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Rose of Versailles' Ikeda Receives France's Top Honor
posted on by Egan Loo
Riyoko Ikeda, the manga creator best known for her French Revolution epic Rose of Versailles, received France's highest honor—Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honor)—in a ceremony at the French ambassador's residence in Tokyo on Wednesday. Ambassador Philippe Faure presented Ikeda with the Chavelier (Knight) medal and said that Japanese people have a cultural awareness of France's history, language, and cuisine thanks to Ikeda's works. Ikeda said that she gave up her entire life from the age of 24 to 26 to draw her shōjo manga classic. She added that she had long aspired for the honor she received.
Rose of Versailles centers on Lady Oscar, a girl raised as a man to serve in the palace guards, and the intrigue that imbues Queen Marie Antoinette's court before and during the French Revolution. The manga has sold over 15 million copies since its 1972-1973 run in Shueisha's Margaret magazine. It has been adapted into a 1979-1980 television anime series, a 1990 animated film, a long-promised but unreleased animated film remake, perennial musicals by the all-female Takarazuka Revue since 1974, and even a live-action 1978 French/Japanese film.
Source: Sports Hochi
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