I was interested in finishing this short manga series by the Godfather of Manga because of it's gender bending. I wanted to see if he was ahead of his time with more than just art and manga, but unfortunately the ideals seem to still hold two hearts. While on some points its forward thinking--women get the right to vote and be equals as decreed by Prince Plastic once he is given a male heart, but on the other hand--Sapphire is not fully a person until she accepts her female-ness, allowing her to wed Prince Charming. There's a disgraceful scene where she almost marries a female character and both the other female knight and pastor freak out when they find out she is a woman and say that this cannot be done. In moments like this, it's worthwhile to remind yourself that this title was originally written in Japan in the 1950s.
The first volume was so ambiguous about whether or not it was detrimental for Sapphire to have both a male and female heart that I was really hoping there would be some sort of finale that concluded with her keeping both and the characters accepting this as normal. But I suppose that would be my 21st century re-write for this title.
As for the story as Tezuka intended it, there is still a lot of cliffhanging action, slapstick comedy, Disney-influenced character and plot points and a "happy" ending. Worth finishing off the series as its only two volumes.
Intended reading level: Grades 3-5
Second in series
Questions to Readers:
Would you change anything about the ending? Who Sapphire ends up with? What heart she has? If so, what would you change and why? If not, why do you think Tezuka chose this ending?
Read-alikes:
Tezuka's Buddha series, Donald Duck comics or other Disney titles
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