...and unfortunately for the English-speaking audience, the scans are not up to there yet (the manga and the -even more awesome- anime are well known and have been succesfully and repeatedly published in European countries, like Italy and France, at least since the 80's ). Art is a bit old, with lot of sparkles and flowers, very old school shoujo in that department, so if you're not used to it it might be an obstacle to your enjoyment at first (I grew up with it, so I had no problems with the artwork, but I see how younger readers used to contemporary art styles might be put off by it) . In any case the art does improve along the way. But plot and characters are outstanding and really grow on you, especially Oscar and Andrè: the lady and the servant, the light and her unseparable 'shadow' and protector since their childhood together, both dealing with the changing French -and European- society as XVIII century Revolutions approach _ .
It's a tale of self-discovery and revolution (on many levels), of everlasting love, duty and honour, feelings and justice versus status and class, hope and sacrifice. A tad melodramatic (well, it was both the era and the authoress' trademark style ) , but totally worth the read, and very moving, and quite well researched, despite some narrative license ^^V.
Furthermore it's a piece of culture and manga history and one of the most influential works as far as kickass heroines pursuing self-awareness and self-realization go, and of course the male characters are up to the challenge , both in attitude, ethics and looks . Ah, beauty and substance nicely rolled into a lavish period package, with some healthy feminist sprinkles. How wonderful 😉 , how refreshing compared to many of nowadays titles .
I fondly suggest you to watch the anime, complete English fansub of it are available on the net 😉 . I tried the Live-Evil one and it had also decent video quality, provided the source.
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