I'm glad to own this book, if only for its historical significance. But would I recommend it to others? Does it hold up to the test of time? Not at all. The illustration is rough, the paneling and flow is choppy and the story is a bit of a mess. It feels like Tezuka was trying to say something (fairly revolutionary for the time) about a woman's strength if she had a 'boys' heart. But much of the tale shows the ingrained sexism of the era. In a word, it's awkward. I wouldn't recommend this to children, it's just too dated. I wouldn't recommend this to most people, Tezuka has far, far better titles. But maybe I'd recommend it to a Tezuka fan similar to myself, if only to experience more of his truly various work. Some things I noticed about the first part of this tale that struck me as odd:God is a bit of a jerk, trying to take Sapphire's boy heart only at times when it could get her killed. At least Tink shows a bit of common sense. Love Helcate and Blood. They seem to be far more interesting then Franz Charming. I would like to see Sapphire team up with Helcate and fall in love with the roguish Blood. Franz is such a superficial dud. What the hell is with Sapphires legs when she becomes a swan? This is what I mean about awkward! Did Tezuka not know how to draw swan legs?? I bought this at Otakon 2012 for $5 a volume so I quickly picked up both volumes. How can you pass that deal up? Osamu Tezuka is literally the godfather of anime if not the outright creator of it and, even though I love anime to death, I had never fully read or watched any of his works. So Princess Knight was really new territory for me and I took a leap of faith by buying it. And I really don't take leap of faiths with anime and manga very often. But I guess the primary reason why I picked it up was because Princess Knight is one of the first shoujo ("girl") manga and, without Princess Knight, my favorite anime probably wouldn't have existed (Shoujo Kakumei Utena/Revolutionary Girl Utena, btw). When I started it on the train, I had no clue how hooked I would become. There's an odd balance of fantasy, fairy tales, mythology (Christian!God is the father of Aphrodite, lol what), drama, tragedy, light hearted farce, romance, deus ex machina...I don't know how to describe it except that it reminded me a lot of life in a small, small way. That's a snobby way to say it but it's true. It will take a while to get used to that mood whiplash but it's worth it. Read the manga and you'll see what I mean. I loved the characters, especially Sapphire and Hecate. I loved the small commentaries on feminism, stereotypes...I'm glad that I got this manga. I definitely think Part One is better than Part Two. But I think that's because the first volume ends when Sapphire has met a group of pirates and there's so many places where the story can go....and then you get there and it feels really rushed and you have to remind yourself that this was serialized (Oliver Twist has the same problems...no, really.). If there was something that I wanted out of this first part, it was more emphasis on Sapphire's upbringing.
What do You think about Princess Knight, Vol. 01 (1966)?
This book reads like a Disney Princess movie written by the people at Mad Magazine.
—catnapping
Absurd story of gender confusion. The Disney-esque art was cute, though.
—Rick
