Versailles no Bara

Since when did history become interesting? Lady Oscar (The Rose of Versailles) may seem like it came from the French Revolution judging by the animation style, but the storyline is extremely well written. There is an excellent cast of characters each with their own personality. Lady Oscar is a classic and should be viewed by every anime fan, especially those who are into shojo.It's similar to the Hollywood movie, "Marie-Antoinette," however, it shows the events going on inside and outside of Versailles with a plot that is more enjoyable. (It isn't an anime showing the day and the life of Marie-Antoinette partying. Also, her personality ... is kinder in Lady Oscar.)

The characterisation is perfect with a strong female lead. Though Marie-Antoinette's character is childish, she isn't a cookie-cutter cliché. Each personality is different and doesn't fall into the anime stereotypes. With experiences, characters grow and develop; it isn't hard to grasp the cast's characters. Lady Oscar is a strong female raised a man, but she has femininity in her: she's a balance in character.

The sound and animation is from the 1970s so those who aren't into the retro look may not like the series. However, the storyline is main aspect for the show. The costumes with their many frills are pleasant to the eye, while the character design is between realistic and exaggerated. (But, more on the realistic side. In other words: shojo.) Cosplaying as a Lady Oscar characters isn't something one should be surprise since the clothing is from the 18th century. The sound quality isn't great because of the time period, but the sound effects aren't terrible. The background music uses strings, but there isn't a lot.

The storyline describes the French Revolution far more interesting than a history teacher. It's accurate in events, but has some original characters to add to the plot. It's almost as if one is living the events at the start of the French Revolution, pre The Reign of Terror. There are suspenseful episodes with a plot that keeps the viewer on their toes. The story procresses with time adding detail, and though it is a drama, the pacing is perfect. There is some added romance with many possible couples, but in the end the romantic troubles are fixed. (Most viewers will be pleased)

Those who are into classic shojo would love this anime. Some younger viewers may find this anime a little boring, but for those who are in love with historical fiction must watch this anime. It was released in most languages besides English, which is why it's obscure. Must be on every anime fans 'to watch' or 'to buy' list.

[This review is spoiler free]

The first thing that you naturally notice when you start watching Rose Of Versailles, are the marvellous character designs done by Shingo Araki, the man did a lot of character designs on the seventies for some famous titles but here he was in his best shape and developed his trademark style, which he later also used on Saint Seiya for instance.
Not only the character designs but the style and the peculiar 70s filled directing approach are very appealing and are added with a consistent and clever animation for ’79, and dare I say that some scenes are so well animated with ... the character movements that they even defy the commodity of modern animation from these days. Some examples being shown when there is a dance scene and in some crowd scenes where most of the individuals (if not all) of the crowd make independent moves of their own.


Unfortunately Nagahama Tadao died early on in the making of the series and with him died some of the “acid” aesthetics the series had in the first few episodes, because the acclaimed 70’s director Osamu Dezaki which came as substitute didn’t pick those more “acid” scenes but that is not to say that the series lacked quality from there on from there, au contraire, Dezaki, one of the men who define quality anime in the 70’s also fulfilled his duty with excellence and ended the decade in the highest note. I especially love how the shots of the camera are taken from various angles throughout the series. And a very special Dezaki watermark, the dramatic stills at the end of a scene. O

If you’re a History Buff the story couldn’t have been better, for it’s almost entirely consisted of actual historical facts and intrigues that actually happened just before and which led to the French Revolution of 1989 covering a span of 20 years.


The story starts using the shoujo formula of “newcomer female arrives and gets picked by older already established female at the place”, but it soon drops those shoujo anime standards, not only because of the historical facts from which the story cleverly was based from but also by the clever excellent use of real character mixed with just the introduction of two fictional characters to drive us through the developments, the director does a brilliant job there.
The script had a good use on the critic of the society of the 17th century, especially the aristocracy corruption problem. If you have watched Legend of Galactic Heroes before, you’ll definitely recognise a familiar critic Perhaps dare I say, that LOGH, author or director got direct inspiration from ROV.


The music is perfect for the anime, it was very competent as it was usual of high quality anime of the era, or just overall soundtracks of the 70’s, which are just some of the best music you’ll find in my opinion. I’m hearing the OST as I write and it does have very powerful songs, jus check Magical Rose on the tube, you’ll get hooked!

I am still impressed at the quality of this anime, [EDIT]years after[/ EDIT], and the only thought around in my head these days is to rewatch it again.


“Classic” can fit several works, with “cult” the range is shortened but “Masterpiece” only fit a very few works and Rose Of Versailles is exactly that.
No wonder it is still big back in Nippon, there are things that are just immortal.

10/10

After putting this off for eons, I've finally decided to review Rose of Versailles. This is an anime that almost everyone has heard of, but fewer people have actually seen. In terms of popularity, Rose of Versailles isn't ranked in the top 1,800. I've yet to convince any of my offline buddies to check this one out because when you recommend this anime to people you're usually met with stuff like "It's so OLD though!" Or sometimes you might hear "Isn't that one of those elitist series? Doesn't that mean it's going to be super boring and pretentious?" These attitudes are unfortunate because I think ... almost everyone would get something out of this series! Rose of Versailles was made for young girls, but I'm a 32 year old man and I loved it!

Do you like historical fiction with tons of action? Rose of Versailles has you covered. Do you like well written romance that actually goes somewhere and is really fulfilling and wholesome? Rose of Versailles is there for you. Do you like intensely psychological character studies? Watch this anime!

Pros of Versailles:

1. The direction is really good throughout. Almost every episode has a flow that keeps you hooked and then ends with a cliff hanger, begging you to watch just one more. It's very dramatic like most other 70s anime, but it's done in a way so that all the big moments hit their mark. The sweet moments are absolutely heart warming while the tragic moments are devastating! All the previous reviews of this series have credited Osamu Dezaki for its masterful direction, but it turns out he only directed the 2nd half. The first half of the series was actually directed by the somewhat lesser known Tadao Nagahama. For those of you who don't spend time on 4chan's mecha board, Nagahama was an extremely influential director of giant robot anime during the 1970s. He directed a trilogy that included Brave Robot Raideen, Combattler, and Voltes V. Rose of Versailles was one of the final anime he directed before his tragic and premature death due to hepatitis at the age of 48. I'm mentioning all of this because Nagahama deserves credit for Versailles and to this point he really hasn't gotten his due.

2. Almost all the characters are well developed and outstanding. The star of the show is of course Oscar François de Jarjeyes, the Rose of Versailles herself! Oscar is the only member of the nobility in this series who actually deserves the title of "noble". She is caring, courageous, selfless, and a beautifully idealistic patriot. She is everything that young girls could ever aspire to be, but she's also a deeply conflicted character. Oscar was born to an extremely zealous French general who was obsessed with having a son to carry on the family line. He is portrayed like a samurai in that serving his lord and master the king is the only purpose of his existence. He wishes for his family to serve the king for all eternity. Even if the king is bad and even if the common people are starving, this man would never even consider the option of disobeying a single order of the royalty. Oscar was born a girl, but was raised as a male. She devoted herself entirely to becoming the best fencer and marksman in all of France. In the first part of the series, Oscar desperately tries to repress her sexuality and tries to be the person her father wishes her to be. It is only gradually over the course of 40 episodes that Oscar begins to question society, her place in life, her sexual identity, and who she really wants to be. This brings her into direct conflict with her father, her friend Marie Antoinette, and creates a beautiful and fulfilling character arc.

3. The romance is spectacular! For most of the series, Oscar is sought after by her childhood friend and servant Andre, who comes from the lower class. Even though Oscar is a kind and considerate person, she is blind to his love in part because such a forbidden romance across social classes would be unthinkable. The fact that France's 1700s caste system forbids Andre from being with his love adds to the theme of class struggle that's central to this series. Oscar also thinks she has feelings for a dashing Swedish count, but he only has eyes for the Queen of France. Oscar works hard to deny herself any romance, because her sexuality runs contrary to the gender identity she was forced to adopt. Oscar is heterosexual and likes men, but she was raised by her father to identify as male and truly sees herself as male for most of the series. In her mind, she can't be with a man because it's illegal and shameful for men to sleep with men. It's not that Oscar is judgmental and homophobic. If Oscar encountered a man who slept with other men, she wouldn't care. It's just that she's a knight who chooses to live by an extremely strict code of chivalry and holds herself to unreasonable standards. Oh and BTW, this was the first anime to ever have a romantic sex scene and air on Japanese television! This was aimed at 12 year old girls in 1979 and it has a sex scene! The Simpsons was super controversial for portraying a cartoon couple having sex in the early 90s and that series was for adults! If an American cartoon aimed at children did that in 1979, the director and animators would be lynched in the streets!

4. The historical fiction. The mangaka read several books on the French revolution when writing this and it shows. Many of the events leading up to the revolution including the affair of the diamond necklace, the tennis court oath, the death of the crown prince, are all portrayed fairly accurately. This series actually gets it right that Marie Antoinette never said "Let them eat cake". That was actually just propaganda by the Jacobin rebels. The original quote was attributed by Rousseau to a Spanish princess over 100 years earlier. Another thing this series gets right was portraying the dire economic conditions that led to the revolution. France was absolutely obsessed with being the dominant power in Europe. At the same time, France never had the political reforms and compromises that many of its rivals did. England limited the power of its king with the Magna Carta way back in the year 1215. In fact, England has been a constitutional monarchy since 1688 with the king serving as a mere figurehead since that time. In the 1790s, France along with Russia was one of the remaining absolute monarchies embodied by Louis the 14th's quote "I AM THE STATE". The French people were expected to suffer grinding poverty, unpopular wars, and having no freedoms because the king was chosen by God. Despite the fact that nearly all of France's most popular and widely read scholars had been saying the divine right of kings was bullshit for the previous century. So by the late 1700s, nobody in France actually still believed that the king was chosen by God and had the divine right to do whatever he wanted, besides some of the nobles.

France spend an ungodly amount of money on the military, accumulated a massive debt, and tried to pay it off by taxing the shit out of the peasants. The rich had gold, but the French farmers had money that wasn't worth anything due to inflation. The stores were ironically filled with food, but the French people couldn't afford it and over 30 percent of France was starving to death. All while the richest 3 percent lived in palaces, wore powdered wigs worth more than a farmer's house, and kept up a level of decadence that reached absurd levels.

