Watching Princess Tutu and the set up is very plural to me. These are characters in a story, but they aren't in the story anymore. They have the memories of the story and know they are characters (mostly), but also know they are outside and beyond the constraints of a story.
Ahiru is Princess Tutu from the story and identifies herself as such and can take on that form and those abilities; at the same time, she's a regular girl who kind of sucks at ballet and frequently sticks her foot in her mouth despite her grace shown as Princess Tutu. And also she's a duck.














