Rose of Versailles

[DB]

Here we go with the series that put the 'Sho' in 'Shoujo'. It was made back in 1979, when John Travolta's big film was Saturday Night Fever, Michael Jackson was black, and most of today's otaku weren't even born yet.

Curiously, our story tales place in France in the years leading up to the French Revolution. Our heroine is Oscar Francois De Jarjayes. She has a guy's name because when she was born, her prestigious family had a long storied history in the French military. Her father, tired of ending up with only girls, decided that when his latest offspring turned out to be a girl as well, decided gender was no obsticle. All he had to do was give her a man's name and raise her as he would a boy.

And we wondered why the monarchy was overthrown.

Cut ahead to years later as Oscar reaches the age of 18. While everyone  that knows of her knows she's a lady, still all the men and women swoon in the presense of the most bishie heroine of them all. Her righthand man, stableboy, childhood friend, and romantic interest (well, everyone but Oscar knows he likes her) Andre, is at our heroine's side at all times. He's only a servent, and has no right to hit on Oscar, so he remains quietly on the sidelines, always there for her when she needs someone to help. Not that Oscar needs help, she's a master fencer and marksmen. In fact, she's so good, she's made captain of the royal bodyguard, and is assigned as the primary bodyguard to the recenltly arrived Marie Anttioinette.

Ohh, you know this isn't going to end well.

The series follows the life of not only Oscar, but the rise and fall of Marie and the French Monarchy. While historically accurate for the most part, the series takes a very romantisized look at Marie 'If the peasents have no bread, let them eat cake' Antionette, but hey, it's Shoujo. You got to emphasize the romance.  Just wouldn't be shoujo otherwise.

As I said, this series follows Oscar's life, her trials and tribulations. I won't give away the ending, or even the ride to get there, for it actually turns out to be fun. While I'm no big shoujo fan, I enjoy it every now and then as a change of pace. And this was an enjoyable change.  And educational, incorporating lots of the actual events and figures from the era, rather than many fictional ones. There's romance, bloodshed, swords and guns. All in all a fun series.

There are some drawbacks. Simply put, most of the bad guys are historical figures, so you know what their eventual will be as soon as they are introduced, reducing tension. Also villains leave and are never heard from again for the most part. Duke Orlean is the main bad guy early on, but after about 13 eps, he disappears for the most part. Ditto with some of the later villains. They just disappear after a while, as though the have  a limit of three evil plans, then most stop and make way for the next villain. There is a bit of repetition in the series, but events do move forward, if somewhat slowly from time to time.

The animation is dated, because it was made back in the seventies. But its good for its era. It's 40 episodes long, which is an unusual number by today's standards, but worth it, IMO. I give it 6 out of 10.