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The main cast of Princess Tutu.

"May those who accept their fate be granted happiness. May those who defy their fate be granted glory."

Once Upon a Time, there was a man who died. The man's work was the writing and telling of stories. But he could not defy death. The last story the man was working on was about a brave and handsome prince who vanquishes a crafty raven. But now it seemed their battle would go on for eternity. "I'm sick and tired of this!" cried the raven. "I'm sick and tired of this!" cried the prince as well. The raven escaped from the pages of the story and the prince pursued the foul creature. In the end, the prince took out his own heart and sealed the raven away by using a forbidden power. Just then, a murmur came from somewhere: "This is great!" said the old man who was supposed to have died.

And so the heartless prince is found and enrolled in a ballet school, whilst the story remains static for years. One cold, foggy day the old man (Drosselmeyer) sees a wistful duck watching the Prince. And so he brings her into the story in the hopes that she'll move it forward, bestowing her a mystical pendant that transforms her into Princess Tutu: a princess with the power to restore the Prince's heart to him, while soothing the hearts of those corrupted by the shards.

But great changes are foreshadowed as these actions catch the attention of Fakir, a cold-eyed boy who dictates everything Mytho does, and Rue, the prince's enigmatic girlfriend. Unhappy with the Prince's restoration, both take active roles in the story, hoping to halt its progress, while the story twists down a dark, complex path, revealing Drosselmeyer's story to have a life of its own. As Ahiru (the duck, whose name literally means 'duck' in Japanese. Her name is explicitly 'Duck' in the English dub and official DVD subtitles, to properly preserve the Theme Naming for the audience) struggles with the decisions she makes and the impact they will have on others, her priorities shift and she fights Tutu's fate.

Princess Tutu is an original anime created by Ikuko Itoh, who's best known for her animation direction and character design work on Sailor Moon; she was also the chief animation director and character designer for this anime. Junichi Sato, who also worked on Sailor Moon as director for the first two seasons, was the main director for Tutu as well. The anime (a Hal Film Maker production) takes inspiration from a number of classic ballets; most of the music is taken from these, and the two princesses' costumes are inspired by Odile and Odette of Swan Lake.

The anime first aired from 2002 to 2003 for 26 episodes. A markedly different two-volume manga was made concurrently with the anime.

If you live where it is available, the anime can be watched dubbed on Hulu or Hidive

Spoilers will be marked when possible, but some aren't, so be careful. You Have Been Warned!


Please tropes, come dance with me:

  • 10-Minute Retirement: Duck's Heroic BSOD at the end of akt 6 eventually drives her to renounce Tutu and drop her pendant into a stream in akt 7. However, Mytho, who's come to realize he wants all of his heart back, is able to talk her into continuing to search for the heart shards.
  • Aardvark Trunks: Anteaterina's snout is rather expressive, changing position from being straight from her face to rather droopy.
  • Abhorrent Admirer: On the occasion that Mr. Cat has a girl interested in him, it's usually someone undesirable like a goat or a sloth.
  • Accidental Downer Ending: In-Universe, the death of Drosselmeyer left his story, The Prince and the Raven, unfinished, with the Prince and Raven locked in a never-ending battle, playing the trope straight. However, both characters grew tired of this never-ending fighting and figured out how to leave the story, where the Prince shattered his heart to seal the Raven in the walls of the town. The series follows what happened next. It also later turns out Drosselmeyer meant for the ending to be tragic all along, so his surviving wouldn't have made much difference.
  • Advice Backfire: Drosselmeyer's advice to Duck in episode 7 makes her even more determined to quit being Princess Tutu.
  • After-School Cleaning Duty: Ahiru often gets stuck doing this, usually as punishment for failing to keep up with her fellow ballet students.
  • All Take and No Give: At the beginning of the series, Rue and Mytho have a strange relationship where they're both content, but they both "give" things that the other person finds meaningless and "take" something else that's unimportant to the other; Rue might be considered the Taker just because she gets something out of Mytho that he intentionally gives, even if it's not what she really wants. Mytho follows Rue's every whim, but only because he likes being ordered around and "nobody else tells [him] what to do". Rue keeps him around because she wants to be loved, but he's completely incapable of reciprocating, so she just makes him tell her "I love you" and pretends that it's real.
  • American Kirby Is Hardcore: The DVD cover art is very much pink and fluffy in Japan; the American DVDs feature much darker, ominously-edited images. ADV admitted that it was a marketing strategy — maybe some buyers would be too embarrassed to take a pink-and-happy anime called "Princess Tutu" off a store shelf, thus the covers. And, of course, it's not completely unfitting for the series.
  • Ambiguous Situation: The nature of Fakir and Ahiru's relationship in the Bittersweet Ending. While it is implied they love each other, or at least that Fakir loves Ahiru, with Ahiru still saddened by Mytho choosing Rue, remaining as a duck, and the two never outright expressing their feelings, it's not 100% clear.
  • Amputative Sentencing: The Book Men reveal they cut off Drosselmeyer's hands long ago to stop him from writing once his abilities started scaring the townsfolk (which, considering Drosselmeyer's love of tragedies, was likely warranted). Drosselmeyer died from the blood loss, but his story continued even in death, so that the Book Men try to cut off Fakir's hands when he starts using the same abilities, afraid that even with good intentions Fakir's efforts will only add to Drosselmeyer's power.
  • Ancient Conspiracy: The Book Men who killed Drosselmeyer are still around, just in case his power crops up again.
  • And Now You Must Marry Me: Mr. Cat's Catchphrase, often threatening his female students with it if they are to fail a class.
  • And the Adventure Continues: Season 1 ends with Princess Tutu restoring Mytho's heart shards and beating Kraehe but Drosselmeyer says the story is far from over.
  • Angrish: What Mr. Cat devolves into when Duck is being klutzier than usual. Naturally, his screams are... cat yowls.
  • Animal Motifs: Very common, particularly swans (Tutu, Mytho, sometimes even Rue) and crows (the villains in general).
  • Anime Theme Song: Written for the show, both gently-paced pieces of music that are influenced by Classical music.
  • Animorphism: Sort of. The main character changes back and forth between a duck and a human; she is unable to communicate in her duck form, but there are plenty of other anthropomorphized animals who go around acting more or less as humans with no problems.
    • The finale reveals that the anthromorphism was due to the spell the town had been put under.
  • Antagonist Title:
    • The Raven is one of the Big Bad Duumvirate and the in-universe antagonist in "The Prince And The Raven". He is introduced in "The Raven" by telling Kraehe that her human body is "hideous" and that only he and the Prince could ever love her — and even then, not enough to die for her.
    • Princess Kraehe is introduced in "Crow Princess" as a rival to Princess Tutu.
  • Arc Words: "Those who accept their fate find happiness; those who defy it, glory."
  • An Arm and a Leg: The Book Men cuts off the hands of people who have the power of Rewriting Reality. Fortunately, Fakir escapes this fate. Unfortunately, undergoing it didn't stop Drosselmeyer.
  • Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: At one point, Edel has a tray full of jewels and offers one to Duck. She says its name is "Dream." Duck starts asking what some of the others are... "Hope." "Adventure." "Mystery." "Artistic License." ("Author's Bypass," in the English dub.)
  • Art-Style Dissonance: The anime is a Magical Girl show that takes place in a whimsical town of pastel colors, ballet, and fairy tales. Unfortunately for the characters, their fairytale has not been Disneyfied, and they are the cosmic playthings of an in-universe Ax-Crazy tragedy-loving writer.
