Princess Tutu, ep. 06-09

[oyceter]

Just when I thought it couldn't get any better, it does! I know, it's only six episodes in, but the first five were so awesome just because of the premise and how they followed through on the premise that I would have been perfectly happy if they had gone on like that forever. But it gets better!

Favorite lines so far (paraphrased): "This jewel is hope. This is courage. This is strength. Oh, this? This one is called 'the author's convenience.'" (You see? You see why this show is SO COOL?!)

And: "I won't be fooled just because his bread was tasty!"

When I heard this, I started howling with laughter, having seen it on someone's icon (octopedingenue?) so many times.

We leave off ep. 5 with Princess Tutu/Ahiru wondering if she should actually be returning pieces of Mytho's heart to him, given the pain that he is experiencing. Obviously, Fakir feels that the pain is so not worth it, and Ahiru is starting to think that as well, particularly after Mytho says he's afraid of Princess Tutu.

Then there's Princess Kraehe, who is, of course, Rue's secret identity. Further love to the series for the Odette/Odile thing, though it of course makes me wonder if Drosselmeyer is Von Rothbart as well.

But! The absolute best part is when Ahiru decides to throw her amulet into the lake, and Drosselmeyer freaks because his story has to finish the way he wants it to, and he gets up out of his clockwork world and enters Ahiru's in an attempt to convince her why she should follow through. Unfortunately, he really doesn't seem to have read up on characterization at all, as all his reasons seem to be: "But the story demands it, so you must!" Unsurprisingly, Ahiru doesn't find this very motivating.

There is further indication that everyone is aware that they're in the story, plus the additional commentary of the town as a world in and of itself, with the head of the other ballet troupe suddenly becoming an eel, and everyone being confused about this while also being convinced that he was always an eel to begin with.

I'm very glad that the series is moving out of the MotW format; I would have enjoyed it either way, but this is so much more interesting. And it's going more into Fakir and Rue's feelings as well, which is great! I wanted to slap Fakir at first, but now I am sort of fond of him because he fed Ahiru bread! Possibly she may not be tricked by his tasty bread, but I seem to be! And I'm not quite sure what his role in the story is, if Kraehe turns out to be the evil raven. I don't think she is, though; I think it will turn out to be a more mastermind-y type person. And Fakir knows the story and has read the book, and he even knows where the sword is.

I am so looking forward to the moment when Ahiru, Fakir, Mytho and Rue all realize that they're being moved around and start to rebel against Drosselmeyer.

I didn't catch quite that many references this time around, largely because I waited too long to write this up, but of course there's the red shoes (I hope Rue's feet don't fall off...) and Sleeping Beauty, as was referenced in ep. 5 and continued on in the ballet scenes for ep. 6. Then there are the additional Swan Lake references with Black Kraehe vs. White Tutu, and I remembered having thought that the Anterina/Tutu confrontation from ep. 1 was also referencing Swan Lake because of the multitude of pirouettes, but I forgot to write it down until I saw the extra on ballet moves. I don't know quite that much about Sleeping Beauty, but I keep wondering if the bluebird of happiness will come on in.

Also, there was a great scene of Drosselmeyer manipulating someone like a puppet, which made me yell, "Coppelia!"

Going on with the completely random ballet speculation, Mytho could also be sort of like the Nutcracker, another enchanted prince saved by a young girl. Of course, rats aren't ravens, but... I grasp wildly at straws!

So much of this story would be annoying -- Ahiru's sweetness and her goofiness, Mytho's cluelessness, the whole evil vs. good thing -- except it all totally works because of the framing device and because I suspect Drosselmeyer likes his story to be one of absolutes, where he as the author is certain of what will happen.

On a side note, I am really glad I started watching the extras on the disc. The ballet lessons I already know a bit of, just from having several friends who used to learn ballet, and English Cat's voice is sort of annoying, but it's nice to get the refresher. The Etudes, on the other hand, are great for someone like me, who can recognize a lot of the music the episodes are using but can't outright identify them. Although having Rue and Ahiru's English voice actors narrate in character is again somewhat annoying, it's totally worth it for the extra knowledge.

Comments

[octopedingenue]

Tutu opening in Cantonese! (sung by Fiona Sit) Now I want to see the Cantonese dub. And the German dub! And French!

In the reading of Princess Tutu as Metaphor For The Creative Writing Experience, Drosselmeyer is totally the "If you don't care about the characters in your story, your story won't like you either" writer. While Fakir... "Be careful! It's dangerous if you don't know your role in the story!" Ohhh! Since you know more Japanese than I do (and since it got translated multiple ways in the fansub), if you know the answer to this I will cheer: in the official translation or your translation of Edel-san's* singsongy chant about fate and glory [I'm pretty sure it's in before ep 9, but I'm whiting it out to be safe] "Those who accept their fate will find happiness; those who defy it will find glory" (declarative statement) or "May those who accept their fate find happiness; may those who defy it find glory" (benediction) or something else? [/whiteout]

In the fansub, "the author's convenience" is translated as "artistic license," which I think amuses me more. But "I won't be fooled just because his bread was tasty!" stays the same in wording and amusement. Heeee! Oh, that tricksy Fakir! I am sort of fond of him too. One minute he's feeding you tasting bread, the next he's serving you up roasted on a bed of crumbs! And then he's all "Now I will suddenly start speaking German!" and I'm like "Bzuh, how do you know German? What language are you speaking the rest of the time if it's not German even though all the signs and books are in German?" I made flutingfrenzy-the-German-major-and-classical-music-nut watch the series with me to translate/identify things on the fly, which came in very handy. I am kind of owww at the thought of going through the series and marking which songs get used where so I can start tracking musical themes. Especially since I suck at classical music in Tutu and can basically only recognize Swan Lake and "Aquarium" from Carnival of the Animals, both of which get used every five seconds. But I will do it, because I am just that obsessed focused!

I am still not really sure where they got "Kray-rue"-->"Rue" from "Kraehe" in Japanese, since I think it's just "Kray" in German.

I am so looking forward to getting the rest of the official DVDs for the official translations/extras. When I started watching, there were only 2 DVDs out, and I worked on the fansubs for later interpretation stuff; the fansubbers were fabulous, but I found out they got at least one major thing really wrong, which was like aaaagh! I would snap up all the DVDs but I'm holding out for hope of a boxset that still has the extras with bonus Ahiru duck-plushie pleaseplease! (Of course I am still sad about all that will get lost in translation still. I want to speak Japaneeeeese. My ballerina princess superhero duck love may be weird love, but it is very useful as an educational motivator.)

* I can no more call her Miss Edel in my head than I can refer to Duck and Mister Cat.

[oyceter]

Anime is so useful as an educational motivator! Mine wasn't a ballerina princess superhero duck per se, but rather a somewhat insane, suicidal, deeply emotionally traumatized and completely antisocial mecha pilot.

I will look out for that Edel-san quote! I honestly fcannot remember if I've seen it yet because my brain is total sludge right now.

And Fakir's German is so funny! It sounds so Japanese!

[jinian.livejournal.com]

I sort of regret not watching all the DVD extras myself, but they're just too annoying for me. Maybe I can find transcripts or something.

[oyceter]

They are pretty annoying. Oh! Maybe I can mute it and turn on subtitles via the DVD player! Except then I won't hear the music...

[larryhammer]

Not only is it getting better and better at this point -- it keeps getting better. There's about a five-episode arc in the second season where it pauses in a holding pattern, then ramps up for the climaxic chords.

---L.

[oyceter]

Oh that's excellent! Yay!