Rien ne va plus pour le peuple de France!! Les jeux sont faits: le peuple meurt de faim et l’Etat court à la faillite. La foule gronde et un certain 14 juillet 1789 approche à grand pas. Dans cette période de chaos, André et Oscar parviendront-ils à s’avouer leur amour malgré tout?
Riyoko Ikeda (池田理代子) is a Japanese manga author and soprano singer. As one of the 24-gumi, she has written and illustrated many shōjo manga, many of which are based on European historical events, such as the French Revolution or the Russian Revolution.
Her most famous manga is Versailles no bara (ベルサイユのばら, The rose of Versailles). Other famous works include Oniisama e... (おにいさまへ…, Dear Brother) and Orpheus no mado (オルフェウスの窓, The Window of Orpheus) that won an Excellence award at Japan Cartoonists Association Award in 1980.
I knew that it was coming but I still couldn't keep it together when they lopped off Marie Antoinette's head.
So much happened in the French revolution, its hard to keep track. But Ikeda really dramatized it and slowed it down in the manga, so you could capture the chaos month by month and year by year.
The art is amazing, I love the contrasting story arcs between Marie-Antoinette and Oscar but oh my GOD the romance aged like milk left under the hot sun. Absolutely vile. Also, the pacing is pretty uneven, honestly.