#237 : Isabelle of Paris

So let’s run through this checklist… I have here a historic shojo anime set in France, released to television in 1979 and features a main character who does a little gender bending. Gotta be Rose of Versailles? Oh good guess, but WRONG! Fooled you and honestly those clues would have fooled me as well as a short time ago until I discovered another series that is ‘similar’.  Take what you will, but give it a shot as it is only 13 episodes (very short for a series in those days). May I present Isabelle of Paris.

Call me ignorant, but I have never heard of the Romantic Masterpiece Theater.  World Masterpiece Theater oh yes, I love those shows, but the previous moniker is our current interest and I don’t have much to say on it except I can guess (and I mean guess!) that Isabelle of Paris was labeled in this category as this was one of four shows released by a studio not usually seen on our radars, DAX International in 1979/80. These four shows could have been the Romantic Masterpiece Theater? By the way I want to thank Helen McCarthy’s research as this is what helped me come to this conclusion. Now this means I need to check out the other three shows: Julie the Wild Rose, Golden-Haired Jeannie and Wandering Girl Nell. … What I do know is that we get a pre-intro to Isabelle for Romantic Masterpiece Theater which features cats…  I love cats and it’s a short, simple and a cute sequence, but anyway… on with the show!

Isabelle of Paris always begins with a few seconds of recap before the start of the official intro, but when that intro comes, I am excited. It’s not the most technically advanced in terms of animation and it always outlines the main cast, which by the end of episode one you should have a good handle on. My joy is that it features the music of Frédéric Chopin (the real Piano Man). Fantaisie-Impromptu in C♯ minor to be exact, a very bold choice, but somewhat fitting as well. Chopin’s work is often heard throughout the series including one of my personal favorites, Nocturne in B flat minor, Op. 9 No. 1. 

Set during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–1871, during the reign of Napolean III, we find the backdrop to Isabelle of Paris. Isabelle is a carefree 15 year old noble French girl who gets caught up in the social-political climate of that era. France has been defeated and the Prussian Army has laid siege to Paris much to the delight of many crooked Parisian nobles and politicians. Being of the upperclass she witnesses first hand the toil this situation has put onto the Rostain family. Her brother is an officer in the army, her sister is in love with a commoner (the piano teacher!) who like many others aims to defend Paris as the army and government cannot and her parents are set on upholding tradition of the family name and prestige. 

Isabelle herself must flee to safety in Versailles once the Prussians near Paris and is constantly accompanied by Jean, and old friend who happens to have the biggest crush on Isabelle. Gender bending plays a minor role by the second half of this short series. Not so much a struggle for identity, but the need to reverse one’s role to escape Versailles and perform acts of espionage. Isabelle has been tasked to get to London, England to recruit help to save Paris from the invading Prussian army. Isabelle proclaims, “If only I were a boy?” She begins to cut her flowing locks of hair and a rushes to a change of clothes thus adopting a new role, a disguise to get past anyone who might be looking for our lady. Different from The Rose of Versailles in the fact that Oscar was bred to be a son, an heir, to her father, Isabelle does not have an issue of struggling with her internal sense of self. This is only a matter of procedure to get the job done so to speak. And the shorter hairstyle, it looks really sharp!

Though a short series for the time (40–50 episodes was the norm), Isabelle of Paris told an effective story which when you look at it from a glance is really a reflection on the evolution of the Rostain family from privileged nobility to defenders of the common man. Isabelle of Paris portrays a solid, dramatic and adventurous tale full of strength that also occasionally threw in a monkey wrench that made me go, “What, the…?”… like being chased by a guy who looks like Frankenstein and the main ‘evil’ politician having green skin, lol. Yet the conclusion was a definite surprise as I was not expecting such a tragic downfall… prepare a few tissues. This was a happy find as of recent and is without question a welcome break from much more drawn out series which sometimes can be a haul getting through. May I add yet another fun shojo series to my collection. YES!!!