Princess Sapphire

Princess Sapphire
ï ¿½ Osamu Tezuka / Kodansha / Mushi Productions

Original title: Ribon no kishi
Characters: Sapphire (Sapphire), Tink (Choppy), Opal, King, Queen, Doctor Uranium (Uranaru), Garigori, Nurse (Balia), Prince Franz of Goldland (Prince Franco), Zelda, Captain Blud, Duke Duralluminium (Grand Duke Geralamon), Plastic, Baron Neelon, Mephisto (Satan), Hellion, Icicle Queen of Cooland, Mr. X
Production: Mushi Productions
Author: Osamu Tezuka
Regia: Chikao Katsui, Kanji Akabori

Country: Japan
Year: 2 April 1967
Broadcast in Italy: 1980
Gender: Adventure
Episodes: 52
Duration: 25 minutes
Recommended age: Children from 6 to 12 years old

"The Sapphire Princess" is an animated series of the early seventies loosely based on the manga comic by Osamu Tezuka, the undisputed master and leader of the anime genre. The animated series was produced by Mushi Productions (owned by Tezuca himself) in 1967 for a total of 52 episodes each lasting 25 minutes. In Italy it was broadcast for the first time in 1980 and, periodically, has been re-proposed for about thirty years, still attracting considerable interest, especially among children.

With "The Sapphire Princess" for the first time a manga becomes an anime, that is a cartoon, even if there are many differences that separate the two versions. In any case, for this first transposition experiment, a manga could not be chosen that was not only much loved by the public of Japanese and foreign readers, but which made its workhorse, the safeguarding of values and principles. of love and brotherhood among peoples.

The series is inspired by the Japanese theater called "takarazuka", in which even the male characters are played by women. In fact, in the fifty-two episodes that make up the animated series, the story and adventures of Princess Sapphire, daughter of the royals of the kingdom of Silverland, are told, who is forced to pretend to be a man, to save her people from the evil ones who want to conquer it. This is because Sapphire who had to be born male, due to a distraction of the angel Choppy (in the manga he takes the name of Tink, who also keeps in theme song of the cartoon, sung by The Knights of Silverland with the solo voice of Marco Ferradini), a pink child's heart is also given.
She will have to hide her true identity from everyone, as there is a law in the kingdom that prevents women from succeeding to the throne.

As in all self-respecting stories, Sapphire will have on her side some friends who will help her overcome a thousand difficulties until the final happy end, but also many enemies who will do everything to hinder her. Among these, the first and most dangerous is the Archduke Geralamon who, aided by the perfidious Baron Neelon, tries to unmask Sapphire's deception to make his son rise to the throne, in place of the beautiful princess.
Against Sapphire there will also be Satan himself, who wants to take possession of her brave heart to transform his daughter Zelda into an evil witch. Too bad, though, that not only is Zelda extremely good, but that she has also made friends with Sapphire and, instead of considering her a bitter enemy, she fights alongside her to help her win.
Angel Choppy is also another friend you can count on. Mortified by the mistake made (a mistake that Heaven makes every two thousand years, the Devil tells us) that will affect not only Sapphire's life, but also the fate of the entire kingdom, Choppy will be a little bit the guardian angel of the beautiful princess with a courageous soul and will protect her from the countless dangers she will encounter along the way, even sacrificing her very existence to make Sapphire happy.
Another positive character in the story is Prince Franco, who has always been in love with her since they met on a ship. Throughout the series he will fight alongside him, heedless of danger and also sacrificing his kingdom.
Finally, the white horse Opal is a very faithful friend of the Princess, humanized to the point of becoming speaking. He will be able to change color and turn black to stay next to Sapphire, even when she transforms into the Masked Knight (a character who will take different names, throughout the series).

Among the minor characters of the anime manga, we then have the parents of Sapphire, unable to take a position on the problem of the succession to the throne and totally crushed by the personality of their daughter. In particular, the Father King turns out to be unable to make any decision, even towards the perfidious archduke and it will only be thanks to Sapphire, if the kingdom does not fall into the hands of the wicked.

In the first episode "The Knight Princess "There is the beginning of the whole story. Prince Sapphire is introduced, a rebellious and spiteful boy, but skilled with the sword. And the reasons why Sapphire, who is actually a girl, cannot go up to throne as well as several flashbacks, which illustrate what happened at the moment of his birth. While Sapphire, in one of her raids, gets lost in the woods and risks being eaten by the wolf (and will be saved thanks to Choppy), at the palace Queen Mother drinks a magic potion that the archduke gave her by deception, which has the power to reveal the whole truth. In Sapphire's adventure with the wolf we find many elements, even icononographic, of the story of Little Red Riding Hood. Having put the wolf on the run, Sapphire will be able to return to the palace in time, to prevent the Queen from revealing the secret of her true identity.

