PRINCESS KNIGHT: episode discussion

[jeffbert]

1 - 1
2 - 8
3 - 12
4 - 11
5 - 32
Those are the episodes on the 1st disc.

I think they jumped all over, looking for those that would most appeal to girls. A few observations follow:

1. The black garbed henchmen are likely a homage to Fleisher's GULLIVER'S TRAVELS. Both have very prominent noses.
2. 8, The Phantom Horse; 'tenma' is the word used, though I believe Pegasus was (if) depicted in manga.
3. 12, The Ragged Prince; Prince & Pauper.
4. 11, The Nymph of Sleepiness; big one conks Sapphire; cut in ELV:
   

   

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   Ouch!
   

   

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5. 31, Tink and the Princess of the Sea: NOTES TO Urusei Yatsura disc #23.45, DISC 7 detail the legend of Urashima Taroo.

   In the story, Taroo found a sea turtle that had washed up on a beach, and was being tormented by some cruel children. He rescued the turtle, and in return, the turtle took him to Dragon Palace, where he was wined and dined by the Princess of the Palace.

I noted no other cuts than those.

[ASTROBUDDY]

I read somewhere that when plans were made to originally release Princess Knight on home video in the US, they gave a different order for each episode. If you check out the Princess Knight page at "Glen's 60s Anime!" you will see the two lists of episode titles and an explanation for the differences in order.
Also does your set come with an episode list or guide?

I

[Tetsuwan Atom]

They are actually that much out of order !!! the reasons not to buy this set pile up and up ... while i'm still gonna buy it ....

[jeffbert]

ASTROBUDDY, I used the episode titles from the official Tezuka page for the series. Without looking, I cannot say if the JLV has title frames, but I am guessing it does. No, the ELV series had no titles, no booklet, etc. I suspect TRSI produced this set without the extras of either AB of KTWL sets because its customer base was believed much smaller.

[ASTROBUDDY]

ASTROBUDDY, I used the episode titles from the official Tezuka page for the series. Without looking, I cannot say if the JLV has title frames, but I am guessing it does. No, the ELV series had no titles, no booklet, etc. I suspect TRSI produced this set without the extras of either AB of KTWL sets because its customer base was believed much smaller.

It's also cheaper to release the set without extras; unless they plan on providing extras for the second set of episodes, i.e., episodes 27-52.

All in all the episodes are still fun to watch and as I stated in my previous thread the title, "Adventures of Choppy and the Princess" is a much better title as Choppy is as prominent in the series as Prince(ss) Knight.

Again the restoration is pretty good.

I

[jeffbert]

I finished the 3rd disc, & am nearly finished with the 4th. I noted quit a few frames that were cut from the ELV. I was surprised to note that most of the names are nearly the same as they are in the JLV; though the pronunciation of the villains' names is odd. I think the on-screen credits were entirely the work of TRSI; I assume that they merely made new ones as the video of the ELV must have been all but unusable.

Anyway, here are some names & their pronunciations:

NYLON: :'KNEELON'

DURALUMIN: 'DURALUMON'

Because the on-screen credits say DURALUMIN & NYLON, I am nearly certain that the entire credits were newly made.

On the 4th disc, they finally got around to an episode with Mephisto in it; for a 13 year-old, Hekate is very well-endowed. Oh, her name is 'ZENDA.'

[jeffbert]

DISC #2

• 6 - 16, Tink and Colette
• 7 -6, Dwarf and Giant
• 8 - 13, Rose Mansion
• 9 - 5, Monster Valleys
• 10 - 4, Dance, Franz

16, Tink and Colette: a very cute episode in which tink loses touch with reality, & believes that a marionette is real & is in danger from other puppets. No cuts noted.

6, Dwarf and Giant: Likely influenced by GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, as Sapphire & Tink travel to islands modeled on Lilliput & Brobdingnag, the latter is where Gulliver is the tiny one. Anyway, the overall plot seems also influenced by 122, Monster Mantler (--, --), because Tink & Sapphire assume that the giant, an Oni, is the villain, out to harm the little 'dwarf' here dubbed as pixie, but they are really father & son. So, as in #122, the heroes go about trying to keep the palm-sized guy away from the fi-fi-fo-fum sized guy. More than a few cuts noted!

13, Rose Mansion: Flower men go about trying to thwart DD's plan to build gun emplacements into a hillside because it would destroy the plants. More than a few cuts noted!

5, Monster Valleys: DD & Nylon attempt to kill Sapphire with a poisoned thorn, but the queen touches it, instead. Sapphire must brave the dangers of three areas in order to get the antidote. 1 cut.

4, Dance, Franz: Capt. Blood & crew are galley slaves aboard Goldland's (Prince Franz) ship. Sapphire & Tink free them.

Franz is 'Frank.'

no cuts noted.

[jeffbert]

• 11 - 10, Sapphire's Carnival
• 12 - 19, The Magic Pen
• 13 - 7, The Cursed Swan
• 14 - 18, The Mysterious Mirror
• 15 - 14, The Seven Kid Goats

10, Sapphire's Carnival: Franz dances with Sapphire, though he believes the blond girl is not Sapphire. Franz had already seen through Sapphire's guise in earlier episodes, & knew her to be a girl. In this, & other occasions, Sapphire begins to crave her true identity as a girl. Ataru Moroboshi's friend Ryunosuke (in Urusei Yatsura) is also in a similar situation, as her papa raised her as a boy, & considers her a boy. Either Tezuka was a trend setter, or these themes come from Japanese folk lore.

19, The Magic Pen: Franz gives Sapphire a pen that always writes the truth. Nylon takes it from Sapphire when she foolishly tries to get him to write his opinion of her. No cuts noted.

7, The Cursed Swan: Swan Lake? The daughter of the hourglass toting Garigory ('Gregory') dubbed 'Gary' & several others are transformed into swans. Hekate 'Zenda'? celebrates her 13th birthday. Her papa Mephisto wants Sapphire's male heart "to make his daughter Hekate a grand witch." ( page for PK). I am confused, as in the manga, they want Sapphire's female heart to make Hekate a proper bride for Franz, whose kingdom's riches The Hell's covet. About 12 to 15 cuts noted; mainly the demons.

18, The Mysterious Mirror: "Snow White" story. Compare to Melmo's Let's Bully Snow White. I believe the Japanese versions of the "Mirror, Mirror" question are the same in both. Anyway, this one is rather funny, as once the Mirror 'sees' Sapphire, though dressed as a male, it names her as the fairest, etc., & poor Sapphire tries to demonstrate her boyish toughness by provoking fights with rather large men. Bella, the woman with the mirror & the ego, then falls in love with Sapphire, whom she believes her mirror has mistaken for a girl. A few cuts noted.

14, The Seven Kid Goats A woff in sheep's clothing had adopted the kid goats. The ELV makes her say that her husband ate the mother goat, & she feels bad, so she adopted them. I doubt this, because there is no husband, but a huge bear, instead. Anyway, Sapphire dons the goat skin, and lures away the bear. I forgot the #, but MA B&W has an episode called Space Spider, in which Atom & Uran wear sheep skins. Two cuts noted.

[Astrogirl500]

I love Saphir!!

[-Nick-]

I also didn't realise they played around with the episode order too. Was the series a continuing story in the original Japanese? Or was the anime setup to be more self contained than the Manga?

I'll probably end up buying the Australian release eventually.