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.