Her Story

Juri is the doubter, the skeptic and bitter rationalist among the Student Council's Duellists. She loved a girl, Shiori, once, but the girl betrayed her with a male classmate, and so Juri's heart became cold as stone. Though, she carries close to her heart a small gold rose-locket which contains a tiny black and white picture of Shiori within it, and Shiori is her one weakness. Even though she rejects the actual person, she still clings to the belief that Shiori is *hers*. She is haunted in particular by a memory of Shiori handing her an orange rose, whispering, "Believe in miracles, that your wish might come true."

She is ruthless, logical and somewhat dry of wit, the president of the Fencing Club of the school, and fiercely opposed to any notion of magic or miracles- so much so that Utena's mild retelling of her dream to become a prince sends Juri into a screaming, violent rage. (But maybe the rage came from seeing herself in Utena? What's the difference between a pendant and a cherished rose signet, really?) She is feared through the school as being one whose influence is so great that if a teacher displeases her, she can get the teacher fired... Juri is well aware of her reputation and seems to do nothing to discourage it, perhaps liking the aura of distance and detachment it provides her.. a convenient wall to hide behind.

As a Duellist she is one of the most skilled and experienced fighters and represents a serious challenge. However, her own doubts and inner turmoil that she tries to hide away inside her icy heart, makes her a poor candidate for revolutionizing the world; she may even know this inside. She holds too closely to the past, and to her lack of faith, even as miracle after miracle is literally shoved in her face along the course of the Duels.

Like many of the other Duellists, Juri hides a delicate, fragile heart behind her stone shield of indifference and practiced asceticism; the one thing that makes Juri bow and submit to ANYTHING is a threat against Shiori. A very messy situation with between herself and Tsuchiya Ruka, the former fencing club captain who taught Juri how to fence, leads to Juri's forced realization that she can not possess Shiori, can not even hope to cling to that... yet, this paradoxically frees Juri in the end...

Could realizing that bring Shiori closer to her?