If you read the above and thought to yourself, “Who is Osamu Tezuka?” I’ll go ahead and tear the rug out from under you by saying that if you have even the slightest appreciation for animation, manga, and anime, you’re already predisposed to it, whether you know its name or not. Tezuka, known as the “Godfather of Manga”, is the creator of Of Astro Boy, black jack, kimba white lionso Too much. He’s your favorite mangaka’s favorite mangaka, inspiring an entire generation of creatives Dragon BallAkira Toriyama, Ghost in the ShellMasamune Shirō, and even Studio Ghibli’s Hayao Miyazaki.
As we approach Tezuka’s centennial, his lasting impact on the anime industry is being reintroduced to a new generation of anime fans through Studio Outline’s aforementioned anime film, inspired by his 1953 manga. princess knightwhich premieres This August on Netflix.
ribbon hero It follows the journey of a “cursed” princess named Sapphire who takes up arms to not only overcome the trauma of her past, but also to protect her citizens from wild creatures who wish to harm them. In doing so, Sapphire takes on the form of a beautiful magical girl, makes lifelong friends, and fights a group of villains using the power of her magical ribbon. Sounds like your typical awesome anime. It looks extremely different from its source material, leaving some die-hard fans feeling a little conflicted.
for comparison, princess knight The manga looks like this:
And these are the character designs for ribbon hero: :
So yes, very different aesthetics. So much so that it ruffled feathers of fans of Tezuka’s classic manga in the replies to Ribbon Hero’s official There is a lot of aesthetic difference between ribbon hero And princess knight The credit for this goes to the creatives at the helm of OUTLINE’s film. Chief among them is character designer Kei Mochizuki (fate/grand order) and Mai Yoneyama (Cyberpunk: Edgerunner, Lazarus). The film also marks the directorial debut of Yuki Igarashi (attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuX), who is well aware of the expectations placed on OUTLINE’s modern treatment of a beloved classic.
“For this film, I expressed my respect for its creator Osamu Tezuka princess knight; To Ichizo Kobayashi of Takarazuka Review, who is at the core of the work; And for the supreme, classic entertainment they brought to the world,” Igarashi told Netflix. “They created their works even while overcoming hardships like infectious diseases and war, and those works became the foundation of our culture. To everyone who lived through this era, I hope you enjoy this blood-soaked, heart-throbbing piece of what I believe is ‘true’ mainstream entertainment.
so what is the difference princess knightstory of and ribbon hero Beyond their art styles? Well, after Kodansha’s omnibus purchase princess knight, Reading the manga, and comparing it to what we’ve seen in the Netflix trailers, Venn diagram style, I can actually say quite a lot. But not in the way that other Netflix adaptations go off the rails in trying to be different or self-serious. From what I have analyzed ribbon hero It seems like he’s set out to keep the spirit of Tezuka’s work while doing his own, and I’m honestly a little excited about it.
Unlike the setup that appears in OUTLINE’s anime, Tezuka’s manga is the stuff of old fairy tales, focusing less on the selling point of a warrior princess, though it’s certainly there, and more on gender. The setup has angels in heaven handing out hearts to children who are born. An angel named Tink gifts Baby Sapphire a blue boy’s heart, moments before Sapphire is given a red girl’s heart. This oopsie casts Tink out of Heaven to find Sapphire and remove her girl’s heart – a problem made worse by the good fortune of being born as the child of her kingdom, the stakes of which lie in her being born a man rather than a woman.
After a feud in which a stammering retainer confused the kingdom by calling Sapphire “Princess”, the king and queen continued a ridiculous ploy, raising their daughter as a boy while those who wanted to usurp their power tried to expose Sapphire as a boy. Sapphire’s journey as well as a slapstick story that feels like a pastiche cinderella, sleeping BeautyAnd the little MermaidAnd all of Tezuka’s titular eccentricities. The manga also received an anime adaptation by Musashi Production in 1967, so any loyalists worrying about a faithful adaptation can bury those complaints at the beginning.
Princess Night is as silly and fun-loving as it sounds. Looking back on Tezuka’s manga, it’s strange how ahead of its time it is narratively, considering that a manga from the ’50s explores gender in ways that predate Rumiko Takahashi. Ranma 1/2. Granted, its exploration of gender is still as dated as the big event of 2026 (you can be progressive on both sides of this and a little bit of a misogynist in Journey to the Sapphires). However, it gets there in the end, with both Neelamani’s boy and girl natures being seen as a strength rather than a contradiction. that’s rad.
Whereas ribbon hero The film does not appear to be exploring gender as its main theme, with fans speculating from its trailers that the film may instead focus on queer topics between Sapphire and her friend. assume that princess knight Inspired old-school queer manga/anime that works like MAPPA’s anime adaptation rose of versaillesIt’s likely that the film will go there as a reimagining of its story. Either that or the fans (current company included) are going to lose chess to the dog, like, when ribbon hero Will be released this August. Either way, adaptations should feel more fearless in breaking out of the boundaries of older myths, as long as they retain the spirit of their core, and Tezuka’s works are no different.
This isn’t the first time Netflix has reimagined Tezuka’s classics. In fact, in 2023, Studio M2 released Naoki Urasawa’s anime adaptation (Demon) and Takashi Nagasaki Pluto. PlutoIn my humble opinion, was the best sci-fi anime of that year. And a lot of it wasn’t just in seeing what the Atom and its titular villain looked like in motion, but in how it used the underpinnings of its story to strike something deeper. That is, Urasawa uses robot manga to criticize the United States’ invasion of Iraq. And it’s one of the hot-button topics Pluto touched, weaving new life and perspective, building the foundation of Tezuka Astro Boy.
Despite differences in aesthetics and story, this is all I have to say ribbon hero With an open mind to see how another group of creative people will reinvent and reimagine a classic like princess knight And keep Tezuka’s stories in the minds of a new generation of anime fans.
ribbon hero Premieres on Netflix on August 8.
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