Kaoru Miki
From UtenaWiki
| Kaoru Miki | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
||
| Role | Duelist | |
| Family Name | Kaoru ("fragrant") | |
| Given Name | Miki ("tree trunk") | |
| Hair | Blue | |
| Eyes | Blue | |
| Rose | Blue | |
| Grade | 7th | |
| Birthday | May 28 (Gemini) | |
| Blood Type | O | |
| Height | 160.5 cm (5'3") | |
| Japanese Seiyuu | Hisakawa Aya | |
| English Voice Actor | Jimmy Zoppi | |
Kaoru Miki (薫 幹) is a student at Ohtori Academy. In the Shoujo Kakumei Utena TV series and manga, Miki serves as secretary on the Student Council. He is often called by his nickname, Mikki (or Mickey).
Contents |
Background
Miki is the twin brother of Kaoru Kozue. While still in elementary school, Miki showed himself to be a gifted pianist and composer; The Sunlit Garden, a popular classical song in the world of Utena as well as a recurring musical leitmotif in the series, was his composition. Miki and Kozue played the piece as a duet in their affluent parents' literal sunlit garden, and eventually were asked to perform at a concert. Shortly before the performance, Miki fell ill with measles, leaving Kozue to go onstage alone. Stricken with stage fright and feeling abandoned by her brother, Kozue fled the stage. Miki blamed himself for the incident, and Kozue never played the piano again.
While there is little evidence that the two have had intercourse, there is much more sexual tension between Miki and Kozue than might be considered normal between siblings. This has led many fans to speculate that in their innocence, the twins engaged in sexual experimentation. According to this theory, the experimentation must have gone farther than Miki is comfortable remembering, and Kozue has experienced its ending as a second abandonment.
Personality
In the present, Miki is one of Ohtori Academy's most intellectually gifted students, and one of its most socially fluent. When comfortable, Miki is warm and engaging, and shares his talents with his friends with evident pleasure. When uncomfortable, however -- as in his interactions with Kozue, who he believes, not without justice, is trying to faze him with her promiscuity -- he is quick to express his displeasure. Miki is easily embarrassed by sexual innuendo, and this "innocence" is used against him by Kozue and Kiryuu Touga. (Unlike Tsuwabuki Mitsuru, though, Miki is at least experienced enough to know what he's supposed to be embarrassed by.)
Miki is a talented member of Ohtori Academy's fencing club, where he studies under Arisugawa Juri's mentorship. She praises the purity of his technique, but he is the inferior fencer of the two.
Miki says he participates in the duels in hopes that the power of revolution will lead him to his "shining thing," a metaphor associated with the sunlit garden and Miki's lost childhood. For stretches of the series, Miki believes Himemiya Anthy to be his "shining thing" and duels in order to claim her. While Anthy subtly encourages him in this belief, playing "The Sunlit Garden" for him and implying her dissatisfaction with her engagement to Utena, at the critical moment of Miki's first duel Anthy shouts encouragement to Utena, throwing Miki off-guard and contributing to his loss.
Stopwatch
Perhaps the most enigmatic aspect of Miki's character is his omnipresent stopwatch. Miki frequently breaks out the stopwatch at Student Council meetings, but is seen flaunting it at other times as well, usually timing other characters as they deliver their lines. The prominence of the stopwatch brings out Miki's precision and attention to detail, but its deeper symbolic significance, if any, is a matter of controversy. Series creator Ikuhara Kunihiko has suggested that the stopwatch is without special meaning and that Miki's use of it is based on an old habit of Ikuhara's, but Ikuhara's interviews on the subject of Utena are notoriously unreliable.
Relationships
- Brother to Kaoru Kozue
- Friends with Arisugawa Juri, Kiryuu Nanami, Kiryuu Touga, and Tenjou Utena
- Fighting for engagement to Himemiya Anthy
- Crush on Himemiya Anthy (anime only)
- Crush on Tenjou Utena (manga only)
Analysis
All analysis essays are hosted on Empty Movement.
- Miki and Touga: Yasha investigates the relationship between Miki and Touga. There's surprising detail here -- no yaoi, though, sorry.
- Genius: Giovanna writes about how Ikuhara treats his academy's resident geniuses, Miki and Mikage.
