Princess Tutu – 1/2 – Throwback Thursday

Welcome one and all to another season of Throwback Thursday, now featuring Princess Tutu! This week we open on a rather straightforward magical girl plot, with dark implications and enough orchestral/theater implications to shake a stick at. Let’s dive in!

Right off the bat, I have to admit, Princess Tutu isn’t what I expected it to be. Starting this series, I was prepared for your stereotypical children’s magical girl show. Something along the lines of Precure. And while you can see a lot of Tutu’s influence in Precure, from designs and and all that, it actually feels like a much darker series. Because so far Princess Tutu has far more incommon with the old classics, things like the Nutcracker and Swan Lake, than it does the happy-go-lucky nature of modern magical girl shows. There are these sinister or tragic undertones throughout just these two episodes. And it’s this dichotomy between the childlike front on the tin vs its actual content that actually makes it rather engaging. Its similar in a way, though far less overt, to Puella Magi Madoka Magica. And considering I love that show, it’s a good sign.

First up, episode 1, The Duck and the Prince. This episode was primarily basic story setup, explaining to us about the Prince, the Raven and the Writer. How it was written but never finished, and so the two escaped. Only at the end for the writer to reveal they may not actually have been dead. Instead meaning that perhaps everything that happened was part of his story in the first place. A bit ironic considering it takes place within the story of Princess Tutu itself. But none of that is what drew me in early on. No, Princess Tutu engaged me right from the start with its use and presentation of one of the most iconic pieces of music ever written. The “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy“, by Tchaikovsky in his ballet The Nutcracker. I’ll save specific discussion on that for later, suffice to say, it was great.

Now let’s move on to the actual setting of Princess Tutu, since the story is pretty straightforward so far. The actual school itself isn’t anything particularly noteworthy I feel. Yes, it’s a ballet school. And yes it’s seemingly structured like a castle in a story with a load of classical folk tales and such. But all of that is pretty straight forward, instead I want to talk about the animals and the recurring theme of people being animals. Or animals being people. Either way, my point is, what is initially just a joke with the cat teacher, when combined with the opening scene, gives Princess Tutu a much more sinister undertone. Because most of these classical stories Princess Tutu is pulling inspiration from are not happy stories. So the gag of “marrying” the cat, when combined with the seemingly serious reactions from the girls, kinda tints the series bright surface.

As for the characters themselves, I am largely positive. To be frank, I shouldn’t like Ahiru. She is loud, she can often be annoying and she is basically the core of most magical girl protagonists. But I think Nanae Katou does a fantastic job of establishing and building Ahiru’s character, through nothing but her voice. She sounds amazing, all these little inflections and the way she delivers her lines. It makes what would otherwise be annoying character traits endearing, because they sound appealing. It’s not perfect, this isn’t really my archetype so some scenes are naturally not going to work for me. For instance anytime she gets too flustered and descends into incomprehendable babbling is a bit much for me. But on the flip side, the series does a great job of selling physical comedy like falling down the stairs or tripping that I normally hate and making them endearing.

On the other side of the courtyard, we have characters like Mytho and Fakir. I am going to save my theorycrafting for them until the end, so for now let’s talk character. Both of these two are rather simple, at least at the moment. I am expecting more from them as we go. As Mytho is basically a non-entity, unexpressive and unemotional to his core. Meanwhile Fakir is almost stereotypically abusive in his portrayal of toxic relationships. However at least in Mytho’s case, he has the excuse of basically being the damsel in distress for the entire story. As with him being the prince, that means he was the one to seal away the raven at the cost of his heart. His heart in this case being his personality and emotions. It’s like he is a shell of his former self, still helping little birds, but unable to express it.

All in all, the first episode was a fantastic introduction to Princess Tutu I feel. Some characters are relatively one dimensional, but we also just started. Meanwhile others like Ahiru or Drosselmeyer, the Wizard/Writer, are engaging and involved with every level of the story. I also quite enjoyed the use of classical music and the references to classical works through. In the last series we did, Neon Genesis Evangelion, it largely felt like they were used because they were recognizable. But here, with the story seemingly being an anime retelling of Swan Lake, they fit far better. Princess Tutu picks the right music from the right ballets and orchestras to fit the scenes. Not ignoring, but rather using their existing meaning to augment the scenes themselves. It makes me really hopeful for what is to come, because I want to see how Princess Tutu uses some pieces of music.

Next we have episode 2, Heard Shard, where the plot begins in earnest. Basically, this is the episode that sets up the reoccurring “monster of the week” aspect of Princess Tutu. It’s not as droll as that of course, unlike a lot of magical girl shows like Precure, there is a clear end goal here. Ahiru has something she is working towards, that being gathering the pieces of Mytho’s heart, which are no doubt scattered around the school. What I liked about it though was how Princess Tutu primarily set this up as a character conflict, far before it was ever a physical conflict. While at the same time creating a sort of Cinderella situation where Mytho will no doubt find Ahiru multiple times, never putting together that she and Tutu are the same person. It’s cliche, but Princess Tutu is so steeped in the classics, that it feels right.

