*EDIT* 8/11/17 — Redid coloring job (because original was trash). You can still dig through my FA gallery to find the old version (GAH!). Anyways, continue.

Yup, you read that title right. To help balance the pure masculinity of Dragon Ball, I decided to choose my second fanart poster to be about something much more on the feminine side of things. Princess Tutu, created by Ikuko Itoh. Unlike Dragon Ball, Princess Tutu was an anime first and foremost (although it later had a manga made about it).

Don’t let its name deceive you, Princess Tutu is an impressively complex series. Like Itoh’s other famous work Sailor Moon, Princess Tutu technically falls within the “magical girl” genre (a form of Shojo), but is able to pursue some deeper themes that are not normally associated with the genre. An accurate comparison would be if a “romantic comedy” tackled some serious philosophical topics and expressed these ideas through stunning symbolism. This is actually pretty close since “magical girl” animes are very “romcom-esque.”

I would normally try to provide a decent synopsis of the anime, but I feel the opening monologue from the series does such an amazing job of it on it’s own…

“Once upon a time, there was a man who died. The man’s work was the writing and telling of stories, but he could not defy death. The last story he was working on was about a brave and handsome prince who vanquishes a crafty raven. But now it seems their battle will go on for eternity. ‘I’m sick and tired of this!’ cried the raven. ‘I’m sick and tired of this!’ cried the prince as well. The raven escaped from the pages of the story and the prince pursued the foul creature. In the end, the prince took out his own heart and sealed the raven away by using a forbidden power. Just then, a murmur came from somewhere. ‘This is great!’ said the old man who was supposed to have died.”

Princess Tutu‘s story revolves around a young girl named Duck, who transforms into the fictional ballerina Princess Tutu to help restore the heart of the storybook prince. Duck is also actually a real duck turned into a girl by the long dead author who had the power to make fictional stories into truth. The series tackles themes of free will, the individual emotions that the prince must regain, far reaching references and symbolism between certain ballets, and all the while still retaining a fun sense of humor and surprising plot twists. Easily its defining feature is its use of ballet over the traditional “magical girl” fights to resolve conflicts. Consider this, most famous ballets have conflicts between main characters, and yet it would be absurd for these characters to break out in a fist fight. Their conflict is symbolized an expressed through ballet and their dance. This is exactly how conflicts are handled in Princess Tutu. The result is a visually interesting and surprisingly moving experience that must be seen to believe it.

Like the Dragon Ball poster, I approached this piece like a simple, modern movie poster. A simple color scheme based off of Duck’s character color scheme and her three forms. Honestly I feel my Dragon Ball poster was more successful, but I’m still pleased with this one.

Unlike Dragon Ball, I think I would honestly include Princess Tutu within my top ten favorite animes. It truly is unique and is able to be extremely profound in what it has to say and precise in its impeccable sense of humor. A much shorter series (at only 26 episodes), I would highly suggest it to almost just about anyone. While I feel DBZ might be better suited to a specific demographic that really digs overly buff dudes shooting lasers from their hands in a fast paced martial arts action, Princess Tutu is able to draw a more varied audience (even despite its overly girly title).