The first half of the story suffers from boring episodes characterised by a weak cast, mustache-twirling villains, and excessive melodrama. Many of the subplots aren't really compelling. The anime is clearly outdated being made in the 80s and has a weak presentation as a result. There are good moments and episodes sprinkled in between but not great viewing as a whole. Oscar the protagonist is strong enough that it compels you to keep going. However, the final 15 or 20 episodes see a significant improvement in quality. The focus on characters like Oscar and Andre, as opposed to the weird subplots involving cartoony villains, has improved the quality of the storytelling. The emphasis on Oscar's character development through the exploration of her identity, her gender, wavering loyalties, and the dichotomy of love as beautiful but also sad.
I think the story does a good job of portraying the situation during the French revolution as complex and not black and white. Mary Antoinette is painted as the tragic figure and scapegoat that she was, clearly, she isn't a good queen and should never have been the Queen but she's not a bad person and it's not her fault, she was basically forced to become the queen at a very young age, leaving behind her homeland and family. She's naïve and somewhat ignorant but she was just a cog in the rotten machine that was the French nobility. The final 10 episodes are filled with pretty emotional moments, I found the death of Joseph in episode 33 to be quite sad despite barely knowing him as a character.
The tension and anxiety in these last 5 or so episodes was so palpable, the worsening situation with the commoners and the monarchy, a fuse ready to blow, the inevitable tragedy awaiting Marie Antoinette, and then the reveal of Oscar's terminal lung cancer.
The focus on Oscar was really great in this 2nd half of the story and increased my emotional investment in her character. Her transfer from the Royal guards to the French guards was been symbolic of her switch from an unquestioning noble loyal to the monarchy and the system, now to someone who clearly sides with the commoners.
There's a tonne of emotionally powerful moments, like the Oscar and Antoinette goodbye. Oscar has always been able to advise and guide Antoinette into doing the right thing, but their farewell showed we had finally reached the turning point. I also think these final episodes help to paint the earlier episodes in a better light, they were the calm before the storm and I think I appreciate them slightly more knowing how it all ends. My only complaint about the end would be that I think the end of the French revolution was rushed, it was crammed into like 10 minutes. That might have been intentional since Oscar was the main character but regardless.
11.5 out of 14 users liked this review
