Princess Tutu
By Ikuko Itoh
Rating: Meh
Read: March/April 2006
Maybe it’s just meant for younger kids, but I found it boring and predictable. I guess most shoujo romance/magical whatnot is predictable, but this was lamentably so.
Ahiru (whose names means duck) goes to an arts high school where the focus is ballet. She loves it but is clumsy, and is certain she’ll never get the school’s most graceful boy, Mytho, to pay attention to her or dance with her. One day she goes into a shop where the storekeeper gives her a magic pendant; when invoked, it turns her into Princess Tutu, a gorgeous Swan Lake-esque prime ballerina who has the power to save the day. As Princess Tutu she returns the pieces of Mytho’s missing heart to him, each piece containing an emotion he has long been missing.
Lots of mysteries are presented in this first book, like the nature of the shop keeper & the pendant, how Mytho lost his heart, Mytho’s protective classmate, and… the catman who teaches their classes. The hell?
It’s a strange mix of fairy tale with modern sensibilities. I can see Puss in Boots, Swan Lake, and the Ugly Duckling all very clearly, and lots of other stories making up the sidelines. It also seemed like it was drawing heavily on Japan’s classic Heroine Manga: Klutzy, hungry schoolgirl is given magical powers… gosh, that doesn’t sound at all familiar…
The anime has good reviews for its music and beautiful movements, but the manga just did not do it for me. Definitely for a younger audience. Even the ‘romance’ is distinctly juvenile. XP
Ugh. That thing…
Anime is unique, I would recommend you to watch it (yes, Anime starts ‘cliché’ too but the surprise is that, as the story progresses, the characters *fight/defy* their roles. Plus Ahiru is less typical heroine, she’s actually a *duck* turned into a girl. She’s so fantastic, anime wise). I heard the Manga ignored the “trapped in a fairytale” arc (Anime is Matrix+Swan Lake+Grimm Brother’s tales mix) and many stuff. Pity.