The first half may have a lot of plotlines that seem frivolous or melodramatic

The funny thing is that if you look into it most of these melodramatic plotlines actualy happened and French nobles and aristocrats really were like that. You watch and you go "this seems far fetched and made up" but they were petty , vain and overly melodramatic like that. Sure the the presentation in the show and some extra details make it extra melodramatic but most of it is based on real shit these people did and say

But agreed. Great show with an amazing aesthetic (especially if you watch it i crisp BD quality from some torrent and not shitty compressed dvd quality on YT or some streaming site). Second half is directed by Osamu Dezaki who is considered the most influential and one of the best directors in anime's history. His other 70s anime (Gamba, Treasure Island(Takarajima) , Nobody's boy Remi (Ie Naki Ko), Aim for the Ace and Ashita no Joe) are equaly well made and directed as RoV and well worth a watch. Also im sure a lor of people here would love his other adaptation of a manga by the same author as RoV, Oniisama E... . Lots and Lots of amazing looking lesbian melodramma on that one

It's an amazing show but

I love how it portrays the buildup to the revolution, instead of just going "everything is fine, then the people rebelled" you see a progressively worsening situation and the nobility idling and not really caring about what happens.

It's an amazing show and I 100% agree that even if the first half can be a bit tedious, it establishes all the characters to a degree that is crucial for all the big events that happen later in the series. I feel like at one point I was questioning if they were even going to touch on the French Revolution because the melodrama was just so on point you'd not expect them to just go through with it. From my understanding this show is responsible for a fascination with France in Japan and people expect France to be extremely different from what they actually see in reality. I also believe that Oscar went on to become the inspiration for a fairly common yuri trope of the ouji-type girl. Even if you're not particularly into the show on the merits of it just being flat out a masterpiece, if you have any interest in the cultural history of anime, you see a lot of stuff that would go on to be tropes and character types.

If I had one wish to improve it even though it's just a personal gripe

I've heard that the manga is pretty solid, too. I'm actually trying to decide if I want to watch the anime for Rose of Versailles or finish off Macross as a franchise (Delta TV and movies) after I finish Space Battleship Yamato.

Where can I watch it? Can't torrent bc no laptop

It was apparently a huge influence on Berserk as well