anyone remember the classic anime heroine Lady Oscar? 45 years after the anime series, there will be a movie starring the tomboyish Frenchwoman in 2025.
“She can fight like a man, she can fence and ride a horse”, reveals the iconic German opening to the series Lady Oscar. It’s hard to believe that the anime adaptation of Riyoko Ikeda’s groundbreaking shojo manga came to an end almost 45 years ago.
Since then, things have been quiet around the Rose of Versailles. But that is about to change
Allons-y, anime fans: a Lady Oscar film is coming in 2025
The original manga and the anime series that ran until 1980 are to be followed by a Lady Oscar-themed anime film in spring 2025. According to Anime News Network, director Ai Yoshimura is directing the project under the umbrella of the prestigious anime studio MAPPA. Here is the latest trailer for it, which suggests a retelling of the classic story:
The story tells of the time of the young Marie-Antoinette in pre-revolutionary France. When she comes to Versailles from Austria, the cross-dresser Oscar François de Jarjayes, who was raised as a boy, becomes the queen’s close confidante and protector. A complex relationship unfolds between the two very different women.
The legacy of Lady Oscar: how influential the manga and anime series was
The influence of The Roses of Versailles aka Lady Oscar on the manga and anime landscape of Japan cannot be overstated. It was one of the first stories published as a girls’ manga that was consistently read by all demographics and caused a veritable France boom in the country. At the same time, Ikeda paved the way for other female manga authors and the anime adaptation of her masterpiece was one of the most elaborate anime productions of its time.
(The Rose of Versailles)
The legacy of Lady Oscar has since been upheld by the Takarazuka theater group, which has been producing musical stage plays based on the material since the 1970s. Fittingly, the troupe is known for the fact that all the roles, including the male characters, are played by women
