Oh my god… I knew what was going to happen. The writers kept dropping hints for it. And yet, this episode turned out absolutely incredible. Now this is what I call a death with a perfect build-up, something which many writers can learn a lot from. I again ended up crying at what happened, Les Miserables is a true masterpiece.
The first half of the episode was mostly building-up. Anjoras tries to shoot a police-officer as he’s preparing for the next fight, though Jean beats him by shooting his helmet off. The thing also is that the officer was dangerously close to his own age, and could have been one of his comrades if he didn’t choose to enlist to the military. He then gets replaced by an officer who’s much older, and the attack is launched. Jean again manages to save Les Amis by using his strength to close off the barricade, which currently has a hole in it, buying them some time to regroup.
Gavroche is still as motivated as others, and for the first time he seems to mention Cosette again, in an attempt to convince Marius to take him seriously. Javert meanwhile gets pissed because Jean is right in front of his nose and can’t do anything about it. Cosette meanwhile makes things even better when she goes out to find Jean and Marius on her own!
She first moves to the church, where basically every family member of the ones who are fighting is praying for their safety (I loved this detail, by the way. It just shows even more how the people who are fighting are just ordinary humans. Something that only very few other anime do as well). Jean obviously isn’t there, but Cosette does get information about the only two barricades left.
Back at the barricade, the police started their attack again, and Gavroche still can’t get himself a gun. Les Amis are on the frontlines, while everyone else provides them with fresh guns and bullets and Jean takes care of the injured. There is a problem, however: the bullets are running out. This gives Gavroche an idea to finally be helpful: in all the gun-smoke, nobody will be able to see him, so he goes to the bodies of the fallen policemen to collect the bullets they had left. It’s brave, but the guy just has way too much self-confidence.
Marius tries to call him back, but Gavroche is way too happy that he’s finally found himself something to do that can protect others. He again remembers Cosette, and starts singing the song Cosette taught him. The policemen then notice him, and start firing, though Gavroche manages to avoid the gunshots until he can throw the bag of bullets he collected to Marius. Then he lets his guard down, and gets shot in the heart! Shushu notices this, leaves the two brothers and tries to get Gavroche away from the battlefield. He succeeds, and then runs into Cosette, who finally sees Gavroche again in the final seconds of his life.
Seriously, that was absolutely amazing. I’m so hoping that the creators will continue with another World Masterpiece Series for next year, because the format works just so incredibly well.]]>
Category: Finished Series: Slice of Life/Drama
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 42
Despite the fact that my favourite character is gone now, the quality of this series hasn’t deteriorated at all. This episode was an excellent build-up for the upcoming climax, and it’s promising to become an awesome one. I especially liked how Jean finally got some quality screen-time for himself, now that he finally finds out that he tried to stand in the way of Cosette’s happiness by separating her from Marius. So, what does he decide to do next? Protect Marius at all costs!
And Gavroche is really worrying me at the moment. Something is about to happen to the guy, and he’s the exact reason why children shouldn’t be fighting in a war, even though they could: he really sees the entire battle as a game, and he wants to have fun with it, next to the others, who are fighting for their ideals and families. This episode also shows four of the guys who are fighting returning to their families to protect them, rather than helping the guys at the barricade.
And Javert! I’m liking the guy more and more. He started out as a rather one-sided villain, but lately he’s been making an impact every time he appeared. I like how he’s smart enough not to struggle back when he was found out, and just stood there quietly while tied up, waiting for his comrads to arrive with the cannon, and I especially loved the ending of the episode, where Jean and Javert met each other face-to-face, with Javert not being able to do anything. The crimes that Jean committed may have been smaller than what people are currently doing with the revolution and all, but I still think that out of all people, Javert wants to catch Jean the most.
On a side-note: has anyone heard anything about any plans for another World Masterpiece Production for 2008? If there were plans, they should probably have to be announced within the next month. It would be awesome if Nippon Animation was going to try and continue the tradition it set thirty years ago, because their works are seriously top-notch.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 41
Holy! Flippin’! Heck!!!
