Princess Knight vol. 2

Osamu Tezuka’s proto-shoujo epic wraps up much as it began.  In this second volume, the mangaka continues to churn through story concepts — Franz finding out Sapphire’s identity, Prince Plastic getting Sapphire’s boy heart, Sapphire on the brink of death with Captain Blood questing to a foreign land to save — at a shocking pace.  Most of the ideas here could’ve sustained whole volumes if developed properly, but in this day and age when a popular series can easily run thirty volumes or more, the constantly shifting status quo here actually feels refreshing.  That isn’t to say Tezuka runs into problems with the approach as once the evil witch is killed off, the story starts to lose momentum when the goddess Venus steps in as her replacement.  However, even with that issue the overall story is still a thrilling adventure for kids of all ages.

That’s even with the fact that some of the stuff in this story would definitely not fly as literature for “kids” in this country.  One of the things I like about Tezuka’s work is that even with his oldest stuff, such as this, there’s still enough culture clash to produce some real, “I can’t believe I just read that!” moments.  Seeing things like a women’s liberation movement spring up in Sapphire’s kingdom, the appearance of the Great King Satan, the suicide of a prominent antagonist, and the overall level of violence would probably make the casual fan go, “This was really intended for young girls to read?”  But I love it for those reasons, and the fact that the Great King Satan delivers what are probably the best wedding vows I’ve ever read in fiction (yes, ALL the fiction I’ve ever read).  It seems amazing that this series which was written over 50 years ago reads so well today, but that’s the power and skill of Tezuka for you.