arima ahiru
Ahiru, whose name means "duck" in Japanese, is indeed a duck herself; however, at the start of the series, she was transformed into a human girl by Drosselmeyer. He also gave her a pendant that enables Ahiru to transform into her other identity, Princess Tutu. This transformation was driven by her wish to see Myuuto, the Prince of the story, smile once again. It turns out that her role as Princess Tutu is to collect the missing pieces of Myuuto's heart so he can regain his capacity to feel both sadness and happiness.
From the very beginning, it's clear that Ahiru, whether as a human, a duck, or a princess, is deeply in love with the Prince. However, if she confesses her feelings to him, she will cease to exist (or so the story goes). As such, she finds herself in this difficult situation but always willingly fetches Myuuto's heart to help her beloved, lifeless Prince.
In the manga:
Ahiru Arima is a human girl who was given a pendant to transform into Princess Tutu. According to Edel, her task is to gather shards for the Prince to help restore his heart.
By the end of the manga, Ahiru does not die or revert to being a duck. Instead, she forms a friendship with Rue, Fakir, and Myuuto - whom she still loves.
Characters
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Arima Ahiru
Main
Ahiru (which translates to duck in Japanese) is in all reality, a duck herself; however, in the beginning of the series she was turned into a human girl by Drosselmeyer. He also bestowed upon her a pendent which causes Ahiru to transform into her other-se...
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Fakir
Main
Fakir is the Knight of the story, and works through life watching over Myuuto to protect the Prince as planned. He is purposely cold and rude near the beginning of the series in an effort to focus solely on Myuuto, and also tries to sabotage Princess Tutu...
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Kuroha Rue
Main
Rue is a very difficult character to read. When the tale begins, she is in a relationship with Myuuto more just because than anything else, yet once Myuuto is threatened from being taken away from her by gaining his heart, she finds that she does indeed c...
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Myuuto
Main
Myuuto was once a heroic and kind Prince who protected the helpless, yet in one of his many battles he encountered a raven. The only way to defeat the monster was to shatter his heart to seal it away. In doing so, he lost all emotions and was left rather ...
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Mai
Supporting
Mai is a brilliant scientist and one of the top assistants to Emperor Pilaf, the other being Shu. She is much brighter than Shu and Pilaf who are mainly comic relief characters while Mai is not, but she is always incompetent at her mission. She mainly app...
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Neko-sensei
Supporting
Neko-sensei is a teacher at the ballet school that the main characters attend. He has an odd obsession with being married, and even threatens his students that they will have to marry him if they keep making mistakes in class. Quite often, Ahiru is the on...
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Yuma
Supporting
Yuma is the #40 Claymore of generation 78 and a defensive type. She is extremely insecure, considering herself weak compared to her companions.Despite clearly being the weakest of the survivors of the Northern Campaign, after the seven year time skip her ...