The Rose of Versailles Library

Ongoing catalog of Rose of Versailles related print media All photos and scans are my own. Please do not repost.

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The library is also on X @RovBookShelf

More The Rose of Versailles, RoV adjacent and other bits and bobs over at bookshelfannex

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Rosalie and Bernard have a similar age gap as Rosalie and Oscar and Rosalie got married with Bernard. Why would the age difference between Rosalie and Oscar be a problem when it's not a problem between Rosalie and Bernard? I don't ship Rosalie and Oscar but I always wonder why the age gap between them is brought up when someone ships them while the fandom seems to be fine with the age gap between Rosalie and Bernard.

Jesus fucking Christ, since you keep asking this question and obviously didn’t get the hint and cannot figure it out on your own.

If everyone is of age, regardless of age gap, I don’t know what the issue is, but here are the details.

Bernard is around Robspeirre’s age. Which puts him at only 4/5 years older than Rosalie. That is a much smaller age gap, half the age gap. If we take him being based on Camille Desmoulins, that actually puts him at only 3 years older. He met her once when she was a kid and he was a teen, then not again for 11 years, and as adults. Oscar met Rosalie at 12 and took her in, was her main provider, caretaker, teacher, basically raised her etc. She watched her grow up. That is a very different situation. People may find issue with that.

What I think the real issue is, is that people don’t know what they are shipping but act like they care about and love the ship soooo much, which they don’t and the can’t, if they don’t know and can’t tell the elements and dynamics that fundamentally make that relationship what it is. Which is a one sided age gap relationship that spans 11+ years of one party watching the other grow up into an adult. If that is what you like and find appealing, go for it. So most of this amounts to “characters look cool together, I don’t know how to read” and ironically the people who ship it are the ones that find age gaps bad and would otherwise not ship them and call smaller age gaps grooming. Oscar/Rosalie very much toes the line of actually being what you could call grooming.

I think the majority of people who ship Oscar and Rosalie are kinda shallow and stupid, because they don’t even know what they are shipping, and therefore cannot truly like it, and it’s embarrassing. I think Rosalie’s age, immaturity and her dynamic with Oscar is very clear.

But if you do like the idea of shipping, older person falls for child they raised when they grow up into an adult or large age gap, go for it. Welcome to historical fiction.

Inbox is closed. Blog is closed. I am done with this fucking fandom.

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@moonbunniiies

I am so sorry I deleted your ask. I am very tired.

No one thinks this, but at a point it gets really really really annoying to be in the space *fandom* where we are supposed to be able to celebrate the thing we love with others who feel the same, but are constantly bombarded with negativity and "criticism" that is merely thinly veiled hate that winds up being directed, not at the work, but other fans. The constant discourse, baiting, stirring shit up, and not being happy or contributing to fandom in a positive way about the things one loves, is not it.

People are tired of this shit. They can be annoyed. I am annoyed. And yes, people are constantly spreading misinformation on top of all of that too, and don't even know what they are a "fan" of half the time. Its stupid. This fandom has been around for over 50 years and a lot of us have been around for decades and I don't care for this modern socmed fandom bullshit ego trip " im so 'criticallll" pseudo psyche shit. I promise it does not sound smart or informed at all. Its all the same wank, different show.

If what you like about RoV are aesthetics and the vague idea of a theme that never develops the way you wanted it to or at all, are you really a fan? If you only like the idea of a potential the never happened, are you really a fan? If you think a character looks cool but you hate who they really are or their story, are you really a fan? If you spend more time in fandom talking about what you don't like instead of what you do, are you really a fan? If you are not having fun with the source material are you really a fan? If the Rov that you like only exists in your head, are you really a fan? If all you like to do is be "critical" and pick a work apart and show how your version would be sooooo much better, are you really a fan? If all you do is bitch moan and complain are you really a fan?

What is a fan? Shortened form of fanatic. Deffinition: a person exhibiting excessive enthusiasm and intense uncritical devotion toward something.

I don't know, maybe we don't know what fan means.

Kind of liking something does not make you a fan. Liking a couple ideas of something doesn't make you a "fan". Thinking a character looks cool does not make you a fan. Circle jerking the same tired shit in your twitter friend group does not make you a fan.

