Wow, I was just thinking about this fic the other day.

What can I say? Another excellent chapter! I love your characterizations of everyone, and this plot is very well-woven. I look forward to your next chapter, however long it takes! ♥

Hi Nana, I'm your fan from a long time,I read Memories and yor other fanfics about Versailles No Bara, and I really loved them! I'm hoping that, as soon as possible, we can read another new chapter of this wonderful fanfic! Thankyou for giving me such a present, and congratulation again!

P.S.:
Sorry for my english, it's not my mother tongue!

Fiordistella

I absolutely, completely, totally, undoubtedly LOVE this story. Really, it just sucks you in, with al the details, Françoise's busy work life, her failures with the love life, her family. I mostly like André's points of views, also because of all the suffering and thoughts he transmits to the public.

I think that, with the way you wrote your story, you bring more and more the readers because it's as if the characters were confiding their joys, hardships, sadnesses, moments of madness, and so on, making the reader totally into the mood and wanting to know more and more. I felt like one of those old ladies watching soap operas saying 'NO, don't do THAT!' XD.

I think that you are portraying Oscar, André, Fersen, Antoinette, Alain & company very well, really making their personalities (just as Ikeda-Sama showed) and it's a very good aspect that I HAVE to mention hehe.

Although I'd never think that Oscar/Françoise could be so passionate in the matters regarding her new relationship with André. She just seems so cool and collected XD. Not that I complain, those characters deserve some sugar after all of those unfortunate events! Especially André, he really took it all in, poor fellow. And I don't consider him sadist or masochist, so XD... I think it's very cute their time together as a couple and I couldn't bare myself to see them with other people. They really are meant for each other (as if no one perceived that already XD).

I definitely loved chapter 28, 29 and 30. It's just *-*... Cute and fluffy and lovable and perfect xD!

I'll be waiting eagerly for chapter 34 and the progress of the story, I also want to know what is going to happen to de Brun and de la Saigne ;)! And I hope that they won't die at the end! And I hope that they continue well as it is as a couple (with their discussions and misunderstanding as everyone, of course).

Congratulations on the story and keep up the excellent work ^^! Thank you for your hard work! Your BnB/LO/RoV stories sure are well plotted and written!

~Kissus
Star

34...34...34...please
tamcrutz begging for the next chappie nana ojousama

I am really glad to find Françoise/Oscar very romance-oriented and this does not damage her image of a strong female. Likely the Anime Oscar also falls in love passionately and gives in fully to her womanly emotions but this does not keep her from being an excellent military leader. This is not true in the Manga, as if the fact of giving in to love is a sign of losing independence to a man, so the woman must remain fatal and unreachable.

Chapter 30 is my favorite so far. It’s so moving to see so much positive chemistry between André and Françoise.

[And as I moved to kiss my lover’s mouth, I made a promise to Oscar François that I was not going to waste any more time with my André, that I would love him, cherish him, for all the time allowed to me in this world, in this life.]

This is so beautifully said. Françoise/Oscar has finally worked her way to love and André has the shrine to her heart, he definitely deserves it! It’s also great to see that André himself has a distinct personality and has a quite spicy and balanced relationship with his lover by speaking out regularly rather than the valet who gets ordered around and walked over as in the Manga.

What is Oscar’s unfinished business? Prayers that Oscar and André can get through their trials this time and find happiness…I am looking forward to the next chapter.

(Continued) 3. The Oscar / André relationship
Oscar in the manga appears as a quite ungenerous lover, although this is probably because Ikeda does not want too much involvement in womanly love for O’s character. André remains a very secondary character and plays the role of the valet who serves his “Goddess”/ Mistress. Oscar wants him unconditionally by her side, and has a tendency to take rather than give. He is often walked over and is not interested in anything other than his desperate passion for her and does not really have an independent personality.

The Mars/Venus parallelism I mentioned is an impression from the Anime and not the Manga. Neither is André the counselor nor the ally of Oscar as in the Anime and has an influence in the decisions that she makes. The Manga Oscar decides for everything by herself, this includes decisions concerning herself as well as those concerning André and the latter follows her naturally.

