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* DramaticIrony: The audience knows from the beginning that Anya is the real Grand Duchess Anastasia and that Dimitri was her servant, which fact is repeatedly PlayedForDrama on the unknowing characters, especially Anya, who on top of everything else also has no idea that Dimitri's plan to reunite her with her family is intended to be a con.
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* SealedWithAKiss: Ends with [[spoiler:the main couple kissing and dancing on their elopement.]]

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* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: The Romanovs have a very small role in this film. All we see is Nicholas telling Rasputin to leave his party, and given how ObviouslyEvil he looks, Nick looks good in comparison. In reality they were infamously bloody rulers and criticised for it both nationally and internationally. The story also starts in 1916, but their mismanagement of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI is not even mentioned, nor are such massacres as "Bloody Sunday". All this is omitted to focus on the glamour of royalty and Anastasia's journey back to it instead.

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* HistoricalHeroUpgrade: HistoricalHeroUpgrade:
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The Romanovs have a very small role in this film. All we see is Nicholas telling Rasputin to leave his party, and given how ObviouslyEvil he looks, Nick looks good in comparison. In reality they were infamously bloody rulers and criticised for it both nationally and internationally. The story also starts in 1916, but their mismanagement of UsefulNotes/WorldWarI is not even mentioned, nor are such massacres as "Bloody Sunday". All this is omitted to focus on the glamour of royalty and Anastasia's journey back to it instead.



* InnocentInaccurate: Subtly used for Anya and Dimitri. First case: When Marie gave Anastasia her gift before returning to Paris, Anastasia wondered if it was a jewelry box. Young Dimitri, who was eavesdropping on them, got scolded and hauled back to the kitchens before he could hear Marie tell her that it was a ''music'' box instead. Ten years later, Dimitri keeps referring to it as a "jewelry box."

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* InnocentInaccurate: InnocentInaccurate:
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Subtly used for Anya and Dimitri. First case: When Marie gave Anastasia her gift before returning to Paris, Anastasia wondered if it was a jewelry box. Young Dimitri, who was eavesdropping on them, got scolded and hauled back to the kitchens before he could hear Marie tell her that it was a ''music'' box instead. Ten years later, Dimitri keeps referring to it as a "jewelry box."



* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: [[spoiler:In the climax, Anya defeats Rasputin decked out in a ball gown, royal sash, and crown jewels. Granted, the dress ends up rather more ripped and bedraggled than it started out, but still.]]
** [[spoiler:Despite the state of her dress, crushing that reliquary beneath her high heels still qualifies.]]

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* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: [[spoiler:In the climax, Anya defeats Rasputin decked out in a ball gown, royal sash, and crown jewels. Granted, the dress ends up rather more ripped and bedraggled than it started out, but still.]]
** [[spoiler:Despite
Despite the state of her dress, crushing that reliquary beneath her high heels still qualifies.]]



* RoyalBlood: Anastasia is the last of the royal Romanov bloodline, although there's no throne to reclaim since the revolution. [[spoiler: This is why Dimitri is so devastated when he realizes the woman he's in love with is a genuine royal rather than a fake as he knows there's no way a former servant could marry into the Russian royal family.]]

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* RoyalBlood: RoyalBlood:
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Anastasia is the last of the royal Romanov bloodline, although there's no throne to reclaim since the revolution. [[spoiler: This is why Dimitri is so devastated when he realizes the woman he's in love with is a genuine royal rather than a fake as he knows there's no way a former servant could marry into the Russian royal family.]]



* RuleOfSymbolism: By WordOfGod, the reason for the seeming BigLippedAlligatorMoment, "Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart", is not merely to show off Bernadette Peters, nor 1920s Paris, but a reflection of both cultural progress at the time and Anastasia's CharacterDevelopment. On the one hand, by the '20s the Soviet republics were reeling from the White Army and foreign invasion, something Europe did not contend with, with much of this renaissance based in Paris; on the other hand, this ties into Anya leaving a dead world for one vibrant and alive, paralleling her leaving behind an empty, soulless existence for one where she could bloom, grow, and begin a new, happy life.

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* RuleOfSymbolism: RuleOfSymbolism:
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By WordOfGod, the reason for the seeming BigLippedAlligatorMoment, "Paris Holds the Key to Your Heart", is not merely to show off Bernadette Peters, nor 1920s Paris, but a reflection of both cultural progress at the time and Anastasia's CharacterDevelopment. On the one hand, by the '20s the Soviet republics were reeling from the White Army and foreign invasion, something Europe did not contend with, with much of this renaissance based in Paris; on the other hand, this ties into Anya leaving a dead world for one vibrant and alive, paralleling her leaving behind an empty, soulless existence for one where she could bloom, grow, and begin a new, happy life.



