Quack! quack quack quack!
27 April 2006 10:49 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
larryhammerWhile watching the climax of Princess Tutu's first season ("chapter of the egg"), we realized that Duck really needs to be looking for the Clue Shard.
For those who haven't met Tutu, it's firmly in the magic girl genre of anime: a ballet student named Duck turns into the ballerina fairy Princess Tutu to restore the scattered fragments of the Prince's heart -- said Prince being an affectless student at Duck's school, and each shard being an emotion. But there's interesting complications. For one, Duck is not a girl, but a duck turned into a girl to help the Prince. For another, the Prince is a character from a fairy tale, and he shattered his heart to trap the villainous Raven, at the moment when the author died and his characters escaped the story. Or sort of died -- the author's still around, turning ducks into schoolgirls to complete the frozen story. And the cherry of angsty goodness: if Princess Tutu ever confesses her love to the Prince she will, as happened in the tale, turn into a spark of light and vanish.
With two scoops of stories reflecting various classic ballets, dribbled with shoujo slapstick syrup and crunchies of relationship angst, that's a recipe for something Yum. Also, something very charming.
That was a surprisingly upbeat season finale -- I was prepared to spend a second season searching for where Kraehe buried the Love Shard. Or alternatively, to have Duck the duck in love with Fakir (seduced by his tasty pastry) while Duck the schoolgirl crushes on Mytho and Tutu wordlessly loves the Prince. Though that would have taken a leetle bit more set-up in the previous couple episodes. (Besides, is the world really ready for poly shoujo stories?)
Kraehe in skimpy black ballerinawear is the sort of boom anime babe that, in the words of Barenaked Ladies, make me think the wrong things. I so need a "slutty princess ballerinas are sexy" icon. At least Fakir in torn blackninjaknightwear is almost as hot.
I have to say, I'm really digging an anime that uses classical music this well, playing off both the music and its context. Not to mention playing with so many levels of narrative and identity.
For those who haven't met Tutu, it's firmly in the magic girl genre of anime: a ballet student named Duck turns into the ballerina fairy Princess Tutu to restore the scattered fragments of the Prince's heart -- said Prince being an affectless student at Duck's school, and each shard being an emotion. But there's interesting complications. For one, Duck is not a girl, but a duck turned into a girl to help the Prince. For another, the Prince is a character from a fairy tale, and he shattered his heart to trap the villainous Raven, at the moment when the author died and his characters escaped the story. Or sort of died -- the author's still around, turning ducks into schoolgirls to complete the frozen story. And the cherry of angsty goodness: if Princess Tutu ever confesses her love to the Prince she will, as happened in the tale, turn into a spark of light and vanish.
With two scoops of stories reflecting various classic ballets, dribbled with shoujo slapstick syrup and crunchies of relationship angst, that's a recipe for something Yum. Also, something very charming.
That was a surprisingly upbeat season finale -- I was prepared to spend a second season searching for where Kraehe buried the Love Shard. Or alternatively, to have Duck the duck in love with Fakir (seduced by his tasty pastry) while Duck the schoolgirl crushes on Mytho and Tutu wordlessly loves the Prince. Though that would have taken a leetle bit more set-up in the previous couple episodes. (Besides, is the world really ready for poly shoujo stories?)
Kraehe in skimpy black ballerinawear is the sort of boom anime babe that, in the words of Barenaked Ladies, make me think the wrong things. I so need a "slutty princess ballerinas are sexy" icon. At least Fakir in torn black
I have to say, I'm really digging an anime that uses classical music this well, playing off both the music and its context. Not to mention playing with so many levels of narrative and identity.