Let me be honest with you, guys... When I first laid eyes on Princess Tutu on Internet a long time ago, I was like "LOL, what the hell is this? xD Ballet anime?! LOLOLOLOLOL" (yeah, you get the picture alright...)
An old saying says "Never judge a book by its cover". I judged it by the cover, didn't know how it was like. Fast forward today, I was like "Oh hell, let's download it and give it a shot... might as well be a shot in the damn nuts..."
Few episodes later: "Holy crap, how the hell did I missed that all those damn years?! Fuck...". And this, my friends, comes from someone who totally, completely, absolutely loves Dragonball Z when it comes in anime. What I got was
the same feeling when my father rented in VHS the classic Star Wars trilogy (him and I are Star Wars fan). It gave me in the end a feeling that I watched the next best thing to my nerd list, along with Spiderman and Super Mario Bros and
in the same time a feeling that I watched something fucking epic. Dudes, here I measure Princess Tutu with Star Wars and they are in the same height. We are talking THAT big.
Once upon a time... Ah, that's a cliche opening let's change it... A long time ago, in an imaginary land far far away... (*puts Star Wars opening theme*) There was a ballet school where our heroine, Ahiru attends. She secretly admires Mute/Mytho (I don't know his name,
since the fansubs I downloaded they kinda change some names to match as it says with how it sounds, which is a big pain in the ass already), the most famous boy there and he is considered to be a prince. One day, Ahiru obtains from Drosselmeyer, a renowned
writer who is supposed to be dead ( O_____O'') , the power to transform into Princess Tutu. As Princess Tutu, she must return the heart of a prince who sealed away a raven monster that terrorized the land by breaking his heart to that prince, who as it turns
out, it's Mute/Mytho!! But there are some catchs: you see Ahiru, is actually a duck!! (no surprise here, since ahiru=duck in japanese) and after it's done, she will return to being a duck. If that's not enough, if, as Princess Tutu, confesses her feeling to the prince,
she will dissappear. Dude, that's harsh... It has the best drama feeling I've ever seen in an anime. No overdramatizing or overacting. Makes you want see more episode after episode, wanting to see what will happen next. The story changes as it progresses, the characters progress, mature and starting asking bout their roles in the story and the consiquences of their actions. Oh yeah, me Greeksot LIKE it (with Grimlock's voice tone) !!
It has awesome animation. The characters are well drawn, detailed and have great motion, especially in the ballet dancing scenes (hey, let's not forget it's a ballet anime). I really aint a fan of ballet, but this rocked! \m/
In a sidenote, Ahiru, as a duck is really cute. Very cute. If I give a pic of Ahiru as a duck to my sister, she will definetely go squeeing from cuteness (she loves duckling... and Wolverine... Weird indeed). The backgrounds are great too.
The transformation sequence of Princess Tutu is good too and kinda short, compared say to Sailor Moon and Tokyo Mew Mew.
Its soundtrack consists mostly of operas and classical music. I am not a big fan of those genres (I am just a metalhead), but it totally fits the nature of the anime. We have a great mix of classical plays, such as Romeo and Juliet, Swan of Lakes, Giselle, Nutcracker,
Star Wars... oh shit, a small mistake over there, let me correct it. The voice acting is awesome too. They put some serious work. My favorite one was Neko-sensei's. He really sounded like a cat!! Now, that's some serious acting skill over there... or he is, actually
a werecat or something like that... Overanalyzing it, let's move on.
The characters are great too. Let's analyze them in depth:
Ahiru: The main character. She is a clumsy girl, easing going and a complete noob in ballet (in Wow language, ballet skill: 5/75). When she becomes Princess Tutu, though, she is confident, strong and a skillful ballerina (ballet skill: 450/450) and ready to kick some ass...
ehm oopsie meaning to find the prince's pieces of heart. She's in love with Mute/Mytho. But, she's also a tragic figure since she's actually a duck and that kinda gets in her way. I mean, yelling "Quack!" and turning into a duck isn't something convinient and comfortable for your life.
As the story progresses, she will be questioning her task as Princess Tutu and if all this is really worth the aggrevesion. 'Cause in the end, she is just a powerless duck...
Mute/Mytho: The most popular stud in ballet school. He's also a tragic figure, a poor soul, since he has lost all of his emotions and seems, in the beginning, as a rag doll without much of control over his life. He's like the prince who shattered his heart to defeat the monster raven
according to a story and Princess Tutu has the heavy task of returning his emotions back to him, so he can feel again, smile, cry, love, use the Force... aaaaaaaaaargh, why the fuck did I mention Star Wars?! He is also in a realtionship with Rue, best ballerina in school, but it's
a real relationship, since he can't truly feel love or anything like that. Plus, he has an affection for Princess Tutu.
Fakir/Fakia: Mute's/Mytho's best and only friend and guardian. In the beginning he may look like a complete asshole, since he controls Mute's/Mytho's life and forbids him from many different stuff and tries to stop Princess Tutu, but later it turns out to have some strong
motives and soon enough he will discover his role in the story.
Rue: One of the best padawans... eh, I meant apprentice ballerinas in the school (goddammit...). She tries to get Mute/Mytho only for herself with a false feeling of love. But it seems she loses her grisp over Mute/Mytho, everytime he gets a piece of his heart from Princess Tutu and in the end,
'cause of her, she will become something dark and sinister and reveal what she truly is...
Neko-sensei: He's a secondary character, but he's one of the best ones. He really felt like a cat, not just a humanoid cat. He's a fun character to watch, especially with his obsession for marriage xD. How obsessed? You do a mistake in the dance? You will have to marry him. You are late in lessons?
You will have to marry him. You dropped ice cream in the floor? Marriage. You wiped on Lich King tries 'cause most of the raid members are totally noobs? Marriage. It's mostly for the comic relief and everytime he goes like that, you listen to the background the melody they play at weddings.
It's really the greatest mahou shoujo anime of all times. Before watching, I thought Cardcaptor Sakura was the best. Now, the crown goes to Princess Tutu who earned it with its lightsaber... eeeeeeeeeeeeh, sword, I meant sword. If you don't watch, you will face two choices: either
I'll rip your arms off, beat you with them, then decapicate your head and stab your heart, and finally rip off your spine core (Sorry about that. They announced a new Mortal Kombat and I got REALLY excited as you can see...) or you will have to MARRY ME!!! Not trying to offend anyone,
I just show you guys my feelings for this one. So, choose your destiny!! But if I find your lack of trusting me disturning... You know what will happen then.
But, seriously now, it's really a great anime, onr of the best I've ever seen in my entire life. I've watched lots of anime, like Shakugan no Shana, Code Geass, Haruhi Suzumiya and really didn't give me some sort of satisfaction for watching them. Those who haven't seen it, wherever you are new or
experienced otaku, do yourselves a favor and watch it. You will not regret it.
P.S: I know that quoting and referring Star Wars must have tired you, but couldn't help it. That's what you get for mentioning Star Wars.
