Every week I go in to Princess Tutu expecting it to fall off, to finally disappoint me. And every week Princess Tutu manages to shut me up with another pair of good episodes. This week, we focus in on Fakir and Rue, Mytho stands up for himself and Drosselmeyer intervenes. Let’s dive in!
Right off the bat, I want to talk about how Princess Tutu is constantly surprising me. Specifically here I want to point out the pacing, and how quickly we are actually moving. Princess Tutu has managed to tell more story in 8 episodes than most shows do in a full 12. Even taking ones that I started off thinking were filler and turning them into full blown major plot reveals. And yet even with the amount covered, I don’t have any fear about the plot in the 2nd half. There is still plenty of content that could be covered, from Fakir or Rue centric episodes to Mytho’s past to confronting Drosselmeyer himself. It really is impressive how much compelling content Princess Tutu manages to stuff into straight-forward Magical Girl plot. So that said, let’s get into the episodes proper.
First up episode 7, Raven Princess. This is the one I was talking about when I mentioned possible filler episodes. It started off very slow and unfocused, not unlike Ahiru’s current state in a way. It felt like Princess Tutu was going to have a sort of one-off, where she explores herself and her mentality. Maybe a classic monster of the week where little happens. Instead Princess Tutu gave the focus to the rest of the cast, from Fakir to Mytho to Rue, and let them have some time to shine. It wasn’t perfect in this, in a way I would have prefered Ahiru have more time as a duck, without her powers. But of the possible ways it could have gone, Princess Tutu picked a decent one. Even having her commit to and turn her back on the powers, actually throwing away the necklace.
In particular, I really enjoyed the use of Drosselmeyer in this episode. Having him step in and take an active role in the story, rather than sit on the sidelines and watch. It makes him feel much more threatening as an antagonist knowing he can step in at any time. Part of what made this work I think was his portrayal on the bridge. On one hand you could look at this simply and say he was presented in such a manner for children. But with the maturity Princess Tutu has shown so far, I prefer to think of it has Drosselmeyer being socially inept. The man is dead and unskilled at manipulation, used to telling stories with full control. Blatantly lying through his teeth and revealing his true motivations. And the best part is it doesn’t work, his insincere words fail. It was simple but effective characterization I feel.
Moving on to the “Heart shard of the week” itself, Princess Tutu did something interesting here as well. Instead of Tutu herself confronting it, they used the emotion of curiosity to explore Mytho. Forcing him to ask questions, both literally and metaphorically drowning him with its curiosity. Thematic elements aside, I just enjoyed the old folk tale style of a bridge/river that drowns passing children. It’s terribly dark and I love it. Just like the rest of Princess Tutu there is a fantastic blend of children’s magical girl show and classical tragic ballet that gives it a tone unlike anything else I have watched. We see this turned up to 11 in episode 8 next, but we will talk about that when we get there. Long story short though, I like the slow growth Mytho is getting, and it is real growth compared to who he was.
This brings me to another big plot point of the episode, Princess Kraehe. I don’t know why, but I didn’t expect Princess Tutu to go down this route. Whether it be the Raven selecting a champion of its own, that champion being Rue and not Fakir, whatever. I wasn’t expecting an “evil” magical girl. This isn’t even the first time it’s been done, as I believe Sailor Moon had one along these lines as well. Regardless, this was another aspect of the episode I enjoyed, what with how it played on and exposed a lot of Rue’s inner personality. She says she loves Mytho, regardless of him regaining his heart or not. Yet her reaction in episode 5 and her actions as Princess Kraehe seem to dispute that. We will talk more about it in episode 8, but I think it sets up a fascinating story to come with Mytho.
Finally I want to talk about the little things, the stuff that doesn’t warrant full sections but I enjoyed. This includes everything from Ahiru’s friends still having the perfect amount of teasing to a successful marriage gag. What I mean by that is for once I didn’t find the cat teachers marriage joke distasteful, mostly because it came as a sort of episode ender. As we saw him sitting in the pizza joint alone, a sort of subtle but not in your face poke at his absurdity. Overall I would still prefer it gone, but hey. Credit where it’s due, the joke worked for once. Beyond that there was some wordplay with the Why-Why/Riddle Bridge that I am sure makes more sense in Japanese. And it was cool seeing some CGI water from an anime this old. Just a lot of cute small things I wanted to point out.
