Our first foray into kids anime began with Pokemon the First Movie, a film for young people of my anime generation. It wasn’t perfect, but it’s still held in the hearts of fans who treasured that feature. But what about the older fans of anime? Did the generations before us have shows of their own that they deeply loved, and did they share that love with those around them, including their own children? Well, today covers a classic series from the generation of my parents. A show that in recent years has received a revival of sorts. So sit back, relax, and enjoy my review of the treasured Princess Knight!
Story/Setup
In the kingdom of Silverland lives Princess Sapphire (Known as Prince Knight in the show), the child of the king & queen. Due to the law of the land, women cannot inherit the throne, and thus must disguise her gender. This is especially important, since the diabolical Duke Duralumon (Who’s strangely enough sort of looks like an evil Mickey Mouse) would repress the people of Silverland if his son inherited the kingdom. Despite this, Princess Sapphire carries herself with courage, bravery, grace, and honor.
Early on in her adventures, she comes across an angel-in-training by the name of Choppy (Other names include Tink, Ching, & Chinky). He tells her a most interesting tale: when Sapphire was born, God had given her a girl’s heart, while he gave her a boy’s heart. Due to this incident, Choppy was sent down to heaven in order to ger her boy heart back. However, because she doesn’t give it back to Choppy, and when he realizes how much she needs it in order to protect the kingdom, Choppy becomes her sidekick. The two go on many adventures across Silverland, as well as other kingdoms & lands, meeting some interesting characters along the way.
On the surface, Princess Knight looks like a typical fantasy anime, and to a certain extent this is true. There’s swordplay, magic, dragons, and just about any other western fantasy troupe you can probably find. Beneath the surface, however, is one of the deepest & most mature storylines ever written for a children’s anime. Perhaps even more so that Kimba, and that was a surprisingly mature show at times! There’s plenty of times where silliness & lighter topics come into play, but the morals & lessons that this show teaches is nothing short of impressive, and the issues that Princess Knight tackles are things you almost never find in children’s anime today. Heavy in all the right ways, and very mature!
Animation
Like Kimba the White Lion from a few weeks ago, Princess Knight was a series worked on by the legendary Osamu Tezuka, and it definitely shows. This series looks & feels rather similar to Kimba, as they both share a certain style & color palate. What separates Princess Knight from Kimba the White Lion is it’s medieval theme: there’s more of a gothic look & feel to everything, but there’s still an childish aspect to the entire spectacle. Faces are of particular excellence in this series, as they are incredibly expressive at times, especially during emotional scenes. Even the eyes are striking, as you can read a character’s emotions just by looking into them.
Perhaps one great aspect of this series is it’s remastered imagery. Color has been fleshed out, and appears to be much more vibrant than the original. Even movement seems to be a tiny more fluid because of this remastering. If you don’t believe me, check out an official video comparison straight from Nozomi Entertainment’s youtube page!
Animation/Video Comparison
Voice Acting
Also like Kimba, the voice acting of Princess Knight is.....dated, at best. Not quite as dated as Kimba, however. The show got syndicated in the 1970s & 1980s, and thus there’s a little more quality in the voices that the actors provide. That said, it’s still incredibly hokey. There are some goofy lines characters say throughout the series, but when compared to Kimba, it somehow works a little to it’s favor. If I had any other complaint about the voice acting, it would be how it sounds. While they definitely worked on the show’s animation, I’m not completely sure they worked on the audio. They definitely must have done some work, as it doesn’t sound so scratchy as it probably did back in the day. That said, with a little more polish, and it probably would sound as close to crystal clear as an old school anime can.
Characters
Among all of the parallels between this show & Kimba is it’s bevy of characters. Princess Knight has a who’s who of primary & secondary cast members, many of which propel the story along in some way. There’s such a collection of secondary characters, listing them would take up more room than I want. Suffice it to say that many of them help with the story, and a couple of them return from time to time.
