Princess Tutu

In a fairy tale come to life, the clumsy, sweet, and gentle Ahiru seems like an unlikely protagonist. In reality, Ahiru is just as magical as the talking cats and crocodiles that inhabit her town—for Ahiru really is a duck! Transformed by the mysterious Drosselmeyer into a human girl, Ahiru soon learns the reason for her existence. Using her magical egg-shaped pendant, Ahiru can transform into Princess Tutu—a beautiful and talented ballet dancer whose dances relieve people of the turmoil in their hearts. With her newfound ability, Ahiru accepts the challenge of collecting the lost shards of her prince's heart, for long ago he had shattered it in order to seal an evil raven away for all eternity.

Princess Tutu is a tale of heroes and their struggle against fate. Their beliefs, their feelings, and ultimately their actions will determine whether this fairy tale can reach its "happily ever after."

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Arima, Ahiru Main

Katou, Nanae Japanese

Fakir Main

Sakurai, Takahiro Japanese

Kuroha, Rue Main

Mizuki, Nana Japanese

Myuuto Main

Yanagi, Naoki Japanese

Uzura Supporting

Hazuki, Erino Japanese

Drosselmeyer Supporting

Noboru, Mitani Japanese

Neko-sensei Supporting

Matsumoto, Yasunori Japanese

Edel Supporting

Hiramatsu, Akiko Japanese

Femio Supporting

Suzuki, Papaya Japanese

Lilie Supporting

Shiratori, Yuri Japanese

Chung, Jin Ho Producer, ADR Director

Kawasaki, Tomoko Producer

Matsumoto, Makoto Producer

Suidou, Yasuharu Producer

Reviews

Aug 12, 2008

Valle

Recommended

I remember when I first heard the name "Princess Tutu". First impression: Girly. However, I was intrigued by the praise it received so I looked for a description. Second impression: Cheesy. Still, I was curious about how the show took advantage of ballet suites, so I watched the opening. Third impression: Too pink.

There were few reasons for me to watch Princess Tutu, but I still had a strange feeling about it. Today I regret not having watched it sooner for what I saw was one of the most engaging, clever and downright beautiful shows I had ever seen, overflowing with soul and passion.

... Story: A unique fairytale which goes far beyond it's limitations. Masterfully written, the story is a perfect blend of powerful moments, unexpected twists, comedy and romance. The fairytale structure takes the best out of classic ballets and weaves a story that is both coherent and diverse. The endings to both seasons are particularly outstanding.

Art: The series has a stylized and clean art style combined with great animation. Although I felt it fit the series very well, not everyone feels that way. Some believe the art style is a bit too girly or misleading, but it actually fits the fairytale theme very well. The backgrounds are great and the ballet scenes are beautifully animated (although some use too many stills which, even though beautiful, aren't as good as the animated moments).

Sound: The "coup-de-grace" of the show, the soundtrack doesn't simply support the show: it is part of the story itself. Each episode is accompanied by a certain ballet suite and takes the most advantage of it. The suites were carefully chosen and superbly performed by a bulgarian orchestra. I had heard many of them before and I was amazed by the quality of the performance. Every single note fits perfectly and sounds delightful, even the songs that were composed for the show. Truly mindblowing, the music adds a whole new layer of depth to it. The voices and dialog are also very good and fitting.

Characters: With such a great story and soundtrack, some would think that the development team wouldn't be focused on character development. Wrong. All characters are believable, feel real and evolve throughout the story. Even secondary characters show a glowing spirit that many main characters wish they had. If you allow yourself to, you will be able to feel a strong bond and sympathy for those characters, even those you didn't expect. The multi-layered Ahiru is an amazing and strong main character, and the others will surprise you as well. Not only do characters evolve but they also take advantage of a distinct way to show their "persona": dance.

Enjoyment: A show that you won't be able to put down until you finish it. The episodes are so engaging and fantastic it's easy to get sucked in. A surprisingly rich experience you won't find anywhere else. Surprisingly, I found myself rewatching several scenes shortly after finishing the show. I recommend you to use headphones so that you don't miss a single note of this visual and musical wonder.

Overall, Princess Tutu is a living, breathing anime that, unlike most magical-shoujo shows, truly feels magical. Yes, I may sound cheesy, lame and corny, but don't miss out on this unique gem. A true masterpiece.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Valle (1)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Jun 16, 2010

LavenderKiwi

Mixed Feelings

~Story~
The story line was unique but if your looking for somthing thats amazing your not ganna find it within this anime. I liked the anime's story line but it got boring half way through the first five episodes and because of this i can not honestly say that this is an amazing story.
The story went like this. A Duck is turned into a human girl by a man. Her job is to collect pieces of The princes heart that he lost long ago. She encounters many people who hold pieces of his heart and so she helps them to release the heart ... back to the prince.
~Characters~
Honestly speaking the characters were dull. Thats why i found the anime abit boring because even though the prince is supposed to be pupet like and really dull and boring in personality it just gets plain annoying and after all the work hes made the main girl do to get his heart back he pretty much ditches her to go off with the enemy! How stupid right? well other than the dull prince that ruined the story the rest of the characters are just ok. Duck has a personality that changes through the entire anime one minute shes silly and abit lack of brained and the next shes got the hero attitude that makes her abit more cool. Fakir is my favorite character only because hes the only character that learns from his mistakes and becomes who he really is inside.
~Overall~
Though the story line was unique and intresting the main four characters ruined the anime for me because of their lack of attitude and smarts plus lack of personalities. The two bestfriends of duck were more entertaining that the acual main characters and thats not good when you supporting characters are far more intresting than your main ones. Personally i found the anime not the worst or best ive ever seen it would not make it into my top 15 anime's.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by LavenderKiwi (41)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

May 31, 2013

straggy

Not Recommended

Preliminary (9/38 eps)

Oh God, this anime. As you can see, I didn't finish this. I simply couldn't bring myself to. I dropped this so hard and dashed as far away from it as I could and I'm still surprised that people call it a "masterpiece" left, right and centre.

