But several scenes in the anime and pictures in the artbooks an entirely different story. Were Saionji and Touga simply friends, or was there another side to their relationship?

Like everything in Utena, it's not as simple as a yes or a no. There are several facts to take into account before embarking on the shounen-ai question:

1) Akio. Under his hands, everyone becomes merely a pawn. There are several scenes in which Saionji and Touga are posing for some very suggestive pictures on top of his car, and while that might lead to some obvious conclusions, we must keep in mind that it was Akio's car and Akio taking the pictures. And when it comes to Akio, anything goes.

2) Most of the Utena artbook is filled with pictures with a decidedly sexual bent, and it is best not to take what the artbook provides as fact. Most likely, the artbook is Saitou-san's way of drawing some very "different" relationships in order to please the eye, not to actually portray anything that happened in the anime. But then again, this is Utena, so who knows...?

With that in mind, let's talk about Saionji and Touga.

There's no question that they are friends. They remain friends throughout the anime, though Akio manages to make both of them think otherwise. There might be times where their friendship was strained to almost the breaking point, but neither of them ever admitted it, and that is what kept them together. There are no scenes with any sexual overtones between them early on in the anime, and the first hint we see of anything like that happening is with the pictures on the Akio car. And those cannot be taken for fact.

Something does happen in the last few episodes of the anime. Saionji and Touga are always shown together, sometimes with shirts suggestively open, many times leaning against one another, constantly touching. With most of the show and the Utena fandom concentrating on the obvious lesbian relationships instead of male/male ones (which is odd for a shoujo anime), the Touga/Saionji relationship is largely left forgotten. Yet the signs are there; perhaps not obvious, but there nonetheless. Were they put there just on the whim of the artist, or is there a deeper meaning? Since this is Utena, we should probably take the second choice.

Examining the possibility of a sexual relationship between Touga and Saionji encompasses many different points. First of all, it can be assumed that there was nothing sexual of the sort going on when Akio started to intervene in their lives. Both Saionji and Touga are far too straight to engage in any kind of real sexual play with males, seeing as how the other male Touga and Saionji really know is Miki. There might be "playing around" at the very most due to overactive male teenage hormones.

Did Akio have sex with Touga and Saionji? It's never shown explicitly in the series, but the last part of the series implies so. Akio does not do anything without a reason, and that reason is usually sexual or power related. Having a sexual relationship with either Touga or Saionji would fill both of the above categories, since they are both good-looking young men, and also duellists. But sex with Akio is never something to be proud of, and if Saionji and Touga DID in fact engage in sexual activity with the Ends of the World, it could logically explain the ensuing sequences.

Akio decides to woo Utena. She almost gives in to his advances. Touga attempts to rescue her, and fails. Akio sends letters to the Student Council telling them that he will no longer be needing them. So what is to become of Saionji and Touga?

Touga may or may not be truly in love with Utena, but the fact remains that he does have feelings for her as more than a friend. But Akio wins Utena, and Touga is ultimately left unfulfilled. When Akio abandons his duellists, they logically find comfort in each other. For Saionji and Touga, being best friends for so long, that comfort may well lead to something more than friendship. If both had sex with Akio, they might find that same comfort of sexual activity in each other as a kind of substitute for Akio.

To the viewer's knowledge, everyone who has had any kind of sexual relationship with Akio comes out of it emotionally and/or physically scarred. Touga and Saionji should be no exception. Engaging in a sexual relationship with each other might be their way of reclaiming power over themselves in an very intimate area and simply reminding themselves that ultimately, they are still here while Akio is not.

At the end of the anime, it is obvious that Touga and Saionji genuinely care for each other, and free of Akio's manipulations, they are free to take up their friendship once again. Perhaps that is all that is, but the touching and posing seem to tell of a different story, one that is never spoken but only communicated in pictures. Ultimately, it's up to the opinion of each fan to decide, and even if you don't think there's anything going on, still have fun looking at the...interesting...pictures, ne? XD