the Evil Queen from "Snow White". That symbolism appears several times, such as the calendar by her locker and the poisoned apple she leaves for the protagonist.
Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: If the protagonist asks her if she has a girlfriend at one point, Chigusa says that she only likes regular boys. Then she goes on a date with Kozue a few scenes later.
Huge School Girl: Based on her height next to Touga, Chigusa is at least 6'1".
Informed Attribute: Chigusa is supposed to look very masculine, to the point where she feels the need to specify her gender when she introduces herself to the class, but it doesn't show at all in her character design.
No Guy Wants An Amazon: The fencing team's sponsor, Masaomi, chose girly Koto over cold, powerful Chigusa. She never recovered from that rejection, and thus hates all girls who act passive and feminine - especially the player character, who is Masaomi and Koto's daughter.
Combat Commentator: In the movie, the Shadow Girls broadcast live footage of Anthy's car chase to the outside world, providing commentary on "who's in the lead", and actually being able to communicate to her through the car radio.
Even Nerds Have Standards: They're not actually nerds, but A-Ko and B-Ko have the nerve to say that C-Ko is "a little strange" compared to them, and that she has no friends. In C-Ko's words, "you guys are ones to talk".
The Faceless: When they finally appear in person, they're only shown from behind.
Faux Symbolism: Invoked. Several of their plays are perfect allegories of the events of the episode. Then there are the plays that involve a monkey-catching robot and a wife who thinks you can eat tires for dinner.
Planet of Hats: If Word Of God and fan interpretation is to be believed, the Shadow Girls come from a planet called Kashira. The movie supports this, somewhat, with the reveal of an entire news studio of shadow girls.
