Rose of Versailles
Anime movie announced in celebration of the 50th anniversary of an all-time shojo manga classic.
Makeover turns our reporter into Lady Oscar, heroine of The Rose of Versailles and the all-female Takarazuka theater troupe.
It’s been made into an anime TV series, live-action film, and Takarazuka stage musical, but more than anything else, it’s the original manga that’s captured the hearts of Rose of Versailles fans. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, the series’ themes of desperate love, self-sacrifice, and challenging gender norms have been striking a chord with readers for over four decades.
Unlike last year, there’s no new volume of Rose of Versailles coming out this summer. However, there is still going to be a ton of new illustrations in the form of entries to a Rose of Versailles fan art competition that’s accepting submissions online right now, awarding impressive cash prizes, and being judged by the manga’s creator, Riyoko Ikeda herself.
March 31 was the last day to pick up something from Anna Sui’s line of Sailor Moon purses and accessories. The American designer hasn’t exhausted all of her Japanese animation and comic inspirations, though.
Next month Anna Sui pop-up stores are scheduled to open at six locations in Japan, where fashion fans can find exclusive bags, wallets, and pouches that take cues from some of Japan’s most famous manga creators, including Osamu Tezuka, Ryoko Ikeda, and Rumiko Takahashi.
As many of our readers are undoubtedly aware, manga is one of the biggest industries in Japan, and there are literally thousands of manga to be enjoyed out there. But among all those countless comics, there are a select few that have withstood the test of time and have been read and loved over periods spanning decades. Comic artist Riyoko Ikeda’s classic Rose of Versailles is one such work, the title and characters still widely recognized by the Japanese public more than 40 years after its first serialization in the girl’s comic magazine Margaret. In fact, a new volume of Rose of Versailles containing a selection of omnibus stories was released in August this year, making it the first new comic to come out from the series in four decades!
Now, Ikeda has collaborated with Japanese marriage and wedding information magazine Zexy and created a sweet little side-story that also doubles as a leaflet for couples preparing for their wedding. And what makes it extra delightful for fans of the manga is that it involves Oscar and André, the two main characters, finally getting married! Well, we can almost hear the fans collectively crying out, “It’s about time!”
In Japan, the easy access to anime and manga, coupled with the rapid speed at which new content is produced, means fans tend to have short memories. For most series, even relative hits, once they wrap up there’s only about a year, or at most two, until they fade into obscurity.
Which is why it’s all the more impressive when a once-loved series returns after a long hiatus. Last year, boys of all ages got a special treat with a new Dragon Ball Z movie, and this month brings a little something for the ladies, with the first new volume of girls’ comic classic The Rose of Versailles to be released in more than 40 years.
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