To understand that the Utena movie is what happened to Utena after the series.
It's a fever dream of the major plot points. It's regret and guilt and despair. It resonates constantly with the whisper of the story of a person who tried to save someone and died in their place. It's a brittle-edged rewrite of everything that happened, except this time Utena knows from the start what she's up against, and this time Anthy will do anything - anything - to show her that she didn't fail.
The movie is Utena trapped in a tiny world of her own creation that is yet an echo of the world of Akio's creation. The movie is Anthy fulfilling her promise to find Utena and save her in turn. The movie is the reassurance that the series did not end in despair.
And I will fight to the death to defend the car thing. It's the whole point. Utena could never save Anthy by picking her up and carrying her out of there like an object. But she can make of herself a vehicle, and Anthy can choose to take the key and leave.
thinking about the utena intro.........the scene of utena and anthy in the field staring at each other, both of their actions reflecting their relationship....utena's eyes slowly closing and focusing on anthy as she learns to see who for who she is and anthy being able to literally rest her head as she's with utena.........both of them being pulled away from each other as they have to transform into their duel outfits................................................................................................
A random rhythm game at the arcade the other day had the utena op! With the 90s soundtrack album cover and everything
Was very refreshing seeing something that wasn’t super glossy and modern looking .. just still so crazy to see utena content of all things there, though ..