Sapphire

Sapphire is the cross-dressing heroine of the great classic of Shojo Manga (Manga for girls) "Princess Knight". Her character represents a fusion of all the influences of Tezuka Osamu's childhood in Takarazuka; only he could have created a character like Sapphire. She later blossomed into a mother in the sequel, "Twin Knight". After her appearances in this representative Manga series, Sapphire was solely assigned feminine roles. What's more, whenever she made a guest appearance in the "Black Jack" series, she habitually symbolized "the sorrows of women". She portrayed a teacher who burned to death whilst protecting one of her students, and although on one occasion she used her beauty as a weapon to make a rapid ascent into fashionable society, she was tossed by the hands of fate, falling onto hard times to become something like a vagrant. Tezuka Osamu though did not see her as a female swordsman with the heart of a man, but was intent upon the "woman" at the heart of Sapphire.