The Rose of Versailles
Manga critic Jason Thompson has praised "The Rose of Versailles" as "a classic" of the medium, describing Ikeda's creation of Oscar as a "stroke of genius" and foundational to manga archetype of "a woman who plays the role of a man, sometimes struggling with the burden, but mostly surpassing men at their own game." Thompson notes that while this archetype was established in Osamu Tezuka's manga series "Princess Knight", he favorably compares the "elegant and tragic" Oscar to Tezuka's "childlike and cute" series. Reviewing the first two English-language volumes of "The Rose of Versailles" for "Otaku USA", Danica Davidson similarly praises "The Rose of Versailles" as a series that "helped revolutionize "shōjo" manga," drawing specific attention its "elegant, detailed and Rococo-infused" artwork.