Several key moments are quite revealing. The first one is when Oscar confesses her love to André, and she painfully explains to him that she needs someone to rely on, because alone she would be unable to bring her battles to conclusion, which leads to think that she is struggling against the world and is really in need of a helping hand rather than looking for romantic love and happiness for herself. The second one is when General de Jarjayes asks André to stay by Oscar, and he replies that he has been a shadow and will remain as such. He later hopes that she can give in fully to his love for one night and this will be more than enough. Somehow he knows that he will only have a very little place in her heart and this she knows as well. The third one is when Oscar summons him to her room on the last night and accepts to be his wife for one night before the morning of the ultimate choice. Their union does not happen spontaneously as in the Anime but rather upon Oscar’s order. André takes this as a gift and claims that he is undeserving. Neither does Oscar ever bring their relationship into daylight and announces it publicly. The fourth one is when the French Guards go to Paris and André is reduced to guessing what Oscar’s next move is, but whatever the outcome, he must follow. The fifth one is when André is shot while trying to protect Oscar from a shower of bullets. As Oscar takes him out of battle, she blames her personal feelings as she says “Why am I a woman? Why can’t I command? Is it because I am a woman?” What she perceives as weakness and hindrance are actually human feelings which are not only specific to women, and this shows that she has not got over her complex about being a female. As for André, he dies singing a song about his longing for Oscar, rather than in communion with her.

The Manga Oscar wants to be heroic at all costs and is committed to changing the world rather than
pursuing personal love or making a man happy. André also indulges her in the thought that she is destined to live for something big and does not see herself accomplished unless through heroism and martyrdom. This contradictorily makes her appear rather unheroic and selfish.

4. The Oscar / Rosalie relationship
Oscar has a lot of emotional interactions with Rosalie in the Manga. She feels pain for being “only” a woman and unable to share Rosalie’s love for her. Again, being a woman is a problem for her. She goes to the Palais Royal to save Rosalie from the Black Knight and later lets him go for Rosalie’s happiness. She decides to leave the Royal Guards for failing to catch the Black Knight instead of trying to get out of a love triangle. Sexually, Oscar is more ambiguous as she appears to be more comfortable in interacting with women (Rosalie) emotionally whereas in the Anime her androgyny is only on the physical appearance.

5. Oscar the goody-goody
The secondary characters, Bernard, Alain, and the soldiers of the French Guards are presented as immature and bratty. Bernard is rather insulting and offensive towards Oscar when he calls her a doll and a dog but the latter tries to be on good terms with him, lets him go and gives away Rosalie! As for the soldiers of Company B, they imprison Oscar one night in order to find out for themselves if she is a woman and she would have been offended physically had it not been for André’s intervention, but she decides not to hold it against her soldiers. (Is this serious??)
The dark characters appear more wicked, especially Jeanne Valois, who tries to kill Oscar with a knife. The latter tries to save Jeanne from the explosion and feels bad when she falls down from a balcony.

6. Oscar’s contradictions
Oscar in the Manga is terribly nostalgic, the last painting of her is that of her adolescent when times were peaceful and good. She feels guilty about the priviledged conditions into which she is born while France is impoverished. She feels helpless about what is happening around her and also picks up alcoholism. André with all the love he has for her is unable to heal her pains nor is he able to comfort her heart. The final solution to her pains, helplessness, and contradictions is martyrdom.

Finally I got to print all the 33 chapters and put them into a binder! There’s a clever combination of both Anime and Manga characteristics to bring forth a story of your own! As many scenes are inspired from the Manga I was thinking that Oscar / Françoise was going to take up the personality of the Manga version. I discovered the Manga much later than the Anime, and I was surprised to find significant differences in the characters, both primary and secondary, and at the time I was rather disappointed by the Manga because of these differences.

The Manga, far from being a romance, is the author’s re-interpretation of the French Revolution. Personally, I felt that the Revolutionary hero figure the author makes Oscar convey in the Manga is unconvincing, considering that she needs the sacrifice of somebody (André) to appear heroic. Oscar becomes the martyr of the Revolution and André becomes the martyr of Oscar. This is quite abusive. In the story, she has a weak and tormented psyche and is often on the verge of psychological collapse. When André is wounded, Oscar lives her female feelings as a hindrance to her accomplishing her “historical” mission and blames herself, which leaves to think that being a woman is her big problem.

Having made my way through the first chapters, I’m really glad not to find the following Manga characteristics:

1. Oscar and the Martyr Complex
She falls into the pattern of the lonely hero with a martyr complex. Several times she makes a vow to die for France. Her personality shows little evolution throughout the Manga but gets more and more tragic as the story goes on, as if her role is not to understand the world but to say no and sacrifice. She is constantly tortured by the world’s imperfections, always feels helpless, and in reaction to these has violent emotional breakdowns. Had she survived the Bastille raid, would she choose the path of a Revolutionary and become a kind of Charlotte Corday, rebelling against the Revolutionary leaders who later strayed away from the ideology of the Revolution? In addition to her loyalty to France, she is completely selfless and almost acts like a saint in the Manga which makes the character very predictable and boring and moreover leaves little room for development.

