Category: Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée – 03

by psgels, posted in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée



Ah, this was really good. This episode was once again chock full of the main characters exchanging some of the things they grew up with, and the contrasts between them. Yune and Claude grew up in completely different environments, and between that it’s Claude’s grandfather who connects the two. Seriously, this is a premise you don’t see every day here.

They talked about all sorts of different stuff, like naming conventions, language, paper, housing. Oh, and I now know that rain in Japan lasts really long, compared to just the short outbursts of rain that we have in Europe. I also really like how Claude’s father talked in this “you should have been there”-way to Claude, as if he was urging him on to also travel once in a while. It was all really hard to imagine for Claude, especially in such an age where different cultures were relatively far apart from each other.

Apart from that though, you also really feel these characters live their daily lives. Claude spends quite a bit of time working, Oscar meanwhile is enjoying his retirement to the fullest, while Yune also is quite cute when she runs around the house. The dialogue also feels really natural between them. this really is great. There’s just one big but here…

That rich girl… was by far the worst thing to appear in this series so far. I mean, she wasn’t exactly a carbon-copy of the “ojou-sama” you see everywhere, but she was really stereotypical nonetheless. I mean, Yune is great: she’s cute, but she’s not like the stereotypical moe girl who does nothing but whine and go after the main characters’ pants. Beyond being adorable, she’s polite, sharp and curious. She’s not annoying in the slightest. That rich girl really needs to shut up soon, though. Who found it a good idea to make her like that?
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée – 02

by psgels, posted in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée



Argh! Deciding which of the big slice of life series to blog this season was hard! I mean, Usagi Drop is just undeniably good. Its acting is more realistic than all of the other series combined. If it aired during any other season, I definitely would have blogged it. It’s heart-warming as hell. Okay, that’s perhaps not the most fitting metaphor I could have used, but you get what I mean.

In the end though, I decided to go for Ikoku Meiro no Croisée is because I just find it a really interesting experiment. For one, I like historical series a lot, but this series also really delves into cultural differences. This series also is slightly different than your usual series that takes place in Europe, due to the French roots that Satelight has (did you know that Basquash was originally conceived by a Frenchman?). From the backgrounds, you can really see that a lot of attention to detail has gone into this series to make it really authentic. With Usagi Drop, I don’t think that there will be as much to write about, not to mention that according to what I’ve read about it, it’ll never really get to the growing up arcs, which (as a non-manga reader by the way), I actually really would have liked to see. If Usagi Drop would have been 22 episodes, I really would have blogged it instead. But then again, Ikoku Meiro no Croisée is also just going to take up 12 episodes. That’s the one criticism I have about this season: there still are too many series that don’t go beyond 13 episodes.

As for the final series that I’m going to blog this season: it’ll either be Dantalian no Shoka, or another Kaleidoscope-type post series. I’ll decide that next Friday.

In any case, this episode was chock full of cultural differences: a lot of this episode was about different kinds of food, but this episode also looked at the differences in architecture, customs, mindsets and traditions. Yune being cute is nice and all, but it’s those things that really drew me to this series. In the background you can also see authentic birds and I’m also impressed at the creativity that was put into the people and buildings in the background.

The kimono is probably going to be the recurring plot in this series. It’s not the most interesting part of this series, but I can see why it was included. This is really set in a time where the big corporations started rising and steal competition away from the small merchants. It’s a tad forced and all, but it also definitely has potential.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Some Quick First Impressions: Natsume Yuujin-Chou San, Yuruyuri and Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

by psgels, posted in Ikoku Meiro no Croisée, Natsume Yuujin-Chou, Some Quick First Impressions

Natsume Yuujin-chou San

Short Synopsis: Our lead character can see youkai.
Oh, it’s wonderful to see this one back again. It still has the dreamy atmosphere it always had, and the way this episode started off with another episodic story was great to get back into it again. It’s a basic, but very charming story about another youkai who met Natsume’s grandmother a long time ago, and this episode once again did a great job of showing her story while keeping things simple. It may not have been the best episode so far, but it had a lot to like. The animation still is really good, and this episode also stressed some of the character development that Natsume went through in the first two seasons. It’s a very relaxed episode that did its job really well. Oh, and it also was great to see Nyanko-sensei again.
OP: Well built up song with a good use of instruments, though the visuals are a bit unremarkable.
ED: Simple and relaxing, fitting this series perfectly.
Potential: 90%

Yuriyuri

Short Synopsis: Our lead character is a random junior high school girl.
Well, here we go again. Here’s the thing: this first episode of Yuruyuri wasn’t half bad. It’s an episode of a bunch of random junior high schoolers goofing off, but it had a number of good jokes, it made sure that its characters, while annoying, weren’t at least one-sided stereotypes and this pretty much was the best animation we’ve ever seen from Dogakobo. It could have been much worse, but the thing is: this remains a show in which nothing happens beyond the antics of a bunch of cute girls. I’m not saying that that on its own is bad, but those series tend to have one really, really big disadvantage: they get incredibly repetitive. Take A-Channel: it could have been decent but devolved into an onslaught of boob jokes and characters repeating their quirks over and over. Denpa Ona? Nice coming of age drama until the characters just kept repeating themselves and the horny aunt just kept hitting on the male lead. Astarotte no Omocha? Heartfelt until it couldn’t stop talking about panties and generic romance cliches. And the thing is: the first episode of Yuruyuri has yet to show any hint that it won’t follow the same path. It only had a few bad fanservice jokes, but you can bet your hat that once they run out of jokes they’ll start groping boobs on a daily basis. On top of that, the main character is a complete airhead. And while she was far from the most annoying airhead out there, there really is little what you can do with such a character in the long run.
OP: The usual generically upbeat j-pop song that will get annoying really fast.
ED: This just feels like the second part of the OP song…
Potential: 45%

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée

Short Synopsis: Our lead character gets to take care of a young Japanese girl.
Oh my god. That was almost too adorable. This was once again an unbelievable first episode. This time in the incredible undeniable charm that this episode has. This goes beyond being just cute: just about everything about the lead female is just ridiculously charming. The animation isn’t trying to be anything big, but it is really consistent and does a great job of bringing the cast alive, plus you can also see the amount of detail that has been put into the background art. The lead character isn’t just an ordinary character: he’s a blacksmith. His shop is full of all kinds of interesting designs and furniture and a lot of attention was put into making the art as authentic as possible. Heck, the creators even got a number of fluent French voice actors as the narrator and vocalists. I really have to say that Satelight are making brilliant use of their French roots and connections here. Overall: Sato Junichi did it again. This once again was brilliant characterization. Although I do have to say that it is very dramatic. It needs to take care not to devolve into melodrama as the show goes on.
OP: A bit of a mundane OP, but quite well animated.
ED: Adorable. Just… adorable.
Potential: 90%