Banned in China: Though it had an Arabic dub, the Middle Eastern channel Abu Dhabi TV banned it because it is about a female crossdressing as a male and assuming a male name (even though she is canonically cisgender). Alleged, because the only proof of this is a now-defunct site - but it is well-known that being gay/gender-nonconforming in the Arab World is practically a death sentence.
Blooper: The manga actually has one. In volume two, Marie's cape shifts from one arm to the other in the space of one panel◊. And in case you think she just decided to shift it, remember that she was just 14, and would have had to have moved several square yards of fabric, trimmed with several feet of Gem-Encrustedermine, in a matter of a couple seconds.
The anime has one, too. In one of the first episodes, Oscar runs up the stairs. In full body shots she has her sword in hand. In close ups her hands are empty.
Bury Your Art: An alternate version of Episode 24, titled "Portrait of a Burning Rose", was put together and broadcast in 1980 as a Gecko Ending for the anime adaptation in territories that cancelled its broadcast due to scheduling issues. The episode hastily recaps everything up to Episode 35, ending with Oscar and André affirming their love for one another. Because of the circumstances with its making, everyone involved with the anime withheld the episode from further release after its broadcast, never re-airing it or including it on home media releases; for a while, many people weren't sure if it even existed until screencaps from a VCR recording surfaced online in 2020.
Celebrity Voice Actor: In contrast to most of the TV series cast, Reiko Tajima and the late Taro Shigaki are mostly known for their on-camera work. note though Reiko Tajima had already had already had voice acting experience dubbing live action movies prior to and since this (with her only other significsant animation role being Emeraldas and Shigaki did a few himself.
Completely Different Title: The anime is called Lady Oscar internationally. As is the 1979 live-action film adaptation.
Disowned Adaptation: Riyoko Ikeda disowned the Distant Finale of the anime for showing Alain leaving the army to become a farmer, stating that he would always be a soldier. As promised, the sequel Eroica has Alain still wearing the uniform even after having been discharged for political reasons, and fighting against the Royalists in the Vendemiaire Insurrection even before rejoining the army on request of Napoléon Bonaparte himself.
Fountain of Expies: Oscar. Almost any time a French character is involved in an anime, one will be a proud, regal looking woman with blonde hair and Hot Blooded Sideburns. Ruka Oshida in Girls und Panzer das Finale and Broye from Uma Musume are recent examples. Utena (though pink haired), while not French, is also clearly based on her. Also the lead of The Sword of Paros. Another recent example is Marie Joseph Sanson, from the blonde hair, the moments of occasionally being mistaken for a man, firmly siding with the egalitarian views of the revolution, and down to having a servant with pitch-black hair named Andre.
Hostility on the Set: Oscar's voice actress, Reiko Tajima hated working with the show's first director, Tadao Nagahama to the point where she had threatened to leave the show. However, the producers feeling that Nagahama's role as director was less important decided to just boot Nagahama from the show and thus Osamu Dezaki was hired in his place.
Late Export for You: Despite it being a beloved, best-selling classic in its native Japan and very popular in a number of European countries, it took decades for English language releases to come out. In the 2010s, there was finally a DVD release by Nozomi Entertainment (in two box sets) and a planned manga release by Udon Entertainment. In 2018, Nozomi Entertainment's license on the anime has expired, so any legal way of streaming the series is out of the question. Thankfully, Discotek Media picked the anime back up, albeit asLady Oscar: The Rose of Versailles this time.
Short-Lived, Big Impact: The manga was serialized for only a year and a half (May 1972 to December 1973), but it was the first shoujo manga to achieve mainstream critical and commercial success; beforehand, most shoujo manga series were simple stories aimed at elementary school-aged girls, but Berubara proved that teenage girls and young women were also a viable demographic for manga.
Studio Hop: At first, the North American home media releases were handled by Nozomi Entertainment. Then, in 2021, the rights were picked up by Discotek Media.
For trivia applying to the live-action film:
Fake Nationality: Of the main leads, two are British (Catriona MacColl and Barry Stokes) and one is an Austrian (Christine Böhm).
Despite being a French-Japanese co-production whose source material was extremely popular in France, the film never got a theatrical release there, nor was it even dubbed into French.
An official English-language DVD has of the live-action film has never been released. For years it was only available on DVD in Japan, but was eventually released in Spain on a barebones disc and in France as part of a Jacques Demy retrospective boxset.
Star-Making Role: After mostly appearing on stage and in a few French-language TV series, this was Catriona MacColl's first starring role in a feature film, and led to her being cast by Lucio Fulci in City of the Living Dead.
Olivia Hussey was considered for either Oscar or Marie Antoinette, but turned it down due to not wanting to have to stay in France for the duration of filming.
Jacques Demy wanted Dominique Sanda as Oscar, but the Japanese cosmetics company Shishedo, who helped finance the film, insisted on an unknown so that the star could help launch a new line in conjunction with the film's release.
Riyoko Ikeda originally wanted a Japanese director (names included Yoji Yamada and Toshiya Fujita of Lady Snowblood fame), but producer Mataichiro Yamamoto insisted on a French director in order to help facilitate the use of French locales and to better communicate with the English-speaking cast.
Japanese translator Frederik L. Schodt translated the entire manga into English as a reference for the filmmakers, but gave the only copy of the translation to them and it was lost.
You Sound Familiar: The Japanese dub brings back four voice actors from the anime adaptation, albeit in different roles.
Katsunosuke Hori, who replaced Nachi Nozawa as Fersen for episodes six through eight, is the voice of Andre.
Reiko Suzuki, who voiced a young Oscar in the anime, provides the voice for Rosalie's mother.
Hiroshi Masuoka was the primary voice actor for General Bouille in the anime and would later go on to voice King Louis XVI in the live-action film.
Ryuji Nakagi, who voiced Claude Antoine Clériadus de Choiseul La Baume in the anime series, appears as Maximillian Robespierre in the live-action film.
, because the only proof of this is a now-defunct site - but it is well-known that being gay/gender-nonconforming in the Arab World is practically a death sentence.