  • Babies Ever After: At the very end you can see a normal cat that looks like Mr. Cat with a mate and a litter of kittens.
  • Back for the Finale: The final episode features many of the minor, one-episode characters in some cameo or another — mostly as hapless victims for the Raven.
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: As seen in the series' several Out of Clothes Experiences and when Duck transforms into a girl.
  • Beast in the Building: Subverted. Ahiru attempts to deliver a letter to Mytho in her duck form by breaking into the boys' locker room, hiding so as not to get caught and thrown out. The normally gruff Fakir finds her there, causing her to flush with embarrassment and expect the worst. However, he is surprisingly gentle with her (thinking she's just a dumb duck), bringing her back outside before feeding her breadcrumbs, only lightly scolding her for being silly enough to think she would find food in there. This is the first hint that he is actually a Jerk with a Heart of Gold.
  • Be Yourself: This is what enables Duck to give up the pendant — her true self is a duck, and there's nothing wrong with that.
  • Because Destiny Says So: Played with and defied throughout the series.
  • Beehive Hairdo:
    • Edel might sport a rare anime example of this trope (not counting what's on the sides of her head, of course).
    • Also Ebine, the woman who runs the restaurant from episode 3, sports a purple one of these.
  • Betty and Veronica: Mytho is the Betty, Fakir is the Veronica, and Duck is the Archie.
  • Beneath the Mask: Pretty much everyone. Your initial perception of every character will, without doubt, change.
    • Fakir is initially portrayed as a villain that is selfish and manipulative. However, he shows his hidden self when Duck is temporally stuck as a duck, she is able to see Fakir's soft side,
    • Kraehe is initially portrayed as doing things just For the Evulz (as Rue, however, she's gentle towards Duck initially). At the end, it is revealed that she only wanted to be loved.
  • Big Bad Duumvirate: The Raven and Drosselmeyer, the former being the Sealed Evil in a Can and in-universe antagonist of The Prince And The Raven, and the latter being the author who's determined to make the ending as depressing as possible.
  • Bittersweet Ending: The fantasies are broken, the good guys win, Rue and Mytho show their true love and this lets them defeat the Raven with the help of Duck and Fakir... but not only do Rue and Mytho have to leave Gold Crown Town so he can reclaim his throne, but Duck/Tutu is stuck in her original duck form forever. Plus, Drosselmeyer could still screw with someone else.
    • The fate of Mr. Cat: he's become a regular cat but he has the marriage he's always wanted.
  • Bishie Sparkle: Both used seriously (in daydreams) and lampshaded in the form of One-Scene Wonder Femio followed around by an aide with spotlights and rose petals.
  • Blood Is Squicker in Water: Fakir plunges into the lake in Akt 13 after fighting the crows, his blood spreading across the water. He’s implied to have died until it’s revealed that Edel’s saved him.
  • Blood Magic: Fakir uses blood in Akt 8 to revive the powers in Mytho's sword. The various applications of Raven's Blood apply here, as well. Drosselmeyer used it to create the story that is controlling the town. It's also subtly implied that Fakir is only able to overrule Drosselmeyer's control through this as well (his hand had been stabbed through before he was able to do it).
  • Body to Jewel: The pieces of Mytho's heart are represented by jewel shards. Not only does it provide an opportunity to avert Squick, it could also be justified by the fact that Mytho is not truly human, but a character from Drosselmeyer's story who escaped into reality.
  • Book Ends: The story begins with 'Once upon a time there was a man who died'. It ends with 'And there was another man who began writing a story. That story full of hope has only just begun'.
  • Break the Cutie: Arguably, everyone in the whole damn series. But mostly Rue.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: It's the very premise of the show, with Mytho literally coming from a story and Drosselmeyer's story breaking its own fourth wall to play out in 'reality'. Which is another story in and of itself in which the characters end up breaking the fourth wall repeatedly to essentially declare war on the author.
    • In an interesting variation, Princess Kraehe breaks the internal fourth wall in Akt 12 by speaking directly to Drosselmeyer. He is very put off by this.
    • Also Drosselmeyer talks to the camera and at some point wonders "Could I be in someone else's story as well?"
  • A Boy and His X: If you view the series from Fakir's perspective, you could probably call it "a boy and his duck".
  • Calling the Old Man Out: Rue, when she defies the Raven, then helps Mytho deliver the final blow to him.
  • Calling Your Attacks: Exactly once in the entire series: the "Flower Waltz" in Akt 1, which wasn't even an attack. (Note that it was performed during a sequence set to "Waltz of the Flowers.")
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Enforced. If the main character confesses her love to Mytho, she turns into a speck of light and vanishes.
  • Catapult Nightmare: Fakir has one in Akt 18.
  • Caught Coming Home Late: In Akt 10, Ahiru is caught by Fakir sneaking back to her dormitory late at night, after saving Mytho as Tutu. When she tries to walk away, Fakir spots her Transformation Trinket and figures out her secret identity.
  • Chariot Pulled by Cats: The Prince uses a flying chariot pulled by swans to return to his story with his Princess.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Autor. His presence in the episodes before he becomes important is either a brilliant Lampshade or crushingly obvious writing.
  • Cheshire Cat Grin: Drosselmeyer is always sporting one with an deep cackle.
  • The Chessmaster: As the author, Drosselmeyer manipulates everyone throughout most of the story.
  • Choreography Porn: The series shows its work with such bravado, its attention to detail has been used to teach dance appreciation classes.
  • Clock Tower: Gold Crown Town has a prominent clock tower, which features figures of a prince and princess, a bird, and a knight that come out when it chimes the hour, paralleling the four main characters. This later turns out to be where Drosselmeyer placed his Rewriting Reality device before his death, which allowed him to control the town through stories even after his death. He traps Princess Tutu there in Akt 23.
  • Clockworks Area: Drosselmeyer appears in one throughout the series, often using gears to interface with characters in the story. This foreshadows his location in the town's clock tower. Tutu and Uzura find themselves there in Akt 23, where Uzura cleverly uses the clock gears to turn time backwards, allowing the character to reflect on how far they have come.
  • Closed Circle: Though it's not obvious at first, the town is completely cut off from the outside world. It's not obvious, because people occasionally spontaneously appear at the town gate, and other, similar things are orchestrated to make it seem like the world is still connected; but as Duck realizes later on, you can't leave.
  • Color-Coded Characters: Pike has purple hair, Duck has orange, and Lilie has yellow.
  • Comedic Sociopathy: Shows up in a lot of areas, but particularly Lilie's treatment of Duck. In fact, in the second season Lilie pretty much becomes the patron saint of this trope.
  • Comically Missing the Point: Mr. Cat will usually assume that all of his students have marrying him in mind, no matter what their actual intentions for doing something are.
  • Commonality Connection: A strong bond grows between Duck and Fakir over how much they both deeply care for Mytho.
    Duck: Let's combine our "we want to protect Mytho" powers!
  • Continuity Nod: A heart shard-possessed lamp is taken home by Duck after she gives the shard back to Mytho, and it can be seen in her room in later episodes.
  • Cooking Duel: Not all of the dancing in Tutu are duels, but nearly all of the duels in the series involve dancing. Played more often for drama than laughs.
  • The Corruption: The Raven's blood grants those who are affected with it dark powers, but also twists their personality to be crueler and more selfish. Prolonged exposure ends with them turning into anthropomorphic crows and being completely under the control of the Raven himself.
  • Covers Always Lie: The cover to the first compilation of Princess Tutu, while appropriate for the theme and character pictured, shows Rue in a skimpy dress instead of Tutu. Later compilations fixed the problem, though they had packaging issues.