I am so tired of this fandom obsessing over the same 2 tired, uninteresting topics, that are not even that important or relevant, that they can't even be bothered to look at objectively or textually. The horse has been milked of blood and we have nothing new to show for it. Stop. People either like RoV or they are mad its not something else, and won't let it go. Do they instead find something that suits their tastes or create their own transformative fanfic? No, they bitch, complain, drag other fans, make rude posts towards the rest of fandom and create an unpleasant environment for everyone.

If someone acts like any of that no, they are not a fan.

I am really going to need you to stop sending me asks and trying to stir up discourse or trying to use my blog to call out other fans you have issues with. Maybe you should get off your little burner account and contribute something positive towards your supposed fandom. Do not do it through me. Please. I can not take anymore.

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From The Rose of Versailles Detective Loulou

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Happy Birthday Lou Lou!

From The Rose of Versailles Children’s Pocket Encyclopedia

People like Loulou, who are born under the sign of Gemini, have a cheerful and straightforward personality. They get along with people right away, even if they've just met. However, they bore easily and can be fickle. Though never insisting on selfish demands or getting their way, they are always popular. They are quick witted and get good grades in school. Loulou has shown talent since childhood that even surprises Oscar.

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You seem to think that if Oscar was being serious about marrying Rosalie if she had been born a man that that would make her not straight or something...shojo manga has stuff like that all the time. It has nothing to do with that stuff. Even if she meant it, which I think she did, that doesn't make her gay. She's actually just saying that if things had been different and she had actually been born a man that she would choose her. There's nothing gay about it at all because they would be straight even in Oscar's hypothetical. I think you feel the need to downplay Oscar's love for Rosalie because you don't want people to misread her, but that's not what the hypothetical is saying, even if she did mean it seriously.

No, I think this scene gets blown out of proportion and doesn't mean what some people think. I don't think she meant it seriously, it is not some binding contract and 100% if Oscar was a born a man I do not think she would marry a random girl she found on the street. She would have much more freedom to choose whoever she wants or possibly less depending on what they family wants to arrange. As a hypothetical it is flawed. I don't think it was anything more than placation. Its not about being gay or not. I don't think Oscar is the nicest or most considerate person and this is a moment of her trying to be. That is what this is. She is understanding other people have feelings and being sensitive to them and trying to make Rosalie feel better. I personally find Oscar to be pretty inconsiderate and dismissive of Rosalie in general, its kinda sad and messed up. I do think Oscar cares a lot for Rosalie, in her own way, but she is also very selfish and the story is a process of her learning this, and growing out of it. She isn't the best friend tbh. I don't understand why everyone is so obsessed with this, but it is getting annoying. In the grand scheme of the "The Rose of Versailles" this is what you care about and are hung up on? This? This is not important or interesting.

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Are you saying the book that discussed that about Oscar trying to make Rosalie feel better was affirming her love for her was okay? Or something different? You were a bit unclear on that part. I've always seen it as she was just letting her know that she wasn't marrying Rosalie not because of lack of love (because she did love her deeply) but only because they were women. So maybe that was the part to make her feel better. The story doesn't ever seem to affirm Rosalie's feelings beyond transient childhood crush.

No what that line in the book is saying is, Oscar said she would marry her if she was a man, to boost her self esteem and make her feel better. She isn't really serious about marrying her. Its a pleasantry. Like if a girl's boyfriend broke up with her and her mother said "oh, I'm sorry, you’re such a catch, I'd date you if I could". Obviously she wouldn't. Its not literal.

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Lady Oscar 1979. Directed by Jacques Demy.

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In what book does it say Oscar's line to Rosalie was like a mother comforting her child? I have basically all of the anaylsis books, and I have not seen where one said that unless I missed it. Was it in that one that has the golden cover? Thank you.

It’s in a book by the Girls Manga Research Society. It is not an Ikeda productions book, but it is an example of how the greater audience views and has viewed that line for years. Western fandom automatically assumes it is some sort of romantic confession, when it’s not, it’s about trying to make a sad girl feel better about herself. Oscar can also relate because she has unrequited feelings for Fersen. Which was the prevailing take away for as long as I can remember, until for me, only very recently people have been insisting otherwise.

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薔薇になみだを

Bara Ni Namida O

Tears for the Rose

Lyrics by Shinji Ueda / Music by Takio Terada / Arranged by Hiroshi Takada

Sung by Anna Jun

Beaten by the rain, the roses blooms

Raindrops falling like tears

Sad and wistful

A heart that is known to no one

The tears of the rose, the eyes of the rose

Who could know?

