Versailles no Bara - Anime - AniDB (2024)

show review

by komodo07 on 2015-03-17 21:29

Rating:8.5

Approval:-

The Rose of Versailles is a veritable masterpiece from the 80s that has aged startlingly well where it counts--story and characters. Sure, the artstyle is a bit outdated, and sure, some music cues are too, but in spite of all that, this anime manages to shine. Set against a doozy of a historical backdrop, the French Revolution, this show starts out a bit episodic but holds one's attention throughout. There is action, unrequited and forbidden romance, social class disparities, opulence, political intrigue, and even a history lesson (many of the characters and events presented are straight from real life). The direction and writing are simply brilliant.

Oscar François de Jarjayes steals the spotlight as the main character. She is a tough-as-nails woman and highly skilled fighter raised as a male from birth due to the desires of her father, a general who wanted a son to carry on the proud tradition of his military career. She is fictional, as is her servant, Andre, but these two end up taking the spotlight from Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI. She is noble, strong, and always trying to do the right thing, making it easy to root for her.

The plot in each episode is expertly crafted and always moving. There aren't many wasted moments, and when Marie Antoinette's downfall comes, you aren't surprised because you've seen her sow the seeds for revolution for about 40 episodes. The commoners' discontent with the selfishness and decadence of the nobility grows and grows and it's quite harrowing to watch since you know what's coming.

There are several antagonists in the series to both Oscar and Marie Antoinette, and they are surprisingly varied in their aims (money, favor, power, fame) and what makes them villainous. Their scheming provides the ammunition that keeps the show's tension always high and makes this series a must watch. Seriously, this series oozes atmosphere and it's one of the greatest shoujo titles I've ever watched. Overall 9/10.

As a bonus, here's my ranking of the main antagonists in how interesting or devilish they were, along with brief explanation:



  1. 1. Jeanne Valois--thinks she's a noble when she's actually a commoner and her sister is the noble. She's a fast riser, getting taken in by a well-off family whom she then kills in cold blood. Acts like a stuck-up noble too. The hypocrisy of her is infuriating, and the way she steps over her mother and sister makes her easy to hate.

  2. 2. Polignac--has the cajones to get Marie Antoinette addicted to illegal gambling, and cheats her and the taxpayers of money in fixed games at the same time. Also runs over Rosalie's mother. Also marries her own daughter off to a creep (this show really didn't shy away from heavy stuff).

  3. 3. Madame du Barry--Marie Antoinette's first power struggle! Funnily enough, most of it is over petty court stuff, but she's got a very fierce expression and temperament.

  4. 4. Duke of Orleans--the flattest of the villains. Wants to be king but is otherwise boring.

It was really close between number 1 and number 2. In the end, I hated Polignac's actions more, but I hated Jeanne's personality and ungratefulness even more.

Art & Animation 8/10
The art definitely screams 80s, but you get used to it after a few episodes. The animation is good for the time, though not perfect by modern standards. The art and direction ooze atmosphere at times.

Sound 6/10
Music cues can feel a bit dated. Voice acting is good.

Story 9/10
Throwing a character into turbulent situations makes for highly compelling fiction, and what better situation than pre-Revolution France? The plot is always moving with purpose toward the show's conclusion; even the slower paced episodes held my interest. The only time the show really hits a snag is in its last episode, when the direction and script falter because they rush through tying up loose ends.

Character 8/10
Oscar is awesome and someone you root for the whole way through. Perhaps her only flaw is that she's a bit too perfect, and her enemies are too obviously in the wrong (though that does make them easy to hate). I'd say that's a function of when the show was made, when villains were simpler in anime. The side characters can be memorable too; in fact, Rosalie's story arc is probably my favorite of the entire show

because of the startling reveal of Polignac as her mother

. One qualm of mine is the treatment of Marie Antoinette, who in the anime is portrayed as this innocent and very girlish ruler oblivious of the consequences of her actions. Quite different from the real Marie Antoinette, but I suppose they wanted a cutesy queen since it was a shoujo title.

Value 10/10
This is historical fiction done right. Oscar is an early strong female character in anime's history. She's surprisingly better written than a lot of female characters in modern anime, and her hypercompetence as a man helps question the wisdom of traditional gender roles, a topic which still is of the utmost importance today.

