Medium: Anime
Episodes: 26
Rating: PG
Dubs/Subbed: Dub (ADV Films)
If you said 10 years ago that I'd watch an anime about a magical girl dancing ballet- Well, I'd have cut you off right there and laughed in your face. However, I'm a much more mature and open person now- and I actually have an appreciation for the genre. And while neither of those things make the show any less bizarre, they certainly allowed me to sit through it. I'm kinda glad for it, too, cause- Hoo, boy. This one's a glorious mindfreak.
Princess Tutu is about Duck, a girl attending an arts school in an unnamed village, who falls in love with the quiet and mysterious Mytho, whose eyes remind her of a prince she sees in her dreams.
It's also about a storywriter named Drosselmeyer, who died writing a fairy tale about a handsome and noble Prince that battled a fierce and demonic Raven, locking the two in eternal combat with no end in sight.
It's also about how the two escaped from the story after growing tired of their eternal stalemate, the Prince used his own heart to seal away the Raven, and the supposedly-dead storyteller gloated about being responsible for such an interesting plot development.
...Yeah.
It's one of those kinds of shows. The kind that are infinitely impossible to describe to your friends without utterly confusing them or making something truly amazing sound boring and stupid.
Add to the above the fact that Duck actually is a duck who's been turned into a girl to participate in Drosselmeyer's post-mortem continuation of The Prince and The Raven, she's using her powers as Princess Tutu to retrieve the lost pieces of Mytho's heart (so that he can smile again, not realizing that this probably also undoes the seal on the Raven...), if she ever confesses his love for him, she'll turn into a speck of light and go POOF, Drosselmeyer's set out to absolutely troll the holy crap out of his characters, and how the show continuously turns darker with every episode, and you get an anime that, for its light and fluffy exterior, manages to be a surprisingly complex and satisfying watch. It's funny and grimdark and watching how all three layers of the story intermingle is nothing short of fascinating. It's the kind of trainwreck you can sit down and watch with your little sister/niece/daughter- She'll enjoy the ballet, classical music soundtrack, and unrequited love story, and you'll enjoy watching as Drosselmeyer gleefully pushes the story and its characters further toward Hell in a handbasket.
Moving on to the OP and ED, they're possibly the only detractor to the experience. They're nothing particularly outstanding- the opening is a vocal addition to some classical piece whose name escapes me even now, and the ending, while nice and soft, is sadly forgettable. They're appropriately pretty for the show('s earlier episodes, after about episode 7 they start to feel seriously out of place!), but unfortunately, neither makes a huge impact.
Either way, it's really hard to make a perfect anime, and Princess Tutu is not even close. Even I have to admit this one probably falls squarely under "acquired taste", but give it a try all the same. If you can look past the obvious girliness present, there's a surprisingly deep experience to be had. Tutu gets a pass.
Score: 8/10
Pass/Fail: Pass
Episodes: 26
Rating: PG
Dubs/Subbed: Dub (ADV Films)
If you said 10 years ago that I'd watch an anime about a magical girl dancing ballet- Well, I'd have cut you off right there and laughed in your face. However, I'm a much more mature and open person now- and I actually have an appreciation for the genre. And while neither of those things make the show any less bizarre, they certainly allowed me to sit through it. I'm kinda glad for it, too, cause- Hoo, boy. This one's a glorious mindfreak.
Princess Tutu is about Duck, a girl attending an arts school in an unnamed village, who falls in love with the quiet and mysterious Mytho, whose eyes remind her of a prince she sees in her dreams.
It's also about a storywriter named Drosselmeyer, who died writing a fairy tale about a handsome and noble Prince that battled a fierce and demonic Raven, locking the two in eternal combat with no end in sight.
It's also about how the two escaped from the story after growing tired of their eternal stalemate, the Prince used his own heart to seal away the Raven, and the supposedly-dead storyteller gloated about being responsible for such an interesting plot development.
...Yeah.
It's one of those kinds of shows. The kind that are infinitely impossible to describe to your friends without utterly confusing them or making something truly amazing sound boring and stupid.
 |
| "It makes sense in context! I swear!" |
Add to the above the fact that Duck actually is a duck who's been turned into a girl to participate in Drosselmeyer's post-mortem continuation of The Prince and The Raven, she's using her powers as Princess Tutu to retrieve the lost pieces of Mytho's heart (so that he can smile again, not realizing that this probably also undoes the seal on the Raven...), if she ever confesses his love for him, she'll turn into a speck of light and go POOF, Drosselmeyer's set out to absolutely troll the holy crap out of his characters, and how the show continuously turns darker with every episode, and you get an anime that, for its light and fluffy exterior, manages to be a surprisingly complex and satisfying watch. It's funny and grimdark and watching how all three layers of the story intermingle is nothing short of fascinating. It's the kind of trainwreck you can sit down and watch with your little sister/niece/daughter- She'll enjoy the ballet, classical music soundtrack, and unrequited love story, and you'll enjoy watching as Drosselmeyer gleefully pushes the story and its characters further toward Hell in a handbasket.
 |
| "My my my, you make it sound like I'm some sort of villain!" |
Either way, it's really hard to make a perfect anime, and Princess Tutu is not even close. Even I have to admit this one probably falls squarely under "acquired taste", but give it a try all the same. If you can look past the obvious girliness present, there's a surprisingly deep experience to be had. Tutu gets a pass.
Score: 8/10
Pass/Fail: Pass
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