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aka: Revolutionary Girl Utena Anthy Himemiya

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    Utena Tenjou 

Utena Tenjou

Voiced by: Tomoko Kawakami (Japanese), Rachael Lillis (English) Foreign VAs 

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The protagonist and namesake of the series, Utena Tenjou is a 14-year-old girl whose parents died when she was little. After a dashing prince saved her from depression, she vowed to become a prince herself. At the prestigious Ohtori Academy, she gets mixed up with a sinister and revolutionary dueling game played by the Student Council. She's very popular with the vast majority of the students at school, but not so much with the staff.
  • Accidental Truth: In episode 30, she tells Akio that he is like a playboy. This turns out to be far closer to Akio's real personality than she herself would ever have guessed.
  • Action Girl: Her duels take place almost Once an Episode, and she's extremely athletic. And even outside of the duels, she's really tough both in personality and in physical ability. She can jump, she can punch, she's a demon on the basketball court, and she can beat trained duelists with broken swords, bamboo practice swords, and a pitchfork. And let's not get started on the truly epic move she pulls in the last episode...
  • Adaptational Angst Upgrade: In the movie, Utena has not only lost her parents, as in the series, but also Touga. He comforted her after her parents died and so losing him was a major blow to her, adding to the sense of loss she already had with her parents.
  • Adaptation Dye-Job:
    • In the earliest sketches from the manga, she was blonde with hazel eyes (although some illustrations also had them blue). After the anime came out, the manga followed suit and gave her pink hair and blue eyes.
    • She has naturally black hair in the stage musicals.
    • Her uniform was also originally pink in the manga (though she receives a black version in volume 3), while the anime depicts it as black.
  • Adaptational Jerkass: Downplayed, but in the movie, Utena is quite aggressive in her initial interactions with Anthy and it gets to the point where Utena ends up attacking and pinning down Anthy. Most of this is because of the above Adaptational Angst Upgrade with Anthy pressing Utena's buttons in regards to Touga. It is only after the two dance, that Utena becomes entirely cordial with Anthy as she is in the series.
  • Adaptational Sexuality: Utena in the series is heavily implied to be bisexual, but in denial of being attracted to Anthy. In the movie, Utena is very clearly and unreservedly bisexual, having no hesitation about romantic interest with Touga or Anthy.
  • And I Must Scream: Implied to have subjected herself to this deliberately at the end of the series. By taking the Swords of Hatred, she's absorbed the pain that Anthy felt in favor of herself.
  • Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence: Possibly, at the end of the series and manga. The continuity of After The Revolution reveals that she has become a spirit similar to Dios, but bestowing "The power to revolutionize the world" in the sense she is granting people the power to forge new connections with one another and change their perceptions.
  • Badass Adorable: Very cute girl with an adorable uniform and a complete heart of gold. Very skilled swordswoman and an all around badass.
  • Badass Normal: In her first duel, she wins against Saionji (who's not only a duelist, but the captain of the school's kendo team) with a broken bamboo sword and no power of Dios.
  • Beginner's Luck: She has no experience in swordfighting but manages to beat Saionji, who's practiced kendo since childhood. Justified, because it's heavily implied that the swords represent the strength of their owner's willpower rather than literal swords.
  • Bifauxnen:
    • Downplayed in the TV series; while her goal is to become a "prince" and she's very tomboyish and athletic (along with having a lot of female admirers), she still has long hair and doesn't actually like being identified as masculine.
    • She plays the trope much straighter in Adolescence of Utena, since she appears to have Boyish Short Hair when she isn't dueling (it's actually Compressed Hair, since she's hiding most of it under her hat) and her Custom Uniform is much more masculine-looking. Saionji actually mistakes her for a man until halfway through his duel with her.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: She's quite a friendly and compassionate student at Ohtori Academy when we are introduced to her and she's quite fierce in sword fighting when she rescues Anthy from Saionji and has to duel with the entire student council.
  • The Big Damn Kiss: With Anthy in the movie.
  • Big Good: In After The Revolution, she's replaced Dios as the prince but instead of simply "saving" people, she helps them reconnect with others so they can work through their problems.
  • Blithe Spirit: She has no idea about the plot that the student council is involved in but gets involved in their lives (and tangled interpersonal issues).
  • Break the Cutie: Utena only wanted to become the prince she admired. It didn't happen.
  • Bully Hunter: Essentially what Utena tries to do throughout the show and in the movie in a fairytale-style context, as most of the characters are somewhere between highly to "minimally" abusive toward Anthy. In the movie it's played straighter as the concept is somewhat less warped (to be in part about her image as a person).
  • Character Tics: Stretching, exercising — even in the middle of a conversation.
  • Cheery Pink: An upbeat and idealist girl with pink hair.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: Inverted, as she suffers from Chronic Getting-Backstabbed Disorder. Touga betrays her by manipulating her into losing her first duel with him. Akio betrays her by revealing how much of a Manipulative Bastard he is and his abuse of Anthy, which shatters any and all admiration that Utena had for Dios. Anthy betrays her by following Akio's order to stab her In the Back.
  • 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 back story 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 art book 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.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: Part of the premise - finding the prince who cheered her up after she lost her parents is the driving motive that led her to where she is at the beginning of the story.
  • Cool Car: Becomes this in the Gainax Ending of the movie.
  • Covert Pervert: Very subtly in the "Freaky Friday" Flip where she sneaks a peek of Saionji's bare chest.
  • Custom Uniform: She says that she wears the boy's uniform, but no one in Ohtori has an outfit like hers.
  • Dark Is Not Evil: She may be The Hero and have a white rose, but she dresses prominently in black, pink, and red.
  • Deadpan Snarker: With the Shadow Girls in the Black Rose Arc.
  • Decoy Backstory: "The Rose Bride" narrates how Utena decided to be a prince because one helped her cope with the deaths of her parents. "The Rose Signet" reveals that Dios only inspired her by showing her Anthy's eternal agony but she eventually forgot her true motivation as she grew up.
  • Determinator: She never gives up. She has to confront her emotions eventually, but she's still overall one of the cheerier characters. By the end of the series, she forces herself back up with her bare knuckles.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: In her final duel against the Prince of Dios himself, she immediately has him on the ropes after a Shut Up, Hannibal! moment in retaliation to his Breaking Speech.
  • Dreaming the Truth: In episode 34, she has a dream that shows what really happened on the day of her parents' funeral when she met her prince, though at first, she isn't sure if it was true or not.
  • Dub Name Change: Úrsula in the Latin American dub.
  • The Dulcinea Effect: Utena rushes in to save a "damsel in distress" at the start of the series, while the rest of the series is essentially Utena trying to "save" Anthy, but seemingly with the selfish intention of boosting her own ego so she can resemble her idol, the prince who saved her all those years ago. This childish behavior nearly drives Anthy away completely but once Utena realizes how self-centered she has been, she strives to genuinely help Anthy. Alas, while Utena is successful in giving Anthy the push to break free from her role as the Rose Bride, this costs Utena her very existence.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: When the power of Dios helps her to win her duels.
  • Et Tu, Brute?: Anthy stabs her In the Back in the penultimate episode.
  • Even the Girls Want Her: And HOW. A Running Gag is that a gaggle of schoolgirls either rush towards her like worshippers, or stand in the background enthusiastically gushing to each other about how "cool" they think she is—both scenarios while conspicuously blushing. (She used to provide the picture for that page.)
  • Expy: Of Oscar de Jarjayes from Rose of Versailles.
  • 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. In the anime, her first kiss is Akio.
  • Freak Out: In Episode 11, she doesn't take the truth behind Anthy's role as the Rose Bride too well. It's even worse in the manga.
  • The Gadfly: Often mockingly bothers other people for their love affairs. Like when, after founding the truth about their past relationship, she disrupts them when they're, likely, having an exes' quarrel (and just by staring and loudly slurp her tea).
  • Godiva Hair: In the movie-manga during her sex scene with Touga.
  • Go-Getter Girl: What Utena starts out as. Events force her to confront what, exactly, achievement means to her.
  • Good with Numbers: According to Wakaba she does quite well in math. Her grades start to slip, however, once she starts dueling.
  • Have I Mentioned I Am Heterosexual Today?: Every time she gives her routine about wanting to be a prince so she can rescue princesses, she reiterates that she's still "Just a normal girl who wants a normal guy!"
  • Heroic Sacrifice: A battered, exhausted, and freshly-stabbed Utena saves Anthy's soul by opening the Rose Gate with her bare hands, but ends up getting the stabbing from the Swords of Hate in Anthy's place; Utena's willingness to do everything possible to help her friend is ultimately the key to helping Anthy break free of her relationship with Akio and leave Ohtori.
  • Hidden Depths: For a sporty tomboy, she made a functional dress out of a tablecloth.
  • Horrible Judge of Character: A more subtle case than most, but her most prominent flaw throughout most of the series is that she tends to assume she completely understands the emotions someone is feeling after just a few seconds, and then tries to impose her own sense of what the solution would be, typically just making things worse. Juri nails it by calling her "cruelly innocent."
  • Hypocrite: Something Akio uses as Breaking Speech. She uses Anthy as her personal Damsel in Distress to be her prince, so she has a reason to live for after her parents's death, and never cared enough for Anthy to try to understand her suffering. She gets better, says Shut Up, Hannibal! to that and grows to really wanting to free Anthy.
  • Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Averted. Not only is she seduced by Akio, she also made quite a few mistakes when it came to Anthy; namely, by using her position as Anthy's "protector" to feel good about herself.
  • Innocent Blue Eyes: Has blue eyes, and she's easily the most idealistic character in the series.
  • Innocent Inaccurate: She witnesses Anthy's torment when she's only five or six and doesn't understand what's going on, except of course that it's horrible and she wants to save Anthy from. Over time, this just becomes a desire to make herself into a prince.
  • In the Back: In the penultimate episode, Anthy stabs Utena with her own sword—the same one that Utena wielded throughout the series. Utena struggles to remain on her feet and help free Anthy from her abusive brother, Akio, despite her betrayal.
  • In the Name of the Moon: "Grant me the power to bring the world revolution!"