Rose of Versailles captures this brutal time and class struggle with a keen eye. While the mangaka is quite left leaning (she's a member of the Japanese Communist Party), the anime also remembers to criticize the other side as well. The Jacobins including Robespierre and Saint Just are portrayed extremely negatively and the series is very clear in condemning the Reign of Terror. With her empathetic heart, Oscar is devastated by plight of the French people while most of the nobles and royalty around her don't give a shit. Her own father laughs at her concerns that their local servants in the next village over can't afford a doctor and just told their son he has to die for the sake of the family. Oscar's dad just says, "If they weren't meant to be poor they wouldn't have been born peasants!"

5. The revolution! This series may have been aimed at a young audience, but they really didn't hold back. It tackles dark and uncomfortable themes that you would only expect to see in adult media. It portrays murder, rape, pedophilia, starvation, and some pretty damn dark stuff for a kid's show! It also challenges traditional gender roles and had clear lesbian undertones with a character named Rosalie who had a massive crush on Oscar. This was all in 1979 and in a country that in many ways is even more culturally conservative than the United States. Did Japanese TV censors even watch this shit?! I think they may have just taken a nap and assumed "It's a little girl show, we don't need to watch it!" Rose of Versailles would be too controversial to come out in America in 2021 aimed at a 10-12 audience. The fact this came out in the 1970s just blows my fucking mind!


So every single review of this anime is either a 9 or a 10. The contrarians must be starving for some stupid asshole to try make fun of one of the best anime of all time. Don't worry people! That's why I'm here!

Cons:

1. The first arc of the anime is kind of weak. The primary antagonist during the first 10 episodes is the Duke of Orleans, who is this Saturday morning cartoon villain who tries some bullshit scheme to assassinate the king and queen in every episode, only to be miraculously foiled by Oscar. This dude is Dick Dastardly's French cousin. The only thing he needs is a little dog sidekick that snickers at his failures in every episode!

2. This series is so French that even its flaws are French! The mangaka loves the French novelist Victor Hugo and I was immediately able to tell that because this series takes his trademark style of melodrama and deus ex machina bullshit. At one point Oscar encounters an evil French count who murders a homeless child for trying to pickpocket him for a couple coins. He then laughs like a Disney villain before getting into his carriage and driving away. Oscar challenges him to a duel, but he and his friend the previously mentioned Count Dastardly, concoct this bullshit plan where the duel will take place at an incredibly specific time and location that will ensure his victory. When Oscar turns around at precisely 8 AM, the sun will reflect off a window and go directly into her eyes. Oscar defeats their plan by deflecting his bullet out of midair using the grip of her pistol, then shooting him through the hand. She did all of this while blinded. Another time, Oscar survives an assassination plot where 4 assholes pull her carriage over and challenge her to a 4 on 1 duel, which she accepts. One of them manages to stab her through the lower back and is about to finish her off, but at that VERY instant the Swedish count just happened to drive by and the villains run off without finishing off Oscar for no reason. Oh and BTW, the Swedish count had been banished 2 years ago and had just snuck back into the country, just to make it even less believable.

3. Saint Just. This fucking dude. Remember when I said most of the characters were well developed and most of the historical figures were realistic? Well none of that applies to this man! In real life, Robespierre's most famous henchmen was a scrawny lawyer's apprentice who never personally killed anyone. In this anime, he caught up to a speeding carriage on foot, leapt on to the roof, and impaled a noble through the head by plunging his sword through the carriage. This dude is basically French Sephiroth for no reason! Almost every scene he's in is fucking ridiculous and detrimental to the overall series. At one point, he leads an elite death squad of aristocrat hunters equipped with crossbows that fire explosive bolts! Just one of these bolts is able to absolutely vaporize a carriage on impact with the maybe 50 grams of explosive packed into the arrow head. I gave this series the benefit of the doubt and looked up if any explosive arrow weapon was used during this time period. The answer is a resounding no. Then I looked up if any chemical compound known to Mankind could virtually atomize a carriage with just 50 grams of the stuff. You as the viewer are left with 3 choices. 1. The scene didn't happen and was all a fever dream by Oscar. 2. Saint Just was using bolts packed with Pentaerythritol tetranitrate, which means he's a time traveler. 3. Saint Just really is French Sephiroth and can use dark magic. In this esteemed and elite anime, we're left with a scene SO stupid that the only real option is to pretend it didn't happen and say "NOPE!"

Overall, this is an absolutely incredible series that everyone should watch! Yes, I just spent a few minutes making fun of a couple scenes, but I actually can't recommend this anime highly enough. No matter your age or gender, you owe it to yourself to check out Rose of Versailles! Yes it looks kind of old, but you get used to it and it actually looks quite nice for a 1970s anime. It's certainly not boring or pretentious like my friends worried about. It's a true classic!

Wow, what a story. I can't believe I haven't watched this anime until now. No, I can't believe what I just watched. I'd always thought that the forbidden love romance between Romeo and Juliet was tragic... I'd always thought that Shingeki no Kyojin was epic. I'd always thought that stories like Clannad and AnoHana were masterpieces. But wow, Rose of Versailles puts all of these shows to shame. Who knew that an anime, which some people (idiots) call "cartoons", could portray such a realistic, romantic, tragic, and captivating historical story about the events leading up to the french revolution - 1700s. Rose of Versailles ... is truly a hidden gem that deserves more recognition. My favorite anime of all time.

The setting is in France, before and during the French Revolution. The story is about Oscar François de Jarjeyes (Lady Oscar) who is the youngest daughter of the Royal Guards Commander, General Jarjayes, is raised as a boy because General Jarjayes had desperately wanted a son that could take after him as the Royal Guards Commander. Growing up inside the lavish palace, Lady Oscar had no knowledge of the travesties and poverty of the outside world. The greed of the nobles, the evil of the soldiers, the corruption of the government, the patriarchy in society, the social hierarchy, and the hatred in the hearts of the people. All of these were factors that were developed and masterfully portrayed in the anime that eventually led to the French Revolution. The story not only focuses on the French Revolution though. Lady Oscar's decisions between her chosen life of service and duty to class and country versus her own heart and desires are all aspects of the anime that portray the harshness of reality during the 18th century.
The story honestly starts off cheesy and seemingly childish at first. But put up with maybe the first 2 - 3 episodes, and after the magical plot and character development kicks in, the story soars into the realm of perfection. The plot is lively and happy during one moment, and then turns into darkness and sorrow the next. The plot is highly enjoyable but can definitely mentally destroy you if you develop feelings/attachment to the characters (which the anime will force you to do).

This anime had my favorite characters ever in Lady Oscar and Andre Grandier. Lady Oscar is a strong and smart women, you don't see that often in literature, especially classic ones. Andre Grandier is the pure definition of an archetypal character whom fights to protect his ideals and those that he cherishes (the people of France and Lady Oscar). Their love story is more tragic than Romeo and Juliet. The hardships they have to go through together is tougher and more touching than anything I've ever seen. The concept of forbidden love, and Male Vs Female patriarchy is constantly brought up. Marie Antoinette, the Princess soon-to-be Queen of Versailles is in love with Lady Oscar's best friend, Hans Axel von Fersen but a princess marrying a nobody is forbidden. Can they break through the rules of reality or will they end up as yet another pair of tragic lovers that cannot overcome the social hierarchy and harshness of reality? Will the brewing French Revolution devastate all relationships between Hans, Marie, Andre, and Lady Oscar? Absolutely stunning how perfectly the anime handled the character development and attachment. I'll spoil this for you now, the end will DESTROY like it did for me.

Did I even watch the 1979 Rose of Versailles, or was it a more modern remake that I watched...? How can an anime from 1979 have so much color and be so realistically beautiful. Was colored television even invented in 1979...? The poor with their torn cloth/nakedness - skinny. The rich nobles being the fat-stuffed monsters that they mostly were back in the 18th century. The nobles and royal families with their lavish and beautiful medieval clothing. The guards and their uniforms, muskets, and drums. Holy moly, the art was so perfect that... I don't even know! The sound, ah yes the music. Well, what can I say... It was dazzling. The beating of the drums, the heart-warming/breaking classical pieces, the french music; amazing. The character's voices, loved them. Lady Oscar and Andre, I love you guys. Although, I will admit that I wasn't a big fan of the opening, BUT the German "Lady Oscar" opening remake (2009) was a perfect fit the anime and is one of the most beautiful songs ever (yes, it's in German).

Rose of Versailles is unparalleled in terms of how beautiful, realistic and touching the story was. How much did I enjoy it? Well, what do you think? The anime scores perfect for me all across the board. A rare masterpiece that actually has moralistic themes about reality that people can perceive in their own beliefs. I hear that Rose of Versailles is currently 14th on the list of all-time best-selling shōjo manga, having sold a grand total of 15 million volumes worldwide. So, I guess it's not "underrated" but definitely needs even more recognition.

It’s the eve of the 18th century and France is flailing between hubris and chaos.

The air is stale in Paris; an odious despair engulfs the streets as the common man struggles to eat. The color of the Seine slowly begins to fade. Yet, the scarlet-stained roses of Versailles continue to bloom with such fervor, such elegance, and such nobility. Surrounded by decadence in its purest form, these roses thrive; unaffected and ignorant of the tumultuous tempest that brews, seeping insidiously into the soils of the earth.

One rose, the noblest of them all, with a chivalrous conviction breaks off - known better in the ... evocative masterpiece by Dezaki as Oscar Francois, or the real “Rose of Versailles”.

With sun-kissed golden tresses, a pellucid conviction, and a regal dominance, Oscar from the get-go is an enigmatically alluring character. Growing up as a noble, with a disillusioned father who fills her childhood with all the mannerisms of a noble boy, including her name, Oscar becomes the ideal French quixotic noble’man’.

Rose of Versailles charts the life of Oscar as she moves along the history of France as a woman, as a noble, and as a French military leader right before and during the French Revolution. This series is not aiming to be a completely historically accurate re-telling of the events, so any expectations and qualms related to that are unjustified. Rose of Versailles falls under the genre of historical fiction and the latter should clearly indicate what that entails. That being said, it still does well keeping the fabrics of history intact and seamlessly weaving it into a beautiful tapestry featuring everything one can expect from a great story with all the right elements.

Beneath the scintillating layer of the laid-out premise, the heart of Rose of Versailles offers something rare: complete enrapture. As one would imagine (and wouldn’t be wrong) to perhaps think of this as a story about the grand events of that time, the grandeur of it all, but it isn’t. Yes, all of these pieces are present, as nuances, or akin to the backdrop of a play, but the forefront is exclusively dominated by the characters and their affairs. The mercurial nature of each and every character beneath their facades is deeply explored, especially the duo of Oscar and her non-aristocratic childhood friend and worker, Andre Grandier. The social and personal evolution of the main cast is a feat in itself; especially when looked at in retrospect or holistically, due to their volatility and the debacles surrounding them throughout the show. As a result, we a get a cast of characters that are utterly human, hopelessly flawed, and undisputedly real who evoke and transpire an inexplicable sort of invested interest and feeling within.

