"Berusaiyu no bara" (1979)TV series

Directors:

Osamu Dezaki
Tadao Nagahama

Writers:

Riyoko Ikeda (story)
Yoshimi Shinozaki (writer)

Release Date:

10 October 1979 (Japan)

Genre:

Animation | Drama | Romance

Plot Keywords:

Manga | Based On Comic | Anime | French Revolution

Cast

Reiko Tajima	...	Oscar Francois de Jarjayes (voice)
Yû Mizushima	...	Andre (voice)
Nachi Nozawa	...	Hans-Axel von Fersen (voice)
Hisashi Katsuda	...	Louis XV (voice)
Yoshito Yasuhara	...	Louis XVI (voice)
Miyuki Ueda	...	Marie Antoinette (voice)
Rihoko Yoshida	...	Rosalie (voice)
Noriko Ohara	...	Narrator (voice)
Keaton Yamada	...	Alain (voice)
Akio Nojima	...	Bernard (voice)
Yoneko Matsukane	...	Jeanne Valois Contesse de la Motte (voice)
Reiko Mutô	...	Duchesse de Polignac (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nadine Delanoë	...	Oscar (voice: French version)

Also Known As:

The Rose of Versailles

Runtime:

Japan:24 min (40 episodes)

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Color:

Color

Company:

Tokyo Movie Shinsha (TMS)

Movie Connections:

Remade as Lady Oscar (1979)

Soundtrack:

Ai no Hikari to Kage

French beauty

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...

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"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