Princess Tutu Abridged

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Tutu On!"

The Abridged Series of Princess Tutu by Tutu On Abridger. Has a lot of fun with the nonsensical aspects of the series.

Unlike many Abridged Series, Princess Tutu Abridged does not reduce the number of episodes in the series. This likely stems from the fact that the original show is itself fairly compact, with important events even in seeming filler episodes. Much of the drama, humor, and even some actual lines from the dub, are also left in and used unironically. Characters are exaggerated, but left mostly unchanged. Lampshading is often done by referencing the trope directly by name.

However, this does not mean that the Princess Tutu Abridged team has not made this parody their own. Despite the obscurity of the anime, a lot of effort has been put in to making this show enjoyable. Of particular note is their two-part Musical Episodes, with all voice actors singing very well, even outside their own vocal range. The team specifically tried to avoid the obvious jokes, like the Ho Yay between Fakir and Mytho, and instead spring for less expected humor, such as Liliae and Pike's Ballerina Mafia.

The team has a pretty complete set of pages on The Abridged Series Wikia, including second-by-second music lists for each episode and nice trivia about the team. Might border on All There in the Manual, except that the information is not required to understand or enjoy the series.

Tropes used in Princess Tutu Abridged include:
  • A Day in the Limelight: Liliae lampshades Pike achieving this status in Episode 15. Of course, she is going to knock her out of it even if she has to kill Pike herself.
  • A Wizard Drosselmeyer Did It: A running gag in episode 17. The third time around, Drosselmeyer tells whoever is flashing the caption to stop pinning the blame on him.
  • The Abridged Series: Well, yeah. We've mentioned it several times already.
  • Allergic To Hotness: Taken quite literally with Mr. Cat.
  • Amusing Injuries: Duck is frequently the butt of these at the hands of the Mafia.
  • And That's Terrible: Child abuse! "It's bad!"
  • Bad Liar: Fakir wasn't crying. He just had... ash in his eyes.
    • "Duck Allergy..."
  • Barbie Doll Anatomy: "OMG, Mytho has no penis!" It's OK though. The fangirls still love him.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: Fakir and Rue seem to have this in the first half, but Fakir is apparently a bad kisser so it doesn't last.
  • Bi the Way: Mytho invokes this in front of the whole school upon Fakir's return from suspension in Episode 18.
    • Duck certainly seems to question her sexuality a lot when she's around Rue.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Nearly all the characters in the series do this from time to time, notably when Fakir notices the spotlights in Episode 8. When Kraehe casually breaks the in-series fourth wall by talking to Drosselmeyer at the end of the first season, she damages it to a point where the rest of the cast may break it more freely.
    • Pretty much all of Episode 23 is this.
  • Breather Episode: Duck has a wish granted for one of these in episode Episode 17.

Duck: Poor Mytho, this plot is getting so serious. I wish we could have an episode that's just random shit. Boy would that be awesome.

Fakir: Enough already! That is the worst accent I have ever heard. It's hammy, it's annoying, and it's driving me over the edge, you stupid crow!

"Mytho's being paired with the river!"

Duck: I wonder... should we split up and look for Mytho?
Rue: Duck, have you ever watched a horror movie once in your life? When someone disappears you don't split up to look for them.

  • Girl-On-Girl Is Hot: Drosselmeyer can't wait for the Cat Fights Bird Fights.
    • Mytho mentions that thinking of Tutu gives him one feeling, thinking of Rue gives him another feeling, and thinking of both of them at the same time gives him "an entirely different feeling altogether".
    • In episode 14, Fakir distracts Mytho by telling him Tutu and Kraehe are making out.
  • Gratuitous French: In episode 18.
  • Greek Chorus: The flock of crows in the series is treated as this.
  • Hand Wave: Mentioned by name. Mr. Cat in Episode 1, glancing over the fact that he is a cat.
    • And again in Episode 16 when Drosselmeyer points out Rue's line about only being able to get married after Mytho brings her a heart, when the pair had almost tied the knot back in Episode 10... hey, look at the clockwork plant!
  • Half-Human Hybrid: Pondered over by Duck herself. Heavily implied that she is one of these being part duck and part girl.
  • He's Dead, Jim: Spoofed at the Goldcrown Secret Underground Bookclub's meeting in Episode 21. Dead Tom is dead.
  • Hooker with a Heart of Gold: Edel is portrayed as this in the series.
  • Hostile Show Takeover: Fakir attempts one of these in the intro to Episode 21. Needless to say it doesn't stick.
  • How The Character Stole The Abridged Series
  • Hurricane of Puns: We get one of these in Episode 19, much to Drosselmeyer's lament.

"This is the story of the Prince and the Raven, not the story of the prince and the princess' tush."

"I'm suddenly questioning my sexuality!"

  • LOLcats: Mr. Cat is a failed attempt. His Grammar was too good to qualify.
  • Love Epiphany: "HOLY CRAP! I LOVE RUE!"
  • Love Hurts: Rue and Mytho's dance is still this from Rue's point of view with Mytho being upset about his loss of good looks. Also this line:

We're realizing that true love, is a bitch. This is hell

Liliae: "Love Triangles are for suckers. Murder the hypotenuse!"