Enjoyment 10/10
You can't tear your eyes away from Marie Antoinette and Oscar as they go down a horrible path from which they can't turn. Slowly, but surely, the people's unrest boils over.

by akeath on 2011-12-13 02:20

Rating:7.66

Approval:97.3% (1 votes)

Rose of Versailles is a fantastic dramatic shoujo anime that manages to handle friendships, fealty, history, and love triangles all at once with a cast of very human characters. It covers the decade before and right on into the French Revolution. Rose of Versailles follows Oscar, a woman who was raised as a man and who at the beginning of the story is poised to become Marie Antoinette’s royal guard. The anime finished airing in 1980, but can still hold its own against any modern Anime.

Art
Character designs are attractive and variable. Period costumes from the late 1700’s are spectacular both in realism and beauty. Even small things like hair styles, jewelry, and backgrounds are done well. Frame rate is of course not comparable to those of today, but it is not distractingly bad. Rarely do movements look forced or unnatural. You get to see where a lot of Shoujo animation staples came from with this – the roots of the sparkly eyes, the gleaming frames, the flower blossoms. They are basically the same effects that they are doing in the current seasons of anime with a slightly different style to them. Rose of Versailles does, however, have a few things that are very dated and can be annoying to the modern viewer. For example, in dramatic moments the camera will take what seems like dozens of shots of each person’s face so rapidly it gives almost a strobe-light effect. There are also dramatic stills, done in the style of a painting, when monumental decisions are made in a way that seem a bit cheesy nowadays. Overall the animation is well done and has aged well.

Sound
Oscar’s seiyuu is phenomenal. She has just the right pitch for a woman who acts like a man. And her voice acting in general is just superb. She’s one of the better voice actors I’ve ever heard, in modern or dated anime. The other seiyuus put in good performances as well. Opening and ending songs are catchy and fit with the anime’s themes perfectly. The same opening and ending songs are used throughout the 40 episodes, but as the series progresses new dimensions to the opening and endings are revealed repeatedly. The in story music is a bit complicated. There are these short chords that are used to emphasize mood, whatever that mood may be. These come off as very cheesy and often downright annoying. The full songs of the background music, however, are very well written and beautiful in their own right. They also go with the scenes they take place in quite well.

Story
The Rose of Versailles’ story brings out all the sides and reasonings behind the French Revolution through every day instances. And it does a superb job at this, all the while not feeling overly ambitious. You get dramatic catfights at court, power struggles, and love stories one at a time. Each slowly builds on the other and on the other things that are happening until at the end everything somehow comes together in one big superplot, and gives you a perfect snapshot in time of why everything that happened leading up to the French Revolution occurred. And you are able to sympathize with and understand every single participant in it. Each little instance is full of juicy entertaining drama that would have been enjoyable on its own, so much so that when it finally comes up to the point of history the story completely bowls you over. Excellent. There are, however, a few plot holes that take place, but all of minor importance. However, because of those the score has been bumped down.

Characters
Oscar is the ultimate character of her type. The kind of girl that acts like a boy, and makes all the girls swoon over her. I never understood how that was realistic or even entertaining in the slightest before, but I can see the appeal when it comes to Oscar. She just blows all of the other characters of that type out of the water. Not only is she very, very good in that role, but it actually has reasons in her background, is part of her character development, and is necessary for the story to work the way it does. Best of all, her masculine/feminine appeal isn’t just touched on and then left to be fan fodder. The reasoning and effects of a woman acting and raised as a man are major points that Rose of Versailles takes the time to explore the repercussions of. Oscar isn’t just left to be a stereotype of that role though. Oscar is incredibly fleshed out as the series continues. Fallible and admirable at once, she is a superb heroine. Mary Antoinette is brought to life as well and is made to be a real person, her behavior rationalized and understandable. However, there are lots and lots of characters in this anime, and many are hardly developed at all. At the beginning the series also lacks focus as to who is the protagonist of the series, and this weakens the anime as a whole. The side characters manage to fit their role in the story and little more. 2 spectacular main characters can’t take all the weight for a cast of dozens, and so even though Oscar is probably one of the best anime characters out there the score has been bumped down for the lack of characterization in the majority of the cast.