  • Couldn't Find a Pen: Drosselmeyer wrote a story in his own blood after the Book Men cut off his hands. This is the story that is controlling the town.
  • Crapsaccharine World: The cutesy character designs and peaceful-looking fairytale town are deceiving. This is a surprisingly dark anime at times, particularly once the secrets of the town begin to be revealed.
  • Crash-Into Hello: Mytho is introduced in the first episode when Duck trips and is caught by him. Rue also met Mytho this way as a child.
  • Crazy-Prepared: Despite Kraehe fully believing there was no way she could lose to Tutu in Episode 13, she has the Love Shard soaked with Raven's blood, which still kept him to her if the shard was returned to him.
  • Creepy Crows: If you see crows or ravens flying around, it's not a good sign. If they start flocking together and swarming, it's safest to shut yourself in your house until they're gone. If their leader shows up, you're screwed. This motif is also very prominent with Princess Kraehe and evil!Mytho.
  • Dainty Little Ballet Dancers:
    • Gender Inverted with Mytho. He's extremely vulnerable in particular; he keeps letting himself be injured unintentionally and reacting passively to everything. This is a plot element and he winds up getting stronger later and doing things like sword-fighting monsters, but not until going through an emotional roller-coaster of crying and freaking out and so forth. Basically everyone in his life wants to shelter him and protect him in some way. His character design is also very dainty and frail-looking, with pale skin, girly pale hair, and big eyes.
    • Averted with Fakir. Even though he has the same build as Mytho, he is consistently portrayed as a strong presence and his dancing is noticeably more aggressive.
  • Dance Battler: Fakir, Kraehe, and Mytho, all ballet dancers, fight much in the same manner as they dance.
  • Darkest Hour: Most of akt 25, as well as the first half of akt 26.
  • The Dead Can Dance: The Wili Maiden, and the skeletons in the Depths of Despair. And you might count Drosselmeyer, as he does the occasional ballet step.
  • Deconstruction: Princess Tutu pulls apart fairy tales to see what makes them tick, and then defies the tropes within.
  • Deducing the Secret Identity: In "Cinderella", when Fakir sees girl!Ahiru sneaking back into the dorms after another battle, he spots the pendant and deduces she's Princess Tutu. Downplayed, since he doesn't figure out Ahiru was the duck he hugged until she reveals it herself in "Banquet of Darkness."
  • Defied Trope: Most of the main characters in the second season actively defy the roles they've been given.
  • Despair Event Horizon: Duck and Rue cross this in episode 25.
  • Determinator: Drosselmeyer. Hands cut off? No problem, just keep writing your stories in your own blood. Executed? Extend your reach from beyond the grave. It all just adds to the drama of your epic tragedy.
    • Ahiru herself fits. Despite the odds stacked against her in the final episodes, she keeps dancing despite being attacked by crows — this time as a duck and not Princess Tutu. But every time she gets knocked down, Ahiru got back up and kept dancing to save the townspeople.
  • Died During Production: In-Universe example with Drosselmeyer's The Prince and the Raven, which kicks off the entire plot.
  • Disappears into Light: If Princess Tutu ever confesses her love for the prince, she will become a speck of light.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?:
    • In this show, Boyfriend=Official Dance Partner (and vice versa). Rue makes Mytho dance with her a lot. And then...
    • Rue/Kraehe kisses him as she removes the feeling of love from his heart, kidnapping him and turning him into an Empty Shell. And then we see them lying down together on a bed of feathers, with Kraehe in her Stripperific tutu and Mytho completely naked. As a result of this, his heart is tainted. Doesn't help that this all comes shortly after Mr. Cat gives Mytho a thinly-veiled Talk.
    • In season 2, Dark!Mytho starts taking advantage of the many, many girls who fall in love with him, luring them into dark, secluded places for them to prove their love to him. They offer themselves up to him so that he can take away their pure, innocent hearts. He is literally trying to steal their hearts (which would effectively turn them into Empty Shells), but that might just make him seem more like a sexual predator.
  • Domestic Abuse:
    • The second season has Rue suffering from emotional and, later, physical abuse from Mytho. Played very dark and serious, to show how much the Raven's blood is twisting his personality.
    • The first season also has Fakir treating Mytho roughly, including one point where he slaps Mytho for defying an order. Not played quite as seriously as the above example, but still portrayed as pretty shocking to the people that witness it. Later when Mytho frames Fakir for trying to kill him under the influence of Raven's blood, most of the class has an easy time believing it thanks to witnessing the previous moments of abuse.
  • Downer Ending: Before his death, all of Drosselmeyer's stories ended in tragedy. He's hoping for this story to end unhappily as well.
  • Dramatic Shattering: Fakir's entrance in "Black Shoes".
  • Dramatic Unmask: Fakir in episode 8, when his mask gets cracked and falls apart after a confrontation with Kraehe. Overlaps with the trope immediately above.
    • And a more subtle one much later on in the second season. As Kraehe finds out the truth – that she's a normal human who had been kidnapped by the Raven as an infant – her Dark Magical Girl transformation gradually reverses itself back into Rue's school uniform. After this, Kraehe never again makes an appearance in the series aside from flashbacks.
  • Dream Ballet: Duck evokes this at least twice.
  • Dream Sequence: Several, often foreshadowing future events.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • Very minor, but the fairytale book is called The Prince and the Crow in the first few episodes before settling on The Prince and the Raven.
    • Relatively minor, but in the first episode at one point Drosselmeyer views Duck from the gear world through what appears to be a mirror. Every other time, he watches others through gears.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: The story sets itself up for tragedy in-universe, with the threat of rendering everything meaningless and the author in charge of the in-universe story openly pulling for a Downer Ending where Tutu vanishes, the Prince re-shatters his heart, and everything the characters worked for amounts to nothing. Thanks to the power of hope, it ends on the happy side of bittersweet, as the characters defy their fate and defeat the Raven, Mytho and Rue are happily married inside the story, the machine used to make it is destroyed, and while Ahiru is forever a duck, she stays by Fakir's side and both are happy with their lives as the town and the people move on.
  • The End of the Beginning: The last scene of the anime has the narrator stating that Fakir is starting "a new story full of hope."
  • "End of the World" Special: Before he starts on the story mentioned above, he breaks Drosselmeyer's control of the story and writes his own ending.
  • Everybody Do the Endless Loop: The townspeople when they are turned into crows because of the Raven's blood.
  • Exact Words: Princess Tutu cannot express words of love to her prince. When Kraehe puts her on the spot in the first season finale, Tutu conveys her feelings through dance instead.
  • Evil Wears Black:
  • Expressive Hair: Occasionally, most often with Duck.
  • Eye Catch: Featuring Drosselmeyer and his leitmotif. One episode also has a gag eyecatch with Mr. Cat humming the Wedding March.
  • Face of a Thug: Lysander, Hermia's crush, has square, thuggish features and walks around with an expression halfway between a pucker and a frown, but he's actually a gentle and sensitive artist.
  • Failure Hero: In-Universe. Duck sees herself as this as Season 2 goes on, as she's able to only react to problems, is unable to do anything to stop them from occurring and has little idea what's causing them, and can't find the last few Heart Shards. Fakir helping her out of this mindset is a key moment in both of their character developments.
  • Failure Knight: Fakir is the trope inspiration. Having charged himself with guarding Mytho and protecting him from harm, as a knight should, he utterly fails in everything he tries to do. Kraehe mocks him for it. He has much more success when he lays down his sword and picks up a pen.