  • Instant Expert: Is never stated to have any real sword training before getting involved in the duels, and is never shown training in swordsmanship between duels (while she's highly athletic, her sport of choice is basketball, not fencing or kendo), yet she ends the series with an 18-2 dueling record. That said, it's implied that the characters' swordfighting skills during duels are more symbolic of the strength of their willpower than an indication of how well they can actually use a sword.
  • Kissing Discretion Shot: In the second ending sequence with Anthy.
  • Knight in Sour Armour: By the last arc, Utena loses faith in her own good because she realizes that she only became a prince in order to find something to live for after her parents died. She loves Anthy but is not sure whether she wants to continue fighting for a less than pure girl who sleeps with her brother. In the end, though, Utena realizes that no matter what Anthy does, she'll always get the short end of the stick as long as she stays in Ohtori: she can manipulate as many students as she wants, but at the end of the day, she'll still be the Rose Bride openly stepped on by every Duelist she comes across, and the only one in the world who is perpetually impaled by a swarm of animated swords. Now that she has realized this and that she has admitted how self-righteous she used to be about Anthy's difficulties, Utena decides to fight again anyway, so she can give Anthy the chance to truly free herself and stop suffering.
  • Lady and Knight: The Knight to Anthy's Lady, especially since she aims to be a prince. Deconstructed when she realizes that she's mostly being the Knight to Anthy's lady to fulfill her own desire of having something to live for after her parents' death, without taking Anthy's feelings into account.
  • Lady of War: She's the standout Action Girl of the story and a dignified fencer. She even partakes in archery in the manga, though it's most likely a part of the school curriculum. However, her garments do accentuate the dignity and elegant factor.
  • Love Epiphany: When Utena and Juri have their final conversation, Juri nudges Utena about her feelings for Anthy. Utena's subsequent trailing off as she struggles to put those feelings into words are heavily implied to be the lightbulb moment she realizes her love for Anthy, and it's from this point onwards that her resolve to save Anthy is solidified for the rest of the show.
    Juri: What are you going to do about Anthy? You love her, don't you?
    Utena: Well... it's different from the love you feel [with Shiori]. I genuinely... not to say your feelings aren't genuine... but now I'm... Himemiya and I... Himemiya and I...
  • Magic Knight: Whenever she gains the power of Dios in a duel, or when Anthy powers up the sword.
  • 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". "Tenjou" means "the top of/above the heavens", fitting her idealistic nature and desire to go to the castle in the sky.
  • Memento Macguffin: Her ring, which her mysterious prince gave to her and told her that it would lead her back to him one day. It turns out that her ring is the same as the ones the members of the Student Council wear, which lets them participate in the duels. Naturally, this isn't a coincidence.
  • Morality Pet: To some extent, Touga's. She seems to be the only person that he comes to genuinely care about.
  • Naïve Newcomer: She comes off as this during the first few episodes, as she doesn't know who several well-known students at Ohtori Academy are (which requires Wakaba to explain who they are to her), which doesn't make much sense since she's been attending Ohtori for at least one term prior. (The beginning of the manga has her at her old school before deciding to go to Ohtori, so it makes a bit more sense there.)
  • Not Quite the Right Thing: Bless her heart, but as much as Utena tries, being a Naïve Newcomer and Secretly Selfish doom her to being Innocently Insensitive at least half the time. Particularly with Anthy.
  • Once Upon a Time: "...there was a princess grieving over the deaths of her mother and father."
  • Orphan's Plot Trinket: Her Rose Signet, which her prince gave to her after her parents' deaths to comfort Utena.
  • Parental Abandonment: Her parents died when she was very young, leaving her an orphan.
  • Passionate Sports Girl: She alone can beat a whole basketball team.
  • Pink Heroine: She has pink hair and turns into a pink car at the end of Adolescence of Utena. In the beginning of the manga, her school jacket was pink.
  • Pink Means Feminine: Downplayed; despite being very tomboyish, Utena is associated heavily with the color pink. Her hair is pink, she occasionally wears pink dresses, she's associated with pink roses etc. Pink is one of the few concessions to femininity in an otherwise tomboyish character. It seems to represent her naive and trusting nature as pink becomes more on display when Touga and Akio are manipulating her.
  • The Promise: Invoked with Akio, manipulating her in the form of Dios, to save Anthy in her past.
  • Proper Lady: She's not one, but once tries to act like one to cope after Touga defeats her and she temporarily loses Anthy. Wakaba immediately realizes that she's miserable trying to act like something she's not and manages to snap her out of it and get her back in the arena. Once the deal is resolved, Utena reverts to her natural tomboy self.
  • Real Women Don't Wear Dresses: When Touga and Akio manipulate her into becoming more feminine, Utena is weaker than she usually is. This is justified by the dress representing a role that she doesn't like and is being manipulated into, however.
  • Red and Black and Evil All Over: Inverted. She dresses prominently in black, red, and pink but she is The Hero.
  • Red Is Heroic: Downplayed. While red is one of Utena's main color scheme, it's mainly black, but she's still a hero.
  • Rose-Haired Sweetie: She has pink hair, and while she's not exactly the most feminine girl she's still very kind-hearted and chivalric.
  • Save the Princess: What she thinks she's doing where Anthy is concerned. She's doing it more for herself than for Anthy, and she doesn't take it well when she has to face it.
  • Secretly Selfish: Rather than wanting to help and protect Anthy in the Duels, what Utena truly wanted was to be Anthy's Knight in Shining Armor so she could bolster her own ego and making Anthy rely on her, without taking Anthy's actual desires and thoughts into consideration. She only realizes this truth after finding out that Akio used Anthy's eternal Fate Worse than Death to bait her and, understandably, she's devastated. This grim revelation gives Utena the determination to truly free Anthy from both Akio and herself, rather than just White Knighting for her so she could feel good. It works since Anthy sees her sincerity, realizes Utena is truly fighting for her rather than for her own ego... so in the end she decides "I Will Not Be A Victim" and leaves Ohtori with Chuchu to find the missing Utena, finally liberating herself from Akio and her own demons.
  • Selective Obliviousness:
    • She seems to put a veil over her eyes when she's facing the true meaning of certain things; like in Wakaba's duel, she was confused about why she was dueling and seems to not hear Wakaba yelling at her face how envious she is of her and all the "special people".
    • However that scene in particular could have been Utena not understanding how Wakaba could see herself as not special when she considers Wakaba really special to her as a best friend. A more clear showing of this trope is Utena not always understanding the situations at hand due to her obliviousness like Juri and Shiori's full situation and when Nanami tries to tell her straight up that Anthy and Akio are sleeping with each other, and that was after Utena found out herself.
    • She regards Nanami's attitude in Episode 32 as one of her usual bitch fits, though understandably due to Nanami's past actions. However, she doesn't pick up that something is wrong with Nanami when the girl is gravely serious before attacking Utena in a berserk rage.
  • Shipper on Deck: She's actually supportive of Miki's interest in Anthy, as long as he expresses it in a normal way (that is, as long as he doesn't try to possess Anthy via the duels).
  • Shut Up, Hannibal!: Her duels frequently end like this. Especially prominent with her talk with Mikage in Nemuro Hall.
  • Skilled, but Naive: Essentially the prince/princess dichotomy Utena embodies. She can outfight high school kendo and fencing captains (prince). But she's extremely trusting and inexperienced (princess). Touga and Akio successfully exploit this contradiction.
  • Talking in Bed: She and Anthy frequently converse in their adjacent beds after they move into the planetarium tower.
  • Tomboy with a Girly Streak:
  • Tomboyness Upgrade: Utena in the series has a roughly even mix of masculine and feminine apparel, while in the movie she's outright Bifauxnen.
  • Tragic Hero: It turns out that her prince was really the Big Bad and the encounter that saved her from despair was one of his manipulations, the person she's trying to save is so deep in torment that she'd rather literally backstab Utena than face life without it, and in the end, Utena's genuine attempt to rescue Anthy out of love results in her suffering Anthy's torment in her place and ultimately in vanishing from Ohtori Academy and the memory of her friends. The one glimmer of hope is that Anthy is absolutely certain that Utena is somewhere out in the world beyond Ohtori and she is determined to find her.
  • Tranquil Fury: When slapping Wakaba in Episode 12. The same incident happens in Chapter 18, but she's more herself at the time.
  • 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, symbolizing the fact that he died by drowning.
  • Uncertain Doom: Her final fate at the end of the series is up for debate. We see her horribly stabbed by hundreds of swords, but students mention her going to a hospital and being sent away to another school, though Akio could have easily made this up. Regardless, Anthy is still determined to find her.
  • Unstoppable Rage: Once she has Akio on the ropes in the final duel after giving a Shut Up, Hannibal!, she does not cease in her assault.
  • Unwillingly Girly Tomboy: Played with; Utena is never outright forced into feminine clothes, but when she does wear more girly outfits, it's a sign that she's being manipulated or emotionally put-upon. The only time she wears the female uniform is after losing Anthy to Touga and she believes she's lost her right to be a prince. Later on, she starts to slip from her male uniform into more girly clothes after being seduced by Akio, who almost got her to slip out of being a prince to turn her into a princess.
  • I Warned You: In the last arc, she's been warned several times by Saionji, Touga, and Nanami about Anthy's and Akio's true relationship and to distance herself from them, yet (understandably) because of their past transgressions, she disregards them. Even during her duel with Akio, she's warned that their fight will be absolutely nothing like the ones she experienced, and ultimately pays the price in the end when she earns a sword in the back for her troubles and later becomes a human pincushion.
  • Wide-Eyed Idealist: The most naive character in the show.
  • Wife-Basher Basher: The TV series and the movie have different approaches to this trope.
    • The series downplays it at first and builds it up gradually. Utena does not have a strong reaction to seeing Saionji slap Anthy in the first episode—rather, it's his callousness toward Wakaba that motivates her to fight him. Saionji slaps Anthy again later in the episode and Utena loudly protests, but she is already committed at this point. In episode 2 Saionji slaps Anthy again, but Utena still refuses his challenge. It's only when he threatens to have her expelled that she agrees to fight. By the end of the Student Council arc Utena lashes out at someone who's hurt Anthy: Wakaba.
    • The movie plays this straight. Utena agrees to fight Saionji after observing his mistreatment of Anthy, and this is what draws her into the dueling game.
  • Wooden Katanas Are Even Better: Brings one to her duel with Saionji. He shears it off, but she beats him anyway.

