Web Video / Princess Tutu Abridged

"Tutu On!"

The Abridged Series of Princess Tutu by Tutu On Abridger. Has a lot of fun with the nonsensical aspects of the series.

Unlike many Abridged Series, Princess Tutu Abridged does not reduce the number of episodes in the series. This likely stems from the fact that the original show is itself fairly compact, with important events even in seeming filler episodes. Much of the drama, humor, and even some actual lines from the dub, are also left in and used unironically. Characters are exaggerated, but left mostly unchanged. Lampshading is often done by referencing the trope directly by name.

However, this does not mean that the Princess Tutu Abridged team has not made this parody their own. A lot of effort has been put in to making this show enjoyable. Of particular note is their two-part Musical Episodes, with all voice actors singing very well, even outside their own vocal range. The team specifically tried to avoid the obvious jokes, like the Ho Yay between Fakir and Mytho, and instead spring for less expected humor, such as Liliae and Pike's Ballerina Mafia.

The team has a pretty complete set of pages on The Abridged Series Wikia, including second-by-second music lists for each episode and nice trivia about the team. Might border on All There in the Manual, except that the information is not required to understand or enjoy the series.

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Tropes:

• Accidental Misnaming: Anteaterina in Episode 2. "Adding 'Anteater' onto something doesn't make it my name!"
• A Day In The Lime Light: Liliae lampshades Pike achieving this status in Episode 15. Of course, she is going to knock her out of it even if she has to kill Pike herself.
• Adaptational Name Change: In the original, the Prince's real name was Siegfried. Here, it's Fauntleroy.
• Allergic to Love: Taken quite literally with Mr. Cat.
• Amusing Injuries: Duck is frequently the butt of these at the hands of the Mafia.
• And That's Terrible: Child abuse! "It's bad!"
• Ass Pull:invoked Fakir uses these when Duck has a dance-off with the ravens in the last episode, but eventually...
  Fakir: Dammit! I'm running out of ass pulls!
• Bad Liar: Fakir wasn't crying. He just had... ash in his eyes.
  • "Duck Allergy..."
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: "OMG, Mytho has no penis!" It's OK though. The fangirls still love him.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Fakir and Rue seem to have this in the first half, but Fakir is apparently a bad kisser so it doesn't last.
• Borrowed Catchphrase: In the Musical Episode, Fakir got so embarrased at the revelation that he's a total SAP, that he says Duck's "OH SNAP", twice.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: Nearly all the characters in the series do this from time to time, notably when Fakir notices the spotlights in Episode 8. When Kraehe casually breaks the in-series fourth wall by talking to Drosselmeyer at the end of the first season, she damages it to a point where the rest of the cast may break it more freely.
  • Pretty much all of Episode 23 is this.
• Breather Episode: Duck has a wish granted for one of these in episode 17.
  Duck: Poor Mytho, this plot is getting so serious. I wish we could have an episode that's just random shit. Boy would that be awesome.
• Brick Joke:
  • In Episode 14, Mytho throws himself out a window and one of the girls below screams "OMG, Mytho has no penis!" Four episodes afterwards, Duck brings Fakir to replace Mytho as the drama club's ghost knight. When Fakir agrees to the role, the gathered club members burst into excited chatter and one of them can be heard exclaiming a faint "He has a penis!"
  • Rue made Mytho his fucking sandwich.
• Brief Accent Imitation / Fake Brit: Rue in Episode 9.
  Fakir: Enough already! That is the worst accent I have ever heard. It's hammy, it's annoying, and it's driving me over the edge, you stupid crow!
• Broken Aesop: The true meaning of Christmas is totally about receiving material possessions, not giving, or love.
• Buffy Speak: "Listen to the voices of the flower... baby... things"
• By the Power of Grayskull!: "Tutu On!" Notable because the actual series is an aversion to this trope.
  • There is also a literal By the Power of Grayskull! moment later on as a Shout-Out to He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983).
• Calling Your Attacks: Duck on occasion. "Ballerina tackle!"
• Cargo Ship: Discussed, parodied, and lampshaded. invoked
  "Mytho's being paired with the river!"
  • And Rue and her painful shoes.
• Catchphrase: Fakir has a few. ("Don't lie to me!", "Called it!", "MORON!", as well as "Cool!" when he was younger.)
  • Not to mention that Ahiru's "QUACK!" in the original becomes Duck's "OH SNAP!" in the abridged version.
• Changing Clothes Is a Free Action: It's alright, Duck can put her clothes on really fast. She has to, with Uzura around.
• Christmas Episode: How Drosselmeyer Stole The Abridged Series.
• Cloudcuckoolander:
  • Mytho and his random trivia.
  • Freya from Episode 16. She was Raised By Flowers according to Word of God and is the Mama Flower to all her little 'children,' longing to truly be one of them. Borders dangerously on Ax-Crazy.
• Commitment Issues: Duck suffers of this thanks to her fate of turning into a speck of light. Damn commitment, indeed.
• Couch Gag: The original anime's noir-ish intro is paired with an ever-changing voice-over retelling the plot of a fairy tale or popular story (the first episode was the three Peverell brothers).
• Cryptic Conversation: Edel is an absolute master at this when giving out advice to Duck. She even Lampshades this in the first Musical Episode.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Heavily lampshaded with Fakir. "Summon tragic backstory!"
• Deus ex Machina / Diabolus ex Machina: Lampshaded with a jewel called the former until Kraehe turns it in the latter.
• Disney Death: Fakir living after the events of episode 13 is lampshaded by Mytho.
• Driven to Suicide: Edel in episode 13 after Drosselmeyer took her sex drive away. A far cry from her Heroic Sacrifice in the original.
• A Wizard Drosselmeyer Did It: A running gag in episode 17. The third time around, Drosselmeyer tells whoever is flashing the caption to stop pinning the blame on him.
• DVD Commentary: For episode 12.
• Enemy Within: Mytho's dark side has slowly been taking control ever since the heart shard dipped in evil was returned to him. In Episode 20 he can be seen actively fighting back during his battle with Fakir.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Especially if it's sparkly sweat. "Edward Cullen, eat your heart out."
• Fan Fic: Mr. Cat writes it and the crows love it. Also the gods of fan fiction preside over the shipping bridge, determining who, or what, anyone praying for a love interest there is paired with.
• Fanservice: There is an entire day devoted to it at Goldcrown Academy.
• Foreshadowing: Every bit is mercilessly lampshaded, especially when Autor begins to appear in the second season.
• The Fourth Wall Will Not Protect You: Instead of Fakir just writing to save Duck as in canon, he writes so the narrator isn't willing to let Duck be killed. Yes, Fakir just got the narrator to do his bidding (though said narrator had clearly been getting uncomfortable with recent events...).
• Fractured Fairy Tale: The stories at the beginning of the episodes.
• Genre Savvy: In Fakir's case, this causes many people to think that he is schizophrenic.
  • Rue, at least if she every gets into a horror movie situation.
  Duck: I wonder... should we split up and look for Mytho?
  Rue: Duck, have you ever watched a horror movie once in your life? When someone disappears you don't split up to look for them.
• Girl on Girl Is Hot: Drosselmeyer can't wait for the Cat Fights Bird Fights.
  • Mytho mentions that thinking of Tutu gives him one feeling, thinking of Rue gives him another feeling, and thinking of both of them at the same time gives him "an entirely different feeling altogether".
  • In episode 14, Fakir distracts Mytho by telling him Tutu and Kraehe are making out.
• Got Me Doing It: In episode 12, Fakir is not pleased to know that somehow he's now trapped in a musical, but he cannot resist the power of the Musical Episode, despite all his chagrin.
  Fakir: (singing) Now I'm singing too?
  Come on, what the hell?
  Damn this blasted musical!

