Princess Tutu is an anime TV-series based on and around ballet and the art of storytelling. The show ran from August 16, 2002 to June 28, 2003 on Kids Station in Japan for 38 episodes (13 half-hour episodes and 26 15-minute episodes which were later combined on DVD for a total of 26 episodes). The series was created by Ito Ikuko, and a manga version illustrated by Shinonome Mizuo ran in Champion RED Comics. The opening and ending themes, "Morning Grace" and "Even Though My Love Is So Small", were composed by Okazaki Ritsuko. The television series and two-volume manga are licensed by ADV Films for US release.

In many ways, Princess Tutu can be categorized as a typical magical girl anime and manga. The main character, Arima Ahiru ("ahiru" means "duck" in Japanese), gains a special brooch that allows her to sense when something is amiss, and turn into Princess Tutu to handle the situation. As typical with other Magical Girl series, the chapters and episodes for the most part follow a distinct pattern, in which the main character transforms into Princess Tutu and saves the day with her dancing. However, although the anime is in many senses a magical girl show, it is also both fairy tale and meta-fairy tale, which adds a twist to the formal structure. It draws together many disparate elements of myth, fairy tale, ballet, and opera. Like many fairy tales, it's rich in wordplay, with names and terms are assign different layers of meaning, often across multiple languages (particularly English, German, and Italian). The soundtrack is classical and romantic, and episodes are often named for their most prominently featured ballet movements. While Princess Tutu ultimately belongs the magical girl genre, it's also something more: like Revolutionary Girl Utena, it inhabits a world of both magic and myth. It also shares Utena's strong feminist themes and undertones -- Princess Tutu remains one of the few anime series that never panders to a poorly stereotypical portrayal of female characters, good or evil. The heroine successfully blends the traits of a true hero and an ordinary person, until eventually there is no line in between the two. The major female antagonist defies genre categorizing, being simultaneously villainous, heartbreaking and heroic in her own way.

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