Rose of Versailles Anime, Part 1, Disk 4 (English)

August 8th, 2013

The final disk of part 1 of  Rose of Versailles is SO. FULL. OF. MELODRAMA.

The thing about Rose of Versailles is – we know going into it, there really can’t be too many happy endings. If we know anything about the French Revolution, we know that most of the people we are following on the screen will be dead or exiled by the end of the story. But knowing that there will be one happy ending and one alone does not make it any nicer as we watch the universe kick Rosalie around a bit for no reason. Even obnoxious little spoiled Charlotte goes from oppressor to oppressed.

Honestly, I would wonder how the leaders of the country could have been so blind, but then articles like this one pop across my desk and I shake my head and stop wondering.

The art remains as hyperbolic as the plot, but every time I think it’s all just too much to handle, I check Wikipedia, to find that that bit was actually more true than not.

Oscar faces her own conflicting desires and puts them aside for duty…again. And we watch, wishing we had an Oscar we could call on to explain their duty to our nobles. She’s too wonderful. Far too wonderful to be real.

Ratings:

Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters 9
Yuri – 1
Service – 3 (Oscar in formal whites!)

Overall – 8

Next up, Part 2 and the Affair of the Necklace. I don’t know if I can do it….

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