Prologue[]
Once upon a time, there was a maiden. The maiden wore tattered clothes and was called Cinderella. But with the help of some magic she became a beautiful princess and got to dance with the prince. Then, at the stroke of midnight the maiden ran away, leaving a glass slipper, and she returned to being Cinderella once again. The prince went to great lengths to find this maiden, which he did, and took her as his wife. Yet, a thorny question rises. Did the prince really fall in love with the maiden?
Story[]
Princess Tutu tells Fakir she doesn’t intend to stop returning Mytho's heart. Fakir attacks her with a shard of glass causing Mytho to run forward and restrain him. Fakir shouts at Tutu that she can’t protect Mytho if she lets Kraehe so easily interfere causing Mytho to tell Tutu to run away. Upon leaving the building Fakir finds Tutu’s pendant on the floor which was left behind. Ahiru in duck form, meanwhile, realizes she lost it (due to Fakir breaking the chain and causing it to fall) and has to retrieve it if she wishes to turn back into a girl. Ahiru sets out to find it whilst Fakir keeps a hold of it, finally bumping into him the next day in her duck form. She notices he has her pendant and tries to take it off him however he pets her before walking away without her having her pendant returned to her. In school, Fakir wonders if Tutu could be one of the girls in the ballet class whilst the class watches Mytho dance.
After school, Ahiru follows Fakir to his dorm room to try and retrieve the pendant. Whilst there, a crow brings an invitation to Fakir’s window to Mytho and Kraehe’s wedding that night. Ahiru follows Fakir to an antique shop where he meets the owner Karon who is his adoptive father and asks for the Lohengrin sword to protect Mytho but is refused since only a knight can wield it. He states that all the stories Karon told him as a child have come true – the Raven being reborn, Tutu appearing, Mytho regaining his heart – and that since he is the knight reborn from within the story, he should be given the sword.
In a flashback of Fakir’s where he is first brought to Karon after losing his parents, Karon tells him that the scar present on his upper body is proof he is the reincarnation of the knight in the story who tried to protect the prince. The younger Fakir came across Mytho whose heart was missing and Karon realized he was the prince, Fakir and Mytho grew up together – Mytho never growing up in appearance. Fakir had Mytho do as Fakir said to try and protect Mytho from getting into danger.
Karon tells Fakir he cannot protect Mytho and slaps him causing Fakir to realize he is afraid but that he wishes to protect Mytho. Ahiru follows after him and later comes across a crying Fakir and realizes he really does care about Mytho. Fakir then gives Ahiru the pendant after she comforted him, before leaving allowing Ahiru to turn into a girl once more. Returning to Karon’s, Ahiru finds Karon is being influenced by a shard and transforms into Princess Tutu and tells Karon to have faith in Fakir before leaving with the shard.
Meanwhile, Fakir who is reading of the knight who was killed by being split in two by ravens vows he will not serve the same fate. Returning to Karon, Karon gives him the Lohengrin sword and Fakir sets out. Elsewhere, Ahiru comes across Mytho, who has also received an invitation from Kraehe and is heading there, and returns the shard. It’s then Kraehe appears and takes Mytho into her arms whilst crows cage Ahiru. Kraehe forces Mytho into a dance as Ahiru watches helplessly. At that moment, however, Fakir bursts in on a horse and attacks Kraehe with a sword. Kraehe is caught off guard by Mytho who looks at her with eyes full of emotions and disappears, leaving Fakir to notice Tutu has her pendant back. She leaves and transforms back into the normal Ahiru, leaving the churchyard and hiding in some bushes whilst Fakir and Mytho come out. Fakir notices her however and as Mytho walks on, he recognizes the pendant she is wearing and as Ahiru runs off he realizes she is Princess Tutu much to Ahiru's horror.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Subtitle: Cinderella: Waltz-Coda
- Heart Shard: Regret
- The movement Mytho dances to is usually danced to by a ballerina.
- Here is the waltz they dance to in the "wedding".
- Karon is probably named after Charon, who is best known as the ferryman in Greek mythology who brings dead souls over to Hades.
- Lohengrin shows up in German Arthurian literature as the son of Percival. As they say in the article linked, his story is a version of the "Knight of the Swan" tale.
- "Lohengrin" is also the name of an opera by Richard Wagner, who composed Gotterdammerung, from which Siegfried's funeral march which is used in this episode is taken.
- Princess Tutu frees Karon to the Arabian dance/the coffee variation from the Nutcracker. This could be because Karon is connected to Fakir, and that word is derived from an Arabic word (faqr, meaning 'poverty'). It should also be noted that later in the show, the music from Rimskij-Korsakov's Scheherazade features prominently in Fakir scenes (more discussion on Scheherazade when we get to episode 12).
- There are several references to the Cinderella fairytale in both this and the previous episode. There is the initial idea of Ahiru changing from Princess Tutu back to a bird after losing her pendant, a reference to the lost glass slipper and Cinderella's hidden identity by magical means. In "Black Shoes", Rue transforms into Princess Kraehe after putting on a pair of cursed dancing slippers. Also, in the original Grimm fairytale, Cinderella's stepsisters attend her wedding in the hopes of catching the Prince's eye, and subsequently have their eyes torn out by crows. In the wedding scene, Kraehe sets a flock of crows upon Tutu, who she views as her rival for Mytho's affections.
Music[]
- Wagner, Richard: Gotterdämerung: Music from Act III, Scene 2 – “Siegfried's Funeral March”
- Tchaikovsky, Piotr Ilyich: The Nutcracker: Act II, No.14 - Variation II “Dance of the Sugar Plum Faerie”
- Saint-Saëns, Camille: Carnival of the Animals: Kangaroo
- Same: same: Aquarium
- Ippolitov-Ivanov, Michail: Caucasian Sketches, Op.10 Mvt 1 “In The Mountain Pass”
- Chopin, Frederic: Mazurka in F-sharp minor, Op.6 no.1
- Tchaikovsky, Piotr Ilyich: The Nutcracker: Act II, No.12 – “Divertissement: Arabian Dance (Coffee)”
- Wagner, Richard: Gotterdämerung: Music from Act III, Scene 2 - “Siegfried’s Funeral March”
- Prokofiev, Sergei: Cinderella: Act II - Waltz-Coda
- Same: same: Act II - “Midnight”