Search - PRINCESS TUTU VOL 1:MARCHEN on DVD

With all due respect to the Amazon Editorial Review

H. Min | Nowhere Land | 10/08/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"With all due respect to the Amazon Editorial Review, I must point out that Princess Tutu is nothing like Ranma 1/2 the fluffy shoujo animation you see elsewhere. I must also point out my utmost disappointment for the packaging of the DVDs and it feel that it is very misleading.

With all the "anime" out there full of gratuitous nudity, violence, fast action and fast rewards, Princess Tutu offers viewers to take a step out of the box and think pure of mind, raise questions to ever-so-familiar fairy tails used as themes in Princess Tutu(such as Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Swan Lake etc.)

The soundtrack of Princess Tutu is all classical music, ranging from the well known Ballet music of Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev to Chopin, Beethoven, Shubert, Satie, Mendelssohn, Wagner...the list goes on. The music is absolutely essential in the telling of the story that is Princess Tutu, the characters emotions and psychology; their purity of heart and vunerabilities.

The ballet presented in Princess Tutu have been studied closely by the animators and the creators, bringing the delicacy to passionate movement of the dances. Highly recommended for young(and older) girls who all dream at one point in their lives to be ballerinas.

Princess Tutu, being a Magic Girl Genre, fufills a hidden desire within us; girls and boys to become heros. For Ahiru(meaning duck), our lovable heroine, transforms into Princess Tutu(grace of a swan) whose dances appease and comfort and charm her dear "prince" out of danger. I leave you to find out the rest for yourselves.

However there is so much more to this story. Each episode begins with the narrative of a familiar fairy tale, and challenges the viewer to question "does it really have to be that way??" and does more than introduce the episode.

Each of the main character must go through difficult phases of self-doubt, loss of identity, helplessness and stubbornness.

These are just few of the key elements of Princess Tutu which makes the viewing much more enjoyable and challenging and provokative.

I must also point out that the character Drosselmeyer in Princess Tutu is NOT the same character Drosselmeyer from the Ballet The Nutcraker. The Princess Tutu Drosselmeyer is an antagonist, who is selfist and even childish at times. He has none of the charisma or the charm that the Nutcraker Drosselmeyer has, and must not be confused with.

I highly recommend the Princess Tutu, for girls and storywriters, music lovers and dance lovers. I must recommend the Japanese Voices with English Subtitles for the original Japanese dubbing is excellent beyond a doubt. There are subtleties that must not be missed!

The series will continue to a more intense situations, twists and turns, thus those who have only seen the beginning, I would highly recommend you to continue your journey.

Thank you for reading. I am just suprised at myself that I wrote all this without mentioning my craze for Fakia."

One of the best mahou shoujo's

Kimberly | 05/30/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Princess Tutu. The name of the series itself may stray viewers from checking this series out but do not be fooled. Princess Tutu is a beautifully done anime and one of the best mahou shoujo (magical girl) animes I've seen in quite awhile. It's also created and directed by the director of other wonderful mahou shoujo animes such as Sailor Moon and Pretear.

Ahiru (Duck) sees the prince dancing at the lake and sees that his eyes look lonely. Wanting to put a smile back on his face, she is transformed into a human girl. But little does she know that she and everyone else are just characters being manipulated in a story. The storyteller who died long ago is controlling the events in reality. Ahiru finds that to save the prince (Mytho) she must find his heart shards and give them back to him. To do so she must transform into Princess Tutu. But others strive to go aganist her when Princess Krahere shows up.

I find Princess Tutu to be an anime with a very original plotline. It may be mahou shoujo which is known for ridiculous long transformations, attacks, and filler episodes. However Princess Tutu contains none of those. She does transform but her transformation sequence is only 10 seconds long compared to almost a minute for Sailor Moon's. Tutu has no attacks, and there is no filler. Sure the focus is on finding the heart shards, but in every episode something new is unveiled that makes the mystery of the story even more mysterious. I found it quite addicting since almost every episode ends with cliffhanger (and Drosselmeyer's annoying voice). The music in Princess Tutu is quite beautiful as well since they use pieces from famous ballets such as Swan Lake, Nutcracker, Carmen, etc.

I reccommend Princess Tutu to anyone who likes mahou shoujo anime. Its quite worth it and the series has become one of my faorites now. I'm sure most girls will like it but be warned, there is some violence and themes that may scare the little ones. Especially in the second season when the story is being unraveled and it gets quite dark. Overall, a great series to check out...watch the anime. Don't read the manga since the manga came AFTER the anime and I heard its not as well made."

Princess Tutu - Deep, Magical, Beautiful

Samuel B. Pinansky | Santa Barbara, CA USA | 02/07/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was somewhat apprehensive about this anime at first, but then I began to watch. It is one of the most creative, beautiful, and fulfilling anime I have ever seen. It wins the award for "Best Use of Classical Music" in anime. It also successfully combines the magical girl genre with Grim's fairy tales, all with a self referential psuedo philisophical backdrop (that really comes into play the last few episodes). One of the most intelligently crafted plots I have ever seen in anime, where details and characters slowly change, in a truly fulfilling way heading toward one of my favorite endings I have ever seen."

An absolute gem--magical

Dorothea | 05/07/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I'm a huge fan of anime and have been watching it for years--this show is one of the best I have ever seen, and it is one of my top three favorites ever. In terms of art, story, music, dialogue and character development, it just can't be surpassed. Watching it is a truly magical experience; there are scenes that are just so exquisite they gave me goosebumps. What's more, the show gets better and better--the second season is astounding.

The first episode is lovely, but it has some immature moments that I disliked. Ahiru, the main character, encounters her crush in an early scene; she becomes tongue-tied, goes red in the face, clumsily tries to leave and ends up falling in her hurry. I found those scenes pretty annoying, but there are fewer and fewer of them as the show progresses, thankfully. In addition, she has a pair of friends who like to tease her, for comic relief; I don't find them very funny, but they're not a big part of the show and some of their interactions with her are pretty cute. If you start watching but find these scenes annoying, don't just drop the show. There isn't that much comic relief and aside from these scenes, the show is relatively somber and is extremely beautiful.

The music in this show is really special. Some of it is original, but a lot of it is Western classical stuff--the really good stuff. There are pieces from Tchaikovsky (The Nutcracker and Swan Lake, mainly), some beautiful Chopin pieces, and some gorgeous pieces from the ballet Giselle, to name just a few. Every episode features at least a few new themes. Imagine Princess Tutu leaping down from the sky to rescue the hero, with Mussorgsky's "The Great Gate of Kiev" playing--that's the style of the show. At times, it is tear-jerkingly beautiful.

I won't recommend this show to absolutely everyone. It doesn't have blood, gore, guns, vampires, sex, or hilarious comedy. However, it is NOT a show exclusively meant for young girls. It is also NOT a show exclusively meant for females. This show really is a masterpiece and is much more sophisticated than one might initially expect. Anyone with an appreciation for music, fairy tales or stories that blend reality and fantasy will probably adore it. It is also an excellent choice as a show that the whole family will enjoy; it has many, many layers and can be enjoyed on many different levels."