40 Fun Facts About Princess Tutu

Which Hans Christian Andersen story, along with a famous ballet, inspired the plot of Princess Tutu?

The Ugly Duckling fits a heroine who really is a small duck, turned into a girl and then a graceful ballerina by a magical gift.

What does Mr. Cat, the ballet teacher in Princess Tutu, threaten to make misbehaving girls do?

Marry him is the threat Mr. Cat hangs over late or distracted students, and Duck hears it most of all.

Which gift from Drosselmeyer makes Duck a girl in Princess Tutu and proves to be the last heart shard?

A pendant makes Duck human, so returning it to complete the prince's heart means going back to being a bird for good.

Mytho's true name in Princess Tutu, Siegfried, is borrowed from the prince of which classic ballet?

Swan Lake also gives the first-season finale its title, and the name Siegfried is only revealed at the very end of the series.

What did frightened townsfolk do to the storyteller Drosselmeyer in Princess Tutu to stop his stories coming true?

Cut off his hands, and yet he outwitted them: a machine he made before dying lets him keep steering the story from beyond the grave.

After a stray quack turns her back into a bird in Princess Tutu, what must Duck touch to become human again?

Water restores her human shape, which is why a helpful splash from a friend so often rescues Duck at the last second.

Drosselmeyer, the storyteller of Princess Tutu, shares his name with a godfather in which classic ballet?

The Nutcracker's Drosselmeyer is the toymaker godfather who gives the heroine her nutcracker; the anime's version is a dead author still steering his story.

Which animator, best known for her work on Sailor Moon, created Princess Tutu and designed its characters?

Ikuko Itoh was an animation director on early Sailor Moon episodes before taking over that show's character designs in 1994.

In Princess Tutu, what would the title ballerina turn into if she ever confessed her love to Mytho?

A speck of light is her written fate, so in the first-season finale she declares her feelings through dance instead of words.

In which European language does Princess Tutu label its seasons as Kapitel and number each episode as an Akt?

German suits the storybook town, and the show also lists the classical pieces behind its episodes under their names in that language.

Fakir in Princess Tutu is the reincarnation of which figure from the old story The Prince and the Raven?

The Knight died shielding the Prince, and Fakir was born with a scar-like birthmark exactly where the fatal wound fell.

What kind of being is Edel, who carries a tray of jewelry and advises Duck in Princess Tutu?

A wooden puppet built by Drosselmeyer to narrate in his place, Edel was meant to have no feelings but grows them through knowing Duck.

What is the name of the academy where Duck, Rue and Mytho study ballet in Princess Tutu?

Gold Crown Academy is Kinkan Gakuen in the Japanese original, and it sits in a town of the same name that turns out to be sealed off by a wall.

Which dark alter ego does Rue take on in Princess Tutu, believing she is the daughter of the Raven?

Princess Kraehe steals a heart shard on her first appearance, before the girl behind her even understands she has a second self.

In Princess Tutu, which part of the Raven is used to taint a heart shard and slowly corrupt Mytho?

His blood soaks the shard holding the feeling of love, and under its sway Mytho starts hunting for pure hearts to sacrifice.

Princess Tutu's first season is called the Chapter of the what?

Egg comes first and the second season follows as the Chapter of the Chick or the Fledgling, depending on which DVD release you own.

Which Russian composer wrote the music named in the subtitles of Princess Tutu's first and last episodes?

Tchaikovsky towers over the soundtrack, which mixes his ballet scores with recordings of Johann Strauss II and Erik Satie.

What does Rue learn about her true origins late in Princess Tutu, after years of serving the Raven?

She was a kidnapped baby, taken from her parents during an attack on the town and raised to think no one else could love her.

Which drum-playing, toddler-like doll does Charon make in the second season of Princess Tutu?

Uzura is endlessly curious and spends the second season trying to work out what love is.

Which two ballet classmates are Duck's best friends in the Princess Tutu anime, forever meddling in her love life?

