Princess Tutu

 When I first got into anime and manga, I really didn't know what I was getting into or that I wanted to get into it.  My biggest exposure several years ago amounted essentially to the movies of Hayao Miyazaki and AMV Heaven by ThatDudeintheSuede or just "Suede".  I also had seen a few episodes of Naruto and Fullmetal Alchemist (the first series) and I had formerly been a fan of the Pokemon animated series.  I may or may not have been into Avatar:The Last Airbender around that time which isn't anime, but animesque. 

Then, I was looking through the video suggestions below Suede's videos and I caught the video above.  It was created by Marisa Panaccio of Tiridium Studios and, if you watch it, it's a pretty well-done AMV (anime music video).  Though very basic, the timing is perfect and it showcases a very interesting anime.  However, I didn't dive into anime right then.

Instead I talked to my friend at the time, Morgan, about the idea of getting into anime, but nothing came of that initially.  Then I talked to my roommate, Jessica, a few years later.  She was a huge fan of manga and secretly wished she could be Asian.  Shortly after, I spent the weekend with my friend, Morgan and during that time, I started to watch Vampire Princess Miyu. I went back to the apartment in Cincinnati that I shared with Jess and I proceeded to have a sort of anime marathon beginning with finishing Vampire Princess Miyu, running through Princess Tutu and finishing off with Fruits Basket.  A week later, my cousin, Alexandria, got me into Ouran High School Host Club.  Thus, Hanorah the Anime Fan was born. 

I'm not as deeply into anime as some people.  Every once in a while I pick up a new series, like I once spent a couple of days on Netflix watching nothing but Darker Than Black and beginning it's sequel series (which I never finished).  Then there's the week where I did a back-to-back Fullmetal Alchemist marathon, watching all of the first series and watching the first half or so of Brotherhood.

So, now you know my anime history... that means you can judge for yourself how good my taste is as I mostly dabble, I don't get elbows deep into the stuff.  I find what I like and disregard the rest.

That said, I love Princess Tutu, a magical girl anime series by Ikukoh Itoh whcih was released in 2002 by the animation studio Hal Film Maker.  It centers around a girl named Ahiru (which means "duck") who is not as she seems.  She is actually a duck who was turned into a human girl because she wanted to see the mysterious human boy, Mytho, smile.  They attend a private ballet school together with Fakir and Rue who also turn out to be not as they seem.

This series spawned the idea of "Guitar Ninjas".  Why?  Every episode is centered around some ballet or fairytale.  Each episode involves people dancing ballet.  Every battle the characters have... involves them dancing ballet.

And it is AWESOME!

Guitar Ninjas, indeed....

The first season is fairly interesting, but it follows the typical magical girl style.  Meanwhile the second series starts where the first series left off and gradually gets more and more trippy.  I don't want to spoil anything, but let's just say that there's more going on in Kinkan Town than meets the eye as in a mad author who wants everything to end in tragedy.

My favorite thing about this anime was the utilizing of ballet themes for the soundtrack which occasionally gets a bit overwhelming, but it usually fits and it's beautiful.  The dub and the sub are pretty much both good, but the dub involves a lot of characters with voices more akin to squeals.  It gets annoying after a while.  More than annoying, down right grating on the nerves.  Meanwhile, the sub isn't so bad because if the voices get too grating, you can just find something with the music centered around the particular episode, mute the anime and read.

I recommend any one who likes that AMV above to check out this anime as well as anyone who likes stories.  Oh, I should tell you something, that mad author I mentioned before?  His name is Drosselmeyer.  That's right, like the character from The Nutcracker.

Sweet Dreams!