This Japanese/French coproduction, released after the manga but before the anime, is hands down, one the WORST movies ever made. To say the it su**s is a compliment: even one star is too much! For the fans of the manga and the anime it's literally insulting in every aspect, a bad parody that takes itself way too seriously. Maccoll was a "scream queen" in some italian Lucio Fulci's horror movies an she definitely should've kept doing that: here she thinks she's a real actress and it's our turn as spectators to scream horrified... plus she doesn't resemble even vaguely the stunningly beautiful warrior goddess portrayed by Riyoko Ikeda (in the manga) and Shingo Araki (in the anime) as she's way too fat and too short for the role, so much that she needs help to mount on her horse every time! Her uniform is poor and ridiculous and the blonde wig makes the ensemble even more laughable: it looks like a very cheap cosplay, rather than a costume of an international movie! Demy is an incapable director and as a a scriptwriter is ten times worse: the whole story is just a flat political apology focused on the contrast between nobles and poor people, with no insight into the characters. They all look like a bunch of brainless idiots: Oscar seems a pathetic, frustrated housewife, accidentally dropped into the uniform, more than a revolutionary heroine. The cast is as incapable as the director: the only one who at least tries to make a decent work is Barry Stokes, playing André, but the script doesn't help him at all. Even Michel Legrand, who is usually a not bad composer and has some experience with this genre, this time fails with a boring soundtrack that has no possible way to compete with the beautiful anime's one.
