May 14, 2008
May 18, 2008
May 19, 2008

May 14, 2008

I have started watching Princess Tutu recently, and I have a variety of quick thoughts to discuss. Might as well write it out as a list.

-I like Edel, but she’s totally bullshitting her advice. She just spouts fortune cookie randomness and Ahiru interprets it to fit the situation. I’m not buying the whole “prophet” gag.
-Episode 7 clearly shows that Drosselmeyer has absolutely no idea where the story’s going. He’s using the same approach that I’m told Neil Gaiman and Ursula K. Le Guin use when writing (and which I use as well, most of the time), which is to just slap something down and see where the story goes.
-I love that Princess Tutu stays in a ballet step even when she’s walking casually.
-The cat teacher is bizarre enough without having him be a pedo cat teacher. That was rather unnecessary.
-Princess Kraehe’s appearance was epic; I love evil chicks. But I’d like to point out that Kraehe is German for crow, not raven. Also, they’re still pronouncing it like it should be “Claire,” at least in the Japanese version. I don’t know about the dub.

Speaking of pronunciation, I love that they pronounce “tutu” as “choo choo.” It makes me laugh every time. (Chugga chugga chugga chugga TUTU.)

May 18, 2008
Just reached the part in which Fakir is learning to use his super special abilities, and generic black-hooded villains are planning his demise, or something similar. They’re sure packing in a hell of a lot of plot for this show. Most shoujo series tend to go “fillerfillerfillerfiller OH NO! We’re almost at the end and we need a climax!” but Princess Tutu’s really got it goin’ on, story-wise.

Also, I must say that I’m glad that Fakir’s coming out of his I’m-useless-boo-hoo phase, but I’m starting to worry that Ahiru’s about to head down the slippery slope of perceived uselessness. YOU’RE THE MAGICAL GIRL IN THE SERIES, AHIRU. IT IS PHYSICALLY IMPOSSIBLE FOR YOU TO BE WORTHLESS.

The Fakir-turning-into-a-tree bit was very well-done, I thought, although I was (rather inappropriately) amused at Aotoa being electrocuted and tossed a couple yards away, and nobody cared. Ahiru, who has shown compassion for almost every other character to step on screen, failed to give a rat’s ass for stuck-up asshole Aotoa.

That said, I will be very happy indeed if palindrome boy* and Rue fall in lurrrve. I’m hoping that Rue will someday stop chasing after boys that don’t and won’t love her and settle down with the guy who announces his love for her within an hour of meeting her. And I don’t mean that crazy Tamaki-esque guy who showed up in one episode, because he does that with everyone. Aotoa, on the other hand, seems to hate everyone except Rue (even though she was kissing ass to get him to follow her, admittedly).

As a final note, I have one question. Why the fuck won’t Fakir buy a new shirt? He’s been wearing that blue one that’s ripped to hell for way too damn long. He must have other clothes besides what he’s been wearing, so why is he stuck with that one? Is Charon too cheap to buy him a new one, or what?

Anyway, I am in a conundrum, because I want to keep watching Princess Tutu, but I also don’t want to finish it yet. This is a serious problem that needs further consideration.

* I can’t stop thinking what a contrived palindrome “Aotoa” is. Is that actually a Japanese name? I have no idea, but if anyone actually has that name, you have my eternal sympathy.

May 19, 2008

I may die. I have never known an anime to make me so happy and so miserable at once. Ahiru’s a duck forever and ever and sad but Fakir still loves her anyway and Fakir makes the end of the story good and not fucking depressing like Drosselmeyer would’ve had it. And Mytho loves Rue and Rue loves Mytho and they’re going to be happy together, which means I was wrong about the whole Mytho-never-loving-Rue thing but I don’t care. Palindrome boy can just fuck off. He’s always got the library, where I’m sure he’ll continue to yell at loud people.

And cat teacher finally got a girlfriend! And babies. So that’s good, I suppose. He won’t be dispensing wisdom to his students anymore, but then he also won’t be making pedophilic proposals either, so that evens out. Pique and Lilie have lost their little torture toy Ahiru, but they’ve got each other to make miserable, so they’ll be fine.

It’s kind of weird, though, to see a shoujo series where the main character arguably has the least happy ending. Mytho and Rue flew off to be happy together. Fakir has his stories to write. Cat teacher got his girlfriend. Generic best friends got...toe shoes? I guess they’re mostly in the same place they were before. But Ahiru, the main character who did most of the work throughout the show, has to make herself happy with a small portion of the tragedy she was promised at the beginning. She was turned back into a duck, and the guy she was in love with for the majority of the series loves somebody else. Granted, she still has Fakir, and that’s the pairing I was rooting for anyway, but the fact remains that she’s a duck. It’s not like they’ll grow up and get married someday, because she’s still a duck.

Also, although I find Drosselmeyer a bit irritating, I loved his “Could I be in someone else’s story as well?” epiphany at the end. Yes, you are! Congratulations! Your prize is...a walk into an undefined background with a cute little puppet. How about that.