Princess Tutu: Complete Collection
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Movie Reviews of Princess Tutu: Complete Collection
Movie Review: Can't recommend it enough, even though the box art is blasphemous...
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to disagree with the Amazon.com reviewer, Charles Solomon, that adolescent girls are the only audience for this show.
I research my anime carefully before watching, and the endlessly positive reviews by adults on this and other sites convinced me that this was worth a try. I'm so glad I did. It's rare to come across a piece of artwork that so elegantly combines classical music, dance and literature with modern art and entertainment styles. Princess Tutu does this without "dumbing down" the classical elements for our modern, uncultured generation. In fact, it's the integrity and fullness of the classical works used in this show that make Princess Tutu so moving. As I watched, I found myself not only engrossed in the well-developed story and characters, but being washed away by the resonant, beautiful music and graceful choreography. The romantic-era music used in this show is highly emotive already, and the creators build on that to add a depth of emotion that couldn't have been achieved otherwise. I'll never be able to listen Tchaikovsky's "Waltz of the Flowers" without thinking of Princess Tutu.
There are definitely some aspects of Tutu that fall into anime stereotypes. A lot of people call this a majou shoujo (magical girl) show. I'm not big into the magical girl thing, and while the whole idea of duck transforming into Princess Tutu fits into that general mold, it didn't really feel like a magical girl anime to me. It felt more like a germanic fairy tale infused with the beauty of ballet and the storytelling inventiveness and artistic styling of anime. Any "weirdness" of the show makes sense when viewed in context of either ballet or the nature of the true plot that is driving this story...
Don't be deceived into thinking you'll be watching a show about a ballerina collecting pieces of heart. That's only one aspect of this multi-faceted tale. And the ending, while so bittersweet it makes you want to hit your head on a brick wall, makes complete sense to me. It couldn't have been any other way.
I've seen a lot of praise for the English dub. It's not bad, but several of the characters are so well voiced in Japanese that watching it in English just made it seem cheesy. My advice is that you watch this one subbed.
On an ending note...
I'm not sure who the graphic artist was for this box set, but numbskulls behind this design should be given 50 lashes and then dipped in boiling Tabasco sauce. And then fired. Forever. The first thing my wife said when we saw the cover was, "It looks like a hooker in a cage." It about ruined it for us. Besides just being plain ugly, it's poorly composed. This box set deserved a lot more. The excellent menus and special features almost make up for it, but not quite. I'm in the process of designing a different cover for my copy. Yes, it bothers me that much.
Glad I got that off my chest.
Movie Review: Not your typical Magical Girl anime!
Summary: 5 Stars
I watched this after seeing a few clips that seemed interesting, and although I'm not a fan of "Magical Girl" shows, this is incredible. It has an excellent score (featuring Tchaikovsky, Mussorgsky, Wagner, Beethoven, Dvorak, Saint-Seans, Rimsky-Korsakov, Borodin...), twines together lots of old fairy tales and legends, and the art (especially the ballet animation) is wonderful. Alternatively off the wall and very serious (none of the 2-cent lessons that you get in other magical girl anime), with dynamic characters who evolve with the story... it's just a shame so many will overlook this because of its genre and title!
Some of the usual magical trappings are there -- a transformation sequence for example, which usually comes towards the end of an episode -- but it's not 24 versions of the same episode plus a conclusion. Sometimes three episodes might share the same formula, but never more than that, and even then the story moves in each episode. How many anime can you say that for, in any genre?
If you love fairy tales, or classical music, or ballet, you owe it to yourself to watch this.
Movie Review: Princess Tutu Rocks
Summary: 5 Stars
Absolutely awesome. It's ballet on drugs. Cute and hilarious with the melodramatic air of ballet and the twisted plot of an anime show.Movie Review: Don't let the name deceive you!
Summary: 5 Stars
This is one of the few animes that I've seen that I have really loved, although I remember my skepticism when I first heard of it. What's with the dancing? And the lame name? And the weird costumes? And to be honest, I thought the first few episodes were exceedingly corny and not all that different from every other "magical girl" anime ever created.
But, the strange thing is, as I kept watching it, I found that it is very different. For starters, most animes fall into a pattern of bad thing happens, heroine pops up to solve bad thing, yay happy ending until the next episode. Princess Tutu starts this way--but then it breaks the pattern, and the audience begins to realize, just as the heroine does, that perhaps not all is as it seems.
Here's the basic story: a man named Drosselmeyer began writing a story about a Prince and a Raven, but before he could finish the story, he died--but the characters in the story became sick of not having an ending, so they leapt out of the story and into the town of Goldcrown. When this happens, Drosselmeyer's spirit awakes, and he realizes that, through the people of this town, he can continue his story. There is only one problem: he needs someone to play the role of Princess Tutu, the heroine who saves the Prince. He finds a duck, and he gives her a necklace to turn her into a girl and into Princess Tutu, the ballerina whose destiny it is to love the Prince but never confess that love, lest she turn into a speck of light and disappear.
It may sound strange, but it is a wonderful, deep story, going beyond just the surface of sadness, but into the darker realms of tragedy and despair--and then, in the end, emerging from both. It is a story of fairy tales, of loneliness and tragedy, of destiny and free will, of misconceptions, of doing what you believe is right, of learning you may be wrong, and above all, it is a story of hope.
Movie Review: Oh, if only the ending . . .
Summary: 4 Stars
Hadn't ripped my guts apart. Without major spoilers, I can only try to warn you - it's a sad ending.
The anime as a whole is fantastic, which is why I give it 4 stars. It would have been 5 except for the ending. It's certainly worth owning, but you should be warned that the ending might leave you feeling ripped off.
Imagine if Cruella Deville had gotten her coat of 101 Dalmatians after all . . . or if Darth Vader had come back as a robot and killed Leia and gone on to be buddies with Luke.
Insane right?
After all the build up and hints of great things in store for 'Duck' she gets a rotten outcome. I honestly don't know if I can watch the story again, it certainly won't be for the kinky Drosselmeier character.
You may see that I have reviewed this series elsewhere. For the money, it's a great deal, but don't be blindsided like I was. You will care at the end what happens to the main characters, and what happens at the end just seems purposely cruel. Be warned.