Seitokai
From UtenaWiki
In the Shoujo Kakumei Utena TV series and manga, the Seitokai (生徒会) is Ohtori Academy's student council.
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Officers
The seitokaichou, or Student Council President, is Kiryuu Touga. His vice president is Saionji Kyouichi, and their secretary is Kaoru Miki. Also on the Seitokai is Arisugawa Juri, whose role is unclear; based on how students and faculty react to her, she may be a public relations officer who acts as the Council's "teeth," but this is fan speculation. Midway through the first arc of the series, Kiryuu Nanami joins the Student Council in an unspecified capacity; she later becomes acting president when Touga goes into seclusion in the second arc.
Selection
The mechanism for the selection of Seitokai members is not expanded upon in the series, but the fact that all members possess Rose Seals suggests that Ohtori Akio -- who principally hands out the seals and acts as Ohtori Academy's acting chairman -- appoints the members. We also see Touga inducting Nanami into the Student Council by giving her a Rose Seal, which tells us, if nothing else, that the Seitokai is not elected democratically.
Meetings
The Seitokai meets nearly every episode, always on the Seitokai balcony. The balcony is accessible by elevator, and the ascent is a ritual in itself. As the stately and ominous composition Legend: the Name of the God Is Abraxas plays in the background, Touga delivers his equally ominous chick speech:
If it cannot break out of its shell, the chick will die without being born. We are the chick. The world is our egg. If we cannot break the world's shell, we will die without being born. Smash the world's shell! For the revolution of the world.
The Student Council meetings are hotbeds of the TV series' signature surrealism. Barbecues, baseball games, railroad crossings -- all show up on the Seitokai balcony at one time or another, all inexplicably. Sometimes the meeting's surreal frame has clear symbolic significance; in other cases, no convincing symbolic meaning has yet been elaborated.
Purpose
Officially, the Seitokai serves to expedite academic life; we hear that they are responsible for student housing assignments, for example. Unofficially, their role is much shadowier. We hear that they can cause people to disappear from campus. Most importantly, the five members of the Seitokai are the only students at Ohtori Academy other than Tenjou Utena to bear the Rose Seal entitling its wearer to participate in the dueling game. On camera, the Seitokai spends most of its time discussing the duels and the circumstances surrounding them; their administrative role clearly takes a backseat. In matters related to the duels, the Council takes its instructions from Ends of the World, who communicates with its members anonymously through letters -- though by the third arc of the series, Touga has discovered Ends of the World's true identity, Ohtori Akio.
Analysis
- Motive and Source: Giovanna examines each Seitokai member's reasons for joining the dueling game. Hosted on Empty Movement.
- Magic Colors: Satyreyes struts his nerd credentials by assigning each Seitokai member a Magic: the Gathering color. Hosted on Glossaire.
