Twin Knights, The (Manga)

Also known as 双子の騎士 (Futago no Kishi)

This sequel to the original Princess Knight [Shojo Club] (1953-56) was serialized in the magazine Good Friend from January 1958 to June 1959.

What it’s about

Tink chooses

The story opens years after the events of Princess Knight [Shojo Club] (1953-56), Sapphire and Franz have married and are the proud parents of fraternal twins, Prince Daisy and Princess Violetta.  However, now that the law has been changed to allow female heirs, there’s just one problem… All things being equal, there’s some debate amongst the court nobles as to which one, the boy or the girl, is the true heir.  When an old friend of the family, Tink the Angel, is called in to settle the matter, he selects Prince Daisy by sheer chance.  However, the Duchess Dahlia, who was in favour of Princess Violetta, decides to take matters into her own hands and she kidnaps Prince Daisy and abandons him in the forest.

Luckily, the Queen of the Forest takes pity on the poor lad and transforms a deer into a human to raise him.  Meanwhile, back at the castle, Princess Violetta decides to conceal Prince Daisy’s disappearance by disguising herself as her brother every other day.  However the Duchess Dahlia discovers the ruse and locks King Franz, Queen Sapphire and Princess Violetta in the North Tower.  After a fencing lesson from her mother, Violetta disguises herself as a boy and, with the help of a swan, escapes and sets off in search of her brother.

Passing the torch… uh, sword

Along the way, Violetta meets up with a young gypsy girl named Emerald, finds out you can’t always tell the “white hats” from the “black hats”, gets in and out of a few tight spots, and even squares off against her own brother.  And through it all, Princess Violetta shows everyone who wears the pants in this family.

What you should know

Although The Twin Knights (1958-59) is a follow up to the original Princess Knight [Shojo Club] (1953-56), in a strange way, it owes much of it’s existence to a little-known work of Osamu Teukza’s known as The Kokeshi Detective Bureau (1957).  The reason for that is because The Kokeshi Detective Bureau (1957), which was being published in the popular girl’s magazine Good Friend, was doing so poorly that the editorial staff began to push Tezuka to continue the story of Princess Knight [Shojo Club] (1953-56), which had wrapped up publication in Shojo Club the year before.

Violette and Emerald in a tight spot

Although Tezuka was reluctant to return to the series, he was eventually swayed by the enthusiasm of the editorial staff and agreed.  However, because Good Friend was geared towards a younger audience than Shojo Club had been, Tezuka felt it necessary to simplify the structure – making the artwork cleaner and the story easier to follow in the process.  Despite the fact that he retained many of the story elements of the original, Tezuka didn’t fall into the trap of making The Twin Knights (1958-59) just a simplified rehash of it’s predecessor.  Instead, he got rid of the somewhat contrived notion of “boy” hearts and “girl” hearts, and introduced the element of chance and luck instead.  He also gave the girl-disguised-as-a-boy character (Violetta) a much more active role – both of which are good examples of Tezuka’s development as a storyteller.

It is also interesting to note that the story was originally published simply under the (by that time already well-known) title Princess Knight, and it was only renamed The Twin Knights (1958-59) for its first collected edition in 1960.  This, however, does add to some of the confusion that surrounds the series, since the version of the original story most people will be familiar with is actually Princess Knight [Nakayoshi] (1963-66), the remake of Princess Knight [Shojo Club] (1953-56) which was published after The Twin Knights (1958-59).

What else you should check out

Check out the link below for chapter summaries and more detailed publication information on The Twin Knights (1958-59) serialization in Good Friend.

Twin Knight (Good Friend)

Although The Twin Knights (1958-59) is a follow up to the original Princess Knight [Shojo Club] (1953-56), in a strange way, it owes much of it’s existence to a little-known work of Osamu Teukza’s known as The Kokeshi Detective Bureau (1957)