Essentially this story can be summed up as a mosaic of struggles; with each piece outlining a certain element and how Oscar in relation with those around her, tries to overcome the societal dualisms and the shortcomings of herself, her regime, and her time while battling a gradually building inferno. As aforementioned, the series is primarily focused on the characters, while using history as a conduit to do so, yet the manner in which the setting is actualized is commendable. The series does an exceptional job highlighting the mood of the time. The macro problems from various perspectives are shown, which sets the stage on a silver platter. The haughty aristocracy, the indulgent royalty, and the crestfallen public along with their unstable dynamics are shown slowly, carefully, and realistically making the denouement of the series all the more effective. Since the show does fall under historical fiction, the manner in which the events are reinvented is integral to how the other, more prevalent elements come together.

One other aspect that Rose of Versailles effortlessly creates is the romance. The reason I explicitly bring this is up is because how understated ‘good’ romance is and by good, I mean believable, real, grounded, personal, evocative, and empathetic to the point that one can vicariously feel as if they too, are riding on the constantly-swinging pendulum of pathos. I don’t hesitate to call it the idyllic romance. The reason being that, one, it isn’t riddled with contrived or cheesy infestations just to evoke ‘something’ and, two, it’s complete in the sense that we get to trace the character’s developments as individuals first and then as complementary forces for one another, which does wonders for a good romance. It’s the transition between the first and the second that really accentuates the individual and then the individual-in-love. It is the former, when developed properly that the latter becomes significantly easier to birth. The infusion of romance almost feels magical because how subdued and subtle it is but when it hits, it hits with a spontaneous force that will leave its imprint in the minds and hearts of all those who experience it.

As full of praise the aforesaid words are, the series has its set of flaws, as small as they may be. The production values are nothing to glamorize and given that it’s from the 70’s, nothing to hold against it either. A major caveat that may burden the enjoyment of some people are the glimpses of extreme shoujoesque moments that surface such as the excessive over-dramatization both from a situational and technical stance. This over-dramatization plays out like a double-edged sword and ends up having the reverse effect. There is also an inconsistency in quality and pacing. The show takes some significant dips and it singes off little parts of enjoyment, but this often goes hand-in-hand with the extreme dramatization. For example, the first half of the show exclusively deals with seemingly petty drama surrounding the aristocracy and royalty which can seem overbearing at times, especially the recycled ignorance and stupidity of certain characters, but none of it is in vain. Each and every character and their actions, effectively in the first part of the show, has purpose when conjoined with the entirety of the series. Regardless, all of this can be easily be dismissed because of what the show does offer. It’s not hard to see why Rose of Versailles is hailed as definer of its genre(s) and setting the bar not just in its niche, but within the medium.


Naturally, this isn’t a series to gloss over or underestimate. This is a product of meticulous crafting. Dezaki invites you to sit in his reverent time-machine and travel back a few centuries ago where:

The Seine is coming to a standstill, shaded with ripples of red.

The streets are ready to be lit with the fires of a Revolution while France swings betwixt the twilight of former glory and present ruin.

And between the cracks of impending destruction rises a scarlet rose, embellished in decadence, but rooted in humanity.

Rose of Versailles is the model for how to tell a grand story simply; a grand story about people who may seem estranged to us, but in the end, are all too similar and the struggles they go through in some ways are universal, timeless, and ingrained within the ebb and flow of life; regardless of how grandiose the stage its set on may be…

Story
It’s based on the French Revolution, though that doesn’t mean the story is completely unoriginal, the author added few original characters like Oscar Francois de Jarjayes, who happens to be the main character. A bulk of the first half of story focuses on Marie Antoinette and certain nobles trying to take advantage of her or trying to oppose her due to her being young and impressionable. While the second half focused on planting the seeds of the historic Revolution with the Royal family sort of fading in the background in favour of Oscar, Andre and other characters that where somehow involved in the upcoming revolution.

The ... story is nicely paced; there was mostly no wasteful episode, so each event had an effect on the overall story.

Animation
It’s unfair to say that the animation is Rose of Versailles’ weak point, because it really isn't, sure it’s going to look dated because of the lack of tools present at the time of it’s production but for an 80’s anime it looks pretty decent and once you’ve been grasped by the engaging plot you’ll pretty much forget about how dated the show looks. The backgrounds are very detailed and the while some of the characters seems to share the same facial features, though they do vary in character design, although Oscar does look significantly different from the rest of the cast, her face is ambiguous which helps solidify her ambiguous personality.

Sound
It had a solid OP and ED, they fit the mood of the show fairly well since both had had a sort of bittersweet feel to it. The rest of the OST was great as well; background music represented what type of music you would hear in the 17th Century well, although there were a few instances of the clichéd "dramatic" piano playing but it’s hard to hold it against them because it was so COOL at the time.

Character
Oscar is a great character, she was cool and strong willed; being raised as a man, it was somewhat humorous that members of both sexes where attracted to her and even as the women find out that she is in fact a woman as well they still retain their admiration for her.

At first Marie Antoinette was likeable but through out the story she started becoming more selfish and immature which I guess lessened my sympathy for her when she faced her eventual demise. (not really a spoiler it's part of history after all)

The rest of the cast weren't as interesting but they did manage to stand out on a few occasions through out the show.

Overall
Rose of Versailles is definitely a classic. it’s one of the pioneers of shoujo manga/anime. It’s probably hard to watch for some since it’s quite old and not only that, there's little action and a lot of political drama as the story tend to focus more on the build up to the revolution rather than the revolution itself. Another thing is that it’s not a happy show; there are a lot of tragedies that befall the cast of characters so if you’re looking for a feel good show, this is not it. If you’re a fan of the oldies or very open minded with different genres of anime then it’s quite recommendable.

It's without hesitation that I'd consider Rose of Versailles to be the definitive masterpiece of the shoujo genre. Clearly defined, ambitious, and relentless, it accurately dramatizes the period of instability leading up and into the French Revolution, all the while developing memorable and unique characters. Thanks to this grace, it has had an influence on anime and manga to this day.

Our main character, Oscar François, is one of a strange background. Born a woman, raised a man, the series chronicles her life as she vows to relentlessly protect Marie Antoinette. She's among the most well-portrayed female protagonists in the medium, never faltering to the ... standard set of tropes implied by her status. If anything, she's unpredictable, and that's her strong suit. Ranging from cold and calculating one moment to witty and headstrong the next, the viewer is always put in her shoes.

And, more importantly, we get to see her mature – not just as a man, but as a woman. Due to the series taking place over a span of twenty years, she grows in complexity almost parallel to the times. Her character constantly toes the line of tragic and beautiful without a hint of idealization, and later romantic aspects deepen this bond. Perhaps her greatest quality is the sheer sense of fulfillment she brings.

Marie Antoinette, on the other hand, is rightfully devilish, and those versed in history should understand why. From the moment her character is introduced, the viewer is with direct knowledge of her fate, yet she remains entertaining to watch. Her downward spiral, while somewhat fictional, is just as twisted as it should be; insurmountable levels of indulgence come hand in hand with her every on-screen presence, and the resulting behaviour can only be deemed lifelike.

The main conflict of the series originates from the relations between commoners and royalty and its direct effect on those of importance. Through it all, the unintentional cat-and-mouse game between Oscar and Marie is what keeps things on track. It's a descent into a Hell on Earth that constantly grows deeper, all the while clawing away at the emotions of the characters around them. Every piece coming into play isn't a one time thing with Rose of Versailles – it's done multiple times throughout the series, all the while remaining consistent and meaningful. Combined with the essence and powerful message that the French Revolution proudly stated, it makes for one heck of an experience from start to finish.

A story like this can only be amplified by the visuals and soundtrack, and thankfully, they're fantastic. The combination of traditional shoujo art and 18th century fashion works all too well. Whether sword-wielding or in dress, characters easily pop from their backgrounds rather than blending with the shadows. Directing is stunning and straightforward, making use of not only brilliant camera angles, but brief art shifts. As arrogant and tired as it may sound, it appears few and far between the thousands of other cuts, so the shifts in stylization look brilliant when apparent. It's something that vaguely reminds me of older American cinema in practice, all the while staying true to the atmosphere.

The sound isn't quite as impressive, but the pieces chosen to go along with each scene are relevant and timely. A few compositions, such as the opening, are notably stronger than the rest, but the foley and voice acting makes up for it. It's a worthwhile contributor to the overall experience, despite it not being as strong as some other aspects.

The only problem I found was somewhat excusable. Some minor dramatic scenes are given little time to play out, so the feelings conveyed within them don't feel as strong as the rest. This seems like more of a problem with the source material than the anime, and even then, it begins to fade away around halfway through the series.

Thankfully, it's not enough to have an impact on the quality of Rose of Versailles at large – a story that's conveyed masterfully in such little time. Hate or adore the notion of history, there's little chance you won't be blown away by the amount of material the anime proudly presents.

Before you read this I will ask of you to not judge it solely on the high ratings. I feel like I have explained the reasons for giving them quite well. Please in your rating, let me know the way to improve on it and I will promptly do so. The high animation rating is based on what could be accomplished at the time the anime was made as I realise that it would be sub-standard if it were made nowadays.

This anime is one of my favourite and I have seen many in 15 years but only a couple have managed to come close in ... delivering like this one does.

The animation is not the best nowadays but I am giving it a high mark because for its time, it is a remarkable achievement. I am sure that many people will agree with me on this, some of the budget episodes of Sailor Moon or Pokemon and Naruto look worse. This is because Rose of Versailles is not a show that takes shortcuts in its presentation. Unlike Naruto and Sailor Moon, the same high standard is kept through its entire run.
For its time, this anime was very ambitious and it does accomplish what it sets out to do. A scene that reflects the animation capacity (in its iconic form) of this series can be seen in the last episode. It is just stills of pencil drawings and the symbolism and emotion is so strong, one can't help but be moved.
Just that scene reflects what you have seen in emotion and intensity for 40 episodes and blows you away. The drawing style is also another one of its strengths as the characters look very elegant and royal, which fits the bill here perfectly. The character design is also great as it allows the character to grow within a time period, and slowly changes and matures them in their drawing style over time.

