Sapphire

Sapphire is an adventurous heroine created by Osamu Tezuka. She originally debuted in 1953 in the manga Princess Knight (リボンの騎士, Ribon no Kishi) as a genderfluid sword-fighting prince. Sapphire is also a reoccurring character in the Osamu Tezuka Star System and has appeared in the Astro Boy franchise.

Origin
Sapphire's design and home series were directly inspired by Takarazuka Revue musical theatre. These musicals were highly-stylized with an all-actress cast, regardless of the characters' genders. Osamu Tezuka was a big fan of Takarazuka since his early childhood. His mother was friends with many of the performers, and Tezuka would see many of these stage plays as a child. As a young man, Tezuka modelled Sapphire after the Takarazuka Revue's themes and aesthetics. Seeing women portray strong males as well as delicate females greatly influenced Sapphire's personality and overall character.

The Ribon no Kishi manga debuted in 1953 and was one of the first manga made specially for young girls. It was also adapted into a full colour anime series in 1967, which was later dubbed into English in 1969 by Oriolo Studios. To date, Sapphire is one of Tezuka's most popular heroes, being considered as much of an icon as Black Jack, Sharaku, and Astro Boy.

Personality
As the heir of Silverland, Sapphire is a very outgoing, adventurous youth. She was raised as a boy, which has let her receive princely training in fighting, fencing, and horseback riding. Sapphire is sporty and athletic, but she still likes to be feminine sometimes; one of Sapphire's alter-egos is a mysterious princess with fancy gowns and long blonde hair. Although Sapphire questions her gender identity, she enjoys being able to switch between gender roles. She refuses to let Tink take back her male "heart" because of how many of her hobbies and traits could leave with it.

Sapphire is also fiercely loyal to her family and friends. Due to the circumstances of her youth, she has a lot of trouble making close friends, but eventually warms up to Tink and Hecate upon understanding their individual plight.

Sapphire has appeared in other Tezuka series via the Osamu Tezuka Star System. Tezuka was very fond of Sapphire, and would sometimes cast her as an adult in more serious, mature roles. One such role is in the Black Jack chapter "The Heroine of the Tunnel" (1974): Sapphire plays a kindergarten teacher who gives her life protecting her students after a bus accident. One of Sapphire's more comedic roles is as a clumsy reporter in the 1993 Ambassador Magma OVA series.

Appearance
Sapphire has short brown (sometimes black) curly hair. While this could be compared to Hamegg's hair, Sapphire's hair is more modelled after early 20th century American fashion and cartoons, such as Nell Brinkley artwork and Betty Boop. She has very shiny, colourful eyes, which set a precedent for shoujo manga character designs in the 1950s. Sapphire also tends to dress in masculine attire and formal wear.

As a princess, Sapphire wears a golden blonde long wig and ornamental gowns. She wears a ribbon with the same pattern as her prince bonnet's ribbon, hence the manga's original title meaning "Ribbon Knight". As the Phantom Knight, Sapphire obscures her face with a carnival mask, and wears non-royal fencing gear. Sapphire's love interest Prince Franz has no idea these identities are all the same person, and views the Phantom Knight and Sapphire as competition for the princess's heart.

Princess Knight
In Ribon no Kishi, Sapphire is heir to the throne of the Silverland kingdom. She was assigned female at birth, but was raised male, due to the kingdom's law that a woman cannot rule. On a spiritual level, Sapphire was born with two spirits or "hearts" - one male and one female - due to a mix-up in the heavens by an angel boy named Tink. While Sapphire presents as a male prince, she secretly takes on the personas of a masked swashbuckler and a beautiful princess.

Years later, God sends Tink to Silverland to retrieve one of Sapphire's hearts. However, Sapphire refuses to give either heart back until she gets to decide whether she is a man or a woman. Until then, Tink becomes Sapphire's friend and sidekick. Devil Mephisto, the satan of their world, hopes to steal Sapphire's female heart and give it to his daughter Hecate to make the latter more feminine. Meanwhile, the nefarious Duke Duralumin hopes to become next-in-line for the throne by outing Sapphire as a girl. Princess Knight is considered by many to be the first series of the mahou shoujo ("magical girl") genre.

1980 Astro Boy series
In the 1980 episode "The Time Machine", Sapphire is a prince in the 15th century kingdom of Molavia. Time-travelling detective Rock accidentally knocks Sapphire off his horse, gravely wounding him; the prince is supposed to live to be 80 years old, and his early death would drastically change history. Rock recruits Black Jack to operate on the prince and save his life. An evil wizard kidnaps Black Jack's assistant Pinoko, and Black Jack is forced to vow that he will not save the prince in exchange for Pinoko's life. However, Black Jack completes the prince's surgery after realizing Sapphire has been forced to live as a boy. The wizard is defeated and Sapphire comes out to the kingdom as a woman. As payment for the surgery, Black Jack takes the kingdom's law against woman leaders. The people of Molavia quickly accept this, and Princess Sapphire begins to rule over the kingdom.

2003 series
Sapphire appears very briefly in the Astro Boy (2003) episode "Astro Vs. Atlas". She has a prominent cameo as one of the many Ministry of Scientist employees who became fearful of skeptical of Dr. Tenma's Atom Project. Sapphire is not seen elsewhere in the series, but this shot implies she is still working as a scientist at the Ministry.