The hair is reminiscent of a lion's mane, the eyes are piercing like a wild animal's, the body moves with the fluid grace of a lioness on the hunt . . . In the television production of Utena, Juri is compared to a lion with both verbal and visual metaphors. However, unlike the lion (a social animal), Juri is a loner. Some even say that she has a heart of stone. Juri does not believe in miracles, or in true love. Why, then, does she secretly long for those exact things?

Juri Arisugawa is a member of the Student Council, one of the original four Duelists, and the captain of Ohtori Academy's fencing team. Her skill with the sword is unparelleled, and she could be considered the best sword fighter of all the Duelists. Her reputation on campus is that she is difficult to befriend, intimidates the faculty into doing as she pleases, and is quite aloof. Most of this is true.

The continuing metaphor of Juri as lion becomes more and more appropriate as more of her behavior is revealed. Appearing unnaturally calm and cool one moment, Juri is capable of flying into violent rages without warning. The first occurs when Anthy offers her an orange rose as a sign of friendship. The second occurs when Utena tells Juri of her handsome childhood prince, and the ring he gave her. Juri does not believe in true love or miracles, and promptly challenges Utena to a duel to disprove the miraculous protection of the Prince Dios. But why does Juri feel this way? Juri lost her true love when she had just entered Ohtori Academy. A lifelong friend, Shiori, began noticing Juri's fencing partner falling in love with Juri. Shiori assumed that Juri loved the boy too, and became distressed that she too had become enamored of him. Betraying Juri's trust, she "stole" the boy from Juri. How was Shiori supposed to know that the ensuing despair from Juri was not because of her love for the boy, but her love for Shiori herself? Shiori did not know that Juri had been suppressing homosexual tendencies for all those years. No one, not even her close friend Miki, knows of Juri's real loss. She doesn't even tell Shiori how she feels until much later in the series. Juri bottled up her pain and despair until her heart turned cold. She may even be incapable of making friends now, at least not without great difficulty. Miki is her only real friend, and even then, he's not privy to her thoughts and feelings. However, she seems to have him pretty figured out, and teases him about his attraction to Anthy.

While the character of Juri does slowly evolve and change during the series, her love life remains in shambles. A love triangle eventually grows to include Juri, Shiori, and a boy named Ruka. The Utena movie just confuses fans more, with Shiori cast as a beguiling seductress and Juri still unclear about her feelings toward her. Unless you speak Japanese or can afford to go to Japan, the movie isn't going to do you much good. Let's leave this to the fan's imaginations.