The Shadow Girls are straaaange. Extremely, incredably, explicitely strange. They are shadows of two girls (a third comes in later) that pop up against an orangey rose-patterned wall. They are usually introduced by strange bongo music. Anyway, the Shadow Girls perform little skits that usually have some tie to the plot, although not always. Most of the time, though, the little skits that the Shadow Girls do are everyday scenes (with a twist) that are related to the storyline of the episode. For example, in the famous exploding curry episode, they talk about karma and divine justice, the latter of which is definately brought upon Nanami as she is trampled by elephants countless times. They often have nothing to do with the story on the surface, but when you think about what they are saying, you can connect their story with what is going on with the main characters. Once in a while, however, the stories have absolutely nothing to do with the plot at the time. Either that, or I just don't understand it ;) It's possible that, in the sub, something that is understandable if you are Japanese may have gone over my head. I dunno. The original Shadow Girls were A-ko and B-ko, (Shadow Girl A and Shadow Girl B in the dub). One has pigtails and the other wears a big hairbow. They were present throughout the Student Council Saga. In the Black Rose Saga, C-ko was the only Shadow Girl, and instead of the regular place that they played out their stories, she worked on the rose-patterend wall next to Utena's locker. She wears a ponytail and something that I think is a headband... A-ko and B-ko are always seen together, while C-ko is usually alone. All three have little phrases that they always start their plays with. A-ko and B-ko's is "I wonder? I wonder? Do you know what I wonder?" In the dub, it's a little different ("Have you heard? Have you heard? have you heard the news?") but it gets across the same message. C-ko goes around with a megaphone yelling "Extra! Extra! Extra!" at the beginning of her monologues. C-ko is also unique in that the characters actually interact with her... Utena or Wakaba usually reacts to her speech at the end of it. Anyway, at the beginning of the Apocalypse Saga (the last one) there is this play that Utena, Anthy, and Akio go to. This play tells just about everything that is really going on. I suspect that people who were watching the show in Japan had heart attacks when they saw this episode ;) At the beginning of the episode, these two girls are trying to get Utena to join the Drama Club. She says that she isn't good onstage, but they insist that she at least come and see their production. These two girls, seen only silhouetted, are A-ko and B-ko. They give Utena tickets, and the fun begins... but I'll talk about that on my spoiler page ;) The Shadow Girls are definately a very interesting part of the show. They add to the inherent strangeness of the series, and you begin to think "Here we go again..." every time you hear that bongo music ;)

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