Lady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles

The series captured some sides of the French revolution in emotional way. Rather a long series (40 episodes) yet not boring. Lovely.

In France in 1755 a daughter was born to the famous royal guard family Jarjayes, named Oscar Francois de Jarjayes. Since her father desperately wanted a boy to continue his work as a royal guard to the queen, Oscar was raised as a boy and learned how to fight and fence. Oscar and her friend Andre were soon assigned to Versailles to protect Marie Antoinette. There they discovered a lot of affairs from madam du Barry, Jeanne de Motte and others. But Andre fell in love with Oscar and in 1789 the French revolution started, forcing them to choose if they want to be loyal to the queen or to the people...

-----

"Lady Oscar" is a real treat for all nostalgic anime fans and history lovers. Namely, despite the fact that Oscar is a fictional character, almost 90 % of it's story is actually ( loosely ) accurate. For example, I thought that the whole double crossing affair by Jeanne de Valois de la Motte, who dressed a prostitute as Marie Antoinette to trick cardinal Rohan into thinking that the queen likes him and bought an expensive necklace ( worth 200 million $ by todays standards ) on Antoinette's account, and who was later led to a court where she said that Antoinette was a lesbian, was just a gross exaggeration by the anime makers. But I was surprised to find out that not only did Jeanne really exist, but that this actually did happen!

Still, the real hero(ine) is Oscar, a fascinating woman always dressed as a man, and her tragic romance with Andre, which creates subtle gay themes. The director Osamu Dezaki directs this anime on the limit of fantasy, not caring so much about the structure or the sometimes dry events, as much as creating opulent, excellent characters. Oscar is the highlight of course, a woman trying to find her place in the world and history, choosing if she should be loyal to the rich queen or to the poor people.

Grade: 8/10

Rose of Versailles is a great anime to show young people to spark an interest in European history. For the most part, the events depicted are pretty accurate, and the portrait of the doomed young Queen is pretty much spot on. A lot is made of the lead character, Oscar, being "fictional," but it should be pointed out that her place in the drama of the French Revolution is not fictional -- the role she plays is the role of Lafayette. Lafayette did, of course, fight in the American Revolution, he was appointed to commander of the Garde Nationale when things turned bad, and he was protector of the Queen, and he did try to stop the violence and ultimately switched sides in the Revolution. He was also a glamorous figure who always appeared in uniform and was quite popular with the ladies at court. It works amazingly well to have a woman as Lafayette. A lot of interesting discussion can be generated by weighing the results of re-imagining him as a woman.

François Augustin Regnier de Jarjayes would have never imagined that he would be famous over 200 years later in far away country of Japan which he may have never heard of in his life. Oscar Francois de Jarjayes is the sixth daughter of Francois Augustine. He desired to have a son after having five daughters but fate has it that his sixth child was also a daughter. In his desire to have an aire, he raises his child as a man. As the result Oscar becomes a brigadier general in the royal guard. Yet, she is a woman (and rather good looking one at that ) which attracted the hearts of millions of Japanese teenage girls which made this comic a sensation in the '70s Japan. Rose of Versailles became a sensational hit as a comic, and an anime series. Now a classic, it still enjoys popularity to some degree in 21st century Japan. Few Japanese girls comic enjoys a classic status but this one is one of them.

This classic anime series, inspired in the comic books by Ryoko Ikeda, follows the story of Oscar François de Jarjayes, a girl raised as a man to become her father's successor as leader of the Palace Guards. The entire plot takes place in France, in the years before and during the French Revolution. The series combines historical characters with other that are merely fictional; however, the development of the story manages to be both convincing and realistic. All the characters are wonderfully portrayed: Their psychology and feelings are heavily explored during the series. Also, the character designs, despite being somewhat dated, are still stylish and beautiful to look at. The music is great too, and fits very well with the tone of the series.

"The Rose of Versailles" is one of the best animated series ever made, and it is still one of my favorites, I wish there were more anime like this.