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Anonymous Coward · 8mo

is there something that stands out to you about anthy that you don't really talk about often?

hm I'm thinking really hard and the most correct answer would probably be > her isolation, or maybe to be more clear: the full extent, the full complexity ig of her relationship with akio (and this is likely bc it's uncomfortable for me to talk about it, but i also feel a necessity to talk about it more) - now, i mostly tend to narrow down strictly to abuser-victim (in its plainest, driest, textbook connotation), but i rarely verbalize that, before all, he is her whole family, her parent (who raised her, who she depends on ["he is more like a father to me", im paraphrasing]), her sibling, her child (whom she protects and consoles). then - friend, companion, lover? this is how he isolates her. she has no connections with other people, akio is everything to her, her whole idea of love; she doesn't perceive him as anything other than it, doesn't allow herself to. i never really talk about their relationship in that way but i do always leave it in the air, assuming it's something that's encoded by default.
another thing i truly never talk about, at least not in a serious manner (lol) is the way she's connected with animals, which is something that sticks out to me bc it again ties her back to nanami, and her connection with nanami is something i enjoy thinking and talking about a lot haha
something that i've definitely brought up here and there, because it's Super interestingg to me, but never really talked about bc i'm not familiar w the topic is how anthy's character constantly Performs, puts on a theatrical role, basically her whole life she's been told who she is (princess, which, bride), how to act; there's an unclear line between Performance and Identity not just to the viewer but also to herself. the moments where her "mask" slips are sometimes emphasized referring directly to theatre, photography, film; like utena's second duel w touga (the song goes "there may be something to be said except in the darkness of memory/momentary flash of light of creation/except in theater in the dark awaiting light called tomorrow / ... for the performers who wear the mask of time"), the scene i bring up a lot (ijbol) where chuchu is meddling with the camera allowing anthy to step in between akio and utena - like she's taking on the role of the director, or a puppeteer, for once in her life. now yeah i talk about this but i feel like it's really incoherent because, again, im not really knowledgeable on the topics of theatre and film [despite a strong and nearly lifelong interest, lol]
hm then there are things regarding her character in the movie, because i don't or barely talk about it in general.
ohhh and to end up on a light note it also stood out to me that anthy understands german as she was shown to read goethe in the original haha

and there's probably more because she's truly a neverending source of conversation [& 4 am soliloquizing]

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