I actually don't consider myself an utenanthy shipper because I ended the series with the deep desire for them to be friends post-series. obviously I don't mean "I think their feelings for each other are platonic" but I do think they would need to spend more time unlearning the previous shape of what "romance" looks like and means to each of them
before I could buy into them entering into that relationship mold with each other without fitting together in a way that leads to them retreading old patterns on each other. so to speak
but absolutely their relationship is the core and strongest part of the show and I love them and desire to see them continue to support each other and grow outside of the closed world they escaped
all of that is to say it is bullshit they are losing this twitter poll
✭ venus (@venusdayo_) on X
✭ venus (@venusdayo_) on X 
you could even map farcille onto basically the same basic framework as utenanthy in that Utena/Marcille wants to Save, and Anthy/Falin become a friend they care about but also the focal object of their preexisting desire to Save, and Anthy/Falin is the gravitational core around which the rest of the story revolves who is both monster and damsel
so like there's even less excuse to vote for farcille cuz there's not much room to go "well I just find this relationship trope/framework more compelling than the other"
tbh I wonder if like, part of it is just that apparently a surprising number of people now just have never seen utena
there are a depressingly high number of comments on my hsr utena au fic that were like "so I've never seen utena-"
oh yeah that was my immediate assumption.
utenanthy is losing because the kids these days don't know.
i am one of those blasphemeres who has never seen utena (and doesnt plan to) but would watch/read dunmeshi
i know utena is Important but i was never able to vibe with ikuhara's vision (in general) tbh
personally if I feel I don't know both series well enough I refrain from voting on certain matchups in these kinds of polls but I know that's not how most people approach them
yeah i think there is just an urge to vote for the Thing You Know
perhaps not bc someone wants to participate in the vote specifically but more out of reinforcing that They Know/Like This Thing
my curse is caring about the scientific integrity of meaningless twitter polls so when something is labeled a ship battle I take it to mean the winner should be the more compelling ship and not the series people are more likely to know. this is a me problem but I will complain about it nevertheless
I like both series and think both ships are fine but not ultimately my thing. but someone could watch roughly three episodes of Utena and read the entirety of dunmeshi and they would have consumed about the same amount of content for each relationship
so the matchup feels really funny lol
oh yeah i def feel what u mean, i also wish that those kinds of polls were scientifically accurate (i wish all polls were scientifically accurate)
but i guess unfortunately the goal for which smth was made and the response people provide are often so starkly different. i think that is fascinating in its way, too, though
but i guess unfortunately the goal for which smth was made and the response people provide are often so starkly different. i think that is fascinating in its way, too, though
like. the fact that the human psyche incorporates both "if i want to know which of 2 things is better i need to present ppl with those things and ask to choose, and the answers i receive will be Truthful To Reality" AND "if given an opportunity to express my affection for (thing) i will take it "
it is always super interesting to see how things fall I love polls
this is very real
ok I will say that while I voted for utenanthy on both polls it's very funny to see this poll go up after all the qrts on the vs farcille one about how Utena/Anthy Are The Yuri Forefathers, The Yuri From Which All Other Yuri Descends
zhiyu | #1 surjas supporter and hater (@57akino) on ...
zhiyu | #1 surjas supporter and hater (@57akino) on ...