Looking at her as she looks in the distance
"I thought she was only calling me Onion Prince to make fun of me... but I was wrong, wasn't I?"
Wakaba's childhood friend Tatsuya Kazami approaches Utena with the apparent intent of wooing her, but his real interest is in Wakaba. Unfortunately for him, Wakaba herself is concealing her true romantic interests, and they do not lie with Tatsuya.
"The Song of the Fallen Kingdom" provides examples of:
- Abandonment-Induced Animosity: Wakaba badmouths Tatsuya because when they were in elementary school together, he moved away without telling her.
- Bait-and-Switch:
- There is a message card in Utena's locker, even though no one is being targeted by the Black Rose circle in this episode. It turns out Wakaba left a note to vent about Utena tricking her into facing her feelings about Tatsuya.
- While Wakaba cares for Tatsuya, he's not the prince she's looking for.
- The Bus Came Back: Saionji returns for the first time since getting expelled in episode 10.
- Call-Back: In episode 1, Wakaba mentioned that when she was little she thought she was the "princess of the Onion Kingdom." This episode opens with a Fantasy Sequence of this make-believe land, with Wakaba in the arms of her mystery Onion Prince.
- Cavalry Refusal: When Wakaba is being picked on in her flashback, she calls for her Onion Prince, Tatsuya, to back her up. He doesn't live up to her hopes.
- Color Motif: In scenes with rose frames, Wakaba has brown roses because it's her theme color. Tatsuya has white roses since he is the Onion Prince. When Wakaba looks into Tatsuya's eyes and realizes that she is torn between her memories of her Onion Prince and the secret dream she's nurturing, the scene is framed with pink roses.
- False Start: The mood is perfect when Tatsuya goes to Wakaba to confess his feelings, but Tatsuya is too indirect and they end up talking past each other. The message Wakaba gets is that Tatsuya knows her secret (namely, that she's letting Saionji stay with her) and is encouraging her to pursue her dream, so she runs off to do just that.
- Heel–Face Door-Slam: Inverted. Tatsuya attends the Black Rose Seminar, but Mikage rejects him for being "a good person" and kicks him out.
- Hopeless Suitor: Tatsuya clearly thinks that he and Wakaba are meant to be together and that his rival will mistreat her. During his confession he gets a little creepy as he imagines Wakaba's lost purity, but he implicitly understands that Wakaba has made a choice and he won't oppose her. The episode already established (through Wakaba's flashbacks) that Tatsuya is not the sort of guy who rises to the occasion.
- I've Heard of That — What Is It?: In the shadow play, a shopkeeper convinces a housewife to buy a tire using analogies that suggest that tires are for eating. But it's not a grift — they both believe that tires are food. It's The Blind Leading the Blind; not unlike Utena, who knows nothing about her prince, trying to help Wakaba find her prince when she doesn't really know what Wakaba is looking for in a prince.
- Love at First Sight: Chu-Chu is instantly smitten with Tatsuya and blushes from head to tail, suddenly wearing a cupcake wrapper like a skirt to complete a Coy, Girlish Flirt Pose.
- Love Letter Lunacy: Tatsuya writes a love letter to Utena, but Wakaba intercepts it and holds onto it, even after Utena states her intention to return it to him. It turns out that Tatsuya didn't write it with actual romantic intentions toward Utena, he just wanted to use it as an opportunity to get close to Wakaba, whom he has fancied since they were little.
- Old Friend: Wakaba and Tatsuya were friends in elementary school, but Wakaba hasn't seen him in such a long time that it takes her several moments associate his name with her memories.
- Shaped Like Itself: Utena asks Anthy if she did the right thing in pushing Wakaba and Tatsuya together, and she replies with a tautology:Anthy: It's alright. Romance either happens or it doesn't.
- Shipper on Deck: Utena notices the Belligerent Sexual Tension between Wakaba and Tatsuya, and takes it upon herself to play matchmaker, going along with Wakaba's request for a sit-down with Tatsuya so they have an opportunity to talk. She sips her tea with a knowing look as Wakaba and Tatsuya have a very testy back-and-forth.
- Wham Shot: At the end of the episode, Wakaba enters her dorm room to reveal that Saionji, who's been absent for the last 8 episodes, is there waiting for her.
