30 Days of Women: Day Six
Oct. 21st, 2012 02:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kirin85Day Six: Favourite female-driven show
Princess Tutu
I swear this anime is the ultimate example of something being better than it sounds. I was reluctant to watch it at first because the premise sounded so ridiculous and it looked very cutesy and childish (I’m really not into the whole “moe” thing) but I heard so many good things about it that my curiosity eventually won out.
How do I describe this anime? Well, as I mentioned above, it’s pretty much impossible to describe the plot of Princess Tutu without it sounding utterly ridiculous. Princess Tutu is about Ahiru, a duck who turns into a girl with the aid of a magic necklace and attends a ballet school. Her necklace also gives her the power to turn into the ballet-dancing magical girl, Princess Tutu… and I think you can see what I mean now. ^^; Anyhow, Ahiru develops a crush on her mysterious classmate Mytho, who just happens to be a legendary prince whose heart was shattered in a battle with an evil raven. Princess Tutu is tasked with retrieving the Prince’s heart shards by an enigmatic (and creepy) old man known only as Drosselmeyer. However, this proves to be no easy task. To make matters even worse for poor Ahiru, her own ballet-dancing skills are… well, she’s about as good at ballet as you’d expect a duck to be. ^^;
Ahiru’s quest is complicated by the introduction of her Dark Magical Girl rival, Princess Kraehe, whose true identity just happens to be the school’s star dancer, Rue. She’s also quite possibly the best-written example of this trope I’ve ever seen. I can’t say much about her without giving away a ton of spoilers but her character arc is seriously good.
Although Princess Tutu has plenty of male characters, it’s the female characters who drive most of the plot. Both Kraehe and Ahiru’s character arcs deal heavily with the themes of discovering your own self-worth, free will vs fate and taking control of one’s own destiny. Yes, this show is very, very meta. If you’re interested in postmodernist literary theory (come on, I can’t be the only English Literature graduate on this site ^^; ) , are really into feminist fairy tales or are just looking for a show with an interesting and genuinely touching story, you’re in for a treat here. There’s also a wide variety of female side characters, such as the mysterious Edel, Ahiru’s schoolfriends Pique and Lille and a ballet-dancing anteater (I swear this makes sense in context ^^;).
The ending is notoriously divisive but personally, I loved it and wouldn’t have ended the story any other way.
Princess Tutu
I swear this anime is the ultimate example of something being better than it sounds. I was reluctant to watch it at first because the premise sounded so ridiculous and it looked very cutesy and childish (I’m really not into the whole “moe” thing) but I heard so many good things about it that my curiosity eventually won out.
How do I describe this anime? Well, as I mentioned above, it’s pretty much impossible to describe the plot of Princess Tutu without it sounding utterly ridiculous. Princess Tutu is about Ahiru, a duck who turns into a girl with the aid of a magic necklace and attends a ballet school. Her necklace also gives her the power to turn into the ballet-dancing magical girl, Princess Tutu… and I think you can see what I mean now. ^^; Anyhow, Ahiru develops a crush on her mysterious classmate Mytho, who just happens to be a legendary prince whose heart was shattered in a battle with an evil raven. Princess Tutu is tasked with retrieving the Prince’s heart shards by an enigmatic (and creepy) old man known only as Drosselmeyer. However, this proves to be no easy task. To make matters even worse for poor Ahiru, her own ballet-dancing skills are… well, she’s about as good at ballet as you’d expect a duck to be. ^^;
Ahiru’s quest is complicated by the introduction of her Dark Magical Girl rival, Princess Kraehe, whose true identity just happens to be the school’s star dancer, Rue. She’s also quite possibly the best-written example of this trope I’ve ever seen. I can’t say much about her without giving away a ton of spoilers but her character arc is seriously good.
Although Princess Tutu has plenty of male characters, it’s the female characters who drive most of the plot. Both Kraehe and Ahiru’s character arcs deal heavily with the themes of discovering your own self-worth, free will vs fate and taking control of one’s own destiny. Yes, this show is very, very meta. If you’re interested in postmodernist literary theory (come on, I can’t be the only English Literature graduate on this site ^^; ) , are really into feminist fairy tales or are just looking for a show with an interesting and genuinely touching story, you’re in for a treat here. There’s also a wide variety of female side characters, such as the mysterious Edel, Ahiru’s schoolfriends Pique and Lille and a ballet-dancing anteater (I swear this makes sense in context ^^;).
The ending is notoriously divisive but personally, I loved it and wouldn’t have ended the story any other way.
