|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Butterfly
Symbol for metamorphosis, transformation of the soul. In the
mythology of Japan, they carry the souls of those who have died,
sometimes they may be the souls of the living; or it delivers a
message and following it will lead to a mystery's solution.
The butterfly is a symbol of regeneration. The butterfly "image of
the goddess has an early philosophical connection between cyclical
lunar time and the regenerative role of the goddess in the cycles of
birth, death, and rebirth" (Gimbutas, 285).
In ep. 20 of the Miyu TV series, a butterfly illusion is seen in the form of Moru. Ruri wanted the exclusive love of her father when very little, this even resulted in her causing her mother's death. Mr. Sone has a hard time coping with all of this, and it's indicated an even greater strain must have resulted in the
relationship. Finally, Ruri returns from the institution and tries to live with her father. Ruri finds herself creating a dream for him through the form of a butterfly-like fairy called Moru. When she goes to the greenhouse late at night he sees her in this form, he sees only the illusion of Moru and the dreams she shows him of the Jura era (dinosaurs and ancient plants; perhaps Ruri hoped as he was a palentologist she could make him happy by showing him the things she believed he longed to see).
But it's draining for Ruri and her father, as instead of bringing some closeness to him, it only causes him to obsess and live only for his moments with Moru, forgetting the daughter who cries during the day and longs for any notice from him. In a sense, Ruri is in a dream state herself as her mind won't register that she's influenced by a shinma and doing all this. At one point, Miyu had asked Ruri about her past and she honestly didn't even remember what happened with her
mother. But in this episode, the butterfly or fairy becomes a creature of illusion, dreams, a creation of the mind.
A white swallowtail flys into Minako's classroom in volume one of Bride of Deimos. She notices it says the name Deimos as it floats past her. One of the students tries to catch it but the powder burns his face, and
Minako watches it fly into a mirror and disappear. The reflection seems like her, but it's not her, it's Venus who wants the body of Minako.
From OVA 3 of Dream Hunter REM, a scene from this episode reminds me of an incident from later in the series Vision of Escaflowne. A young boy who acts the gender of a girl sees Alpha and Beta playing with a butterfly
and kills it before them with his bare hands. In Escaflowne, Dilandau back in the form of Celina crushes a similar butterfly, showing emotions under the surface. Perhaps the
case is the same for the young boy in the episode.
The first scene with a butterfly in Rose of Versailles is in ep. 2. Marie is 14 and chasing one while she's running barefoot through a fountain. While watching her her mother remarks that her daughter is
carefree, tomboyish, and playful. In ep. 7 butterflies are shown around the young Queen-to-be, showing her innocence, free spirit, and that she's not touched by the gossip of the court, or
the cares that will befall her later. Oscar says of her that she's innocent and too trusting of her emotions. The last time we see the butterflies is in ep. 22, outside Marie's window as she's
trying to write a letter of condolence to her brother at her mother's death, and trying to remember the details of the river she could see from the Palace she was born at.
The butterflies serve as a symbol for Antoinette, the child Antoinette, her gaiety and innocence. But once the cares of court come down on her, and she loses more and more of her
childlike nature, the butterflies appear just as fleeting at the end as the memories that are harder for her to hold to of her own innocent time.
There are several things Shiori's butterfly scene may show in the Utena film. First, it's the same kind of butterfly as we see in the
flashbacks for Kozue and Miki in the series. So this could be a symbol for remembrance in both cases, since both times the butterfly is
shown during a memory. Second, the Shiori butterfly acts as a kind of tie for both scenes with Touga and with his father. In both
situations Touga is being used by the person to get what they are after, and they are situations where sex is being used as a means of
power or control. It also serves to link the past and present together, since incidents of the past affect the present.
Third, going back to comparing to the series, Touga is being manipulated and betrayed by an adult, his foster father.
At one point in the series, Miki says he doesn't trust adults, and Kozue doesn't seem too happy about their parents, the adults in their lives.
So that theme is being subtlely alluded to in both cases as well. Fourth, because the wings are not pure white, but spotted, this may perhaps
suggest soiled-ness. Another element is that in Japan butterflies can represent the souls of the dead, which is an interesting point within the context of the scene. Ikuhara in his commentary on the DVD release of this film said that it denoted negative beauty, and the joining of Touga's sad past with
Shiori's maliciousness.
In Sailor Moon, butterfly imagery during the third season is
associated with Sailor Moon. The lunar connection is obvious. In
the manga, after Saturn uses her power of destruction, Sailor
Moon resurrects the people and all that was destroyed. In both
versions, she has the power of rebirth to bring back Saturn as a
baby. She could be a symbol of a regenerative goddess, thus the
butterfly imagery. Saturn and Moon together, death (the silence)
and life, could also stand for regeneration. In both the manga and
anime, both dresses of Queen and Neo-Queen Serenity have the
back of the gown in the shape of butterfly wings.
Butterfly imagery is also used in the Black Rose Saga of Utena and in CCS with Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun (a kind of shadow to Kero and Yue). Morgan le Fey, queen of the fairies, has butterfly wings in the Ah! My Goddess movie. The fairy image of the singer in Clover has butterfly wings.
In Shamanic Princess butterfly imagery is used indirectly in Tiara's transformation. When she calls upon those spirits subject to her, her powers create a cocoon around her, and the hair/wings of her transformed state unfold from the cocoon shape like
a butterfly emerging.
The butterfly can also represent a spiritual metamorphosis, or a sexual budding. In the anime Glo-Ri-A, during the climax of Eterna's first sexual
encounter we see a blue butterfly of light emerge from her body. The blue is an important color in this instance as heretofore, Eterna had been cold, rigid, icy
where sex was concerned and to Beowulf's overtures. The light element itself, and the butterfly, is a freeing of her femininity, her ability now to let go and open herself to the experience (and
of course by implication to love and emotion). It is a symbol she will now be able to start on the road to becoming in touch with this aspect of herself, as we see in the third
OVA where she makes a public appearance in a red dress, a contrast to the uniform-like attire we've seen her in, and a passionate color, implying the
new Eterna.
From Dave Endresak: "Specifically, the reason that the angelic motif is so constantly seen as a
symbolic representation of girls hitting puberty, going through adolescence and coming of age is because of the chrysalis/butterfly
metamorphosis. In the case of girls, they are in fact literally physically metamorphosing, with breast and hip development as well as internal physical changes
that allow them to now bear life, give birth, and nurture offspring. Similar symbolic references apply to our common Western sayings of girls
"flowering" and "spreading their wings" - it's all due to their physical metamorphosis from child to woman. The Seraphim Call OP is one of the
best visual presentations of this symbolism I have seen in anime."
The cabbage white butterfly is a popular image in anime. This is the white butterfly with black tips to its wings, and is seen around crops. This is the butterfly seen in the cabbage patch in
the Utena film and among the crops in The Grave of the Fireflies. In the former, if one thinks of the cabbage eating butterfly as harmful or a pest, then this adds another level of meaning to
the Shiori butterfly.