  • Fairytale Motifs: The anime mixes Magical Girl tropes and fairy tale motifs with references to specific stories and ballets. The first season mostly plays the typical fairy tale structure straight (outside of the fact that the princess is saving the prince), only to defy it in the second season when the characters rebel against their assigned fairy tale roles as the prince, princess, villain, and knight and decide to (literally) rewrite the story.
  • Fanservice: Although the Shirtless Scenes and Duck being nude when she transforms from a duck to a girl serve a purpose in the plot, it's hard to deny the fanservice-y component to the scenes.
    • And then you have the manga's version of Edel.
  • Fate Worse than Death:
    • Subverted in that Duck spends much of the show worrying about and trying to avoid Princess Tutu's destiny to 'fade away' after saving the prince.
    • Traditionally done: Rue almost gets this at the end of the anime, when the Raven swallows her and sends her to "Despair", a ghostly world where she's forced to dance until she wastes away. Mytho saves her.
  • Faux Fluency: The show is implied to be set in Germany, and one scene has Fakir recite a long spell in German – but Chris Patton doesn't know German and had to memorize the lines off a recording. (Takahiro Sakurai likely had to do something similar.)
  • Feathered Fiend: The Raven and the crows, not to mention Princess Kraehe and Mytho when he's turned into a crow.
  • Fictional Document: The Prince and the Raven, a fairy tale written by Drosselmeyer.
  • First-Episode Twist: The first episode of Princess Tutu opens with Ahiru (which means "Duck" in Japanese and is translated as such in the dub) having a dream that she's a bird, but waking up to be a human. She insists in her introduction that she's just a girl that happens to be named after a bird, but by the end of the episode, she remembers that she really IS a duck, and her human form was just a magical disguise.
  • First Girl Wins: Rue was the first girl Mytho met after coming out of the story/losing his heart, and is the girl he finally ends up with.
  • Flower Motifs:
    • First of all, there's a rose in a vase in the dorm room Mytho and Fakir share. It starts off as a bud, then slowly begins to bloom as Mytho gets more and more pieces of his heart returned to him. However, when his heart shard of love is poisoned with evil Raven's blood by Kraehe, the rose begins to wilt.
    • Princess Tutu's powers are connected to pink flowers and vines because Mytho's powers involve flowers, and her powers come from one of his heart shards.
    • The flamboyant Femio also gives out roses, probably as a symbol of his over-the-top, false chivalry and "love".
  • Foreshadowing: Everywhere. Early episodes that seem like filler couldn't be removed from the show without removing a lot of buildup for what happens later in the series.
    • Every episode has something that becomes important later on, even Episode 17.
    • In the very first episode, Duck comments that Rue makes a better match for Mytho than she does.
    • More and more crows start to appear around town the further the story goes in, foreshadowing the story becoming darker.
    • The first gem that Ahiru/Duck asks for the name of from Edel? Hope!
    • Kraehe using Cinderella as a motif during her "wedding" with Mytho.
  • Four-Temperament Ensemble: Ahiru (Sanguine), Fakir (Choleric), Rue (Melancholic) and Mythos (Phlegmatic).
  • Fractured Fairy Tale: A lot of the anime revolves around playing around with fairy tale tropes (Swan Lake in particular) and subverting them, while also staying within the Magical Girl genre. The knight's armor isn't exactly shiny, the Prince ends up marrying the Dark Magical Girl, and several fairy tales are mentioned and commented on. For example...
    • The main character and the prince end up trapped in a woman's restaurant while she keeps bringing them more and more food, and Ahiru thinks it's Hansel and Gretel and they're being fattened up for her to eat. In reality, the woman is just very lonely and trying to make them stay.
    • The opening narration at one point questions whether Sleeping Beauty really wanted to wake up, or if she wanted to keep dreaming.
    • In an episode titled "Cinderella", the main character loses the pendant that allows her to become the Magical Girl, and it's found by one of the male characters. He spends the rest of the episode trying to find her... because he considers Princess Tutu an enemy and wants to attack her.
  • Friend-or-Idol Decision: Duck is given one of these at the end of the anime: Give Mytho his final heart shard (her pendant) and watch as he rides off into the sunset with Rue, or keep the pendant for herself and continue being a girl?
  • Funny Background Event: Played for Drama, as Mr. Cat explaining to Miss Goatette why they can't be married is overheard by other characters and helps them understand themselves more.
  • Furry Confusion: Many of the town's residents are barely-anthropomorphized animals that act, dress, talk, and are treated like humans, but look more or less like real animals, bipedalism aside. Ordinary, inhuman animals are also seen. Then there's Duck, whose original form is an "ordinary duck" that doesn't wear clothes, can't speak German, can't go to school... and looks nothing like an actual duck, being more of a cartoonish, emotive Funny Animal duckling.
  • Genre Shift: Princess Tutu starts off an an innocuous Gotta Catch 'Em All Magical Girl series. If it stayed that way, this series's nickname wouldn't be Guitar Ninjas.
  • Gleeful and Grumpy Pairing: Ahiru and Fakir.
  • Good Morning, Crono: The first episode of each season has Duck having a dream and waking up tumbling out of her bed.
  • Gotta Catch Them All: Pieces of Mytho's heart. The final six are particularly challenging.
  • Grand Finale: Episode 26 wraps the whole story, giving closure for every reoccurring character.
  • Gratuitous German: The scene where Fakir retrieves Mytho's sword, plus nearly all of the text shown in the series. There's some hints that the show is set in Germany, or at least in the equivalent in the show's world.
  • Heart Trauma: Mytho is a Prince who sacrificed his heart to seal away the Raven.
  • Heroic BSoD: Duck has one after overhearing that Mytho (who had just gotten the heart shard of fear) is afraid of Tutu. It has such a profound effect on her that she actually tries to throw the pendant away.
  • Hidden Depths: Mr. Cat shows this sometimes when he escapes his usual Plucky Comic Relief status to give actual advice.
    • At one point, Duck asks Mr. Cat if there's any way to repair a damaged love. Instead of delivering one of his outlandish marriage proposals like he does in every other scene, he freezes and turns away, telling her gently that sometimes lost love simply can't be repaired.
    • Another time, when asked what to do about an impure love, he asks Fakir if Odile's love was impure.
    • Actually pretty much anytime one needs advice, Mr. Cat is always there to give very deep advice that usually helps the character. Though he will more often than not lead said conversation back to marriage.
  • Hilarious Outtakes: The first two volumes of the anime in the US feature an extra of the dub actors cracking jokes and flubbing their lines. Humorously, one joke was accidentally never removed, so in the second season of the dub Fakir decides to "write a letter to the President!"
  • Homage: The show is full of ballet and opera homages.
  • Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: All the episode titles are in German, and the subtitles name the classical piece used as a theme in the episode. Also, instead of using the word "episode", they use "Akt" (German for "act").
  • Idiot Hair: Duck has one of these.
  • I Just Want to Have Friends: This was the desire of the lamp spirit from akt 5.
  • "I Know You Are in There Somewhere" Fight: Fakir and Mytho's duel in akt 20.
  • Implied Love Interest: Duck and Fakir grow closer as the story goes on, to the point that Pike and Lillie ask Duck if she has feelings for him as well as Mytho. However, the two never seem to consider or believe that they're falling for each other, despite moments like Duck commenting on how Fakir makes her feel strong and Fakir promising to stay by her side, no matter what form she's in. Then at the end she's permanently turned back into a duck, making a relationship pretty much impossible.
  • Improbable Weapon User: Kraehe uses feathers as weapons.
  • Inner Monologue: Duck at different points, Rue in her backstory, Fakir in his backstory.
