Princess Knight

Although all 52 episodes of the series were translated and dubbed into English, serious legal disputes arose within the show's production company before it could go to air, and as a result the company ultimately scrapped the show before it could be broadcast. Copies of the finished product still managed to be leaked out, and the series had a limited run on American and European television in the 70's and early 80's, usually as part of some obscure morning children's television program. But in some areas as Latin America (more exactly in Brazil), various fans still remember of this series.

The Story

Taking place in a Medieval, fairy-tale setting, Princess Knight is the story of young Princess Sapphire who must pretend to be a male prince so she can inherit the throne (as women are not eligible to do so). This deception begins as soon as she is born, as her father the King announces his baby is a boy instead of a girl. The reason for this is that the next-in-line to the throne, Duke Duralumon, is an evil jerk who would repress the people, and the King will go to any length to prevent him from taking over.

Princess Sapphire has a pint-sized sidekick in the form of Choppy, a young angel-in-training out to earn his wings. When she was born, Choppy accidentally gave Sapphire the blue heart of a rambunctious boy as well as the pink heart of a prim and proper girl, and so God sent him down to Earth to sort out the mess and retrieve Sapphire's extra heart. Choppy is stuck inside a rather weak mortal shell, and cannot go back to heaven until he's fixed things. Sapphire won't let Choppy remove her blue boy's heart, however. As a result, Choppy is pretty much stuck with Sapphire (although he doesn't really mind).

Sapphire and Choppy have various fairy tale and political adventures, such as encounters with ice witches and anti-Royal revolutionaries. Sapphire also dons a Zorro-style mask at night and fights crime as the Phantom Knight. She also spends a lot of time foiling Duke Duralumon's schemes to take over the kingdom, as well as his attempts to prove that Sapphire is really a girl (and thus discredit her as the heir to the throne).

The animation style is bright and colorful and comparative to early Disney, ala Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. The story-telling style is relatively relaxed and slow-paced, albeit not nearly to the minimalist extreme of Samurai Jack. The show is aimed at younger viewers and is fairly light-hearted, although it is not deliberately campy like Scooby Doo or the 1980's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Because it is a Japanese series, however, some mature themes do crop up occasionally. There are several references to God, Satan, Heaven, and Hell. Also, in the final episodes, the story arc is resolved and many major character are killed on-screen (although the main principals make it out OK in the end).

The Characters

• Princess Sapphire: The young Prince of Silverland, Sapphire is in reality a girl, but must pretend to be a boy in order to inherit the throne and prevent the evil Duke Duralumon from taking power. Her personality is more refined than tomboyish, but she's good with a sword and at night fights crime as the masked Phantom Knight. She's good-hearted and has a strong sense of justice, as well as being competent and level-headed. Although most of her time is spent as Prince Sapphire, later in the series she is able to go about as a girl (wearing a blonde wig) in the persona of the Princess, Prince Sapphire's sister. In this way she is able to court Prince Frank.

• Choppy (a.k.a. Ching or Chinky): A pint-sized angel who dresses in green, Choppy is Princess Sapphire's sidekick. He's often brave to the point of being foolhardy, and tends to charge into situations head-first (literally). Choppy is stuck inside a mortal body and has no real divine powers other than the ability to blow the trumpet really, really loud. Because of this, he often gets his butt kicked. Satan is deeply afraid of him, however. He looks an awful lot like the childish version of Link from the Legend of Zelda (especially the Wind Waker game).

• Opal: It's the Sapphire's white horse.
  
• Prince Frank (a.k.a. Prince Franz): The young Prince of neighboring Goldland and Sapphire's love interest. Obviously, their relationship is complicated. Prince Frank is familiar with Sapphire as three entirely different people, each of whom he has different feelings toward. He is good friends with Prince Sapphire, in love with the unnamed Princess that Sapphire sometimes visits him as, and despises the Phantom Knight, who he mistakenly believes is a rival for the Princess' affection. Because of their similar upbringing, Frank has many of the same skills as Sapphire (such as swordsmenship), although Sapphire is a bit better at a lot of them than he is.

• Duke Duralumon: The show's main baddie, Duke Duralumon is next in line to the throne after Sapphire, and is constantly trying to discredit Sapphire so that he can be the one to inherit the throne. Duralumon is short, fat, and balding. He's a fairly hands-off villain, he'll make speeches to try to turn the people against Sapphire, but leaves the actual physical work of kidnapping and thuggery to his enforcer, Baron Nylon. Duralumon is corrupt and mean and does pose a genuine threat to Silverland, but is more of a bumbling, comedic villain than a sinister one. Later in the series he's shown to be a Quesling in the employ of much more seriously evil characters, such as Satan or Mr. X.

