The Rose of Versailles, Volume 1 is a definitive edition of Riyoko Ikeda’s magnum opus. I say this with absolute conviction in and knowledge of the amount of work – and love – that went into it’s making.
Oscar François de Jarjeyes is a young noblewoman raised as a son by her father. As commander of Marie Antoinette’s palace guard, Oscar is brought face-to-face with the luxury of King Louis XVI’s court at Versailles. Joined by her servant André, Oscar is privy to the intrigue and deceit of France’s last great royal regime.
I am quoting the editorial slug for this book because I wrote it in the first place and I think it stands as a perfectly fine synopsis. ^_^
Volume 1 begins at the beginning, with the births of three of the main players in our drama, Hans Axel Von Fersen in Sweden, Oscar François De Jarjayes in France and Royal Highness Marie Antoinette Josèphe Jeanne de Lorraine D’Autriche, in Austria, known to her family as Maria Antonia and to history as Marie Antoinette, Queen of France.
The story takes us through Oscar and Maria’s childhoods, through the moment their lives converge upon Maria’s arrival in France to marry Louis-Auguste Bourbon, the Dauphin of France all the way to Fersen’s confession to Oscar of his love for Marie and Oscar’s patronage of Rosalie Lamorliére, an orphaned Parisian girl. It’s 498 pages of high drama. And, for the first time ever, color pages have been restored to their original chapters, as they were seen in the original magazine run. (For those of you wondering why there was a such a long delay between the license and the printing, finding good quality versions of these images was among the many things the publisher needed to do. The original magazine files were no longer available through the Japanese publisher. And all of the placement had to be approved by the creator. )
The book itself is gorgeous. Hardcover, with raised red and gold lettering, and a truly brilliant cover design by Andy Tsang. The only touch it is missing is gilt-edging, but I guessed (and the publisher has confirmed) that that would have pushed the cost per book up significantly. Still… it would have looked sweet.
The biggest surprise to me, having never read the entirety of the story before editing it, was how much less decent a person General De Jarjayes is in the manga than the anime.
As I edited the book, I kept capturing Oscar’s face from various panels. The end result is a fantastic short version of her evolution as a character. ^_^ Here she is at the beginning and the end of Volume 1.
The art is very of its time, the story more compelling for the characters we meet and begin to care about. Translation was done with painstaking research, and I sure as heck did my best with the editing!
If ever you have thought that you want to buy the kind of book that will be with us 40 years later and still be as timely and meaningful…this is that book.
Ratings:
Art – 8
Story – 9
Characters – 9
Service – Uhhhh, Oscar in a uniform is service, so 6
Yuri – 1 for the court scenes, 2 for Rosalie
Overall – 9
The Rose of Versailles is a remarkably accurate telling of a true story from the perspective of a wholly fictitious character. It is also disturbingly timely as we move inexorably towards a similar climax here in the USA and, based on other protests we’re seeing globally, we can be pretty sure which way the cannons will point.
Thank you so much for the review! I can’t believe that I finally got it! I would also like to thank the all people who made this edition possible.
Honestly, I still can’t understand why Oscar’s androgynous appearance and personality is so fascinating to me. I understand that I am not the target audience of this manga, but for some reason she and any reference to her in popular culture literally mesmerizes me.
“The Rose of Versailles is a remarkably accurate telling of a true story from the perspective of a wholly fictitious character. It is also disturbingly timely as we move inexorably towards a similar climax here in the USA and, based on other protests we’re seeing globally, we can be pretty sure which way the cannons will point.”
Yeah. Although I am literally fascinated by the French Revolution and the spiritual connection with the history of my country, this is not what I would like to encounter in real life.
I hope you enjoy it. I think it’s beautiful.
“Honestly, I still can’t understand why Oscar’s androgynous appearance and personality is so fascinating to me. I understand that I am not the target audience of this manga, but for some reason she and any reference to her in popular culture literally mesmerizes me.”
I don’t necessarily know what someone who is neither gnc nor queer would get out of it. But for me as an androgynous bi women I tend to be drawn to androgynous queer characters in fiction. I tend to relate to them more
If you feel close to such characters, then why not? I consider one of the important advantages of art that a variety of people can find something of their own in a variety of works.
I completely understand this. As a child I wanted very much to become a soldier as an an increasingly non-binary lesbian as an adult, Oscar becomes more and more fascinating to me.
I saw that this volume is ranking well in Amazon’s LGBTQ manga category and my first thought was “but, why though?” and then your comment slapped me upside the head. This is why, obviously, Erica. ^_^
I’m so happy this come the other day and I stayed up late devouring it. Undon did an amazing job, although I’ve never read the original, the translation feels very natural, not clunky. (I Think of Haruka’s last name being written Ten’nô and shudder) the mere paper itself Is just gorgeous I’m so happy I finally get to read it, and in an official capacity no less! I also found it better paced then the anime, and the scene where Marie switched places w a random girl by the Rhine for fun bugged the hell outta me! But it’s not in the manga at all!
I hope you don’t mind but I do have one question Rosalie keeps using the word moi, I was wondering if you could tell me what the original Japanese was since it doesn’t really resonate with me. I’m guessing it’s something she says that automatically gives her away as being of low birth and a bad habit
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Hi Alison, glad you liked it!
I’m not going to answer your question, because I feel pretty strongly in this case, that you should trust the translators to know their business. I talk about that here: https://okazu.yuricon.com/2019/07/18/rose-of-versailles-behind-the-scenes/. I definitely trust them. If you learn enough Japanese to read the original, you can decide for yourself. ^_^
Thank you no reason to make you rehash something you’d already written. I’d forgotten that page existed. I always meant to go back and read it no doubt this was a beast to translate. As much as I hated waiting so long for it it makes complete sense to tackle the whole thing at once. And as I said it reads really well, the moi thing was the only thing I didn’t get but I understood enough. I did read it in one sitting at night so maybe I missed a note/context. It’s an absolutely gorgeous edition. And I do like that I could hand it over to my friends that have no interest in Japanese and they could appreciate it.
I’d like to get in touch w the translators and staff to thank them for their hard work, thanks to social media I’m sure I can find that.
Bear in mind that the translators, too, may not be interested in justifying any specific decision to you.
Translation is not a science – it is an art. It is pretty clear that Rosalie is being given a verbal tic. Doesn’t it seem sensible to just accept that she has some kind of verbal tic in the original? What will you gain by understanding why that Japanese verbal tic is being translated as this English verbal tic? Think about what it is that you really are trying to get at with this. Is it important? As a reader do you have any need to “understand” the choice beyond accepting it? You may…and then godspeed, and hopefully you get the resolution you hope for.