AMINE AND MANGA

Princess Tutu (プリンセスチュチュ, Purinsesu Chuchu) is a magical girl anime series created by Ikuko Itoh in 2002 for animation studio Hal Film Maker. It was adapted as a 2-volume manga illustrated by Mizuo Shinonome. Both series are licensed in North America by ADV Films.

Princess Tutu follows Ahiru (meaning 'duck' in Japanese), a duck who was transformed into a young girl who takes ballet at a private school. She becomes enamored of her mysterious schoolmate Mytho, and transforms into Princess Tutu to restore his shattered heart. Mytho's girlfriend Rue transforms into Princess Kraehe to disrupt Tutu's efforts, and Mytho's protective friend Fakir discourages Mytho's burgeoning emotions. When it becomes apparent that Ahiru, Rue, Mytho, and Fakir are meant to play out the roles of characters in a story written by a writer named Drosselmeyer, they begin to resist the constraints of their assigned fates and fight to keep the story from becoming a tragedy.

The series explores the concepts of fate and free will. Reviewers point out that although Princess Tutu is nominally a magical girl series, it is more of a "fairy tale set to ballet with a few magical girl elements mixed in," and its use of ballet dances in lieu of violence to solve conflicts carries "surprisingly effective emotional appeal."

Princess Mononoke (もののけ姫, Mononoke-hime) is a 1997 Japanese animated historical fantasy feature film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki of Studio Ghibli. The film was first released in Japan on July 12, 1997, and in the United States on October 29, 1999, in select cities and on November 26, 1999, in Canada.

Princess Mononoke is a period drama set specifically in the late Muromachi period of Japan but with numerous fantastic elements, and concentrates on the struggle between the supernatural guardians of a forest and the humans who consume its resources as seen by the outsider Ashitaka. "Mononoke" (物の怪) is not a name, but a general term in the Japanese language for a spirit or monster.

Roger Ebert placed the movie sixth on his top ten movies of 1999. Mononoke also became the highest grossing movie in Japan until Titanic took over the spot several months later. Overall, Mononoke is the third highest grossing anime movie in Japan,^{[citation needed]} next to 2001's Spirited Away and 2004's Howl's Moving Castle, both also by Miyazaki.

Princess Ai is a manga co-created by Courtney Love, Ai Yazawa, Misaho Kujiradou, and DJ Milky (a pen name for Stu Levy), and is published in English by Tokyopop.

The story deals with an amnesiac girl named Ai who was torn from her homeland, and awakens in present-day Tokyo. Remembering nothing of her life except her own name, the only clue she has to her identity is a heart-shaped box.

A young, amnesiac alien girl known only as Princess Ai is mysteriously transported to Tokyo, Japan. With only a heart-shaped box to clue her in on her past, Ai makes her living as a rock star at Club Cupid. She falls in love with a sensitive musician, Kent, to the chagrin of Kent's gay, possessive roommate, Hikaru. But Hikaru is the least of Ai's worries when gun-toting talent agents and demons seeking to take control of Ai's homeland, Ai Land, are hot on her trail.

The Prince of Tennis (テニスの王子様, Tenisu no Ōjisama) is a popular Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Takeshi Konomi. The title is often shortened to TeniPuri (テニプリ), a portmanteau of the two parts in the Japanese pronunciation of the words "Tennis Prince". The manga was first published in Japan in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump in July 1999, and ended publication on March 3, 2008. A total of 379 chapters were serialized, spanning 42 volumes. As of volume 40, the manga has sold over 40 million copies in Japan. News that a sequel to the manga series was going to be developed was announced in the December issue of the Japanese manga magazine Jump Square. The new manga series, entitled New Prince of Tennis, began serialization in the Jump Square magazine on March 4, 2009, with the story taking place several months after the end of the original manga. Viz Media acquired the license to distribute the series in English in North America.

The manga was adapted into an anime series directed by Takayuki Hamana, animated by Trans Arts and co-produced by Nihon Ad Systems & TV Tokyo. The anime aired across Japan on the anime satellite television network Animax and the terrestrial TV Tokyo network from October 10, 2001 to March 30, 2005, spanning a total of 178 episodes, as well as a theatrical movie. In April 2006, an original video animation (OVA) continuation of the anime began to be released on DVD. The beginning of the second OVA series was released on June 22, 2007, roughly 3 months after the end of the first. The second OVA ended on January 25, 2008, and the third and final OVA started on April 25, 2008.

The series developed into a media franchise and has had numerous other adaptations outside of the animated incarnation. Since April 2003, more than fifteen stage musicals have been produced for the series. An animated movie was released in 2005, as well as a live action movie in 2006.The franchise has also had a long running radio show, numerous video games, soundtracks, and other merchandise or collectibles.