Wakaba personifies innocent love and the loss of innocence. Nursing a secret crush on Saionji from long before Utena arrives, she is part of the reason Utena first becomes involved in the duels.

Innocent love is the "love" that Wakaba bears for Saionji before she knows him. As one of many admirers from afar, she can only make herself known through a love letter. Saionji's rejection of her letter is only another facet of this innocent, trusting love: the part of a teenage crush that weeps when it is rejected and then quickly is forgotten.

Yet this innocence is resurrected when Saionji accepts Wakaba's invitation to stay in her dorm. He cannot have forgotten what he did to Wakaba not that long ago, yet this time instead of rejecting her, he accepts her. Why? Because for the first time, Saionji himself has been rejected. As long as he was the one picking and choosing, he had no qualms about throwing away people's feelings, but as soon as the world turns his back on him, he runs to the first person who will accept him. The time he spends with Wakaba marks a growing period for him as he begins to realize that emotions are not as simple as pure love or hate.

The end of innocence occurs when Wakaba's dreams are shattered at the end of Saionji's stay with her. As Saionji learns about the complexity of emotions, so does Wakaba, but her lesson is much more bitter than his. Though Saionji does not outright reject her, and perhaps even now considers her a friend, Wakaba realizes that he will never love her as she wants him to love her. Her road to becoming a black rose duellist marks the end of her childhood dreams.