In an era when it has become far more common to expect a sausage party of shonen anime adaptations of a beloved manga series, with discourse over powerscaling and faithfulness (or lack thereof) taking up all the air, The Ribbon Hero arrives as a refreshing welcome curveball. The lively Netflix original shojo film shows that reimagining—rather than dogmatically retreading—the work of legendary Astro Boy creator Osamu Tezuka is a road worth traveling.
The Ribbon Hero, directed by Yūki Igarashi and animated by studio OUTLINE (Star Wars: Visions), boldly goes where few anime projects—save for Naoki Urasawa’s Pluto—have dared. It lifts the scaffolding of Tezuka’s The Princess Knight and revamps a story that stands on its own, unburdened by fusses over what must remain sacrosanct or what can be discarded to justify its differences. In doing so, it transforms its predecessor’s slightly antiquated gender-nonbending fairytale into a feel-good, occasionally capricious, magical girl epic. The Ribbon Hero follows a girl named Sapphire (JP: Saaya EN: Courtney Lin) struggling with survivor’s guilt as the princess of a kingdom that no longer exists. After the calamity of a hulking, otherworldly creature known as “Nergal” leaves devastation, death, and despair in the wake of her kingdom of Silverland—whose casualties include her regal parents—Sapphire treks to the nearby kingdom of Goldland with her dutiful attendant, Zirco (JP: Mayumi Shintani, EN: Anne Yatco) in the hopes of starting her life anew. Just when she’s on the cusp of making new friends, tragedy threatens to rear its ugly head in her peaceful life once more, with Nergal spinning the block on her newfound home. With the power of her magical-girl transforming ribbon, Sapphire takes up arms as the lone hero, Princess Knight, to save both friends and strangers alike. © Studio OUTLINE/Twin Engine/Netflix © Studio OUTLINE/Twin Engine/Netflix © Studio OUTLINE/Twin Engine/Netflix © Studio OUTLINE/Twin Engine/Netflix While the nearly two-hour film certainly lives up to and honors the tone it establishes of Sapphire’s severe sense of loss and desperate and lonely put-upon mission to prevent another tragedy, The Ribbon Hero is far from a self-serious and severe bummer of a tale. In contrast to the compulsion to contrast the glittery genre of magical girls with nihilistically oppressive tales, The Ribbon Hero‘s true strength lies in its unabashedly warm and hopeful tone. Throughout Sapphire’s coming-of-age tale of heroism, the film is glittering with cute and endearing moments with her newfound friends that not only lighten up the mood but give reason for her steadfast fight as its hero. Battles are awash with sparkling fluid action sequences, sure. But its quieter moments are where the heart of its Princess Knight reimagining really sings in establishing fast friendships worth staking one’s life for.