    Anthy Himemiya 

Anthy Himemiya

Voiced by: Yuriko Fuchizaki (Japanese), Sharon Becker (English) Foreign VAs 

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The Rose Bride of the dueling games, she becomes engaged to whoever can best her current betrothed in a duel. It is said that this person shall gain from her the power to bring the world revolution. She has little autonomy of her own and is unpopular with most students, but she is coveted by the duelists of the Student Council due to her role in their game.


  • Adaptational Consent: Exactly how willing she is when it comes to her incestuous relationship with Akio varies by the medium, with the movie being the clearest case of it not being willing (and even that's muddled slightly by the revelation that she was awake the whole time he was molesting her after he tried to drug her).
  • Adaptation Dye-Job: In the manga, she originally had very dark brown hair, brown eyes, and wore a white dress. When the anime attained popularity, her colour scheme in the manga was retroactively changed.
  • Adaptation Personality Change: In the series, Anthy is, on the surface at least, pretty meek and submissive. In the movie, however, Anthy is a lot more openly cheerful and assertive to the point of taking the lead in her relationship with Utena.
  • All of the Other Reindeer: Nobody at Ohtori is friends with her. In the anime's first arc, she gets cornered (usually by Nanami's Girl Posse), berated, and slapped almost Once an Episode, but it gradually becomes clear that her real issues are much bigger than their petty bullying. It's later revealed that part of her role as the Rose Bride is to bear the hatred of the world for taking Dios away from them.
  • All Take and No Give: The Giver, with her betrothed as the Taker. As the Rose Bride, she must agree to every single request of the one currently bethroned to her, regardless of how cruel and abusive it is. In truth, only Akio is the true taker, and one of the most horrific there is. Despite allowing herself to be forced through literally centuries of the sensation of being stabbed constantly to save him, he intends to solely use her as a tool for the purpose of regaining the power that he lost from when he was Prince Dios.
  • Ambiguously Brown: She has dark skin and wears a bindi, but her surname is Japanese and her given name is Greek. Flashbacks to her and Akio's past also seem to depict medieval Europe, further muddling the issue. Her ethnicity is never actually specified. The whole getup gives her a very exotic look compared to other students.
    • If it's not exoticism, it may count as a Genius Bonus—she's technically implied to be a deity, and Japanese Buddhism has cultural osmosis from as far as Greece due to Greece's history with South Asia.
    • Character designer Chiho Saito states that she's based on Lalah Sune from Mobile Suit Gundam, and also adds that she explicitly gave her an "Indian-like" appearance. When one takes that into account alongside the bindi, one can surmise that she is Indian.
  • And I Must Scream: It's a bit difficult to parse, but several scenes heavily imply that she's actually constantly experiencing the physical sensation of being stabbed by a hundred swords of hate constantly despite not actually being so.
  • Anti-Villain: One of the most inhumanly tragic and emotionally-shattered Type 2 villains ever written, to the point people argue if she truly qualifies as one. She was horrifically tortured and abused by her brother for centuries, but she still ultimately turned a blind eye and assists in his numerous rapes and murders and was still capable of leaving him, though his horrific emotional manipulation made that nearly impossible for her.
  • Barrier Maiden: Subverted. She's actually what the barrier's preventing from getting out of Ohtori (that, and her own despair).
  • Bespectacled Cutie: Anthy's large, round glasses and gentle and intelligent nature seems to fit the role, though her apparent ditziness is explained in a dark and extreme subversion later on. Lampshaded when the Grand Finale reveals that Anthy doesn't even need to wear glasses, and was seemingly wearing them on Akio's orders, most likely to make her look more submissive and timid. When she finally breaks ties with him, she illustrates this by taking off her glasses and leaving them on his desk, and heading out into the world without them. This is hinted at in one of the next episode previews much earlier in the series where Anthy casually remarks that she can see better without her glasses.
  • Better with Non-Human Company: She spends much of her free time taking care of the roses in the greenhouse, and she's very fond of animals as well, keeping numerous pets and knowing how to feed baby birds. In regards to people, it's a whole other story; she has no friends at the start of the series due to other students bullying her or avoiding her, and in episode 3 she admits (in a very early instance of showing real vulnerability) that she dislikes crowds.
  • Beware the Nice Ones: She's unfailingly polite, pleasant, and faithful to Utena and everyone as a student and the Rose Bride, but as the series goes on, it becomes clear she has a dark side that she typically shows through passive-aggressiveness. And, in the last arc, through stabbing Utena In the Back.
  • Broken Bird: At first it just seems like she's friendless and a prize in the Student Council's fights, which is bad enough. Then we find out she's been tormented and caught in an abusive relationship with her fallen princely brother for centuries after being stabbed by a mob of townspeople for trying to save him. She tried to convince herself that she is simply a doll with no feelings to hurt, but Utena's influence has defrosted her. She cares about Utena, because Utena cares about her, but she hates how Utena makes the pain impossible to ignore.
  • Brother–Sister Incest: Although it at first appears to be consensual, it's made clear a few episodes later that Akio does not accept refusals, or even hesitation.
  • But Now I Must Go: After Utena is ret goned for reaching her, she calmly changes her clothes, lets her hair down, goes to Akio's office with Chu-Chu on her shoulder and her travel bag in her hands, tells him she's leaving Ohtori to find Utena, and finally is able to take command of her own life. The last time she's seen, she and Chuchu are happily Walking the Earth, hoping to meet up with Utena someday.
  • Catchphrase: In the next episode preview: "Absolute destiny apocalypse."
  • Cloudcuckoolander: At the beginning of the series Anthy seems prone to whimsical behavior, like spending a whole episode knitting a red sweater, or suddenly revealing that she is a skilled pianist. Later revelations about Anthy recontextualize her actions dramatically. Many of the odd things she does are calculated to push the duelists into the arena, although she seems to torment Nanami out of spite. Not that Nanami didn't earn it.
  • Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Hers are Red, White and Purple. She's the Lady in Red as the Rose Bride and a Virgin in a White Dress while in her student uniform; meanwhile, Purple Is Powerful Purple in connection to her being functionally royal. (It's not coincidental that a "scarlet and white" Duality Motif has some other connotations.) During the Grand Finale, Anthy discards all the red in her outfit in favor of Pink, symbolically embracing Utena's positive influence.
  • Compressed Hair: She manages to compress her thigh-length hair down into a horizontal roll.
  • Conditioned to Accept Horror: Anthy seems disturbingly at peace with the idea that she has to obey the commands of anyone she's engaged to, and to accept their potential abuse as it comes. Later, it's revealed that she is fully aware of how awful it is, but chose to dissociate from the abuse so as to cope with it. Utena treating her like a person causes her to start developing out of this, and by the end, she's chosen to refuse her role as the Rose Bride.
  • Damsel in Distress: Downplayed. She has potential to fight back, but her role as the Rose Bride doesn't let her do this directly.
  • Damsel out of Distress: In the Grand Finale, Anthy ends the dueling game and saves herself from her oppressive role as the Rose Bride. She decides to leave Ohtori and walks out. Utena provided the impetus and the resolve.
  • Defiant Captive: Her role as the Rose Bride hinders this. While physically she can pull this off, her emotional/psychological damage is way too serious.
  • Designated Victim: In the first arc, you could start a drinking game based on how many times she gets slapped.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Dios and Anthy crossed this in their backstories, which is what shaped them into Akio Ohtori the Manipulative 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.
  • The Dragon: Of a sort. She's instrumental to Akio's schemes and loyal to him, but it's also made clear she's only performing the "princess" role by rote. When Utena gives her reason to stand up for herself, she cheerfully leaves him behind.
  • Driven to Suicide:
    • When she sees the effects of Akio's manipulation on Utena (blaming herself because she MUST follow his will no matter what) 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.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Given that her final scene in the movie has her having sex with (or at least making out with while both were completely naked) Utena while speeding down a highway in a heavily damaged race car with no seatbelts, it's clear she took lessons from her brother on the importance of staying in control of the vehicle at all times.
  • Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: As much of a doormat as Anthy seems, antagonizing her is not a good idea. Not that either Nanami or Saionji are good at doing the math. During the finale, Akio also gets a taste of Anthy's wrath when she does the worst thing she could possibly do: nothing.note 
  • Dub Name Change: Angie in the Latin American dub.
  • Dull Surprise: Invoked. Anthy deliberately hides her emotions, so her face is either blank or blandly smiling during events that floor other characters (and even the audience). And while her more genuine expressions of emotion are invariably subtle and easy-to-miss, any situation in which she deviates from simple blankness is a very important sign that the audience should pay attention.
  • Emotionless Girl: She rarely shows any emotions other than a placid smile, and it's noted to be creepy by a few other characters. Subverted as she's more emotionally repressed than actually emotionless due to her abusive brother.
  • Expository Hairstyle Change: When she leaves Akio, Anthy lets her Prim and Proper Bun down. It shows hows she's rejected the role imposed upon her and is finally choosing her own path and becoming her own person.