  • Intangible Time Travel: Happens to Rue when the story starts moving backwards.
  • Interspecies Romance: The entire story is set in motion due to Duck falling in love with Mytho, back when she was still just a duck. Ultimately, the ending hints at mutual love between her and Fakir after she's returned to being a duck forever.
  • Intimate Healing: In a flashback, Rue takes water into her mouth and kisses an unconscious, dehydrated Mytho to revive him.
  • Invisible Parents: Very few of the kids ever mention their parents, likely because they're all living in a boarding school. None of the main four seem to have parents over the course of the story. We never see any duck parents for Duck, Mytho is a storybook character and thus wouldn't have been born the same way as a genuine human being (note that he doesn't age because the story hasn't moved forward), Fakir's parents died to protect him when he was just a boy, and Rue was kidnapped as a child. Even if her parents were still alive at the end of the story, she would have no idea who they were or how to contact them. Given that it's been over a decade since her disappearance, Rue's parents likely stopped searching for her as well.
  • Involuntary Shapeshifting: Kraehe's transformation at first; it is never clear whether Duck/Ahiru or Drosselmeyer controls the Princess Tutu transformation - in the first season, it appears he does, while in the second it seems more like Duck/Ahiru is in control. However, Duck/Ahiru doesn't control when she switches back and forth from a girl and a duck – when she quacks, she turns into a duck, and when she gets wet she turns back into a girl, as long as she has her pendant on. However, she starts using it to her advantage pretty quickly.
  • In Name Only: The manga version bears little resemblance to the anime, including removing nearly all of the fairy tale elements and turning Edel into a human shopkeeper who fills Drosselmeyer's role (including being the Big Bad).
  • In the Name of the Moon: "Please, won't you dance with me...?"
  • Jerkass: Autor (at first, anyway), Drosselmeyer, Mytho once he's been corrupted
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Fakir starts out as a straight-up Jerkass before shifting into this role for much of the series. By the end he's a much better person.
  • Jigsaw Puzzle Plot: Every episode has something important to the main plot, even if it seems like filler.
  • Journey To The Center Ofthe Mind: In the first season, many of Tutu's "battles" take place on a mental plane as she encourages acknowledgement of one's true feelings.
  • Kiss of Death: Princess Kraehe kisses Mytho while she literally rips a piece of his heart from his chest.
  • Law of Chromatic Superiority: Rue, the school's best dancer, wears a red leotard instead of the typical blue that everyone else wears. On the flip side, Duck indicates herself as the odd one out in her ballet class by wearing a white leotard.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Duck and many other characters (usually those whom just entered the town) seem to notice something suspicious early in the show (mostly animals as people). However they quickly forget about this shortly after noticing.
  • Letting the Air out of the Band: Whenever Mr. Cat makes one of his threatening proposals, Mendelssohn's iconic "Wedding March" starts up. If it's not immediately interrupted by something else, it then frequently peters out discordantly.
  • Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Duck is Light, Rue is Dark, especially while in their Magical Girl alter egos.
  • Lions and Tigers and Humans... Oh, My!: Most of the town's residents are human, but the main ballet teacher is a talking cat and several students are animals as well. Duck is the only one who sees this as strange, but nobody else bats an eye. In the end, it's revealed that this was part of the town being trapped in Drosselmeyer's story, since Mr. Cat is last seen as a normal, non-anthropomorphic cat.
  • Locked Out of the Loop: Duck in season 2, which eventually causes the story to stop.
  • Look Behind You: To keep Duck from telling Mytho that she's Tutu at the start of the second season, Fakir uses this. While his excuses seem very outlandish to viewers, it actually could have happened in the story.
    Duck: Um, I... Well, the truth is... The truth is...
    Fakir: PRINCESS TUTU.
    Duck: QUACK!
    (Fakir yanks Mytho and faces him away from Duck just in time for him to miss her turning into a duck.)
    Fakir: ...Is flying right over there. ...No, maybe it's a crocodile?
    Mytho: There's nothing there. And Princess Tutu and a crocodile are totally different anyway, Fakir. ...Fakir?
    Fakir: Oh? Right. Maybe I was just imagining things. I really thought I saw a flying cow, but...
  • Loop Hole Abuse: Duck can't tell Mytho she loves him or else she'll turn into a speck of light. It didn't say anything about confessing her love through dancing.
  • Loss of Identity: Duck grapples over who Tutu is in relation to herself and whether she's just a part in a story or not.
  • The Lost Lenore: Akt 3 gives us a male example with Ebine's husband. She finds herself completely unable to move on without him, to the point she no longer finds joy in her cooking and spends more time trying to persuade her customers to stay as long as possible. Of course, being possessed by the Prince's heart shard of loneliness doesn't help either.
  • Lovable Marriage Maniac: Mr. Cat, with his strangely endearing tendency to propose/threaten marriage to his underage students
  • Love Dodecahedron: Relationships can be rather complicated in this show.
  • Love Letter Lunacy: In one episode, Duck's friends write a fake love letter from her to Fakir.
  • Love Triangle: Several.
    • The main one in focus throughout the series is Duck -> Mytho <- Rue. This triangle is unusual in the sense that the main heroine doesn't win this one.
    • Starting late in season 1, Fakir -> Duck -> Mytho. The fan guide confirmed that Fakir loves Duck, although her feelings for him are never truly explained one way or the other.
    • Episode 20 centers around a love triangle between Fakir's foster father Karon, his childhood friend Raetsel, and Raetsel's fiance Hans, like so: Karon <- Raetsel <-> Hans
    • Toward the end of the series, Autor -> Rue <-> Mytho.
  • Luminescent Blush: A large chunk of the characters do this at some point, but it's when Fakir does it that you know the scene's going to be funny.
  • Madonna-Whore Complex: Zigzagged. Princess Tutu is an innocent Magical Girl in white who collects Mytho's heart shard in hopes of getting him to smile. Her rival, Princess Kraehe, is a jealous Femme Fatale in a Stripperific black dress who is willing to corrupt one of his heart shard in hopes of having him for herself. However, while Tutu ends up finding her Second Love in Fakir, Kraehe loves only Mytho and ends up pulling a Heel–Face Turn to save his life from her abusive father figure, the Raven.
  • Magical Girl: Princess Tutu is not the usual example. She purely uses words to help those in need and very rarely is in actual combat.
  • Magic Pants: Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing is in play when Duck turns from a girl to a duck, but this is played straight when she turns into Princess Tutu.
  • Magic Skirt: Averted for Princess Tutu (they aren't afraid to show the bottom of her leotard for the sake of accurately animating her dances, but then that's Truth in Television for lots of ballerinas). Played straight almost every other time a character dances in a skirt, though. Mytho also jumps out of a window twice! wearing nothing but an unbuttoned shirt that barely hits the tops of his thighs and manages to not flash the camera.
  • Male Gaze: In one scene, Autor is following behind Rue, and the camera focuses on Rue's back and slowly...pans down to examine her rear end and legs. The camera then switches to show Autor looking downwards and blushing, implying that the view we were seeing was from Autor's point of view.
    • Averted with Fakir, who makes it a point of NOT looking at Duck when she turns back into a human and just merely hands over her clothes while not looking.
  • Marionette Motion:
    • In the second season, Princess Tutu is made to dance in Drosselmeyer's world with ltieral narionette strings.
    • And early in Season 2, Pique does a bit of this when Mytho is trying to take her heart. Justified in that she's dancing the Waltz Of The Dolls from the ballet Coppelia.
  • Meaningful Name: Pretty much everyone.
