Once upon a time, there was a duck. She was swimming in her pond one evening, when she happened upon a lonely, broken prince dancing alone by the water's edge. Her heart was immediately stolen by the handsome prince, and seeing his solemn, empty frolic, she wished there was a way she could help him... To make him happy once again. Her selfless wish was heard, as the mysterious being known as Drosselmeyer dubbed her worthy of a role in his ongoing story, gave her human form, and set her about the simple task of retrieving every single shard of the young prince’s shattered heart. She doesn’t remember her past life at first, but as she begins transform into the lovely Princess Tutu, the truth of her past... And the purpose of her future... Become very, very clear.

As a human, Duck possesses many duck like qualities. She’s flighty, featherbrained, and can’t dance for the life of her. Despite this, she’s enrolled as a low-level student in a dance school, where her Prince is studying as one of it’s most exalted seniors. His name is Mythos, and without his heart, his life seems dull and empty. He’s kept under lock and key by the dark and solemn Fakir, who exercises a disturbing amount of control over him. He tries in vain to keep him away from his girlfriend, Rue, a beautiful star dancer who he seems to only love because she tells him so. For some reason that little Duck can’t understand, neither one of these two want him to get his heart back. But as she begins to transform into the lovely prima ballerina known as Princess Tutu, and the shards of his heart are returned to him one by one by her hand, this murky plot will only become more and more obscured, even as it clears.

Princess Tutu was produced by a company I had never heard of previously, called Hal’s Film Maker. Despite being active for very nearly twenty years, they’ve released a surprisingly limited range of titles, only four of which I’ve actually seen. Based on what I have seen... Slayers Premium, Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-chan, and Yamada’s First Time... Their animation style is usually a pretty well managed one. They use still frames where they won’t be noticed, and just enough movement at any given moment to carry through a scene. By following this formula, they have money to spare whenever they need it, and it really shines through with the dancing scenes in Tutu. The character designs they use are cartoon-y rather than realistic, with the typical big heads and exaggerated hairstyles that you’d expect from a childrens’ anime. This can make their overproduced and highly detailed artwork look really awkward as it clashes with the characters walking across it.

Thankfully, this isn’t the case in Tutu, as the blend of the artwork is a lot more smooth. The characters look a bit more sophisticated than Hal’s other works, and the design of their fairy tale inspired town complements them to a T. The music used throughout is equally appropriate, as it consists mainly of instrumental tracks from ballets throughout history, used just as perfectly to reflect their respective scenes. A few of the tracks get repeated throughout, but they’re generally used as character themes.

And as far as the English dub goes? It’s phenomenal. I don’t want to take anything away from the Japanese, which is also highly listenable, but the English dub is just too wonderful to pass up. Luci Christian has a great understanding of her character, regardless of whether she’s playing the innocent and happy-go-lucky Duck or the warm and comforting Tutu. For as long as I live, I’ll never be able to hear a human being make quacking noises without saying “Luci did it better.” Jay Hickman keeps up perfectly with every emotion his character acquires, running the gamut without ever sounding like he ever has more personality than he logically should have. His ‘Sexy Garfield’ voice doesn’t hurt, either.

Although she’s not the star of this dub by far, Jessica Boone’s portrayal of Rue has only served to further convince me that she’s the only actor in anime who has never put on a bad performance. Chris Patton has perhaps the most subtle and nuanced performance as Fakir, whose development is probably the most compelling in the story. Marty Fleck’s campy-yet-throaty cackling makes for a deliciously intriguing Drosselmeyer. The anthropomorphic animals who walk freely around the town are all portrayed as a human hybrid probably would sound, but the star of THAT side of the coin would have to be TJP... Or Todd Waite, for those who are curious... In his role as Mr. Cat, a lisping, anxiety-ridden ballet instructor who threatens poorly performing female students with marriage, only to revert to feline behavior (licking, grooming, rolling around) when they refuse. I can’t recommend this dub enough, but even for those of you who hate dubs with a passion, Mr. Cat should do all the talking for me.

