Headscratchers / Adolescence of Utena

• What the hell is going on in the movie?
  • In a broad sense, it's a compressed retelling of the TV series that uses some extra over-the-top new symbolism. Utena is the vehicle for Anthy's escape from the closed world of the school...literally.
• In the car chase at the end of the movie, during the car chase, the other duelists show up riding a truck that is apparently Wakaba. Why was she changed into a car?
  • She chose to turn into a car, to order to help Utena escape.
• In the movie, how is Utena the 'winner' when she hasn't beaten Miki yet? Also, how did Touga plan to 'win' the duels when he's dead?
  • Time constraints aside, I think that winning some arbitary tournament by beating every possible opponent is besides the point. In the movie-manga, Touga says that Utena is the "chosen prince" (i.e. the winner) because she was the only one who could open Anthy's heart; in the actual movie, it's something like that plus the fact that Utena can still accept Anthy even while knowing her darkest secrets. As for Touga himself, although he's dead, don't forget he still has enough physical presence to have sex with Shiori, among other things. Miki obviously doesn't even know him here, but it seems Juri at least knows of him (even if it's just as the boy who died saving her) so it's feasible that he could've been able to duel with her; it's also never said either way whether or not Saionji knows him in this continuity, so there's another possibility. Furthermore, it's worth bearing in mind that the duels seem to be secret in this 'verse, as Juri was surprised that Shiori knew about them, so it's not like Touga would be doing it in any kind of public view anyway. (Which then begs the question of how come Utena and Juri were duelling in public view later on, but presumably the random onlookers didn't understand what they were watching on the same level as the duelists, for want of better wording.)
• That ridiculous theory that in the movie, Miki kills Kozue. There is no supporting evidence for it at all, yet it still seems fairly popular. This is Miki we're talking about, the boy who's desperate to hold onto his innocence.
  • Miki's quite a different character in the movie. He definitely had a hand in turning Kozue into a car.
    • Is there any evidence how he is different? Kozue turned into a car because of jealousy over Miki, maybe, but all the characters in the movie are (barring Touga) still essentially the same as in the series. Utena still strives to be a prince, Anthy is still a miserable Stepford Smiler, Akio is still a Manipulative Bastard, albeit more pathetic, and Miki is still the pure individual who helps Utena and Anthy in the end, and tries to break the news to Kozue about how he can't constantly spend time with her in the nicest way possible. His little "I want to gain power for myself" speech was obviously a lie, considering at every shot in that scene we see symbols of Kozue. He wants that power to revolutionize the world to help Kozue, not for himself. He would not intentionally hurt her in any way.
    • Movie!Miki can come off as someone who wants to distance himself from Kozue (or perhaps more accurately, he wants to distance himself from his childhood and grow up), and so he wants "power" for that, though he still does care about his sister. Perhaps Kozue turning into a car is a bit like her becoming a Black Rose duellist; wasn't series!Kozue in the elevator upset about how Miki was drifting away from her? It's more-or-less the same thing here. Then again, some tend to think of the kinds of cars that Kozue and Shiori become as being analogous to Black Rose duellists, even if movie!Shiori acts like she's basically permalocked in Black Rose mode anyway.
    • Even if he wants distance, there's still a huge, unsupported leap of logic to go from "he wants independence" to "he murdered his sister in cold blood." Especially since turning into a car in no way means death whatsoever. Wakaba turns into a car and is fine, Utena turns into one and is fine. And even as a car, Shiori is conscious.
  • Just a theory, maybe Miki panicked after Kozue put the blade on his neck, flailed and Kozue fell and hit her head. Or something like that, a huge quantity of accidents happen in the bath after all... and the reason he is at Ohtori is that he feels guilty about Kozue's death. Or maybe the one that died first was Miki (razors are NOT toys) and Kozue commited suicide, then again the academy seems a place the dead can walk.

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