Princess Tutu is a 26-episode
Japanese television show which aired on
Kids Station from August 2002 to May
2003. The first
thirteen episodes composed the
"
Chapter of
Egg," and ran approximately 30 minutes apiece. The second half of the series, episodes 14-26, composed the "Chapter of
Chick," with episodes 14-25 split into two fifteen-minute segments apiece. There were also three specials: a pre-new-year's special with notes on ballet, a post-new-year's special recapping the Chapter of Egg, and a third special inserted between episodes 25 and 26 to
recap the Chapter of Chick.
Plot:
Ahiru is a clumsy young girl enrolled in Kinkan Ballet Academy, where she spends most of her time not practicing
ballet, but mooning over Mytho, the academy's flat affect star pupil. But all is not as it seems: Mytho is actually the Prince, the hero of a story by a man named
Drosselmeyer. When Drosselmeyer died, the Prince and his mortal enemy, the Raven, escaped from the
story into the real world, where the prince sealed away the monster raven by shattering his own heart. And Ahiru is not actually a girl at all: she's a duck, transformed into a girl by Drosselmeyer's ghost, and charged with returning Mytho's heart to him as the beautiful Princess Tutu. Standing in her way is Mytho's domineering roommate Fakir, as well as his icy girlfriend Rue, both of whom know maybe a little more than we do...
Review:
I never expected an anime series about ballet to be so intellectually challenging. Princess Tutu is
Revolutionary Girl Utena meets Swan Lake, written by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and adapted for the screen by
Charlie Kaufman. It overflows with alternate worlds, triple identities, and secret histories. People are
transformed into animals; stories bleed into reality; the dead walk and the living dream mysterious dreams. Writer
and designer Ikuko Ito spent over a decade researching and planning Princess Tutu, and it shows. See this
series.
Credits:
Staff
Writer: Ikuko Ito
Director: Shogo Kawamoto
Chief Director: Junichi Sato
Character Design: Ikuko Ito
Series Editor: Michiko Yokote
Planning: Ganges
Producer: Toshimichi Otsuki
Production Studio: HAL FILM MAKER
Cast
Ahiru / Princess Tutu: Nanae Kato
Mute / Mytho: Naoki Yanagi
Fakia / Fakir: Takahiro Sakurai
Ruu / Rue: Nana Mizuki
Pike / Pique: Sachi Matsumoto
Ririe / Lillie: Yuri Shiratori
Neko-Sensei: Yasunnori Matsumoto
Drosselmeyer: Noboru Mitani
Narrator: Kyoko Kishida