Value & Enjoyment
Rose of Versailles is definitely worth a watch. In particular, people who like women who act masculine but yet still have feminine charm will absolutely love this. People who love dramatic shoujo will get a kick out of this too. It’s also a great anime for people interested in history, and is incredibly accurate to events while still managing to be entertaining.
Rose of Versailles is sometimes cheesy but always deliciously enjoyable to watch. Rewatch value is very high for both individual arcs and the series as a whole, as many things are intended for people who already know the jist of what’s going on since it’s based on historical events.

show review

by ThatAnimeSnob on 2011-03-16 20:13

Rating:8.5

Approval:69.1% (1 votes)

ANIME EVOLUTION SERIES
Full list of the review series can be found on this page, 3rd post from bottom:
http://anidb.net/perl-bin/animedb.pl?uid=251338&show=userpage&do=blog&blogid=29009&page=0

TEASER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WHeC5ZxTis

Before this anime, the term “interesting scenario” was still science fiction because all shows that preceded it had a story that could fit in 2 episodes and all the rest was just filler. Not only that, but Rose of Versailles (ROV) happens to be amongst the top (if not the top 1) best historical anime ever made. And just think that it is over 30 years old by now and still not many can get where it did.

So just from the description alone we have a highly interesting historical backdrop; that of the times before and during the French Revolution, when the world was changed forever. You immediately feel that you are watching events that shake the world and that it all happened for real. It is not a fictional story of aliens invading Earth and a huge robot goes to stop them with a magic sword. I mean, Captain Harlock had an equally engaging setting but as I wrote in my review it was too heavily based on technology and the hero could summon a hundred different deus ex machina means to win, which mad the whole thing superficial and highly unreal.

It is an interesting topic of how anime were never meant to be historically accurate and that they are to the most part a form of escapism where we expect to see unrealistic situations, simplistic stories and superficial characters we can identify with. But that does not mean there can’t be an attempt to marry the real with the unreal and still be entertaining, as with the case of this anime. In fact, having a historical backdrop makes the drama of the story all the more powerful as nobody can reject it as far fetched. Or that even someone who already knows how things turned out to be like, will still find the inevitable fate of the characters to be highly tragic. All that without the need for the author to even foreshadow anything; it is all there from the beginning.

The thing with this anime is that it is not the first historical but the first historical with a very interesting setting. All previous works were mostly about a generic situation in some rural area, where the heroes were kids, usually poor and orphan, trying to live a happy life with friends and romance and the likes. A favorite of mine from a previous entry is Candy Candy, which encompasses everything a good historical story should be about. But as cute as all that may have been, the setting still remained overly simplistic and devoid of action or anxiety. No wonder the genres were divided in a way to have super robots with brain dead action and simplistic stories to be aimed at boys, while historical based ones with lots of everyday lives of normal people were aimed at girls.

So then ROV comes along and somewhat merges these two polar genres. The setting is now more exciting, there is some action, there is some romance, and there are tragic historical personalities. And if you so much want some poor peasant girl in a very dramatic story, well here you go, it has one in quite the grim situation. It also has many nobles and aristocrats, in full glamour and selfishness, blind to the needs of their people. Plus it has a gender bender.

Yup, as I foretold in my Ribbon no Kishi review, this anime took the next step at the topic with the case of Oscar, a woman raised to behave as a rather feminine looking young man because of social demands once again. As fun as it was back in the time Osamu Tezuka had his hero being a boy in a girl’s body doing something similar, after awhile the whole thing felt flat out silly and too heavy on unrealistic magic. Oscar is a far more down to earth character, striving to be a good swordsman in order to protect his/her noble friend/superior, as well as the peasants from the greed of the nobles and the ruthlessness of the military.

It is very graphical from time to time, showing murder and death and lies to frame someone, even cases of rape and pedophilia. The animators were not too scared to show the inhumane side of the nobles and of the dark side of humanity in general. Again, although Captain Harlock had done something similar with its setting, mankind there always ended up being conquered by aliens and then begging the hero to save them with his ship alone. Highly unrealistic before this setting where villains and victims are all normal people living in the same country and where the solution is public uproar and not super energy beams and indestructible spaceships. It makes the whole thing feel a lot more familiar and easier to identify with.

Another very good feature is how the story is not entirely focused on one character alone. Although Oscar is the main hero/ine, in reality the story continually shifts to numerous others and allows us to see things from various different perspectives. And I don’t mean filler scenes with the villains plotting their next move or a side character doing nonsense; I mean essential stuff to help you grasp the situation of the world. In fact, the first half of the show is mostly about Maria Antoinette rather than Oscar, as we see her gradually turning from a scared girl amidst the intrigues of the royal court into a snobby woman, indulged in the riches and the coldness towards the very emotions she once cared about. Frankly speaking, this was never done before in such an extent.

But it is not like I consider this anime to be perfect. Its animation has several problems around proportions and many characters do seem to be similar looking. Also, the pacing of the show seems to be terribly slow in the middle and terribly rushed in the ending, with the finale being nothing but narration to fill in all of the stuff the animators failed to show properly. But it still is quite the feat for its time and worthy to belong in the top ten best retro anime of all time, as well as the top five historical.