* ShipperOnDeck: Vlad catches on pretty quickly that Anya and Dimitri have a SlapSlapKiss thing going. He also gets the two to dance and sings a song about this on the ship to Paris. It's also fun watching his face in the background as the two interact.

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* ShipperOnDeck: ShipperOnDeck:
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Vlad catches on pretty quickly that Anya and Dimitri have a SlapSlapKiss thing going. He also gets the two to dance and sings a song about this on the ship to Paris. It's also fun watching his face in the background as the two interact.



* SymbolicallyBrokenObject: Not so much broken as ''separated''. Throughout her childhood at the orphanage, Anastasia keeps the necklace that doubles as a key to her music box, while Dimitri is the one that carries around said music box, knowing that it once belonged to the lost princess. When the two pieces are brought together, it's when Anya finally remembers who she is, opening the box with the help of the key and singing its lullaby with her grandmother.

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* SymbolicallyBrokenObject: SymbolicallyBrokenObject:
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Not so much broken as ''separated''. Throughout her childhood at the orphanage, Anastasia keeps the necklace that doubles as a key to her music box, while Dimitri is the one that carries around said music box, knowing that it once belonged to the lost princess. When the two pieces are brought together, it's when Anya finally remembers who she is, opening the box with the help of the key and singing its lullaby with her grandmother.
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* FakeAristocrat: Dimitri's plan is to set up Anya up as one -- not knowing that she's not a ''fake'' aristocrat at all.

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* FakeAristocrat: Dimitri's plan is to set up Anya up as one -- not knowing that she's not a ''fake'' aristocrat at all.



* FreudianExcuse: Adult Dimitri is a manipulative con man planning to trick a heartbroken old woman into believing a random girl is her beloved granddaughter and run off with the reward money. But given what he must have lived through under the oppressive government since the revolution and that he's been living in near-poverty his whole life, you can't help but sympathize with him wanting to find a way out. (And there's the question of exactly how well he was treated like a 10-year-old kitchen boy at the Romanov palace, especially after defying the revolutionaries). The movie also builds sympathy by showing he was much less self-serving as a child and risked his life to save Anastasia, and you see more of his past self coming through during the story.

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* FreudianExcuse: Adult Dimitri is a manipulative con man planning to trick a heartbroken old woman into believing a random girl is her beloved granddaughter and run off with the reward money. But given what he must have lived through under the oppressive government since the revolution and that he's been living in near-poverty his whole life, you can't help but sympathize with him wanting to find a way out. (And there's the question of exactly how well he was treated like as a 10-year-old kitchen boy at the Romanov palace, especially after defying the revolutionaries). The movie also builds sympathy by showing he was much less self-serving as a child and risked his life to save Anastasia, and you see more of his past self coming through during the story.
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* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Vladimir has this when [[spoiler:Dmitri reveals that he figure out Anya was the real Anastasia, because he was the boy in the palace who "opened a wall" that she mentioned]]. At first, he's ecstatic because it means Anya has found her family, and they can fulfill her HumbleGoal to find out who she is. Then, he says, "And you..." to Dmitri, having seen them bond over the trip, and Dmitri says that he needs to walk out of Anya's life, forever. Vladimir protests, because he can see how much Dmitri loves Anya, but as Dmitri puts it, "Kitchen boys don't marry duchesses." It breaks his heart to admit Dmitri is right, that to restore Anya to her family means letting go of her.

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* ExplainExplainOhCrap: Vladimir has this when [[spoiler:Dmitri reveals that he figure figured out Anya was the real Anastasia, because he was the boy in the palace who "opened a wall" that she mentioned]]. At first, he's ecstatic because it means Anya has found her family, and they can fulfill her HumbleGoal to find out who she is. Then, he says, "And you..." to Dmitri, having seen them bond over the trip, and Dmitri says that he needs to walk out of Anya's life, forever. Vladimir protests, because he can see how much Dmitri loves Anya, but as Dmitri puts it, "Kitchen boys don't marry duchesses." It breaks his heart to admit Dmitri is right, that to restore Anya to her family means letting go of her.
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* EvilIsNotAToy: [[spoiler:Rasputin was so blinded by his hate for the Romanovs that he really didn't think his deal with the dark side through. Swearing "not to rest until the last Romanov is dead" unwittingly turns him into a decaying lich, then when his SoulJar gets wrecked, the dark forces immediately intervene to claim him and he dies horrifically with, his soul likely in their possession for all time.]]

