Name: Princess Knight
Genre: Animation, Action & Adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy
Released: 1967-04-02
Rating: 8.2
Cast: Yoshiko Ohta, Noriko Shindô, Gorō Naya, Kyoji Kobayashi, Ryusuke Shiomi

The OG gender-fluid sword-swinging royal who invented the baddie princess trope.

Mini Series

retro shoujo chaossword-swinging melodramaangel vs devil camp

Latest Episode

30 min

Season 1 • Episode 52

Latest

The Happiness in Silverland

Mar 24, 1968

Overview

Animation Action & Adventure Sci-Fi & Fantasy

Princess Sapphire is a girl raised as a Prince. Through the mischief of an angel, the princess is born with both a girl's and a boy's heart. Since there is no boy successor in her kingdom, Sapphire is raised as a boy, but evil ministers try to reveal her secret. Unable to put up with the kind of vicious conduct prevailing in the kingdom, Sapphire disguises herself as "Princess Knight" and wields her sword of justice.

JP Japanese

Content warning

anime based on manga shoujo mystery romance

gender identity and performanceduty versus authenticityjustice versus traditiondual nature of self

Standout Aspects

Production

Osamu Tezuka's fingerprints on every frame.

Costume

The Princess Knight disguise: iconic, ridiculous, perfect.

Best for:Binge·Friends·Rewatch

Heads up:Triggers

First AiredApr 2, 1967

StatusEnded

Vibe

Pacefast

Intensitymedium

Tonemixed

Feelmedium

Seasons1·Episodes52

Top Cast

Yoshiko Ohta

Sapphire (voice)

Gorō Naya

Lord Nylon (voice)

Chie Kitagawa

Plastic (voice)

Ask about Princess Knight

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Deep Dive

Trivia, insights & behind the scenes

Cultural

This is widely considered the first shoujo anime, essentially inventing the genre's visual language and narrative tropes. Revolutionary doesn't cover it.

Insight

Tezuka allegedly created Sapphire after his daughter asked why girls in stories couldn't be heroes. The 'two hearts' device was his workaround for 1960s censorship.