Follow TV Tropes

Following

Context Anime / SwanLake1981

Go To

1[[quoteright:1000:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/6a021111b713cca07a16b9937e96216e840bd31fd082bf2fa863984ffd1121c0.png]]
2''Swan Lake'' (aka ''World Masterpiece Fairy Tales: Swan Lake'') is an {{anime}} adaptation of "Theatre/SwanLake" produced by Creator/ToeiAnimation. It was released in 1981 in Japan and directed by Kimio Yabuki. It received two English dubs, one by Frontier Enterprises and one by Sync, Ltd.
3
4It follows the original ballet's story relatively faithfully and incorporates [[Music/PyotrIlyichTchaikovsky Tchaikovsky's]] score, with the only real deviations being the removal of the other swan maidens and the addition of {{Non Human Sidekick}}s in the form of two squirrels named Hans and Margarita. It was also made as the fourth in Toei's ''World Masterpiece Fairy Tales'' series of films, with the others being ''The Wild Swans'' (1977), ''Thumbelina'' (1978), ''Twelve Months'' (1980), and ''Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp'' (1982).
5
6!!This anime contains examples of:
7* AbhorrentAdmirer: Rothbart is infatuated with Odette to the point of having spent at least three years trying to win her heart. He's also the EvilSorcerer who took her away from her home, cursed her to be a swan, and is rather ugly on top of that, all of which repulses her.
8* AdaptedOut: Odette's fellow swan maidens aren't present here. There are other swans around, but they seem to be normal birds.
9* AdaptationalVillainy: Rothbart is made even worse than he is in the ballet, where his motives are left vague and undefined. Here, he destroyed Odette's kingdom in addition to kidnapping her and turning her into a swan because he couldn’t handle her rejection of him.
10* AdaptationSpeciesChange: Odile is called the "Black Swan" in the ballet, implying she turns into one. In this anime, she turns into an owl-like bird like Rothbart.
11* AndNowYouMustMarryMe: Twice. Rothbart abducted Odette and cursed her to be a swan three years prior to force her to eventually marry him for lack of any other prospects, and in the end, he holds Siegfried at sword-point to threaten her with the prince's death if she still refuses.
12* AscendedExtra: In the ballet, Odile only appears in the ballroom scene and nowhere else. Here, she's a relevant character from the start.
13* BetaCouple: Hans and Margarita, the two talking squirrels, are this to the main couple of Odette and Siegfried.
14* BigBad: As per the ballet, EvilSorcerer Rothbart is the main villain who cursed Odette.
15* CagedBirdMetaphor: After Rothbart dies and his castle collapses, a songbird is shown escaping its cage in the ruins to symbolize Odette's newfound freedom from her curse.
16* CanonForeigner: Hans and Margarita have no equivalents in the ballet.
17* CollapsingLair: Rothbart's castle collapses into ruins upon his and Odile's deaths. Odette and Siegfried make it out to reunite with each other afterwards.
18* CueTheSun: The sun rises in the ending during Odette and Siegfried's reunion, signifying the end of Odette's curse.
19* DaddysLittleVillain: Odile is Rothbart's loyal daughter, and is every bit as wicked as he is.
20* DamselInDistress: Odette has been in Rothbart's captivity and trapped under his curse for three years.
21* DefiantCaptive: Despite having been his prisoner for years, Odette continually refuses Rothbart's marriage proposals. It's only when Siegfried's life is endangered that she finally gives in.
22* DrivenToSuicide: Siegfried stabs himself in the heart with his own sword in despair when Odette promises Rothbart her hand in marriage in exchange for Siegfried's life. Rather than killing him, this creates a flash of light that somehow destroys Rothbart and Odile and undoes Odette's curse.
23* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Rothbart and Odile have a strong father-daughter relationship, despite being evildoers who both have totally unhealthy attitudes to their own romantic relationships. The David Hemmings/Kay Lenz English dub even adds some humorous banter between them not present in the original Japanese.
24* EvilSorcerer: Rothbart, though he only really displays his powers at the end when he conjures up tornadoes and uses his magic to separate Siegfried and Odette.
25* EvilWearsBlack: Both Rothbart and Odile wear entirely black outfits in contrast to Odette's white gown.
26* ExtremelyShortTimespan: The entire film takes place over the course of two days.
27* FaintInShock: Odette faints into Rothbart's arms when she sees Siegfried pledge his love to Odile at the ball. She wakes up very quickly to get out of Rothbart's grasp and escape, though.
