Review: Princess Knight, Part Two

Princess Knight, Part Two by Osamu Tezuka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Sometimes, I get really impatient with manga. Some titles I like have just went on for too many volumes - in my opinion - and it can feel like a bit of a slog to get through it all. I still really enjoy the titles I enjoy, but it can be a bit of a slog to get through everything. Princess Knight was not one of those manga... though I think it suffers a little from ending fatigue.

To explain: in the second volume we follow Princess Sapphire as her cousin changes the laws in their home country so that she may rule even though she is female. In essence? This takes only a few pages to happen - women of the country basically fight back and make the men realize that life would be a lot easier if they were all on the same page, and so the government pass the laws. The rest of the book? While very entertaining, it does feel a little like they were trying to stretch out the story, particularly in the last few chapters with Venus...

Yeah, Venus is a character in this. She's actually in fitting with some older interpretations of Aphrodite - being quite mean and selfish when she wants something - but she is definitely Venus.

Overall, it's still a manga I would recommend to near anyone, though with the caveat that the gender politics displayed are very much a product of their times and should be read with that in mind. Otherwise it can come off quite distasteful.

Still, it's cute and the art is lovely. Worth a read.

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