After a rather stressful Disk 1, Disk 2 of Princess Knight settles down. Starting with the final episodes of the first disk, Sapphire – referred to in the dub as “Prince Knight,” or “Knight” for short – sets off on more adventures. Of course Duralamin and Nylon still slaver over her uncomfortably and their continuing obsession about her sex is always squicky. Knight’s energy is mostly spent protecting her kingdom from being invaded by shark necromancers and fighting wars on behalf of flower kingdoms. Knight even gets a moment to shine as she goes on an epic quest to save her mother from a poisoned flower.
It is during this last adventure where Knight meets the dashing young Prince Frank (Franz of the manga.) Prince Frank thinks young Knight is funny, always trying to outdo him. Something inside of Prince Frank is clearly resonating to Knight – when he gives the younger Prince a flower, Knight says she doesn’t like flowers, but Frank assures him that he will, someday.
Because we know the two of them are destined to be together, it seems to me that the vibe begins right away. While Knight seeks to establish equal status with Frank, Frank sees him as “cute.” Is the storyline not-so-subtlely reinforcing Knight’s femininity (and therefore her inferiority) even as she herself maintains that they are equals, or am I working *way* too hard as I watch this out of the corner of my eye while I work? ^_^
Without a doubt, I far prefer the adventure stories to the obsessive creeping of Duralamin and Nylon. They are portrayed as so unambiguously mystery play-style evil they might as well have names like Duke DoNoGood and Sir Henchman. It leaves no room at all for the kind of masterful storytelling one associates with Tezuka. We get a glimpse of this when Knight is fighting off an evil plot to start a war and destroy the Prince of Roses, when she rejects Duralamin’s blustery, dangerous patriotism. (Gee, who does this remind me of….oh, wait, every politician ever, right.) Give me a good old fashioned shark invasion any day.
Ratings:
Art – 4
Characters – 7
Story – 7
Overall – 7
Were you able to adjust to the dub over time, or does it just not grate you as much as it does me? I couldn’t get past the first episode partly because of it.
I’m “watching” as I work, so I barely notice. It is very much the sound of cartoons in my youth. Yeah, it’s grating, but whatcha gonna do?
This series just keeps getting better & better. They’re up to episode 22 on youtube.
@Eric P.
The old voice acting is what adds to the charm of the show, in all honesty.