Where I watch Princess Tutu, episode 1

[cypsiman2]

Hmm, not sure what role the monster raven will be playing in the show, but its pretty clear that Mute is the prince who escaped from the story and got rid of his own heart to seal the monster raven away. At least, it seems clear to me, for all I know, I'm completely off base. It would account for why Mute seems to be such a lump, so easily pushed around by Fakir, who I started hating within five seconds of meeting. Granted, he's not supposed to come off at all sympathetic, but whatever, the manipulation worked, I've no desire to fight it, and given how explicitly this show is working with narrative themes and fairy tale atmosphere, it would be a bit off if there wasn't such a starkly vile character...huh, it occurs to me that Fakir might be the monster raven; he's certainly got the raven black hair, that's for damn sure.

But enough about the boys, let's talk about Ahiru! Ahiru is hilarious, very strong reactions to the world around her, and she does take the initiative, even when it is scary, so she gets a lot of points with me. Also, given the way she reacts to Neko-sensei, I get the sense that this is the first time she's seen him 'as' a cat, and it just takes her so off guard that she can't really explain to her friends what's going on with that. Her friends, Pike and Rire, while definitely amusing, are not really very good friends, are they? I mean, it comes across to me like they see Ahiru as like this little puppy, and they think its cute and are amused by it, but don't really take it seriously or respect it.

And now, the big thing, Ahiru being a duck. Seems to me like there's some sort of multiple layers of reality going on here, such that in the one Ahiru is a duck, and in the other she is a clumsy ballet dancer, and in both cases she can't reach her prince. The...author, he seems to like mixing those layers of reality to suit his own ends, hence the Princess Tutu transformation, and then making her run before she can tell Mute her name, because of course, that's not how the story goes, and it would wreck things if Ahiru were to actually give her name to her beloved prince.

Yes, this is definitely interesting and entertaining, I will definitely keep watching.

Comments

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

Yay! I was looking forward to this post!

Erm, I'll just say that you're right with Myuuto, and jumping the gun a bit (or a lot) when it comes to Fakia... Oh, drat. Official romanizations, Mytho and Fakir. There.

Pike and Ririe are terrible friends, yes. ...Oh, forget the official romanizations, I can't remember them. I watched the subs, but then they get blurry and I only partially look at the subtitles anyway...

SKU and Princess Tutu do have a good bit in common, mainly in that they're both what I think are called postmodern fairytales? They love to introduce common fairy tale concepts, pretend to play them straight, and then screw with them. I'd say that Utena goes beyond the call of duty and screws with your mind too far more than Princess Tutu, though ;P

Also, if you value surprises at all in your fiction, don't check out any fanfiction of this series till you're done watching- most of the fics for Princess Tutu deal with the ending.

Ahiru is adorable, and I love how, how duck-like she is, even as a girl. I never thought I'd like the sound of quacking so much.

[cypsiman2.livejournal.com]

I figured you would.

Fakir's going to need A LOT, of a lot of development to overturn my feelings about him.

Considering that Princess Tutu is about a duck who's a girl named 'duck' (Ahiru), who can also transform into the magical girl Princess Tutu, Revolutionary Girl Utena's going to need to do a lot more mind screwing (And yes, I have started on the Black Rose Arc).

I don't generally look at fanfic to begin with!

Ahiru is indeed darling, and about as graceful as you'd think.

[koi-no-soshan.livejournal.com]

Wow, you've taken quite a quick disliking to him! ^^; But most of the character development is focused on the four main characters, and Fakir starts improving once he and Ahiru start working together.

All of this stuff makes perfect sense at the end of Princess Tutu. With Utena, I'm still trying to wrap my brain around some of the later stuff. They're equally awesome, but in different ways, and personally I think Utena wins the mindscrew contest.

You weird fandom person, you ;)

If she was a bigger duck, it would be lovely to see her beat someone up. No seriously, ducks can really do some damage. If a duck ever tries to bunk down in your garden, don't try to chase him/her out yourself.

[cypsiman2.livejournal.com]

Well, Fakir did lie to Ahiru, and he tries to control very nearly aspect of Mytho's life. So, yeah, he's got a lot of ground to cover, but this is only the first episode, I'm open to the possibility of him getting his head turned right.

Well, I'm just going to have to wait and see, now won't I?

Unfortunately, Ahiru is but a teeny tiny baby duck with an adorable curl on top of her head. But getting on Ahiru's bad side is still a, well, bad idea.