Gender Play in Tezuka’s Princess Knight

As most things in manga owe a debt to Tezuka Sensei (Osamu Tezuka), it is not surprising that scholars have isolated Tezuka’s 1953 series “Princess Knight” as a deeply important touchstone for the evolution of trans representation in manga as a whole. #princessknight #tezuka 1/11

Princess Knight tells the story of Sapphire, an AFAB character who is raised within the male gender role to be a successor to her father’s kingdom. This gender-bending is not simply performative, though, as Sapphire is born with two hearts, a pink and a blue one allowing them to embody both genders. 2/11

Interestingly, Princess Knight is considered by many scholars to be either the first modern shojo (manga for girls) or an important precursor to the shojo movement (or even both). This leads us into the deeply thorny territory of the historic gendering of manga genres. Good or ill, Tezuka played a part. 3/11

Indeed, Princess Knight may represent the most direct surfacing of one of Tezuka’s most famous inspirations: The Takarazuka Revue, in which all roles (male and female) were played by women. Tezuka was frequently brought to the Osaka-based theatre by his mother. 4/11

Scholar Frederik L Schodt notes that “the productions offer an exaggerated female view of a male world and, when foreign in theme, an exaggerated Japanese view of the outside world. And they offer girls in a still largely male-oriented society the chance to vicariously fulfill their dreams.” 5/11

The Takarazuka Review is thus credited by many scholars for informing Tezuka’s unique (for his era) view on gender performance, one that aligns with the so-called “Tezuka Humanism” defined by Schodt as a personal philosophy of openness, tolerance, and non-judgment. 6/11

As an aside – tangentially connected through this concept of influence – the visual style of Princess Knight is most obviously influenced by Walt Disney, a company known for its conservative approach to gender roles. Seeing gender exploration in a Disney style is thus somewhat subversive in its own right. 7/11

As manga scholars Shige Suzuki and Ronald Stewart note “Tezuka’s protagonist might not be radically transgressive in terms of gender – that is, conventional ideas of masculinity and femininity are still maintained and reinforced…” 8/11

But “…it still opens up the potential of subverting gender norms or performing non-traditional gender roles” and, in terms of influence, the motifs established in PK “have become common tropes in shojo manga and continue to defy and unsettle conventional views on gender.” 9/11

Additionally, much of the tension in the series revolves around villains trying to prove that Sapphire is a girl, and thus the concept of passing becomes a pivotal source of tension throughout the narrative bringing with it subsequent themes of gender roles, gender subversion, and gender privilege. 10/11

All of these themes represent important touchstones for later manga explorations of trans identity and trans representation. As such, Princess Knight is a pivotal read for anyone interested in these subjects and a forebearer of the trans tradition in manga. 11/11