It’s time for the adventures of the Twin Knights! This one is sort of trying to tell a next generation story while keeping a lot of the fundamentals for original saga. You’ll definitely be able to see the similarities but the story is still different enough where it won’t be mistaken as a remake or anything like that. Unfortunately the old main characters are no longer able to contribute much, old age has really knocked them out of practice.
The series starts by explaining that Sapphire and Franz had two kids after becoming the king and queen of the land. These kids are Prince Daisy and Princess Violetta. Yeah if I was Daisy I’d probably want a do over on the name. Unfortunately the kingdom has very restrictive rules about how only a boy can grow up to be the ruler. Sapphire has aimed to change these rules for a very long time but I guess ruling the country isn’t good enough to pull that off. Unfortunately the Prince is kidnapped shortly afterwards by a group who wanted to keep the status quo in check so now Violetta must assume both roles. Can she pull that off?
I’d say the biggest problem with the premise right away is the fact that Sapphire and Franz should have absolutely had enough power to stop these old traditions by now. It feels like the evil kings and queens in these stories are always able to do whatever they want and then the heroic ones just don’t try hard enough. Not a very good look for them. Sapphire and Franz spend the rest of the story being blackmailed and poisoned so that’s how they are written out.
You’d think that the blackmail would not be effective anymore once you’re literally being murdered. At that point you just have to let the blackmail get exposed and play your cards as well as possible. There isn’t really any kind of upside to just listening to the blackmail at that point. Both of these characters were fighters in the original series as well so that would have been useful here.
While it may sound like this series will be divided 50/50 between the two main characters, Daisy’s screen time is far less than Violetta’s. He vanished for pretty much all of the middle act of the story and Violetta really has to carry the adventure. Daisy’s a solid enough character though. He ends up being a bit annoying as the kid for most of this like when he keeps disobeying his mother to go out into the forest and hunt deer. Of course he didn’t realize that his adopted mother was a deer but either way he shouldn’t have been out hunting. Not a smart move on his part.
As he grew up, Daisy gradually got to be a bit better but it was hard to get past that first impression. He does help with the fighting though so I’ll give him that. As for Violetta, well she had to grow up with a whole lot of pressure on herself. Trying to live two different lives is really difficult and you can’t let the mask fall at any moment. She’s not exactly prepared for any of these situations but ends up taking them pretty well in stride.
Then we have the best character in the series, Emerald. She takes Violetta in when the heroine is in a tough spot and sticks with her through to the rest of the adventure. She is a good fighter and is quick on her feet. Emerald never bows to any customs or norms and just keeps on going strong. I’m glad she got to have one of the happier endings in the series as Emerald will continue to live life on her own terms. That’s the best way to go and it also made a huge difference for Violetta being able to have at least one friend during the journey.
The artwork is definitely very retro. It’s like reading an old comic both with the paneling as well as the general art. It’s naturally not going to be able to match up to the more modern titles but still looks good and makes for an easy read. You’ll be blasting through the story at top speeds and there are no moments that hold it back a whole lot. What you have here is a consistently solid story all the way through. It should be memorable enough but I think that is in part due to the fact that I have not read through too many of the really old manga. It might lose some uniqueness by the time I’ve gotten through more of them.
While the series is definitely lighthearted with a fun tone, you may be surprised at the death count here. At one point a few of the chefs decide not to help in poisoning the king/queen and so they all get executed. Daisy’s adopted mother also ends up dying due to a deal she made where she could be a human during the night as long as the prince didn’t find out. Once he did end up finding out, then the curse activated so she ended up dying. It’s one of those things that can just take you a bit by surprise because usually things would end up a bit happier.
The supporting characters definitely tend to be really passive though. It’s still hard to believe that the king and queen just watched their kingdom get taken over and slowly grilled into the ground. There were so many things they could have done instead of letting this all just go crazy. The kingdom needed to fight and you’d think that there would be more loyal retainers at the ready. In a way I guess you could make the case that the king and queen actually didn’t do a good job of ruling and that’s why things got so bad. If two random people can go rogue and take over the kingdom then that’s definitely a problem.
Overall, I’d say this was a fun title. It definitely moves really fast and always has a bit of a frantic atmosphere going on. It may not end up being an all time classic but as long as you’re looking for a retro adventure with royalty then this is a good title to read through. In a sense it’s not like there’s a whole lot going on despite the frantic pacing as it plays out more like a serial but that also means there will never be a moment of boredom. You’ll definitely be judging the prior main character pretty harshly though and that’s fair. It would have been nice to have seen her get into the action even if this isn’t really that kind of series.
Overall 6/10