The sound is excellent in this series as it helps to show the range of emotion characters express. The theme song is atmospheric and also very fitting with the emotive notes and the beautiful music. The theme music is used quite often within the episodes and it is surprisingly efficient to portray the rainbow of human emotion. The best part of it is obviously the seiyuus' work here.
Main characters like Oscar, Andre and Marie Antoinette and minor ones like Mme DuBarry and Charlotte are brought to life extremely well. Even though these characters are on conflicting sides of the social spectrum, one understands their motives and sentiments to a touching degree.

The story is still one of the most engrossing I have seen in anime since I first watched it. Taking real historical figures and some fictive ones, this anime tells the story so well that you can understand why the characters acted the way they did, and the drama is strongly expressed.
Some historical events are also used as plot devices here (the affair of the necklace, the bastille, the revolution) and the result is brilliant. These are given enough detail for us to fully appreciate the situation, while letting characters shine through as the driving force. There are also plenty of heartfelt moments of yearning, loss, love, obedience and death that are so well-executed - they move you to tears.

As mentioned above the characters are amazing as were it not for them, the story would not be nearly as successful. To fully enjoy this experience one has to connect with the characters and this cast makes it extremely easy.
I felt a lot of emotions when the romantic story between Marie Antoinette and Fersen was explored and was moved to tears to see its conclusion. Same goes with the Oscar and Andre story. There are rarely animes that make you feel the way this one does and this is very much due to its affecting cast. The reason the characters seem so great overall is because their feelings are explored very convincingly and unlike other shoujos, they are not overplayed for emphasis.

The value of this anime is just excellent as I frequently revisit it for some great entertainment and it still delivers. It also paved the way for other great shows like Utena and Princess Tutu (Utena more obviously than Tutu with its theme but the detailed backgrounds of Tutu are definitely influenced by some settings here.)
I still enjoy this anime immensely even though it is 25 years old and have seen it many times over as it really aims for the heart. My guess is you will feel the same way.

If you combined certain elements of Revolutionary Girl Utena with the novel Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, you'd get Rose of Versailles.

One of the best aspects of the anime is the plot, which revolves around the years leading up to the French Resolution. Not only is the historical aspect of it based on real events (with some creative liberties taken), but also real people such as General Francois de Jarjayes (who inspired the main lead character Lady Oscar).

Another great aspect of the plot is that discusses classism (discrimination btw. classes), gender roles, power struggles, and justice in a way that entertains the viewer, pulls ... at their heartstrings, and makes them think. There is a LOT of death in this anime, some of it so cruel and tragic that you'll want to stop watching, yet keep watching to see the deaths not be in vain. There is also symbolism (particularly with roses) that enhances the themes of the anime and make them linger in the mind long after certain episodes (and the entire series) are done.

In addition to the plot, the characters are very well done. The main lead character, Oscar, has a strong sense of justice, can handle herself with a sword and gun, and lead an army. However, she also human struggles with what it means to live as a man and (in certain episodes) a woman.

There are numerous secondary characters who are either good, bad, or a mixture of both. You will cheer on some, hate others, and feel a lot of pity overall. The most poignant ones for me were Marie Antoinette, Andre, Jeanne, and Rosalie.

As for the animation, it can sometimes be a little over the top with glittery scenes, but for the most part it is very good, esp. for an anime from the 70's. Sometimes, certain scenes looked like a beautiful painting. Also, the fight scenes were amazing to watch!

Finally, the music was very good, esp. the main theme of the anime. If you pay attention to the English translation, then you can see them forshadowing Oscar's fate. The instrumental pieces were lovely and made certain moments very touching.

Overall, this anime was very tragic, yet enjoyable. As an Utena fan, I loved seeing how this anime would influence Utena in terms of the symbolism, character design, and sword fighting scenes. Also, the anime, like Les Miserables, made me think about the world we live in today and wonder if such events could happen again.

As a general rule, I'm not into shoujos - joseis yes, but not shoujos. "Rose of Versailles" is a shoujo.

And it's also one of my favourite anime.

"Rose of Versaille" is an old fashioned telling of an old story. The oldness is all too obvious in its painfully outdated presentation (such as the overuse of panning, static frames), the agonizing lack of finesse (such as the over the top and often random dramatisation), and the poor quality sound production. And yet, right from the start, I could sense potential underneath its crappy exterior.

I was not disappointed. It took me a few episodes to get used ... to the laughably bad production gimmicks, but by episode 10 it already has the markings of a great tragedy, and I was engrossed.

"Rose of Versailles" is a story with historical settings - it's set in France during the reign of Marie Antoinette as Queen of France. It tells the story of Oscar Francois de Jarjayes, daughter of a French General who was brought up as a man and served Marie Antoinette as the captain of the royal palace guards. Now obviously, Oscar never existed, but unlike most Holywood films that are "based on a true story", the series includes plenty of events that really did happen. Because of this, you can guess how the show will end. Or even if you cannot, the narrator pretty much tells you what to expect. Watching a show with the ending in mind creates an interesting viewing experience - you get to how everything builds up towards it, such as Robespierre's growing contempt for the nobles, and how Marie Antoinette is unknowningly fuelling the people's anger towards her. This makes "Rose of Versailles" more potent as a tragedy, because there's a sense of utter helplessness watching the events hurtle towards their inevitable conclusions, dragging the characters along mercilessly.

Though historical commentry style narratives can make a show feel overly cold and detached (just look at the first season of "Legend of the Galactic Heroes"), this isn't the case for "Rose of Versailles". In fact it's a most emotionally engaging anime, because it makes you care its characters. And not just the main ones either. Very little is black and white in "Rose of Versailles", as it's not a show that likes to take sides. Or rather, it's a show that likes to take multiple sides, allowing you to see things from more than one view point.

Take, for example, Marie Antoinette herself. The show does not portray her as a very competent queen, the kind that is capable of handling domestic politics and ruling with wisdom and strength. She is shown as frivolous and ignorant. But while the people's frustration and anger towards such a queen is understandable, her childlike innocence and high sense of morality also makes her hard to condemn. It's not really her fault that she is born into a role that she is not suitable for, and a large part of her ignorance is due to her being shielded from events that take place outside her court - there was simply no one who tried to open her eyes to what was going on.

Madam du Barry is another good example. Initially, she seems like a total villain, with her manipulative and corrupt ways. Eventually though, when you learn about her background, it's easy to sympathise with her, because she's just someone who made the most of what she has and climbed up from the bottom rung of society. Is she really a villain? No, she's just understandably human. In fact this is given even more emphasis when the anime introduces Rosalie, an innocent, sweet girl who also comes from an impoverished family. Being a girl who is forced to try and sell her body in order to take care of her sick mother, the parallels between Rosalie's poverty stricken background and Madam du Barry's own path to becoming the King's mistress is all too clear.

But enough about side characters, lets talk about Oscar - she is the main character of "Rose of Versailles" after all. Born as a woman but raised as a man, surprisingly little is made of her gender as she rose to prominence. In a old society where you would expect people to take issues with such a thing, she certainly had it relatively easy, and didn't have to "fight the power" too much, so to speak. This is one of the points that "Revolutionary Girl Utena", an anime inspired by "Rose of Versailles", seized on and did much better with. To be fair though, the comparison is a little inappropriate. After all, "Rose of Versailles" was never meant to be an anime about breaking conventions and starting revolutions (well, perhaps does have something to do with revolutions... but only in the traditional sense), it's just meant to be a straightforward historical drama with a twist provided by Oscar, a twist that is very much a shoujo fantasy. To try and convincingly integrate Oscar's gender issues into the historical settings is such a mammoth task that it would have threatened to engulf the whole show.

A lot of the content in the early part of the "Rose of Versailles" is about Marie Antoinette and the politics that surrounds her. Later on though, the series becomes more focused on Oscar and her personal turmoils. More specifically, the focus is on Oscar's own inner conflicting identities as they slowly starts to tear her apart. Oscar's internal conflicts makes for some gut wrenchingly good drama, and to a large extent makes up for the lack of externally induced conflicts over her gender.

"Rose of Versailles" is effortlessly good at blending fact and fiction. Oscar may not have existed, but her father did. The show is filled with historical figures and historical events, many of them given fictional modification, and it's done so well I honestly could not tell where the facts end and the fiction begins. After finishing the series, I actually spent a few hours on the internet reading up on the period of Marie Antoinette's reign. To my surprise, I found the majority of the major events in "Rose of Versailles" to be based on real events (or at least on widespread beliefs, like Marie Antoinette's affair with Ferson), including some that sounds too farfetched to be true, like the diamond necklace affair. Even Marie Antoinette's sweet and frivolous nature, which seemed for all the world like a shoujo fudge factor - bad monarchs are often the cause of their own downfall, so I was convinced that the anime was portraying her through ridiculously rose tinted glasses in an attempt to get the viewers to sympathise with her - is actually very much inline with a lot of historians' perception of her (if anything, many believe that Marie Antoinette is not at all ignorant to the suffering of the people, and her demise is totally undeserved). The show clearly is a very well researched project.

"Rose of Versailles" is also one of the few anime I've seen that has a great ending. I can see why some viewers complained that the ending dragged, but as someone who has a passing interest in history, I enjoyed the documentary-like way it wrapped up the story. Although the french revolution was far from over by the end of it, the ending does give it a sense of closure, a sense that it was an end of an era, with the stories of all the main characters of interest neatly tied up. For me, it's a near perfect ending.

On the audio front, "Rose of Versailles" may not sound as crisp and clear as modern productions, but it does not lose out when it comes to the quality of the music. The pieces are exquisite, a mixture of the styles from its productions era of the 70's, and the classical style from the settings of the show, the latter enforced by the use of instruments from that period such as the harpsichord. For the most part, the music is used to great effect, but there are moments where they suddenly cut off a pleasant piece into a harsh tone to match an ominous turn in the narration. While this trick can be quite effective, "Rose of Versailles" uses it too much. In addition, the voice acting is a bit too melodramatic, and there's a ghastly bit of voice over that hilariously marrs the otherwise graceful ending theme. Everyone should check out that voice over for their own amusement. Thankfully, the makers themselves must have realised how ridiculous it sounds, and removed it eventually.

To sum it up, "Rose of Versailles" has all the standard staples of a sparkly shoujo. However, it's also far more than that. It's a show that brings to life the events leading up to the French Revolution, and the people involved in those events. Historically informed but also adept at weaving in great fictional drama, it's a shoujo that has far more substance than fluff. After all, it's very rare that I rate a shoujo so highly, especially one with such crappy production values by today's standards, and that speaks for itself.