  • Mental World: Mindscapes created by the heart shards; they allow even normal people to have powers when Tutu tries to take the shards.
  • Mind-Control Eyes: Mytho, at various points in the series. The girls he goes after in Season 2 get this, too.
  • Mini Dress Of Power: Well a tutu is a mini dress anyway.
  • Mistaken for Gay: Happens to Mytho when he mimes the sign of love in an attempt to ward off The Corruption in the direction of another boy. Most of the girls in class are shocked and/or disappointed — not because he's gay (half of them were probably shipping him with Fakir already), but because the boy in question was Femio.
  • Morality Pet: Duck seems to be this for people when she's in her original duck form. The characters will often just break down and confess their problems to her if they come across her.
  • Morton's Fork: At the end of season 1, Duck is faced with the choice between declaring her love for the prince to win his love, but dissolving into a mote of light, making it impossible to return the final fragment of his heart, or to remain silent, and allow Princess Crow to win him over. Naturally, Duck takes a third option.
  • Ms. Exposition: Edel is an In-Universe one: she is a puppet made for just this purpose by Drosselmeyer. The second season also adds a more traditional Mr. in the form of Autor.
  • My God, What Have I Done?:
    • Duck at the end of episode 6, after giving Mytho the heart shard of fear.
    • Later Rue, after she learns just how much crows blood can corrupt a person.
      Rue: My love has made you into this. I have no right to love you.
  • Narrator: Every episode begins with a narrator telling a story that relates to the plot of the episode in some way (some more than others). Drosselmeyer also serves as a sort of narrator in some scenes.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
    • It turns out that five of the remaining pieces of the prince's heart are actually the seal that protects the town from the Monster Raven. Guess what happens when they're taken away.
    • Fakir does this around the midway point of the anime, as well. Kraehe tries to make Mytho destroy his feeling of love with the enchanted sword, and Fakir breaks Mytho's sword with his own to stop it from happening. Unfortunately, aside from The Power of Love, the only way to save Mytho's heart from raven blood is to remove it with the enchanted sword... As Fakir finds out one episode later. Oops.
  • Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: In the second season, Drosselmeyer taking Tutu captive, telling her about the fact that she's a story character and trying to force her into a Sadistic Choice made her realize she didn't want to follow his commands anymore.
  • No Communities Were Harmed: The town in the series is based on Nordlingen, a German town.
  • Not Now, Kiddo: Duck tries to distract Rue from seeing Mytho with another girl, but Rue just smiles and brushes off the silly duck flailing about her feet. Duck tries again in her human form, but doesn't make it in time to stop Rue from seeing Mytho. It turns out that Rue's not bothered by it, since she knows that Mytho's heartless and not truly interested in the other girl. She does thank Duck for her concern, though.
  • Offing the Offspring: The Raven tries to eat the heart of his daughter, Kraehe, when she fails to deliver him a sacrifice. Later, he eats her as punishment for saving the Prince (but she gets better). Of course, it turns out she isn't his real daughter, and he kidnapped her as a baby.
  • "On the Next Episode of..." Catch-Phrase: "All children who love stories, come, gather round..."
  • Only One Name: Everyone. Mytho, Ahiru/Duck/Ente, and Rue probably doesn't even have last names, and the characters whose last names are known (Cat, Drosselmeyer) aren't given first names. Well, on Drosselmeyer's grave we're given "D. D. Drosselmeyer", so we know his name starts with a D...but that's the closest we ever get to a full name on the show.
  • Only Smart People May Pass: Subverted in episode 5 — Duck isn't being asked the riddles to test her, the voice is simply trying to communicate with her in a very fairytale-esque way.
  • Or Was It a Dream?: the most notable example being in the first episode, when Duck has dreams of being a duck. Turns out, she wasn't far off.
  • Out-of-Clothes Experience: Fakir and Mytho's nightmares/flashbacks, plus Fakir's conversation with the Oak Tree.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Both Princess Kraehe and Princess Tutu look exactly like Rue and Duck, respectively, except wearing elaborate ballet outfits and with different hairstyles, and yet very few people are able to figure out who they really are, and those who do take quite a long time to accomplish it. It turns out that anyone outside the main cast simply sees Tutu as a huge, white swan; something similar may apply to Kraehe, but she never makes a public appearance like Tutu.
    • Everyone except Femio, who going off his dialogue when faced down with both Tutu and Kraehe, sees human girls, and not two swans.
  • People Puppets
  • Pet The Duck: When Fakir finds Duck (in duck form) in his locker, he sneaks her out and feeds her. This is the first indication that there's more to him than just being a Jerkass.
  • Pimped-Out Dress:
    • For the festival in Akt 5, Mytho and Rue dress like nobility from renaissance times.
    • And Rue gets a nice white one at the end of the final episode, as Mytho/Siegfried's princess.
  • Please Put Some Clothes On: A running gag throughout the series, thanks to Duck's clothes not transforming with her.
  • Postmodernism: The series is about the characters in a story discovering that they're characters in a story and ultimately rebelling against the author's intentions for them.
  • Post-Victory Collapse: Happens to Fakir after he shatters Mytho's sword at the end of the first season. Also happens to Duck in "Wandering Knight ~ Egmont Ouvertüre" (after a battle with the titular ghost) and in the beginning of "The Prince and the Raven ~ Danse Macabre". Oh, and then there's Autor after he tackles the Book Man... okay, the series likes this trope a lot.
  • The Power of Blood: Fakir cuts his palm to restore his sword with power, and in the second season, the Raven's blood is used to infect Mytho.
  • The Power of Rock: Or rather, The Power of Ballet, since the transformations, battles, and most storylines are based around ballet.
  • Princess Protagonist: The series focuses on Duck, who helps the fairy tale prince Mytho regain his heart as the titular Princess Tutu.
  • The Promise: Fakir's promise to Duck in the lake before the finale.
  • Public Domain Soundtrack: Many of the show's songs are classical ballet pieces.
  • Rage Against the Reflection: The anime has a scene with an interesting variation — at one point, Fakir smashes through a window and threatens Kraehe with a shard of glass. She was actually in the middle of questioning her motives, but when she sees her reflection in the falling shards of glass and hears Fakir's accusation of being a "crow", she accepts who she is and mockingly responds "Why yes, I am a crow!"
  • Railroading: A rare non-game example, as Drosselmeyer tries to railroad the plot in the direction of his choice, directly intervening in person in a few places in order to try and keep the plot on track. Given Drosselmeyer's lack of charisma, this doesn't always have the desired effect.
  • Real-Place Background: Gold Crown Town is heavily based on Nördlingen, a town in the south of Germany, known for its old buildings and almost fully intact city wall. Many local sightings make a regular appearance, like the town's church tower, statues, bridges and the water mill. The pizzeria appearing regularly is based on a real-life restaurant, and the town's five wall gates play an important role during the show's last act.
  • Reality Is Out to Lunch: Several of the settings that Drosselmeyer created just for his story.
  • Reflective Eyes
  • Reincarnation: Fakir is one of the Knight from the story.
  • Red Eyes, Take Warning: Subverted with Rue, but played straight as an arrow with the monster raven.
  • Rescue Romance: Tutu saves Mytho the first time they meet, and does so in several other episodes. There's several other pairings that have a rescue involved, as well.
  • Rewriting Reality: Those of Drosselmeyer's bloodline can do this.
  • Running Gag: Several—most of the Catch Phrases are running gags, for example. The most beloved is probably Fakir seeing Duck naked and freaking out. Mr. Cat threatening to marry any of the female students who fail his class is another one.
