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Aura's Notes on Princess Tutu: Oak Trees

This is my sister’s fault.

She hasn’t seen all of Princess Tutu yet, but I ran my story for the prompt Dreams by her anyway. She latched onto the part at the end with the Oak Tree and keeps making jokes. But then, if she had seen the episode in question, she’d probably make more jokes. (My favorite is, “There was this one time I had to hug a tree.”)

But there actually is something to be said about oak trees, which I guess makes this the out of season Arbor Day special or something?

Keep reading

nyx-psycho

The dancer of the black swan does 32 fouetté turns in Swan Lake.

Anteaterina was the only ballerina doing more than 32 fouetté turns. Neither Princess Kraehe nor Princess Tutu did it in the anime.

The original model of Drosselmeyer’s grave is Hans Christian Andersen’s grave (note). If, Andersen were the model of Drosselmeyer, I guess that might be one of the reasons why Anteaterina couldn’t stop doing fouetté turns until Tutu danced with her.

In the Red Shoes, the girl’s legs were cut off and finally forgiven by an angel.

I believe most people agree that Princess Tutu symbolizes pureness and nobility. Her dancing saved Anteaterina from frustration and hatred.

So… Swan Lake + The Red Shoes?

If so, Anteaterina’s role in the anime might indirectly imply Rue’s tragedy. Anteaterina brought Rue’s prince away in episode 2. And Rue who wore the Raven Shoes in episode 9 and kidnapped the Prince in the end of episode 11. It seemed that Rue was the black swan “in the red shoes.”

Anyway, so glad to find out who did more than 32 fouetté turns in the anime and to count the turns XD

yurious-george

(I don’t have a better picture of the clock in The Nutcracker, sorry) See the clock in the background of the 2nd pic? Okay, good.

When Clara (the girl holding the nutcracker) shrinks, Drosselmeyer is perched atop the clock, casting frightening shadows. Drosselmeyer is a creepy character too, and the whole ‘shadows’ thing explains the ‘stalking in shadows’ thing the Princess Tutu Drosselmeyer does. The ballet Drosselmeyer is often outfitted with an eye patch and dramatic cape, which is most likely the reason PT Dross has crazy eyes and cape swoosh in the opening.

On an different note, there seems to be a lot of owl hate in ballet. Rothbart? Owl-inspired design. Drosselmyer? Owl clock. Stop the owl hate, Tchaikovsky. Seriously.

yurious-george

In which I meant to art, but got distracted by Princess Tutu. Ah well.

Anyway, here is the costume inspiration for raven Mytho and Princess Kraehe! I’m pretty sure Kraehe’s costume is the last one, but I put the other one up there just in case. (Mytho is Rothbart, Kraehe is Odile.)

cardassiangoodreads

The 2002 anime series Princess Tutu is, on the surface, a story of how a duck-turned-human-teenager transforms into a magical ballerina princess, in order to save a prince who has had his heart ripped out by an evil raven. This simple, childlike story gradually turns into a struggle to save a fictional German town from the machinations of the dead fairy-tale author Drosselmeyer, who controls it from beyond the grave as a stage to act out his tragic tomes. In this larger story, Princess Tutu becomes a work of metafiction, as the characters strive to break free of their fates – as well as one of the most seamless fusions of soundtrack and narrative in the anime medium. Princess Tutu uses an array of classical music from the late Romantic and early modern periods – not only the Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev excerpts expected of a series with a ballet theme, but also works ranging from Wagner’s Götterdämmerung to the Ravel orchestration of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Each work has a very particular narrative purpose in the series, with specific uses ranging from expository dialogue scenes to climactic battles. I examine the degree to which certain excerpts, and their uses in Princess Tutu as both references outside the story and leitmotifs within it, help to convey the battle between fate and free will in the series.

cardassiangoodreads

I’m a graduate student in musicology whose research focuses on music in film and television, especially anime. I wrote a research paper that I presented at a conference last May about the music of Princess Tutu, specifically explaining the classical music it used in its soundtrack and why those pieces were chosen. I’ve had a lot of requests to put this up on my social media, especially on Twitter and Tumblr. So if you ever wanted to know more about the music of Princess Tutu: here you go!

yurious-george

On my 4th rewatch of Princess Tutu, I noticed that Pike’s “casual” outfit looks like one from Coppelia! I think Lilie’s from there too, either the girls in the background of the 4th pic or the last one.