Christ, I can’t believe the creators really went SO FAR IN THIS EPISODE!! I can’t believe what happened at the beginning of the episode. Obviously, it involves spoilers. DO NOT READ THIS ENTRY IF YOU HAVE NEITHER SEEN THE EPISODE NOR READ THE BOOK!!! This sentence is there to fill space in the blog aggregators.
Seriously… oh my god. I never expected the creators to actually kill off my favourite character of the entire series off so cruelly. This episode became utterly incredible because of it, but still… Eponine is really gone now… This was by FAR the best episode of the entire series. And with such an excellent series already, that HAS TO SAY SOMETHING.
I absolutely loved how Eponine managed to confess her love in the end at least. Not only was it great that she finally was released of the burden in her heart, but this also made Marius realize what he had done to her. In anime, love triangles are often forced, but the one between Cosette, Eponine and Marius was a mighty fine exception. It really featured perfect build-up and it used this build-up perfectly.
I seriously urge everyone to check out this series, and perhaps get some fansubbing group to sub beyond the fifth episode. With this episode, Les Miserables has really turned into one of the best series of the year, and it really shows the power of 52-episoded series.
And if that wasn’t enough, the upcoming attractions are looking really interesting too: Gavroche will finally meet Cosette again, and Javert has been unmasked as a spy.
(PS: apologies for the delay, but I’ve been really busy for the past days. You might expect more of these delays for the next few months. Still, this episode was SO worth the wait!)]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 40
What an incredible episode! It’s been a while since someone died in this series, but boy, at times like this I really get surprised how dark a supposedly children’s show can get. The revolution in Paris has been progressing in awesome way, and it immediately places itself above all other public revolutions in anime I’ve seen, like Romeo x Juliet for example, due to the immense amount of detail that has been put into it. It almost looks like everyone has his own reason for fighting, and even the woman are giving all the support they can give.
That’s the power behind this revolution: it doesn’t feel like an army of generics is about to charge for the police: it really feels that an army of individuals is. For the past few episodes, this series has been showing random people who don’t have anything to do with the story otherwise, and basically show how they feel about the war. This episode, one guy even gives up his precious metal candleholder to melt it into bullets. This feels so much better than in other anime, where these generics couldn’t even outwit a sheep.
And seriously… something is going to happen to Gavroche! All the foreshadowing of this and the previous episode just has to mean that something major is about to happen to him. In this episode, it becomes clear that he hates being seen as a weakling, and something tells me that this comes from his time with Cosette, where they ended up taking care of each other against Thenardiére’s wrath. After that, he probably didn’t want to depend on anyone else, because he knew very well that Cosette was suffering. Hence why he offers help to the little children and doesn’t even bother to get the food that Cosette passes out for a quick meal.
This can also work against him, though: everyone still sees him as a child, hence nobody’s going to give him weapons. Now that Gavroche has been so used to the fact that he could do everything himself, he doesn’t like how nobody gives him a gun to fight. At one point, we even see him desperately reach out for the gun of a fallen police officer, despite his comrade standing right next to him.
And really, Mabeuf died like a hero. We didn’t really see much of him, but after losing his precious wife and books, I really think that he wanted to die for himself, and he found a great moment to do so, putting back a red flag, symbolizing the revolution, which had been shot over. Marius also was awesome in the way he gave the courage back to his comrades by scaring away the police.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 39
Haha! It has finally started! For episodes, I’ve felt that the bomb was about to burst and this is the episode where it happens: the revolution has finally started! That’s one of the beauties of this series: you know things are about to happen, you’ll just never know the exact time.
In this episode, it was the side-characters who really shined, as they made their first steps into the revolution by building barricades everywhere. Even the elders like Mabru(spelling!?) and the youngsters like Gavroche helped a hand, which was so sweet to see. There’s also a pretty sad story behind Mabru: his wife dies in this episode, and he finally lost all of his books. In response, he doesn’t decide to mourn silently, but join the revolution. Quite a unique behaviour, though I loved it. Gavroche meanwhile leaves his little “brothers” at some kind of mansion, at a safe place.
