Acclaimed as one of the greatest shoujo stories to be exported in any format from Japan, the essential anime known as The Rose of Versailles has finally come to the United States on R1 DVD.
What They Say:
General Jarjayes – so desperate for a son to preserve the family name and noble standing – names his newborn daughter “Oscar” and chooses to raise her as a boy.
Fourteen years later, Oscar is a masterful duelist, marksman, and the newly appointed Commander of the French Royal Guards. Her first task: to protect Marie Antoinette, who is engaged to the French prince and future king, Louis-Auguste.
But even though the planned marriage should provide both countries with some much needed peace and prosperity, the French court is a dangerous place – and Marie’s youthful naïveté makes her an easy target for those who wish to see the monarchy overthrown. Oscar soon finds herself both defending Marie’s reputation from those that seek to discredit her and protecting her life from those that wish to kill her.
The Review:
Audio:
The only track available here is the Japanese 2.0 Dolby stereo which sounded clear with no distortions of any kind.
Video:
Beautiful picture optional yellow subtitles with black edges for definition. Easy reading on these.
Packaging:
The cardboard container box presents beautiful paintings from the series with each separate disc in its own plastic case alongside even more paintings. There are 4 DVDs, each containing five episodes.
Menu:
The menus are pretty as each individual episode has its own page containing separate artwork, as well as options for prologue, opening sequence, 2 parts and the closing, while a portion of the opening theme plays in the background. Nice work here.
Extras:
Not much here besides textless opening and closing sequences, as well as some trailers.
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
For the better part of three decades, anime fans in the underground scene as well as the current mainstream scene have wondered one thing: will The Rose of Versailles ever be available legally in the United States.
It’s easy to understand why people became drawn to this series after watching it. From the time when Oscar is born, we come to understand the struggles she comes to have as a young woman groomed to be a military heir in a male-dominated society. Her father treats her completely as a young man in both praise and punishment, giving no quarter due to her gender. (He’d tried 5 times beforehand to have a male heir with no success, so his frustration comes through at times). The first episode exemplifies this when General Jarjayes puts Oscar into a duel against another officer’s son to see who will earn a prominent position as a junior commander. However, Oscar privately challenges this young man outside the event (which was to have been viewed by other officers and soldiers) and the General is furious with her, almost wanting to withdraw her from the selection. The news she defeated her opponent handily however spares her and propels her into a fortunate, yet life-altering situation.
Oscar winds up becoming protector to Lady Marie Antoinette, who is on her way to meet her fiancée, future-King Louis XVI. However, a secret group looking to take down the monarchy and end the tenuous peace France has developed with other European countries at this time tries to ingratiate an impostor and kidnap Lady Antoinette. Oscar prevents this and exposes the infiltrator, becoming quite the hero to Lady Antoinette in the process.
The future Queen is depicted as being a generally nice person but rather naïve in many respects, never wanting to marry or handle royal duties. When she greets Louis XVI, she feels absolutely nothing for him, even though he himself is a kind and gentle sort (and a bit heavy as well). The Lady’s attentions are often focused on Count Axel Von Fersen, a dashing soldier who is rising through the ranks, while hiding his own romantic feelings for her. All the while though, she keeps focusing on her admiration and affection for Oscar (as does every other female in the royal court, it seems).
Oscar meanwhile, simply wants to do right as a loyal friend to Antoinette and Louis XVI, by preventing schemes against the couple. Many manipulators appear along the way and become entwined in the royal court conspiracies, though the story skillfully takes time to develop their involvement. A pair of women named Jeanne and Rosalie are prime examples of this coming from opposite ends. Jeanne recruits a lovestruck accomplice into helping her into the favor of the royals by any underhanded means necessary. Rosalie, on the other hand, is a poor girl who comes to seek vengeance within the court after a tragedy befalls her family.
Like I said, the story by Riyoko Ikeda expands into several lives but it never loses its focus. Oscar’s belief in loyalty, friendship and justice remain a constant throughout the story, and these principles are tested quite often. Alongside her lifelong friend and servant Andre, Oscar’s skills as a soldier are also developed through the series even as she deals with more betrayals than Downtown Abbey and Dangerous Liaisons combined. It’s really interesting to see an outside author’s perspective on French history (and some of America’s) played out here after what’s apparently been some extensive research. Ikeda’s original 10-volume manga was focused on Lady Antoinette’s rise but the Oscar character became more popular as the reader’s view into the past history, so she was made the main focus.
It’s equally interesting to see the shoujo-ai themes play out where Oscar is concerned as she’s been made one of the icons of gender role reversal in anime, much like Princess Knight before her as well as Revolutionary Girl Utena would be many years later. The sentiments are handled naturally as she embodies freedom from social graces her gender would’ve imposed, thus Oscar’s gaining so many admirers and detractors over time. Naturally a ton of melodrama is displayed throughout, as are the blonde hairstyles. (Really, every other female here has so much blonde to them, it can be trying to tell them apart some times.) The lavish lifestyles of the court are prominent throughout this half of the show (and are a stark contrast when the lives of average French citizens are shown in later episodes).
Directors Tadao Nagahama (Star of the Giants) and Osamu Dezaki (Space Adventure Cobra) amped up the melodrama and feminine aesthetics, while adapting the manga, though with somewhat different techniques. Nagahama’s style was minimalist, often doing stilted characters being slid around at times with accompanying voiceovers to help simulate implied movement except at key points of action where there was full animation. In addition, there were interesting color and background manipulations for emotional effect. Although Dezaki didn’t take over directing duties until close to midway through the show, this style seems to emulate his work on the shoujo sports drama Aim For The Ace.
However, Dezaki eventually did take over eventually and the animation improved dramatically, with some of his trademark cinematic techniques and patented “postcard method,” where all action would stop on a still painting or sketch to simulate dramatic effects. (His film “The Professional: Golgo 13” remains the greatest example of this technique available to American audiences.) Much of this was enhanced greatly with animation work and character designs by Shingo Araki (Saint Seiya), Akio Sugino (Black Jack OAV series) and Michi Himeno (Gegege No Kitaro). They worked together to emulate Ikeda’s designs which look like they’re straight out of a French history museum. A lot of the artwork is reminiscent of Le Chevalier D’eon, or perhaps Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo (minus the computer models that is) with every aspect being so regal, colorful and exaggerated.
It’s a testament to Ikeda’s writing strength that a show geared for young females utilizing these elements can command attention of an older male such as myself and many other fans outside the target audience long after its initial broadcast. The intensity can be a bit thick at times with the music and metaphorical imagery, but the story is very solid and compelling. At the very least it can inspire one to study up on history in various aspects, as well as other parts of human existence.
In Summary
It’s honestly been a pleasure to have an opportunity to review one of the longest standing treasures of anime fandom in a legal and well-produced format. Until now, it was exported to many other countries in Latin America as well as R1 DVD in France under the title ‘Lady Oscar.’ As it has finally come to the United States, I’m very much looking forward to set 2 with the conclusion of the Rose of Versailles series.
Features:
Japanese Language 2.0 Dolby, Optional English subtitles, Textless Opening and Closing sequences, Trailers for other Nozomi Entertainment titles
Content Grade: A
Audio Grade: A
Video Grade: A
Packaging Grade: A+
Menu Grade: A
Extras Grade: B
Released By: Right Stuf / Nozomi Entertainment
Release Date: May 2013
MSRP: $49.99
Running Time: 480 Minutes
Video Encoding: 480i/p MPEG-2
Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
Review Equipment:
Panasonic 1080P HDTV, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080p, Marantz stereo receiver