***

I've decided to include here a bit of trivia I found on the French Revolution, which might be of interest for people with a bit of a historian streak in them:

There's a popular belief that Marie Antoinette uttered the notorious remark "let them eat cake" upon hearing peasants' complain that there's not enough bread to go around. Scholars on the subject, however, believe this to be completely false. Not only is there no historical evidence supporting this claim, but it's now generally accepted that it's not even within her nature to make such a remark - she is ignorant at worst (and even this is debatable), but she's not an ass who would say something as callous as that. It's possible that it was unjustly attributed to her as part of the vicious smear campaign targetting the royal family during the unpopular, later years of her reign, and "Rose of Versailles" also seems to support this theory as it shows people infuriated by the cake quote, but does not show Marie Antoinette saying it at ANY point in the series. I don't know whether this was intentional or not, but I'd like to believe that it's just a another example of the quality research that went into this brilliantly made historic tale.

Rose of Versailles is a typical shoujo romance set not long before and during French Revolution. It executes both badly. There are gonna be spoilers here.

One of the big problems with this show is presentation, large part of the french revolution revolves around royalty and nobility treating common people like animals and disregarding their rights or wishes despite them making up majority of the population. However in RoV for some reason a lot of time is spent showing her going to balls, spending money, gambling and generally acting deplorably but they way it's shown it's almost as if you're suppose to empathize with her and ... feel sympathy. Even at the very end when Oscar finally parts way it's said obstacle for their friendship was her being a Queen of France which couldn't be further away from being accurate without being random. The rift in their relationship was caused by Marie's complete disregard for commoners and greed for status and luxury.

Aside from that this focus on one character leads into another issue with the show. It's heavily based on history but at the same time it treats it like a backdrop for typical shoujo melodrama instead of properly focusing on it. More time spent on a scene of character crying about how unfortunate they are for being born a noble or a commoner then on retelling some of the most important events in French history so it very much does this aspect a disservice. When it finally comes around to actually getting deeper into history it treats it with all complexity of a saturday morning cartoon. The great part of history is that it doesn't tell you "these guys are evil, these guys are good", history simply presents actions and motivations behind them, observer then can draw a conclusion. Here there's barely any depth to any side of the conflict, nobles are all evil unless they support commoners, commoners are pretty much exclusively right no matter what they do aside from one edgy terrorist.
Another thing to note is that even when repeating historical events such as the necklace incident the show goes through it so briefly that it makes real events that made sense seem overly dramatic and ridiculous.

As far as melodrama goes it's no better than any random soap opera. Main motif in the narrative is downside of class system and social status. All of this doesn't really go anywhere, people cry a bit over unrequited love and move on without it having much of an effect on story or characters themselves and characters themselves are not that interesting to begin with.

When it comes to art this show really shines. Great character designs that change a little as time passes, great color coordination and beautiful backgrounds. Music is just as good and it making shallow but emotionally manipulative scenes feel as they almost have impact.

Overall enjoyment is rather poor but I'm also not the audience for this type of show, not that I think being into it makes writing better.

70’s. Somehow, the ‘70’s-ness made this show better. The ridiculous sound effects crack me up every time, and that's good because otherwise the show might just be too heavy. The animation is at times downright shabby by our standards, however what do you expect, some three decades later? To enjoy this show, you have to accept that it has a lot of faults, and that despite that it entertains quite strongly.

At times I felt like this show was too dramatic, it felt a bit silly and predictable. Many times, I felt that I wasn't in the mood to watch another episode, but I put ... it on just to be sure, and sure enough, I would be wrapped up in minutes. What really got me excited every time was the opening theme song, which suffice to say, kicks all kinds of ass. The closing song is beautiful, and ends every episode on such a lush note. The opening and ending are enough to increase the overall rating by a whole point, that's how awesome they are! Great artwork too on the OP, with the pink silhouette and thorns, and the multi-colored fields, etc.

But I digress. The characters and their designs all point to an obvious fact. One person made them. In lots of really good shows, the characters have realistically distinct personalities, which is really hard to do as a writer. In this show, they have the same patterns of thinking, and even perform many actions that mirror each other. Their designs are also homogeneous. This isn't such a bad thing really, lots of great writers have this same problem, though to a lesser degree. It does mean, however, that you will relate to all of the characters, or none of them, and for similar reasons. And, sometimes you will get tired of them.

The story is historical, and thus can't help many of its weaknesses. This show quite effectively tells the history in a way that is very engaging, although not necessarily all true (I don't think the protagonist actually existed, for example). Overall, it is totally worth watching if you're in the mood for old school anime, it might bore many anime newcomers though. I rate a bit harshly, so my 7/10 is what most people would consider an 8/10 or even 9/10.

I might've been a tad less harsh on this show if people praising this show didn't always preface it with, "don't worry about it being shoujo, this is actually really mature and sophisticated". Bullshit. No it's not. Every single time a shoujo or shounen author mixes history or some niche subject into their work, people get fooled into thinking it's suddenly quality writing just because they're able to portray the subject matter with some accuracy (this, Vinland Saga, Descending Stories Rakugo) but the shoujo or shounen backbone still remains the same. A story's ability to portray the subject matter accurately does not make it a ... good story by itself. If I wanted to learn about Vikings or the French Revolution, or Rakugo, I'd watch a documentary or read a nonfiction book. So I'll just get one thing out of the way, RoV having historical events in it grants it no points in my book. With that said, on with the review.

Rose of Versailles is a standard shoujo story inserted into the dawn of the French Revolution--- a unique setting for anime and one lends more maturity (on the surface) to the execution of the shoujo storyline than the typical high school locales. However, while the author has received awards from France for expanding knowledge of French history in Japan, Rose of Versailles cannot shake off its shoujo romance roots and fails to fully reap the potential of its rich historical context.

Plot/ Structure

The A plot tells the story Oscar as she observes the various events inside and outside the palace building up to the French Revolution. Aside from protecting Marie Antoinette from physical harm and dealing with corrupt nobles within the court, Oscar increasingly has to interact with the various players who sow the seeds of revolution, such as a young Robespierre. By learning of the backstories of corrupt nobles and observing the plight of the common people, Oscar gradually slides over to the side of the Third Estate, as her noble nature will not allow her to stand with the nobles.

The A plot varies in quality. Already bogged down by the silly direction, about half of the first 18 episodes are composed of repetitive court drama. If you've ever watched Asian historical dramas, your idea of court drama may be backstabbing concubines vying for power while holding verbal battles disguised as polite conversations. Well, this has some of that, albeit with much less subtlety and complexity. It still makes for entertaining, well paced television for the most part, but suffers massively from failed attempts to garner sympathy for Marie Antoinette.

Their attempts to make you care for her were so bad that they had the opposite effect. The series would have you believe that Marie Antoinette is sympathetic by constantly having other characters remark how beautiful and well mannered she is and by showing her not talking to one corrupt noble. First of all, all the faces are drawn similarly with comparable prettiness so Marie Antoinette doesn't stand out, not that it would've helped much either way. Second of all, her manners and sophistication are never shown in dialogue but rather informed. All the while, she's shown ignoring her duties as a queen, behaving irresponsibly, and spending piles of tax money. Yeah, sure, she doesn't talk to the corrupt noble, but doesn't do anything about the corruption in general. Her other claim to sympathy is that she's lonely, and apparently that's enough to justify her ignoring the plight of millions in poverty.

You'd think the show did its best with a character that's plain unlikable, but that's not the case. Because of the show I looked up some information on Marie Antoinette and one article managed to paint Marie Antoinette as a real person with some admirable qualities juxtaposed with her ignorance. Apparently she had a great voice and a talent for art. Where was this in the show? Her loneliness is understandable, especially given that in real life she was 14, had recently lost her father, and was far away from home. It just wasn’t shown well. All the show needed to do was simply present Marie Antoinette as she was, without telling us to sympathize with her. If you tell the viewer to feel bad for her even though she’s a huge reason people are starving, then the viewer is going to push back. Let the viewer decide. By doing this, we are able to understand her and sympathize with her on our own accord without ignoring her role in France's suffering.

The second half of the A plot is better if only because it shakes off the shoujo-esque court drama in favor of focusing on the events leading up to the French Revolution. The pacing and tension were decent, though the initial episodic nature means that you won't always be compelled to click on the next episode.

The B plot follows the ups and downs of Oscar's ambiguous relationship with her childhood friend, Andre and her longing for Fersen, all of which is complicated by her denial of her womanhood in an effort to become the ideal man, per her father's wishes.

Some other threads weaved into the main plot are the stories of two impoverished sisters who take different paths to the royal court. The blonde sister, Rosalie, has a good heart but has to struggle with her desire for revenge, while the black haired sister, Jeanne, employs cunning schemes and underhanded tactics to accrue power. Though standard, these plotlines are decently executed. Rose of Versailles doesn't undermine the poignancy inherent with this kind of premise, but nor does it put the premise to spectacular use, especially since Rosalie's story just tapers off towards the end.

Direction

The direction of the first 18 episodes (not including the first one, which was perfect) is absolutely atrocious. As other reviewers have noted, there are moments of melodrama and soap opera-esque self-indulgence that are completely at odds with the seriousness of the historical setting and the maturity levels of the characters. Marie Antoinette will walk into the room only to be treated to 30 seconds worth of shots of her in her sparkling dress (this series is like if Michael Bay was the director and was told to replace explosions with sparkles), the surrounding crowd in awe of her beauty. Characters' surprise will be conveyed by shattering the shot of their face, angry characters are painted in red, and villains do their evil villain laugh. Perhaps this type of direction would have fit well for a parody of the shoujo genre. Fortunately, these problems disappear once Osamu Tezuka takes over as director, who replaces the sparkling shots of women's' faces with some well composed stills of Oscar by the window in her quieter, contemplative moments.

Characters

Oscar has an interesting backstory because she's forced to protect the woman that's contributing to France's downfall. Her primary agency is at first protecting Marie Antoinette, and later it's helping the poor. She's highly competent as a fencer and general and garners sympathy for being a woman thrust in a man's role and all the difficulties that arise from that. Basically, Oscar is likable because she’s a perfect moral paragon knight in shining armor but she’s a woman. As you can see, Oscar has the makings of a likable character, though imbuing your character with a bunch of positive qualities is not hard to do. Making her a great character in addition to being likable is where all the work goes towards and I'd argue that her blandness in other facets of characterization make her flat. In particular, her internal conflict does not show enough struggle. Her internal conflict is two-fold: 1) Whether or not to side with the nobles (including Marie Antoinette) or help the poor 2) Whether or not to accept her womanhood and pursue her romantic interests.

