Todays review is for Riyoko Ikedas Rose of Versailles also known as Lady Oscar in Europe one of the most influential and revolutionary works of the 70s. Among the first major manga written and drawn by a woman and part of a series of projects that promoted shjo manga as a significant genre it owes its success to its unique setting iconic heroine Oscar and its radical for its time ideas. Note: parts of section 1.b could be considered as spoilers but someone knowledgeable in French history may already have an idea. Proceed with caution. 1. Lets start with the story and characters... Set in 18th century France before and during the French Revolution until the Reign of Terror it covers the entire life of Marie Antoinette the eponymous Rose. It is by no means a biography due to artistic license the cast is composed of both historical figures and fictional characters and Ikeda has taken artistic liberties in order to tie them together. a. If I were to summarize the work Id say its the entire lives and fates of two intertwined characters in a style similar to a bildungsroman. Lady Oscar Franois de Jarjayes is the uncrowned queen of this manga. Entirely fictional she is born the same year as Antoinette at Christmas as the youngest daughter of the Commander of the Royal Guards. Then she is assigned with a male gender role by her desperate father who has no sons in order to pass the inheritance of the de Jarjayes family. Fun fact: the practice of destining a girl for a male gender role was not unheard of around the world and not exclusively for inheritance reasons. I recommend browsing for burrnesha. Either way as soon as Oscar completes her basic military training she is tasked into protecting Marie Antoinette back then the Dauphine. She was conceived as a supporting character but due to reader feedback Ikeda turned her into a prominent character for a substantial part and in fact even rewrote the story to accomodate changes. Many themes are largely tied to her personal and interpersonal conflicts. She gets torn between loyalty to the royal family and an increasing realization of the hardships of commoners in comparison to the lavish lives of privileged classes. She also gets torn between fulfilling her duties as an honorary male officer and her emotional and carnal desires as a woman. Connected to her conflicts are her close relationships such as Marie Antoinette and Oscars best friend Andr Grandier. Oscar can be considered the soul of the manga. More are noted on section 2.. b. Marie Antoinette is an equally complex character and her character flaws drive an important part of the plot. She happens to be the original main character of the manga despite Oscars prominent role. She is also highly conflicted between her responsibilities as the queen and her carnal and emotional desires. Married to a loveless marriage to the last prerevolution Bourbon monarch she becomes infatuated with the Swedish nobleman Axel von Fersen. A tragic love story in nature and combined with a series of toxic influences lead her to increasingly succumbing to her personalitys worst aspects. Although sensitive and genuinely affectionate to her close people she always showed traits of a defiant pampered and stubborn noblewoman which combined with her hedonistic outlook on life leads her to isolate herself from court politics and into a lavish lifestyle that weighs on impoverished citizens ending being loathed as the autrichienne. And the rest is history. Outside the two women almost the entire cast has important roles to fulfill and their destinies are interwoven by the historical framework be it the Day of the Tiles or the Affair of the Diamond Necklace. Historical people relevant to French history are also featured such as Maximilien de Robespierre and the infamous Comtesse de la Motte. Even the very brief appearance of Napoleon Bonaparte is highly valuable in context. c. Before I proceed with the next section I must note something: by no means do I find the narrative to be even close to perfect. Ikeda has deeply invested into a meticulous and quite accurate presentation of the setting with its classist inequalities and other factors ailing contemporaries and remains mostly faithful to modern French history. The amount of research behind is staggering and also fondly reminded me of when I used to live in Paris. What I consider as a flaw however is a perhaps too shjo element: melodrama. Although touching at times at others it was overwhelming and detracted from enjoyment turning characters into needlessly theatrical and less convincing. I dont frown upon melodrama but here some moments made disharmonious contrasts with the otherwise very mature story. Also some character developments felt too sudden forced and spoonfed rather than gradual progressive and according to a show dont tell approach. I do understand though that this comes from Ikeda publishing her manga in a shjo magazine and from different priorities for her story. 2. Continuing with subjects In the previous section I mentioned that Oscar can be considered the soul of the manga. I certainly own an explanation. Other than being a highly complex character she is considered as an archetype of the strongwilled female lead present in other shjo works and offered Japanese female readers with a different role model to look on. https://i.pin.com/564x/d8/b8/62/d8b8624b06c6532a0b006040e93368a9.jpg Related to this is Oscars use as a vessel for societal ideas connected to feminism showcasing how both sexes living is damaged by fixed gender roles in a conservative classist and sexist society. Juxtaposed and contrasted with Marie Antoinette Oscar is also confined by limitations of duty and gender role but it is further interesting to note she can symbolically be considered as being further conflicted and confined by both her male and female traits. A personal opinion but her tale can be interpreted symbolically as bridging the male with the female self in order to turn into a more whole person. Love and sexuality also play an important part. The idea of a woman participating in passionate intimate relationships with men is combined with the idea of not losing her freedom and identity but rather embracing persons of the other sex as equals. Also connected to sexuality are elements of yuri evident in interactions concerning Oscar. She is often the object of infatuation of lady courtiers and Rosalie Lamorlire has openly expressed a crush for her. And obviously themes and influences drawn from French culture and history are omnipresent. Rose of Versailles is the prominent example of Ikedas work promoting and popularizing France and French culture in Japan others including Glory of Napoleon and Polish Secret History indirectly in the last case and in 2008 she received Frances Ordre national de la Lgion dhonneur. 3. And concluding with the artwork section... I consider the artwork to be the least strong element but by all means I found it decent. Most shjo art styles are not my cup of tea because of exaggerated character designs. Instead proportions are soft and the illustrations harmonious although the too bright eyes sometimes stick out like a sore thumb. Backgrounds are simply functional for most of the time but some were very elegant e.g. the environment of the court of Versailles. https://i.pin.com/564x/e3/86/ab/e386ab717ff1ece7658616685a3975bf.jpg Certain scene presentations were vivid and flowery literally sometimes and others were visceral and shocking for a shjo manga e.g. showcasing symptoms of smallpox in all their glory. By the way one of my favorite panels is based on a historical illustration for the Womens March on Versailles presented above. Hope you enjoyed my review