• Greek Chorus: The flock of crows in the series is treated as this.
• Hand Wave:
  • Mentioned by name by Mr. Cat in Episode 1, glancing over the fact that he is a cat.
  • And again in Episode 16 when Drosselmeyer points out Rue's line about only being able to get married after Mytho brings her a heart, when the pair had almost tied the knot back in Episode 10... hey, look at the clockwork plant!
• Half-Human Hybrid: Pondered over by Duck herself. Heavily implied that she is one of these being part duck and part girl.
• He's Dead, Jim: Spoofed at the Goldcrown Secret Underground Bookclub's meeting in Episode 21. Dead Tom is dead.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Edel is portrayed as this in the series.
• Hostile Show Take Over: Fakir attempts one of these in the intro to Episode 21. Needless to say it doesn't stick.
• How the Character Stole Christmas: How The Character Stole The Abridged Series
• Hurricane of Puns: We get one of these in Episode 19, much to Drosselmeyer's lament.
  "This is the story of the Prince and the Raven, not the story of the prince and the princess' tush."
• I Believe I Can Fly: Duck almost throw herself at the void, while singing "Defying gravity" no less, but Fakir caught her by the braid before she did, saying that just because thy're in a musical, it won't give her superpowers.
• Ice-Cream Koan: In the words of Ceiling Cat, "One cannot truly know the ceiling until one has known the floor."
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: The main characters get some time out the climaxic episode 13 to discuss Kraehe's Navel-Deep Neckline and how the hell it manage to don't fall down.
  Kraehe: [...] it seems that Drosselmeyer likes me better. He even rationalized a way for my costume to stay up.
  Tutu: I always thought you used double sided tape.
  Kraehe: What a cute idea. But sadly: wrong. Any other guesses?
  Fakir: As much as I'd like to discuss your Stripperific fashion sense all episode, Kraehe, why don't we get back to having a climactic showdown here? Somebody needs to get cut —and it's probably just glue anyway.
  Kraehe: Oh but Fakir, we're just getting warmed up. Don't you want to hear Mytho's theory?
  Mytho: Magnets. (Record Needle Scratch)
  Kraehe: Rhetorical question, darling. No one actually cares what you think.
• Improbable Weapon User: Tutu blocking Fakir's sword with her fan.
• Informed Judaism: Duck's Bat Mitzvah was casually mentioned in one episode by Lilie.
• Jerkass: Drosselmeyer, Pique and Lillie are all still this, just ramped up to eleven. Mytho, weirdly enough, becomes a Jerk with a Heart of Gold after getting his heart back, implying that this is his real personality.
• Laughably Evil: The crows.
• Les Yay: Invoked by Duck in-universe, when thinking about Rue.
  "I'm suddenly questioning my sexuality!"
• LOLCats: Mr. Cat is a failed attempt. His Grammar was too good to qualify.
• Love Epiphany: "HOLY CRAP! I LOVE RUE!"
• Love Hurts: Rue and Mytho's dance is still this from Rue's point of view with Mytho being upset about his loss of good looks. Also this line:
  We're realizing that true love, is a bitch. This is hell
• The Mafia: Not just any mafia, the Ballerina Mafia.
• Maximum Fun Chamber: Mr. Cat's punishment for defying his will or or attempting to assassinate him. The students avoid it like the plague.
• Metaphorgotten: Duck gets one of these in Episode 15. "Don't worry, Mytho, it's all just a bad dream. All I am is a bit of undigested pickle, and Pike is some cantaloupe. You're allergic by the way."
• Mind Reading: One of Tutu's many powers, allowing her to read the mind of her dance partner. It also appears to be contagious.
• Moral Guardians: The Conservo-Sloth from Episode 16 is portrayed as one.
• Murder the Hypotenuse: Used word for word in episode 20.
  Liliae: "Love Triangles are for suckers. Murder the hypotenuse!"