The first conflict is not much of a conflict for the audience nor Oscar given the show's one-sided portrayal of the matter. Over the course of 40 episodes the show hammers in the fact that the nobles are rich and greedy and the poor are starving. As previously mentioned, any potential to lend sympathy to the nobles with Marie Antoinette is botched by her poor portrayal. Oscar's excuse for not chastising the queen is that she sympathizes with her loneliness. Classic shoujo romance logic right there. So apparently the poverty of an entire country cannot compare to the loneliness of one shallow girl? The show acts like Oscar's reasoning is understandable and in line with the rest of her noble qualities, so it's not like this is used as an intentional flaw.

The second conflict is a romantic drama trope:guy has unrequited love, guy persists and keeps saving/helping the girl until she realizes she loves him too. It’s an easy thing to do to for drama as long as you contrive ways to keep the lovers separated that don't involve legitimate obstacles and that’s why it can be cheap. In another setting, I would’ve dropped the show and dismissed it as soap opera garbage but in this case the historical context lends it more credibility. It’s also helped by the fact that Oscar and Andre are competent characters in their own right and are not just defined by their relationship. In addition, you can argue that unlike many romance stories where the girl just ignores the guy for no good reason, Oscar’s rejection of her womanhood (which is set up early on) provides a good reason for her behavior, a rare case in which this trope actually fits. Still, the way it's resolved its pedestrian (though cathartic). They play the old, true love is unearthed when one person's life is in danger trope, which seems to also resolve Oscar's conflict over her womanhood. Except more focus is placed on the fact that Oscar is now with her love than on the question of gender specifically. After the resolution, Oscar proceeds the same as before in virtually all other aspects of her life; she continues being a noble general, only now she has a boyfriend. So in the end, removing all the dressing, it's just the loyal man following the girl around until she finally realizes her feelings for him. Rinse and repeat for 30 or so episodes to form the emotional core of the story--- it's not hard to see why I don't care for this show.

Thus, it becomes increasingly clear that the question of gender identity was used as a gimmick for the romance trope instead of the romance trope emerging out of the question of gender identity. Look no further than Fersen; despite having no characterization other than being a handsome playboy and poorly established relationship with Oscar, he becomes a focal point of a love triangle involving Oscar. Fersen is a constant reminder of the show’s soap opera intentions, breaking my immersion and curtailing my emotional investment in the better parts.

If you were to ask me to describe Andre’s character, I’d have a hard time doing so. He’s basically designed to be the childhood friend that’s always been there but isn’t noticed by the heroine in order to set up the will she please notice him and fuck already dynamic. His backstory, individual agency, arc, core question, and sympathy (we feel sorry for him because of his unrequited love) are all built around his relationship with Oscar and I don't think I need to explain how. Granted, Andre is competent in his own right and his relationship with Oscar is well done. From the first episode they feel like childhood friends and I love that the show uses fencing and horseback riding as activities that the two regularly do together, a very effective way of establishing their deeply rooted bond.

There's not much to say about the other characters; they fulfill their roles nicely but don't leave a mark nor were they intended to. Rosalie and Jeanne are compelling to watch more so because of their unique circumstances than for their personalities, which applies to the other characters too. The villains are usually nobles scheming for money, power, and status because money, power, and status are the end-all-be-all in such a stratified society. These things aren't flaws, as the characterization is devoted to Oscar and Andre and the rest of the screen time is plot driven.

Themes

Although I maligned the series for it's one-sided portrayal of nobles vs commoners, it's hard to fault the series here thematically because it is pretty one-sided in history as well; it's just that this conflict does not serve well to add to Oscar's character in the way it's handled. Even though Oscar reasonably has inner conflicts over her class and the plight of the poor, the way the anime presents it to the audience it makes her moral decision all too obvious. I never got the sense that there was a compelling personal reason for Oscar to NOT to be on the side of the poor. Otherwise, though, the series does a good job portraying the effects of the class divide and showing how villains are created when attaining status and power is the only means of living a better life in the absence of social mobility.

One suggestion I have to make both the themes and romance more interesting is to shift the question from yes or no to how much. Yes, the class divide is a problem, and yes, Oscar does love Andre. But what is the degree of change that should be affected to solve the problem? Oscar, being from the nobles, would most likely not support total revolution but rather change from the inside, whereas Andre would call for more radical measures. This ideological conflict would get in the way of their romance as well, tying into her refusal to marry despite their strong relationship because they're from different classes and because of her duty to be a man, both of which stem from a belief in the traditional. This would more clearly tether their romantic conflict with the ideological one, so that it's not just "man pines after woman until she realizes her love for him when his life is in danger". Framing the conflicts this way would mean that both of them are constantly teetering on the edge, instead of coming together from two extremes that obviously don't make sense.

Tone

Other than soap opera moments during the first half, the tone is mature and the interactions between Oscar and Andre are well presented. There is no comedy, no exaggerated anime faces, but there's also no witty banter either.

Worldbuilding

This is no Ryosuke Takahashi anime; the historical touches are more of a bonus that you get for watching a shoujo soap opera. I'm not saying that Rose of Versailles has to cram in as many historical details as Ryosuke does with his works, as that usually leads to a dry story, but I think it could've relied on the politics as a source of thematic conflict more. Granted, I'm not sure what political conflict on the dawn of the French Revolution could be adapted into a compelling story since everything was headed downhill at that point. However, I do know that the period during the French Revolution where governments were changing every three years and Robespierre was chopping heads left and right would be a great backdrop for a turbulent romance and nuanced ethical questions.

Mechanic
The physical conflicts mostly come in the form of fencing, with horseback riding and gunplay mixed in. The fencing scenes are fluid and raise good tension, although they always cut out the choreography leading to the victory.

Aesthetic
The cover appears girly and gaudy and the promo art is even more so, stuffed with an overabundance of flowers, sparkles, curly hair, and tacky frills--- a good indication of the first half of the show. Personally I'm not a fan of 18th century European look for clothing, but even then you can't go wrong with a well tailored suit. There’s a certain charm to the art and some of the scenes, especially those at sunset, are beautifully drawn.

Music- The opening and ending are unskippable and many of the BGM's are equally amazing. If you like enka, then you're going to love this.

Enjoyment: It may seem odd that I rated the series a 6 despite airing nothing but complaints. That's because the primary source of enjoyment for most people would probably be 1) following the virtuous, strong, and righteous Oscar as she defies gender stereotypes and fights for the poor 2) Oscar's developing relationship with Andre 3)Seeing historical events and court drama. These are all elements that fell flat for me but many people would still find enjoyment out of them.

Oscar is easy to root for, easy to sympathize with, and all around readily likable. Her relationship with Andre is developed slowly and handled with nuance and maturity. Their exchanges are calm and collected but mask churning emotions as their love goes through a long road of bumps and hiccups. Needless to say, this isn't a romcom that relies on silly misunderstandings and men too scared to have sex to make a romance interesting. That's why despite the predictability, the resolution of this relationship is ultimately cathartic due to the proper buildup. As for the main plot, at the very least it's well paced, maintains adequate tension, incorporates historical elements without being too dry, and mostly avoids moments of stupidity.

As such, though Rose of Versailles is a shoujo soap opera in disguise, it is a well executed one. Many of the flaws I pointed out aren't really internal flaws (i.e., things that prevent the show from achieving its intended effect) but rather things I wished it would have done to keep me entertained. If you like shoujo soap operas mixed in with historical flair, this would be a great anime for you.

As for me, like I said, this is a shoujo anime with historical flair, not a historical anime with romance elements. I think praise for its "historical accuracy" or whatever is overrated. I will not dispute how accurately it portrays crucial events in French history, but all I can say is that any history that is portrayed was just there. I did not learn anything I wouldn't have learned if I had just read a textbook. Of course, the purpose of putting history into a story is not to portray every minor detail and every political nuance but immerse ourselves further into it by having life-like characters. With all its cheesy shoujo elements, cartoonish villains, and bland romance, this was not achieved. I walked in expecting a baseline of "nobles living in luxury with no sympathy for the poor, class divide is bad" and that's exactly what I got.

The Rose of Versailles is an old school anime. It aired from 1979-1980 and was based off of a manga from the early 70s. It was brought to us by TMS, the same studio behind the mediocre Magic Knight Rayearth, the excellent Glass no Kamen & the decent enough Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari. Is this one a classic worth revisiting? Let's find out.

Story:

In the years leading up to the French revolution, a young woman works as the Captain of the Royal guards, as she was raised like a boy. This is our heroine, Oscar François de Jarjeyes. Can she navigate through the turbulent times?

Okay, I'm ... going to ignore that this series has about as much relation to actual history as the Abrams films have to do with Star Trek. It's historical fiction, we can forgive it for only vaguely resembling the reality and even then you have to squint a lot and use magnifying lenses to find the similarities. The issue is with the kinds of liberties it takes. Speaking in the very broadest of strokes, there are two basic types of alterations. The first are changes made to simplify things. This series doesn't seem to be cognisant of grey morality. Instead, it boils things down to the “right” and the “wrong.” The nobles, save a select few, are portrayed as outright evil people who shoot children and run people over without caring in the slightest.

The second types of changes are those designed to make things painfully melodramatic. This series loves to take relatively minor things, like Marie Antoinette snubbing Madame Du Barry, and act like they're massive events that could totally lead to the end of everything that is. Because Ikeda Riyoko doesn't quite understand how treaties actually work and thinks they can fall apart like wet tissue paper when an important person from one nation doesn't get on with a kind of important person from another.

Speaking of an unfettered love of melodramatic nonsense, this series loves to take little twists and turns that don't make a lot of sense but they're “dramatic.” A big example is that there is a character who suffers an injury and loses the use of one of their eyes. We then discover that they're losing the use of their other one because “it's a strain to just have one functional eye.” Which basically translates to “anatomy, how does it work?” Here's a hint, not like that. There's a bit with a terminal illness, but it's pretty pointless since the character in question is barely affected by it before they die from something unrelated. It's good that they wasted our time with that sub-plot that goes nowhere. There's also the attempted sexual assault scene which leads to an apology and is never mentioned again. Speaking of romance bits, there's a part where Oscar's father tries to marry her off and there's an attempt to have drama with it for a very short period before it's over. Because that's how to have effective romantic drama. The romance in this is just rubbish in general. On the plus side, the slow, tedious execution of the “big, dramatic” scenes does lead to some unintentionally funny bits.

The pacing in this is pretty bad too. There are long, tedious segments where nothing of value is accomplished and when it finally gets to the revolution, which should be the interesting bit, we get a very small bit about the start and then it skips right to the end. Because why would you want real drama when you can have melodrama?

