The Black Rose saga begins by introducing us to a number of new characters. We find out Anthy has an older brother, named Akio, who is the junior trustee of Ohtori Academy. Along with Akio, there is also his fiance, Ohtori Kanae, daughter of the chairman. This is followed by meeting two other boys in the depths of the old Nemuro Memorial Hall, Souji Mikage and Chida Mamiya. With their black rose, Mikage hopes to overthrow the Rose Bride by killing her and putting Mamiya in her place.
In order to go about killing the Rose Bride, Mikage determines they must first win a duel with Tenjou Utena in order to gain possession of Anthy. By using the infamous "Mikage Seminar" as a guise to lure in students, Mikage brings out their corrupt selves, finalizing their rebirth into evil by penetrating their breasts with a black rose and placing a black Rose Signet on their finger. He gets the signets from coffins where the previous wearer lay dead, the signet having turned black upon their passing.
After a failed attempt with Kanae as their duelist, the duo decide they need a stronger connection to Ends of the World. So, they choose Black Rose duelists who have a closeness to members of the Student Council. Once corrupted by the black rose, these duelists approach the council duelist and take their inner sword, much like the Sword of Dios sleeping within Anthy.
When Mikage and Mamiya are left with a single black rose, the former invites Utena to his seminar. Upon entering Nemuro Memorial Hall, Utena comes across photos of her friends who had been under the Black Rose influence. Infuriated, she challenges Mikage to a duel himself, once she sees his own (white, still) Rose Signet.
During these episodes, we learn Mikage is not all as he seems. He used to be Professor Nemuro, a genius who had worked on the Eternity Project with a hundred youths under the direction of you-know-who (who turns out to be Ends of the World). Due to the manipulations of this person, Nemuro became Mikage, his memories swirling and forgotten.
As Mikage and Utena duel, his false memories are being stripped away. He begins to see Mamiya not as the male form of Anthy he has known as Mikage, but rather as the young brother of Tokiko who had in fact died long ago. Confusion grabs hold of him as Utena slices the black rose from his breast.
In the final scene, we are left seeing Akio answer the phone with Nemuro on the other end. Akio explains to him that the memories of Tokiko and Mamiya he clung to made him stop his own time. "The period where you hid the possibility in your heart, not growing up, was useful." And we never hear of Nemuro or Mikage again. He is forgotten by all in Ohtori except Akio and Anthy. Even Nemuro Memorial Hall is a crumbled pile, it's history a mostly forgotten legend.
|
