This is awesome.

Unless I'm mistaken the only time they make a point to show someone be ambidextrous is Mikage switching to the hand because of his busted shoulder. Are fencers trained to be ambidextrous? Apparently a lot of sushi chefs attempt to be.

Most of the fencers I've been training with are not ambidextrous, but trained only to fight right-handed opponents. The thing is getting tricky, when you face someone left-handed... then you're not used to his mirror-like movements and you quickly get defeated

This probably has been the biggest thing I've noticed during the duels. .___. *Lame*

I've caught other duelists doing it as well. The one that comes to mind most is actually Ruka. ( These were taken from episode 28. Please excuse the quality and if these have been posted before. ><; )

Right handed here.

Dives in left handed here. Utena parries with her left hand as well.

The clash for a little. Back to right hand use.

Ruka is talking. Sword in right hand still.

However, seconds later when he goes back in it's switched to his left hand.


( Dio-fusion then happens, etc. Utena also does this in the movie. With Saionji she charges with her right hand. The whole duel with Juri is with her left though. )

Last edited by Arreat (10-21-2009 06:01:09 PM)

That's a cool post, Ashnod, thanks for all the evidence.

My personal theory is that the different artists drawing Utena just didn't pay attention to detail or to each other. Thus prob all the duelists are ambidextrous, and have varying size breasts, noses, appendages, and very strange features.

But I like the idea of Utena being ambidextrous in canon. It makes her more formidable.

Huh.  Normally I'd say "they flipped the animation cels," but in three out of five of the left-handed shots, Utena's rose is clearly visible on the correct (left) side of her chest.  Either she fights ambidextrously* or someone didn't notice until after Shiori's duel that the animators had been inconsistent and decided to put their foot down.

* One of the longest English words I know that doesn't repeat a letter.  The only longer common word like this I know is "uncopyrightable."

Great observation Ashnod! I never noticed this before, and if I did I would discarded it as an animators mistake( they did have a low budget), and even tho it may very well be just that, it wouldn't be unheard of for SKU to have messages that are easily overlooked even after many re-watchings. So based on the information you have provided, I have a theory.

Utena is definitely ambidextrous, but she is more skillful with her right hand. She fights exclusively with her right hand with opponents for witch she knows are STRONG( Saonji, Touga, kendo masters), she starts duels with her left hand with opponents for who she thinks that are not very skillful( Nanami, Shiori,) in order to make the fight more interesting.  When she switches to her right is when she realizes  that her opponent is better than she thought. I just watched both duels with Juri and she fight BOTH duels with her RIGHT hand, I couldn't find the scene from the picture you posted, maybe they changed something in the re-mastered version? Or, sometimes she switched hands because its, for example, more convenient in that moment to parry with her left hand. As for Miki, in their first duel she definitely fights with her left, in their second duel she seems to switch hands. I think Miki is not as good as Touga or Juri and thats why Utena fights him with her left hand, to make the duel more challenging. That said,  she is a very skillful sword master who can fight with her both hand at will, for the fun of it, or if the situation demands it, but still better with her right hand.

Last edited by Vesko (10-10-2009 06:48:17 AM)

I know this is an old topic, but my fingers have a life of their own (dammit!) anyway... when I first saw Utena's ambidexterity I too thought it way just an error, but seeing as it is SKU maybe there is a meaning to it, I read somewhere (don't remember where, I think it was a book about dreams) that your right hand means reason and your left hand mean intuition.

It could mean nothing, but in the movie Utena fights Juri left handed, it probably means that at the time Utena intuitively knew that  believing in Anthy was the right choice despite having to participate in the dueling game, hence using her left arm during the fight or maybe one of the animators said "hey guys Utena is using different hands during the duels!" then Mr. Ikuhara said "don't worry fans probably won't realize it, and if they do, they'll think is symbolism and spend hours trying to give it meaning " .