When you look at the picture cover of a show, that’s usually the deciding factor on whether or not it is worth your time to experience watching it for most who don’t bother to look into depth on what the show is about mainly. There is the common notion of “Don’t judge a book by its cover” in many forms of fiction, but that saying shouldn’t just be limited to books. If there are things to be said about Princess Tutu concerning this quote, it fits that description on every account.

Anybody can perceive that Princess Tutu isn’t your average Magical Girl anime, even though it follows the formulaic structure of one where the girl goes off into one plot arc to help save this person. What is particularly unique about the show isn’t so much its style but how it treats its narrative in a meta-style of storytelling. It gives the show a very fairy-tale feel to the atmosphere whenever you see them try to mimic the classic fairy tales that involved princesses, which Princess Tutu quickly turns its spin on the genre and makes it fresh and new to its writing. The meta-narrative is nicely written to give us an abstract feel to the story and make us feel more attached to the characters and the struggles they have to overcome that eventually drive them almost to mere madness. It almost becomes a self-parody of tragedy in how the characters want it to be a happy ending to the story because stories of these typical end, even though the meta-narrative is at odds with that philosophy; of course, I won’t get into it further to avoid spoilers.

When we step into the world of Princess Tutu, it has a lot of influence from old fantasy tales that have since been existing since the rise of Western Folklore, something that anime isn’t known for a lot. Tchaikovsky would be proud to have the symbolic nature of his artistic music to be portrayed on-screen. Anthropomorphic animals run about in the world, but unfortunately, it isn’t given enough clarity as to why the world around the characters even exists or how the society is the way it is. However, it can be forgiven how the plot is more focused on a minimal scale from the character interaction. It is, nevertheless, a wildly imaginative world to experience and quite unlike you would see in most anime in recent times.

To describe Princess Tutu’s authenticity in the short term would be like an actual theater production in animated motion. The ballet aspects feel structured like a real ballet play in action, from how the dialogue is performed and how the characters interact. That’s where the show's uniqueness jumps into gear and gives you a very fresh take on how you can portray a story in a show. Your typical magical girl show usually involves fight scenes that involve actual physical fighting involving magical powers that are mostly there to be flashy and entertaining for younger audiences. While many include swords and physical confrontation, Princess Tutu involves ballet dancing to invoke their powers to best out their opponent psychologically. These various aspects may seem a bit silly when you think about it, but what makes it work wonderfully is how well it’s directed. It sets the show's tone to new heights of tension and emotion, all without the single swing of a blade; that is if crows are considered a weapon of choice.

Memorable characters are critical to a show like Princess Tutu to help keep its world and story unforgettable, which it most definitely succeeds. Our lovable magical girl protagonist Ahiru might not break new ground in how we look at magical girl characters in the same way as, say, maybe Sakura in Cardcaptor several years ago. Still, she is portrayed with bravery and elegance. Ahiru is sometimes a clumsy girl in rather hilarious, well-written comedic moments. And as a deeply involved sympathetic character who you always want to see overcome any obstacle that keeps her from achieving her goal is not only profoundly moving but also charming. Her voice might be a little grating when you come across her initially. Thankfully she eventually warms up, and you feel a friendly charm to her lovely personality as she transforms into Tutu.

The rest of the main cast has a lot of complexity to their character archetypes. There isn’t anything remotely cliched in anything about them, from how unpredictable they are written into the story. Fakir is an excellent example of this where he is, at first, portrayed as the villain that stands in the way of Ahiru wanting to help Mytho regain his heart. It isn’t until later that we finally see the valid reason for his demeanor in protecting Mytho and provides extraordinary development to him, where we see him completely differently. His actions and motivations for doing the things that we were left with in mystery now come full circle and make Fakir a well-rounded character with that we can empathize. To our main villain Rue, she is given the same kind of treatment as Fakir, albeit a little differently. Since she is the main villain, her archetype isn’t fully explored until the very last parts of the anime, where we see her own tortured self that craves love and acceptance from her prince so that she won’t feel lonely again by anyone. Rue contemplates her existence as someone who will forever be associated with her adopted father, who is a crow of all things. Her development is in full circle, and by that time, we can now understand the pain she is going through, which puts her in a sympathetic light to the story that involves the dark themes that involve fate and death.

There are side characters that pop up in most story arcs, but they mostly only fill in their roles to move the plot forward and nothing else that can be significant. The ones that make an impression are some of the students, such as Ahiru’s two best friends, who are always up to no good in their mischievous misdemeanor into pushing Ahiru into a relationship with either Fakir or Mytho. However, the one that is the most entertaining of all is the almighty Neko-sensei, whose gags all include how if any of the girls mess up, he will force them into marriage with him. Not only is this hysterical, but it never gets tiring or overly done in one episode. Because of this, this useless form of entertainment that contributes nothing to the plot is always welcome if it’s Neko-sensei.

With the show’s implementation of ballet, music should be the main driving force in keeping the spirit of the ballet portion solid and poignant. The music ranges from composers from most periods of music that delved into ballet music. The most obvious one would be Tchaikovsky with his famous “Swan Lake,” featured throughout most of the show and used to significant effect. Other well-known composers featured in Princess Tutu include Johann Strauss, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Erik Satie. What makes the score work so magnificently well is how it almost feels like the score is a part of the story itself and fits perfectly with the emotions that the characters exhibit. These include sadness and despair with Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade and happiness and optimism with Leo Delibes’s Coppelia. However, I felt the original score for the opening and ending didn’t leave a big impression on me whenever I came across them because of the weak vocals and downplayed instruments that hardly contributed much to the songs, which is disappointing.

I wouldn't necessarily call this mainly a Magical Girl show for people who feel discouraged about seeing this with the Magical Girl genre tagged into it. It is more of a show about tragedy and drama than anything else. Not to say that Magical Girl shows can’t do that and do it well, but it’s best to look past your bias and see Princess Tutu as something that may surprise you on so many levels in how much depth it has in store. The drama doesn’t feel forced and flows naturally to where it doesn’t treat you like you don’t know how an anime should portray a tragedy. The anguish that characters in Princess Tutu get into feels authentic and genuine, which doesn’t push empty melodrama to make you sympathize with them.

With pure honesty and clarity, this is genuinely a heartwarming show to experience for yourself. Classical music, beautifully choreographed dances, and memorable characters make for an experience worth having in all of Princess Tutu’s running time. A modern fairy tale for the ages. One that we might not see again.