28* FatBastard: Rothbart is the BigBad, as well as noticeably more rotund than everyone else.
29* FatAndSkinny: Applies to the main villain duo. Rothbart is quite plump, and his daughter Odile is very thin.
30* ForcedTransformation: In addition to cursing Odette to turn into a swan by day, Rothbart turns Hans into a toad for trying to help Siegfried against him.
31* FourthDateMarriage: Siegfried knows Odette for about a ''day'', tops, when he invites her to the ball at his castle the next night so he can announce her as his bride-to-be.
32* GreekChorus: Hans and Margarita's only function is to be this, being observers of Siegfried and Odette's story. They help Odette escape Rothbart's castle, but that's all they do that's plot-relevant.
33* HairOfGoldHeartOfGold: Odette has blonde hair and is a kind-hearted, innocent PrincessClassic.
34* HandGagging: Rothbart uses this to stop Odette when she reaches the ball to try and prevent Siegfried from falling for Odile's disguise.
35* HappilyEverAfter: Rothbart and Odile both die when Siegfried stabs himself in the heart, breaking Odette's curse and freeing her to be with Siegfried.
36* HoistHeroOverHead: After she faints, Rothbart holds Odette up over his head this way while gloating at Siegfried.
37* IdiotBall: Siegfried has it bad here. Odile tells him her real name and he ''still'' thinks she's Odette, including thinking he misheard Odette originally telling him her name.
38* IronicName: It might not have been intentional irony, but Rothbart's name means "red-bearded" in German and he has blue hair instead.
39* LoveAtFirstSight: Siegfried falls in love with Odette immediately upon meeting her and tells her he felt something for her the moment he looked her in the eyes. This is later revealed to be mutual when Odette tells Rothbart that she has loved Siegfried from afar for the past three years.
40* NiceJobBreakingItHero: Siegfried is completely duped by Odile's disguise as Odette even after she outright ''tells him'' her real name is Odile, and announces her as his bride-to-be at the ball, dooming Odette.
41* NonHumanSidekick: Hans and Margarita are two talking squirrels that serve this role for Odette and Siegfried.
42* NoBodyLeftBehind: The light that comes from Siegfried's sword plunging into his heart destroys Rothbart and Odile to the point of disintegrating them.
43* NoOntologicalInertia: Rothbart's demise causes Adolf to be restored after being turned to stone and undoes Hans' transformation into a toad.
44* NotGoodWithRejection: Rothbart, and how! He destroyed Odette’s home kingdom, kidnapped her and turned her into a swan to have her all for himself, and uses all of his magical power to prevent Odette from marrying Siegfried, even holding his sword at Siegfried’s neck during the climax to force Odette to marry Rothbart! Odile isn’t any better, urging her father to kill Odette when she turns him down again and when Siegfried turns her down, she says that her father can kill him.
45* NotSoHarmlessVillain: Rothbart is mostly played up as a lovesick buffoon, with Odile as his HypercompetentSidekick...until the ending, where he conjures tornadoes, uses his magic to separate Siegfried from Odette and forces Odette to agree to marry him by holding his sword at Siegfried’s neck. That said, Odette’s explanation of the circumstances behind her being captured by Rothbart does foreshadow his being very dangerous at the end.
46* OminousOwl: In keeping with the ballet, Rothbart turns into an owl. He also looks fairly similar to one in human form, having long eyebrows indicative of an owl's "brow" feathers.
47* ThePowerOfLove: Odette explains to Siegfried that her curse can only be broken if a man loves her with all his heart. It comes true at the end, with Margarita claiming that Odette and Siegfried's love was stronger than Rothbart's sorcery.
48* TakenForGranite: Siegfried's friend Adolf is turned into a statue when he tries to shoot the swan Odette. He returns to normal when Rothbart dies.
49* TalkingAnimal: Hans and Margarita are two talking squirrels.
50* TruerToTheText: An unintentional version because this anime preceded the [[WesternAnimation/TheSwanPrincess two]] [[WesternAnimation/BarbieOfSwanLake other]] animated film adaptations, but it's by far the most faithful to the original ballet out of the three. Siegfried's name remains Siegfried, Odette was cursed to be a swan by Rothbart prior to the story, and Rothbart turns into an owl instead of a bat-like creature or vulture.
51* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: Rothbart is a FatBastard who's goofy-looking at best, while his daughter Odile is a slender and waifish-looking [[TheVamp vamp]].

Top