The Pirate and the Princess or in Japan, Shoujo Kaizoku Yuri, is a Japanese illustrated novel series by Mio Chizuru and Ayako Nagamori. In the early 2000s, manga and anime slowly gained traction in the United States and Canada. Not all manga were in the comic style we know today for their cinematic panels. Some were in novel format with illustrations for certain scenes.
When I read the first novel, The Timelight Stone, I was fond of its beautiful ’90s artwork and its captivating story of a pirate girl from the future and a princess of a fallen kingdom. Sadly, the novel series has been lost in time.
The Pirate and The Princess: Yuri and Noelle
In the official Japanese translation, Shoujo Kaizoku Yuri is Pirate Girl Yuri in English. Its official title changed in English thanks to its Canadian publisher, Seven Seas Entertainment, and English book adaptor, Tracey West. She named it after the two main characters, Captain Yuri of the Eurastia, and fallen kingdom princess, Noelle.
Pirate Captain Yuri (Left)
Yuri can be described as an isekai, a story where a protagonist lives in a different time period and dimensions or as a different person. Noelle tells her pirate apprentice, Lenny, in Chapter 3, The Eurastia, about the stories of Yuri she heard from her nurse in Ladonia:
“Once she told me how the Eurastia plunged into the middle of a storm to save a wrecked ship. […] the captain summoned a hurricane to save the Odenian army.
She said that everyone on the Eurastia is incredibly brave, and that the ship’s captain has been alive for 300 years.”
For a powerful girl who appears to be 16 years old, she hasn’t aged a day. This is because Yuri possesses a pendant that carries the Timelight Stone, which is what the first book is about. The Timelight Stone allows the user to stop time and sense danger from afar. In Chapter 10, her enemy, Black Cloak, reveals that Yuri is from the distant future and is responsible for making them with her father.
As Captain of the Eurastia, she is self-sufficient and skilled with her trusty cutlass. At the beginning of the book, the reader can find a diagram of her ship. Its massive barge can carry a large crew, and supplies rarely need to be restocked. The longest crew mate she has aboard is Goa, a robot servant who appears human with an artificial brain and is immune to bullets.
Princess Noelia of Ladonia (Right)
11-year-old Noelia, or Noelle, was once a princess of Ladonia Island until the Odenian Army overtook their kingdom. One night, Noelle heard her parents arguing over their servants’ loyalty in Chapter 4:
“Someone will betray us,” Noelle’s mother warned. “The ring has foretold it.”
“The servants have been loyal to our families for years,” Noelle’s father assured her. “How could they betray us? I believe in them more than I believe this ring.”
Big mistake from Noelle’s father for not believing in the Zaria Stone on the queen’s ring. It’s the reason why the Ladonian Kingdom was kept safe thanks to its foresight. Soon, the entrusted swordsman, Griffith betrayed them by giving away the location of their naval boat to the opposing kingdom, Odenia.
Noelle’s mother gave the Zaria Stone to Noelle and then instructed her to flee with her younger brother Johann. Later, she gets captured by Pipps’ men in Cretas, forcing her into enslaved labor. The book doesn’t say for how long, I can assume for over a week from Chapter 1 where it states:
“She had encountered a lot worse than rats in the last week of her life.
The captives moved in silent confusion, walking up the ladder to the ship’s weather deck. The chilly night air shocked Noelle for a second but she gulped it in gracefully. It was the freshest air she had breathed for days.”
Pipps learns about Noelle’s identity as the Ladonian princess when her ragged pocket drops the Zaria Stone ring to the ground. He grows excited as Odenia’s king, Roden puts up a search bounty to find Princess Noelia for the ring alone. Soon, Yuri and her crew came to rescue the captives thanks to hearing Noelle’s voice from her Timelight Stone in the Prologue.
When she was brought aboard the Erastia in Chapter 3, Noelle was given fresh new clothes and hospitality by Lenny and Goa bringing a piping hot meal. Lenny was afraid she would be a spoiled princess until she mentioned she was trained to fight with a sword thanks to the kingdom’s traitor Griffith.