• My God, What Have I Done?: Rue feels this, in her own way.
  "Mytho, I am so sorry my Clingy Jealous Girl tendencies have fucked up your life."
• Never Learned to Read: Duck never did. Well, not German anyway.
• No Medication for Me: Fakir in Episode 10.
• Noodle Incident: Fakir has been taken out by 90 pound ballerinas before.
• "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Fakir commenting about writing a letter to the President in episode 20 has a subtitle saying "Actual Dub Dialogue. Seriously, WTF?".
• Oh, No... Not Again!: Fakir. "Did I just get taken out by a ninety pound ballerina? Damn, not again." (Episode 5)
  Lilie: Pike, why is there a dead bird in our tree?
  Pike: Again?
• Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Done on purpose with Femio, who goes through several European accents in episode 17.
• Power-Up Food: V8, so even you can be a badass one more time.
• Pants-Free: Mytho on multiple occasions.
• Please Put Some Clothes On: Pops up as a line during Fakir and Duck's "Screw Destiny" duet once she becomes human again in Episode 12 Act 2.
• Plot Hole: Also taken quite literally in the series. Once in Episode 4 and again in Episode 12 Act 1, Edel opens a quite literal plot hole so that Tutu may proceed.
• Rage Against the Author: Even more so than the original, as of episode 22. The characters not only notice the internal fourth wall, but the external one, making contact with (and deciding to fight) the abridgers themselves.
• Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Used in the second part of the first Musical Episode
  Princess Tutu: Expletive! Interjection!
• Romantic Plot Tumor: Drosselmeyer blames most of Season 2's plot on the Shipping Bridge getting Duck and Fakir together.invoked
• Running Gag: What would an abridged series be without them? Quite a few, including pantsless Mytho, "Shiny?", Edel's ghost music, and Duck's perfect ass.
  • A new one shows up in season 2:
  Mytho: I'll take your beautiful [insert body part here]...
  Kraehe: (offscreen) Heart, Mytho
  • A few less obvious ones are "Creeper", Naming tropes, gravity, The Shipping Bridge, How Krahe's outfit stays up, "Burns" in episode two, and the Occult, the latest even going as far as being mentioned in the comment special.
• Russian Bear: The bear lady who gives Edel the jewel at the beginning of Episode 11 is given a Russian accent here, in contrast to her original and dub counterparts.
• Sarcasm Mode: One of Mytho's emotions.
• Say My Name:
  • "And now for the final dramatic touch...DUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
  • "FAKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR!"
• Screw Destiny: Duck and Fakir sing a duet about this in Episode 12.
• She Is Not My Girlfriend: A paranoid Fakir shouts this in the middle of a dinner conversation in Episode 20.
• Shipping: Made fun of in episode 7.invoked
  • Acording to Word of God that was done after a TV Tropes Binge going through the Shipping Tropes in one sitting.
• Ship-to-Ship Combat/Abandon Shipping: This begins to happen en masse as the relationship between Mytho and Fakir heats up, leaving both fangirl leagues and the Ballerina Mafia in complete disarray. Some have outright abandoned the leagues to go slash for the pair. invoked
• Shout-Out: The story in the intro to each episode is a shout out to another work of fiction, not to mention more subtle shout outs during each episode.
• Show Within a Show: Mytho begins staring in the titular 'Everybody Loves Mytho' in Episode 17.
• Small Reference Pools: Averted, but with some techno and trance songs instead of classical music.
• Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter: Invoked by Femio repeatedly. "Oh Kira/Haruhi/4Kids pour judgment upon this sinner."
• So Beautiful, It's a Curse: Rue has this.
  Princess Tutu: Rue's problem is she's So Beautiful, It's a Curse. It's why she gets all the creepy stalkers... and the guys... Poor. Rue.
• Speaks in Shout-Outs: A variation: Autor, being the most prominent Meta Guy (even if constantly Wrong Genre Savvy), speaks almost entirely in trope names and terms from this very site.
• Spinning Paper: One is included in Episode 4 reading, "Meanwhile in the Piano Penguin Cave"
• Stylistic Suck: Not in the show itself, but in a bonus Fan Fic ostensibly written by Mr. Cat. (Not safe for work.)
• Suspiciously Specific Denial: Duck in episode 5. "I'm certainly not a magical ballerina princess or anything."
• Take That Us: The creators really didn't like Episode 2.
• Talkative Loon: Duck gets this way whenever she thinks of Mytho romantically.
  • In Episode 19 we meet Hermia, who might just be more of a spaz than Duck.
• The Talk: Mr. Cat has this with Mytho in Episode 10.
• Thematic Theme Tune: The Neo-Disco song "I Don't Feel Like Dancin'" by the "Scissor Sisters".
• There Are No Therapists: Averted in Episode 20 by Raetsel, Fakir's therapist from when he was little.

