In the sixth episode of the first session of Princess Tutu, Ahiru comes to realize that her work to help Mytho may do anything but that. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to watch Princess Tutu.
GODDAMN IT, THE ANSWER WAS RIGHT THERE AND I STILL DIDN’T GET IT UNTIL THE END.
As the mythology surrounding Mytho continues to expand, I am curious how this show is going to sustain itself for twenty more episodes. Surely Mytho doesn’t have twenty more separate emotions for Ahiru to recover! Well, the spectrum of human emotion is pretty complicated. It’s here in “Dreaming Aurora” that we finally get hints of how things are going to change in the future, as well as further development of some other key issues we’ve seen before.
First of all, you can tell that Fakir is rather worried about Mytho’s continued growth as an actual human. Any possible emotional behavior is suspect. A smile, a tremble, a look of anticipation: They’re all signs of Mytho becoming something he’s not supposed to be. On the opposite end of this, Ahiru is more determined than ever to return Mytho’s heart shards to him. Again, I’m so touched that Ahiru does this knowing she can never expect anything in return. All she wants is for Mytho to smile. She is perfectly fine acting in Mytho’s best interest even if that means he ends up with Rue instead. I’ve honestly never seen a story of unrequited love unfold this way, and I LOVE IT SO MUCH.
Knowing that the story of Sleeping Beauty framed “Dreaming Aurora,” I was immensely pleased with the way the tale was wrapped up in Paulamoni’s characterization. She’s a dancer herself who is haunted with uncertainty and fear, and Mytho’s shard influences her to doubt her own ability to play Aurora. I was impressed that her husband, Paulo, acted as such a positive force for her, especially since this changed the way that Ahiru normally retrieved a heart shard. Unsure about how to perform, it’s through Paulo’s positive support and Ahiru’s vibrant and unique dancing that Paulamoni realizes what’s going wrong with her. Despite that there is a heart shard within her, I enjoyed that her story didn’t need it to exist. As an artist, especially one with such a physical representation of her creativity, Paulamoni’s story is one that many of us are familiar with. We doubt what we are doing because we feel like we can’t measure up to those we admire. But the problem is that we’re comparing ourselves to someone we can never be. It’s because of Ahiru’s dancing that Paulamoni realizes that she needs to be herself. Ahiru may not be technically perfect, but no one dances like her. She has her own style. And I’m sure that whoever played Aurora in Paulamoni’s past had her own unique way of dancing. With her husband’s support, Paulamoni finds the strength to be unique.
CAN YOU TELL THAT I LOVED THIS STORY? It’s so great.
This episode also featured Rue being quite blatant with Fakir about Mytho changing. I could tell how desperate this situation was. On top of that, this is the first time another character has ever acknowledged just how fucking strange it is that people become animals. Y’ALL, THE TROUPE LEADER BECAME AN EEL, AND THE DANCERS WROTE IT OFF AS A WAY TO SAVE ELECTRICITY. Bless. So what does this mean? Are other characters going to comment on this? Does this town exist in some weird dimension that affects other people once they enter it? I AM VERY INTRIGUED.
Of course, “Dreaming Aurora” is special for a much more obvious reason. The opening tale speaks of a princess who didn’t want to be woken up by the prince who did so, and if you watch the video for this episode, I was curious as to why the genders changed in the story and what relevance this had to the episode. For the first time in the show, Ahiru’s actions have caused Mytho to feel something bad. I’m guessing that this is directly due to the heart shard itself. Even though it’s never stated outright, I think it’s safe to say that Ahiru found fear. This is also the first time a heart shard FOUGHT BACK. Holy shit, I was so worried that Ahiru would get hurt.
This presents a much more complicated situation than I expected, and I think this is one of the ways this show is going to last twenty more episodes. Now, Mytho is afraid of Princess Tutu, and I’m sure it’ll turn Fakir and Rue against Tutu. How much longer until Fakir figures out who it really is? I think he’ll abandon the idea that it was Rue considering that she was sitting in the audience the entire time that Ahiru was off chasing the shard. Hell, Ahiru was the only person missing during that scene, and we already saw how brutal Fakir was with her during their pas de deux. Jesus, this is going to get bad, isn’t it?
DAMN IT. This show is already giving me so many feelings, and I’ve just started it. What have y’all done to me?
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