In the second episode "Satan's daughter", the Devil makes his appearance. Sapphire is busy fighting the men of Baron Neelon, who harass the people with ever new taxes, pretending to follow the orders of Prince Sapphire. Meanwhile a new, evil alliance is looming on the horizon, the one between the archduke and Satan, but once again to save the Princess will be her friend little angel helped by Zelda.

In the third episode "Deadly challenge"a great tournament between knights is organized. The archduke, who always plots behind Sapphire, hopes that this will be a good opportunity to get rid of his rival and so, invites the strongest knights of the neighboring kingdoms. But to be his own sure to achieve his goal, the archduke also pays the knight Varon to have the Princess killed, his plan will be doomed to fail this time too.

In the fourth episode "The ghost ship"We finally know Prince Franco, who is taking part in the great ball on a ship. The first meeting between the two is quite turbulent, also because Franco mistakes Sapphire for a boy and a sort of rivalry starts between the two. They will learn to help each other, however, to save himself from the mutiny of the ship's rowers.

The other episodes continue like this, between one adventure and another (all self-contained stories), with Zaffiro who, helped by her friends, always manages to save herself from the plots of the archduke and the baron.
Something starts to change from episode number 22 "The new king", all focused on the character of the king. It is in fact in this episode that the sovereign decides to change the law that prevents women from ascending the throne, but he will be kidnapped before disclosing it. Everyone believes that the king is dead and Sapphire prepares to take over the throne. But thanks to an intrigue organized by the baron, the Queen Mother tells everyone the truth and both are locked up in the Tower of the Coffin while Plastic, the archduke's son, becomes the new king. At this point, episode after episode, the rest of the story is told. Life in the prison is not easy, but Sapphire and her mother adapt as best they can. Helped, then, by her mice friends, the Princess manages to find a way to escape and, disguised as a Knight ghost, try to solve the terrible situation.
Once again a twist awaits us: Geralamon decides to pay the jailer Gama, so that he kills the mother and daughter, but without succeeding in his intent.

In the 26th episode "Queen Icicle"The Ice Lolly Queen makes her appearance, while the Father King also returns. From this episode - which is considered by all to be the beginning of the most beautiful part of the series - we start talking about Union X headed by Mr. X, who is a kind of secret sect that aims to conquer all the neighboring kingdoms, including that of Prince Franco. Meanwhile, Sapphire's parents are transformed into stone statues and the princess will be forced to face the Icicle Queen, directly in her kingdom to protect herself and her family.
After rescuing his parents, Sapphire also has time to experience an Egyptian adventure. Meanwhile, the love with Franco is getting stronger, also fueled by a dense exchange of letters. Union X, however, is still a real danger. In an attack on Satan's Mountain, the last bastion in defense of the Kingdom of Silverland, Zelda is kidnapped and offered as an exchange for Sapphire's life. However, they both manage to escape with the help of Ghana, a general of the Union X army who has fallen in love with Zelda with whom he will later marry.

In the last episode "The royal wedding"All situations are resolved. Geralamon dies, betrayed by his own partner of misdeeds Baron Neelon, who longs to come to power. In order to find Sapphire and kill her, Neelon does not hesitate to have Silverland razed to the ground and to eliminate the King and the Queen. In the final battle against Union X, aided by all her people, Sapphire will be able to free her kingdom. Choppy is recalled by the Father of Heaven, but before he leaves, he makes sure to bring back to life the King and Queen who, from now on, will watch over Sapphire in her place.

From heaven, then, the little angel, who now also has wings, tells what happened to the kingdom of Silverland: happiness and prosperity for everyone, as well as, of course, the marriage of Zaffiro and Franco.

This is a summary of the story of the Princess who pretended to be a man, who is certainly very different from the stylistic point of view in her fifty-two episodes. If, in fact, the former are quite childish both in the characterization of the characters and in the episodes narrated (which are each an end in itself, as in modern sitcoms), from the XNUMXnd onwards we see an evident transformation with a common thread, which binds the several episodes and a narrative voice that takes stock of the situation at the beginning of each episode. Of another stylistic director are the episodes dedicated to the Queen Icicle, which could be said to have almost a timid horror hint.

Overall, the series - which looking at it today is almost tender for the simplicity of the drawings and special effects, when compared to those of modern animation - is affected by many historical inaccuracies which, however, do not take anything away from the magic of the story of its kind. which, although certainly not original, neither in the unfolding nor in the conclusion, it is however of great importance from the point of view of the values expressed and the work of animated transposition, which has been the forerunner to all the Japanese animated series. However, beyond any value judgment, it remains a story that has made the little ones fall in love for over thirty years, kidnapped by the courage of the young Sapphire and her fairytale love story, but also the older ones who had fun to look for in the various episodes hints and tributes to childish fairy tales, myths and legends, as well as to historical characters who really existed as in the episodes on Egypt.

Princess Sapphire copyright Osamu Tezuka / Kodansha / Mushi Productions and rights holders. they are used here for cognitive and informative purposes.