I have suspected that Francis is the Black Rose for ages, just as I'm sure that everyone else has. Naturally enough I also suspected that he was the knight who helped Nadja just after the orphanage burned. After Nadja met Francis and thanked him for helping her in the woods, strangely he insisted that the Knight wasn't him. I've been wondiering about that ever since. After all, why would he lie? Perhaps Francis has a twin brother that was separated at birth?

Then we got to episode 19.... talking with the Black Rose, Nadja mentions a good nobleman that she met. She says the words, "noblesse oblige" and he reacts like she stabbed him with a start and a gasp. An surprisingly strong reaction. If he remembers saying them to her, then he shouldn't be surprised to hear them repeated back. If he didn't say the words, then why should they mean anything to him?

Just after that she mention's Francis' name. Once again he starts and gasps. Why such a strong reaction to something so trivial? I now have a new theory as to what the secret of Kuro Bara is. A theory that also includes the mystery of why Francis insisted that he wasn't the Moonlit Knight.

I think that Francis might be a split personality. He honestly doesn't know that he's met Nadja in two other guises. Similarly Black Rose might not know that he has met Nadja before either. I'm a bit hesitant to believe this since it seems so unusual for a show of this genre, but it does explain why Nadja's words were so disturbing to Kuro Bara. He knew them only inside his head, from the part of himself that isn't himself.

Actually Francis does have a twin brother, Keith. They were not separated at birth though.

I loved episode 26, "The Other Francis." On one hand it was a wonderfull falling in love episode. Watching Nadja babble on while (Francis) watched her with a smile was wonderful. The two of them eating tomatoes was wonderful. Honestly more shows should think of doing an episode like this so we can see the progression of falling in love instead of simply telling us that they love each other and expecting us to believe it.

Of course in this show the kind've need to show us such things because there is an honest to goodness romantic conflict!!!

I'm not used to that in anime. Generally when there is a question of different love interests the answer is telegraphed boldly without leaving much room for doubt no matter how much we want to doubt it. There are a few exceptions, but not many. This one is a pleasant exception because after flirting with the truth for so long we finally find out that... the Black Rose is NOT Francis!!!!!

Stary-eyed Knight = Black Rose. Black Rose <> Francis. Shock! I was really expecting them to be a multiple-personality which would have been unusual in its own right. Instead we find out that they are different people. Though I thought of the angle that they could be separated twins (read my post #10 above), I didn't believe it. And just after discovering that fact, Nadja suddenly finds out that the man she spent such a delightful afternoon with was actually the Black Rose who she has a mad-on for.

Just delightful.

Nadja's true knight finally shows his face. It seems they always had Francis in white and the 'other Francis' in black. Somehow, the 'other Francis' was drawn with a more mature look or is it my imagination? Hmm... wonder who will Nadja choose... Francis or the 'other Francis' that is the question... :D I like the 'other Francis' more of course.

Keith Harcourt

...who I like more? Keith, I like his darker personality. Francis is like, at some point, much more like a typical Prince Charming, too perfect :P.

As for episode 26 in general, I loved evrything, I guess this is where you people who have seen the complete series say the story gets darker. The atmosphere I felt was quite different. I even found some composition in some scenes that reminded me of Utena, not really sure why.