Having seen and loved Madoka Magica, I wanted to try out some more unconventional magical girl shows, so I decided to check out Princess Tutu. I absolutely did not expect something so weird, and I'm kinda here for it.
Princess Tutu is an anime about a duck named Ahiru (or Duck in the English dub) who gets a necklace that lets her turn into a human that can became a magical girl, with the task of finding the pieces of her love interest Mytho's heart. However, not only are there people who don't want Ahiru to achieve her goal, but the events of the show are being watched by a writer named Drosselmeyer who tries to use them for his own story. There's a lot more to the premise though, even by the third episode, Princess Tutu starts playing around with reality and how much of it is just part of Drosselmeyer's story. I'm a big fan of this sort of meta commentary, so an anime about characters of a story trying to fight fate and the way they are written is just plain awesome. Princess Tutu packs in a ton of references to fairy tales and ballet as well, with Ahiru herself taking a lot from Swan Lake and The Ugly Duckling, but a large portion of the episodes are based off of fairy tales of their own.
Now it's time for me to address the elephant in the room, the show's title. Princess Tutu is not as light and fluffy as its name will have you believe. Even in the earlier episodes, there's a dark undercurrent, I mean the first line of the show is "once upon a time, there was a man who died". The shift in tone isn't as drastic and sudden as in Madoka, though, rather Tutu has a slow and gradual shift as its fluffy fairy tale exterior gives way throughout the course of the season. Along with the shard-collecting nature of the storyline, this means the show has a bunch of Monster-Of-The-Week storylines that I found to be its weakest part. However, it all builds up to a pretty amazing ending that left me incredibly excited for Season 2. Princess Tutu is a fast-paced and often bizarre show, packed with surreal humor and dance battles. It implements preexisting classical music for its score, which fits it pretty well, for the most part. Between the animation, the music, and the surreal meta commentary, Princess Tutu strikes a super dreamlike feel that I found myself really enjoying. I also found myself really liking the cast, who all have their own compelling conflicts about avoiding their fates. But Ahiru is easily my favorite, she's a super excitable and adorkable protagonist with compelling self-esteem issues that I just can't help but root for.
Some of the best episodes of the season include:
A Princess's Vow: This episode gave us the first true hints at just how much Drosselmeyer has control of the world of Princess Tutu. We learn that his book exists in real life, that some of the book's characters exist as well, and that stunning final reveal of the tragic fate planned for Princess Tutu. I like that throughout the episode, Arihu is left questioning what is real and what isn't. This episode also had one of the better Monster-Of-The-Week storylines, with the reveal of its similarities to Hansel And Gretel genuinely catching me off guard.
Crow Princess: This episode was easily the darkest one yet, with even the coloring and visuals being a lot more muted and moody. I like that Ahiru finally takes the time to think on why she'd want to take such a tragic path, and it leads to our first scene of Drosselmeyer freaking out over someone messing with the story. It all culminates in a crazy final sequence where Mytho and Princess Tutu are finally honest with each other, and Rue is revealed to seemingly be the raven with an alter ego of her own.
La Sylphide: This otherwise solid episode had an absolute gut punch of an ending which finally brought the whole main cast into the same location. Kraehe forcefully removing Mytho's heart shard is shocking (and beautifully animated, I might add), but it's still only second to the twist that these characters might have been playing the wrong roles the whole time.
Banquet Of Darkness: Banquet Of Darkness focuses heavily on Ahiru and Fakir's new partnership, and it's great. These two have such an entertaining dynamic and it was incredibly fun to see them grow to understand each other a bit, Fakir even learns that Ahiru is a duck! Befitting the penultimate episode, we get some other pretty big reveals like the confirmation that Edel is a puppet, Kraehe revealing she knows Ahiru is Tutu, and the fact that Kraehe can see Drosselmeyer. And once again, we get a crazy cliffhanger where Kraehe tries to trick Tutu into causing herself to disappear.
Swan Lake: It's impressive how nearly flawless this finale ended up being. It's a personal and climactic confrontation with Kraehe that gives the whole cast their own moments to shine. I love the creative ways in which Tutu and Fakir fight fate, Edel's sacrifice, Tutu's solo pas de deux, it's just so immensely satisfying. Swan Lake is an incredibly emotional and cathartic finale that leaves room for a darker Season 2.
Overall, I really enjoyed the first season of Princess Tutu. The characters are likable, the meta storyline on fighting fate is compelling, and the allusions to classical music, ballet, and fairy tales are so well-implemented that they heighten the quality of the show.
4/5 Stars
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