Tag Archives: fairy tale

Anime You Should Be Watching: Princess Tutu

Posted on by Arleigh

Mahou shoujo (magical girl) anime has become the bread-and-butter of the anime scene. Whether one would like to admit it or not they have watched some episode or an OVA of a magical girl anime by chance or accident. I mean if they caught reruns of Sailor Moon in the past 10 or more years then they’ve watched a magical girl anime. There’s one magical girl anime that hasn’t been getting as much attention even amongst anime watchers. It’s this mahou shoujo series that I think more people should be watching and I’m talking about Princess Tutu.

Princess Tutu is a series adapted from the manga of the same title written by Mizuo Shinonome. It’s a series that dares to do something different with the magical girl genre by relying less on violence and battles (people tend to forget that these series may be called magical girl but they’re also quite violent). The series is a sort of fairy tale but with the complex twists and turns that anime tends to layer onto something old and familiar to good effect. We have a duckling given the chance to become a human through a magical gem necklace. When in human form she resembles an awkward, sweet teen girl who reverts back to her duckling form if she quacks. Only by touching water once more can the duckling become the human girl Ahiru once more. This necklace, given to her by a sort of puppetmaster figure of the series, also allows Ahiru to take on the ballerina aspect of Princess Tutu whose mature bearing and expertise in ballet grants her special powers.

One could say that Princess Tutu only owes it’s mahou shoujo label due to the magical abilities granted to Ahiru in her Princess Tutu aspect, but other than that the series is quite different from such magical girl series like Sailor Moon, Puella Magi Madoka Magica and Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. While the series does have conflict between the other characters around Ahiru like Mytho, Fakir and Rue the fights doesn’t use the more typical magical duels and battles common in the genre. Instead the series uses a clever way of implementing ballet and it’s use to represent fight’s between characters.

Like some magical girl series of it’s kind Princess Tutu has it’s comedic and light-hearted moments. Where the series shines is when it delves into the darker side of the narrative. Just like the traditional fables and fairy tales this series works best when letting the darkness of the story come to the forefront instead of just being hinted at. It’s definitely a turn in the series’ narrative that may surprise some people who are expecting an anime that’s all about cute character. Ahiru and the rest of the cast might be animated young-looking (with the male leads looking androgynous), but the trials and tribulations they go through during the series’ run would be considered very adult if done live-action.

Princess Tutu is actually available as a complete set on DVD and not very expensive when compared to other anime DVD sets. So, if one looks at mahou shoujo anime as their cup of tea or just looking to dabble their feet into this type of anime then Princess Tutu is a good place to start. I would usually put up a trailer of this series to better give people an idea of what to expect but I think two great AMV (anime music videos) produced by two fans of the series best describes what people should expect.

There’s Danse De Raven by Chiikaboom…

…and then there’s Hold Me Now by Marissa Panaccio

Song of the Day: Beauty and The Beast (by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken)

Posted on by Arleigh

Beauty and the Beast Ballroom

The last couple days I have been watching a particular classic Disney animated film not to mention listening to its accompanying soundtrack almost non-stop since yesterday. The song I’ve picked for my latest “song of the day” is the track, “Beauty and The Beast”, and not the Celine Dion and Peabo Bryson version which ends the film.

Beauty and The Beast ranks as one of my favorite films ever. Not just a favorite animated film but a favorite of the medium of filmmaking in general. I saw it the weekend it was first released in the theaters in 1991. I was just out of high school, just turned 18 and eyes full of hope and promise. This film made a huge impact on me and it’s musical score even more so. The score and the songs were composed by musical virtuosos Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.

The score is what I would call classic orchestral. It fit the film and the story it was to accompany. The ballad which marks the turning point in the growing relationship between Belle and the Beast was one of my favorites in the film and truly captures the essence of the story. While I must say that I also loved the pop version of the song by Celine Dion (before she went all Vegas crazy in laters years) and R&B singer, Peabo Bryson, it would be the song as sung by Angela Lansbury (in the role of Mrs. Potts) which I consider the better version.

It is difficult not to listen to this version and not picture in one’s mind the sweeping motion of the scene as we see the ballroom in all it’s detailed grandeur. It was this song which marked the high point in my life when unbridled hope and optimism still ruled my life. I would say that even as an 18-year old I was still innocent when it came to certain things in life. “Beauty and The Beast” symbolized that part of my life and whenever I listen to it again almost 20 years now I reminisce about that innocent time in my life.

We all have a particular song, film or story which brings back fond memories of better days in our lives and this song from one of the best films ever made does it for me.

Beauty and The Beast

Tale as old as time
True as it can be
Barely even friends
Then somebody bends
Unexpectedly
Just a little change
Small to say the least
Both a little scared
Neither one prepared
Beauty and the Beast

Ever just the same
Ever a surprise
Ever as before
And ever just as sure
As the sun will rise

Tale as old as time
Tune as old as song
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
Certain as the sun
Rising in the east
Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast

Tale as old as time
Song as old as rhyme
Beauty and the Beast

Song of the Day: A Princess (by Javier Navarrete)

Posted on by Arleigh

The latest Song of the Day is from one of the best films of the past decade and, in my opinion, the best film of 2006. I speak of Pan’s Labyrinth by acclaimed Mexican-filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro.

“A Princess” was composed by Spanish composer Javier Navarrete and this particular piece of music from the film continues to use the main lullaby waltz-theme introduced in the beginning of the film. Where the music’s first time being heard by the audience is full of innocence and child-like magic in its tonal structure and melody in “A Princess” Navarrete dials back the innocent quality by adding in some of the hard-won wisdom the main character of Ofelia gains through her trials and tribulations throughout the film’s running time. While the song starts off with a sad and melancholy theme to its melody the song gradually moves back to it’s innocent and magical tone at it’s midway point to signify the main character’s final and complete transition from Ofelia to Princess Moanna.

It’s truly one of the best use of the leitmotif in a film score in quite a while. The fact that Navarrete was able to mine so man different emotional beats from a simple lullaby theme into one final distinct piece of music to end the film shows he was in tune with what director Guillermo Del Toro had in mind. He could easily have gone the usual fantasy music cliche of a huge number of brass and percussion to score the film, but instead went on a more subtle yet complex manner to accentuate a fairly simple fairy tale retelling which also happened to have many complexities in it’s narrative if one was willing to peel back the pages.

Felicia Day to be SyFy’s Re-Imagined Red Riding Hood

Posted on by Arleigh

News which may just strike some genre and geekdom fans blind with excitement it look like Dr. Horrible and The Guild star Felicia Day has been tapped to portray the descendant of Little Red Riding Hood in the SyFy Channel’s re-imagining of the Red Riding Hood tale.

SyFy has already done their re-imagining of the Wizard of Oz with Tin Man a couple years ago and have made it known that they will do similar re-imagining’s of classic fairy tale stories with Red their version of Little Red Riding Hood. Ms. Day will play one of Riding Hood’s werewolf-hunting descendants whose family shares the same proclivity to hunting the shapeshifting beasts. Her character of Red brings home her fiance to meet the family but who remains skeptical of their lineage and their werewolf-hunting sidejobs. That is until he himself gets bitten by one of the beasts and now must try to stay away from Red’s family who know what must be done. Red must try and save her man against his curse and her family.

While Ms. Day has had success starring in two of the web’s most popular and successful online series with Joss Whedon’s Dr. Horrible and her own The Guild, SyFy’s Red marks her first lead role in a production in film and tv. Here’s to hoping this is the sign of better things to come for the internet’s redhead darling.

Source: TV by The Numbers