HAH! Even in appearance, they're the same! Eat THAT, Ebert! <><><><>
Are Utena and Mikage truly the same?

In more ways than one, they are. They both have been enraptured into the same situation. They have both been revived in a way, (Utena from her coffin and Nemuro from his machine-like, emotionless existence) and later led to ruin by the same sequence of events. Not coincidentally, it was all to blame by the same person, Akio. In Nemuro's case, he was born with human emotion when he fell in love with Tokiko. In Utena's case, she was persuaded to live on by the figure of the prince Dios. In Nemuro's story, he was cast aside early, only days after he was "born." When he saw Tokiko giving herself to Akio, she killed what was newly born inside of him. Since his convictions were not developed, he broke down and became Mikage, with memories as Nemuro mutated in his mind. In Utena's case, she was slowly brought down by Akio. Her princely figure was another altered memory, just as Nemuro's past was. Akio wanted her to forget the Rose Bride in order to be with her former prince and return the Dios inside of him. However, since her conviction was strong and developed by all of the duels she fought and her existence with Anthy, she did not revert to a princess, but triumphed over her oppressor.

"I know that you're the same as myself. Your eyes are like those people who can't help wanting to make memories last forever. " ~ Mikage, episode 23

Mikage's saying was, in many ways, a prophecy. He seemed to know enough of himself to judge Utena's future, which unfolded exactly as he told before her eyes. Just like himself, she was changed and manipulated as Akio wished. If Akio could transform a gentile, dry man like Nemuro into the very cold, deep, and sexual Mikage, he could definitely change Utena from a noble prince to a helpless princess. Just like Nemuro, he made it so she forgot the "eternal" thing he showed her, the Rose Bride, and made her infatuated with the prince, not only wanting to be him but also, at any chance, fall in love with any who seemed like him. This is evident with both Touga and Akio. During the Seitokai arc, Utena found herself unable to resist Touga's charms, since she believed him to be her prince. However, when she found that he was in fact not her prince but the kind of man he truly is, carelessly becomming Akio's bitch later in Utena, :::gets trampled by Touga fangirls::: she became impotent to all of his attempts to be with her, even if by that time his feelings had become pure. From the Black Rose arc to the Apocalypse arc, (most intense in the Akio arc) she became, in a way, obsessed with Akio. Even if he had changed from the "Christ Figure" Dios to the face of Lucifer, Akio, (I could say the devil, but the notion that his demon form has a soul is ambiguous. Akio, through his longing to return to his former self, "play prince," and save Anthy, shows evidence of having a conscience, even if it is quite muted to everyone but his sister and himself.) he himself is quite reminiscent to his past form. This leads Utena to pine over him, and later be seduced by him. Indirectly, this is exactly what Akio has done to Nemuro. He "seduces" him by sending Tokiko and Mamiya (knowing well that they are the type of family who could change him) into his life, opening his mind and becoming a loving man. Then, after making his move by offering him the binding contract of the Rose Signet, and knowing he'll refuse initially, he makes an offer he cannot refuse. He takes Tokiko into a passionate embrace in a place where he arranges to have Nemuro notice, and he is successful in mutating this man, by having him follow his order of burning down Nemuro Memorial Hall. Obviously, Nemuro was not the one to officially open the gates to the dueling arena as he claimed, but his action was a way to prove to Akio that he is willing to submit to his will. Even if Nemuro's situation was much less subtle than Utena's, he was taken in the same way as she, and as he speaks to her, she could not handle the truth she seemed to suspect to come, and she reacted by violently knocking him down and challenging him to a duel. If she had memories of this incident, she could easily link the two situations, but since Akio erases his tracks easily, she hardly could see anything about her future.

Furthermore, the Black Rose arc was a mirror to the end of Utena. In the end, Utena is gone and forgotten, but her influence runs through all characters, even giving Himemiya enough strength to escape Akio's tyranny. Many believe that Mikage and the Black Rose arc never truly existed, but that is very much untrue. Like Utena, he himself has been forgotten, but his influence remained. For example, Mikage was the one who had allowed Saionji to return to Ohtori. He would have never returned otherwise, if the Mikage Seminar had not recommended his return. Another example is Nemuro Memorial Hall. Even if it had been destroyed, (another example of Akio's ability to bury his tracks) it still existed. The memory had simply been covered, and even Miki could not recall its disturbing history. As you can see, Mikage held a parallel existence with Utena. It's downright spooky to find some of the prophecies of Utena from the earliest stages, and this is simply one of them.