  • Extreme Doormat: She is actually described as being "less forceful than a doormat", but the truth is a bit different. Subverted when it turns out that her emotionless personality is just a cover for her collusion with her brother, double subverted when she actually is an Extreme Doormat to him, though she passive-aggressively rebels every step of the way. In any case, she's far from emotionless to the point where some fans consider her worse than Akio. She theoretically can rebel against her destiny as a fallen princess / Wicked Witch, but has to choose between eternal torture and returning to the outside world which brought about her torture into the first place.
  • Facial Markings: Wears a bindi on the middle of her forehead.
  • Fate Worse than Death: As the Rose Bride, her role is to be the trophy wife of whoever wins her hand, slavishly obeying her masters' whims no matter how cruel or abusive they are, while forbidden from defending herself or having any form of agency in her life. That alone is bad enough. It's later revealed that part of being the Rose Bride is to be her brother's Silent Scapegoat, letting herself be stabbed for eternity by the Swords of Hate that were originally intended for Prince Dios. Even worse, she is plagued with the knowledge that sacrificing herself to protect Dios from some rather ungrateful townsfolk turned her brother into the monstrously abusive Akio, rendering her pain utterly pointless. But she chooses to continue the cycle anyway partially out of loyalty to Dios/Akio, and partially out of self-punishment.
  • Female Misogynist: When Utena asks her what is femininity, she answers that all girls are like the Rose Bride; as the Rose Bride, she has been an Extreme Doormat and a Stepford Smiler trapped in a cycle of abuse. Later, when she stabs Utena In the Back, she tells Utena that she can't be her prince because she's a girl.
  • Feminine Women Can Cook: Downplayed; the only foods she can make safely are children's snacks like shaved ice. Any other foods she cooks end up inducing "Freaky Friday" Flip effects on those who eat it.
  • First-Name Basis: With the exception of Utena, most of the cast calls her by her first name.
  • Flower Motifs: All the characters are associated with roses of various colours, but being the Rose Bride, the rose motif is especially strong with her.
  • Friend to All Living Things:
    • Not in an over-the-top way, but she clearly has an affinity with animals, more so than with humans.
    • It's also hinted that if you mistreat an animal, she'll calmly curse you to be hated by all of them. You heard that, Nanami?
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: In Episode 8, she's perceived as this when she switches bodies with Utena, who as Anthy is bullied and slapped by Keiko. Anthy!Utena thought it was about time Keiko learned her lesson, and struck back. Even better in the manga when Anthy!Utena nearly goes to town on the girls.
  • Girly Girl with a Tomboy Streak: She deconstructs the Damsel in Distress role as she does have the potential to fight back (but her role as the Rose Bride doesn't allow her to) and saves Utena and herself in The Movie. She also has domestic skills like cleaning, likes snails and snakes, is more sexually aggressive towards Utena in The Movie, wears armor and rides on a horse in the opening scene versus her standard attire of dresses, and isn't that great of a cook. The only foods she can make safely are children's snacks like shaved ice.
  • The Glasses Come Off: When she sleeps with Akio. It's also done more poignantly in the final episode, when she leaves her glasses on Akio's desk before leaving the school for good to search for Utena.
  • A God I Am Not: She is the Rose Bride, the immortal or possibly undying holder of the all-powerful Sword of Dios. She just wants to be a normal girl and is generally depressed about being the Rose Bride. In truth, her pain runs far deeper than that because of her abusive brother who allows her to be constantly stabbed by the Swords of Hate. She eventually leaves her brother with the help of Utena.
  • Godiva Hair: Though the circumstances are of the Fan Disservice variety.
  • Good Witch Versus Bad Witch: She ends up being both and varies between them. In the end, she decides to be a "good witch" and throws off her brother for good.
  • Grew a Spine: She starts out as not standing up against her tormentors, though she passive-aggressively rebels every step of the way. However, in the Grand Finale, she leaves her abusive brother, Akio, to go Walking the Earth with Chuchu in search of her best friend Utena.
  • 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 as Akio's "partner".
  • Heel–Face Turn: Thanks to Utena' determination to save her, Anthy finally frees herself from Akio's endless quest for power via the dueling game and leaves him forever.
  • Hidden Depths: Exaggerated, because it's clear from point A that more or less her entire personality is hidden behind a placid expression. In fact, discovering how many layers there are to her personality is one of the main plotlines of the series.
  • Hidden Eyes: Used for symbolism during Anthy's final scene in the Grand Finale; she and Chu-Chu are only shown from the back, or too low to get a proper view of their faces, as she tells Akio she is leaving. It's only once she turns towards the gates of Ohtori - and away from the main building (and the "story" itself) that her face is shown one last time.
  • Historical Villain Upgrade: In-Universe. She is known in The Tale of the Rose as a Wicked Witch who sealed the light of the Rose Prince away in her castle out of spite that a prince's sister can never become his princess, so she must become a witch. The story fails to mention how she chose to save her ailing brother from the Ungrateful Townsfolk by taking the Swords of Hate actually meant for him.
  • Hope Is Scary: One of the reasons why she ends up stabbing Utena; the outside world is why she is condemned to the Fate Worse than Death that is the Rose Bride cycle, and so when faced with the almost certainty of escape, she falters and goes right back to being her brother's tool rather than open herself up to the fear of something worse happening.
  • Human Pincushion: Anthy was subjected to this at the hands of an angry mob for sealing Dios away long ago, and she still has to endure the pain of constantly being skewered by the Swords of Hate as a scapegoat for humanity's rage toward the Prince who lost his faith and then abandoned his people.
  • Human Shield: Akio throws Anthy in front of Utena during her assault during their duel.
  • Immortality Hurts: Anthy is an immortal "Wicked Witch" (and implied Physical God), doomed to forever serve as The Scapegoat for humanity's fury over "losing" their Prince, which manifests as a million swords constantly stabbing her body.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Anthy put herself between a mob and her brother, and thus got impaled (on-screen but in silhouette) with "The Million Swords of Humanity's Hatred". Of course, only some of them are actually visible in most of these scenes, but in the Grand Finale, all one million are shown in their full glory, all seeking to impale poor Anthy simultaneously.
  • In the Back: Quote Oscar Wilde: "The coward does it with a kiss, the brave man with a sword!" Anthy does it with both to Utena at the end of the final duel.
  • I Will Find You: Anthy sets out to find Utena at the end of the anime version, since Utena's genuine desire to help her finally gives Anthy the courage to break the cycle of abuse she was trapped into. So as soon as she can, she gets ready to leave Ohtori Academy and tell Akio that she's no longer his pawn and that even if Utena was erased from the world, she'll find her no matter what.
  • 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.
  • Kissing Discretion Shot: In the second ending sequence with Utena.
  • Lady and Knight: The Lady to Utena's Knight. Deconstructed, since it's shown that being the "Lady" is a very stifling and limited position to have.
  • Lady in Red: In the anime version, Anthy wears a red dress during the Rose Duels as she's the bride and the prize of the dueling game. She doesn't behave in a particularly sexual manner, but she is an object of desire for a few males in the cast. She's sleeping with her brother and serves as his Dragon, but not by choice.
  • Love Martyr: To Akio, and how. Eventually ends up being subverted when she realizes Akio isn't worthy of it, and she leave him far behind.
  • Love Redeems: Utena's love redeems her and gives her the courage to leave Akio.
  • Manipulative Bastard: In The Tale of the Rose, her fictionalized version manipulates her brother into trapping himself in her castle by warning him that a witch in the castle seeks to seal the Rose Prince away from the world. Subverted when it turns out that she only saved her ailing brother from the Ungrateful Townsfolk by taking the Swords of Hate actually meant for him.
  • Meaningful Name: "Anthy" is derived from the Greek word "ánthos" for "flower" and is similar to Anthea, an epithet for the Greek Goddess Hera. Note that Dios is another name for Zeus, Hera's brother-husband. Himemiya" means "princess shrine".
  • Messianic Archetype: Deconstructed. She was killed by an angry mob when she tried to protect her brother, came back to life and has to bear the sins of humanity from then on. However, the anime shows that someone who is defined solely by sacrifice, suffering and martyrdom will eventually be warped into a bitter shadow of themselves. Furthermore, taking on someone else's sins and burdens does nothing good to them, as it generates guilt and eventually resentment and teaches that they can avoid consequences. It's also horrifically inverted in practice. The Rose Bride is simultaneously an excuse for and a target of the sinful human urges of cruelty and lust while being a literal shield against the consequences. As such, rather than providing the chance for redemption by absorbing the worst of the penalty for sin, she instead functionally enables sin by making sure that the guilty parties are never held responsible and taking all the blame herself.
  • My God, What Have I Done?: The episode "Nanami's Egg" is yet another example of her covertly screwing with Nanami's head, but by the end when it's implied the titular egg was actually Chu-Chu in disguise Anthy is visibly upset about something. It seems she thinks she went too far this time, due to both the emotional turmoil she put Nanami through and the pain Chu-Chu might've suffered as Nanami abandoned the egg.
  • Mysterious Waif: Anthy is alone - she's friendless and mistreated by the people around her. Her unfortunate state pulls Utena deeper into the plot - Anthy displays a clear need for protection and friendship, and Utena wants to be able to provide these things. Utena gets caught up in trying to help her without really knowing what she's getting into. After all, Anthy 39 episodes-worth of secrets, and then some.
