I am forever indebted to Netflix to expanding my anime movie resume outside of Studio Ghibli. Heck, I wrote a whole giant post about the great films I found on there…and I hope remain there for others to learn and enjoy! I couldn’t be more happy they’re releasing anime originals as well. The Ribbon Hero isn’t my favorite anime original from the streamer, but it’s a helluva lot of fun, and takes a route I hope they have proven to love already: modernizing an older Japanese manga/folklore tale.
The Ribbon Hero, Sapphire (Saya) opens with her as anything but…mangled arm, dragged away from her home Silverland by her older granny companion Zirco (Mayumi Shintani) as her mother tells her to give in and give up to the soul eating Nergals and their Ash King. Sapphire spirals from this, as she and Zirco migrate to Goldland. Granny Z, tech whiz, gives our ribbon haired her…oine a new metal arm, building her from the ground up. After the sweet, scared Pine (Seiran Kobayashi) takes pity on the duo and feeds them, Sapphire feels ready to get work in the mines under management by a Pope (Haruhiko Jō) and the brooding Velvet (Koki Uchiyama). Eventually, soul suckers need to find more souls to feed on.
The Ribbon Hero gives us the whole gamut of the gateway anime experience. 9 to 10 years old feels right for this one. In battle, this movie is electrifying. Yuuki Igarashi makes sure Sapphire’s confrontations with the giant Nergals fit the scope of the story he’s trying to tell. There’s killer transformation sequences and cool running, in addition to swordplay that will blow a young kid’s mind. But not all of us can be Sapphire, and thankfully, the Ribbon Hero’s friends are compelling enough to spend time with them, and most importantly leave you wanting more. Pine is the audience stand in: the quiet scared one trying to rise to the occasion; Zirco’s ingenuity deserves its own side tale about young Z; Velvet is the androgynously beautiful eventual love interest that’s emotionally raw for the female audience to fall in love with. But my faves were Sapphire’s mining partners Hecate (Mito Tsukino), who heat checks every scene she’s in, and Chorogy (Yūsuke Tezuka) who gets arguably the sneaky best arc in the movie. Last positive adaptation choice was how Igarashi chose to modernize the story, using themes of immigration, religion, and capitalist structure to give just an entertaining popcorn fare a bit of a kick that a kid will understand.
But there are downsides to adapting specifically this manga. The Ribbon Hero is based on Princess Knight, pioneering and beloved in the 1950s for what it was about. Turns out Yuuki modernized an already modern, more interesting personal story, transforming it into something else that will leave a sour taste in your mouth if you know what it is (read the OG Princess Knight if you’re interested). That choice is the domino that almost makes The Ribbon Hero fall apart. By transforming to a tale aimed at younger kids, the movie turns the dialogue blunt and direct, flirting way too often with “I have to say this to keep the plot moving” or “I’m saying the theme directly to make my point clear” quotes that untether the characters from being real people. The third act is also going to be hard to read for newbies and aloof streamers, because of how effusive and internal the battle becomes. The conflict jumps back and forth in time so much that the dialogue gets extra dumb to hand hold us to the finish line.
But weighed together, I had way more fun than I didn’t. The movie was a bubbly diversion and nice summer palate cleanser before heavier material comes out in the fall. Parents, you can use The Ribbon Hero and maybe Kiki’s Delivery Service as a movie test for your kid. If Kiki wins, you have Miyazaki at your fingertips! If The Ribbon Hero does, get ready for some Sailor Moon cosplay in your future. Either way, a convention is coming, and coming fast for you.