A moment worth fighting for
"Now, I am special... as long as I have this secret. Yes, I'm special!"
As revealed at the end of the preceding episode, Wakaba's secret is that she is letting Saionji stay in her dorm room, and despite her better judgement she's starting to think that she has a shot with him. Mikage offers to get Saionji's expulsion lifted in exchange for a gift that he made for Wakaba. When Wakaba later sees Anthy with the gift, she joins the Black Rose Seminar.
"Wakaba Flourishing" provides examples of:
- Asian Fox Spirit: The shadow play occurs during a sunshower, and around Asia it's often said that fox spirits are getting married when this happens. Utena's response to the performance clarifies the relationship between the performance and the themes of the episode, which is that nobody's happiness or fulfillment is truly contingent on someone else.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Wakaba proves to be the most violent and dangerous of the Black Rose Duelists so far, as she doesn't even wait for Utena to draw her sword when she decides she'll kill Utena and Anthy right there.
- Bishie Sparkle: Saionji produces some sparkles when he flips his hair, and he gets an Audible Gleam while he's at it.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Wakaba is exceptionally sweet, supportive and a little bashful around Saionji, and surprisingly, Saionji seems to have turned over a new leaf - he's embarrassed about his situation, but shows gratitude to Wakaba and even acts a little dorky around her. Sadly, it's not to last. Saionji is determined to make Wakaba's place a mere pit stop on his way back to Ohtori's halls of power, and he succeeds at her expense.
- By the Hair: As an indicator of Wakaba's rage and brutality as a Black Rose duelist, she pulls Utena by her hair during the duel. None of Utena's other opponents do this to her (not that many have the opportunity.)
- The Chosen One: When Utena chats with Akio, she asks him about the changes she observed in Wakaba. Akio's explanation hinges on the idea that Utena is such a standout individual, so marked for greatness, that she doesn't know what it means for someone to have their day in the limelight. (While he's not mistaken about her "main-character" nature, it's also obvious ego-stroking.)Akio: There are special people in the world. People who always draw attention. Yes... like yourself, for example.
- Cute and Psycho: Thanks to the Black Rose, Wakaba doesn't wait for Utena and Anthy to reveal the Sword of Dios and would rather try to murder them both right then and there.
- Deal with the Devil: Saionji accepts Mikage's offer of help getting reinstated at Ohtori, forming a Faustian deal that truly has no strings attached — for him, at least. Instead, Saionji's good fortune enables Mikage get Wakaba right where he wants her.
- Didn't Think This Through: This is the first time Anthy finds herself unprepared for the results of her machinations, as Wakaba proves to be the most dangerous of the Black Rose Duelists by far. In part because Wakaba's the only one who decided to straight up try and kill Anthy the first chance she got, something none of the others did.
- Downer Ending: Wakaba returns to her room at the end of the episode and the moment she'd been dreading all along has finally come: she slowly turns looks into the room to find Saionji gone.
- Dramatic Irony: The tension of the arena opponent reveal is based around what Utena's reaction to having to fight Wakaba will be, since the audience knows Wakaba is the challenger, while Utena does not.
- Heroic Willpower: Subverted. Wakaba holds out a bit longer than the other Black Rose Duelists, to the point Mikage has to directly step in to engineer the moment where she finally snaps by asking Saionji for Wakaba's hair clip.
- "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight: Utena is reluctant fight Wakaba, and Wakaba quickly gains the upper hand. The only sense Utena can make out of her violent outburst is that she's hurting, and Utena knows that by winning the duel she can make things better.Utena: I know there's a lot about this I don't understand, but I do know this for sure: you are my best friend. Hold on... I'll save you now.
- It Was with You All Along: Wakaba spends the episode convinced that that the secret she shares with Saionji is making her special, and yet there is a whole montage dedicated to how confident, accomplished, and well-liked she is, and Saionji has no direct influence on any of it. To highlight how special she is, Wakaba is the only Black Rose Duelist whom Utena refuses to use the Sword of Dios on. In spite of Wakaba actively trying to kill her, Utena doesn't let go of her, disarms Wakaba, and uses Saionji's sword to slice off her rose. Utena never lets go of her hand, and unlike the other Black Rose duelists the viewer never sees her fall to the floor.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Wakaba's speech during the duel about how Utena, Anthy and the student council are all so important actually seems to be her jabbing not at them being important to Utena, but rather that they are the main characters of the show.
- Literary Allusion Title: The episode title is a reference to "The Parting at Sakurai," a song that was popular in Imperial Japan that describes a historical event in which a samurai bids farewell to his son before embarking on what he knows is a doomed campaign. The first stanza is aoba shigireru Sakurai no, or "In Sakurai where blue/green leaves flourish," and this line is considered an alternate title. The series substitutes aoba with wakaba, and both words mean "young leaf."
- Locked Out of the Loop: For once, Utena's denseness is not a source of conflict. She's actively aware that something is different about Wakaba, but since Wakaba decides to keep her secret to herself, Utena goes into her confrontation with Wakaba blind. Utena has no idea why Wakaba claimed that Anthy stole Saionji from her, and since at this point she is accustomed to her opponents going back to their usual selves with no memory of fighting her, she evidently accepts that she will never know.
- Murder Is the Best Solution: Wakaba forgoes actually dueling Utena, deciding it's better to just kill Anthy now. Utena only manages to beat her by taking Wakaba's sword as they're struggling.
- Watching Troy Burn: The duel chorus is literally about the fall of Troy and the slaying of the elderly Trojan King Priam by Achilles' teenage son, Pyrrhus. Like the allusion to "The Parting at Sakurai" above, it is about war and tragic inevitability, but while the former anticipates violence, this one is overtly bloody.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Anthy actually pleads with Utena to draw the Sword of Dios and seems genuinely unprepared for Wakaba's unleashed wrath.
- Wham Shot: Twice.
- Wakaba walks home and Anthy heads past her, wearing the leaf clip Saionji planned to give Wakaba.
- Utena arrives in the Dueling Arena and is left silently horrified in disbelief upon seeing her challenger is her best friend.
