Ribbon no Kishi

In the kingdom of Silverland, Prince Sapphire holds a big secret: he is actually a girl. When Sapphire was born, she accidentally received both the blue heart of a boy and the pink heart of a girl. To protect the kingdom from the evil Duke Duralumin, who is the successor to the throne, Sapphire leads a double life, posing as a boy as women are not allowed to reign.

God assigns trainee angel Tink to retrieve Sapphire's boy heart, but she refuses to let go of it. As the Duke schemes to usurp the throne, Sapphire finds herself in an even worse predicament in the clash of her two identities—she falls for Prince Franz Charming from the neighboring kingdom. Sapphire and Tink now embark on exciting adventures, but along the way, they must fight various enemies to uphold the throne at all costs.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Sapphire Main

Oota, Yoshiko Japanese

Tink Main

Sasuga, Takako Japanese

Nylon, Baron Main

Naya, Gorou Japanese

Duralumin, Duke Main

Amenomori, Masashi Japanese

Holmes, Rock Supporting

Charming, Franz Supporting

Kita, Michie Japanese

Hecate Supporting

Shouji, Miyoko Japanese

Satan Supporting

Shiomi, Ryusuke Japanese

The Queen Supporting

Shindou, Noriko Japanese

Captain Blood Supporting

Hirokawa, Taichirou Japanese

Tezuka, Osamu Episode Director, Original Creator

Tomino, Yoshiyuki Episode Director, Storyboard

Hata, Masami Episode Director

Okuda, Seiji Episode Director

Reviews

Jan 17, 2016

OlivinePeridot

Recommended

Preliminary (11/52 eps)

Oh my god, is this anime dated. The animation is awful and the plots range from generic to ridiculous. But I love it.

When you start watching this, you have to remember that Ribbon no Kishi is the Ur Example of shoujo. It was revolutionary and genre-defining for it's time; most shoujo series that came after have been inspired by or deconstructed the elements Tezuka introduced. To truly appreciate this anime, you need to watch it as a study rather than expecting something refreshing or deep.

Like most classic anime, the animation was done on the cheap. Cells are blatantly recycled (even from the intro) and there ... are long, artificial pauses that make the characters look like they're spacing out between lines. The bad 70's English dub available on Crunchyroll doesn't offer any improvements, though Nylon's voice is fun to hear.

All of the characters are idiots. Every single one of them! Most of the plots get rolling because someone missed something obvious and did something very stupid. But that's classic Tezuka, and there are moments where silly things happen just for the sake of silliness. This is fine; this is a kids cartoon from an era where animation was meant to be spectacle. It's a mishmash of fantastic tales where, even if the conclusion is obvious, the path the characters take towards it is unpredictable.

If you already appreciate classic anime or are a huge Tezuka fan, definitely give this a watch. If you love shojo anime and want some insight into how it began, try a few episodes. Everyone else, well... you're probably better off checking out the manga or reading the plot summary on Wikipedia.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jan 20, 2024

LuxuriousHeart

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (4/52 eps)

It definitely shows its age. It also drags the anime out unnecessarily. I'd say the best thing to do is just to read the manga. I'd only recommend to watch this if you're really into the history of this anime. Like the history of the anime that influenced Shoujo anime, including the masterpiece, Rose of Versailles. Personally, I'm into the history of this anime and can respect it, but I don't know if I respect it enough to slog through 48 more episodes... Especially when the characters are fairly simple, and it's just a mashup of fairy tales. ... I do respect the take on gender, which is why I rated the manga a 6/10. I do get that it was very progressive back in the day. Though aside from being a respectable feminist work of art, it's just not all that enjoyable.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Sep 8, 2018

JuneNephthys

Not Recommended

Princess Knight (TV) is an adaptation of a short manga series, by the father of manga himself, Osamu Tezuka. If you’ve been into anime long enough, you’re bound to know who I’m referencing, if not, he made Astro Boy. The anime version of Princess Knight is one of the most dated things that I’ve ever experienced and the English dub is comedy gold.

• Especially Choppy’s voice. Each episode of Ribbon no Kishi is pretty episodic and is reminiscent of any old Disney or Max Fleshier animation. Except, this one is extremely low budget. People and objects randomly disappear. Color palettes change.

• Strangely enough, for all ... of you who are familiar with Gundam, this was one of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s first internships, if not THE first. I’m not exactly sure, but I know that Tomino had some kind of partnership with Tezuka Productions before going waist deep into the Mobile Suit Gundam franchise.

• This series is not very good looking for its time, I’ve seen better looking Betty Boop cartoons from thirty years prior to when this came out in (the 1960’s). The 1960’s are not when anime became what it is today though, the 1970’s are the gilded, golden age of Japanese animation and most of their top-tier works started blossoming toward the end and into the 80’s.

• There’s not much to say about continuity, there are even characters that supposedly die at the end, and the show pulls a JUST KIDDING! They’re still alive, because this is a children’s cartoon and we can’t show death. And then Ringing Bell came out… Overall, just skip the anime and dive into the manga. The manga has a similar fantastical feeling as Tezuka’s Unico comics.

• This series also was a stepping stone toward female liberation and gender ambiguity in anime, that still holds up today. Sapphire became Utena and Revolutionary Girl Utena was a largely iconic series for females growing up in the 1990’s and so forth. I give Princess Knight (TV) a 2/10 and highly suggest the manga instead, which I rated a 6/10.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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