Princess Tutu

Princess Tutu (Japanese: プリンセスチュチュ Hepburn: Purinsesu Chuchu) is a Japanese magical girl anime series created by illustrator and animator Ikuko Itoh. Inspired by ballet and fairy tales, particularly The Ugly Duckling and Swan Lake, the story follows a duck who is transformed into the mythical ballerina Princess Tutu in order to save the shattered heart of a storybook prince come to life.

Plot
Once there was a writer named Drosselmeyer, who had the power to make his stories come to life. But he died before he could finish his final tale, The Prince and the Raven, leaving the two title characters locked in an eternal battle. After many years, the Raven managed to break free into the real world, and the Prince pursued him. To seal away the Raven's evil, Prince Siegfried shattered his own heart with his sword, causing him to lose all his memories and emotions.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) The animation is (noticeably) downright gorgeous and a prime example of traditional anime animation without a single trace of CGI in sight.
 * 2) * Not only is the animation simply beautiful, but the color palette is also vibrant, lovely, and perfectly sets the mood for the entire show and every scene in it.
 * 3) Sweet and relaxing theme song, "Morning Grace", sung by Ritsuko Okazaki. That sounds like classical music (the primary form of music for this show as a whole). The ending theme "Although My Love is Small", which is also sung by Ritsuko Okazaki, is also amazing.
 * 4) The concept of two girls being ballet dancers is creative and clever.
 * 5) Cute character designs. Especially with Duck/Princess Tutu herself, as not only is her duck form cute but her Princess Tutu form has her gain a poofy dress and a pair of fluffy headpieces.
 * 6) The soundtrack has a beautiful feel that sounds like classical music. Which perfectly fits the tone of the show itself, as it's primary theme are classical fairytales and stories/dance.
 * 7) Duck, Rue, Pike, and Lilie are lovable characters.
 * 8) Wonderfully animated transformations. As they have Duck/Ahiru dance in ballet-like motions as her tutu forms around her and she becomes Princess Tutu.
 * 9) The humor is cute and entertaining. Examples include when Fakir opens a door and pretty much every girl in the school falls in and Ahiru flailing over Mytho in early episodes.
 * 10) The idea of a magical girl anime featuring ballet dancers is creative. While magical girl shows were nothing new at the time, ones with the themes that this show has been never really done before. One of the many things this show does that haven't been done before in shows with magical girl themes until now.
 * 11) The backgrounds for the show are amazing. Gold Crown Town, for example, is heavily based on Nördlingen, a town in the south of Germany, known for its old buildings and almost fully intact city walls. Many local sightings make a regular appearance, like the town's church tower, statues, bridges and the watermill. The pizzeria appearing regularly is based on a real-life restaurant, and the town's five wall gates play an important role during the show's last act.
 * 12) Despite being a magical girl show, it takes a darker approach to the concept than most shows at the time. As not only is Drosselmeyer a very dark villain for such a seemingly fluffy and cute show, but the show itself also tackles themes like identity crisis, lasting effects on mental health due to trauma, and falling into despair after losing any sort of hope during a dangerous situation.
 * 13) The finale (aptly named "Finale") was simply beautiful and a spectacular send-off for the series. Fakir runs out whilst all the townspeople return to normal. Later, Uzura leads Ahiru, Fakir, Mytho, and Rue to the inside of one of the five gates. There, a puppet leads them through a door where they walk into a room containing the device that writes Drosselmeyer’s stories. Destroying it, Fakir vows to write the stories of Gold Crown Town instead. With farewells between all of them, Mytho confesses his love to Rue and the two kiss, transforming Rue’s outfit into a large golden princess gown, thus making Rue a princess. As the two leave on a flying carriage drawn by swans to return to Mytho’s kingdom, where they would both live happily ever after, the town returns to normal – no longer a mix of fairy tales. Ahiru, Mytho, and Rue are forgotten by all of their school friends and the townspeople. There are no longer any animals acting like humans and Fakir remains by Ahiru’s side with her swimming in the lake and him writing stories. Drosselmeyer meanwhile wonders how his story got like this and if he himself is a character in a story, then Uzura appears and the two walk off to another story together.
 * 14) * The episode also has an epilogue: Once upon a time, there was a man who died. The final story he spun was going to be a brilliant tragedy. However, the story had an unexpected happy ending, and it was triggered by a duck that the man himself had called into the tale. And then there was another man, who began writing a story. And that story, full of hope, has only just begun.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) May be much too girly and cheesy for other people.

Reception
Princess Tutu was widely acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, who praised its animation, characters, story, music, and darker themes for a magical girl show. Despite being one of the less popular animes of the genre, it still gained its fanbase and was largely well-received regardless.

Trivia

 * The manga adaptation was published a few days before the end of the anime series. Making the series a rather rare example of an anime that has a manga based on it rather than the other way around.

Videos
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