The Rose of Versailles is a classic shoujo series that tells the story of the events leading up to, and including, the French Revolution. The story revolves around Oscar Francois, officer in the Royal French Guards (who happens to be a woman raised as a man in order to continue her family's illustrious military tradition), and the woman she is charged to protect - Princess(Queen) Marie Antoinette. Starting from their idyllic youth as the Princess first learns what love is (albeit not in the form of her husband but of the dashing Swedish prince, von Fersen) and Oscar first learns what it means to command an army unit to the tumultuous events leading up to the French Revolution, Rose of Versailles covers many years and many events, many based on history.

Story & Playability

The Versailles in the title, "The Rose of Versailles" does indeed refer to France. And it's not used in a "wow, French is a cool language to make up a title in", this story really is about France.
The Rose of Versailles is a somewhat romantic, fanciful and melodramatic retelling of the French Revolution from the perspective of the nobility penned by noted shoujo author, Riyoko Ikeda (Orpheus no Mado, Oniisama E).
In a nutshell, The Rose of Versailles explores the events leading up to and including the French Revolution. As a shoujo title, there is a lot of romance (both fulfilled and unrequited), character development, LOTS OF SPARKLES, and a surprising amount of action as Oscar fights her way to keep the Princess (later Queen) safe. (Also, with the backdrop of a revolution happening, there are some pretty exciting events.) The Rose of Versailles is truely a shoujo classic, with something that should please just about any fan, especially any shoujo fan.
Our hero is Oscar Francois, a young, up-and-coming officer in the Royal French Guards. However, she is also a woman, who has taken on the roles of a man in order to maintain her family's strong military tradition. As a member of the Royal Guards, Oscar is tasked with keeping Marie Antoinette, the new Crown Princess formerly of Austria, safe. The story begins when Oscar and Marie are around 14 years old and ends at the end of the French revolution, covering the many years of intrigue, love and heartbreak, royal scandals, and of course, the growing resentment of the peasantry against the French nobility. Although based on numerous historical events, including the Affairs of the Necklace, Antoinette's affair with Hans Axel von Ferson (a Swedish prince), the Tennis Court Oath, etc, the story is very much shoujo in its pacing and emphasis on character development, melodrama, and complicated love polygons.
The anime stays surprisingly true to the manga, although it generally tries to keep its focus on Oscar and Marie Antoinette, whereas the manga tends to explore more the relationship between lesser characters like Rosalie and Bernard, or the various members of Paris Guards. Both the anime and manga are fairly long (the anime is 40 episodes and the manga is 9 volumes plus several side story volumes) which gives Ikeda a lot of time to both flesh out the characters and keep pace with the changing events of history. Also, unlike many manga, The Rose of Versailles is a story that unfolds over many years, and the story does a good job in maintaining each character's personalities (even as they evolve) over this long stretch of time.

Rating: 9

Graphics

When I refer to Rose of Versailles as a classic, I don't mean it's a modern classic. I mean it's a CLASSIC. The manga was published in the late 70's, and I believe the anime aired shortly afterwards. Ikeda's art style for Rose of Versailles is definately of the old-school shoujo style with really large, round eyes, but not a lot of emphasis on tones. Her style switches from lanky (when people are serious) to cutesy caricatures (when they're not.) I must admit, despite her attempts to dress her characters in period French costumes, THEY DID NOT HAVE BELLBOTTOMS I SWEAR. Ikeda's costuming looks like it's straight out of the 70s, which, well, they did. But it doesn't stop it from being a little disconcerting. Ikeda has a fairly simplistic, clean style that won't wow people who love CLAMP, Arina Tanemura or Watase Yuu, but it works. You do have to get used to it a little, but it works. Ikeda also does a good job of slowly growing the characters from their round-faced youthful appearance in volume 1 to their mature (and in some cases battle-hardened) personas at the end of the Revolution. When you're reading it, you don't really notice the difference, but when you look at them in the first book and then in the third, and the fifth, and the seventh - they really do change a lot. She does a good job making this transition natural.
Unfortunately, the anime is very aged. Just rewatching it these past few months you can see it's old, and not in a very good way. The art style of the anime is quite like other series of the time with the sparkles in the eyes and the very simple color palettes. Reliance on speed lines and a LOT of reused footage comes with the territory. Also, LOTS of flowers and a far too heavy reliance on ZOMG SPARKLES!! But, well, it IS shoujo. Let's just say you shouldn't be watching this for the art. This is really about story and characters, and take more then makes up for it.

Rating: 7

Sound

Just like the art, the sound is where this series really shows its age. Thankfully they do incorporate a bit of classical to help set the scene in the proper period, but otherwise the music is a rather bland mixture of, well, boring background music. Also, they reuse the music in almost every scene. Every dance, they use the same music. Every fighting scene, they use the same music. Every time Marie Antoinette gets sparkly, they use the same music. Every time something dark and dramatic happens, they use the same music.
The ending theme is a rather insipid love ballad that rather grates on my nerves (mostly because half the episodes end in cliffhangers, and I'd rather be fast-forwarding to the next episode then have to sit through the end credits). However, I must say I am incredibly fond of the opening theme. It's much more dramatic with a strong beat and helps set the series up as an interesting, fast-paced sort of show. Plus, Lareine put out a Rock version of it some time ago and that version is just awesome (I used it to make a music video, even!)
Vocal work is in general quite strong. What impresses me most is how the voice actors slowly change their voices as their character grows up. It's subtle, and it's not something you'd notice if you were watching the episodes in sequence, but if you watch an early episode and then a much later one, you can definately tell a difference in the character's maturity. It really helps bring the point across that this is a saga that takes years to tell, and these people are aging before your eyes.
Still, as I said with the art, if you're watching this for the music, you must be crazy. This show is not about its sound effects and music.

Rating: 6

Fun

I will heartily admit that the Rose of Versailles, along with Escaflowne and Kino no Tabi, is one of my most favored series of all time. It's got it all: an exciting cast of characters, intrigue, lots of sword fights, love triangles (or worse!) and the unique period setting all blend together into a very attractive package. It's not something you could rewatch frequently, as it is a long series, and rather emotionally draining if you get caught up in each character's triumphs and trevails, but it's a great show to revisit every so often, like an old friend. For me, it never gets old in the retelling, because the story and the characters are so layered. Plus, for any fans of Utena, you can definately see where The Rose of Versailles influenced Chiho Saitou (the world revolution, the woman taking on a man's military role, etc.)
It's not hard to see why The Rose of Versailles is considered one of shoujo's great classics. Any shoujo fan should check it out. And even for folks who don't like shoujo... how can you not want to watch a show set in France where everyone speaks Japanese? And when they try to speak French... most amusing. I wouldn't mind checking this show out in French, I think it would be fun. Too bad no North American licensor has got this on their radar yet, because they're really allowing a vast audience to miss out on this wonderful show.

Rating: 9

Final Verdict

8.17 (good)

Reviewed by Tama-Neko, Apr 29, 2006

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