Carl Jung (Wikipedia) and his “analytical psychology” (Wikipedia). I don’t have the patience (and maybe not the lifespan) to work through the gigantic literature on Carl Jung’s theories and really get to grips with it. But I can at least go through summaries and find ideas that Utena obviously draws on.
To me, Carl Jung reads as having a mystical streak. Some of his ideas come across as reasonably grounded (though not worked out down to the foundation), and others he does not seem to have any interest in tying down. They are floating hypotheses, not concrete enough to have a clear meaning. He’s a lot better than the crackpot Freud, who can firmly conclude absolute nonsense. Jung is a chipped pot.anima and animus
I’m pretty sure there is a lot more Jungian stuff in Utena than I point out. His vague-but-meaningful way of thinking is natural for storytellers, even though most of it is uselessly ungrounded from a scientific point of view. But I had better leave the deep dives for people who actually understand Jung.
See anima and animus (Wikipedia). The anima is an unconscious female “archetype” in men, and the animus an unconscious male archetype in women, or similarly you could say that everybody has both. Jung apparently thought of them as like homunculi in the mind, that you might sometimes be able to talk with.
Jung’s ideas of the contents of the anima and animus came directly from his culture. Anthropologically, they are twaddle. But it is true that every human culture, everywhere and likely everywhen, has sex roles. They vary widely, but do show patterns. In a traditional culture that includes big game hunting, generally men hunt the big game, for biological reasons: Men are stronger, can run faster, and (what I suspect may be most important) are less likely to suffer injuries in running. If the culture values the meat hunted by men, then men may be accorded higher status. Whether that grants men power over women is a different question, and varies by culture. There are cultures where women do hard physical labor that requires strength, like plowing the fields.
In Utena, Akio defines the sex roles (though I imagine he thinks of them as naturally occurring and inevitable). Everyone is part male and part female, and shifts more or less smoothly between displaying stereotypical male and female posture, voice, actions, personality traits, and so on. Utena herself slides smoothly between almost pure male and almost pure female, and shows it in easy-to-notice ways.
An archetype is a bundle of unconscious ideas that Jung took to be primordial, or available from birth, due to evolution by natural selection or to individual biological development. He supposed that archetypes are innate (instinctive, if you like), and may be universal or particular to a person. The “collective unconscious” is a set of universal archetypes that everyone shares, or at least can share. It’s a bizarre idea, but there is something to it. Myths, and folk stories in general, share structure and motifs worldwide across cultures, and you might as well call the shared aspects archetypes.
If you want to approach archetypes scientifically, though, you have a lot of work ahead of you to tie the airy idea to the ground. It’s beyond the state of the art for now.
If Akio thinks of sex roles as naturally occurring and inevitable, then he sees them as Jungian archetypes. He’s wrong, though. Utena draws heavily on folk tales (myths and fairy tales are forms of folk tale), so it’s fair to think of it as based on archetypes.
The shadow (Wikipedia) is the parts of the mind that are unconsciously suppressed and consciously denied. (I hope I didn’t simplify that too much.) Chu-Chu is Anthy’s shadow in that sense.
This time I know I’m oversimplifying. Jung imagined that people start out informed only by primordial archetypes, and by a messy process of maturation integrate the unconscious information into their conscious awareness to create a “self” that includes the unconscious and conscious parts of the mind. It’s related to self-actualization.
I would say it more briefly. People start out not knowing themselves, and over time learn. Anything can be made simple if you leave out enough of it.
It’s very like how Utena depicts maturation. Akio alludes to this process of maturation as stars (people) growing dimmer with time, meaning that Akio, who works by the power of the collective unconscious, loses some control over people as they mature and integrate their “selves”.
In episode 11, Utena loses her “self” in the duel with Touga. In Buddhist terms, the self is an illusion, and losing it is good—but Utena did not really lose her self (she is still a prince in episode 12); losing her self was itself an illusion. She does not lose her self in the Buddhist sense until she vanishes in the final episode.
In Jungian terms, Utena loses her perceived self in episode 11. She thinks she has things figured out; she thinks she has integrated her unconscious and conscious knowledge into a self that she has understanding of. But Touga proves her wrong. Confronting and solving the contradiction is a step in her messy process of maturation; with Wakaba’s push, she integrates new knowledge into her self.
In Mikage’s confession elevator, the butterfly devolving into an egg stands for regression to childhood under Jungian psychoanalysis. Late in the series, Touga and Saionji switch their travel mode from car to motorcycle to bicycle, another instance. Driving from the Academy to the outside world, the road turns clockwise and the car approaches adulthood. When the car returns to the Academy the road turns counterclockwise, reversing time, and represents regression to childhood. I suspect that many or all time reversals are instances, like Nanami’s moon rabbit story that runs backward. No doubt there are more.
Akio finds it easier to manipulate children than adults, because they do things like uncritically absorb the story of Dios. I conclude that he deliberately regresses his victims to make them more controllable. But it has the same kind of double-edged effect as Utena’s sex dates, which simultaneously bring her under control and make her more rebellious. See date parallels - thoughtfulness. It’s straight from Jung. In an analysis patient, according to Jung, regression to childhood can be bad or good. It’s bad if it brings childish thinking. But a child has potential (I’m trying to reinterpret Jung into words I can understand), so it can allow new possibilities, growth and self-understanding.
More broadly, Utena walks the line between light and dark. Utena herself is half one and half the other, and her world is half light and half darkness. Akio’s actions against her simultaneously harm her and promote her victory—and the same for other characters.
Cosmic Man (Wikipedia) is a Jungian archetype understood by analysis of creation myths. Utena’s prince story is an origin myth that can be taken as a creation myth, describing the creation of the world as it is. Dios is the Cosmic Man whose death brings about the current state of the world, with Akio, Anthy, and Utena.
I don’t see how to take the parts of his corpse as parts of the world, but I suspect there is a way.
Jay Scott <jay@satirist.org>
first posted 13 August 2025
updated 14 August 2025