  • Neutral Female: She can be seen as this for roughly 90% to 95% of the series. In fact, the series could be seen to deconstruct the trope that women ought to ultimately obey their 'prince' and have no life of their own. As punishment for being a witch who sealed Dios away, Anthy was cursed to be in the role of the Rose Bride, passed around from person to person based on the outcome of the dueling game. As Anthy saw herself as an empty shell with no heart, she went along submissively. She starts to try doing what she wanted only when she becomes friends with Utena who encouraged her to obey her own will.
  • One-Note Cook: She sticks to shaved ice. Any other meal she cooks up tend to have very interesting side-effects, which may or may not be intentional.
  • O.O.C. Is Serious Business: The rare times she shows any emotion aside for her Dissonant Serenity it's because something big, seriously wrong, or both, are happening.
  • Passive Aggressive Combat: Anthy is a master at this, though it's also deconstructed in that it's the only way she can fight back, having been emotionally anesthetized by years of emotional and sexual manipulation by her Manipulative Bastard brother Akio. The one time Anthy talks straight to the point is when, after Utena's Heroic Sacrifice for her, she manages to break the cycle of abuse and walks out on Akio, leaving Ohtori with Chuchu to find Utena.
  • Perpetual Smiler: She almost always wears a placid, vapid smile. This, in addition to her Dissonant Serenity, is noted by other characters to be creepy and unsettling.
  • Person of Holding: Saionji and then Utena draw the dueling sword from her body.
  • Prim and Proper Bun: In the television version, she usually wears her hair in a horizontal roll above the neck.
  • Princess Classic: While she isn't a royal, Anthy otherwise fits this trope. She is a demure Damsel in Distress, a Friend to All Living Things, an object of desire for a few males in the cast, has long hair, and wears a fancy red dress as the Rose Bride. She is also a tragic look at this trope, as she has no control over her future and is largely viewed as an object to be passed along to the current winner of the dueling game. When she confesses a desire to learn to cook like Wakaba, Touga laughs at the idea of the Rose Bride cooking and that her only priority is to take care of the roses like a princess who is only there to be pretty.
  • Purple Is the New Black: Her hair is black in the manga, but the anime series and movies render it purple.
  • Really 700 Years Old: It's never clarified just how old she really is, but it's definitely way over 14.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: In the Grand Finale, Anthy delivers one to her brother, Akio, who has been tormenting her for centuries.
    "You really don't know what happened, do you? It doesn't matter. By all means, stay in this cozy coffin of yours and continue to play prince. But I have to go now. She isn't gone at all, she's merely vanished from your world."
  • Rei Ayanami Expy: She is a seemingly emotionless Mysterious Waif with purple hair and green eyes that serves as a Love Interest to the main lead Utena. Like Rei, she has a personal connection to the Big Bad as his sister. She is not quite human, as she is actually an ancient goddess that was stabbed by the Swords of Hate to contain her power. Given the original air date of Utena, she's probably the Ur-Example, as well as one of the few that stays true to the original character's Unbuilt Trope nature. There's also the fact that Ikuhara and Anno are real life friends and Anno himself asked Ikuhara to work with him, but Anno joked that he ran away.
  • The Scapegoat: She became this unwillingly when the enraged town people stabbed her for blocking their pass to reach her sickly brother. After this, she became the scapegoat for Akio by taking the Swords of Hate again and again actually meant for him. Being this trope is the real purpose of the Rose Bride.
  • Scary Shiny Glasses: Glare on Anthy's glasses conceals her eyes when she's being complicit with her brother's manipulative plans. As the story progresses, instances of this trope become more and more frequent as she finds it harder and harder to keep her placid mask in place.
  • Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: After the first failed prank on her, it's heavily implied Nanami ends up on Anthy's shit-list, and she retaliates with her own more supernatural pranks until the events of Nanami's Egg convinces her she's gone too far.
  • Shapeshifter: Could be an Empathic Shapeshifter.
  • Shrinking Violet: What she appears to be on the surface... appropriate, considering her hair color.
  • Significant Wardrobe Shift: At the very end Anthy abandons her glasses, loses her bun and swaps her red dress and school uniform for a pink travel suit. It shows hows she's rejected the role imposed upon her and is finally choosing her own path and becoming her own person.
  • Silent Scapegoat: Saionji, Nanami, her Girl Posse, Kozue, and Juri all smack her around despite her having little-to-no involvement in their issues. Most prominent when Anthy manages to somehow take a thrown glass of water for someone else at point-blank range. When she was a child, Anthy tried to pull this by telling the world that she is a Wicked Witch who has imprisoned her brother, the heroic Prince Dios. She knew that he will die if he keeps saving people constantly and that everybody will hate her and stab her with their thousands of swords of hate. It doesn't kill her, but it leaves her in a state of constant pain and cast as the villain. Only she and Dios know the truth, and both of them know that, if she reveals it, the people will instead hate and stab Dios, so neither of them are going to reveal it (especially since the shattered and embittered Dios is now Akio). However, Utena's treatment and friendship started to make her realize she didn't want this life but she has no other option as long she continues to be the Rose Bride.
  • 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.
  • Stepford Smiler: She is initially presented as a demure, somewhat shy and even submissive girl who almost always wears a placid smile, which some characters actually find unsettling. By the end of the series, it has been revealed that not only has she been living with an unimaginable amount of both physical and emotional pain, but she's also essentially a puppet of the series' Big Bad, her own brother.
  • Stockholm Syndrome: When she was a child, Anthy became a Silent Scapegoat of all the world's anger in order to save her ailing brother. When her brother developed an evil side out of sheer grief over being unable to save her, she decided to stick with him and indulge in his whims, and even to become his sex slave just to make him happy. She additionally allowed the whole world to continue hurting her with their thousands of Swords of Hate, just to save her brother from feeling that pain. Eventually, she realizes that this is not the life she wants to lead, and she simply tells her brother to go deal with his issues alone.
  • Supporting Protagonist: In the movie, after Utena is turned into a car the narrative shifts to Anthy getting over her hang ups and escaping Ohtori herself.
  • Sympathy for the Devil: Anthy wipes Akio's tears and tells him, "knowing everything of the world, you chose this path," when he expresses regret over all the hurt he caused. Her message here is that they are partners in crime, and there's no turning back for either of them...yet.
  • Talking in Bed: She does this often with Utena after Utena moves in with her and Akio.
  • Tears of Remorse: Near the end for letting Utena get entangled so far and then stabbing her in the back.
  • Tragic Hero: All she was trying to do was protect her exhausted brother from the demands of people who wouldn't fight for themselves, and she gets stabbed to death for it.
  • Transformation Sequence: She shifts from her school uniform to a tell-tale red "Rose Bride" dress. Red is a wedding outfit color in many Eastern countries.
  • Tranquil Fury: All the time. It mostly manifests as Passive-Aggressive Kombat, but Anthy is very good at keeping that bland, trademark smile of hers when she's busy plotting the downfall of everyone who's mistreated her, barring Akio-and only because he's convinced her he's her only semi-good option.
  • Uncanny Valley Girl: To the point that Kanae compares her to an alien and Nanami thinks she's the scariest person she knows.
  • Vocal Dissonance: A minor case, but Yuriko Fuchizaki sounds noticeably older than many members of the high school cast. This series being what it is, this was probably deliberate.
  • Walking the Earth: With Chu-chu, after the Grand Finale. To search for Utena and for her real place in the world.
  • Wicked Witch: Subverted. She does have some supernatural powers. This would seem to resign her to the role of a wicked witch in any fairy tale (as The Tale of the Rose notes, a prince's sister can never become his princess, so she must become a witch). Nevertheless, she desperately plays the helpless princess role out of love for her brother, a Fallen Prince who acts like a witch. She eventually leaves her abusive brother with the help of Utena, a princess who acts like a Prince Charming.
  • Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Played with. Her experiences have made her very understandably misanthropic and bitter towards most of the world, especially the Ohtori students who treat her as an item rather than a person. However, her darkest deeds are motivated by something else—her loyalty to her brother. Her Heel–Face Turn isn't motivated by letting go of her anger but letting go of her love (if you can call it that) for Akio. Ikuhara has said that he never decided if she had malice or not.
  • Wounded Gazelle Gambit: Played straight and subverted. The straight portion is that she is partly in control of the duels, being Akio's agent; she could stop the fighting over her if she wanted. The subversion comes from how Akio has manipulated and abused her into codependent Stockholm Syndrome; her chains and wounds may be emotional than physical, but that doesn't make them any less real.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko: Subverted. She's calm, soft-spoken, domestic, and devoted to her fiancé as the Rose Bride. She has black hair in the manga, but the the anime turns it into purple hair. However, technically speaking, she fails at being a Yamato Nadeshiko, as she lacks the Silk Hiding Steel part that is needed. Double Subverted when she grows a spine enough to leave her abusive brother, Akio, to go Walking the Earth in search of Utena.
  • Zero-Approval Gambit: 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 Fallen Hero prince and the fear to change.