And Javert! He finally catches his first glimpse of Jean after all those years, and at the end of the episode, we also see him disguised as one of the commoners. I’m not sure whether that was in the hope of seeing Jean back again, or a tactical manoeuvre to collect information about the enemy. I’m surprised he didn’t use any of his subordinates for this.
Meanwhile, Cosette and Marius keep getting more distanced from each other by the revolution and Eponine’s meddling. I wonder whether the two will be able to meet again, actually. The only thing that’s possibly going to stop Jean from going to England is a lack of boats to take them out of the country. Still, this could be a possibility. with such an unstable Paris at the time, I can imagine that most nobles would try and flee the country to England as well.
I’d also love to see Thenardier in this situation. Obviously, he won’t really play a huge role, since there’s nothing in the revolution for him, but it’ll be interesting to see him, trying to save himself amidst the chaos. It would also be awesome if the prison was somehow broken into during the revolution, releasing Azelma and Thenardiére.
Seriously, something tells me that the final quarter of this series will be the best of the entire series. I’m so looking forward to it!]]>
Kaze no Shoujo Emily Review – 94/100
Kaze no Shoujo Emily, or Emily of the New Moon as its English title, is the third of what I’d like to call the “big three” of the spring-season 2007, along with Toward the Terra and Bokura no. These three form the cream of the crop of the series that have been released for the past half year, perhaps even for the past year.
The problem is, though that there’s a good chance that many people haven’t even heard of this series. It’s a sad thing, but in addition to being one of the best series of the season, it’s also one of the most neglected ones. Seriously, only the kiddie-shows like Bakugan Battle Brawlers have gotten less coverage than this one. I’ve often said that popularity is no way to determine the quality of an anime, and Kaze no Shoujo Emily is the perfect example of this.
The biggest problem with this is probably the fact that this is a Shoujo-series. I have no idea why, but the fansubbers have always tended to neglect the Shoujo-series. Only half of them ever gets subbed, while there are some true gems among the genre, beyond this series as well.
Okay, enough blabber, what about the content of this series? Well, it consists out of standalone episodes that tell the story of Emily Byrd Starr, a eleven-year-old girl who lives in Canada, about a century ago, and her three friends Perry Miller, Teddy Kent and Ilse Barnley. It’s loosely based on the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery, who wrote it and who some might recognize as the author of Anne of Green Gables.
The series is basically a slice-of-life series with lots and lots of drama, and this formula turns out to work so well. Emily is a wonderful character; she differs from the usual Shoujo-lead by acting rude and energetic. She longs to be a writer someday, and she often fantasizes in her own world in an extremely poetic mood, and this personality of her often clashes with those of others, resulting in some amazing dramatic climaxes.
The side-characters of Perry, Teddy and Ilse provide wonderful support for it. They’ve all got their own story as well, and throughout the series, we can see the four of them clash, grow and interact. A major theme of the series is living towards your dreams, and some of the episodes are just incredibly inspirational.
One of the things I loved about this series is how it’s so delightfully consistent. There are maybe four or five lesser episodes, but apart from that, you just know that nearly every episode you’ll watch will leave you with a heart-warming feeling, unlike many other anime, which often need episodes for introductions and aftermaths.
When this already is quite amazing, this series turns even better once the characters actually start growing up. The majority of the series shows Emily as an eleven-year-old girl, but starting with episode 20, we actually see her time in high-school, and the final episodes show the major events of the last years of her youth, ending with Emily being around twenty. During this, this series becomes a real tear-jerker, delivering one awesome episode after the other.
The character-designs will take a bit to get used to, though. Emily is drawn in a really shoujo way, and it’s hard to not label this series as some kiddie-series (trust me, it’s not). The colours used in both the backgrounds and the character-designs are bright and colourful, though the production-values are quite high, and this series ends up looking beautiful, as soon as you get used to it. The soundtrack also consists out of a collection of beautiful classical tunes, which strengthen the series even more.
