Princess Knight, volume 1
About a month ago, the first volume of the manga Princess Knight was released in the U.S. People like me have been excited about this for a while - it's an influential work that I've been waiting to read for a long time.
As I read more Tezuka works, I started growing more leery of reading this series, given that I was generally unimpressed with his other stuff.
This premise of this manga assumes that gender is a binary. At birth, each person is assigned a "girl heart" or a "boy heart." Written 1953-1956, I'm willing to give this some slack.
A cheeky angel gives one baby a boy heart, in addition to the baby's girl heart, and this baby becomes the protagonist.
Born into royalty, Sapphire is raised as a boy because the laws in her kingdom only allow men to inherit the throne. Her "true" identity is a girl, and it must be kept a secret from those who would steal the throne from her.
Her boy heart allows her to be better at fighting, but sometimes she wears dresses and wigs to feel more feminine.
To make things right with God, the angel Tink comes to Earth to take Sapphire's boy heart back, and "turn [her] into a proper girl." Tink states that he must make Sapphire "more feminine and lady-like."
Whenever Sapphire's strength fades, she refers to herself as a girl, or concedes that it must be her true gender. Her "boy heart" is necessary for her to retain her proficiency at swordfighting.
In addition to hiding her gender identity, Sapphire cannot be wholly honest about her feelings toward other characters. This leads to confliction and angst. This angst isn't as complex or responsible as it could or should be - again, it focuses on gender as a strict binary, and assumes everyone is heterosexual. But it's a more honest portrayal than I've found in any of Tezuka's other works. Sapphire is a BAMF, and I'll read about her doing anything.
I think that Vertical will release this series in full, in just two volumes. The second one is due to come out this winter. The plot moves along pretty briskly. I guess I'm used to reading current series, which try to drag storylines out.
The influences of Princess Knight on Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena are clear. As time goes on, the series that tackle issues of gender representation and strength become more complicated, and for this I am grateful. I'm still glad that Vertical published this classic title in English, so I can see how far storytelling has come, in its ability to portray and reflect on gender.
As I read more Tezuka works, I started growing more leery of reading this series, given that I was generally unimpressed with his other stuff.
This premise of this manga assumes that gender is a binary. At birth, each person is assigned a "girl heart" or a "boy heart." Written 1953-1956, I'm willing to give this some slack.
A cheeky angel gives one baby a boy heart, in addition to the baby's girl heart, and this baby becomes the protagonist.
Born into royalty, Sapphire is raised as a boy because the laws in her kingdom only allow men to inherit the throne. Her "true" identity is a girl, and it must be kept a secret from those who would steal the throne from her.
Her boy heart allows her to be better at fighting, but sometimes she wears dresses and wigs to feel more feminine.
To make things right with God, the angel Tink comes to Earth to take Sapphire's boy heart back, and "turn [her] into a proper girl." Tink states that he must make Sapphire "more feminine and lady-like."
Whenever Sapphire's strength fades, she refers to herself as a girl, or concedes that it must be her true gender. Her "boy heart" is necessary for her to retain her proficiency at swordfighting.
In addition to hiding her gender identity, Sapphire cannot be wholly honest about her feelings toward other characters. This leads to confliction and angst. This angst isn't as complex or responsible as it could or should be - again, it focuses on gender as a strict binary, and assumes everyone is heterosexual. But it's a more honest portrayal than I've found in any of Tezuka's other works. Sapphire is a BAMF, and I'll read about her doing anything.
I think that Vertical will release this series in full, in just two volumes. The second one is due to come out this winter. The plot moves along pretty briskly. I guess I'm used to reading current series, which try to drag storylines out.
The influences of Princess Knight on Rose of Versailles and Revolutionary Girl Utena are clear. As time goes on, the series that tackle issues of gender representation and strength become more complicated, and for this I am grateful. I'm still glad that Vertical published this classic title in English, so I can see how far storytelling has come, in its ability to portray and reflect on gender.