This is where the show stops playing nice.

Utena doesn't fight out of malice. She fights out of a twisted, obsessive fandom . She critiques the magical girls’ poses, their attack names, their teamwork. She forces them to “improve” through defeat. In a bizarre way, she’s the most dedicated fan on the planet—she just expresses her love through humiliation and magical torture.

Warning: Spoilers for the manga’s later arcs (Lord Enorme, the Azure Flashback) are welcome in the comments, but tag them properly.