Utena. <- Previous • Next -> Yuuko.
Wakaba is a central character: She appears at the very beginning of the series, and the exact center, and has a role after the end. She is Utena’s only friend at first, and Utena’s heroic successor at last.
See design - costumes - Wakaba’s duel - web of characters.
Wakaba’s character arc sounds simple when summarized. At the start, she is Utena’s only friend; she is the first character we see after the episode 1 prince story. In the Black Rose, Anthy manipulates Wakaba into dueling against Utena, echoing Saionji’s attack on Utena in episode 9 and the betrayals of the final showdown. Wakaba’s duel is in episode 20. After Utena has vanishes from the Academy at the end, evidence (starting from episode 1) says that Wakaba becomes the next hero in the sequence of heroes.
Wakaba and Utena have similarities. Wakaba is gendermixed like Utena. Utena wants to be a prince; Wakaba wants Utena’s specialness, or in other words, the same thing. Wakaba loves fiction; Utena lives fiction. Wakaba has a playful personality. It is defensive, like Utena’s cheerful personality. She loves Utena, which means that she is a rebel against Akio’s system. But she treats it as a joke; she’s “just playing around.” I think she’s hiding her rebellion from herself as much as from Akio. Her desire for Saionji that she shows off as serious is nothing of the kind, and her desire for Utena that she shows off as playful is serious. The similarities reflect that Wakaba is Utena’s successor.
Wakaba takes her prince to be Saionji. But in the Black Rose she imagines a mysterious faceless prince. In her heart, she knows better. In the epilog, Wakaba’s prince must become the nearly-forgotten Utena; see Wakaba afterstory. (See costumes - princess Wakaba for a little more discussion.)
Wakaba does not place her hand on the imaginary prince’s chest to indicate desire. It’s on his side. Compare the examples of women’s hands on chests in the page about Utena breaking up with Akio in the final showdown, and how Anthy commonly places her hand on the center of Utena’s chest, and this image of Anthy placing her hand on Touga’s side to show lack of desire after Touga defeats Utena in episode 11. Wakaba’s hand is higher than Anthy’s on Touga, but is not on the prince’s chest. Wakaba shows no desire, or limited desire. It reminds me of how she exclaims that Utena is the only one for her, but doesn’t take it seriously.
Wakaba in the confession elevator rants about Anthy and Saionji. She sees Anthy as special and herself as another face in the crowd, so no wonder Saionji left her. The light in the elevator is white—she is telling the truth. That’s her excuse for wanting to kill Anthy. But we know that Wakaba sees Utena as special, and in the duel Wakaba does strike toward Anthy, but she lifts Utena by the hair and holds the sword to Utena’s throat. Wakaba seems to have substituted Saionji for Utena. She never liked Anthy and tells herself that it is because Anthy attracts Saionji’s love away from Wakaba. She doesn’t notice it’s because Anthy attracts Utena’s love.
Using Saionji’s sword against Anthy shows Akio (via Anthy) weaponizing compulsory heterosexuality to pit Wakaba against her supposed love Saionji and her real love Utena.
The duel is in episode 20, the center of the series with 19 episodes before and 19 episodes after. Some points set it apart from other Black Rose duels: Wakaba lays a hand on Saionji’s sword to draw it out; other swords pop out on their own. Utena refuses to draw the Sword of Dios from Anthy to fight, but ends up stealing Wakaba’s sword instead. Defeated Wakaba does not fall into a red outline on the arena floor; Utena holds her up. (See the down catalog for many examples of being down.) I think that Wakaba’s duel is literally central in the series, and is given special treatment, because she is the next hero, and that is central to Utena’s story. Akio is not defeated when Anthy leaves the Academy. Everyone must leave, or nearly everyone, and Wakaba continues the process.
Parallel to episode 9. The duel combat is visually compared to Saionji striking at Utena in episode 9.
Parallel to the final showdown. Wakaba both loves and resents Utena for her specialness. In the duel, her resentment is foremost—and that’s the only time. Before and after her two-episode Black Rose arc, Wakaba is largely a good friend to Utena (though she is pushy). In that aspect she’s parallel to Anthy, who loves and despises Utena and, unlike Wakaba, successfully sticks a sword into Utena. But, like Wakaba, the backstab is the only time that Anthy’s hatred is directly visible. At other times, Anthy warmly loves or coldly manipulates Utena, and her hatred is obscured.
Wakaba is with Utena when Utena receives the earrings “from Akio”, which are really from Touga. Wakaba is attracted to Akio because everyone is, and she loves Utena. She acts like her attraction to Akio is nothing important, but then, she’s playful about her attraction to Utena; she minimizes both. So how does Wakaba feel about the gift? She says she’s jealous, and it seems like it’s true for once! She urges Utena to try on the earrings, then smacks Utena around in a “friendly” way that’s hardly short of beating her up—with closed eyes.
I take it that Wakaba assumes she is straight. Utena makes the same assumption about herself; Akio’s plot for compulsory heterosexuality works. Wakaba assumes she is jealous over Akio, but her closed eyes mean she is not seeing the truth. She is jealous over Utena, but plays the good friend and encourages her. It’s not healthy.
Jay Scott <jay@satirist.org>
first posted 31 December 2025
updated 26 January 2026