This section endeavors to explain a few more general things about the duelist known as Tsuchiya Ruka:

1. How he is seen by the general Ohtori Academy popluace minus Shiori, pivotal characters such as Utena and Anthy, and the seitokai, minus Juri.

2. The images and objects that symbolize Ruka through the two episodes

and 3. Ruka's return to the Academy

 
VIEWPOINT:

Ah, yes...the mysterious older man. Ruka certainly makes a dramatic entrance after his long absence, by defeating the "undefeated" fencing captain. And not only that, but he is actually the "real" fencing captain! This scenario is reminiscent of fairy tale plots and even the plots of fiction, novel and theatrical up to the late 19th century. The plot devices of disguise, mistaken identity, and mysterious strangers are still some of the most popular used today in fiction.

When Ruka appears in the Student Council meeting, Nanami and Miki are surprised, and Juri has to explain who he is. That means that Ruka has been gone for some time, because Nanami and Miki are both seventh graders. Their surprise taken simply at face value, in order for them not to have known Ruka, they would have had to have been in grade school when he left Ohtori. That would have made Ruka absent from school for at least two years. Another view of this, could be Akio's tampering with the memories of the students of Ohtori, having most of them forgetting Ruka. The only ones shown in the series with any memory of Ruka are Touga and Juri, both in Ruka's own grade. However, this is a theory less supported by fact and should probably be dismissed in favor of the first.

The fans
The scene with the screaming fangirls hanging over the balcony of the fencing hall and crowding the ring is only one example of how Ruka turns the Academy upside down with his presence. Ruka certainly has a very charismatic presence in the same way that Touga is charismatic. He has none of the slow, dangerously intoxicating charisma of Akio nor the sharp, fiery charisma of Saionji, or the shy, innocent charisma of Miki. Ruka exudes a very healthy, very masculine-in-control charisma which reflects on everyone around him. The fangirls, of course, love it. Suddenly, fencing is Ohtori's most favorite sport, to the delight of everyone but Juri.

"Tsuchiya-san's so cool!...It seems like he's all that anyone talks about anymore."

The Prince and the Princess
Utena and Anthy view Ruka as nothing more than a new student...until he gives Utena the rose. In the two Ruka episodes, Utena and Anthy are reduced to mere side characters, stepping aside for the sake of advancing the new subplot. When he challenges Utena, he is suddenly raised from harmless student to formidable enemy in her eyes. She knows his skill with the sword, and she knows that he must have some motive to challenge her so soon after he arrives at Ohtori.

The Student Council
Nanami's and Miki's reactions to Ruka have been explained, and Saionji is absent throughout these few episodes. Ruka mentions his name once during his duel with Utena, but Saionji himself never appears. This leaves Touga as the only member of the seitokai who Ruka associates with, besides Juri. Touga seems to have "adopted" Ruka into the seitokai because of his status as duelist. The two speak like old friends, and it may be that Ruka was once friends, or at least acquaintances with Touga, before he became ill. Was Ruka ever on the Student Council? Nothing ever hints either way, but this is also a plausible conclusion. Certainly Ruka, as the school's fencing captain and close friends with Juri, had to have had a strong influence on the workings of Ohtori's student government.

 
SYMBOLISM

Name
Ruka's name is made up of the four characters of "soil," "valley," "gemstone," and "fruit." Together his name has the connotation of something blossoming and ripening in the fertile soil of some valley, perhaps hidden. Ruka is a gem, to be treasured by the one who manages to find the valley and pick the fruit. Who will that person be?

Blue/Purple
Ruka's colors are deep blue and purple, as evidenced by his hair, eyes, uniform, and the color of his duel rose. The "ru" in Ruka's name means literally "lapis lazuli." From http://www.gemhut.com: "Dark blue with metallic patches (pyrite) and/or white streaks (calcite). Lapis lazuli can be made of several minerals besides lazurite, namely sodalite, hauyne, calcite and pyrite. Stones that are deep blue with small patches of pyrite and calcite are considered the most valuable. Like turquoise, lapis lazuli is an opaque stone. It was believed by some that lapis lazuli would protect the wearer from evil."

Fencing
At its basic Freudian symbolic level, fencing can be seen as a simple extension of the masculine domination, with the sword serving as the phallic object. (This is also the overarching symbol for the duels, with Akio being the origin of the phallus) Fencing itself is a sport with a long history, being descended from the ancient Egyptians and being passed down to Europe and then the modern world in general. As a semi-professional fencer, Ruka is expected to embody all the stereotypes of honor and chivalry that go with the image of the fencer. Curiously, Ruka both fits into and breaks this stereotype.

