Princess Tutu is a true masterpiece of the bland literature. This may sound like a derogatory statement, but it’s actually impressive that a show with a tremendous potential, is lacking of true definition.
First, I have to say still would recommend it, especially if you like fantasy stories with classical music and literature, but it doesn’t achieve something of great significance: somehow it was a wasted 'hope'.
'Princess Tutu' is a fairy tale story with fantasy elements, where the worldbuilding and characters are presented in a ´metanarrative´ way. The metanarrative on fiction is used with the purpose to expose, reveal, explore or defy a reality of the
...
work. Depending of the author, it can alter the objective of the work. I will talk more about the metanarrative of Tutu later, but first…
Story – 7/10: The story of Tutu looks simple and standard in facade, the difference lies on how is addressed. The storytelling in the beginning of every chapter, shares a context of the events to get an idea of the situations there, linked to a metanarrative nature. It brings a background to characters and world, and in general, the show is understandable and can accomplish a goal. The premise idea is brilliant, because there is one character with an interesting background… that character is the cause of everything.
Animation – 6/10: The animation isn´t really brilliant and is limited, but it works. It looks better when the characters are dancing because they have a fluidity with extra frames. In some instances, remains flat to evade the hassle of animating those scenes. I liked to see each time when they put special effort in Ahiru’s expressions (if I do a healthy comparison, she remembers me to Doremi). The music is ok, the classical music and inspirational compositions are nice to hear, and that’s it... and i liked the designs of Kraehe and Tutu, they are just simply beautiful/precious.
Plot – 5/10: The anime decides to go with an episodic formula. The main protagonist needs to accomplish certain requirements to achieve a task. This task affect to someone in order to change the story. The protagonist intervenes in all episodes helping characters that are mainly irrelevant. The formula becomes monotone by the repetitive actions of the protagonist in each episode.
Characters – 6/10: If the show didn´t have Ahiru as a character, my perception of the anime would be different... Ahiru is the pillar and the most important character. Her personality is easily the best of the show: she is cheerful, cute, kind, lively, charismatic, full of live and have a willing-soul. Thanks to her, we have another good character, Fakir. Ahiru and Fakir are the best characters. The relation between them is organic and the interactions feels real. They aren´t just a subproduct interaction for a default story like Mythos and Rue. Ahiru and Fakir have some really good scenes in the entire anime: the scenes/interactions of chapters 12, 25 and 26 are my favorites. The final episode feels great, full of meaning and very touching, thanks to Ahiru and Fakir. It condenses how good their bond is, working together as one for everyone.
The problem is the rest of the cast: Going back to Mythos and Rue… when i mean of they as a subproduct of the story, it’s because they don´t show a real change. Rue is presented like the perfect girl that is suffering, but everyone has their own suffering, and she doesn´t show a 'will' to change her destiny. I never felt any sympathy for her. Mythos is supposed to show more emotions with the time, but his personality is so basic that doesn´t have a noticeable change. The actions he does are also determined by his destiny. More characters fulfills a default function on the story. The comedy is relative, but the characterization makes it humorous because Ahiru is so funny. Neko-sensei is a concurrent character with a silly marriage-joke, but even being repetitive, is fun sometimes. Ahiru has two “friends”, but they only exist to be the goofy girls in the series and are one-dimensional. Those girls aren´t funny at all, they put Ahiru in hard situations and makes fun of her. I can´t call these girls her true friends, because they lack of the charisma that Ahiru has, and are hypocrites. One of them betrays Ahiru with the prince, even knowing that Ahiru likes the prince... what a bitch.
In the next lines, i will talk about the metanarrative of the series with spoilers.
---THIS IS SPOILER (BE AWARE)---
Metanarrative (Drosselmeyer) – 4/10: The special element of the anime. It’s the core of everything and affects all: story, plot, characters, background... Princess Tutu attempts to present a set of questionable situations related to the destiny of the characters, or how much the author can manipulate them, with the objective of bringing a good story. Drosselmeyer is the entity that controls everything there, but he doesn´t have absolute power. The characters can manifest a 'free will' to change the story.