    Akio Ohtori (ALL SPOILERS UNMARKED) 

Akio Ohtori

Voiced by: Jurota Kosugi (Japanese, series), Mitsuhiro Oikawa (Japanese, Movie), Crispin Freeman (English, episode 13), Josh Mosby (English, series and movie) Foreign VAs 

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Series_ep35_024.jpg

The highly attractive acting chairman of Ohtori Academy, as well as Anthy's brother. A powerful man who oversees the school from his tower.


  • Adaptation Dye-Job: Originally had black hair and brown eyes in Saitou's early illustrations, but his hair changed to lavender in the color images produced after the anime.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Unlike in the manga and anime, Akio in the movie was never a good person, as Prince Dios is a separate entity that Anthy created in response to her brother's abuse.
  • Adaptational Wimp: In the anime, Akio is an inscrutable and seemingly invincible Manipulative Bastard. In The Movie he is presented as a much more foppish and blatantly pathetic character, and he toppled out of a window after freaking out over the fact that his sister hadn't been asleep when he was molesting her.
  • Aloof Big Brother: He comes off as this at first; appearing to simply be a concerned and caring, if busy big brother.
  • Ambiguously Brown: Like Anthy, he has a darker complexion than the rest of the cast, with hints of South Asian influence in his appearance. He differs from Anthy to an extent in that he has plausible Japanese name. Ohtori is a bit over the top, maybe, but real-life people are named Akio.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Usually in a red button-down shirt.
  • Became Their Own Antithesis: As Prince Dios, he was driven by an obsessive need for noble self-sacrifice to the point it nearly killed him, and fought against those that would predate upon young women (in an admittedly paternal fashion). Nowadays, he is motivated entirely by his own whims and ego, and has become far worse than any of the various creatures he once fought against.
  • Big Bad: He's End of the World, the one who's been organizing the duels, forcing Anthy to be a prize in them, for the purpose of gaining her power. He ruthlessly manipulates Utena and his sister.
  • Big Brother Bully: He forced her to have sex with him against her will to cope with the loss of his dominant power.
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: In public, he appears to be a wise, charming gentleman and a Reasonable Authority Figure. In reality, he abuses his own sister, manipulates a bunch of insecure teenagers, and cheats on his fiancée Kanae with multiple people. When Utena finally confronts him, he shows himself to be a sexist by telling her to give up fighting for Anthy because dresses don't go with swords.
  • Blaming the Victim: When Utena calls him out on his treatment of Anthy, he tries to put the blame on not only Anthy, saying that she enjoys being a witch and her staying with him is of her own volition, but also says that Utena has no right to call him out and is just as bad as he is, because she slept with him despite knowing he was engaged.
  • Brother–Sister Incest: You want to know part of the reason Anthy is so deeply angry? This is a very, very large part of it— it's one of the many ways he asserts control over her.
  • Broken Ace: He once was the most generous and sweet person as Prince Dios, but his terrible experiences left him completely disenchanted and embittered. Now he's a Manipulative Bastard who manipulates everyone and everything — including Anthy, his little sister, who is pretty much trapped in a Fate Worse than Death and he keeps her there.
  • Broken Pedestal: Akio is actually the Prince whom Utena met when she was a young girl, and the one who saved her from her Despair Event Horizon. The revelation of how much of a Manipulative Bastard he is and his abuse of Anthy shatters any admiration that Utena previously had for him.
  • Brought Down to Normal: It's implied that when Anthy took the swords of hatred for him she ended up sealing away all of Akio's former power as Prince Dios into herself, and that all of the bizarre magic he seemingly is capable of is actually a combination of using Anthy's power, and illusions from the Planetarium. After Anthy leaves Akio forever it's implied that he returns to being a normal human— a Fate Worse than Death for an egotist like him.
  • The Casanova: Basically anyone who's female and meets him is soon infatuated with him, which he invariably takes advantage of.
  • The Chessmaster: He's been directing the duels for who-knows-how-long.
  • Color-Coded Eyes: He has green eyes, reflecting his exoticness, his status as The Casanova, and the fact that he's a Physical God.
  • Cool Big Bro: When he's introduced, Akio is an affable gentleman to Utena and a kind elder brother to Anthy. Horribly subverted when we discover what kind of person he really is.
  • Consummate Liar: He's a very, very good liar, perhaps one of his key traits that goes in-check as a rampant hypocrite. If not for his suspicious scenes with his sister and Touga, there would be NO reason to suspect him of being anything else but a wise, charming gentleman, especially in the Black Rose arc. He acted very sincerely to Utena and Anthy, genuinely coming across as said wise, charming gentleman, even going as far as listening to Utena's consultation and giving her some wisdom. When the series enters to the Akio arc, he had already cheated on his fiancée with his own sister, his fiancée's mother and Touga, had raped his sister, and had tempted a bunch of insecure teenagers to the dueling game that gives his own sister as the Rose Bride to whoever wins. This even extends towards his own sister, as he manipulates her into staying with him by convincing her that the dueling game is necessary for him to regain his lost powers as the heroic Dios when he has no intention of saving her from her constant suffering.
  • Cultured Badass: In the anime.
  • Cruel Mercy: Anthy refuses to kill him despite having ample reason to, and instead simply walks out on him, which proves to be far worse for him than mere death. With her, the magical facade he uses to hold up the school will be unable to sustain itself, and he stay in the cushioned coffin until he is inevitably exposed as the sexual predator he truly is.
  • Dead All Along: In the movie, it's discovered he fell out a window and died some time before Utena came to Ohtori Academy.
  • Deal with the Devil: His modus operandi as a Satanic Archetype is to take various vulnerable people and manipulate them at their lowest point into dueling for the Rose Bride Anthy, who he has essentially been pimping out for god only knows how long.
  • Death by Adaptation: In The Movie, he is Dead All Along.
  • Demiurge Archetype: A former deity now fallen into despair and obscurity, Akio deceives and manipulates the students of Ohtori Academy with both his position as "Acting" Chairman of the Board and with various displays of magic. The final episodes reveal that much of this magic is actually an elaborate special effects setup to compensate for the true power of Dios being sealed behind the Rose Gate. Likewise, his domain of Ohtori Academy is itself implied to magically separated from the "real" world, possibly even being a Pocket Dimension. Meanwhile the closest thing to an actual deity is his sister Anthy, whom he's abused into subservience; her leaving him during the Grand Finale renders him helpless.
  • Depraved Bisexual: He uses sex as a tool for manipulation, seducing boys and girls, including his own sister, alike for his own ends. Considering how pro-LGBT the show is, his depravity is not related to his bisexuality.
  • Despair Event Horizon: His reaction isn't shown, but it occurs when the mob of irate townspeople impaled Anthy for wanting to let her older brother recover from the strain of saving people all the time.
  • Dirty Coward: A more notable incident was him throwing Anthy in front of Utena during her assault when she starts kicking his ass in their duel, and is horrible enough to secretly order Anthy to stab Utena in the back. Literally.
  • Dirty Old Man: He doesn't look it, but Akio is Really 700 Years Old and regularly has sexual intercourse with young children along with acting like a general creep around them.
  • Domestic Abuse: The entire series could be seen as a case study in how domestic abusers of all kinds (spouses, parents, caretakers, etc.) systematically destroy any resolve their victims have, eventually turning them into the passive husk 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.
  • Driven to Suicide: In After the Revolution, he killed himself in despair shortly after Anthy left him at the end of the series.
  • Drives Like Crazy: Practically every Akio car scene ends with him leaving the driver's seat to lounge on the hood of the car with his shirt open, while it's speeding down the highway. Some of them open with him somehow driving his car into interior rooms of the Academy.
  • Dub Name Change: Mike in the Latin American dub.
  • Ephebophile: Sleeps with dozens upon dozens of the students at his academy, who are generally between the ages of 14 to 17.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: His Super Seduction Skills let him seduce most of the major cast...unless it really is just a ride in his car. This trope is extra applicable between Akio and Touga - somehow it seems appropriate that the two most in-universe desirable male characters are engaged in a power play-driven tryst of some sort.
  • Evil Mentor: He often listens to Utena's consultation and gives her some wisdom. Played with since she didn't know he was evil until the final duel with him.
  • Evil Plan: As End of the World Akio manipulates various teenagers to do battle in his duels in order to find someone of true nobility and love. When he finds said person he intends to use their sword of love and nobility to shatter the Rose Gate in order to regain his lost power as Prince Dios and revolutionise the world.
