A little help from a friend
"I may not know anything about Himemiya, but right now I want to get back what's normal for me!"
Utena falls into a deep depression after her loss to Touga and starts acting like a normal girl. It is up to Wakaba to snap her out of it and motivate her to challenge Touga to a rematch.
"For Friendship, Perhaps" provides examples of:
- Anger Born of Worry: Utena's withdrawn behavior worries Wakaba more and more as the school day wears on, until she is close to losing her temper. Then Touga shows up, and the situation goes off the rails.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Utena finds Touga in the rose garden, he assumes that she's come to take him up on his offer for a date.Touga: So, will you have dinner with me this Sunday?
Utena: Right now.
Touga: You don't want to wait?
Utena: ...I want to go to the dueling forest! - Call-Back: To the conclusion of the duel in episode 1 — Utena, once again armed with a broken weapon, charges her opponent. A Single-Stroke Battle sequence ensues, the swords are starbursts of light that fade into the forms of the combatants as they move past each other... and red rose petals fly. The bells ring for Utena.
- Collateral Damage: Wakaba, desperate for a way to drive Touga away from Utena, tosses the contents of a glass of water at him. He dodges without missing a beat and Anthy gets splashed instead.
- Didn't See That Coming: Touga's loss snuck up on him since he bought into the notion that Anthy has no will of her own. There was no way for him to foresee that Anthy's feelings for Utena could cut off his access to the Power of Dios at a critical moment.
- Epileptic Flashing Lights: Significant background strobing occurs after Anthy powers up the Sword of Dios, switching between red, green, and black once per frame. It's effective as an indication of the intense power the sword has, but it's not easy to look at. It's also a type of effect that would become rare by the time this series ended its original broadcast.note
- Everyone Has Standards: Hypocrisy and hostility aside, Miki and Juri are both moral enough to be utterly disgusted by Touga's actions towards Utena and Anthy. Juri even gives Utena a sword to use when she challenges Touga to a duel.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man: Wakaba apologizes after accidentally splashing Anthy, but then something odd happens. Wakaba starts blaming Anthy for being in the way, as if she was to blame because she didn't dodge like Touga did. Just moments before, Wakaba could see that Touga was the problem, but it is almost as if Anthy is too attractive an outlet for her unhappiness for her to resist in her heightened state. But Utena catches on to this, and smacks Wakaba across the cheek before she can really get carried away. Wakaba wastes no time in slapping Utena in retaliation, but Utena succeeds in taking the focus off of Anthy.
- Handsome Lech: Touga out-sleazes himself this episode, aggressively hitting-on a barely-responsive Utena, leaving Anthy to wait on the student council balcony while he goes on a booty call, and his conduct during the duel is flat out using sex as a weapon.
- I Was Just Passing Through: Juri lends Utena her sword for her rematch with Touga. The only explanation she offers is that Utena will need it to "set the last scene."
- Imagine Spot: The audience gets a rare moment of Anthy-perspective when she is by herself on the balcony with Chu-Chu. As she contemplates the empty seat across from her, she imagines Utena sitting there, smiling at her.
- Magic Kiss: Touga orders Anthy to kiss the Sword of Dios in a sequence that shifts the latent Phallic Weapon implications of the sword fights to active the sword is a phallus symbolism. Utena is horrified as Anthy leans in to kiss the blade, and ultimately she can't even bear to watch. She can't ignore how the sword starts glowing after that, and it seems to have Sword Beam powers as well.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Utena loses to Touga, she wears the school's standard girls' uniform instead of her Custom Uniform and is much quieter and more submissive than usual. Wakaba quickly realizes that something is very wrong, and is luckily able to snap her out of it.
- Platonic Kissing: When Utena makes up with Wakaba she kisses her on the forehead. As usual with these two, they stay in a gray area between "pretend couple" and "actual longing," especially on Wakaba's part. She blushes and looks on wistfully as Utena leaves to face her problems head-on.
- Significant Wardrobe Shift: To signify how shaken Utena's self-image is after losing Anthy, she does not wear her "prince" clothes in this episode and goes to school in the Ohtori girls uniform. She even continues to wear the regular uniform when she challenges Touga to a rematch, and wears a pink rose in the duel rather than her usual white.
- Skipping School: Utena does not go to classes after losing the duel in the previous episode. Wakaba visits her and finds that she's not ill, but she is in the grips of never-changed-out-of-her-pajamas listlessness.
- Single Tear: Anthy thinks of Dios as she watches Utena struggle against impossible odds, and the spell she cast on the Sword of Dios comes undone as she sheds a single tear.
- Stunned Silence: Utena's Groupie Brigade are initially shocked to see her wearing the girls uniform, but quickly embrace it and fawn over her almost as much as before.
- 10-Minute Retirement: Touga defeats Utena in a duel and claims Anthy as the Rose Bride and Utena decides to live her life like an ordinary school girl. Fortunately, she is talked out of it by Wakaba.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Wakaba refuses to allow Utena to stew in misery over whatever happened between her and Anthy:Wakaba: This Utena isn't cool. It's like something was stolen from you and made you a coward! I don't know what it was, but if something was taken from you, take it back!
- Wrecked Weapon: Touga's powered up sword weakens the sword Utena is using when they come into contact, and eventually when she goes in for an attack, the blade snaps.