Chairs
Juri and Shiori and Ruka are often shown sitting in chairs in the empty fencing hall, sometimes alone, sometimes in pairs. Ruka most often faces Juri, while Juri faces Shiori and Shiori faces Ruka. During their argument, Ruka faces away from Juri. Through the episode, Juri's chair is equidistant from both of the other chairs, but at the end of episode 29, Juri's chair has moved closer to Shiori's. In the last scene, Ruka's chair has disappeared altogether and only Juri's and Shiori's chairs remain.

Rain
At the end of Juri's duel, it rains. Rain has long been a symbol of both death and rebirth: the famous "death in the rain" symbol of Ernest Hemingway's novels such as A Farewell to Arms and also rain as a source of life for growing things. For Ruka, the rain symbolizes the completion of his task and a new beginning for Juri's life. However, it also symbolizes the end of his life; having performed his task, Ruka will die.

 
OHTORI

Ruka says to Nanami "Is that any way to talk to a recovering upperclassman?" indicating that he is indeed getting better and has thus received permission to go back to school. Nanami replies, "Congratulations on your recovery..."

Yet only a couple of weeks later, Ruka again withdraws from school and dies in the hospital. How is this possible, if he has been recovering?

Ruka never directly speaks out and says "I am recovering from my illness and now am well enough to return to school." The only hint he makes of this is his statement to Nanami and that can be seen as a line of dismissive banter. He certainly encourages others to think that he is well and healthy, but never once states it factually himself. The conclusion is obvious, then: Ruka is in fact not recovering, has never been recovering from his illness, and has, as the shadow girls say, "forced himself to return to school."

Why?

A better question would be how? Hospitals do not simply let patients with terminal diseases disconnect themselves from their machines, throw away their medicine, and walk out of their sick rooms. Ruka was probably in the last stages of his illness, and if the illness was as serious as it was made to seem, he probably would not have even been able to walk. How, then did he manage to even get out of bed, much less duel with Utena?

Ruka was not a duelist when he left Ohtori, yet he is one when he returns. He repeatedly speaks of the "power of miracles" and it is obvious that he believes his statements. The coupling of that statement along with the rose signet on his finger points to the obvious cause: Akio.

What kind of "deal" did Ruka make with Akio? This brings to mind the scene of Mikage in his office, of Akio dropping the rose ring into Tokiko's teacup and telling him to "make his own choice." Yet, as the series shows, the choice was never Mikage's to make in the first place. Ruka has a bit more common sense than Mikage and therefore should not have been so easily swayed to Akio's side. Yet obviously he is. Juri seems shocked to see the ring on Ruka's finger. Perhaps another indication that she has no idea why Ruka of all people would give into the temptation to become a duelist?

"Ruka! What are you after? What are you thinking? Ruka!"

Ruka, outside of everything, is really no more than a teenager, with typical adolescent fears and worries and doubts. He must have spent long nights in bed wondering why he out of all people was to suffer. He must have stared at the ceiling wishing that he could just be normal, that he could fit in. It is doubtful that the promise of a month, maybe a little more or less, of full health so that he could live out the rest of his life pretending to be "normal" would have swayed him, however. Ruka is no fool and not someone to be easily manipulated even by Akio. So what did Akio offer him that would make Ruka be willing to risk his failing body to enter Ohtori one last time?

Influence over the student body?

A chance to say goodbye to the one he loved?

Or perhaps, the power of miracles?

The fact that no one remembers Ruka is an indication that he was not especially popular. This fact can be argued, of course, since Akio has been tampering with all facets of the Utena timeline, but it is doubtful that Akio would have seen Ruka as a powerful pawn in his game that early in the running. Returning to Ohtori, Ruka suddenly has everything that he probably never had when he was younger: power, prestige, admiration. But Ruka only uses all these new and exciting facets to attain the one thing he truly desires: a miracle. Once Ruka attains that, he is no longer of use to Akio. His usefulness as a pawn in the game against Utena has ended. The duels have both been lost and Ruka is sent back to the hospital to end his life.

It would be a mistake to say that Ruka was the loser in this one game, however. Though outwardly he accomplished nothing...it's always the inside that counts. And, as he himself said, the power of miracles always rests on sacrifice.

Perhaps Ruka himself saw it coming and prepared himself as the final sacrifice for his own miracle in order to set someone free.