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REVIEW: Princess Knight GN 1




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xScar



Joined: 20 Dec 2006
Posts: 288
PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 4:08 am Reply with quote
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The translation is mostly fluid, but there is a disconcerting shift between more formal language (in keeping with the apparent setting) and random bits of modern slang. While it doesn't happen frequently, it is jarring when it does, and one could wish that Vertical had kept with the more old-fashioned tone.


This could have been something that Tezuka did, more than just Vertical's translation. I've never had a problem with any of their translations, and something like shifting from formal language to slang seems like something Tezuka would do in a gag-like manner.

Have yet to pick this up myself for the fact that it is so distinctively girly... not sure if I'll ever get around to it either. Although I'm a fan of Tezuka, his range is so great that you simply can't like it all Very Happy
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Princess_Irene
ANN Reviewer


Joined: 16 Dec 2008
Posts: 2599
Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 3:02 pm Reply with quote
xScar wrote:


This could have been something that Tezuka did, more than just Vertical's translation. I've never had a problem with any of their translations, and something like shifting from formal language to slang seems like something Tezuka would do in a gag-like manner.


That was my first thought too, but when I looked through my French copy, the linguistic shifts weren't as obvious. There is a definite formal/informal divide, but it isn't as slang-heavy as in English. Vertical did a great job making it an incredibly readable translation, though.
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Julia-the-Great



Joined: 14 May 2005
Posts: 328
PostPosted: Sun Dec 18, 2011 7:47 pm Reply with quote
I own and have read both volumes of Vertical's release, and enjoyed it very much. It's the first Tezuka I've read, and I'd heard about his sudden shifts from comic to tragic, but I'd never seen it first-hand before. The scene that most stuck out to me was when the king is have a comedic moment trying to ride his horse and the horse is having none of it, and it's all very funny, and then suddenly spoiler[the king is hit by a stray poisoned sword and DIES tragically!] That was the LAST thing I'd expected that comedic scene to end with! The entire tone of the series changes after that!

And yet, I love it all the more for stuff like that.

In order to get past the "girl heart/boy heart" thing with a modern view, I had to look at it in the sense that it wasn't about being a boy or a girl, but about possessing certain attributes associated with masculinity and femininity. The witch's daughter doesn't have a girl heart, but she's still a girl. The duke's son Plastic spoiler[gains a boy heart in the second volume, but he was still a boy before then.] Also in the second volume, the women spoiler[rise up against the men and fight them off, even though they possess "girl" hearts, assumedly.] Sapphire herself spoiler[can still fight and is pretty good at it even after losing her boy heart.]

So, in the end, it really didn't bother me that "boys are strong" and "girls are pure" because in the long run, it really didn't matter that much. Sapphire proves that she is a strong heroine whether she has a girl heart or a boy heart.

Actually, I think the thing that bothered me most was in the second volume. spoiler[Captain Blood dies for pretty much nothing and nobody ever gets around to telling Sapphire about it.]
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mufurc



Joined: 09 Jun 2003
Posts: 612
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 2:51 am Reply with quote
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t is easy to see the origins of the basic “shoujo style” in Tezuka's drawings. Arina Tanemura would not be putting lights and sparkles in her characters' eyes were it not for Princess Sapphire.

You mean Nakahara Junichi et al, right? Tezuka has inspired many future artists, but the classic, sparkly-eyed "shoujo style" has roots in the works of illustrators such as Nakahara (who did illustrations in the magazines that future, female shoujo mangaka read).
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Princess_Irene
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Joined: 16 Dec 2008
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Location: The castle beyond the Goblin City
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:54 am Reply with quote
mufurc wrote:

You mean Nakahara Junichi et al, right? Tezuka has inspired many future artists, but the classic, sparkly-eyed "shoujo style" has roots in the works of illustrators such as Nakahara (who did illustrations in the magazines that future, female shoujo mangaka read).


I meant both, really, but I thought I'd stick with the more widely-known of the two "big names" for ease of reading. I tend to feel that both Nakahara and Tezuka had an influence on the Ribon and Nakayoshi styles that are so familiar today - sort of like how Simon and Kirby's romance comics of the 1940s-1970s and 19th century sentimental novels both equally influenced contemporary romantic fiction in different ways.
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marie-antoinette



Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 4136
Location: Ottawa, Canada
PostPosted: Mon Dec 19, 2011 7:37 pm Reply with quote
I do remember reading the chapters in Shojo Beat (how I still miss that magazine!). It's actually the only time I've read Tezuka, though I've felt like I should check out some of his titles at some point. This review actually makes me much more inclined to pick this as the title to go with because I love shojo and it would be great to see more of its routes. I also am interested in seeing just what happens later on, since the first two chapters didn't exactly wow me but it sounds like later stuff might.
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inuhime



Joined: 18 Feb 2009
Posts: 33
Location: Windy City
PostPosted: Sat Dec 24, 2011 11:13 pm Reply with quote
Are these editions like the Kodansha bilingual versions and is it worth it to get the Vertical version?
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