Princess Tutu-
So this is an anime about a duck who transforms into a ballerina who then fights a crow via the power of dancing. Wait what? This turned out to be a fantastic anime that focused not only on larger themes such as the role of the author in the creation of a story but things such as being yourself even when ugly and powerless (although duck Ahiru is cute as hell). I didn't find much of the episodic content to be worthwhile but the main story more than makes up for it with its twists and thematic messages. I was also impressed that the writer and director didn't wimp out on the ending and instead delivered a really emotional finale.
The narrative theme I liked the most was about the role and responsibility of the author in writing a story. Do they have free will in the telling of a story and do they have a responsibility to their creations? It's something not often argued in either fiction or real life. In reading interviews with authors, some mention how a story was heading a certain way and they were somewhat powerless to change it while others would say after reflecting on the struggles a character had, they decided to change an event at the last minute. I find this to be an interesting discussion because there isn't any right answer as it's purely up to the individual author's personality and writing style. Another theme about moving forward, even when helpless, resonated with me. Ahiru repeatedly got stuck and even knowing she was facing a dead end, pushed through not only for others but herself and wanting to be proud of who she really is.
It's rare to see a fairy tale framing like this in any medium but the fantastic short openings help sell it. This narrative frame device along with the ballerina dancing replicates the feeling of the opera. You can tell that was a focus of the director with how much classical music was used such as the
Swan theme from Swan Lake. It's not just the narrative though but the characters that make up this story become ever more engrossing as the plot goes on, expanding from shallow shells of themselves to complex characters being torn apart at the whims of the author.
Visually this was something special even if there weren't any major sakuga cuts. Yet somehow I didn't feel shortchanged in any part unlike
Welcome to the Ballroom and that's because of the strength of the storyboarding and direction. You can tell the animation staff used tons of real life performances as references and they do enough in a scene to display those performances. The show is also
filled to the brim with reaction faces,
which really helps the comedic moments. I imagine it was a holdover from Sato Jun's work on
Ojamajo Doremi.
Overall this was a great anime and makes me wish we got more anime like this that experimented with completely different formats. Before watching this I had a fairly minimal interest in opera but I think I'll try to catch a performance of Swan Lake at some point.
Ahiru is a good duck.
