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In 1967, Ikeda made her debut with Bara Yashiki no Shôjo while she was a student at Tokyo University of Education (now Tsukuba University). In 1972, her Margaret series The Rose of Versailles became a bestseller. In 1980, she won the Japan Cartoonists Association Award of Excellence for The Window of Orpheus. While in her forties, she decided to pursue a career in music, and in 1995, she enrolled in the Vocal Department of the Tokyo College of Music. Since graduating, she has been performing as a soprano singer and has appeared in numerous opera productions. She received France's Legion of Honour in 2009.
A historical romance story set in the Palace of Versailles in Paris during the French Revolution. The imperial princess Marie Antoinette marries into the Bourbon family of France from the Habsburgs of the Austrian Empire at the age of 14. She is escorted by Oscar François de Jarjayes, who is the youngest daughter of the Commander of the Royal Guards, but was raised as a man. The series has attracted a wide audience since it was first published. It was adapted for a play performed at Takarazuka in 1974. In 1979, the title was made into an animated television series.
Riyoko Ikeda refers to The Rose of Versailles as her most representative work, and to The Window of Orpheus as her life's work. Serialization of The Window of Orpheus began in Weekly Margaret in January 1975. The series was moved to the magazine Monthly Seventeen starting with Part 2. The series lasted for a total of about seven years until Part 4 concluded in 1981. It is a long story spanning 18 Comics volumes. In 1980, she received the 9th Japan Cartoonists Association Excellence Award. In 1983, it was adapted for the theater as a Takarazuka production.