Pike and Lilie exist only in the anime; the manga swaps them for two girls named Mai and Yuma.

Which instrument does Edel play as she drifts around town offering Duck advice in Princess Tutu?

A street organ announces Edel wherever she appears, and she offers stories along with her advice.

How does Edel lead Tutu and Mytho out of the darkness at the end of Princess Tutu's first season?

By setting herself alight, Edel becomes a guiding flame, and her last request is to watch the two of them dance together.

What does Drosselmeyer do at the very end of Princess Tutu, once the story he steered ends happily?

Seeks a new tale: denied the tragedy he wanted, he simply wanders off to watch some other plot unfold.

Which veteran director, who launched Ojamajo Doremi at Toei, was the chief director of Princess Tutu?

Junichi Sato was also the first series director of Sailor Moon, and in 1986 had become the youngest series director in Toei's history.

Which song opens Princess Tutu, paired with an ending theme whose title translates as Although My Love Is Small?

Morning Grace swaps places for the first-season finale, playing over the end credits instead of the usual closing song.

Which actress, the English voice of Ochaco in My Hero Academia, plays Duck in the Princess Tutu dub?

Luci Christian is also the English voice of Nami in One Piece and of Honey in Ouran High School Host Club.

Which Houston-based distributor licensed Princess Tutu for North America and produced its English-language dub?

ADV Films released the dub on single DVD volumes from 2005 and as a complete collection two years later.

Which Japanese name, simply the word for her species, does the heroine keep in the English Princess Tutu manga?

Ahiru stays untranslated in the English manga, where the heroine also gains a surname, Arima, that the anime never gives her.

Which animals trample Femio, the self-declared prince, in the Princess Tutu episode subtitled after Carmen?

Bulls flatten Femio because he cannot pick between two rival princesses, having vowed to love and be loved by everyone.

Which animal is the jealous ballet student who challenges Rue to a dance-off early in Princess Tutu?

An anteater, sore at being outshone, turns out to carry the first heart shard Tutu recovers: the feeling of bitterness.

Which singer-songwriter, who also wrote songs for Fruits Basket, performs both theme songs of Princess Tutu?

Ritsuko Okazaki wrote both the words and the music, and died in 2004, only a year after the series finished its run.

Which singer and voice actress, Hinata Hyuga in Naruto, voices Rue in the original Japanese Princess Tutu?

Nana Mizuki trained as an enka singer and released a single under her birth name before her voice-acting debut in 1997.

From which landmark does the long-dead Drosselmeyer use his story machine to steer events in Princess Tutu?

The clock tower houses the machine, letting an author long dead keep pushing events toward the tragedy he craves.

Which animation studio, founded by former Toei Animation staff, produced the anime series Princess Tutu?

Hal Film Maker went on to make the Aria series before being absorbed into Yumeta Company in 2009.

Which composer, best known for scoring Inuyasha, wrote the original music for the anime Princess Tutu?

Kaoru Wada studied under Akira Ifukube, the composer behind the Godzilla scores, and is married to an Inuyasha voice actress.

Which Japanese actor, the voice of Cloud Strife in Final Fantasy VII, plays the brooding Fakir in Princess Tutu?

Takahiro Sakurai later voiced Giyu Tomioka in Demon Slayer and the con-man psychic Reigen in Mob Psycho 100.

Which magazine serialized the Princess Tutu manga while the anime was still on the air?

Champion Red ran the manga from August 2002 to May 2003, and the whole story fits into just two collected volumes.

How did most of Princess Tutu's second season first air on Japanese television?

In quarter-hour halves, to fit its time slot: each episode was split in two and only made whole again on DVD.

What is the trade of Charon, the adoptive father who raised Fakir in Princess Tutu?

A swordsmith by trade, Charon gives Fakir a storied blade once Tutu frees him from a heart shard of regret.

Which haughty music student in Princess Tutu reveals to Fakir that he descends from Drosselmeyer?

Autor then puts Fakir through a punishing three-day trial to prove the inherited gift is real.