The Ribbon Hero review - do-gooder princess battles giant flying earwigs in update of classic yarn
The Ribbon Hero is a new animated film directed by Yûki Igarashi, serving as a loose adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's classic manga Princess Knight. The review criticizes the film for being overly conservative and failing to capture the pioneering gender-fluid themes of the original source material.
Why it matters
The film represents a significant cultural adaptation of a seminal work, and the critique highlights the ongoing tension between modernizing classic media and maintaining the integrity of original artistic themes.
‘Haute Euro-pageantry placed against striking 2D backdrops’ … The Ribbon Hero. Photograph: ©Twin Engine ‘Haute Euro-pageantry placed against striking 2D backdrops’ … The Ribbon Hero. Photograph: ©Twin Engine Movies Review The Ribbon Hero review – do-gooder princess battles giant flying earwigs in update of classic yarn Yûki Igarashi’s adaptation of Osamu Tezuka’s influential manga is a conservative (if impressively animated) reimagining that dulls the source material’s pioneering elements
Prefer the Guardian on Google F irst-time director Yûki Igarashi should hit the jackpot here: the first big-screen adaptation for decades of Princess Knight, a seminal postwar manga series from Astro Boy genius Osamu Tezuka. But this very loose reworking is an anticlimax: conservative in solely concentrating on the girlishly feminine side of its protagonist, Sapphire (voiced by Saya), where the gender-flipping original was heralded by many as pioneering; and bland in its vanilla characterisation and dull adherence to battle-anime norms.
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