  • Evil Sounds Deep: His voice is easily the lowest in the show, and it only serves to emphasize how disturbing and sinister he is.
  • Fallen Angel: Depending on how literally you chose to interpret his backstory. He himself encourages this interpretation by linking his name with "Lucifer," the Morning Star, although ultimately the only power he has is what others are willing to give him. On the other hand, the manga plays this quite straight, with Akio being revealed as the ascendant dark half of the divinely powerful Dios.
  • Fallen Hero: After Anthy's Heroic Sacrifice for Prince Dios, he was born as the corrupt half of Prince Dios.
  • A Family Affair: He ends up sleeping with his fiancée's mother. He's a lot more of a Manipulative Bastard about it, though.
  • Faux Affably Evil: He comes off as a Reasonable Authority Figure to the students in the Academy and is quite friendly and charming to most people, though in reality the one and only thing he cares about is securing and maintaining his own power.
  • Final Boss: He's the final duelist Utena faces. Either his ghost or Prince Dios is the final obstacle for Anthy in The Movie.
  • Freudian Excuse: Even he has one. Back when he was still Dios, he worked himself almost to death while trying to save people, so his sister hid him inside their house. When people came looking for him, she tried to stop them, and she was stabbed many times, turning her into the Rose Bride. It is implied that this event also led to Akio and Dios becoming separate people.
  • Going Commando: A few camera angles that border on Getting Crap Past the Radar show that Akio isn’t wearing any underclothes at all, not even socks. Presumably this is for ease of access, but it does add a sleazy undertone to the elegant finery he wears as End of the World, since one would think a more “proper” gentleman would wear an undershirt beneath his ornate jacket.
  • Hate Sink:
    • Downplayed Trope. While his amusingly hammy mannerisms and complicated personality add a degree of charm to him, his absolutely disgusting nature is such that the audience will be primarily shaking their firsts with rage whenever they see him.
    • Played straight in the movie version of Akio, who lacks his anime counterpart's charisma, tragic origin, and entertainingly-grandiose mannerisms. Instead, beyond a brief comedic moment in his introduction, Akio is simply a sexual predator who is as pathetic as he is disgusting.
  • The Hedonist: A very villainous example of this trope. While he desires to regain the power of Dios, Akio's main modus operandi is to essentially act like a 12-year old boy who's been granted all the sex, money and power he could possibly want. He drinks luxurious drinks, drives obscenely expensive sports cars and constantly has sex with underage children for his own personal enjoyment, and it's implied he's kept the school in a time vortex for an unknown length of time so he can continue to do so.
  • Hot for Student: Do you really wanna know how many students Akio sleeps with? Does anybody really know?
  • Hypocrite:
    • Akio has been cheating on his fiancée with her mother, Touga, and Utena. When Utena confronts him in the final duel, he tells her that she is guilty of sleeping with an engaged man, all while ignoring the fact that he is guilty of statutory rape.
    • When he makes his housemates a cake and later a meal, Akio is praised by Utena for being a Supreme Chef, rebuking the idea that Feminine Women Can Cook. In the Grand Finale, when he makes Utena his princess, he tells her to give up fighting for Anthy because dresses don't go with swords.
  • Immortal Immaturity: Despite nominally representing adulthood and also being Really 700 Years Old, Akio is more an eternal teenager obsessed with sex, power and avoiding responsibility and pain.
  • It's All About Me: As he loses his powers once as Prince Dios after Anthy took the swords of hate for him, he became bitter and selfish over it as he goes under the alias Akio Ohtori years later. He desires to regain it back by manipulating many of the duelists including Utena within Ohtori Academy to duel with each other until he finds a sword with the power of love and nobility. Utena eventually wields it for him to break open the Rose Gates containing his lost power.
  • Karma Houdini Warranty: Even if Akio got to keep his place in Ohtori and Utena's gone, Utena still managed to get the last laugh— she finally managed to free Anthy from his control, and Anthy decides to leave Ohtori Academy, and goes Walking the Earth with Chuchu to search for Utena 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.
  • Lack of Empathy: He doesn't care that his own sister continues taking the Swords of Hate for him. He doesn't care that he's passing his own sister around like a prize to whoever wins the dueling game. He doesn't care that he's cheated on his fiancée on various people, including her mother, without her knowing. He doesn't care that he's slept with teenagers like Touga and Utena, which makes him guilty of statutory rape. In the end, he doesn't seem to care about anything but regaining his lost powers as Dios.
  • Light Is Not Good: Named after a star, and his name roughly translates to "Lucifer." Akio is associated with light via his interest in stars and astronomy. This connection to light turns out to be key to his villainy, as he is a Manipulative Bastard who uses his planetarium skills to project a massive illusion that is the castle in the sky— the entire thing was made of light. He also dresses in white when brainwashing students in his car, and when he confronts Utena in the dueling arena.
    • Later in the story, Akio confesses to Utena that he has no real interest in stars. Make of that what you will.
  • Long-Haired Pretty Boy: Usually he keeps it in a ponytail. When he lets it out, it's more obvious that it's a mullet.
  • Loser Deity: For all his glamorousness and power on the grounds of Ohtori Academy, he's fallen very far from the powerful being he once was, with all he's capable of these days being manipulating some insecure teenagers.
  • Manipulative Bastard: Wow. Manipulates Anthy, manipulates Utena, manipulates the Student Council, manipulates a guy from fifty years ago so hard he creates an illusive reality.
  • Man of Wealth and Taste: He's got an undoubtedly expensive muscle car, a home in a planetarium, and a fiancée in an influential family. One of the teachers even comments on his looks and style.
  • Master of Illusion: Uses the planetarium to create all the weirdness of the dueling arena.
  • More than Mind Control: His relationship with Anthy— he's emotionally twisted her into wanting to stay with him forever, even though both of them are perfectly aware she's utterly miserable. Tellingly, his ultimate defeat is Utena helping Anthy break out of his influence and realizing no, he needs her a lot more than she needs him.
  • Mr. Fanservice: He is seen shirtless every time he leaves the driver's seat to lounge on the hood of the car. This is deconstructed however, as he uses his sexual wiles in the most disgusting ways to the point it will be hard for the audience to be attracted to him.
  • Names to Run Away from Really Fast: He spells it out to the audience when he tells Utena he's named after Venus, also known as the Morning Star, also known as Lucifer. As the man himself puts it, "The star who was an Angel who decided to become the King of Hell, and rises only after the sun sets" (itself referring to his fall from being Dios). Utena being Utena, she didn't realize that this was absolutely not a person to fall in love with.
  • Never My Fault: Akio never accepts responsibility for Anthy's original death, her Fate Worse than Death, or his statutory rape of Utena; he instead puts the blame on both of them, the world, the townspeople, even claiming that Anthy willingly continued being a Silent Scapegoat for him and that Utena is guilty of sleeping with an engaged man.
  • Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Akio might rule over Ohtori with an iron fist but he's a thousand-year-old god reduced to playing with schoolchildren. It's also implied (with how Anthy leaves him and the other children will soon graduate) that in the real world with self-possessed and confident adults, he would be utterly powerless. After the Revolution even suggests that in the real world outside of Otori, Akio (operating under the pseudonym of Rime) has been held at least somewhat accountable for his crimes and abuses.
  • Not So Similar: Attempts to invoke a "Not So Different" Remark unto Utena, but it obviously doesn't work. Utena is a naive teenager who slept with him because he had emotionally manipulated her, whereas he is a grown-ass man who should know better than to cheat on his own wife (who he kills anyways).
  • Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: As "End of the World," he runs the Rose Duels, where the Rose Bride Anthy is the glorified slave to both him and the winner. Near the Grand Finale, he claims that it's so someone noble can open the Rose Gate for him to free her with the Power of Dios. However, he's nothing more than a selfish manipulator in Prince Charming's clothing who wants to physically, mentally, and sexually dominate everyone, having no qualms about letting her stay his Silent Scapegoat forever just so he can escape the agony of getting stabbed by the countless Swords of Hate.
  • Obliviously Evil: One of the worst things about Akio is that it's not clear he actually realizes that it's morally wrong to emotionally manipulate, seduce and rape dozens and dozens of teenagers. Numerous lines of dialogue indicate he believes he's still the glorious charming prince he once was, and that he's merely been redirect as a result of his deprivation of power. This is shown when he seems to legitimately believe that Utena was able to meaningfully consent to his sexual advances despite the former being only 14 year old.