Tossed by the wind, the roses blooms

Petals tremble like a sigh

Sad and wistful

A heart that is known to no one

The sigh of the rose, the sigh of the roses

Who could know?

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Jun Anna - Tears for the Rose, 1976

Bara Ni Namida O/Utsukushiki Ai No Chikai

薔薇になみだを/美しき愛の誓い

Cover and Lyrics

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Good afternoon,

I believe there is some information somewhere in official material that Oscar is a one-man woman (I guess unlike Ikeda, lol), and that she would not go out partying like Marie Antoinette and other aristocratic women even had she been raised a woman. It also mentioned that had she been forced to marry she would be loyal to the husband and not cheat, which was rare at the time. Do you remember seeing this information in your books? I remember it, but I can't remember where, and it is driving me crazy. Thanks!

Yes, this is in one of them. I am not sure which, there are so many. These may be two different instances. I can’t remember if it they are in relation to the hypothetical Girodelle marriage or an article about the Oscar episode manga with her mirror self. But I know I’ve come across this before. If I come across it I’ll link it here.

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Did any of ikeda's other works have crossovers with berubara kids other than Julius crossover?

Napoleon and Catherine the Great show up now and then.

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Hi! Is there any official information that states the reason Oscar and Rosalie couldn't be together was because of their age difference? The reason I am asking is because I see a lot of people bring this up when defending why they couldn't be together, so I'm wondering if they are getting this information from a legit source or if they are just making it up (because they can't accept it's just an "s" story).

Additionally, I have seen you say before in answer to something that the "born a man line" Oscar says to Rosalie is only because of Fersen, but I always thought based on the story and official material I have read that Oscar genuinely did care for Rosalie and would have married her had they not both been women. Because of this, I was wondering if that was maybe just your opinion on the line or if you had an official source for it (though it is a solid interpretation either way).

Thanks 💛

Well, they were never intended to be together at all. Or seen as a romantic situation. That is head canon. But yes there is a big age difference, 8 years, Oscar meets Rosalie when she is around 20 and Rosalie is 12. It isn't really an S story, just S like. Rosalie is a audience proxy homage to the fangirls, and she does have feelings for Oscar. But Rosalie's view of Oscar is a very idealized fantasy version that isn't authentic. Oscar does genuinely care for Rosalie, as a little sister, which she states multiple times. Oscar feels responsibility towards her. There is an official analysis book that goes over Rosalie, it states Oscar feels towards Rosalie how an older brother would. Oscar never had romantic interest in her and could not return her feelings.

In that scene she feels some sort of sad and guilty because she knows how that feels, because that is her situation with Fersen. After her failure of not being sensitive to MAs emotional needs and feelings, she is now aware of others feelings. And her own, for Fersen. Oscar says the marriage line, which in one book was likened to "the sort of thing a mother says to her daughter to make her feel better", to make Rosalie feel better about herself, because she feels bad Rosalie spent the whole night crying over her when she didn't come home. Which right after she thinks "If I was a man, my life would be easier". Oscar spent the whole night crying over Fersen, who had yet to come home. None of this has anything to do with her having romantic feelings towards Rosalie, but with her frustrations with her new awareness of her own and others feelings, neither of which are going how she would like. At this moment she thinks she would not have these problems if she was a man.

So no. There is no official information that states reasons "why" Oscar and Rosalie couldn't be together, because no one was trying to put them together in the first place.

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The Takarazuka Revue’s The Rose of Versailles Costume Designs

From Takarazuka The Land of Dreams

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The Takarazuka Revue’s The Rose of Versailles Costume Designs

From Takarazuka The Land of Dreams

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What does the bracelet on Andre's arm mean in the image of him and Oscar embracing where she is clinging to him and he is looking onward? Does it mean anything? I thought I saw something like that on Rei's arm in Oniisama E, but I may be imagining it.

I don’t recall coming across anything that specifies a specific meaning to the bracelet. It is a bit odd, there are naked except for this bracelet, so it seems it would mean something. Rei does wear a similar one, which is rather significant (more so in the anime), but I don’t know if I’d link the two. It’s not the only repeat or similar looking jewelry in an Ikeda work. There is a brooch everyone seems to wear, and a few other pieces she draws frequently. To me the bracelet (Rei’s more then Andre’s) looks like one of these locket bracelets that have come in and out of popularity through the years, I see them pop up in antique shops a lot, maybe it was a piece Ikeda liked?