And it’s not like its themes were never exploited in the future, like in the case of time traveler Go Nagai’s works. Many later anime had great touches of royalty and French Revolution feeling to them, such as in the cases of Legend of Galactic Heroes, Revolutionary Girl Utena, The Count of Monte Christo, and Chevalier D’Eon. There are also some other child oriented anime around the three musketeers, such as Wanwan Sanjushi and Anime Sanjushi.

And now for some excused scorings.

ART SECTION: 8/10

General Artwork 2/2 (interesting)
Character Figures 1/2 (generic)
Backgrounds 2/2 (French beauty)
Animation 1/2 (basic)
Visual Effects 2/2 (artsy)

SOUND SECTION: 8/10

Voice Acting 2/3 (corny but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 4/4 (catchy songs)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 9/10

Premise 2/2 (interesting)
Pacing 1/2 (erratic)
Complexity 2/2 (goes back and forth in many ways)
Plausibility 2/2 (I don’t remember any internal logic problems)
Conclusion 2/2 (solid)

CHARACTER SECTION: 10/10

Presence 2/2 (extravagant)
Personality 2/2 (rather cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 2/2 (it’s there)
Development 2/2 (you betcha!)
Catharsis 2/2 (full house)

VALUE SECTION: 9/10

Historical Value 3/3 (all-known)
Rewatchability 2/3 (high if you skip the boring parts)
Memorability 4/4 (too good to be forgotten)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 7/10

Some parts are boring and slow but overall it is a great work.

VERDICT: 8.5/10

show review

by ohtoriakio on 2006-04-28 22:25

Rating:9.83

Approval:59.9% (4 votes)

Before you read this I will ask of you to not judge it solely on the high ratings. I feel like I have explained the reasons for giving them quite well. Please in your rating, let me know the way to improve on it and I will promptly do so. The high animation rating is based on what could be accomplished at the time the anime was made as I realise that it would be sub-standard if it were made nowadays.

This anime is one of my favourite and I have seen many in 15 years but only a couple have managed to come close in delivering like this one does.

The animation is not the best nowadays but I am giving it a high mark because for its time, it is a remarkable achievement.

I am sure that many people will agree with me on this, some of the budget episodes of Sailor Moon or Pokemon and Naruto look worse. This is because Rose of Versailles is not a show that takes shortcuts in its presentation. Unlike Naruto and Sailor Moon, the same high standard is kept through its entire run.
For its time, this anime was very ambitious and it does accomplish what it sets out to do. A scene that reflects the animation capacity (in its iconic form) of this series can be seen in the last episode. It is just stills of pencil drawings and the symbolism and emotion is so strong, one can't help but be moved.
Just that scene reflects what you have seen in emotion and intensity for 40 episodes and blows you away. The drawing style is also another one of its strengths as the characters look very elegant and royal, which fits the bill here perfectly. The character design is also great as it allows the character to grow within a time period, and slowly changes and matures them in their drawing style over time.

The sound is excellent in this series as it helps to show the range of emotion characters express.

The theme song is atmospheric and also very fitting with the emotive notes and the beautiful music. The theme music is used quite often within the episodes and it is surprisingly efficient to portray the rainbow of human emotion. The best part of it is obviously the seiyuus' work here.
Main characters like Oscar, Andre and Marie Antoinette and minor ones like Mme DuBarry and Charlotte are brought to life extremely well. Even though these characters are on conflicting sides of the social spectrum, one understands their motives and sentiments to a touching degree.

The story is still one of the most engrossing I have seen in anime since I first watched it.

Taking real historical figures and some fictive ones, this anime tells the story so well that you can understand why the characters acted the way they did, and the drama is strongly expressed.
Some historical events are also used as plot devices here (the affair of the necklace, the bastille, the revolution) and the result is brilliant. These are given enough detail for us to fully appreciate the situation, while letting characters shine through as the driving force. There are also plenty of heartfelt moments of yearning, loss, love, obedience and death that are so well-executed - they move you to tears.

As mentioned above the characters are amazing as were it not for them, the story would not be nearly as successful.

To fully enjoy this experience one has to connect with the characters and this cast makes it extremely easy.
I felt a lot of emotions when the romantic story between Marie Antoinette and Fersen was explored and was moved to tears to see its conclusion. Same goes with the Oscar and Andre story. There are rarely animes that make you feel the way this one does and this is very much due to its affecting cast. The reason the characters seem so great overall is because their feelings are explored very convincingly and unlike other shoujos, they are not overplayed for emphasis.