• Baron Nylon: A tall, thin man in foppish green clothes with a huge balloon of a nose. Nylon is Duke Duralumon's bumbling sidekick. He's a bully responsible for doing Duralumon's dirty work, but due to his incompetence he usually manages to totally screw things up. As a result he's often the recipient of verbal and physical abuse from Duralumon. He's not too bright but is pretty mean with a sword, although he never actually gets to stab anybody until the last couple of episodes.

• Plastic: He's the Duralumon's dummy little son, who also is another comic relief of the series.

• The King: The King of Silverland. Deceives his people into believing his daughter is really a son, in order to prevent Duralumon from inheriting the throne. He is killed early on, visits Sapphire as a ghost (Hamlet-style), is brought back to life by God, is killed again, etc. Very confusing.

• The Queen: The Queen of Silverland. Supportive of Sapphire and overseeings the Kingdom during her husbands occasional bouts of being dead.

• The Doctor: Sapphire's doctor is one of the few people that knows her secret. He's in charge of teaching her masculine skills such as swordsmanship and history. The Doctor's also a bit of an inventor and occasionally comes up with post-medieval gadgets, such as a hot-air balloon to combat a kite-riding thief.

• The Nurse: Sapphire's nurse is one of the few people that knows her secret. She's in charge of teaching her feminine skills such as sewing and cooking.

• Satan: The Devil, in the format of a warlock; and also one of the most powerful villains from the series. Portrayed as a tall, thin human with chalk-white skin and a pointy nose, wearing a skin-tight red suit with a black cape. Satan has various evil desires, including stealing Sapphire's special two-hearted soul and taking over the kingdom. Satan has awesome supernatural powers and is impervious to physical harm, but he also has an overpowering fear of angels. When Sapphire is confronted by Satan, Choppy often comes to the rescue. Satan cowers in fear from Choppy and flees screaming when Choppy starts blowing his horn. Duralumon and Nylon are secretly Satanists who are in his service.

• Heckett (the Satan's daughter, who's a witch): Heckett appears as a young human-looking woman around Sapphire's age, who dresses quite provocatively. At first she appears to be evil like her father, but she later reveals to Sapphire that she's secretly good. She often covertly helps Sapphire foil her father's plans. The Heckett's name was inspirated on Hekate, the Greek godess of the witchcraft and sorcery.

• Mr. X: The show's ultimate villain, a large, imposing Darth Vader-like character clad entirely in boxy red armor (so that we cannot see his human features). Mr. X is the ruler of the X Union, a neighboring, proto-fascist federation of nations that wants to conquer the three kingdoms (Silverland, Goldland, and Charcoal-land). As the series progresses we learn that Duralumon and Nylon secretly work for him. Mr. X is portrayed as an indestructible, terminator-like figure. In the show's final battle between Sapphire and Mr. X, he brings down Silverland castle by smashing the walls using his bare hands. He is the only character in the show with no comedic aspect whatsoever (even Satan inspires laughs when he freaks out upon seeing Choppy).
  

  The Ending

In the final episodes, Mr. X conquers Silverland and has most of the supporting characters rounded up for execution. Duralumon is installed as a puppet ruler, but he is killed by Nylon after Duralumon's constant abuse finally drives Nylon insane. Nylon takes his place and rules as a drooling madman.

Sapphire and Frank try to prevent the King and Queen from being executed, but they are too late and the King and Queen are hanged. This culminates into the final battle, as Sapphire heads off to Silverland castle to confront Mr. X, with the aide of three magic balls (each representing one of the three kingdoms) given to her by her parents that are supposed to save Silverland.

When Sapphire uses the balls on Mr. X, they form a huge honking magic sword, and Sapphire ends up dueling the axe-wielding Mr. X. Sapphire manages to strike Mr. X., enraging him. Furious, Mr. X begins smashing the castle with his bare hands, eventually causing it to collapse onto himself (Nylon, who is swaying through the halls like a drunken idiot, is also crushed to death). Sapphire escapes the collapsing castle and stands triumphant in the sunlight, but the undamaged Mr. X suddenly bursts out of rubble wielding the magic sword. Just as Mr. X is about to chop Sapphire in half, he is incinerated by God through a lightning bolt striking the sword.

Sapphire and Frank end up getting married, and with the King and Queen dead they become the new rulers of Silverland. Choppy was killed during the uprising, but his spirit returned to heaven where he finally earned his wings.