between Netflix’s upcoming anime lineup was a shiny new movie aimed at the streamer, Ribbon Hero. “New” is the operative word, as the film is actually inspired by it Osamu Tezukais a classic manga Prince Knightyou’d be hard-pressed to recognize it from the looks of it. However, I’m actually pretty excited about it rather than being put off by how different the two pieces look.
After reading the above, you might be wondering, “Who is Osamu Tezuka?” I’m going to go ahead and rip the rug out from under you and say that if you have a short-term appreciation for animation, manga, and anime, whether you know the name or not, you’re already into it. Tezuka, who is known as the “Godfather of Manga”, is the creator of Astro Boy, Black Jack, Kimba the White Lionand so more. He favorite mangaka of your favorite mangakainspires all creative generations, including Dragon ballAkira Toriyama, Ghost in the ShellMasamune Shirowand even Hayao Miyazaki from Studio Ghibli.
What would happen as we approached Tezuka’s Centennial, his lasting influence on the anime industry is reintroduced to a new generation of anime fans. Studio OUTLINE‘s aforementioned anime film inspired by the 1953 manga Prince Knightwhich premiered on Netflix this August.
Ribbon Hero It follows the journey of a “cursed” princess named Sapphire, who takes up arms not only to overcome the trauma of her past, but also to protect her citizens from wild creatures who seek to harm them. In doing so, Sapphire becomes a lovable magical girl, makes lifelong friends, and uses the power of her magic ribbon to fight a bunch of villains. Sounds like a typical cool anime. It also looks wildly different from the source material, which some die-hard fans find a bit disconcerting.
In comparison, Prince Knight manga looks like this:
And those are the character designs Ribbon Hero:
Yes, a very different aesthetic. So much so that it ruffled the feathers of fans of Tezuka’s classic manga. Ribbon Hero’s official X/Twitter accountreleased the main visual of the film, with many people having mixed feelings about how modern and different the anime visuals looked compared to the manga. Much of the aesthetic difference between them Ribbon Hero and Prince Knight Credit to the creatives behind OUTLINE’s film. Among them are the main character designers Kei Mochizuki (Fate/Grand Order) and Mai Yoneyama (Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, Lazar). The film also marks the directorial debut Yuki Igarashi (Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, Mobile suit Gundam GQuuuuX), is well aware of the expectations placed on OUTLINE’s modern treatment of a beloved classic.
“I paid my respects to its creator, Osamu Tezuka, for this film Prince Knight; for Ichizo Kobayashi of the Takarazuka Revue, who is at the heart of the work; and for the ultimate, classic entertainment they brought to the world,” Igarashi told Netflix. To everyone living in this era, I hope you enjoy this blood-stirring, heart-pounding installment of what I believe to be ‘real’ mainstream entertainment.”
So what is the difference between them Prince Knightstory and Ribbon Hero beyond their art styles? Well, after buying Kodansha’s omnibus Prince Knight, reading the manga and comparing it to what we’ve seen from the Netflix trailers, Venn Diagram style, I can actually tell a lot. But not in the way that other Netflix adaptations go off the rails a bit in an attempt to be different or self-serious. From what I have reviewed, Ribbon Hero It looks set to preserve the spirit of Tezuka’s work while doing its own thing, and to be honest, I’m a little excited.
Unlike what appears to be the setup in the OUTLINE anime, Tezuka’s manga is an older tale, with less focus on the selling point of the warrior princess, though it’s certainly there, and more gender. In the installation, angels in heaven assign hearts to babies to be born. An angel named Tink gives baby Sapphire a blue boy’s heart moments before Sapphire is given a red girl’s heart. This oopsie Tink is banished from Heaven to find Sapphire and remove the girl’s heart – a problem made worse by her fate of being born as a scion of a Kingdom born male rather than female.
After the king and queen raise their daughters as boys after a snafu calls Sapphire a “princess” that confuses the kingdom, the would-be usurpers try to expose Sapphire as a boy. Sapphire’s journey is a slapstick story that feels like a pastiche Cinderella, Sleeping Beautyand The little mermaidand all of Tezuka’s titular whimsy. The manga even got an anime adaptation in 1967 Mushi productionso any loyalist concerned about faithful alignment can nip these complaints in the bud.
Princess Knight is as silly and fun as it sounds. Looking back at Tezuka’s manga, it seems strange how far ahead he is in terms of story, considering how 50s manga was explored in pre-gender ways. Rumiko Takahashiof Ranma 1/2. Granted, its gender exploration is still a touch dated as a great 2026 read (you can get progressive on either side of that and a touch misogynistic in Sapphire’s journey). However, it gets there in the end, with both Sapphire’s boyish and girlish natures being seen as a strength rather than a contradiction. This is rad.
while Ribbon Hero doesn’t explore sex as its tentpole theme, fans have learned from its trailers that the film may instead focus on queer themes between Sapphire and her girlfriend. With this in mind Prince Knight inspired old-school weirdo manga/anime works like an anime adaptation of MAPPA. Rose of Versaillesmost likely where the film will go as a reimagining of its own tale. Either that or the fans (including the current company) almost lose chess to the dogas in, when Ribbon Hero released this August. Either way, adaptations should feel more fearless branching out from the confines of old myths they repeat as long as they keep their underlying spirit intact, and Tezuka’s works are no different.
This isn’t Netflix’s first outing A reimagining of Tezuka’s classics. In fact, in 2023 Studio M2 released an anime adaptation called Naoki Urasawa (Monster) and Takashi Nagasakiof Pluto. Plutoin my humble opinion, it was the best sci-fi anime of that year. And a lot of it was not just seeing what Atom and his arch-villain looked like in action, but how he used the props of his story to strike at something deeper. Namely, Urasawa uses robot manga He criticizes the US intervention in Iraq. And this is only one hot button topics Pluto touchedweaves new life and perspective, laying the groundwork for Tezuka Astro Boy.
All this to say, despite the aesthetic and narrative differences, I’m entering Ribbon Hero with an open mind to see how another creative team would change and reimagine the classic Prince Knight and keep Tezuka’s stories in the minds of a new generation of anime fans.
Ribbon Hero It will premiere on Netflix on August 8.
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