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Rose of Versailles by Riyoko Ikeda Well-known as a classic manga and anime, Rose of Versailles tells the story of Lady Oscar François de Jarjeyes, a fictional young woman who was raised as a boy by her father. He was of a noble military family but could produce only daughters, so he decided that Oscar would be his "son." Oscar becomes the commander of the Royal Guards and a close friend of Marie Antoinette, but she finds herself caught up in the early events that lead to the Revolution. The Japanese title of the series is Berusaiyu no Bara, often known as Berubara for short.
The Manga (Comics) The manga version of Berubara was written by Riyoko Ikeda who is also well-known as the creator of Oniisama E! or Brother Dear Brother. The manga first published in 1972 and has been serialized in magazines as late as 1998. In the manga, Saint-Just is the cousin of the fictional Bernard Chatelet (rumored to represent Camille Desmoulins) and a close friend of Robespierre. He is young, fiery, and sometimes playful. Lady Oscar is somewhat enarmoured of him-- although at first she thinks he's a woman. Unfortunately, the manga version of Berubara has never been fully translated into English. The Japanese version of the manga is usually available on eBay. A "read-along" version of the Rose of Versailles manga is now available both on the web and on DVD from this page. It includes scanned images from the manga (with a few small animations) and spoken dialogue by Takarazuka voice actors. If you click on the button with Lady Oscar's picture, you can see a sample. As far as I know, Saint-Just's part will be enacted along with all the others, but as I can't understand a word of it, I won't be purchasing it to find out ;) Special thanks to Kaz for telling me about this. Click here for translated scans of Saint-Just's scenes in the Berubara manga.
The Anime (Animated Series) The anime version of Berubara first aired in 1979. Although it is not available commercially in the US, it has been fan-translated into English. Its view is primarily royalist, and much of the anime focuses on Marie Antoinette's life. (And really, unless you're completely cold-hearted, you start to feel for Antoinette. How can you hate this face?) The early episodes deal particularly with the antagonism of Madame du Barry and the Duke d'Orleans, and later episodes cover the Necklace Affair and Antoinette's love for Count Fersen. Although Lady Oscar is Antoinette's dearest friend, Oscar is something of a mediator between the aristos and the the citizens. For all intents, Berubara ends with the fall of the Bastille. Saint-Just is much different than in the manga and is portrayed as a terrorist who constantly defies Robespierre's orders. A DVD-quality, fansubbed torrent of all 40 regular Berubara episodes may be downloaded from this site; the link is near the bottom of the page. (There is a 41st episode called "Rose of Versailles and the Women" that focuses on the main female characters in the series and is composed of clips from other episodes. However, I do not have this episose and have not seen it.) Click here to watch my anime music video featuring Saint-Just in Berubara.
The Movie Please be aware that this description contains spoilers. In 1978 in a joint production by France and Japan, Berubara was made into a live-action movie called Lady Oscar. Saint-Just is not in it, although Robespierre appears briefly. It rather surprised me that the film features European rather than Japanese actors, and it is in English. To me, it seems to be more like a different version of Oscar's story than a faithful adaption of the manga or anime. The characters are the same, although most of the minor (and some of the not-so-minor, like Alain) characters have been left out. The story differs in that most of the first half of the anime is left out as well, including Marie Antoinette's trials with Madame DuBarry. The loss of Andre's eye, his blindness, and Oscar's tuberculosis are also eliminated, and biggest of all, Oscar doesn't die! It is also more risque than the anime-- Oscar is shown topless in one scene, and she kisses a woman at one point. Most of the characters are different in personality as well. Oscar is much more personable than in the anime, and I really liked her better although I missed my love/hate relationship with the animated Oscar. Andre is more or less the same. Marie Antoinette is a complete flake without any of the likeable characteristics she has in the anime. Fersen is something of a cad, flirting with Oscar before running off to go sleep with Antoinette-- although this is probably closer to real life than the animated version! The actress playing Jeanne de Valois is too old-looking for the part, and Rosalie isn't the paragon of virtue she is in the anime (which is sort of refreshing, actually). Finally, one of my favorite characters in the anime, Oscar's second in command Gerodere, is woefully portrayed as a complete jerk (and isn't nearly as good-looking as in the anime). He is not in the Royal Army in the film and is merely a count who pursues marriage with Oscar against her will and tells Andre he's "almost as pretty" as Oscar.
More Berubara Another form of Berubara in which Saint-Just appears
is the "film comics" series: ten manga illustrated using
stills from the anime. Saint-Just appears in volume 9 and briefly
in volume 10; he most likely appears in at least one earlier volume as well. The beloved story of Berubara has also been adapted into a musical that has run since 1974, a ballet first performed in 1986, and an animated movie released in 1987 (possibly just a compliation of animation from the series). As far as I know, Saint-Just does not appear in any of these. Still, if anyone knows where I can obtain these, "Rose of Versailles and the Women," or more of the film comics, please let me know! |
