André Grandier

The greatest man on earth!

I think you all know who I’m talking about. There is no doubt that he’s André Grandier! AHHHHHHHHHHHH, I just want to scream every time I see/ hear/ read…his name! 😳

Though, I got to say, he’s not the main character 😥 at least in the manga. At the opening, Ikeda sensei only introduced 3 people: Oscar, Antoinette and Fersen. And at the end, she also only mentioned that 3 people…

But that can’t change the fact that he’s the greatest man in the world, too bad he doesn’t exist ( otherwise I don’t know what I will do if I meet him 😈 ). Perhaps he’s that perfect because he’s an imaginary person. But think again, is he perfect? No, I don’t think so!

Remember how he confessed his love to Oscar? A perfect man would never do that, attacking the woman he loves, kissing her against her will and even ripping her shirt.  He stopped and apologized, but everything had already happened, a broken mirror can’t be fixed anymore…

So why does every body, actually, every girl, every woman who ever read the manga, fall in love with him?

Normal men want as many as good women in their life, but normal women only want a generous, faithful guy, who will love her and only her for his whole life.

I said “normal”, because there’re always exceptions. And André was an exception! For 20 years, there was only Oscar, his mademoiselle in his eyes, his head, and his heart.

You may say, because he’s an imaginary person, a guy in shoujo, every romantic story has at least a man like that…blah blah blah…Yes, that’s right! I’ve read so many romantic stories before, but there was no man had ever given me a strong impression like André!

What makes men fall in love with women? What’s the first thing they see at a woman? Her face? Her beauty? Her body? Yes, that’s what normal men, and the others imagination-story-men see. André lived with Oscar since he was 9. And the first time he came to the Jarjayes’s mansion, the first time he saw Oscar, he thought she was a boy  , a pretty boy…Well, he didn’t know she was a girl, but he realized she was pretty! And a few minutes after that, he discovered the truth: he had to serve a mademoiselle, not a monsieur.

André spent all his childhood with Oscar but he didn’t love her until the accident with the horse. You can say because before that, he was too young to have that kind of feeling…Hmm, I think a 15 years old boy was old enough to have some affections…, maybe not a real love, but he had to feel something towards a beautiful girl!

What I want to say is, André loves Oscar because of her nature, her personality, not because of her look…

What are the things that men usually do when they’re suffering from love and jealousy? There’re a lot things, I don’t think I have enough time to write them down. And I also don’t think that they will do what André did: nothing! He chose to be with her, to be beside her, that was enough…And by that, he knew her better than she knew herself. He realized she loved Fersen before she noticed her own feelings! Again, what did he do? Nothing…

I don’t know if this can be counted, when Fersen came back from America, André and Oscar were practicing shooting. Oscar saw Fersen, she couldn’t stop herself, she ran to him, and André just stood there, looking at her…I can’t describe what I saw in his eyes, but I can say it was too painful…

And then they went back to Jarjayes’s mansion, had dinner, had tea…Oscar asked Fersen to stay, she was wondering if she had a chance to take a place in this guy’s heart?

And André did something: asked him to stay too…he wanted Oscar to be happy…

He’d done everything for his beloved. When she wanted to catch the Black knight, whether André volunteered to disguise himself as the thief, or she pushed him to disguise, that plan took him an eye…and when he was laying on the bed, with a bandaged eye, he told Oscar: “I’m really glad this wasn’t your eye…” AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Can any woman not be affected by that scene? 😥

Don’t forget the time Oscar joined the French guards, she told André that he didn’t have to be with her anymore. In the manga, general Jarjayes asked him to follow her, in order to protect her. But in the anime, he decided to follow her himself, he said: “maybe you don’t know, but I’m the only man who can protect you.” AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Then Girodelle came and asked André’s mademoiselle to marry him. This time, André fell into decay. He found Girodelle  a very dangerous competitor

He tried to poison Oscar, it sound a little like “Romeo and Juliet” to me, if 2 lovers can’t be together in life, they can be together in heaven…In fact, for some reasons, I don’t like “Romeo and Juliet”, so, I was really glad when André stopped Oscar from drinking the wine. He remembered how much he loved her and how he loved her. He wanted her to be happy, he was ready to give up his life for her. And now he wanted to kill her? No, she had to be alive…and when the glass was broken, he cried with happiness…( I wanted to cry too 😥 )

