Originally published in serial form between 1972 and 1973, the famous historical manga by Riyoko Ikeda is currently on display in Tokyo, to the delight of fans of the first hour.
Colorful costumes, palace intrigues and passionate loves while the French Revolution brews: the famous manga The Rose of Versailles is currently exhibited in Tokyo and continues to amaze Japanese women of all ages, fifty years after its creation.
Initially published as a serial between 1972 and 1973 in a Japanese weekly specializing in the “shojo” genre (manga for girls and teenagers), the work notably generated a successful animation series called in France Lady Oscar and musicals in Japan.
Its story focuses on the tragic fates of its two heroines, Queen Marie-Antoinette and a fictional character, Oscar François de Jarjayes, a young girl raised as a boy who became captain of the sovereign’s guard. “The importance and influence (of this manga) in the shojo genre and Japanese popular culture in general cannot be overemphasized,” reminds AFP Deborah Shamoon, expert in these fields at the National University of Singapore. The work has become synonymous with “of a luxurious and rococo aesthetic in Japan“, still used today in fashion or cosmetics, notes this researcher. And Oscar is aamazing heroine” for although being an officer commanding men, “she does not try to hide her femininity“: She is “strong and courageous and full of compassion for othersadds Ms. Shamoon.
Oscar’s love affair with his childhood friend André, “who admires her for her qualities and does not try to change her or make her more faithful to female stereotypeswas also notable in Japan for the time. Still, “this equality in a heterosexual relationship remains rare in shojo mangasays Ms. Shamoon.
Pilgrimage to Versailles
«At the time there was a gap between men and women (in Japan), and some said that women and children would not understanda work tackling a historical subject, manga author Riyoko Ikeda recalled in a commentary posted for the Tokyo exhibit. Aged 24 at the start of The Rose of Versaillesshe had sworn toto have successto prove doubters wrong.
More than twenty million copies of the manga have been sold worldwide, and the many shows produced around the work between 1974 and 2014 by the magazine Takarazuka – an all-female Japanese theater troupe – attracted five million people. The exhibition in Tokyo notably presents some 180 original plates from the manga, moving with their hand-pasted dialogues. At the entrance, visitors – mostly women – are happy to take their picture with life-size cardboard figures, overlooking a bed of roses in the middle of white and gold arches evoking a corridor of the Palace of Versailles.
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Rieko Takahama, 58, is an early fan. “It was a very glamorous vision of the world (…). It was extremely popular in my generation“, she tells AFP, her eyes full of nostalgia. Like many other Japanese tourists attracted to France thanks to this manga, Ms. Takahama visited the Palace of Versailles ten years ago. A kind of pilgrimage: “I didn’t want to die before I got there».
An always subversive side
«My mother read this manga for a long time, and thanks to her I discovered it when I was little“says Manami Suzuki, 22 years old. “When I first saw Oscar I was mesmerized by how cool, beautiful and strong she wasat the same time, adds this student. The Rose of Versailles also reflects the bubbling Japanese political life of the 1960s and 70s. Oscar, who ended up joining the revolutionaries and participating in the storming of the Bastille, “talks a lot about social inequalities and the need for people to revolt to assert their rights, drawing a parallel with the ideals of the (Japanese) new left of the 1960s“, a movement that Riyoko Ikeda was close to in her youth, notes Ms. Shamoon.
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If its political dimension has gathered dust today, The Rose of Versailles remains a subversive work, believes this academic. “Focusing on an aesthetic that appeals to girls remains revolutionary, because much of pop culture is still determined by the interests of boys and men.».