Reference:   Part A -- Shueisha bunko 4, 333-343 (tankoubon 8);   anime ep.39
Part B -- 351-356 (tankoubon 8);   anime ep.39

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This series of scenes is, I think, where the manga and anime show the greatest difference.   In the manga, Oscar leaves to get water and returns only to find that she has missed André's final moments.   Stricken with grief, she almost throws herself at the bullets that killed André.   Her call to André the following morning is especially poignant and somewhat prophetic.   In contrast, the anime depicts Oscar staying by her lover's deathbed, wailing at the sky upon realizing his death.   Her full outburst of emotions comes later that night, tears pouring down her cheeks as she races across the bridge.

As the main actions are dramatically altered, so are their implications.   The manga depicts Oscar weeping over the loss of a soulmate and lamenting her human weaknesses.   She is as frustrated about her lover's death as she is about her uncontrollable emotions.   In this way, we see Oscar struggling with her love for André, role as an officer, and ideals for the world beyond the Revolution.

The anime, however, focuses only on the love component.   Oscar stays with André during his death and thinks only of their love throughout the scenes.   Interestingly, her feeling of betrayal is almost a reversal of an earlier scene in the manga.   In the manga scene describing the lovers' union, Oscar tells André that she is glad to have found someone gently supporting her nearby.   And for this she is relieved that she hasn't realized it too late.   Yet in the anime we see Oscar deeply regretting her delay in returning his love.   This is a reasonable interpretation given the abridged love scenes in the anime.   Still, I find it very disturbing that Oscar is beating herself over something she could not have controlled.

Well, how about André?   To me, it's reassuring that he dies peacefully in the manga.   The romantics may disagree, but I prefer to have him die in the comfort of not seeing his lover grieving.   And I think that's why he sends Oscar running off for water -- to spare Oscar the sight of his dying and to spare himself the guilt of hurting his loved one.   The anime's interpretation is okay too, but, like I said, it is unsettling for me to watch someone dying with regret.   And André's resistance at his deathbed really bothers me.

 

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