I remain impressed by your analysis here, for the record. And good idea to warn about spoilers in the subject line, eh heh heh. *will edit original post to reflect this*
Utena's power isn't her nobility or princeliness despite Akio and Anthy's confusion, it's who she is beyond all of those ideals,
Yes, I definitely agree with that! In the end, even Utena isn't a 'true prince', because 'true princes' don't really exist. She becomes more than the archetype, not less.
and I'm not sure Usagi ever reaches a level beyond "Princess" or "Girl who will be Princess again" or "Future Queen." Her power comes from her idealized feminine forms, even her nobility or kindness. I really liked the end of Stars but it still lacked the same impact as Utena's, for me.
I'd agree with that (with the aside that very, very few shows had the same degree of impact as the end of Utena did for me. (Haibane Renmei did; possibly Fullmetal Alchemist, too.)) I could see Usagi being in a sense a prisoner of her archetype persona, and so, perhaps, share similarity as to what she truly is with Anthy.
At the same time, though, their differences seem profound as well. I can't imagine in-series Anthy being able to reach out to someone like Sailor Galaxia, and to save her. Anthy would have used the Sword of Light for sure - assuming she ever got that far, which I rather doubt. She doesn't believe in people ยด(not that that isn't understandable!). It's hard for me to picture Anthy palling around with a group of friends who all honestly like her and who she honestly likes back, too.
Usagi/Serenity for me seems to me to embody the very Princess archetype that in-series Anthy probably still dreams she could be, though in the same way she also represents all those Princesses that keep Anthy locked and tortured within the Witch archetype.
Not that I'm saying there should be a one-to-one correspondence to these kinds of things, of course! It's often the differences as well as the similarities that make it interesting.
I like the identification with Akio as a male director/writer.
I wonder if the left-over "inner" sailors could be called the -ko equivalents, either Nanami's or the Shadowplay girls, honestly a bit shallow and living only to admire or reflect upon the Prince and Princess dynamics, their own lives absolutely insignificant in the end and vanishing quickly (how many two or three episode max appearance boyfriends were there?!)
That's kind of harsh. Even if you're right, I don't like to think of Rei that way... *sentimental* :(
The castle always looked like the Disney palace turned upside-down to me.
...random thought but, you know, I always wanted to see Anthy in armour at some point in the series, like in that one moment in the opening. She looked great like that.
Re: Utena spoilers and Sailor Moon spoilers ^_^;
Utena's power isn't her nobility or princeliness despite Akio and Anthy's confusion, it's who she is beyond all of those ideals,
Yes, I definitely agree with that! In the end, even Utena isn't a 'true prince', because 'true princes' don't really exist. She becomes more than the archetype, not less.
and I'm not sure Usagi ever reaches a level beyond "Princess" or "Girl who will be Princess again" or "Future Queen." Her power comes from her idealized feminine forms, even her nobility or kindness. I really liked the end of Stars but it still lacked the same impact as Utena's, for me.
I'd agree with that (with the aside that very, very few shows had the same degree of impact as the end of Utena did for me. (Haibane Renmei did; possibly Fullmetal Alchemist, too.)) I could see Usagi being in a sense a prisoner of her archetype persona, and so, perhaps, share similarity as to what she truly is with Anthy.
At the same time, though, their differences seem profound as well. I can't imagine in-series Anthy being able to reach out to someone like Sailor Galaxia, and to save her. Anthy would have used the Sword of Light for sure - assuming she ever got that far, which I rather doubt. She doesn't believe in people ยด(not that that isn't understandable!). It's hard for me to picture Anthy palling around with a group of friends who all honestly like her and who she honestly likes back, too.
Usagi/Serenity for me seems to me to embody the very Princess archetype that in-series Anthy probably still dreams she could be, though in the same way she also represents all those Princesses that keep Anthy locked and tortured within the Witch archetype.
Not that I'm saying there should be a one-to-one correspondence to these kinds of things, of course! It's often the differences as well as the similarities that make it interesting.
I like the identification with Akio as a male director/writer.
I wonder if the left-over "inner" sailors could be called the -ko equivalents, either Nanami's or the Shadowplay girls, honestly a bit shallow and living only to admire or reflect upon the Prince and Princess dynamics, their own lives absolutely insignificant in the end and vanishing quickly (how many two or three episode max appearance boyfriends were there?!)
That's kind of harsh. Even if you're right, I don't like to think of Rei that way... *sentimental* :(
The castle always looked like the Disney palace turned upside-down to me.
...random thought but, you know, I always wanted to see Anthy in armour at some point in the series, like in that one moment in the opening. She looked great like that.