The line between if it’s correct or moral that the characters are being controlled by the author, can be determined by the viewer… but what type of viewer? Here is the problem with Drosselmeyer as a character…
1. Drosselmeyer is not a good representation of the viewer: He can be portrayed like a vision of the spectator who enjoys melodramatic stories. It’s true that everyone likes stories with a strong drama, but you could enjoy 'Princess Tutu ' in all his extension like Drosselmeyer only if you have a sociopathic mind. A viewer mentally healthy, likes stories not only for the drama or characters suffering, but for the message of the plot and the development of the characters through that drama. The characters manifest a free will to fight against the destiny imposed. This simple action is that one (as viewer) can admire the most: the 'willpower'. It brings the 'hope' of the path that the characters wants and are capable to choose among everything. Drosselmeyer only wants to make characters with tragic background for his own enjoyment… and that’s all. You enjoyed the story like Drosselmeyer? Good for you. You didn’t it? Then fuck yourself. Drosselmeyer never have a development in his vision. He thinks is always right and everything should follow his own will, even if he doesn´t know how to do it… therefore, his characterization should be evaluated like the author/writer… right?
2. Drosselmeyer is not a good author/writer: He doesn´t know how to finish his stories, caused by lacking of writing skills. He decides to do a “random” duck the main character, pushing the duck forward in order to do the story engaging. When the duck reveals his true nature against Dosselmeyer, he still remains manipulating the story for his own enyojement… again. He thinks the tragic drama is still better than a happy or idealized story, so this can justify his actions... but he never cares about her own characters when they demonstrate being alive. An author/writer never acts like this person… a true author/writer actually cares about his own characters. Drosselmeyer has the attitude of an “edgelord”, teasing their characters each time he can and making fun of the suffering of them. Then... that means that Drosselmeyer will be categorized as a villain, but…
3. Drosselmeyer is not a good villain: If he is ranked as villain… then he was pathetic. Drosselmeyer is almost an omniscient/omnipotent being, but he prefers to leave the plot to the characters, in order to reach the goal aligned to his taste. He intervenes sometimes without doing a big thing, except in the final chapters… and when the characters changed their destiny, Drosselmeyer just accepts the reality, leaving aside the world and going to another story he can manipulate… and treated the story like it was nothing in the end. Then, he can’t be classified as a villain… still, he perform several villain actions making this point contradictory, even making a mockery provocation in correlation about being himself a character of some story, and he doesn´t care about his own person… what could happen if he is treated like a trash by some malicious author? So, he is in fact a sociopath edgelord or he is stupid.
The existence of Drosselmeyer is enough to open a window of existentialism questions in everyone, but nobody show a real interest in doing these questions to explore the metanarrative: “Why we are part of a story? What does that mean? This world is real? What is the reality and what is the fiction? What does mean to be part of a story? What is god? Why that crazy man is our creator? Why he controls every aspect of our destiny? What is the purpose of everything?”
---END OF THE SPOILER---
Conclusion: Princess Tutu has an interesting premise but a deficient metanarrative, a redundant plot formula but some remarkable characters. It could be better if it has a well execution and planning. The anime has good ideas that didn´t shine at all, but isn´t a bad anime either… and Ahiru is so good that she literally saves the whole show.
Feb 12, 2025
Princess Tutu
(Anime)
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Princess Tutu is a true masterpiece of the bland literature. This may sound like a derogatory statement, but it’s actually impressive that a show with a tremendous potential, is lacking of true definition.
First, I have to say still would recommend it, especially if you like fantasy stories with classical music and literature, but it doesn’t achieve something of great significance: somehow it was a wasted 'hope'. 'Princess Tutu' is a fairy tale story with fantasy elements, where the worldbuilding and characters are presented in a ´metanarrative´ way. The metanarrative on fiction is used with the purpose to expose, reveal, explore or defy a reality of the ... 
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