Akio reveals to Utena that he was her Prince, End of the World, and the mastermind behind everything that had happened so far. Akio makes Utena an offer to be his princess for eternity, but Utena refuses to abandon Anthy to endless torture and challenges Akio to one last duel.
"The End of the World" provides examples of:
- Both Sides Have a Point: Akio repeatedly points out Anthy chose to be the Rose Bride, while Utena points out Akio basically made her into a witch by allowing her to keep receiving the Swords of Hatred in his place.
- Determinator: Utena's not giving up on being a prince even after learning Akio and Anthy were manipulating her, but her reasons for becoming a prince have changed. As she admits she was doing it before due to her ego, Utena's motivation is now to save Anthy from her trauma.
- In the Back: The last scene of the episode has Utena attempting to shield Anthy from Akio, only for Anthy to run Utena through with a sword from behind.
- It's All My Fault: The night Utena stopped Anthy from committing suicide, she broke down and admitting how she'd been using Anthy all this time to satisfy her egotistical desire to be a prince. Utena ends up begging Anthy to forgive her for deliberately ignoring all of Anthy's pain.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Utena has moved away from being a prince for egotistical reasons, and declares she'll become a prince if that's what it takes to free Anthy from her pain. While she's not exactly there yet, Utena demonstrates she knows she was using Anthy in the past but after seeing how unhappy and tormented Anthy is all Utena desires is to get Anthy out of Ohtori. To Utena, she genuinely believes she can only free Anthy if she becomes a prince. The flawed but nevertheless altruistic and well-meaning determination Utena shows to help Anthy for Anthy's sake is enough to destroy Dios's stone effigy and the Castle of Eternity (which shocks Akio because he never thought anyone would actually wish to help Anthy for Anthy's sake).
- Lack of Empathy: While Akio espouses Anthy chose to be a witch, and can only live as a witch, he blatantly ignores how much pain she's in as he draws a sword from her while adding she enjoys being like this.
- Never My Fault: All of Akio's arguments about Anthy and Utena's actions lose credibility due to his refusal to own up to his part of the equation, such as his constant manipulations and exploitation of Anthy and his sexually aggressive manipulation of Utena. According to him, it's not his fault Anthy is the way she is because she enjoys being a witch, and it's not his fault Utena slept with him because she knew he's engaged to Kanae and didn't reject him.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Akio has a massive version of this after Utena continues to declare she wants to save Anthy from her suffering, not because she wants to be a prince for her own ego, but because she genuinely loves Anthy and wants her to be happy. The stone effigy of Dios shatters and the Castle of Eternity falls apart, and while Akio has no idea what the hell is going on Utena gets the drop on him and almost defeats him.
- Anthy suffers this as well when she sees the Castle collapsing, as she views the entire system she's lived in crumbling before her after spending literal centuries in it.
- Slut-Shaming: Akio does this to Utena by attempting to hold their sexual relationship over her head as proof she's a bad person and thus unfit to revolutionize the world. He points out how she didn't reject him despite knowing he was engaged to Kanae, having the gall to state "That's a sin, isn't it?" This is despite the fact he actively pursued Utena and manipulated her affection by making it seem like he respected her.
- Symbolic Blood: Anthy's red Rose Bride dress spread all around her and Utena can serve as a substitute for blood after she literally stabs Utena in the back. It also serves to show how, with her role as the Rose Bride represented in the dress, Anthy has more blood than just Utena's in her hands, not only her former victims but also her own.
- The Unapologetic: Akio refuses to admit he's done anything wrong in regards to his actions as End of the World or manipulation of Anthy. He keeps stating Anthy chose to become the Rose Bride and thinks she actually prefers being utterly miserable.
- Villain Has a Point: Subverted. Akio tries to guilt-trip Utena into giving up by pointing out she's not exactly flawless. He reminds her that she didn't reject his advances despite knowing Akio's engaged to Kanae, and accuses Utena of having been oblivious to Anthy's pain for the sake of her own ego. This gets subverted on three points because Akio's trying to pull Never My Fault on having actively pursued Utena, because Akio was already cheating on Kanae with a lot of people, and because Utena already owned up to her treatment of Anthy the previous evening.