2. Oscar the lonely hero
In the Manga, she breaks solemnly with everything she has loved dearly so far, Marie-Antoinette, the Queen’s children, Fersen, and her parents on her way to Paris with her soldiers, as she makes a choice between her absolute values and the people who are dear to her, as if from then on, she would be alone to face her destiny. She is going to rebel alone against power and the world. Oscar is unable to reconciliate her love for those who are close to her and her love for the people of France. She decides that there is no compromise with her absolute values and forces herself to make a choice. This is a rather violent break since her attachment to the Queen and her parents is more pronounced in the Manga.

In moments of crisis, she often chooses to live her life alone. For example, when her soldiers are imprisoned, she closes herself up in her room and shuts out everyone unless they are released. She also reacts in the same way when she discovers about her disease.

This is the best fic I've ever read about BnB. Congratulations! You did a really great job. Not just your narrative style is agile and pleasant, you also succeeded in capturing the essence of all the characters, main and secondary. I don't like very much fics of alternate universe, but you get to mix the original story masterfully. You never know what will come next, because you re-write the most important moments of the story in disarray. I'm waiting expectantly to a new chapter, and I hope that you'll keep writing about BnB.

Excuse my poor english, is not my native language.

Hello Nana,

I recently joined the memories fanlisting. Coming across "memories" by surprise one weekend, I found myself glued to my computer and read non-stop through the night/day just to find out what happens next.

I had never been a visitor of RoV sites & Fanfics but as I perused the first chapters, I found your approach extremely original as the main characters are mapped into a modern-day universe. This even pushed me to glance through several other RoV fanfics in order to get an idea of the different approaches authors may have. Most often, they develop a detail to the Manga or Anime but do not seek to break down its walls. I smiled at Fanfics where Oscar and Andre wake up in Heaven and find joy for eternity… It must be our nature to seek out the amusing and trivial aspects of happy outcomes and avoid thinking about all the circumstances and choices which lead to them. Whereas when catastrophe occurs in the end it is sure that something has gone wrong on the way.

So first of all bravo for exploring in this direction of “alternative universe” :) Personally, I think the choice of a modern setting is ideal for RoV, as the original story is set in turbulent and uncertain times (Revolution, Historical change) and this really limits the ways in which characters evolve as they are simply swayed by historical events. Inaction is what I saw as a major setback, although Oscar continues to achieve acts of bravery in her military role in the entire Anime/Manga. As courageous as she might be, her mobility of action is extremely limited.

Secondly, I like how “it all started with that painting” in Chapter1. The Armand painting in the Anime left me quite unsatisfied as the reasons for its being done are unclear. Because Oscar is dying? What is the link of that with a portrait? It is true that paintings live longer than people do, it is nevertheless a vain attempt hoping to leave a trace of one’s existence through an auto-portrait. Personal anecdote: when a Turkish carpet merchant tried to talk me into buying one of his silk carpets a few years ago, he argued that the day we are gone, the happy carpet will still be there. True, unless the house gets flooded or burnt down before that, but this does not add any value to the carpet itself. Reading line: “viewing of M. Armand painting - the sole appointment from 9:00 am to 12:00 noon”, one wonders , would it be the starting point of Oscar’s revenge, the one who never gives up and fights through obstacles to find her path? Tuberculosis and Revolution, France tumbles, time is running out, and a painting is done to live through time so that someday it will help her find her mark and take up where things have been left off? Suspense. Exciting! It is great to set out the scene such that Françoise asks André to come along to view the painting. The last time they looked at it two centuries ago was a turning point in their fraternal relationship.

Another painting which I’d like to mention here is (sorry just a bit out of the books here but since Oscar’s depicted as Mars :) ) Boticelli’s “Venus&Mars” whose message is about the balance of power between the sexes. In the painting, Venus tenderly looks at a sleeping Mars after a romantic episode. The Goddess of Love subdues Mars and rules supreme. Little satyrs play around with War God’s armor, helmet, arm, and look back at a serene Venus for approval. Mars is in deep sleep, his heart conquered, strength subdued by the power of love. Whereas Mars is stronger in the playing field of war, Venus is more powerful in the playing field of love. An analogy is to be drawn here: Oscar has the leading attributes of a warrior but is weaker in the matters of love where as André is generally withdrawn and overshadowed by the former but is the real dominus in romance. This is their basis of a balanced relationship, and since moreover, Oscar is physically female and André male, the Mars Venus role can be easily be interchanged so long as each is capable of taking awareness of the attributes given to her/his sex. Oscar is chained to the image of Mars because as the military she does not have another choice. Venus is the missing element to balance in her life -> André is the missing puzzle. So much for painting and symbolism. For now :)