  • Say My Name: Tutu and Fakir paralleled: when she rescues him from the Knowledge Tree and when he rescues her from Drosselmeyer. Worth noting that Fakir calls out Duck instead of Tutu.
    • A truly impressive example near the end of the series happens when Mytho, now the newly-restored Prince Siegfried, calls out the name of his princess as he comes to her rescue. "Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuue!"
  • Sensible Hero Skimpy Villain: Duck's outfit is fairly modest while Rue's is fairly revealing.
  • Schmuck Banquet: In the third act, as a reference to "Hansel and Gretel".
  • Screw Destiny: The entire second half of the anime (see the quote above).
  • Shapeshifting Excludes Clothing: Duck, because she is a duck, turns back into a duck whenever she acts like a duck, thus leaving an empty pile of clothing behind.
  • Shapeshifting Lover: Every now and then, this old folktale is referenced in the way Tutu appears to people.
  • Ship Tease: The show's promo heavily implies Fakir forces a kiss on Duck, and even has Duck internally monologuing about wondering 'who gets chosen' regarding relationships between herself, Fakir, Rue and Mytho. While the series is heavy on showing aspects of different relationships, nothing like what was shown in the promo actually happens in the show, so it was probably there to up the demographic by drawing in shippers.
  • Shirtless Scene: Fakir gets a few that show off the birthmark across his torso.
  • Shoot the Shaggy Dog: Drosselmeyer gets his kicks out of these sorts of endings, and is hopping to give the series itself one.
  • Shout-Out: The series is full of ballet-related references. Notably with Swan Lake, but also The Nutcracker, Giselle, Coppélia, La Sylphide, etc.
    • There are also references to classical fairy tales as well like Sleeping Beauty and Cinderella (granted they were also turned into ballets).
    • Akt 19 has several shout outs to A Midsummer Night's Dream.
    • The most notable is the curtains from the opening, they are the curtains of The Mariinsky Theatre.
    • Neko-sensei/Mr. Cat's mentor Nyajinsky/Meowjinsky is a reference to the performer Nijinsky
  • Shown Their Work: The dances are all actual ballet pieces.
    • Furthermore, most, if not all, of the music is taken from classical ballet or other classical pieces and in most cases, used appropriately. Further mention should go to the ballet classes as well - half-human ballet teacher aside, most ballet syllabi place a huge emphasis on being able to do the basics well, even at professional level and girls are typically not allowed to go en pointe until they can show strong fundamental technique and their feet are in a position to do so.
  • Show Within a Show: Four-fold, with 1) a ballet-structured story, about kids attending a ballet school, whose battles are ballet dances. 2) the school puts on both a ballet and a dramatic play. 3) the story of the Prince & The Raven. 4) Gold Crown Town itself is a story written by Drosselmeyer, and the characters from the Prince & the Raven story are reincarnated as actual people into the town's living story.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Duck stops most of her "enemies" by dancing with them and making them understand the feeling that is disturbing their life. And she eventually manages to befriend the unprepared villain, Kraehe/Rue. Mind you, it does take a kickass swordfight in an atmosphere of apocalyptic gloom to triumph over the Big Bad. Then again, it's not so nice an ending for Duck herself, who has to return to being a duck and thus lose her humanity and her true love for good. Apparently, the Power of Love has limits after all. Still, she seems perfectly happy with how things work out. Being a duck isn't all that bad — it's what she really is, and she gets to be with Fakir anyway. Plus her friends get to live happily ever after — really, what more could she possibly ask for? And she can still dance!
  • Sliding Scale of Free Will vs. Fate: The relationship fate-free will varies a lot. Fate can be fought but some things can't be changed like Duck being stuck as a duck. Ultimately this show's Arc Words explain it better: "Those who accept their fate find happiness; those who defy it, glory."
  • Slow Clap: In Akt 2, after Duck and Rue's pas de deux, the entire class remains speechless, until the silence is broken by Fakir clapping. Then Mytho starts clapping as well, and everyone else does the same.
  • Small Reference Pools: The show notably doesn't have one. You can impress college professors with the knowledge of classical music you get from this show!
  • Snicket Warning Label: The first season's ending is a perfectly normal happy ending, and except for a small reminder that there's still some loose strings to tie up, it feels like an actual ending. Then the second season rolls around...
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: In the final episode, the uplifting Waltz of the Flowers theme plays during a hopeful scene of Duck dancing and continues playing as the crows peck her and beat her up.
  • Spanner in the Works: Uzura, and to a lesser extent Edel.
  • Speaking Up for Another: In "Swan Lake", Kraehe blames Ahiru for all of the pain and conflict now occurring due to her returning the shards of Mytho's heart to him, setting the story of The Prince and the Raven back into motion. Fakir defends Ahiru. And when Kraehe pressures her to confess her love for Mytho, which would make her vanish, Fakir steps in and tells her to Take a Third Option.
    Fakir: If you just vanish, then who is going to restore Mytho's heart to him? Haven't you wanted to see Mytho smile when he had gained back all of the pieces of his heart? You alone, and nobody else, could accept Princess Tutu's fate so smilingly. That's why you mustn't vanish. (draws sword) I will change this fate.
  • Stealth Pun: In episode 6, when Mr. Cat meets the lead ballerina of the dance troupe, he starts dancing a pas de chat. GEDDIT? BECAUSE HE'S A CAT.
    • Near the end of the series Fakir decides to rewrite the story instead of staying a Knight. The pen is mightier than the sword.
  • Story Arc: Every episode fits into the story of the series, but there's definitely a clear differentiation between the two seasons. They seem like two different arcs that form together to create a whole.
  • Straight to the Pointe: Usually averted. the girls are really just in the phase where the best of them graduate the basics and are allowed to start their pointe, and many scenes point out how hard it actually is, even for the dance genius Rue. However, for Princess Tutu (the Magical Girl form for Ahiru, who in her civilian form is rather clumsy and very often under threat of being assessed additional exercise for being so incompetent in dance class) it's justified in that thanks to her magic she can dance however she wants.
  • Strange Minds Think Alike: A Cloudcuckoolander in the second season claims, completely out of the blue, Duck's "inner world" is a duck.
  • Super Window Jump: Fakir in akt 9.
  • Surprisingly Creepy Moment: The show starts off looking like a sugary-sweet, very cute ballet-themed Magical Girl show in a very picturesque town that has Cat instructors, and a Penguin that plays piano - then the crows come, then let's not get into the Finale of Season One or all of Season Two
  • Surreal Humor: The anthropomorphic characters are funny in a strange way.
  • Swan Boats: The Prince uses a flying chariot pulled by swans to return to his story with his Princess.
  • Sword Limbo: Fakir in akt 13.
  • Take a Third Option: At the end of season 1, Duck is faced with the choice between declaring her love for the prince (and thus dissolving into a mote of light, leaving no one to retrieve the last piece of his heart) or letting Princess Crow win his love. Duck realizes that there's a third option - to show her love for him through dance.
  • Take My Hand!: A gorgeously executed example occurs in akt 23.
  • Take Our Word for It: A sloth ballerina is so good the judges state she is easily on the short list to win the dancing contest, though the audience never sees her move.
  • The Teaser: All of the episodes open with a fairytale told by a female narrator and illustrated by charcoal drawings.
  • That Makes Me Feel Angry: Mytho's prone to saying what he feels; justified as he's used to not feeling anything and has no idea what the emotions are.
  • Theme Naming: Several people in this town, including the main character herself, have names that are either animal names outright (Ahiru/Duck, Neko-sensei/Mr. Cat) or are animal names with a name-suffix attached to it (Anteaterina, Miss Goatette).
