April 24th, 2014.
(Screenshot album for episodes 4-6.)
Episode 4:
Heh, take that, Nagi no Asukara, “Once, there had been a tale of sad love that would never be requited. But that alone is not enough for a story.” It’s also nice, how the narrator doesn’t reveal information to us, but frames, in a very short timeframe, what the key takeaway is. That’s what a recap should be like.
“When I’m Princess Tutu I can dance like this. But now I’m just me. Wait, I’m just a duck.” She is these other people, but she is also herself. Whoever she is, she is herself. That’s the true way to think of things, not as “X can do it, but I can’t.” – She is always herself, what else she is changes. The ugly duckling, the gangly girl with some charm, and the beautiful swan. Three steps on a continuum, but all share the same desire, the same wish, which she’d dieto accomplish.
Success is hard. Making something look effortless takes a lot of effort. Rue doesn’t have it easy either.
Fakir, keeping Mytho as a beautiful doll, as an emotionless piece of art to observe and cultivate. Like a mannequin, or a supermodel, who is but a clothes hanger.
“You don’t need a heart. You don’t need to feel. You only need to know that you love me.” Oh, Rue.
“We’ve been walking and talking for a couple of hours, so we’re friends!” – Ahiru is just so charming. Definitely too much for prim and proper Rue to handle. Ahiru’s power after all is bridging the gap between hearts.
Edel and all the alliterations, ohanashi, kohanashi, and more. You have to listen to Edel speak. Also, how we’ve twisted the tale of Romeo and Juliet, and perhaps of Cinderella? A story of unrequited love, a story of love beyond the grave, but if our love will not come with us, we’ll take another with us. Down to the land of the dead, and to eternity beyond.
“Someone is calling out to me, is this the feeling of loneliness?” – And we’ve all been had, someone actually is calling to him. It’s hard living in a land where reality and stories intermingle. And Mytho, who is used to being told what to feel and think, is the perfect prey.
A ballet duel, for the soul of Mytho. This is straight out of an opera. They could make an opera/ballet based on this anime. I’m impressed.
Man, I’ll admit to tearing up when Princess Tutu appeared and danced with the ghost.
Drosselmeyer, you cackling author-ghost. Sorrow and loneliness might not bring Mytho happiness, but they’ll make for a good story, which is all you care for, after all.
Episode 5:
Yup, Rue and Fakir definitely know Mytho’s true identity. And Rue had seen Princess Tutu is also here. That means the raven might not be too far off either.
I only noticed it last episode, but notice how simply they made Ahiru stand out in her class. She’s wearing white, while everyone else is blue.
“Ringo = apple”, knowing that would’ve helped a lot while watching Mawaru Penguindrum.
Fakir locking away Mytho so he won’t go to the ball. This is like Cinderella, but with the prince behind bars, and the ugly duckling having to save him, so he’ll dance with someone else.
Ah, the light, someone who is happy to be there to shine light on others. But here’s what it’s really about, it’s not about seeing others succeed because of you, as much as it is about feeling needed. Feeling appreciated. Warmth to be reciprocated. The light, to be acknowledged.
We also see the lamp as a mirror of Fakir’s. Consider Edel’s words, you need darkness for the light to even be seen. Fakir wants to lock the prince away so his light will shine all the brighter. Fakir wishes to be the only light in Mytho’s life. Fakir is afraid that in the light, in others’ company, he won’t stand out to Mytho. He’s afraid that should Mytho become one of everyone, he won’t shine as much to him. A story of selfish and possessive love, all around.
Affection heart-shard, now we’re talking!
Rue, running away when seeing genuine feelings in Mytho’s eyes. The plot thickens!
Episode 4 was great and beautiful. Episode 5 felt relatively clinical, and busy with pushing the story, the moral, and helping us understand Fakir, so it didn’t hit as hard.
Episode 6:
What a marvelous/beautiful vignette to open with. An inversion of The Sleeping Beauty. A story without end. A story of lovers who will never unite. This is Drosselmeyer, writ at large.
“Fakir, I wonder what I think of you.” – With his heart, he’s regaining self-reflection, the hallmark of humanity.
