About: Ruka & Juri

Ruka and Juri are characters in the anime and manga series Shoujo Kakumei Utena. They're two of my favorite characters (Ruka is, in fact, my favorite of the series), and although the story of their relationship is only dealt with in two episodes, those two episodes were my favorite in the show.

Arisugawa Juri is part of the infamous Student Council, Fencing Club captain, and a strong, remarkable young woman, who nevertheless has a more vulnerable side. She got hurt by someone she loved, and this made her lose her faith. Thus her reason for being a Duelist is unique, paradoxical, and (I think) by far the most interesting of any Student Council member. Being engaged to the Rose Bride is supposed to grant miraculous powers to the Duelist in question, but Juri doens't want the power of miracles. Quite the opposite, she wants to win the Rose Bride, so that she can prove that there is no such a thing as a miracle.

Or so she claims. Touga, the Student Council president, suggested at one time that perhaps her true reason is exactly the opposite. And it's those contradictions that made Juri one of my favorite characters.

Enter Tsuchiya Ruka, former captain of the Fencing Club, who has been out of school for a presumably long time due to a serious illness. It becomes apparent that he and Juri share a long-standing friendship, or at the very least mutual respect, and she steps aside as captain when he returns. It becomes apparent just as quickly that there is more to Ruka than is immediately visible. He has come back as a Duelist, and in fact treats the Student Council with ill-concealed superiority, acting as though he knows something that they don't. However, when Juri questions him, he claims all he wants is to lead a normal teenage life.

And "leading a normal teenage life" seems to mean hooking up with Shiori, even though he knows that she's the girl that Juri loves and the reason for her loss of faith. Juri, needless to say, isn't exactly pleased. And she's even less pleased later, when Ruka humiliates Shiori in public after she begs him not to break up with her.

As it turns out, Ruka's seduction and humiliation of Shiori was in fact a plan to push Juri into dueling with Utena once more, with Ruka as her "acting bride". Juri agrees because she says she wants to free Shiori from Ruka forever. And at that moment, something about Ruka's impassive expression and controlled lack of reaction lets us know his ultimate motive is similar to Juri's, and that possibly he's not really the charming bastard that manipulates women for his own amusement.

Ruka wasn't really recovered from his illness, but he wanted to come back to school anyway. He wanted a miracle, and that was why he was a Duelist, but his desire was completely selfless. He wanted to give the power of miracles to the girl he loved. He didn't want anything for himself, he didn't even want his loved one to love him back, perhaps because he knew he was dying.

The girl Ruka loved was Juri, and what he wanted was to give her back her faith.