And Shiori, as anyone who's involved with Utena fandom probably knows, takes a LOT of hate, generally from people who don't hate what Shiori is, but rather a somewhat distorted mental image of what they think she is. These people are - surprise, surprise - mostly Juri fans. Think they might be slightly not looking at things in quite the most objective fashion possible? Y'think, maybe?

Anyway, a discussion of why Shiori deserves pity rather more than hate is kinda beyond the bounds of this image gallery. But let me put it this way. There is not a single character in Utena that completely wears a black or white hat. Utena herself is far from all good, and even Akio isn't portrayed as nothing but evil. Not even AKIO, for pity's sake. So what's the chances we're supposed to be seeing Shiori as the nasty, conniving, black-hearted scheming no-redeeming-qualities bitch that a lot of Utena fandom likes to think of her as being?

Oh, and calling her a "slut", one that get bandied about a lot, is pretty stupid. She sleeps with ONE guy who seduces her. Guess what? So does Utena, except Utena does it with a guy who seduces her and is perfectly aware the guy in question is engaged. So is Utena a slut? Funny how few people say that.

It's also funny how many people who condemn Shiori also think Ruka is just the bee's knees. Considering, you know, that in his whopping two episodes, he manages to hurt Juri more than Shiori probably ever did, as well as sexually molest her, as well as execute a calculated plan to hurt Shiori as much he possibly could, which had no particular benefit aside from making him feel much better about the fact Shiori had the unmitigated gall to be the target of Juri's affections instead of his obviously much more deserving self.

But damn, this is getting dangerously close to turning into an essay (or at least a long rant), so I'll clamp shut here. Maybe I'll do a Shiori Analysis Essay to go with my Keiko one sometime. In the meantime, enjoy the pictures.

Shiori Pictures

Screencaps	Other Art
Part 2