10.024 minSeason 1 • Episode 26
LatestThe Raven attacks Mytho. Duck tries to help, but she's helpless. Fakir seems only capable of writing what is happening. Mytho resolves to shatter his heart once more.
Princess Tutu follows Duck, a duck who was transformed into a young girl and takes ballet at a private school. She becomes enamoured of her mysterious schoolmate Mytho, and transforms into Princess Tutu to restore his shattered heart. Mytho's girlfriend Rue transforms into Princess Kraehe to frustrate Tutu's efforts, and Mytho's protective friend Fakir discourages Mytho's burgeoning emotions. When it becomes apparent that Duck, Rue, Mytho, and Fakir are meant to play out the characters in a story by a long-dead writer named Drosselmeyer, they resist their assigned fates and fight to keep the story from becoming a tragedy.
Score
Tchaikovsky classical remixes that slap unreasonably hard
Writing
Narrative structure that devours its own tail brilliantly
Direction
Episode 26's reality-bending staging broke me
Nanae Kato
Duck / Princess Tutu (voice)
Takahiro Sakurai
Fakir (voice)
Naoki Yanagi
Mythos (voice)
Nana Mizuki
Princess Kraehe (voice)
Akiko Hiramatsu
Edel (voice)
Erino Hazuki
Uzura (voice)
Kyôko Kishida
Narrator (voice)
Noboru Mitani
Drosselmeyer (voice)
Sachi Matsumoto
Pike (voice)
Takayuki Sugo
The Raven (voice)
Yasunori Matsumoto
Mr. Cat (voice)
Yuri Shiratori
Lilie (voice)
Yuu Urata
Autor (voice)
Mugihito
Karon (voice)
Papaya Suzuki
Femio (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The series weaves together Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and Andersen fairy tales into a unified mythology where the original tragic endings are the actual antagonist.
Director Junichi Sato originally pitched this as a children's show; the network's trust in letting it evolve into psychological horror for teens created one of anime's most unique tonal journeys.
JP