Princess Sapphire/Prince Knight is most certainly up front & center in this entire series. At times, she’s very much like a boy: strong, brave, courageous, and has a deep sense of justice & honor. Other times, she’s true to her feminine nature: gentle, kind, caring, and full of love & warmth. Throughout this entire series, she’s constantly walking a tightrope between both sides of herself, and never strays too long in either. Truly, one of anime’s strongest female characters! Prince Frank (Also called Prince Franz Charm) is essentially Prince Knight’s male counterpart: because of their similar background, Frank can swordfight with the best of them, and has many of Sapphire’s male mannerisms. His relationship with Sapphire is a bit on the complicated side: he’s good friends with her, in love with the “Princess” (An alter-ego that Sapphire becomes when out in public as a girl), and dislikes the “Phantom Knight” (Another alter-ego that Sapphire becomes when fighting crime at night) because he thinks that the knight is after the princess’s affection. Together, the two are a great team, and actually become a cute couple later on.
On the other end of the scale is the show’s villain, Duke Duralumon (aka Duke Jeralmin). He’s not a sinister kind of villain, but more of a goofy villain with a hint of sinister. He’s constantly plotting to expose Sapphire’s gender, and alongside his minions Baron Nylon & the “Black Hats” (A gang of thuggish highwaymen), are constantly failing & bumbling in their plans to takeover Silverland. It really isn’t towards the second half that Duralumon gains a sinister edge, but that doesn’t really ruin how silly & over-the-top he can be.
There’s other characters that Prince Knight comes across as well. Choppy’s the first encountered, and given his angelic nature, is Sapphire’s companion almost from the beginning. He’s stuck in a mortal body, but that doesn’t mean he can’t do any good. Knight’s mother & father, the queen & king, act as her moral compass. Again, there’s a host of character within Princess Knight, and it would take another post to cover everybody else.
Oh, and the Devil is in this show. The freaking devil! He’s got a daughter too, by the way.
Availability & Pricing
For the longest time, Princess Knight was unreleased on VHS (There was a Laserdisk collection of the show released in 1997 by Pioneer, and some older DVD editions that have since become difficult to locate). Come 2013, and the series has finally been re-released on DVD. Sadly, it wasn’t on one big collection, but instead was put out on two separate collections. This makes buying the whole series a little expensive, but if you go to the right source, it might not be as you think.
F.Y.E. is the most expensive of the options, costing $33.98 each, with members only paying $30.58 each. Best Buy is the 2nd most expensive, as it will cost you $27.99 each. Amazon is the least expensive, but the most interesting of the options. A new copy of part 1 of the series starts at $17.85 dollars, while pricing starts at $19.60 for a new copy of part 2. Again, Amazon is your best bet, but any of the options here can be a viable route if you have the right amount of money.
Overall Impression & Rating
Princess Knight is but one point on Osamu Tezuka’s holy triangle of classic children’s anime. Alongside Kimba the White Lion & Astro Boy, Princess Knight is a series that is a must for any kids out there to watch. Whether you’re a parent reading this & you want something wholesome for your kids to watch, or you’re a younger person who wants a great show to watch, or even if you’re someone like me, you can look no further than Princess Knight. Even if you aren’t a kid or younger individual, this series will certainly entertain you!
Princess Knight gets a 9.5 out of 10
See you all next time for the conclusion of Kids Month, when I’ll review an album that wasn’t made for kids, but doesn’t mean kids can’t listen to it!
***
For a look at another point of Osamu Tezuka’s holy triangle, check out my review of Kimba the White Lion below:
http://heavymetalotaku.blogspot.com/2015/05/review-kimba-white-lion.html
Also, apologies for posting this up later than usual. There was some wicked weather around my area, and it knocked out the telephone & internet for a few days. In fact, things got restored just a couple minutes ago. Hope you didn’t mind the delay!
No comments:
Post a Comment