|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||
|
|
Reviewed by Penny Kenny Shojo Beat is not on my usual “buy list.” That’s not a comment on its quality, it’s just I usually have something I want more than the latest issue of the popular manga anthology/J-pop culture magazine. But when the contents of the July issue were announced back in May, I immediately marked the date it was due on shelves in red on my calendar. If you’ve read the heading of this review you already know it wasn’t the concluding chapter of “Yume Kira Dream Shoppe” that caught my eye – even if this short series about the mysterious proprietor of a shop who offers you your deepest dreams does seem rather interesting – or the article about Japan’s hot summer vacation spots. No, I wanted this issue for one reason only – Tezuka’s Princess Knight. In 1953 Osamu Tezuka turned girls’ comics on their head. Rather than featuring the traditional passive, stoic heroine, his new story was about a girl of action – a princess raised as a prince. For three years Princess Sapphire, first as Prince Sapphire and later as Ribbon the Phantom Knight, protected her kingdom from the evil plots of Duke Duralumin and his son Lord Nylon in the pages of Shojo Club. A sequel ran from 1958 to 1959 and Tezuka later re-envisioned the original story, not once, but twice! Shojo Beat’s excerpt is from the original 1953 version. After a six page introductory sequence that shows just how Sapphire ended up possessing both a male and a female heart, Shojo Beat jumps ahead to two later episodes in the story: “The Coffin Tower,” in which an imprisoned Sapphire first takes up the Phantom Knight identity, and “The Beechwood Flute,” featuring Tink, the mischievous cherub. Now you have to understand, I’ve been hearing about this story for years, so the excerpt had quite a reputation to live up to. And it does. Beautifully! Those raised on Sailor Moon and the Clamp studio’s books might turn up their noses at the look of this old style manga, but anyone who appreciates a well-told, well-illustrated story should definitely check it out. Tezuka did things with the deceptively simple looking cartoony style art that most artists can only dream about. In looks, Sapphire is a cross between Betty Boop and Cinderella; the woodland animals hopped right off the set of Disney’s Snow White; the slapstick is Looney Tunes; and the shadowing and pacing is all Fleischer Studios. I use animation comparisons for a reason – the panels of Princess Knight actually seem to move. There’s a beautiful flow to the artwork. It’s not static. In designing his panels Tezuka employed more background detail than most current shojo manga. Yet the main action is never obscured. The reader always knows just what to look at to get the point of the panel. Storywise the episodes are just as enjoyable. Tezuka artfully blended non-sappy sweetness, humor, and action into a delightful confection. There really is something for every reader in these pages. The opening panels of “The Coffin Tower” are pure screwball comedy and yet readers quickly form a connection to Sapphire. She’s a prisoner reduced to servitude, but she remains cheerful and optimistic. When she’s given an opportunity to escape, she does so not for her own sake, but in order to help her people. She’s a girl who’s kind to animals and she can take on two swordsmen at once without breaking a sweat. She’s the rare heroine who can afford to be kind because she doesn’t need to prove how tough she is. Tink, the angel reborn as a human boy, is another charmer. He tries to do his job. He’s just easily distracted and so things never turn out quite right. Yet he’s a kindhearted soul who really wants to help. The scene after he fails to retrieve Sapphire’s male heart is by turns sigh inducing and humorous. Judging by these episodes, Princess Knight is one of those elusive all-ages comics that would appeal to both genders. Hopefully Viz will now be inundated with pleas for a translation of the entire series. But until that happens, we’ll just have to enjoy these too-few charming pages. Comment on this review of Shojo Beat v3 #7: “Princess Knight” on the Manga Life Forums. |
1 July 2009
|
|||
 |
| home | reviews | news | features | about us | advertise | privacy policy | contact us |
