And Ever, Amen

So, one of my favorite anime series is Revolutionary Girl Utena. Even my anime-inclined friends can't seem to get into it, and I'll freely admit it's pretty strange. But it gets weird in a very serious sort of way towards the end. It's almost as much of a mind-fuck as Evangelion, as a matter of fact. But anyway.

One of the show's major themes is eternity. More specifically, the question of whether anything in this world is truly eternal. Nearly every character is obsessed with finding a way to be remembered forever, or dwell forever in some happy memory, or find some way to cheat death. Not among those is the title character, Utena. And thereby hangs the tale.

We see, in flashbacks, that both of her parents died suddenly when she was very young. She hides in a coffin, wanting to die, wondering aloud why we are born at all if it is our destiny to die. She is visited by a "prince" who, somehow, breaks her depression. Utena's life is profoundly altered by the experience, but what did he show her?

(Minimal spoilers) Near the end of the series, we discover that Utena was presented with a vision of eternal suffering, that the prince himself was powerless to stop. The little girl vows that someday, when she's grown, she'll find a way to become a prince herself and save the one who is suffering. In adulthood this gives her an untouchable sort of nobility that all of the other characters admire; indeed, it's what makes her the heroine of the series.

I was going somewhere with this... oh, right. I've always seen this all as a metaphor for relationships, somehow. We fall in love with people in part because we hope it will last forever, even though we know it can't. And sometimes the suffering from a failed relationship can last far longer than the relationship itself. Some people despair, but others seem to have a reservoir of strength. I have a lot of friends I could file into each category. What is the difference between them, I wonder?