• United Europe: The apparent state of Europe in the world in which Goldcrown resides, or so Femio claims.
• Vocal Evolution: Happens to Walker thanks to puberty. Appropriately, it's around when the Prince regains almost all of his heart shards.
• Villain Song: Mentioned by name. The crows get one in episode 12.
  • The real song featuring Princess Kraehe was left out, but later released with the episode's soundtrack.
• Wangst: invoked Duck slides into this when Drosselmeyer convinces her to drown in the Lake of Despair.
  Duck: Why am I so whiny now? Everyone else has more problems! I suck.
• Weaksauce Weakness:
  • Doorknobs, Duck's one true weakness even to the point where she's unable to say the word, according to one blooper reel.

• Fakir's one true weakness also seems to be doorknobs, according to the First-Year Anniversary special (though this may not have been serious).

• We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: During the April Fools video where Elf and Blade pretend to have a falling out.

• While Rome Burns: Mytho and Tutu dance the night away while Fakir bleeds to death and Edel burns herself alive.
  Narrator: And so the prince and the princess danced by the warm light of a comrade's funeral pyre while the knight bled to death.
• Whole-Plot Reference: The Christmas Episode, of the How the Character Stole Christmas variety.
• Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: "My name's Duck. Yes, like the bird. Take it up with my parents. (They never loved me...)"
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Fakir and his paralyzing fear of birds.
• Wild Mass Guessing: The cast in episode 13 trying to figure out exactly how Kraehe's dress stays up.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: Autor turns out to be this, frequently assuming he fills a role in the story actually already occupied by another. The Where Are They Now epilogue indicates that he eventually learned better and used his new savviness to take over the world.
  "She's Princess Tutu? I thought I was Princess Tutu!"
• You Bastard!: Parodied several times from episode 22 onwards, once the external fourth wall finally breaks down, and it's pointed out that the characters are all suffering for your amusement.

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