Princess Tutu

I liked it. The end of Season 2 is less straightforwardly happy than that of Season 1, so I'm glad I gave myself a little break between seasons. I recommend it to anyone with a soft spot for shoujo anime, ballet, and fairytales. I don't rec it to anyone who has a low tolerance for any of those things :)

It's an interesting counterpoint to Revolutionary Girl Utena. They're both about girls who choose to go against the role they are expected to play and take up the mantle of a fairytale hero(ine), and play around with (and question) a lot of the same ideas about princes, princesses, warriors, and destiny/narrative causality. Utena is darker and more confronting, and does a lot more explicit and deliberate subversion. Tutu actually is a fairytale (of the Hans Christian Anderson variety that gets turned into beautiful but heartbreaking ballet), and largely leaves the roles themselves unquestioned and at most the characters question which role they should be playing.

But I think there's something to be said for the way that Princess Tutu is about a girl who is a hero without taking on a male or violent role. And Prince Mytho is interestingly passive, very much like the princess to be saved in many fairytales.

Princess Tutu vid recs

Both very spoilery for the show, but watching them inspired me to watch the show and by the time I did I'd forgotten anything that might have spoiled me, so.

Hold me now by alkampfer81.
Apparently inspired many people in local fandom to watch the show! Captures the show really well, and very pretty to watch with all the dancing and symbolism.

Fairytale by arefadedaway
"Ahiru, Rue, Utena, and Anthy don’t care for your fairy tale, and make their own story."
The parallels with the women from Revolutionary Girl Utena who also refuse to be bound by their fairytale. Awesome.

And as much as I enjoyed these vids before watching the show, I love them now I know all the context. *hugs show* Though it's not as femslashy as I might have hoped from the second :)

(EDIT: clearly I need some synonyms for "show")