Kyouichi Saionji: Inferiority Complex
Kendo Club Captain
Student Council Member

"On good days, when my conscience did not trouble me, it was often delightful to play with them, to be good and decent as they were and to see myself in a noble light ... But how infrequent such days were! Often at play, at some harmless activity, I became so fervent and headstrong that I was too much for my sisters; the quarrels and unhappiness this led to threw me into such a rage that I became horrible, did and said things so awful they seared my heart even as I said them. Then followed harsh hours of gloomy regret and contrition, the painful moment when I begged forgiveness, to be followed again by beams of light, a quiet, thankful, undivided gladness." -- "Damien", Hermann Hesse.

Tarot Card: Judgement
Duel Rose: Forest Green
Quote: "Why, Anshi? Why can't you obey me?"
Name Meaning: An outer skin to protect the seed from outside weather

You can love too much. Yet his desire is genuine... if motivated by questionable purpose. The memory of a girl in her coffin, speaking words echoed in his own heart, is partially the cause; it's unclear when Anshi became the focus of Saionji's intentions, the nexus of his dream, but he perceives in her what he projects from himself... a need to be loved, a hope to find the eternal power that will ensure his love lasts forever.. something permanent and real. He is wiser than he seems, but fatally flawed by his desire to possess Anshi...

His Story

Saionji and Touga have been friends since childhood; although their relationship has in their later years becomes taut and strained, they were at one time extremely close, and still at least make the pretense of believing they are. They duel constantly in the Kendo hall, as tension-release or as another shot in their neverending rivalry which neither will openly name the reasons or causes of...

Saionji has become increasingly insecure and unhappy over the years, consumed by inner demons of uncertainty and doubt. Although he (like just about everyone of major standing at Ootori Gakuen) is much admired by girls, he has no loved ones. Unlike Touga who takes open advantage of the availability of women, Saionji will only ever be interested in one woman, the one that he desires above all other things: Himemiya Anshi. He is devoted to her, utterly willing to go beyond all boundaries in his misguided attempts to show his love for her. And his stubborn possessiveness of her also knows no bounds; when he was her Victor, he would routinely beat her in frustration. His actions toward Himemiya are the stuff of nightmares, every thinking woman's terror; but is he beating her to punish her, or is he really so furious at himself for his failures to reach her or communicate with her that he lashes out blindly?

He labors under a persistent delusion that no amount of external evidence can sway that Anshi belongs to him, and that she returns his affections; this couldn't be farther from the truth, but unlike Touga or Utena, Saionji never really learns the truth of the Rose Bride. His most cherished possession is their diary that they kept together while he was the Victor; he genuinely believes everything written there is for real. He clings to it for it is the only concrete thing he has left that he's loved by someone, anyone. It's really as simple as that. Of course, Anshi could really care less, but it was his will at the time that she participate in the behavior. It's also worth noting Chuchu's vengeance on that same item later...

Much of Saionji's violence and immature behaviors seems to have stemmed from the incident in his and Touga's childhood... following some friendly duelling, they rode home together, but chanced to pass by a church, where some men were seeking a girl who'd disappeared after a funeral... Although Saionji was reluctant, he followed Touga to the church.. where they found a girl huddled up in the third of three coffins; her parents had just died, and she wanted to die with them... She begged them not to open the coffin; Saionji pleaded with Touga not to do it, but Touga didn't listen...

And the question that the uncovered girl asked lodged in Saionji's heart and stayed there... "Why does anyone live, if all anyone ever does is die? Eternity doesn't exist, does it?" He wanted to show the girl something eternal, but he couldn't.. but somehow, Touga did. Touga, always going to places where Saionji couldn't go, seeing things Saionji couldn't see... he became jealous of Touga's prowess and increasing mysterious knowledge.

As a Duellist, Saionji is fierce and vicious, but not undefeatable; curiously, his grace and patience appears more in the Kendo hall than in the Forest of Challenges. As the Captain of the Kendo Club, his strikes are controlled and directed, his force channeled. But as a Duellist on the field, he attacks with wild, random strikes, almost no style at all- his only chance of winning is through sheer brute force... even the completely unskilled Utena was able to defeat him through sheer persistence. It's even arguable that the only reason he began the story as the Victor of the Duel was because none of the other more combat-competent Duellists had any interest or reason to challenge him... rule by apathy.

After he attacks Utena, causing Touga to be injured in her defense, Saionji is thrown out of the school...His love-diary he entrusts foolishly to Touga, who destroys it without a second thought. With nowhere to go, Saionji takes refuge in Wakaba's company- ironic as he originally scorned her love letter in the first episode and caused the cycle that began Utena's rise and ascension through the Duellist ranks.

While with Wakaba, for a time, Saionji allows his softer, more compassionate side to show through; He works on making her a leaf-pin for her hair, starting to realize that perhaps it'd be better to move on and find a better, more true love... He starts to make personal progress, on a path that could lead him to freedom... However, it's likely because of this that Mikage narrows in on him. And Saionji just isn't strong enough to resist being lured back once more... He betrays Wakaba's affections once more, and gives the leaf pin to Anshi. It is this action that sends Wakaba spiraling to the path of the Black Rose...

Even still, after his return to the campus Saionji is a little wiser, a little more reserved and cautious, more laid back and more thoughtful in his actions. It takes the direct intervention of Akio to coerce him to Duel again; although suspicious, Saionji is at least partially inducted into Touga's 'other life' with Akio, and becomes privy to some of the Ends of the Earth's secrets. He gains at least enough wisdom to realize that not only was it Utena in the coffin years ago, but that he and Touga are still in that church with her even now... sealed away inside their own coffins of restricting beliefs.