Thirdly, Nana, your business world is great, Paris la Défense, De Brun Group, De la Saigne Subdivision, and God, auditors and doctored accounts! It is really well founded and convincing. And last but not the least, I love Françoise! More than I loved Oscar François de Jarjayes, in my teenage years when I rewinded, fast-forwarded, paused, rewatched my beloved RoV video-cassettes to ponder over Oscar’s destiny. Françoise is the continuum of Oscar, such is my impression as I observe her in your lines, it’s a more self-conscious Oscar who has come to terms with many of her previous contradictions, if not all of them, and handles her emotions with coolness and confidence. Françoise’s hot pursuit of André and Angélique is great! She almost lost self-control! It gets very comical as she is portrayed as a Fury who is about to hound the two. I cannot imagine Oscar in a scene of jealousy, being overly proud and feeling overly special about herself. Unfortunately she does not change in that life. The couple scenes are gorgeous, where Françoise makes big efforts to show her partner that she cares thus conveying a strong, convincing female image. Really lovely. Although having a more complex personality, we do nevertheless recognize Oscar in Françoise, from her iceberg attitude to André and her subordinates at work, from how she challenges them, plus her sharp mind and strong personality as she dominates her environment and makes big decisions. And of course, tight schedules, stress, struggles still make up a big part of her day.

Anyway, these are my general impressions about the setting and the two main characters reading your “memories”. It is great, and it brought me back to the RoV. Yes, I was a dedicated fan! But more fan of the Anime Oscar, even though the outcome of the story is more or less the same in Anime and Manga, the drive for action is significantly different and I came to perceive two completely distinct personalities. I came across the Manga much later, in Asia, and it was only a pirate version that I found. I have not yet seen it in the Western European market.

Let me know what kind of contributions you look for from feedbackers and keep up the good work! Lots of thanks for the first 33 chapters of “memories” and cheers!

Ma Ying

Your fic is impressive because you conduct excellent, strenuous research work it, an you tie its events to real-life incidents and current affairs so cleverly, that everything actually seems to fall into place.

I really, REALLY wish you would finish this. I can't wait to read how it ends.

Ohmygoodness... This story certainly has me riveted, so much so that it's way past working hours and I'm still reading it at my office! I love how you transposed the events of BeruBara into a believable modern-day setting. I love the little nods to the original manga and anime, as well as to the history behind them. I love how the characters have changed, and how they've somehow still stayed the same. I LOVE the device of Madame DuBois a lot as well! And of course, who am I kidding, I love Andre - and Fersen's such a cad. dXDb Thank you for this wonderful yarn. It's better than a lot of fiction being published these days, believe you me. ;3

I'm so happy to see an update. It's always brightened my day. Sorry that I took so much to review this chapter. I loved the conversation with the sisters, loved to see Alain again.

Thanks for continuing your story. You don't see perseverance like this these days.

Hugs.
Luna

I'm so happy you finally finished Chapter 33!

And it was worth waiting, but I just have to admit that I'm much more exited to know how this all will end.
Will Francoise really have to grieve for her Andre?
And what about Francoise's parents? Do they already know about their relationship and is their relationship some kind of 'open secret' now?
But despite my questions I only can say that you wrote a great chapter again. Please finish this wonderful Fanfic. It doesn't matter when it will be finished, the most important thing is, that you finish it.
I hope you'll find some spare time to finish the next chapter soon.
I already can't wait to read it. :D

PS: I wish you the best for your studies!

Dear Nana,

Sorry it took me this long to write a review... First, I must say I am so grateful you found the time to write a new chapter! It is fantastic as usual. But you can feel the fear throughout it all. Why did Françoise see Oscar? I'd like to think it was some kind of goodbye, since she has found peace now. After all, the pattern changed. Françoise and André are a real couple now. And with the sisters knowing, it is practically official! Now... It is not going to be that easy, huh? Something tragic will happen, right? Sigh. Well, I will impatiently wait for chapter 34!

Oh, let me add a bit of "Frenchness" to my comment. When you take the highway to Paris, you will see the road sign for L'Hay-les-Roses just above the sign for Versailles. So that you basically read "Les Roses de Versailles". How cool is that? *grin*.

Hugs my dear!

Dear Nana sama ^_^
Thank you so much for chapter 33, it is great as always!This chapter is quite serious. However, you added some lovely scenes. I really like the part that Andre tried to comfort Francois. He is such a great man hehehe. And yes, when Andre met the sisters, this scene is darling ^_^
I know you are very busy these days, but please update the next chapter whenever you have time.
Cheers!
Nant