  • Oh, Crap!: Twice; first when Utena temporaily loses the Power of Dios in Episode 25, and later in his duel with Utena herself when she puts him on the ropes after destroying the planetarium with her Shut Up, Hannibal! Badass Boast.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: After the Revolution suggests that even though he has died, Akio is continuing to influence the fates of students from the series, using his posthumously produced art pieces as a calling card. An apparition of Akio, dressed as Prince Dios, even seems to haunt the grounds of Ohtori Academy, stubbornly defending what remains of "his world" after the loss of Anthy and her magic has left it to rot.
  • Politically Incorrect Villain: In the final battle, he tells Utena to stop fighting for Anthy's freedom and become his princess because, according to him, girls can't handle any power and dresses don't go with swords.
  • The Pornomancer: He is an interesting partial subversion. He does seem to bring out the sexuality in those who associate with him, but he is not necessarily the focus of it. Women mostly aren't throwing themselves at him; he actually woos them with great success, despite his bad intent.
  • Posthumous Character: In the After the Revolution manga, and possibly the Adolescence of Utena film. While he does appear in both iterations, there are points in both where it's unclear if he's alive or dead. After the Revolution suggests that he may be continuing to produce art under a pseudonym from beyond the grave.
  • Pragmatic Pansexuality: If he can get results from sleeping with you, anything goes, and anything will go.
  • Prince Charmless: He acts like a proper prince, but under the facade, he's pure evil rather than just charmless.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: What he is deep down. Beneath the manipulations, seductions and duels is only a selfish child, refusing to grow up, who makes others suffer for his own amusement and desires. The moment he thinks the swords are going to get him, he starts freaking out.
  • Really 700 Years Old: While never outright stated, the narrative implies that both he and Anthy are timeless and may have been playing their manipulative games for centuries.
  • Real Men Cook: He is shown baking a cake and later cooking.
  • Renaissance Man: He is mentioned as being an artist and scientist, as well as the mastermind of many of the series' most bizarre events.
  • Right Through His Pants: He only ever unzips. Likewise, for all the times his shirt opens, it never even leaves his shoulders. This is likely more to illustrate his power dynamic than to "censor" the unwanted sight of male skin, as Utena uses clothing to illustrate a character's status. It's also no coincidence that Anthy is always nude for their trysts.
  • Sage Love Interest: Certainly plays this role, both as mythical Prince Dios and as the cultured Chairman of the academy to Utena. More generally, his sagelike presentation is key to his Gentleman and a Scholar public identity. Subverted in how it's yet another shallow front for his amoral, childish and indifferent true nature.
  • Satanic Archetype: After Anthy's Heroic Sacrifice for Prince Dios, Akio was born as the corrupt half of Prince Dios called the End of the World. Like how The Bible claims Lucifer can appear as "an angel of light," Akio is gentle, charming and beautiful but only to hide the pure malevolence underneath, that of a selfish manipulator who uses everyone as his own tools to advance him. As the End of the World, he tempts a bunch of insecure teenagers to the dueling game that gives his own sister as the Rose Bride to whoever wins. He wants the power of Dios for himself after he fell in despair and selfishness, abandoned the people whom he used to protect, and became the Big Bad and the person behind Anthy's painful, cruel situation. Furthermore, his name even roughly translates as "Lucifer."
  • Serial Rapist: While he never uses direct violence in most of his encounters (with the exception of once with Anthy), it doesn't really matter. Akio regularly and deliberately has sex with children as young as 12 years old who are incapable of meaningfully consenting to his desires through emotional manipulation, and it's indicated he's done to possibly hundreds of them.
  • Seven Deadly Sins: His Lust is the most obvious, but he has a nasty combination of almost all of them:
    • He seduces, manipulates and rapes numerous students, including his own sister, for his personal pleasure and enjoyment. (Lust)
    • He enjoys indulging in meaningless luxury sports car and apartments for the purpose of flaunting his wealth and power. (Gluttony)
    • Desires to overtake the power of Dios that he was deprived of years ago to remake the world to his own ego. (Greed)
    • Still views himself as a temporarily-disgraced prince instead of a horrifying monster, and takes great egotistical satisfaction as his role in the chairman of the school. (Pride)
    • Rarely seen actually working his stated job as chairman of the school outside of organizing duels, and takes large amounts of time off work to do whatever he personally feels like. (Sloth)
    • Rapes Anthy for going against his advances, and angrily attempts to convince Utena that she had consented to his intentions as well, and screams at Anthy in rage when she leaves him at the end of the series. (Wrath)
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!: When he talks to Dios about Utena in the final episode, the sentiment he expresses fits this trope. "She certainly resembles the old me. I used to be like that. I used to think that sincerity was valuable...and that it was the one and only way to change the world. But sincerity by itself changes nothing."
  • Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Had this happen in the intervening centuries between Anthy's first death and the plot. We just don't really see it.
  • The Sociopath: He has a superficial charm, which he uses to hide his despicable nature under the guise of a charming gentleman from the public. He manipulates everyone around him, including Anthy and Kanae, as pawns to regain his lost power as Prince Dios by any means necessary. He is a textbook Domestic Abuser to Anthy, passing her around like the prize to whoever wins the dueling game, raping her weekly, and telling her that only he can love her. He never accepts responsibility for Anthy's original death, her continued suffering, or his statutory rape of Utena; he instead puts the blame on both of them, the world, the townspeople, even claiming that Anthy willingly continued being a Silent Scapegoat for him and that Utena is guilty of sleeping with an engaged man.
  • Softspoken Sadist: As part of his gentlemanly persona, Akio almost never raises his voice, presenting himself as wise, patient and rational. Especially glaring when what he actually says is horrible and what he does is worse.
  • Stay in the Kitchen: When he makes Utena his princess, he tells her to give up fighting for Anthy because dresses don't go with swords. Of course, Utena refuses.
  • Took the Wife's Name: Akio married into the Ohtori family and took their name so he could take over their namesake academy.
  • Two Aliases, One Character: Akio is also Dios, The End of the World, and (in After the Revolution) Rime - with each name carrying its own heavy symbolism.
  • Ungrateful Bastard: Anthy took the Swords of Hate in his place, subjecting herself to a Fate Worse than Death in the process. Since then, he keeps her as a Silent Scapegoat because he wants to live in comfort.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: As Prince Dios, he looked much younger than he is now, and despite a patriarchal outlook enforced by the roles of society he lived in and failed to reject, seemed to genuinely be invested in helping other people. He is not that person anymore.
  • Villain Has a Point: He claims that Utena doesn't really care about Anthy to a particularly deep level: she just wants to live out The Dulcinea Effect and play out the Lady and Knight dynamic because she considers it a part of the whole princely identity, and never took the effort to actually learn deeply about Anthy and understand why she was so troubled. He's a horrible person, but his appraisal of her is framed as fairly close to the truth, and it's by accepting this that Utena is ultimately able to free Anthy.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Quite a few times during his duel with Utena, first when she rejects his ideals about her status as a princess and reaffirms that she will save Anthy. Then when Utena is capable of opening the Rose Gate that he couldn't unlock and the swords of hatred stop impaling Anthy causing him to have a Freak Out. Finally after Anthy leaves him forever and all he can do is shout for her to return.
  • Villain in a White Suit: He dresses in white whenever he drives his car and during his duel with Utena. He's a princely, cultured, sexy man who rules the school, and is an evil, manipulative bastard.
  • Villainous Incest: He's the series' main villain who regularly has sex with his younger sister (and doesn't seem to care if she's willing).
  • Villainous Legacy: In the movie Akio is Dead All Along rather than being the Man Behind the Man, but his treatment of Anthy is still a major reason she became the Rose Bride. After the Revolution involves Touga and Saionji grappling with Akio's legacy and his impact on their character and lives in adulthood.
  • Walking Spoiler: To the point there's no point to hiding anything on this page. This is mainly due to the two biggest mysteries of the plot, the identities of End of the World and Utena's prince, both end up being him.
  • Wicked Cultured: A sophisticated man who references Greek mythology, dresses well, and serves as the main antagonistic force.
  • Would Hurt a Child: Has been ritualistically seducing and raping teenage girls for decades prior to the story beginning, and has no qualms with killing Utena in their fight at the end of the series.
  • Would Hit a Girl: He has no problems with raping or being violent towards a woman.

Alternative Title(s): Revolutionary Girl Utena Akio Ohtori, Revolutionary Girl Utena Utena Tenjou, Revolutionary Girl Utena Anthy Himemiya

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