Relieved, Lenny showed Noelle around the ship and introduced her to the mute flute player, Zanan. Then the scene shifts into Chapter 4, where Noelle’s bottled emotions burst out after listening to Zanan’s melody reminding her of a time of peace in Ladonia before the Odenian Army attacked. Yuri comes to comfort her, reassuring Noelle:
“You should never feel ashamed to cry on this ship. All of us have nowhere on land to go, no place to call home. Everyone on board has shed many tears. Sometimes, crying is the best medicine for the heart.”
Stones of Time and Space
In this story, the ability to manipulate time and foresight is seen as a superpower. The existence of the Timelight Stone is shown to give Yuri her eternal youth. The Zaria Stone predicted and protected the Ladonia Kingdom for many years until Noelle’s father did not entrust its instincts of Griffith’s betrayal.
The Timelight Stone created a well-done scenario showing the reader why these stones shouldn’t be in the wrong hands and how they are related to each other in the midst of chaos.
The Timelight Stones
In Chapter 10, at Pirate’s Wharf, Black Cloak tells Noelle that Yuri is not the only one with a Timelight Stone. Black Cloak was a lab assistant along with Yuri’s father and they worked together to create three of them in blue (Yuri), green (Black Cloak), and red (Destroyed).
Yuri’s Blue Stone hears Noelle’s voice and provides an image of Pipps’ captive ship out at sea in the Prologue. However, hers cannot show who is speaking, only an estimated location. She relies on Goa to assist in navigating the sea by describing where the foreseen danger will appear.
Black Cloak’s Green Stone, on the other hand, provides accurate predictions of future events as mentioned in Chapter 5:
“Do you doubt me, king?” Black Cloak replied. “Didn’t I predict that the child with the ring would be on Pipps’ ship? Didn’t I know that the Eurastia would rescue her?”
This makes the reader wonder why Yuri, Yuri’s father, and Black Cloak created the Timelight Stones in the first place. They created it out of the Zaria Stone.
The Zaria Stone
In Chapter 1, Pipps tells his knowledge of the Zaria Stone to Noelle:
“According to the legend, a red stone fell from the sky and landed in Ladonia. They say the stone possesses the light of a star. When you expose it to the moonlight, this miraculous stone can see into the future!”
Its foresight is the reason why King Roden declared war on Ladonia. It ended up in the hands of Yuri a thousand years later. Yuri explained to Noelle about the Timelight Stones’ origin in Chapter 13 A New Journey:
“[…] I unleashed the power of the Zaria Stone. I was able to extract the particles of light within the stone that are able to control time. I crystallized them to create three Timelight Stones. I was able to use them to warp space and time.”
This explains why Black Cloak’s and Yuri’s Timelight Stones differ in seeing future events. However, combining the Zaria and Timelight Stones has caused a massive disaster and can harm anything in the user’s way.
Ripping Through Time and Space (Literally!)
Yuri shares how she and Goa ended up in Noelle’s era after explaining the Timelight Stones’ origin in Chapter 13 A New Journey. Yuri believed the Timelight Stones could be used for good but she and her father grew obsessed with their power of manipulating time.
Black Cloak gives details about the future disaster in Chapter 10:
“The energy of the stones is difficult to control. There was a great explosion-an explosion that destroyed half of the world. Yuri was one of the lucky ones. A layer of time cracked open, and she and Goa were sucked through it and brought here, a thousand years in the past.”
He then chastised Yuri in front of Noelle:
“Little girl, this is the truth about the pirate captain you love so much. […] You can turn yourself into a crime fighter […] But you can never undo what you did.”
Yuri confirmed that half of the Earth died because she and her father had a conflict over the Timelight Stones. She also entered Noelle’s era when she touched the Blue Stone. When these stones interact, the user or users can absorb time energy and shoot beams of light as long as there is moonlight.
When Black Cloak tricked Noelle into giving the Zaria Stone ring in exchange for her parents in Chapter 10, the scene transitions into Chapter 12. He raises his hand to the sky to harness lunar energy and tries to shoot a beam of light at the Ladonian princess. Thanks to Yuri’s reaction, she tackled Noelle to the ground for the beam to strike a tree.
What was once a heroic feat later changed into witnessing the horror of the Zaria and Timelight Stones:
“The lightning passed just over the top of Nolle’s headband hit the tree behind her. Noelle heard a strange groaning sound and looked back. The tree was aging before their eyes.