“I have these feelings, but I don’t know what they are.” Wow, wow, wooooooow. Something I’ve thought of often in the past. When a previously blind person gains sight for the first time, he doesn’t know what “Green” is. At least, he doesn’t know the colour he’s seeing is the one called ‘green’.
Feelings. We have a shared vocabulary for them, but each of us can never leaves the confinement of one’s own mind. When you say ‘love’, how do I know the concept of “love” you’re referring to is the same concept I’m referring to when I utter the same word? Indeterminacy of Translation and Meaning, via Quine and Davidson, is obviously something to think of.
We don’t know we mean the same thing when we use the word, part of it works because emotions are somewhat “constructed”, we define how we feel based on the groundwork we had picked up from others. And the other part is… assumed. You cans ay you’ve never felt happiness, but describe what others would define as happiness, but since it doesn’t match your internal meaning, there’ll be a disconnect. If you “feel happy”, but define yourself as “having never felt happiness”, what then? Well, depends on whether you let it bother you, and how it affects your life.
“Dreaming Aurora”. Aurora is the Sleeping Beauty.
Wow, another really great moment, “Rue loves Mytho, but he doesn’t know what love is! It’s so sad.” and Edel replying, “Is it sad for Mytho, for Rue, or for you?” Edel is the choir, she’s talking to and for the audience. When something sad happens in a story, is it sad for the characters, or for us? A tale of unrequited love, which we call “Sad”, who is it sad to? The lover, the unloving one, or the audience? Great question.
Edel has a bunch of gems, each corresponding to motivations of characters’ actions in stories. She meddles in the story. She gets the story on the right track. Is she part of Drosselmeyer, his hope? Or is she the show’s makers, discussing the show and the meta-show within the show with the show’s inner-author? Hee hee.
“There’s no rule you can only have one dream.” Which is why Ahiru is lying to herself even when she’s supposedly not. It’s true her dream is to return Mytho’s happiness to him, but it’s also her dream for him to love her.
I think Mytho isn’t afraid of Princess Tutu. He might be afraid of the change she brings. He’s afraid she’ll go away. He’s afraid due to his loneliness that may come back if his affection isn’t returned. Welcome to at least one definition of what “love” is, Mytho.
Sleeping Beauty. Ahiru is crying. Is she waking from the dream and wishes she still had her dream? Is she awake, but thinking she’s still dreaming? The latter describes Ahiru in general. All her shapes. How did I open this series? Is she a duck dreaming of being a girl, or a girl dreaming of being a duck? Even when awake, she’s dancing as if in a dream. Even in the dream, she follows her waking desires.
Remember Edel’s question, of who is it sad for? Drosselmeyer, the so-called author is telling us what he thinks is a story’s “proper course” – “The direction most undesirable for all concerned.” It’s a question I asked myself recently. You know how some of us like watching sad series? We might say we don’t want the characters to suffer, but them suffering is why we like the shows, it’s what makes us think highly of it, and of the characters. We embrace this “Beautiful suffering.” We suffer, but not true suffering, but the suffering one can fall in love with. We are cruel, for we wish the characters to be happy, but we truly rejoice when their hopes and dreams are shattered, and emotions overflow.
It’s sad for the characters, and that’s “sad” for us, which fills us with terrible joy. We’re all Drosselmeyers.
Episode 4-6 Overview / Show Thus Far:
Episode 4 was wonderful. Episode 5 was busier showing us Fakir’s fears and insecurities, and episodes 5-6 in general were very busy with the morals, and advancing the plot, and self-reflection. Mytho’s self-reflection? The viewers and Ahiru’s. What do we wish for? What do feelings mean? What about reciprocity? The terrible weight of feeling alone and unloved, even as the concept of love cannot be transmitted capably. The terrible realization of finding another’s suffering to be beautiful, and does it truly mean it’s “only” within a story? For everything is a story, in this reality of ours.
It’s beautiful, though it’s getting a bit heavier. Lovely show. Suggested it to some friends who don’t watch much anime already. I can see how it’s a show for all ages, truly.
Geekorner-Geekulture. 