Pictures stolen off Google and Princess Tutu.

blueberryhope

I have no idea what this means, but I just realized THERE IS A SWAN IN THE SHAPE OF THE PENDANT ON SEIGFRIED!!! Sorry, I always just saw it as decoration, so I wanted to share this finding.

alexanderhamiltonisthebottom

Princess Tutu ep. 17 | Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune

alexanderhamiltonisthebottom

Disclaimer: This is a work in progress, a paper I started at the beginning of this year. It would be a great chance for feedback or any link to other scholarly papers that I might use to support my thesis. Thank you!

beyondspareoom

Sometimes I think about bb!Fakir and I get so, so sad.

Because that little boy, even after losing his parents in what was clearly a horrific and traumatizing manner is still able to smile. Like, the smile he gives Charon when he tells Fakir about the Prince’s night is so sweet and honestly heartfelt. And then when he finds Mytho this little boy who’s already lost so much just welcomes him into his heart, declaring that he’s Mytho’s knight and he’ll always protect him. How kind and gentle of a person does one have to be to not let their heart become hardened after losing literally everything they have? To still be able to open their heart and love without fear or reserve? Because it’s only after Mytho falls out of that burning building that Fakir become cold. It’s only after almost losing everything for a second time before he’s like ten fucking years old that Fakir starts to become the person we see at the beginning of the series.

AND EVEN THEN IT’S ONLY PARTIALLY TO PROTECT HIMSELF, TO PROTECT HIS OWN HEART AND HIMSELF FORM LOSING EVERYTHING AGAIN. HE TRIES TO CUT OUT HIS OWN GENTLENESS AND SWEETNESS, TURN HIMSELF TO STEEL SO HE CAN BE THE SWORD THAT GUARDS THIS PERSON WHO ISN’T CAPABLE OF GURADING HIMSELF.

AND EVEN AFTER YEARS, LITERALLY YEARS OF FORCING HIMSELF TO PLAY THIS ROLE

HE STILL SAVES THIS LITTLE DUCK AND GIVES IT BREAD

STILL HOLDS THIS INNOCENT LITTLE CREATURE CLOSE AND SMILES THROUGH THE TEARS

ALL THOSE YEARS OF TRYING AMPUTATE THAT PART OF HIMSELF AND CAUTERIZE THE BROKEN PARTS OF HIMSELF

AND DEEP DOWN HE’S STILL KIND

0jamajos

Endless List of Princess Tutu Costumes - 2/∞

Carmen

0jamajos

Endless List of Princess Tutu Costumes - 1/∞

Aurora - The Sleeping Beauty

deepnestt

But thinking more about the Prince of the Crows and what he is, within Siegfried

popflythesky

I used to think Mytho saying he “wants to love Rue most” was strange because he “wants” to love her? does that mean he doesnt actually love her? is he going to try to make himself fall in love with her?

but

its really more of an emphasis on the fact that mytho has wants now he has thoughts and emotions, and he can act on them too at the end of the series, by making rue his princess in this case

and its like he’s making sure rue knows he wants to love her, he isnt being forced to love her against his will (by the story or drosselmeyer or her or what/whoever else) he does truly love her and he actually wants to and he also loves her because he wants to

also because he empathizes with her struggle and he probably values love and self-sacrifice for love a lot and hello!! rue and he basically grew up with her so theres a lot there to work with i mean idk if you could say that he grew any but

blueberryhope

PTT and Nutcracker Parallels

Kinda a headcanon or theory? But what if Ahiru is like Marie Stahlbaum from The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffmann. I’m not the greatest analysis, so it’s difficult for me to explain, but I stumbled upon Telling Tales by David Blamires while trying to compare different versions of the story (and gunna use for a lot of my headcanons about Drosselmeyer’s past life). And from there it mentioned many things, but also that the Nutcracker was made/told for a real Marie and Fritz that Hoffman knew in real life, kinda like Lewis Carrol and Alice.

So basically, The Nutcracker and the Mouseking was tripled layered. First was the real life Marie, then it was the Marie Stahlbaum in the story, then it was the Princess Marie in the Realm of the Dolls. Like wise, Ahiru, who is actually a duck (real life), is a girl in Goldcrown (Goldcrown is its own story by this point), is Princess Tutu (The Prince and the Raven). (Marie also kept on referencing a lake of swans with golden necklaces, creating a different headcanon, ack!) And just like Princess Tutu, the whole story is connected by the other story, The Tale of the Hardnut, the backstory of the titular Nutcracker and Mouseking.