  • There Was a Door: Fakir's dramatic window-crashing scene in Akt 9.
  • Tragic Dream: Ironically, Princess Tutu and Princess Kraehe share the same Tragic Dream, although it's tragic for different reasons: They both want Mytho's love. Duck/Tutu has the power to help Mytho regain his feelings, but she's destined to vanish into light if she ever confesses her love to him; it turns out that the only way for her to have him for her own would be to withhold his final heart shards. Rue/Kraehe, on the other hand, already "has" Mytho, but he's incapable of actually loving her, and when he starts getting his feelings back, he falls in love with Tutu instead. As much as she tries to convince herself that Mytho loves her, he only ever shows indifference to her at best and downright abuse at worst, after she misguidedly corrupts what's left of his heart. In the end, Duck realizes that while she cares for Mytho, romantically speaking, she loved more the idea of him rather than his actual self, so she dedicates herself to go Screw Destiny instead — even when that means she'll return to be a duck. As for Rue... her dream becomes true as the fully re-hearted Mytho does romantically love her, and ultimately makes her his Princess.
  • Transformation Name Announcement: The manga version has Tutu say "I am Princess Tutu! I dance to guide your heart!" after every transformation.
  • Transformation Sequence: Obviously, since it's a magical girl show — although it's rather short for most in its genre clocking in at only 14 seconds.
  • Translation Convention: It's implied all of the characters are really speaking German, not Japanese or English.
  • Threshold Guardians: The heart shard of Fear, and Fakir's struggle to overcome his fears of the story-spinning powers.
  • To Become Human: This is Duck's dream. She lets go so Mytho can be happy.
  • Transformation Trauma: Princess Kraehe's transformation, and Mytho's transformation into a crow.
  • Tutu Fancy: Let's face it, you have an anime about magical ballet princesses, you want to give your two most important characters a little something to their designs.
    • Main character Duck's ballet persona Princess Tutu wears a very sensible costume... with three tendrils well long enough to get caught in her legs.
    • Deuteragonist Rue's costume as evil seductive Princess Kraehe is black with a bodice that has barely enough cloth for a Navel-Deep Neckline and nothing, nothing else yet it somehow stays in place as if glued to the skin. Now you can achieve the same look on an RL ballet stage but it'll need one, an experienced costumer to work a small miracle with skin-coloured ("invisible") fabric and two, a very, modern production to be allowed in the first place.
  • Two-Act Structure: Of the "Parallel" variety.
  • Un-Duet: Princess Tutu dances a pas de deux by herself.
  • Uncanny Village : Duck is quite possibly the first to notice that something is wrong. For starters, she is the only one that realizes the weirdness of having a talking cat as a teacher, and animal classmates. When Duck tries to get outside of the town, she is unable to. She also realizes that people spontaneously materialize, as if they had always existed, at the town's entrances. The "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue reveals that the town was actually a real town trapped in Drosselmeyer's story.
  • Unrequited Tragic Maiden: The Heroine Duck/Tutu and Anti-Villainess Rue/Kraehe are positioned as Swan Lake-like love rivals over the handsome Prince Charming Mytho. The defiance of established narratives is a major theme, though...
    • Duck has an unrequited crush on Mytho and tries to help him as her Magical Girl alter ego Princess Tutu, but soon learns that she'll die if she ever confesses her love to him. Mytho is in love with Tutu but only sees Duck as a friend. Eventually Duck realizes that she was Loving a Shadow and thus refuses to give up hope like the author intended her to; she then falls in love with Fakir.
    • Rue is the seductive villainess corrupting the heroic Prince, an archetype doomed to lose out to the pure heroine. However, she is eventually revealed to have a tragic backstory, and contaminates Mytho to the point that he abuses her. After she finally manages to express her love for him, however, Mytho realizes that he truly loves her, rescues her from the death she was resigned to after her Heroic Sacrifice, and takes her as his princess in the end.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: Duck and Fakir. There's hints of it from quite early on, but it becomes very blatant in Akt 12, and continues through the rest of the series.
  • Voluntary Shapeshifting: Duck can sometimes control when she turns into a duck or a girl... although she can also accidentally trigger the transformations.
  • Walk on Water:
    • The danceoff at the end of the first season between Kraehe and Tutu takes place on top of a lake.
    • In the first episode Mytho dances, apparently naked, on top of a lake, while Duck watches hidden in the rushes.
  • Warrior Therapist/Talking the Monster to Death: Tutu's "combat" revolves more around talking to her opponent/dance partner about why they feel a particular emotion so strongly in order to release the heart shards of the prince, and to counteract the Evil!Mytho's attempts to steal hearts.
  • Weirdness Censor: Most of the people in Gold Crown are literally unable to realize there's anything odd about the town, thanks to Drosselmeyer's story controlling the town. Duck seems to be the only one who thinks it's weird having a cat for a teacher.
  • "Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: There was one included at the end of the last episode while the credits rolled, but the future lives of the characters were so vague and quickly shown that many fans are left unsatisfied. On the other hand, it seems the purpose of the epilogue was to give a glimpse into the characters' lives afterward without revealing too much so as the viewer could widely interpret what would happen next.
  • Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Kinkan/Gold Crown/Goldekrone isn't given a specific location, although the fandom tends to assume it's set in Germany (since nearly all of the text shown in-series is German, including a map of the town where the "Goldekrone" name is taken from, and the town itself is heavily based on Nordlingen, Bavaria).
  • Wingding Eyes: Lilie gets these a lot.
  • A Wizard Did It: In-universe and out, "Drosselmeyer wrote it that way" is pretty much the perfect justification for any Fridge Logic in the entire show.
  • World of Technicolor Hair: The cast is full of characters with unusual hair colors. Of the main characters alone, Duck/Princess Tutu has orange-pink hair, Mytho has white hair, and Fakir has dark green hair.
  • World Tree: The Oak Tree from akt 21 used to be a place where Story-Spinners gathered to train, but was cut down long before the story begins. However, there's a rock one can still touch to connect to the roots of the tree and speak with it. Fakir attempts this, but he's sucked into the tree, which takes him on a trippy, naked philosophical journey while it seems to attempt to make Fakir a new World Tree himself. He almost agrees to it, saying he will "watch over everyone", and is only saved when Princess Tutu calls out to him and he recognizes Ahiru/Duck's voice. A lot of the imagery in the scene fits the legends well, particularly when it shows the tree in its former glory being connected to the gears of the story.
  • Would Hurt a Child:
    • The Raven tries to eat Kraehe's heart after she fails to bring him a sacrifice one time too many.
    • The Book Men attempt to chop off a sixteen-years-old Fakir's hands.
  • Xanatos Gambit: Early episodes of Season 2 reveal that Princess Kraehe had no intention of destroying Mytho's heart shard of love. While the results of episode 13 didn't go quite the way she had planned (her intention was to get Tutu out of the way via Heroic Sacrifice), they nonetheless went in her (and the Raven's) favor.
  • You Are Not Alone: The Pas De Deux that Fakir dances with Duck right before the finale helps Duck, who had fallen into despair and feelings of worthlessness, find the courage to bring the story to an end.
  • You Cannot Grasp the True Form: Anybody not directly part of the story sees Princess Tutu as a giant glowing swan wearing a crown.
  • You Have Failed Me: The Raven tries to eat Kraehe's heart after she fails to bring him a sacrifice one time too many.

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Princess Kraehe

The rival of the main heroine, Princess Tutu.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (2 votes)

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Main / DarkMagicalGirl

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