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* EvilIsNotAToy: [[spoiler:Rasputin was so blinded by his hate for the Romanovs that he really didn't think his deal with the dark side through. Swearing "not to rest until the last Romanov is dead" unwittingly turns him into a decaying lich, then when his SoulJar gets wrecked, the dark forces immediately intervene to claim him and he dies horrifically with, horrifically, with his soul likely in their possession for all time.]]
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* EldritchLocation: Limbo very much counts as one, being a vast space of darkness where various orbs made of stone and bones are floating around endlessly. This is the place where Rasputin ended up after the first fight agaisnt Anya. Outside of him and the demons he summoned, it's appears to be inhabited by various bugs-like beings.

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* EldritchLocation: Limbo very much counts as one, being a vast space of darkness where various orbs made of stone and bones are floating around endlessly. This is the place where Rasputin ended up after the first fight agaisnt against Anya. Outside of him and the demons he summoned, it's appears to be inhabited by various bugs-like beings.
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* RedSkyTakesWarning: Twice. First seen during the attack on the Royal Palace and later during the climax where Rasputin confronts Anastasia.

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* RedSkyTakesWarning: RedSkyTakeWarning: Twice. First seen during the attack on the Royal Palace and later during the climax where Rasputin confronts Anastasia.
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* RedSkyTakesWarning: Twice. First seen during the attack on the Royal Palace and later during the climax where Rasputin confronts Anastasia.
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Crosswicking

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* MemoryRestoringMelody: Anya has lost all of her memories save for a melody that she doesn't know the origin of, along with the lyrics "Once Upon A December." [[spoiler: This song was sung to her by her grandmother, who Anya was separated from after the attack on the Tzar and his family. Once Anya realizes that she's the missing Anastasia Romanov, she tracks down and eventually reunites with her grandmother, who then sings the song to her again.]]
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* UnlimitedWardrobe: Anya/Anastasia, counting the clothing she wears as a child, has 13 different outfits during the course of the movie (although two are completely hallucinatory). Blue court dress, nightgown, overcoat, peasant outfit, yellow DisneyAcidSequence ballgown, blue short-sleeved dress, pajamas, sailor bathing suit, 2 flapper dresses during a musical number, blue evening dress, pink pajamas, court dress (make it 14 if you count the ClothingDamage incurred on the last court dress as a costume change). To compare, Ariel in ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' had 7 (her purple SeashellBra, a ship's sail wrapped around her, a pink dinner dress, a pink nightgown, a turquoise dress, a blue sparkly dress, and a wedding dress).

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* UnlimitedWardrobe: Anya/Anastasia, counting the clothing she wears as a child, has 13 thirteen different outfits during the course of the movie (although two are completely hallucinatory). Blue hallucinatory): a blue court dress, nightgown, overcoat, peasant outfit, yellow DisneyAcidSequence ballgown, DreamBallet ball gown, blue short-sleeved dress, pajamas, DreamSequence sailor bathing suit, 2 two flapper dresses during a musical number, blue evening dress, pink pajamas, and a court dress (make it 14 if you count dress. This is especially remarkable in comparison to other animated film heroines at the ClothingDamage incurred on the last court dress as a costume change). To compare, Ariel in ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' had 7 (her purple SeashellBra, a ship's sail wrapped around her, a pink dinner dress, a pink nightgown, a turquoise dress, a blue sparkly dress, and a wedding dress).time, who have less than ten outfit changes each.
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* EldritchLocation: Limbo very much counts as one, being a vast space of darkness where various orbs made of stone and bones are floating around endlessly. This is the place where Rasputin ended up after the first fight agaisnt Anya. Outside of him and the demons he summoned, it's appears to be inhabited by various bugs-like beings.
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* FauxAffablyEvil: Rasputin.

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* %%* FauxAffablyEvil: Rasputin.
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* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Rasputin gets a HistoricalVillainUpgrade here, and rather than just be a conman claiming to have holy powers, his very real dark magic is responsible for the downfall of the Romanov dynasty and thus the rise of Soviet Russia.

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* BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy: Rasputin gets a HistoricalVillainUpgrade here, and rather than just be a conman claiming to have holy powers, his very real dark magic is responsible for the downfall of the Romanov dynasty and thus the rise of the Soviet Russia.Union.

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