is a shōjo

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series created by Michiyo Akaishi. The story was adapted into an

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

Tatsunoko Production and often shortened to , is a Japanese animation company. The studio's name has a double meaning in Japanese: "Tatsu's child" (Tatsu is a nickname for Tatsuo) and " sea dragon", the inspiration for its seahorse logo. Tatsunoko Production was e ...

in 1985, with character designs by Akemi Takada.

Summary

Randy is a young boy who lives with his aunt and uncle in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

in the early 1930s. One day while walking around the

Alps The Alps () are some of the highest and most extensive mountain ranges in Europe, stretching approximately across eight Alpine countries (from west to east): Monaco, France, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Germany, Austria and Slovenia. ...

, Randy finds a little girl who is the only survivor of a plane crash and has lost all her memories. She is named Jeudi by him and both of them are raised together. As they grow up together, Jeudi and Randy develop a deep friendship for each other... A few years later Jeudi wants to find her past. Her only clue is a song that she is constantly hearing in her head, a song called Alpen Rose. At the time of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, Jeudi and Randy set on a journey to discover Jeudi's past and in the process learn the depth of the love they have for each other.

Characters

*Randy Cortot is a Swiss young man who lives not too far from the Alps with his aunt and uncle. As a little kid, he found a girl around his age with her pet cockatoo lying in a field of flowers, and convinced his aunt and uncle to take her in. After an incident with Count George de Germont, in which he and Printemps are almost shot by him, Jeudi is taken to the Count's castle by force. He helps her escape and they must flee their village. This also gives them the chance to both get hitched and start investigating Jeudi's strange past. *Jeudi/Alicia Brendel was found amnesiac and unconscious by Randy, who gave her the name "Jeudi". She was subsequently taken in by a shopkeeper in the manga or nursing school in the anime. At age 13, Jeudi catches the eye of Count Germont when she protect Randy and Printemps, and he takes her by force to his castle to make her his concubine. Randy comes to her rescue and they flee to the town of

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

after they begin to have leads about her true identity. Eventually they learn her real name is Alicia Brendel. *Printemps is Jeudi's pet

cockatoo A cockatoo is any of the 21 species of parrots belonging to the family Cacatuidae, the only family in the superfamily Cacatuoidea. Along with the Psittacoidea ( true parrots) and the Strigopoidea (large New Zealand parrots), they make up t ...

, who has been with her ever since before the fateful accident that brought her to Randy's life. *Leonhard "Leon" Aschenbach is a famous Austrian pianist. *Count George de Germont is an arrogant aristocrat who is in pursuit of Jeudi, and is revealed to have gained influence within the Nazis. His ambition is to rule the world. *Countess Francoise de Germont is Count de Germont's wife who dislikes what he has become. She eventually decides to end it by shooting him and burning his house, and committing suicide. *Friedrich Brendel is Jeudi/Alicia's father. *Helene Dunant-Brendel is Jeudi/Alicia's mother. *Jacques Dunant is Jeudi/Alicia's grandfather, a relative of

Henry Dunant Henry Dunant (born Jean-Henri Dunant; 8 May 182830 October 1910), also known as Henri Dunant, was a Swiss humanitarian, businessman, social activist, and co-founder of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, Red Cross. His humanit ...

. *Matilda Tronchant a girl posing as Helene's daughter, Alicia. *Michel Tronchant is Matilda's father who is considered to be Basil Zaharoff's successor as an arms dealer. He supported the Dunant family and sent his daughter Matilda to pose as Helene's daughter, Alicia, to gain control of the Dunants due to their involvement in founding the Red Cross. *Hans is a boy who died helping Randy and Jeudi to get away from Count de Germont. *Clara is Hans's little sister. *Martha is a girl who was friends with Hans. *Jean-Jacques Cortot is an assassin with the nickname "Tarantula". It's later revealed that he is Randy's brother. *Duboir is a man who works under Count de Germont. * Henri Guisan a Swiss military officer who held the office of General of the Swiss Armed Forces during the Second World War. And who appears in the story to help Jeudi and Randy throughout the story

Manga

The manga series was originally serialized in Japan, in 1983, in the weekly magazine '' Ciao'' by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...

, with the first volume of the series being released in October 1983. The second, third, and fourth followed in February 1984, July 1984, and November 1984. And from then on chapters of the story were released periodically over the next three years with volumes of the manga series being released in a 3- to 6-month period. The series was finished in late 1986, finishing the storyline in nine small volumes of approximately 180 pages. The remaining volumes (5, 6, 7 8, and 9) were released in February 1985, July 1985, December 1985, June 1986, and September 1986. The manga series was reissued 1993 by Shogakukan through the publishing branch Flower Comics Wide Magazine. This new version was released in four large volumes of at least approximately 350 pages. This new version included new covers, colored pages in each volume as well was pin-ups at the end of the volumes. More recently the series was reissued in Japan in 2009 in four volumes by Flower Comics DeLuxe with different covers which were a combination of black-and-white photos of different parts of

Paris, France Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

with picture of the main characters of the series in the center.

Episodes

# ''Prologue to the Torrent of Love'' (April 6, 1985) # ''Angel in the Light'' (April 13, 1985) # ''A Whistle Beyond Death'' (May 4, 1985) # ''Seconds Until Trap'' (May 18, 1985) # ''The Past Hidden in the Garden'' (May 25, 1985) # ''The Melody of Red Roses'' (June 1, 1985) # ''Resound! To the Skies of our Homeland'' (June 15, 1985) # ''The Beautiful Fugitives'' (June 22, 1985) # ''Randy's Knight Sword'' (June 29, 1985) # ''Memories and the Morning Goodbye'' (July 13, 1985) # ''Ruined Ambition'' (July 27, 1985) # ''There's Two Alicia!?'' (August 3, 1985) # ''The Song of Love'' (August 10, 1985) # ''Farewell to Peace'' (August 24, 1985) # ''The Lonely Piano'' (August 31, 1985) # ''The Assassin of Paris'' (September 7, 1985) # ''The Escaping Hans'' (September 14, 1985) # ''Love Song Among the Fog'' (September 21, 1985) # ''The Gun Pointed at Freedom'' (September 28, 1985) # ''The Wings of a Dream'' (October 5, 1985)

Prop designers

* Studio "Ammonite" (Hiroshi Ogawa, Hiroshi Okura, and Takashi Ono.)

References

External links

* {{Tatsunoko Production 1983 manga 1985 anime television series debuts Drama anime and manga Historical anime and manga Romance anime and manga Shōjo manga Fictional Swiss people Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga Fuji Television original programming Tatsunoko Production Comics set in Switzerland Comics set in the 1930s Comics set during World War II World War II television series