Within seconds, all of the leaves fell off, and the trunk split into two. The wood inside was dry and decayed.”
When I first read this scene, I was mind-blown by the sheer power of these stones. Then my jaw dropped when Yuri went into the fray to protect Noelle with her Timelight Stone against Black Cloak. The page turn for the climax is stunning to see this scene drawn on two pages by Ayako Nagamori.
But like any power fiction, there is also a limit to either breaking it or a cost to using it.
The Cost of Wielding Time
As Yuri protected Noelle, the Ladonian princess felt the pirate’s blood spilling on her shirt. Before Yuri’s face-off with Black Cloak at Pirate’s Wharf, Chapters 6-8 allow the reader to hear Noelle’s thoughts on the Zaria Stone, learn about Yuri’s visit, and the oldest member of Yuri’s pirate crew.
In Chapter 6, the Eurastia stopped at the harbor of Pirate’s Wharf to restock on supplies. Yuri ordered Noelle to stay on the ship until she could find a new home to adopt her. On the ship deck, Noelle wonders why Yuri won’t let her join her crew.
She soon relaxes as Zanan plays his flute. Her calm demeanor didn’t last as she stared into the Zaria Stone ring. Noelle begins to believe it’s a bad luck charm as she lost her parents, Ladonia, and her brother, Johann, is nowhere to be found.
Suddenly the Zaria Stone gives her a vision of Yuri lying on the ground. At the same time, Zanan gives an urgent squeal through his flute. He then takes Noelle to the mysterious prophet named Karazan in Chapter 7.
This 101-year-old pirate carries the power to foresee the future by touching someone’s face. Like Zanan, he has a disability. Karazan is blind so he rings a small bell if someone enters his room. Due to his old age, Karazan uses a wheelchair to stay mobile in his cabin.
Noelle shook when he touched her face and called her by her princess’ name. He tells her about the far future she will have:
“[…] an age of peace will come. A new future, but with this peace will come the loss of a friend.”
Noelle’s body grew exhausted once Karazan’s hands pulled away. Here, the reader is hinted about the cost of using time. Karazan took the memories of Noelle as energy to predict her distant future. In return, it drains Noelle’s physical being.
After reading Noelle, Karazan reminded himself why he rang the bell. The translation didn’t mention Karazan rang the Time Bell, located on top of the Eurastia to signal Yuri or any crewmate nearby that he has a premonition of an upcoming fate that must be avoided. I’m not sure how Zanan managed to hear the Time Bell and not Noelle.
Unfortunately, Karazan cannot warn Yuri about Black Cloak coming to her at Mousehole Road at Majobaba’s house. He does mention something interesting about Yuri’s body from his vision:
“Yuri’s injury makes it impossible for her to see it herself. But I have seen it. Yuri will perish!”
When Noelle arrives at Mousehole Road in Chapter 8, she watches through Majobaba’s window, seeing the healer creating medicine for the pirate girl. Once Majobaba removes her coat, Noelle sees a gaping wound slashed across Yuri’s back.
Majobaba warns Yuri about using her Timelight Stone excessively as she applies the medicine:
“It is against nature to stop time, Yuri. Your wound grows deeper every day. […] if you keep using the stone like this, the wound will eventually destroy your body.”
She uses its power to keep herself alive for three centuries searching for a way to destroy the Zaria Stone to prevent this event from happening. In doing so, Yuri became a pirate so kingdoms like Odenia couldn’t abuse her power.
She saved people from ocean disasters and slavery and developed kindness and courage. Ten orphans in Majobaba’s home see Yuri as their big sister or mother. Here are a few she interacts with in the chapter:
“Hey, I can read stars now!” “I’m not surprised. You’re a smart little boy, Luda.”
“See the clothes on this doll? I made them!” “Wonderful, Rena! You will make a great seamstress one day.”
“Yuri, I’m going to be an apprentice at a glassblower’s shop on Belze Island.” “That’s terrific, Sedi!”
As Yuri asked Majobaba to adopt Noelle, the Ladonian princess spotted Black Cloak from Karazan’s premonition. She learns what the old prophet said is true: the wound is preventing her Timelight Stone from detecting him.
