One part fairy tale and one part Merry Melodies, the story of the princess disguised as a prince continues.
Creative Staff
Story/Art: Osamu Tezuka
Translation/Adaptation: Maya Rosewood
What They Say
A gem from the late fifties when the legendary master was most deeply involved in girls’ comics, The Twin Knights is more than just a sequel to the shojo manga milestone Princess Knight. More closely addressing issues of station as well as gender, this one-volume tale has all the antic innocence of the early Tezuka even as it revises the more famous work’s premise, doing away with the conceit of “boy and girl hearts” and invoking the vagaries of chance and power in their place.
Once known as a skilled fencer who had masqueraded as a prince in order to succeed her late father, Sapphire is now happily married to her love Franz and queen of their combined realm. After she gives birth to twins, a boy and a girl who are now equal in the royal line of succession, however, a dispute arises among the courtiers and populace over which child is the true heir. When a whimsical cherub with a familiar face is unwisely summoned to settle the matter, he allows sheer luck to rule in favor of the boy.
Yet once Prince Daisy is whisked away by a cabal opposed to his ascension, the remaining Princess Violetta must embark on the same path her mother once tread to safeguard her family’s claim to the throne. Cross-dressing is hardly the end of it as she undertakes breathless adventures with a gypsy lass she meets—Emerald!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The Twin Knights was originally created as a direct continuation of the original Princess Knight manga, but not the edition that Vertical released here! This actually predates that redrawn and retold Princess Knight edition. There are moments in the art where it’s easier to tell this was an earlier work. There’s more stock tone used to fill in areas and less flourish. The illustrations tend to be smaller with more panels on a page, and everything has a rougher, less refined look. Still, there’s a liveliness and breathless quality to every panel, which matches the quick pace of the story being told.
While the art may not be Tezuka at his finest, the story itself has the touches of growth and refinement over that of it’s predecessor. Many of the story beats match those in Princess Knight. Here, once again, a princess must disguise herself as a boy and take up the sword to save her kingdom. Once again, she meets with a spirited girl who isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty to help out her friend. And once again, there’s a run in with a handsome prince whose destined to become the love interest. The key differences lie in the tighter execution of all these elements.
While The Twin Knights is solidly shoujo, it doesn’t resemble anything a modern reader would classify as such. It’s style is very much that of a fairy tale, unashamedly so. Motivations are flimsy and nonsensical, characters are broad, and events are dramatic and often fatal. The violence is what sets it firmly in the old-fashion fairy tale category, despite the merry melodies antics and artwork. Some characters meet extremely tragic ends, are quickly mourned, and then forgotten. The violence isn’t gory, but it is a bit shocking in the same way that Grimm’s fairy tales tend to be.
This is definitely a story aimed at girls, and heroines abound. The Prince is nothing more than a way out for Princess Violette, her salvation from the politics that are tearing the kingdom apart. The prince’s caretaker Pipi becomes the b-plot for the series, as her tragic fate to both raise the boy and be killed by him becomes a more interesting drama then that of the prince himself.
As for Violette’s story, it avoids some of the more cringeworthy moments of her mother’s journey. There’s no conflicting male/female hearts here. She doesn’t need rescuing from men as much as her mother did. Violette is brought up in a dual role of both princess and prince, and is able to maintain the rouse until a slip up jeopardizes the entire kingdom. Blackmailed into subjugation, the royal family is locked up and Violette escapes to find a way to save her family. Almost instantly she hits a wall in the search for her brother and is confronted by a gypsy girl who snaps her out of it. From there it’s one long string of adventures until the return to the castle and the happily ever after. Interestingly, while Violette fights to get her family back she doesn’t attempt to claim the crown. It eventually goes to her long absent brother, as told in the final page of the story. Even after everything she goes through they stick to the random coin-flip choice of successor from the opening pages.
Curiously, the edition that Vertical has put out doesn’t match the look of their Princess Knight release. The cover layout for The Twin Knights looks far closer to the complete works edition put out in Japan. I can’t help but be a little disappointed that it won’t match the other release on my shelf. The printing itself is decent, though not as high quality as the Princess Knight release. There’s some unfortunate moire on the gray tone areas in the artwork, which probably exists in the original as well.
In Summary
The Twin Knights works both as a sequel and as a more refined take on the princess disguised as a prince fairy tale. While not as pretty to look at as Princess Knight was, Violette is a better heroine than her mother and the story is paced far better as well. While the plot is simplistic and slapstick at times, other times it is genuinely tragic. It’s a nice follow up for fans of the original and it’s always nice to add another classic Tezuka title to the library available for english speaking readers.
Content Grade: B
Art Grade: B –
Packaging Grade: B
Text/Translation Grade: A
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Vertical
Release Date: July 30th, 2013
MSRP: $13.95
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