Characters:

Earlier, I mentioned that the morality in this is very one-dimensional. And the characterisation is where that creates the biggest problem. Those historical figures who are selected as antagonists are so unambiguously “evil for the evils” that if this weren't historical-based they'd have snake pun names and be taking orders from a bloke with a metal mask and raspy voice.

With the royal couple, the effort put into trying to make them sympathetic just gets absurd. Everything they do has to be justified, including engaging in the upper class twit past time known as fox hunting. Because foxes are vicious and will lunge for your throat. They certainly don't hide in burrows. And Marie Antoinette’s mild pettiness is presented as demonstrative of strength of character. The sad part is that it's not hard to portray them sympathetically. He s[pent his entire reign trying to make things better for the common folk but he ruled at a time when the king couldn't make unilateral decisions and he didn't have the political savvy to get the nobles on board. While she didn't have any real power because the woman in power at the French Court at that time was the king's mistress, which Louis XVI didn't have. And then they were both executed, as were their children. They may not have been saints, but they did nothing worth killing them.

Our protagonist is a very one-note “noble” protagonist. She always does the right thing and stays on the right side of history. It gets to the point where she comes across as an incompetent moron because there are scenes where her work requires her to deal with someone causing trouble but she'll let them go because “well, they're doing good” or she'll try to talk them down without anyone to watch her back and she'll get taken by surprise. It really comes across as Ikeda being afraid to have her do anything that someone might find objectionable. After all, if she went in and used her authority as the captain to do her job, she might seem like a bit of an authoritarian.

The ultimate consequence is that the characters come across more like they belong in a simple work for children than in a drama we're supposed to be taking seriously. Which is even worse when you factor in that these are based on real people, not a Hasbro toy line.

Art:

I don't want to be too harsh on the animation for this, since it was made a very long time ago. I won't say it looks bad. It really doesn't. I will, however, say that it's very lazy. All the standard cost cutting measures are used. Minimal movement with some motion blur to try and craft the illusion that more's happening on screen than actually is, recycled frames, very slow and awkward action sequences, tedious bits with a lot of sparkle vision to try and spice them up.

Sound:

The performances in this are decent enough. They aren't good performances but they're a bit above average. The biggest thing holding them back is just that the characters are very bland and don't demand much range. The music is passable.

Ho-yay:

There are quite a few female characters who express interest in Oscar, thinking that she's so cool and it's a pity she's not a man. They also include some of the spurious rumours about Marie Antoinette sleeping with everyone, including women.

Final Thoughts:

Overall, the big problem with this series is that it wants to be a serious drama but it doesn't want to include any real complexity. So, we get very stock characters who could be at home in a work for small children and we get a total lack of nuance or subtlety, which would also be suitable for a work made for small children. But we also get very poor attempts at tackling more serious subjects. Which makes it decidedly not for small children. And, ultimately, there are a lot of better portrayals of the French Revolution in media. Like a Tale of Two Cities, The Scarlet Pimpernel, The Reign of Terror Serial from Doctor Who, The Glass Blowers and quite a few more. Rose of Versailles simply doesn't use its subject matter in a compelling way. Unless you really like boring melodrama. For myself, I have to give it a 3/10. Next week I'll look at Youjo Senki.

ROSE OF VERSAILLES (Anime TV Series)

After I completed Rose of Versailles, I was trapped in a limbo and wished to stay there.

This 40-episode anime is a good fictionalised version of French history, revolution and of the iconic but ill-fated Queen Marie Antoinette's life. For someone studying this subject, this is helpful in remembering certain points. Note that main characters Oscar Francois de Jarjayes—a girl her father raised as a man— and André Grandier are among the other fictional characters. Oscar and Andre, the very reason why I wanted time to stop.

I like how Riyoko Ikeda masterfully put together the voices of the people and of ... the crown, showing both sides of the coin for us to sympathise with both—or hate both—and understand deeper whatever it is that's hidden; unlike other classic novels/anime out there which only clearly voices out the barks and cries of one side to mislead and gain sympathy. Of course, as I aforementioned, this is fictionalised but it sure can make us think, analise and realise that not all things we hear and see are what they actually are. Oftentimes, rumours are plainly rumours.

Now, please pardon me for especially mentioning my impression about Queen Marie Antoinette based on this story. To her, she was a queen with her beauty, decorations and manners. She was too absorbed on being The Queen. I say Queen Marie Antoinette was kind, indeed; but capricious, immature... a failure—the cause of hunger, deaths and revolution. She innocently added fuel to the fire and it exploded. Queen Marie Antoinette was destroyed by her own whims. Nevertheless, I pity her.

Rose of Versailles is deep, full of conspiracies and scandals, upsetting to watch... the romance is heart-rending and tragic, too! This is for those who like classic and/or historical anime such as "Daddy Long Legs", "Les Miserables", "Trapp Family", and many others.

Overall Rating: 10/10 (A masterpiece)

Here she is, the Grandmother of all Classic Shoujo. The fact Rose of Versailles doesn't get added onto all time best classic anime lists is a crying shame because truly it feels like it established all the shoujo conventions that we see trickle down through the decades.

While initially the story seeks to follow Marie Antoinette over time it switches over to following a new and original protagonist, Oscar Francois de Jarjayes who is a woman born to a man who wants a son so desperately that he raises his daughter as a man. She is the template every single bifauxnen follows for the next fifty ... years. She is a strong, determined, highly androgynous woman who undergoes massive character development across the forty something episodes. Turning from a loyal soldier of the French aristocrats to a leader of the French Revolution all while dealing with the ramifications of how she was raised and her role in this world.

With its age it can be a little bit... Speed Racer in the way it is shot but frankly that just increases the charm. It's a product of its time aesthetically and for the best. The old timey anime charm enhances its appeal.

-Spoiler Free Review-

Rose of Versailles is a historical drama that was made in the 70's. That's right - the 70s with its distinct shoujo character designs, dated animation techniques, and some music with hints of disco. In an age flooded with 1080p productions employing the use of advanced computer animation, this anime's age might be a turn-off for those looking for the latest eye candy. However, this anime excels in the holy trinity of visual narrative; that is, characters, plot, and direction. Anybody who values these aspects should not miss this anime, as they lead the way to a powerful experience rarely ... achieved by fiction.

The historical drama is set in pre-Revolution France and primarily delves into the events taking place in Versailles, the palace of the royal family and high nobles; and greater Paris during the 20-or-so years before the French Revolution. The setting is crucial to the plot of this anime, as many of the characters are linked to the course of the nation. The author was able to do a superb job in bringing this world to life - detailed artwork excellently depicts Versailles as a palace of decadence, dripping with opulence and filled with haughty and scheming nobles; and Paris is successfully given the feel of being a vast city of struggling commoners in which the fire of revolution is beginning to kindle. Most of the time, there did not seem to be a dearth of effort in creating detailed backdrops of palaces, slums, manors, and open plains; and the results are more than solid, especially considering the fact that this anime is over 3 decades old. The background music was also able to successfully enhance the atmosphere with fitting pieces, ranging from classical pieces to strings (harpsichord/piano) solos to faster beats, depending on the scene.

The vibrant and detailed world created in this anime sets a grand stage for the large-scale plot this anime entails. The story revolves around Oscar de Jarjayes, the youngest daughter of a French nobleman and military general. Despite being a girl, Oscar was raised as male due to her father's yearning for a son. As such, Oscar is trained in and excels at conventionally masculine activities of warfare, and eventually enters the French military military world. When Oscar is appointed as the royal guard of none other than Marie Antoinette, the future Queen of France, we are introduced to the world of drama, subterfuge, power struggles, affairs, manipulation, and opposing ideologies that exists within Versailles and a turbulent Paris. The characters hail from all walks of life and the viewer is able to see the personae and mindsets behind the movers and shakers of the nation and revolution. The first half of the show unfortunately has somewhat of a soap opera feel to it, as it often focuses on contrived power struggles and conflicts, with characters often merely reacting to the next bad guy. But make no mistake, these ruthless power games within high society of France do play a role in the greater scheme of things and give us insight into the personae of the characters, and things begin to truly unfold by the second half of the series. The exploits of the cast of characters, including monarchs, nobles, revolutionaries, and military officers, are interesting in themselves as they are tied into the nation-wide transgressions within pre-revolution France. However, it is the well developed characters and their relationships that serve as the strongest feature of this anime.

Many of the characters in this anime are fleshed out and unique, even including side characters. This leads to a robust cast of characters, each with his/her own, believable personality. The 70s artwork does a solid job of bringing the main cast to life and each character is drawn fittingly - from the elaborate and gaudy attire of the nobles, to the large and shining eyes betraying emotion, to the dashing portraits of young nobles and revolutionaries, to the haughty faces of power-hungry nobles - some might consider the art too dated or extravagant, but I thought that it added a certain theatrical charm to the anime - a charm that I found pretty tasteful. In fact, Rose of the Versailles reminded me of watching an opera, as it contained plenty of melodrama. One might claim that melodrama is cheap and a common pitfall of shoujo anime. However, Rose of Versailles is able to flawlessly implement all of this within the atmosphere of a pre-revolution France defined by extremes. Detailed, still shots and close ups are used to build up a sense of heightened emotion. Much of the melodrama seems natural and even illustrative of the high society of Versailles. The result is a powerful experience for the viewer achieved by -the- defining aspect of this show - the character development of Oscar and her relationship with her stable hand and friend since childhood, Andre.

The author masterfully tells the story of Oscar over the course of decades, during which we not only see a deep and well-rounded character, but how she develops . Oscar is a character who, underneath her calm and steely appearance, is torn by a number of conflicts from within. These conflicts are far from simple and generic as she is faced with a multitude of issues stemming from her gender, family duties, personal feelings, passions, friendships, and the mounting revolution. We see Oscar as a character who has stood out, even since birth due to her unconventional upbringing, from the rest of all sides of society. By later half of the series, the viewer is left pandering to know which path Oscar is going to choose and to which realizations Oscar will arrive at.

All in all, this anime is a drama done right, with the added benefit of a portrayal, with artistic license, of course, of the French Revolution. It feels complete from beginning to end and the pacing is top-notch. The character actions and relationships are flawlessly intertwined with the turbulent time period around which the French Revolution occurred. This anime flirted with masterpiece rating, but the inferior (but still solid) first half and some narration gripes made me dock a point - so I give it a 9/10.

To anyone hesitant about the shoujo genre - it involved plenty of action and the harsh, vicious aspects of war and power struggle to satisfy even a seinen/action fan like myself.

9/10

They make magnificent cheese in France, and Japan can make a magnificently cheesy anime set in France. It's best to approach 'Rose of Versailles' the same way one would approach a Rafael Sabatini novel or the Errol Flynn 'Robin Hood' movie from the 1930's, as swashbuckling adventures, melodramatic romances, and cackling villains abound (oh, and somebody spilled a truckload of shojo glitter). This legendary anime is a grand old time.