When I first encountered Princess Tutu, I was in my early twenties, and I was visiting a public library that wasn't in my neighborhood, but about thirty minutes away near my then-girlfriend's house, where we occasionally liked to go to rent movies. They had a better anime selection than my library, and while I kind of ignored volume 1 of Princess Tutu the first few times I was there, it did start to grab my attention more and more, to the point that I would pick it up, examine it, and then put it back before anybody could see me with it, squashing and suppressing the urge to check it out. But why did I keep doing this? Why was I so scared to rent it, to a point of denial?

Over the last decade or so, a deep social and political divide has taken shape, and while I don't want to get too deep into that mess, there is one particularly incendiary phrase I'd like to discuss, that being 'toxic masculinity.' I've seen this phrase thrown around a lot, and while I don't think it has any kind of established, solid definition, I've come to see it as the term for an attitude I've observed all my life, that being the worship of masculinity, in and of itself. It's the idea that traditionally masculine interests and behaviors are a sign of strength, anything feminine is a sign of weakness, and masculinity is a commodity that can be gained or lost, and that a man can be judged by. Guy points, if you will. In a nutshell, women with masculine interests are considered cool, or relatable, or just one of the guys. Men with feminine interests are considered weak, pussies, or... I don't know, fill in the blanks with whatever homophobic slurs you grew up with.

I don't know if modern school life is anything like the environment I grew up in, but I learned pretty quickly how to hide the stuff I was into, if it wasn't socially acceptable. I knew enough about DBZ to pretend I wasn't obsessed with Cardcaptor Sakura and that I didn't watch Sailor Moon. I knew to pretend I didn't have a massive weakness for cute things and pretty dresses, and that I should keep my interest in fictional princesses, from Peach to Jasmine, to myself, and god forbid I let anyone know I didn't turn away from Pokemon at the same time everyone else did. I hadn't realized I was asexual at the time, and I felt legitimately ashamed as an allegedly straight guy to have so many childish or feminine interests, so I wound up internalizing these things over time... Until I found myself standing there, as a very freshly minted adult, holding that copy of Princess Tutu volume 1, justifying my rental on the fact that I was an ADV films fanboy. I'm telling you all of this so you'll understand just how serious I am when I say that watching Princess Tutu was ultimately one of the best decisions I've ever made.

If you haven’t picked up on it yet, Princess Tutu is a magical girl anime, and furthermore, it’s primarily about ballet. So, what, is it 26 episodes worth of sweet, sappy melodrama with cute girls who take absurd amounts of time transforming into manipulatively sexy and highly impractical outfits? No, not in the slightest. The very existence of Princess Tutu is living proof that a piece of media that's drenched in femininity down to its deepest core can be just as badass as anything that's ever been aimed at guys. The drama here is anything but melo, the constant plot twists are anything but saccharine, the transformation only lasts 20 seconds, and Princess Tutu’s outfit... While somewhat revealing... Is entirely appropriate and practical. In fact, it’s her enemy Princess Kraehe who has the really sexy outfit, but since their outfits are designed to express the yin/yang aspect of their feelings towards Mythos, it’s excusable. The fight scenes play out in ballet dances, but the stakes are always just high enough to keep you on the edge of your seat, and they carry an emotional and psychological edge that feels just as intense as even the best super saiyan screaming match.

And while the typical ‘rinse and repeat’ plot aspect of most magical girl shows is definitely at play here, it’s anything but repetitive... Every time she transforms, Princess Tutu must dance to coax one of her prince’s emotions out of whatever damaged soul they’ve attached themselves to in order to return them to him. But the challenges she faces each time are different, and the development of the story and characters never takes a break even for a moment. The story actually gets very dark, even during the much lighter first half, and yet it never gets dark enough that a child couldn’t watch it. The writing may appear at first to be really loose and whimsical, but under the surface, it's meticulous and purposeful at every turn, with little to no filler in sight. Every character, and there are a lot of them, serves an important purpose to the story, regardless of how much screen time they’re given. Hell, even that random guy complaining about the noise in the library eventually joins the main cast. The one-episode characters are rarely ever forgettable, and I’m not just saying that because a lot of them are anthropomorphic animals. Fairy tales and classical ballets are lovingly referenced and cleverly subverted, often in ways that reflect Drosselmeyer’s unfinished epic The Prince and the Raven, which is the very story he created this world to finish.