This brings us to episode 8, The Fountain of Warriors, a Fakir centric episode. Princess Tutu uses this episode primarily to build on Fakir’s character, to try and make him a little less hateable. I don’t think it entirely works of course, no amount of duck feeding makes up for physical abuse. However what it does do is turn him into a far more interesting character, especially as it doubles down on his relationship with Mytho. Right from the opening Princess Tutu makes it clear that Fakir does care about Mytho afterall, and it has been showing us this for weeks. Only now we are really starting to explore this sort of “helicopter parent” treatment and how it might not be based entirely on personal faults. But rather that there may be some real wisdom in keeping Mytho heartless, as to how it affects the Raven and the world.
When I mention the opening I mean the short little story-teller like blurb we always get before the OP. At first it seemed like a basic recap, something to remind us where we were in the story. As Princess Tutu has progressed though, so to has this opening story. It has quickly become an actually story relevant section, setting up and laying the groundwork for the episode to come. We saw that this week as it told us the story of the Prince and his loyal friend, who took the Prince’s life to protect him. Of the sword that killed its bearer to protect peace. Some might look at this as a cheap trick, telling rather than showing. But I think that it fits well with Princess Tutu’s presentation as a ballet/story, both informing us on the episode and on the world to come. Easing us into the episode.
Next, if last episode introduced us to Kraehe, this episode throws her and Fakir into the conflict proper. Setting up a 3 way fight for Mytho’s heart, affection and possibly for the town itself. Tutu and Kraehe’s positions are rather obvious here, one wants to save Mytho, the other wants to possess him. Possibly with some ulterior motives. But what does Fakir want? Ostensibly, he wants to keep the status quo, to seal Mytho’s heart and protect him from everyone. Yet at the end when Mytho makes it clear he desires his heart, Fakir just… accepts it, and walks away. He accepts the Prince’s decision, seemingly accepting it will happen. My personal suspicion is that by the end we will get some kind of heroic sacrifice out of Fakir. Recompense for slaying the Prince and breaking his heart before, now he helps them complete it. But who knows this early.
Now I want to focus in on Mytho for a bit, because we saw a lot of growth this week. In 8 episodes we have seen him go from quietly accepting everything to publicly denying Fakir. Not only does this make me curious as to where he will end up, perhaps returning to the brave prince of old, but it adds another layer of tragedy as well. As the more of himself he regains, the more he seems to pursue Tutu, if only to learn about her. Yet we know it can never be, as should he find out how she feels, she will return to being a duck. It will most likely result in a “Beauty and the Beast” situation, where true loves kiss returns her to a girl. But i’m looking forward to the finale, on the off chance Princess Tutu stays a tragedy to the end.
Finally, I want to take a moment to talk about exactly why all of this works for me. Why Princess Tutu succeeds where other Magical Girl shows fail. And if I had to point to any one thing, it would have to be the presentation. We saw it most obviously this week in episode 8’s finale, as the entire screen transformed into a ballet, with headlights and everything. This theatrical presentation makes it feel like we are watching a story, rather than something real, which helps suspend disbelief even more. Meanwhile it works with the greater thematic setup of Drosselmeyer’s story and tints the whole thing with tragedy, as many of my favorite ballets are as well. To try and sum it up easily, there is just a flavor here that allows Princess Tutu to play its material straight without giving me mental diabetes, and I love it.
So all in all, how was Princess Tutu this week? Well for the 4th week in a row, I really enjoyed it. I figure reading what is effectively the same post week after week may get dull. I’m no connoisseur or fine critic, I don’t have any kind of fancy language or technical terms to describe it. I can’t, or at least don’t want, to dedicate an entire post to a single scene or its direction. Attempting to do so would result in posts many times longer than this one here. All I can really do is lay out what I liked and why, in as simple a manner as possible. I can only hope that this does Princess Tutu justice for those who were like me. Who dismissed it as just another magical girl show for children. It’s not, and you should give it a try.
