<><><><> In Mikage's last direct conversation with Mamiya, we witness flashes of the two by the rose drying tank, darkness, Mikage alone, then fading into nothing. This is the initiation into the utter eccentricity of the end of the Black Rose arc and one of the first, but few, hints into Mamiya's identity. It was shown (even if it was briefly) in the series that Mamiya is a projection to Mikage alone. When Utena gazes at a photo of he and Tokiko in the entrance area of Nemuro Memorial Hall, she notices that in the picture, Mamiya looks very much like his sister. The true Mamiya has a light complexion, his hair considerably darker than his skin. When Mikage sees the same picture, the projection is of the Mamiya Akio wishes for Mikage to see, his appearance more reminiscent to Dios or Himemiya than anybody else. This reveals how much of a grasp Akio has on everybody he controls, changing his victims from deep within their minds, affecting aspects such as their physical sight. He also is able to change them physically, which is what he does to Himemiya while she is physically Mamiya. The psychology lies alone in Mikage. Everyone sees the genuine, long deceased Mamiya, while Mikage sees he who has become his present lover. Mamiya is essentially an illusion, brought on to only Mikage.

What Mikage does not know is that he himself is, in some respects, a Rose Bride. He is forced to live on, diligently serving the illusions presented to him. Along with this, he must search fruitlessly day by day to fill the emptiness of Tokiko's absence. He projects her vision on anybody who remotely seems like her and proceeds to draw them to him at any cost. He hired a secretary with this notion, and when he found somebody more closely related to Tokiko, Utena, he fired his secretary and approached Utena at once. He has probably done this for so long, stretching the image of Tokiko in his mind so far, that he could pass by the actual Tokiko without even noticing that it is she, only slightly more aged and completely institutionalized by society, having escaped Ohtori's bounds and gained a husband. His image of Tokiko has changed in the exact way his projection of Mamiya has.

In a way, Mamiya partially fills the deep void within Mikage. After so many years of being somewhat of a recluse, he needed somebody for whom to share his feelings. Mamiya was indeed the product of Akio's sick game, but a bit of him might have come from Mikage's own mind. The scenes where Mikage speaks to Mamiya's disembodied voice may indeed be Mikage speaking to a hidden part of his own mind. Somebody once said the line between genius and insanity is thin, and Mikage, after decades of lies, loneliness, and covered guilt might have produced a Mamiya not played by Himemiya. Akio seemed to know that it was only a matter of time before Mikage's own thoughts betrayed him, and that may have been a reason he handled the entire breaking of Mikage's spirit so nonchalantly when confronted over the phone with Nemuro and later with Himemiya.

It's helpful to understand how the Rose Bride, Mamiya, Tokiko, and Mikage relate to other characters and settings of the Utena saga. Not only will the series be more interesting to see, but less confusing. (And that, folks, is the main beef most new viewers have with Utena, but fans usually embrace it and enjoy making analysis and theories. Wait? Why are you looking at me that way? You mean I'm the only one? Damn you, marsupials... ALL o' ya! Ack... :::tired::: I should really stop losing so much sleep over Anthropopathism... but the later it is, the more analytical I am, so 'tis profitable, I say ^^)