Funny thing is that out of all of the people mentioned in the Nutcracker, the only one who believes and helps Marie(for the most part anyways) is her brother Fritz. Yes that’s right, I’m saying Fakir is like Fritz in his role. (But his story is more like Bastian, which I’ll explain someday). Marie also has a sister, Lousie, but is only mentioned twice, and her parents are just there to scold or dismiss Marie’s “delusions”. Drosselmeier doesn’t help because…reasons, of course, even though he’s the one telling the story. Fritz, who is slightly older than Marie, is very down-to-earth and militant, playing battles with his many toy soldiers and wanting a chestnut toy-horse for Christmas (parallel from the series, Fakir only rode that horse when he was a knight, he never rode it again after the Ghost Knight episode). Like Marie, he also believes in Drosselmeier’s tale. Fritz helps Marie by giving her a toy sword, which she gave to help the Nutcracker win against the Mouseking. (Trying to tie in that Fakir helps Ahiru aide Prince Siegfried defeat the Raven)

There’s the bit about Fakir’s character growth, Drosselmeyer being the antagonist, and how it doesn’t really fit, but that’s because Goldcrown “layer” is actually Fantastica not The Nutcracker/The Prince and the Raven. Next time, I’ll try to explain about the parallels between PTT and Neverending Story.

only-by-the-stars

also re: the idea of Ahiru being “heartbroken” about Rue and Mytho being together: someone wasn’t paying full attention to the scene beneath the lake or Ahiru’s entire frigging arc. when she’s upset about giving the pendant up, it may sound at first like it’s because Mytho wants Rue to be his princess, but she then goes on, after telling Fakir that, to say “but I still can’t get the pendant off” and she is upset about that.

she is upset about not being able to take it off because she wants to save them both and for Rue to be saved and be able to be Mytho’s princess.

why, then, is the pendant not coming off? because Ahiru is afraid of being alone. she’s afraid of being left alone because she’s “just a duck”. that’s what that dream at the beginning of Crown of Stone is about: she sees Fakir, Mytho, and Rue all dancing and happy and having a good time without her. she’s stuck on the sidelines just watching, unable to do anything, the way she is later in the episode with the dance lesson after not getting her pointe shoes, and she deals with that again with Fakir’s training as a Spinner. she doesn’t want to be left alone after everything is over, she wants to keep being with her friends (she explicitly says to Fakir while they’re dancing that she won’t be able to learn ballet with everyone anymore). that’s what’s changed since The Crow Princess, she now has attachments formed to the people around her and to dance. that’s why she can’t throw away the pendant so easily anymore.

but then Fakir tells her he’ll stay by her side forever, even when she’s “just” a duck. she’s found someone who truly cares about the real her and supports her in all forms, and that enables her to let go of it, cause she knows she’s not alone anymore. he’s acted as Princess Tutu for her, the way she’s always emotionally supported everyone else throughout the series. to ignore her character development and the motivations behind her initial inability to let go of the pendant - the same way Drosselmeyer wants to ignore and erase her character development when he speaks of the matter in Marionette - is a great disservice to Ahiru.

ladyloveandjustice

Princess Tutu is also explicitly not supposed to be about perfect fairy tale endings. It’s about subverting them.

The “bad” girl isn’t unworthy of love and isn’t thrown away and condemned. She isn’t unworthy of the prince. Nor is the prince obligated to love someone he barely knew.

The “good” girl’s ultimate happy ending isn’t being in a perfect fairy tale marriage, but instead it’s accepting her true self which is NOT a princess, but is still incredibly valuable and worthy of love AND OH, SHE SAVES EVERYONE.

Her happy ending is to see her friends be happy, and have the dude who, y’know, actually knows her as she really is and is still devoted to her, content to stay by her side for the rest of their lives whether he gets to bang her or not.

THE WHOLE POINT OF PRINCESS TUTU IS A PERFECT FAIRYTALE ENDING ISN’T THE BE-ALL END-ALL, THAT EVEN WOMEN WHO DON’T FIT INTO THE GOOD GIRL MOLD ARE WORTHY OF LOVE AND UNDERSTANDING, THAT WOMEN DON’T HAVE TO BE PITTED AGAINST EACH OTHER, THAT THERE IS HAPPINESS IN ACCEPTING WHO YOU REALLY ARE AND PEOPLE WHO ACTUALLY KNOW EACH OTHER AND ACCEPT EACH OTHERS FAULTS SHOULD BE THE ONES WHO ACTUALLY END UP TOGETHER. THAT CHARACTERS RECLAIMING THEIR AGENCY IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FOLLOWING SOME BY-THE-NUMBERS ENDING.

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