Now Noelle wants Yuri to stop using the Timelight Stone during their showdown. The pirate refuses and orders Noelle to run. The princess also refuses to leave her side, only to see Yuri on the ground seconds later. Black Cloak grew mad with the Zaria Stone and his Timelight Stone in his hands until he was shot.
The gunfire came from Majobaba’s pistol and behind her was a band of pirates, ready to face Black Cloak’s men. She says this to the madman:
“There is one rule in Pirate’s Wharf. No fighting. Got that?”
Black Cloak’s Timelight Stone is cracked with little energy left inside. He soon realized he dropped the Zaria Ring once he saw it in Majobaba’s hand. Not taking the healer’s warning, Black Cloak’s men were easily outnumbered, forcing him to escape and fight Yuri another day.
Noelle and Majobaba immediately treat Yuri’s wound in Chapter 12. When Majobaba takes her Timelight Stone out of her hand, she tells Noelle what she knows and understands about Yuri:
“Yuri’s eternal youth, her strange power, and her pain are all from this stone. […] I don’t care where Yuri came from, and I don’t care to know. What’s important is what she’s doing now.”
What The Timelight Stone Teaches Readers
The Timelight Stone novel portrays how Yuri and Noelle went through hardships in their past and present. Both pirate and princess learned in their own experiences how the power of time can lead to trust issues with others.
The Ladonia Kingdom didn’t fall because of the Zaria Stone. It was Noelle’s father who didn’t trust the vision it saw. It was too late for him to realize her mother was right to believe the Zaria Stone’s warning as Griffith secretly gave his loyalty to Odenia.
Noelle made a similar mistake to her father when she trusted Black Cloak for information on her parents’ location in exchange for the Zaria Stone ring. It backfired seconds later as she almost became a feeble woman.
For Yuri, the discovery of time particles from the Zaria Stone led to an obsession with their power. She and her father created the three Timelight Stones arguing if they should be used at all, only for Black Cloak to interfere and intend to use them for world domination. It led to a mass genocide once the stones came in contact during a night under the moon.
Yuri spent 300 years with Goa in the past to search for the Zaria Stone as pirates. She gained centuries of experience by navigating the Lidenian Sea, including spreading her goodwill that even Noelle’s nurse told stories about.
However, when she rescued Noelle, she recognized the stone and thought it’d be best to let her live on a peaceful island so the Timelight Stone would not interact with it. That idea was tossed aside now that Black Cloak knows the owner of the Zaria Stone ring.
In Chapter 13, Yuri and Noelle apologize to one another and share their worries for the future. Considering Noelle’s determination and efforts to protect her pirate, Yuri has made the Ladonian Princess a new crewmate.
A Series Lost in Time and Translation
As incredible as the story and illustrations are, I’m distraught that this series will never finish in the United States and Canada. Up to this day, only three books in The Pirate and the Princess series have been localized. The Timelight Stone had two sequels following behind, The Red Crystal and The Sea Dragon’s Tears.
I’m glad I managed to snag this rare find during my elementary school’s 2008 Scholastic Book Fair. Today, The Pirate and the Princess book series are no longer in print.
Under its original Japanese title, Shoujo Kaizoku Yuri finished its series with 10 novels. However, it’s unlikely to grab an entire collection because they are no longer available.
If Seven Seas Entertainment and the books’ official translation company, Doshinsha released this story under its original name, it would have kept Yuri’s and Noelle’s story relevant as a wonderful isekai. Instead, its adaptor Tracey West changed it to a title that sounds similar to the 1944 MGM film, The Princess and the Pirate.
The Timelight Stone could have been amazing in animation with Ayako Nagamori’s illustrations. It’s a shame that Mio Chizuru’s story didn’t pitch Shoujo Kaizoku Yuri to become an anime. I would have loved to see it, and funny enough, I read this book the same year I watched Takashi Nakamura’s Fantastic Children.
Exploring these little-known series in-depth made my adult heart flutter when I relived them again. And I’m just as proud to be one of the lucky people who remember them by memory. And I can’t wait to show more.
About Total Apex
Total Apex is an all-around media informer passionate about entertainment, gaming, sports, and anything your curiosity wants to seek. Follow our Sports, Entertainment, Gaming, Betting, and Fantasy Sports homepage for more articles. Find our socials in the top right corner for the latest updates.