The story unfolds through joy, triumph, complacency and despair, building itself up and falling back down as every turn of the page drags our four main characters kicking and screaming into the roles that have been fated for them. I know metafiction isn’t always a good thing, especially now that the Deadpool and Rick and Morty craze of the 2010's is largely behind us, but Princess Tutu takes an approach that's closer to The Truman Show. It's a story about story-telling, taking place in a story within a story, the characters of which become self aware and have to battle not only each other, but the roles that have been forced upon them and the fates they didn't choose. I don't think I've ever seen this done in anime before, but it’s done very well, with each character reacting to their unchosen path differently. They may accept it, or openly defy it, or even just look for some kind of a compromise. These individual arcs grow and develop at their own pace, with their own stakes, eventually converging into a climactic ending that’s sort of a happy tragedy.

Princess Tutu is one of those anime that takes unending glee in defying your expectations and subverting the tropes of its genre, and because it's doing all of this to the magical girl genre in particular, you may start to draw comparison to a much more recent and much more successful effort, Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica. And you’d be right, they’re quite similar in a lot of ways, but to be perfectly honest, as much as I love Madoka Magica, I actually consider Princess Tutu to be superior to it. Don't get me wrong, I love both shows, they're both in my top ten, but they're executed very differently. For one thing, while neither show is afraid to get unexpectedly dark and tragic, Princess Tutu is able to do this without ever feeling too mature or frightening for a younger audience. It's also just way more consistent.

Madoka Magica had the perfect ending... A heart breaking tragedy that still had room to be uplifting and hopeful, and it was masterfully built up by the story. But to me, it always felt as if that ending was the most important part. I can’t argue with results... Madoka Magica is amazing, and highly recommended... But it still feels slightly backloaded. On the other hand, while Princess Tutu also had a perfect ending, it didn’t feel like the ending was the point. It felt more like the ending was written for the sake of the story, instead of the other way around. I've known people who weren't able to get into Madoka Magika right away, and that certain reveals down the line made the show for them, and while I personally didn't have that issue with it, I do understand their position. In comparison, I don't know anybody who watched Princess Tutu, and wasn't immediately into it. It starts out showing you exactly how awesome it is, and then it just refuses to lose steam, managing instead to just get better and better. Princess Tutu has just as perfect an ending as Madoka’s, but the journey there is infinitely better.

Princess Tutu is available from Sentai Filmworks. The original DVD releases are out of print, but it's still available on Blu-Ray and Prime video. There’s a surprising amount of extras on the physical release, from your standard commentaries and trailers to your somewhat more rare bloopers, but there’s also some unique options like recording videos, ballet terms for beginners, and a handy guide to the music and references of each episode. Oh, and there’s also a manga, but I’ve never read it ,and I’ve heard that it’s really bad, so try it out at your own risk.

There’s a good reason I have Princess Tutu ranked as my third favorite anime series of all time. It’s one of those rare shows that’s not only perfectly made, but also perfectly enjoyable to any anime fan... Of any age, gender or sexual preference... Who’s willing to try it out. I love it deeply, not just because of how good it is, but because it's an anime that's important to me personally, and for the validation it gives me as a person who enjoys girlier forms of media. It lends itself to a very high degree of rewatchability, as with every viewing, you’ll notice something new... A trend, a theme, some foreshadowing, or just something funny going on in the background. In short, it’s a masterpiece. This is one instance where I enthusiastically encourage you to ignore the cover, and dive right into the book. It's only my third favorite anime, but you could hold it up as a serious contender for the single best anime ever made.

I give Princess Tutu a 10/10.