I'd like to start by stressing that I'm really not a fan of magical girl animes. I've seen a few before but Madoka Magica was really the only one I'd say I definitely enjoyed. The only other one I rate highly is Sailor Moon for purely nostalgic reasons.
So your first question is probably why I chose to watch this ... at all - I sort of didn't. A friend streamed her DVDs of it and I ended up watching the first 9 episodes as a result. She'd streamed Utena for me too, which I also don't really get the "masterpiece" praising for. This review isn't about Utena though, so after that short background we get onto the portion of this anime that I managed to sit through without killing myself.

Story - 4
The basic premise of this anime is that a duck turns into a ballerina magical girl with weirdass two tone hair and reclaims the pieces of a boy's heart that he no longer has - making him little more than monotone and dull to behold. It's not that interesting sounding a plot and it wasn't really interesting to watch either. What I saw of it was rather predictable and not that gripping. Some of the comedy was ok but a lot of it was rather cliché magical girl stuff - which is fine if you're into that sort of thing, which I've already explained that I'm not.

Art - 3
Whilst I appreciate this anime's pretty old now, I just wasn't a fan of the art style at all. The flicky weird hairstyles were offputtingly grotesque in particular and whilst it matched the odd childish vibe the entire anime gave off, I just didn't find it visually appealing at all. The characters themselves had rather cliché character designs too, with everyone perceived good wearing white and the opposite wearing black. Whilst this made it easy to tell who was on what side (or perhaps moreso how we were intended to feel about them), it didn't feel very creative at all.

Sound - 6
The music in this anime was rather nice, since it was all ballet music to keep to the theme. The fact that it wasn't really an original score and was just classical music is what kept me from rating it higher. It was music most of us have heard before and there wasn't really anything new or breathtaking about it in that regard.
I also watched this anime's English dub, which was... awful, to be frank. At least Chris Patton was in it, which is always a relief to hear.

Character - 2
Oh God, these characters. Duck in particular is horrifically infuriating, as well as her monotone dull love interest. I don't even remember his name, he bored me so much. The only character I really liked at all was Fakir because he made me laugh and it was only really during his conversations with monotone love interest that I was really truly engaged in this anime at all. The only other character worth mentioning in a positive light is the ballet teacher - who's an anthro cat in a green shirt, no less. His over the top comic relief was pretty entertaining, in a "were they high when they thought of this" sort of way, but he wasn't in it nearly enough to distract from Duck and her squeaky voice.

Enjoyment/Overall - 3
I did not enjoy this anime. That's rather an understatement. I mostly couldn't wait for the stream to end and only stayed there to talk with my friends. It got to the point that I was only staying for the outtakes I was promised at the end of the DVDs, and I eventually talked my friend into not showing anymore when I was told there were only two sets of outtakes to watch.

Actually, the outtakes would've made a better anime.
Do yourself a favour and give this one a miss.
Watch the outtakes instead.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by straggy (9)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

2002 watch party

by Liza0920

50 Entries · 1 Restacks

Noteable Art Styles/ Art Direction

by Mediocre_Artist

50 Entries · 257 Restacks

Immediate PTW

by Jebmond

48 Entries · 56 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases For February

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for February. Week 1: February 1 - 7 Anime Releases Adachi to Shimamura (incl. Mini Anime) (Adachi...read more

Feb 4, 2022 9:30 AM by Aiimee | Discuss (4 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for December

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for December. Week 1: December 7 - 13 Anime Releases Aku no Hana (Flowers of Evil) Complete Collec...read more

Dec 11, 2021 1:22 PM by Aiimee | Discuss (5 comments)

	Correct way to watch/track this show? Freylizabeth - Nov 12	3 replies	by RiflingRaccoon »» Yesterday, 9:48 PM
	Poll: Princess Tutu Episode 8 Discussion tainteddonut - Apr 7, 2008	22 replies	by Shocked »» Oct 4, 2:36 PM
	Poll: Princess Tutu Episode 7 Discussion tainteddonut - Apr 7, 2008	31 replies	by Shocked »» Oct 4, 1:58 PM
	Poll: Princess Tutu Episode 6 Discussion tainteddonut - Apr 6, 2008	22 replies	by Shocked »» Oct 4, 1:22 PM
	Poll: Princess Tutu Episode 5 Discussion tainteddonut - Apr 5, 2008	26 replies	by Shocked »» Oct 4, 10:33 AM

10 Anime Series To Watch With Your Parents

Contrary to popular belief, not all anime need to be shut off the moment your mom enters the room!

by MAL_Articles

250,873 views

Top 20 Most Epic Anime Fight/Battle Scenes

Fighting is bad... but sometimes it can be so bad that it's good, right? Prepare yourself for some serious ass-kicking. We're counting down 20 of the greatest, coolest, and most epic anime fight scenes in anime history.

by removed_user

664,483 views

Spoiler

RecommendationCollectionActionSupernaturalSuperhumanSci-fiVideo