"Mytho, I am so sorry my Clingy Jealous Girl tendencies have fucked up your life."

  • My Name Is Not Durwood: Anteaterina in Episode 2. "Adding 'Anteater' onto something doesn't make it my name!"
  • Never Learned to Read: Duck never did. Well, not German anyway.
  • Nice Hat: Duck is easily distracted by Mytho's hat in Episode 5. "It has a feather in it!"
  • No Medication for Me: Fakir in Episode 10.
  • Noodle Incident: Fakir has been taken out by 90 pound ballerinas before.
  • No Pronunciation Guide: Hermia in Episode 19 seems to have lost hers, being the only character in the show so far to pronounce Mytho's name as 'me-tho' and not 'mew-toe.'
  • "Not Making This Up" Disclaimer: Fakir commenting about writing a letter to the President in episode 20 has a subtitle saying "Actual Dub Dialogue. Seriously, WTF?".
  • Oh, No, Not Again: Fakir. "Did I just get taken out by a ninety pound ballerina? Damn, not again." (Episode 5)

Lilie: Pike, why is there a dead bird in our tree?
Pike: Again?

  • Ooh, Me Accent's Slipping: Done on purpose with Femio, who goes through several European accents in episode 17.
  • One of Us: The creators are very vocal Tropers and the abridged series runs with as many as it can get away with, subverted, played straight, lampshaded or otherwise. Autor seems to speak in nothing but tropes in episode 21.
  • Power-Up Food: V8, so even you can be a Badass one more time.
  • Pants-Free: Mytho on multiple occasions.
  • Please Put Some Clothes On: Pops up as a line during Fakir and Duck's "Screw Destiny" duet once she becomes human again in Episode 12 Act 2.
  • Plot Hole: Also taken quite literally in the series. Once in Episode 4 and again in Episode 12 Act 1, Edel opens a quite literal plot hole so that Tutu may proceed.
  • Rage Against the Author: Even more so than the original, as of episode 22. The characters not only notice the internal fourth wall, but the external one, making contact with (and deciding to fight) the abridgers themselves.
  • Reading the Stage Directions Out Loud: Used in the second part of the first Musical Episode

Princess Tutu: Expletive! Interjection!

  • Romantic Plot Tumor: Drosselmeyer blames most of Season 2's plot on the Shipping Bridge getting Duck and Fakir together.
  • Running Gag: What would an abridged series be without them? Quite a few, including pantsless Mytho, "Shiny?", Edel's ghost music, and Duck's perfect ass.
    • A new one shows up in season 2:

Mytho: I'll take your beautiful [insert body part here]...
Kraehe: (offscreen) Heart, Mytho

    • A few less obvious ones are "Creeper", Naming tropes, gravity, The Shipping Bridge, How Krahe's outfit stays up, "Burns" in episode two, and the Occult, the latest even going as far as being mentioned in the comment special
  • Sarcasm Mode: One of Mytho's emotions.
  • Say My Name: "And now for the final dramatic touch...DUUUUUUUUUUUCK!"
    • "FAKIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIR!"
  • Screw Destiny: Duck and Fakir sing a duet about this in Episode 12.
  • She Is Not My Girlfriend: A paranoid Fakir shouts this in the middle of a dinner conversation in Episode 20.
  • Shipping: Made fun of in episode 7.
  • Ship-to-Ship Combat / Abandon Shipping: This begins to happen en masse as the relationship between Mytho and Fakir heats up, leaving both fangirl leagues and the Ballerina Mafia in complete disarray. Some have outright abandoned the leagues to go slash for the pair.
  • Shout-Out: The story in the intro to each episode is a shout out to another work of fiction, not to mention more subtle shout outs during each episode.
  • Show Within a Show: Mytho begins staring in the titular 'Everybody Loves Mytho' in Episode 17.
  • Small Reference Pools: Averted, but with some techno and trance songs instead of classical music.
  • Smite Me, O Mighty Smiter!: Invoked by Femio repeatedly. "Oh Kira/Haruhi/4Kids pour judgment upon this sinner."
  • So Beautiful It's a Curse: Rue has this.

Princess Tutu: Rue's problem is she's So Beautiful It's a Curse. It's why she gets all the creepy stalkers... and the guys... Poor. Rue.

Duck: Everyone has more problems than me!

  • Weaksauce Weakness: Doorknobs, Duck's one true weakness.
    • Blue flowers.
    • Fakir's one true weakness also seems to be doorknobs, according to the First-Year Anniversary special (though this may not have been serious).
  • We Are Experiencing Technical Difficulties: During the April Fools video where Elf and Blade pretend to have a falling out.
  • While Rome Burns: Mytho and Tutu dance the night away while Fakir bleeds to death and Edel burns herself alive.

Narrator: And so the prince and the princess danced by the warm light of a comrade's funeral pyre while the knight bled to death.

"She's Princess Tutu? I thought I was Princess Tutu!"

  • You Bastard: Parodied several times from episode 22 onwards, once the external fourth wall finally breaks down, and it's pointed out that the characters are all suffering for your amusement.
  • Your Cheating Heart: It's implied that Rue made out with Fakir sometime around episode 4.