Anime Review: 'Princess Tutu'

One of the best anime series I've ever seen! Source

I recently finished the 2002 anime series Princess Tutu. After getting the complete series on Blu-ray for Christmas, I began watching in earnest. I knew this was a good show by reputation beforehand, but man, I had no idea how good it was!

The premise is as follows: a yellow duck named, well, Duck, sits in a lake all by herself. Then she sees a boy dancing nearby. She wishes she could dance with him, and a mysterious old man appears granting her a red pendant. When Duck puts on the pendant, she becomes a human girl. Afterward, she enrolls in an arts academy in a walled town and enters the ballet division. It is there that she meets her two friends, Pike (pronounced "PEE-kay") and Lillie ("LIH-lee-ay") who are also ballet students. Other characters soon appear: Mytho ("MEW-toh" for some reason), Rue, and Fakir. Duck soon finds out that Mytho is a prince from a story called "The Prince and the Raven" who shattered his own heart so that the raven could be sealed away. Because of this, he has no emotions. When Mytho falls from a building trying to protect a bird's nest, Duck rushes in to save him, and her pendant transforms her into Princess Tutu, another character from the aforementioned story. Rue and Fakir are also important, but I don't want to give away too much, so I'll just leave it at that.

Many people view this anime as the spiritual successor to Revolutionary Girl Utena, another magical girl anime that utilizes fairytale aesthetics, surreal visuals, menacing men that seem to control things in the background, and a mysterious plot that is fully revealed at the end. After seeing this, I can definitely see why viewers would draw that conclusion. Now that I think of it, there is another similarity: both protagonists have pink hair.

The series takes obvious inspiration from fairytales and ballets such as Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, even going so far as using music and naming episodes on those plays. Heck, the main villain's name is Drosselmeyer! Apparently a real ballet studio assisted in production, so the dancing you see is the real thing. The town seems to be based on Germany, with signs being in German. Not surprising since many fairytale stories we know and love come from Germany. The citizens of said town are a mix of humans and animals; one such anthro animal is Mr. Cat, the ballet teacher.

The characters are endearing, especially Duck, and the story will suck you in in no time. As the plot progresses, you will find out more about the characters, their motivations, and what exactly is going on. This is something you won't forget long after you've finished it. Do I recommend this anime? Absolutely with a capital A!

Quality Rating: 10/10
Content Rating: 13+