Sticky Trigger Review: Ribbon No Kishi

Genres:  Adventure, Comedy

Opening Theme: "Ribbon No Kishi" by Yoko Maekawa

Ending Theme: "Ribbon No March" by Yoko Maekawa

Animation Studio: ----

Staff:
Director: Chikao Katsui, Kanji Akabori
Music: Isao Tomita
Original Character Design: Osamu Tezuka
Character Design: Kazuko Nakamura, Sadao Miyamoto
Art Director: Kazuko Nakamura, Sadao Miyamoto
Chief Animation Director: Kazuko Nakamura, Sadao Miyamoto
Animation Directors: Teruto Ueguchi, Toshio Nitta

VA staff Sub
Yoshiko Ohta as Sapphire
Noriko Shindou as The Queen
Chieko Kitagawa as Plastic
Goro Naya as Lord Nylon
Kyoji Kobayashi as King
Masashi Amenomori as Duke Duralumin
Reiko Mutoh as Hekate
Ryusuke Shiomi as Devil Mephisto
Takako Sasuga as Twink

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Ribbon no Kishki is a true classic along with Astro Boy and Marine Boy. Ribbon no Kishki was made in 1967 and directed by Chikao Katsui and Kanji Akabori the animation was done by Toshio Nitta who was responsible for works such as the animation for the anime Magic User's Club and key animation for Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu. The story was a compelling tale of a young girl named Sapphire who was brought up as a boy to be a heir to the throne as only males can take that role.

The animation throughout was on par for the time it was released with repetitive background use and non fluid movements the animation by today’s standards would be considered below par however the animation being hand drawn is an amazing achievement for the team that created it. To put into perspective the movie Redline took 3 years to hand draw every frame and it only lasted an hour and a half.

The characters were belittled by the one main character Sapphire leaving a lot of development aspects that I believed still needed resolving. The voices of the characters were well voiced with Yoshiko Ohta as Sapphire and Noriko Shindou as “the queen” (going back to the lack of development to the point of not even having names) these parts in my opinion were the best out of a good bunch of VA staff.

The Music of Ribbon no Kishki was very simple with regal tunes as background however nothing was really standout as a track you would want to listen to as a standalone track. The opening Ribbon no Kishki was a nice piece and was accompanied by suited animation however again not something that stood out.

Overall the anime was a nice couple of hours over a couple of weeks and not marathon worthy however looking how the show withstood the test of time to be a show that still can be watched as an all time classic anime has me rewarding with the following scores

Story	7.8/10
Characters	6.2/10
Animation	7.3/10
Sound	8.7/10
Personal Enjoyment	7.4/10
Final Verdict	7.5/10

You can find my reviews for Sticky Trigger Entertainment here