The value of this anime is just excellent as I frequently revisit it for some great entertainment and it still delivers. It also paved the way for other great shows like Utena and Princess Tutu (Utena more obviously than Tutu with its theme but the detailed backgrounds of Tutu are definitely influenced by some settings here.)
I still enjoy this anime immensely even though it is 25 years old and have seen it many times over as it really aims for the heart. My guess is you will feel the same way.

show review

by matthias on 2005-09-04 16:32

Rating:9.16

Approval:03.0% (5 votes)

This is my review about this series

1st The Animation:
Cause this anime ist older than 30 years you can see some static scenes, which doesn´t paste the quality like x or basilisk, but they have a strong line so they give him an understandable charakter.

2nd The Sound:
The most of this songs are in classical genres so you think all the tme you are in this time and it can be an big point for the atmosphere about the 40 episodes.So the sound is one of theese things, where
i think they are basic for this greatness of this series.

3rd The Story:
Just i can only say one sentence...THIS STORY IS THE BEST EER SEEN...i wish some other animes have the half quality of this storyboard then the will become good.

4th Characters:
They are a lot of Characters in this series and you have alltime an overview about theese. And Versailles no Bara make one point clear...this series do this wonder, that some special caracters, who are important in some episodes are diving under the plot and are in backround and it doesn´t makes you a feeling about unclever story.

6th Enyoyment:
The atmosphere is great you feels so miserable then the series ends. This plot catches you and you never want go away.

show review

by vivafruit on 2005-05-22 00:35

Rating:7

Approval:64.2% (6 votes)

Overall

Rose of Versailles starts strongly. Aside from introducing a likeable set of characters, the show sets the stage in a promising setting: France, in the years leading up to the French Revolution. Unfortunately, some absolutely asinine directing prevents the show from being anything but mediocre.

The major problem with Rose of Versailles is not the general story in and of itself, but the delivery. Over the course of the anime, the show is sure to include several (repetitive) segments that focus on the desperate cries of the underprivileged, the tragic oversights of the ruling class, the hungry children dying in the streets, etc. Given the setting of the show, this is a perfectly fine and probably even expected approach to take. The error, however, is that the show then focuses heavily on the largely trivial activities of Marie Antoinette.

The result is a weirdly hypocritical juxtaposition that can best be compared to some of the material found in mecha and hentai. With certain mecha, the audience must listen to heartfelt anti-war monologues in between bouts of long, drawn out battles. In hentai, many works will firmly state that rape is a Very Bad Thing, but not bad enough to actually stop animating it. Rose of Versailles, on the other hand, shows more and more forcibly that the upper class is ignoring what's REALLY important, all the while making exactly the same mistake.

Some of the most interesting episodes involve the characters on the lower rung of society. Rosalie, a thoroughly unlucky and ultimately endearing peasant, has an unexpectedly poignant quest for revenge. Her extremely ambitious sister is also an immensely interesting character, and her personal story arc is probably the best of the entire series. Unfortunately, the time spent on these stories is minimal when compared to Antoinette's longwinded tales of ballrooms, dinner parties and gossip. When all is said and done, more than half of the show is filled with meaningless shoujo that I cared absolutely nothing about. By the time the second, infinitely superior half finally rolled around, I had already lost most of my personal investment in any of the characters. Interesting things began to happen, but I was no longer interested.

That said, the series is a bit too grandiose in its sheer ambition to completely dismiss. There are moments of excellent drama, and the originality of the entire project definitely boosts its overall merit. However, in the long run, there are better works out there.

Animation

Excellent character designs contrast with some occasionally shaky action scenes. Overall, this is a top-notch job given the show's age, and a decidedly below average one when compared to titles made today. Either way, the quality of the animation was largely irrelevant to how much I enjoyed the anime as a whole. The series doesn't depend on the animation to entertain, instead relying primarily on its storyline and characters.

Sound

My impression of JPop up until this point was that the farther back on the timeline you went, the more awful the music became. Rose of Versailles' OP, while not necessarily proving this belief wrong, is at the very least a welcome exception. The song is surprisingly catchy, and actually does a nice job of setting the mood of the show.

The rest of the music is largely instrumental, and generally quite well done. While some of the songs become a tad repetitive near the end of the show, for the most part they work well with the story.

Voice acting ranges from good to excellent.

Versailles no Bara - Anime - AniDB (2024)
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