Another touching scene is when Fersen visited Oscar, and realized she was the mystery enchanted woman whom he danced with at the ball. Oscar knocked over the table and ran away…when she went back to clean the mess, André asked her if she needed help, and the answer was “no”…

He turned around, got out of the room, then went down on his knees, his only eye started to blur, he wasn’t able to see, he called : “help me, Oscar”…But perhaps he just wanted to call, he didn’t really want her to hear that, his voice was really low…and then he managed to move himself, had recourse to the dim light…The song Ai no hikari to kage – The Light and Shadow of Love began to play right after he went down…

Ai ga kurushimi nara
ikura de mo kurushi mou
sore ga kimi no kokoro ni itsuka tokodu made
…

If to love have to suffer
I will endure any suffering
Until my love reaches your heart someday
…

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! It’s just perfect for both of them Oscar and André, but it suits André more 😥 …

The scene I believe that had taken every breath away, is the “night of passionate vows” 😳  In the manga, in both scenes when Oscar told André she loved him,  and when she told him she wanted to become his wife, he was really shocked. That’s nature to me, he must dream of things like that for thousand times, or didn’t even dare to dream…

But in the anime, he was really calm, he replied her that he’d already know for along time…I’m sure he did, he knew her very well…I don’t know why I cried when I watched that scene…Don’t people often blush, or think about something indecent while watching hot scenes? But I cried, it’s like: “finally, they’re together…”

Even though, I hate this scene in the live action. An importance scene of this story, and the kisses are fake! Actually, every kisses of Oscar and André in the live action are fake! What’s wrong with them? The director, the actor and the actress? The other kisses of Antoinette and Fersen weren’t fake, so I don’t think it’s because of the culture, nor because at 1979, people didn’t like to see kisses on screen. When I watched this scene, I was really angry : the romantic scene between my Oscar and André is fake? Unbelievable! 👿

Anyway, I don’t hate the live action, it’s ROV and I love everything about ROV . Beside, there’re some interesting scenes in it. The scene Rosalie asked Oscar to buy her for one night, and Oscar answered that she wasn’t a man, but if she was, she would never pay for love! (hmm, she said that because she’s a woman, real men never think like that ) And then André asked: how much? I laughed a lot 😆 , Oscar shouted:” André, how dare you!” A minute ago, she was trying not to talk to him! He really knew how to control this woman and he enjoyed that, he smiled:” Ah, you found your voice!”Hahahah, beautiful scene! 😆

Another scene, the night before Oscar had a duel with the duke, she wanted André to stay in her room 😯 .  Don’t think of anything else, she just didn’t want to be alone, she wanted her childhood friend to stay with her like they usually did! André said: grow up, everything’s changed, we can’t turn back the time! But he stayed anyway (how couldn’t he? Of course he wanted to stay in a room with his beloved  ) And all night long, he wasn’t able to sleep. I wonder what did he think while sitting there, beside the bed, on which a beautiful woman was sleeping ? More importantly, that was the woman he loved for more than 20 years and still loves now, what did he think while seeing her breath, turn …? At last, he came back to the bench and observed her…lovely scene! Now you know why I said he’s the greatest man on earth?

The times André passed away, I really don’t want to talk about it, I cried a lot, I don’t want to cry again…All I can say is I couldn’t help crying as watching him told her about a small house in Arras, about children, and, again, asserted that he loved her…AHHHHHHHHHH!

😥 😥 😥 😥

A little more that I think I should add. Ikeda sensei didn’t say André’s a handsome man, but girls, is he handsome? YES! 😳 To be honest, my answer is “yes”, because I love him, and that feeling makes me see him so bewitching. To be fair, every men in this series is good looking, even Oscar’s daddy, general de Jarjayes… But André’s the most captivating guy!  And Ikeda sensei didn’t say anything about his body too, but the scene he took off his shirt in Oscar’s office to dry himself, not only Oscar blushed , there’s only one thing I can say:

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! 😳

One last thing, don’t misunderstand me that I “fall in love” with André, I only “love” him, if you understand me…No woman can have no feelings for a man like that. Ok, you can say “no” now, but if you meet a guy like André in reality, you’ll change your mind. Do you want to meet a guy like that, or more, do you want to have a guy like that?  Well, I do! So, if you meet him and don’t want him, you should introduce him to me. 😆

Mia
Beta reader:  Michelle