Tuesday, January 15, 2008

Princess Tutu

Princess Tutu
Anime Review

Let fairy tales come to life! A fantasy story about a duck who secretly transformed into a girl to save the prince.




Storyline
We learn before even the theme song starts for the first time, of a man named Drosselmeyer. Drosselmeyer wrote stories, and was in the process of writing a new story when he died, thus locking the prince and the raven of the tale in eternal battle. Growing tired of this, the raven broke from the story and the prince soon followed to seal him away - but to do so, he sacrificed his own heart by shattering it with a sword. Drosselmeyer, however, is not quite as dead as he would seem. When he sees a duck watching this sad heartless prince dancing on the water, he decides to let the story unfold on its own and grants the duck's wish to help the prince. To do so, he transforms the duck into a girl named Ahiru.

To be able to help the prince, Mytho, Drosselmeyer makes Ahiru into a student at the ballet school the prince attends. Ahiru remembers seeing a handsome prince dance on the water. Often, Ahiru sadly reminds herself that she is not the graceful Princess Tutu, but alas, only a clumsy duck. At some points during the series, Ahiru turns into a duck because it is more convenient (such as going underwater). Although, from some initial confusions and reactions from her throughout the series, it would seem that she does not seem to have any firm memories at all prior to the first episode - though this could be because she's a bit scatter-brained.

Ahiru wears an egg-shaped necklace that glows red and cues her transformation into Princess Tutu when one of the pieces of the prince's shattered heart is near. The prince's heart pieces seem to flock to those who are beginning to feel the feeling that they represent and prove to heighten it to a dangerous level. For example, in one episode, Mytho's missing heart's emotion of loneliness resides in a restaurant owner who has lost her husband. In her attempt to resist the painful feeling of loneliness, she obsessively continues bringing food to her customers in order to keep them from leaving.

Fakir, Mytho's roommate and another talented ballet dancer. At the start of the series, Fakir appears to be very cruel - he's rude and forceful, especially to Mytho, as well as possessive to exclusively him. Fakir had tried to prevent Princess Tutu from regaining the prince's heart pieces and would become very agitated when Mytho began to experience emotions. The reason for this though, was still in best interest for Mytho. Fakir only wanted to protect him from the original, tragic course of the story. As the series progresses, however, Fakir's behavior changes drastically, mainly through Ahiru's antics. He loses his possessiveness and a little of his harsh edge, which lets his essential nobility of spirit shine through. He agrees to help Princess Tutu, realizing she is a trustworthy, kind person after all and that Mytho himself wishes his heart back.

Unlike most Magical Girl heroines, Princess Tutu does not literally fight these victims or their emotions. Instead, she chooses to dance with these victims, so that she may better understand what they're feeling and show them how to overcome it. Since these heightened emotions are a result of the heart piece that resides within them, they are freed of this artificial intensity when Princess Tutu removes the heart piece and returns them to the prince.

Media
Opening theme: Morning Grace by Ritsuko Okazaki
Closing theme: Although My Love Is Small by Ritsuko Okazaki

My End Verdict:
Dance the pas de deux of life. Just precious!

Rating: A solid 5/5. Definitely must watch.

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