'Rose of Versailles' is licensed by Nozomi Entertainment and can be legally streamed on Crunchyroll.

-Story-

Melodrama done right. I know I've lambasted other series for being melodramatic, but those cases involved situations where there were inexplicable tone ... shifts and all the scenery-chewing ham came from nowhere. 'RoV' incorporates its over-the-top emotions right from the beginning, and sets the stage properly so that the viewer is willing to accept it (it's a bit easier to get away with melodrama when the French Revolution is raging around you than it is in say, an average modern Japanese high school). When the first multi-episode arc centers around two pampered girls who are "totally not going to talk to each other", there's a limit to how seriously the story can be taken. But in spite of this, 'RoV' isn't completely without depth: for all it's Shojo-y tropes I personally saw some deconstruction of the idea of "Follow Your Heart". How? In this series, characters solely following their emotions often cause problems, not solutions, so I saw a message of " emotions are important, but it's critical to have some good sense as well". Go in expecting something along the lines of "Captain Blood" and this story will be thoroughly enjoyable.

-Art-

I have a personal preference for the old cell-animated look, the more washed-out colors have a certain vibe I find pleasing. It is tough to judge older animation as technological limitations made it effectively impossible for a lengthy series to have a level of quality comparable to modern productions, although I didn't see many still-frames or reused shots in 'RoV'. Aesthetically, however, the series excels. Backdrops have a high level of detail, character designs are appealing and distinct, and while there are plenty of traditional shojo special effect shots (in several scenes it looks like a glitter truck crashed headlong into a flower truck) there are some special dramatic shots that are very appealing (such as one image rendered entirely in red and black). Much like the story, if you appreciate the old-school stuff the art is excellent.

-Sound-

English sub only, with Japanese voice actors who do a good job of conveying the tone of their characters (at least to a native English speaker with next to no knowledge of the Japanese language). The soundtrack uses a large number of Baroque pieces, which is period appropriate. For more dramatic scenes it will use a variation of the OP, which is a combination of 18th century and modern influences. The ED uses a relaxing, fade-out vibe and is fine but completely forgettable. The OST has fairly limited range, but no complaints here.

-Characters-

Ham and cheese all wrapped up in croissant. The villains are deliciously over-the-top, often stopping to talk to themselves about how "I control the King, nothing can stop me now!" or "My noble rank makes me untouchable! Those peasant swine exist only to serve me!" The protagonists, on the other hand, will often make grand proclamations of loyalty or condemnations of injustice. Nobody is particularly subtle, everything they do is turned up to 11 and you KNOW what they're feeling or thinking at the time. And it's all played so unapologeticly straight that you just can't hate them for it. The characters aren't overly deep or complex, but they are entertaining and even surprisingly endearing at times.

*Bit of character trivia: Marie Antoinette was originally the main character in the manga, but by the time the TV adaptation was in production Lady Oscar had become so overwhelmingly popular that the story was tweaked so that the anime would be told from HER perspective.

-Enjoyment-

If you go in expecting a historical melodrama, you'll absolutely love 'Rose of Versailles'. As a fan of historical fiction this series played into a lot of my biases and I found myself having to stop myself from binge watching. Also, given how influential this anime is, any fan looking to be seen as serious and knowledgeable should check this series out.

-Overall-

Sometimes you don't want an intricate work delving deeply into psychology and philosophy, sometimes you just want a simple, straightforward good time. To use an example from American cowboy films, 'Tombstone' may not be anywhere near as deep as 'The Searchers' but darn if it isn't incredibly entertaining. 'Rose of Versailles' is like that. It's an old school swashbuckling adventure combined with an old school Shojo romance, and it doesn't care what you think about that. Let other anime handle in-depth exploration of life in a certain time period, or debate complex philosophies and religious questions, or follow characters with more twists and turns than a mountain road. Lady Oscar and company are bombastic, melodramatic, unapologetic, and thoroughly entertaining.

Age hasn't necessarily treated it well, but Rose of Versailles remains a compelling and gripping viewing experience for even modern, jaded audiences, as long as they enter into it equipped with a bit of patience, a fondness or tolerance for heavy-handed sentimentality, and open-mindedness with regards to their entertainment.

Rose of Versailles tells the story (with a few deviations) of four people, living in the years leading up to the French Revolution. Two of them, Marie Antoinette and Hans Axel von Fersen, are fictionalized but nonetheless fairly 'real' portrayals of their historical counterparts. The other two, Oscar Francois de Jarjeyes and Andre Grandier, are (almost) wholly ... fictional characters who serve as sort of the emotional anchor for the series. Much of what happens, whether it is straight from history or an invention of the writers, is processed through these two characters before reaching the audience.

I'm assuming that everyone who is reading this review already knows enough history to be aware of the fates of Antoinette and Fersen--just in case though, I'll avoid talking about them, other than to say that the writers do a fine job of making both characters sympathetic and very human. Antoinette is not the self-absorbed pleasure seeker here that she is so often portrayed as, and Fersen in particular benefits from thorough character development and a well-rounded depiction. Of all the characters though, it is Oscar who steals the show. The series begins with her (yes, her) birth into a prestigious military family. Her father, depressed by his lack of sons who he can pass on his family's military heritage to, decides at the moment of her birth to raise her as a boy and as his successor. Flash forward a few years and we see the results: Oscar has grown into a beautiful and somewhat haughty woman who is tremendously skilled in the ways of combat, and whose mannerisms and bearing straddle an interesting middle ground between femininity and masculinity. If you're familiar with Revolutionary Girl Utena, Oscar is very much a prototype for the titular heroine of that particular series--not only somewhat in disposition, but even, to some degree, in character design.

Oscar quickly lands herself a commanding position in the royal guards, becoming a loyal friend and servant to Antoinette, and shortly thereafter finding herself ensnared in the high-society power-games that dominate life in the Court of Versailles. For roughly the first half of the series most of the plot arcs revolve around the emotionally-heightened 'combat' between the French nobles. And it is, to say the least, a bit silly. Shojo tropes are in full bloom here: expect lots of dramatic musical cues, name-calling, wide-eyed close-ups, sparkles, and pastel freeze frames. None of it is any worse than that which still happens regularly in modern girls' anime, but it is significantly clunkier, and is further stilted by the fact that it's all supposed to be happening in 1700s France. It's certainly not going to be to everyone's tastes: you either will just have to deal with it or learn to love it for its cheesiness and narmy charm.

Things improve markedly as the half-way point of the series approaches. Oscar, with the help of her friend (and stable boy) Andre begins to take note of the plight of the commoner and is introduced to the would-be revolutionaries who will rise up against the rule of the nobles in the not-so-distant future. Oscar's loyalties are severely tested, and as the eve of revolution draws near, she has to make impossible decisions about who requires her sword arm the most: the common people of France or Antoinette and her court. This second half of the series borders on the masterful, marred only by some mistimed displays of melodrama and over-the-top sentimentality. These small flaws aside, one couldn't ask for more from any anime series: incredibly well-developed characters (it's remarkable how well the writers do with showing these characters grow over a couple decades' worth of time), brisk pacing, a lovely (and sad) romantic subplot, and a final arc of episodes from which few of the characters, if any, will remain unscathed; it's a complete package. It makes for serious edge-of-your seat viewing, and is topped off with a shockingly cold epilogue that is easily the most brutal and tragic concluding chapter of any 'girly' series I've ever watched. The last ten or so episodes are practically an emotional holocaust--even if you could care less about the interpersonal relationships between the primary characters at this point (you monster!), the large scale and clever interweaving of historical events into the plot should pretty much guarantee that you marathon Rose of Versailles's last fourth.

Technically speaking, Rose of Versailles has aged pretty poorly in some aspects of its presentation. The score ranges from the laughably bad to the fairly decent, and the animation quality is all over the place. (Though it is surprisingly fluid and well-choreographed during the action sequences.) Nonetheless, I think the art design and attention paid to period detail will impress most viewers, as will the character designs, once you embrace their old-school charm and get past how many times the same face design is used on a huge chunk of the cast. Oscar, in particular, is something of a marvel, with the animators masterfully hitting exactly the right notes that the character requires.

The team behind the series also puts her gender-bending to fantastic use, using it to satisfyingly explore gender politics and even (maybe?) same-sex relationships. They get a lot of comedic mileage out of Oscar too, particularly with regards to how the ladies of the court react to her. Less successful is the drama that they try to squeeze out of her gender-identity issues. Still, through it all, Oscar never suffers from being a plot-device; she remains a strong, believable character throughout, and it's easy to see how she's become such an icon. She really leaves a huge impression, and has very quickly become one of my favorite anime heroines, keeping company with Utena, Hawkeye, Holo, and Kino.(Modern anime needs less Tohrus and more Oscars, that much is for certain.)

Another thing that has aged very well, in my opinion, is the Japanese voice acting. While required by the script to overact occasionally, most of the principal cast leave strong impressions, as do a lot of the minor characters. As if things couldn't get any better, each member of the cast even significantly steps up their performance as the series moves towards its finale, bringing a lot of earned pathos to their roles. If only a more subtle editing touch had been used during a few key scenes, I would say that the ending to this series would be pretty much absolutely flawless--which is something that one cannot say frequently about the ending chapters of too many series, period.

Not only is its influence on modern shojo totally massive, but Rose of Versailles tells a fantastic historical tale in its own right, and does us all the great favor of populating it with characters who are a joy to spend time with. There are some significant missteps along the way (an almost complete lack of anything resembling subtlety is the biggest blow against it, in my opinion), but it nonetheless possesses remarkable power, and will really resonate with the right audience. It's not just a good series considering the time in animation history that it comes from; it's a good series period, and is perfectly capable of being compared favorably to many excellent modern series. Hugely recommended.

I loved this Anime! it had such drama, the kind that current anime doesn't have for some reason. The Anime itself (Rose of Versailles) was made in the 70's which explains alot about the artwork that doesn't resemble the anime we recognize today. But overall the bacground art and character designs are quite exceptionable for the time it was made! I enjoyed it nonetheless. other than the art I would say the story was a masterpiece! a story centered around the life of Oscar Francois de Jarjayes, Marie Antoinette, and how it all boils down to the French Revolution! It kept me on the ... edge of my seat between the subtle romance, and the plots to ruin the French Dynasty, and the uprising. I really enjoyed it I can say I wouldn't have ended it differently although the ending is sad. I guess thats history.... Viva la lady Oscar!