Speaking of Ahiru, I want to take a moment to talk about something I think Princess Tutu did really well. That being the transformation skit early on. This scene served so many purposes at once, I was impressed. Not only does it setup the conflict for the episode, with Anteaterina poaching Mytho. Not only does it establish Rue’s character and her relationship with Mytho. But it also manages to show, rather than tell, how Ahiru’s duck transformation works. Having her purposefully transform by quacking, then hopping in the fountain, transforming back to get her clothes, then doing it again. It’s a very natural interaction that fits Ahiru’s character, at least that we have seen so far. And it reinforces the effects by repetition, making it clear this wasn’t just a one-off thing. I thought it was brilliant, to be frank, and a good bit of physical comedy to boot.

Speaking of Anteaterina, lets talk about the animals once more. This is a really weird thing, because in most shows like this, these would rather cutsey characters. We see it with the cat teacher, and how his mannerisms are supposed to be cute or comedic. Yet the tones set by the OP and by the usage of the classical pieces really shifts that into something more dark and sinister. Princess Tutu does that again here with Anteaterina, both by using a much creepier animal than a cat, but also in her possessive mannerisms. Like how she is licking Mytho or invading his space and controlling him. Using him to get back at Rue. It’s the kind of thing that makes this simultaneously a children’s and adults show. As there is subtext there for the adults while still being fun for the kids. Like a dark spot on a bright painting.

This brings me to Drosselmeyer, whom I cannot decide if they are a villain or not. Named after the Uncle and Toymaker from Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker, Princess Tutu sets him up well. He wrote the story of the Prince and the Raven, is arguably still writing it now with Ahiru, and is the one to give her the magical powers. His place in the story is similar to a fairy godmother in a way, as he turns the little duck into a princess. Yet everything about his presentation to the viewer is sinister, making it clear he has his own ends for this. He just wants a good story out of it all. Considering the ballet’s Princess Tutu is seemingly based on, should he prove the be a full fledged villain I expect the story to take a darker turn. Perhaps even ending in tragedy. And I can’t wait.

The only real complaint I have with these two episodes is actually the confrontation with Anteaterina herself. Thematically and all that, with Anteaterina having Mytho’s feelings of disappointment, it all worked. But the presentation was lacking, especially after how Princess Tutu had impressed me up until this point. Everything just sort of lacked the impact, weight and fidelity that we saw earlier in the episode with Rue’s dance with Ahiru. Of course this isn’t a massive thing, Princess Tutu isn’t a battle shounen and I was enjoying it long before we got any real action. If this was what was going to sink the ship for me, I wouldnt have written as much as I have before getting to it. So at best, this is just sort of a nitpick and one I hope we see resolved as we get to more and more important confrontations like it.

With the episodes out of the way, I can finally get to some of my theorycrafting fun. Right off the bat, I want to wager that Fakir is going to wind up being the Raven. From his abusive and controlling relationship to Mytho, the prince, to his color scheme. This doesn’t necessarily mean he will be evil of course. Both the Prince and the Raven are victims of Drosselmeyer’s incomplete story. So it’s entirely possible he becomes an anti-hero in some way. Trapped in this form after the Prince gave up his heart to seal him away. Trying to protect the Prince, Mytho, from Drosselmeyer’s schemes. It’s really too early to tell though. All I can hope is we get a bit more depth to him moving forward. Meanwhile I expect to see the rest of the characters, like Rue, turn into animals like say… a swan, as we go.

Beyond that I can now finally I talk about the production and animation of Princess Tutu. Yes, it has plenty of issues, and we saw some of them in the Anteaterina fight. However far more of the time, Princess Tutu is quirky and appealing. There is very little care put in to actually staying on model. Instead Princess Tutu focuses on conveying the characters emotions. This can primarily be seen in Ahiru’s character animation throughout the two episodes. One of my favorite examples of this so far is when Ahiru meets Mytho in school early in the morning. Her running in place and stressing out was fantastic and expressive. To speak nothing of the sheer variety in her facial expressions, that match perfectly with Nanae Katou’s performance. The only place Princess Tutu really suffers from its age is in some of the ballet sections, but those are often still appealing.

The last thing I want to talk about is Princess Tutu’s use of classical music. Now personally, I am no expert, but I do enjoy going to the Symphony or Ballet from time to time. So recognizing a number of these pieces was a real treat. Of course you have the obvious ones, like “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” and “Swan Lake Waltz“. Two iconic pieces of music. But then you have smaller things like the “Wedding March” from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream or “The Waltz of the Flowers” from The Nutcracker. And what really makes them work is how Princess Tutu’s direction shapes the series like a ballet. As if we are watching this on the stage. Using these pieces of music and all their implications to match up with Princess Tutu’s own story. If it manages to continue this to the end, it will be fantastic.

So all in all, after 2000 words, what did I think of Princess Tutu’s first two episodes? Well minor quibbles about the Anteaterina fight aside, I was astounded. I was expecting some run-of-the-mill magical girl show. Something like the veritable brigade of Precures that we have today. Instead I get something more akin to an actual stage ballet, sinister undertones and all, complete with the orchestra to back it up. To say that my expectations were subverted would be an understatement and I am really looking forward to where Princess Tutu goes from here. With effectively 24 full length episodes to play with, there is a lot of ground to cover here. I only hope that Princess Tutu is able to keep it up for that long.

What about you? Those of you watching it for the first time, or rewatching it here with me. What did you think of Princess Tutu’s opener? Let me know below!