Overall, if there ever was a series that deserves to get subbed, it’d be this one. Not only does it deliver memorable characters, it’s also a valuable chance to see anime tackle the Canadian culture of a century ago, and I must say that it does a pretty good job. The differences between the Japanese culture are definitely there, probably influenced by the books of Lucy Maud Montgomery. If you ever have the chance to watch this series, I recommend you to take it, unless you really need action.]]>
Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 26
Yup, the dramatic climax of the series was with the previous episode. This episode closes off her story, with the final important events of her childhood: a small accident of Elizabeth, her first book and of course her marriage with Teddy, which formed the highlight of this episode. While it wasn’t as downright awesome as the previous episode, and while other series have had endings that felt better than this one, it still was satisfying enough as an end.
And Lorna (or however you spell her name) also deserves credit in this episode. I remember noting how she should get some more development, right before Emily went to Ruth to study, and that’s exactly what she got. It seems that the two of them haven’t been interacting too much ever since Emily came back, but with Emly’s new book, the rivalry between the two of them finally disappeared. They looked so awesome during Emily’s wedding. Even though things looked pretty hopeless only a few episodes ago, I must say that this episode shows yet another side of this: if people say goodbye to each other, it doesn’t mean goodbye forever.
Ah well, it’s finally time to say goodbye to this wonderful series. Let’s just hope that a generous person with enough Japanese skills will come one day and sub this series, beyond the first two episodes. I know it’s false hope (Sasami Mahou shoujo Club still didn’t get any subs at all, despite its gripping middle part), but seriously, this Kaze no Shoujo Emily is too awesome to be neglected.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 38
Another building-up episode, but it really feels like the bomb is about to burst: a person, hugely popular with the commoners has died, people are in unrest, the police are barely able to keep them quiet, Cosette is about to head off to England and Eponine FINALLY makes her move again.
While the thing Eponine did (remove Cosette’s letter in which she explains to Marius where she went) probably won’t have much of an impact (Marius has already accepted the idea that Cosette’s better off in England), something tells me that this is only the tip of the iceberg. Eponine now knows Cosette’s new address, and something tells me that she’ll be using that… will she seek the help of her father?
And interestingly enough: she knows that Gavroche is in Paris. I can’t remember when that happened, though. It’s been too long ago, perhaps. Eponine’s confrontation with Cosette was awesome, though. It would have indeed been the best way to get rid of the pity that she’s been having for Cosette, being in love with Marius and all.]]>
Kaze no Shoujo Emily – 25
Seriously, ever since episode nineteen, Kaze no Shoujo Emily has been able to dish out one awesome episode after the other; this episode yet again was so incredibly sad. And not only that, but it also shows the link between Emily and Lucy Maud Montgomery. I’ve read somewhere that Emily was much more based on her past when compared to Akage no Anne, and with this episode I fully understand this, after Elizabeth manages to get Emily’s interest in poetry back.
Emily and Elizabeth remain the most important characters in this anime, and this episode shows it. When Emily is down because of the los of nearly everyone close to her, Elizabeth manages to save her, especially when the former nearly entirely abandoned her younger self because of it. This was a magnificent episode that only contributes to this show’s quality.
And seriously, I’m anticipating on how the creators were planning to end this series. Will Teddy or another return? Will Emily chose her own path? There are so many interesting possibilities!]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 37
This episode was meant to push the plot forward even more, and things are getting more interesting by the minute, with as highlight of course the conversation between Marius and his uncle. With the news that Cosette is about to move to England, he desperately tries to find a way to do something, even if this means pushing his pride away and asking help from his uncle to marry Cosette within one week. The latter refuses, though he regrets it immediately, since Marius has been on his mind ever since he left his uncle. Right now, it looks like Marius will officially never meet the guy again.
Thenardier also surprised me: he got kicked out of his own gang. I originally predicted that all hell woud break loose for Cosette after the guy escaped, but I didn’t take into account that his henchmen weren’t so keen on taking revenge as he was. Especially not after their daughter made them almost end up in jail yet again.
There’s one thing I didn’t like, though: no Eponne. There wasn’t even a tiny scene about her. But then again, it doesn’t look like she’ll have a big role in the upcoming climax for this arc, as it seems that it’ll focus on Les Amis and Cosette, Marius and Jean. I really wonder what the role of Gavroche will be, though. I’m interested in how he’d react when he found out that a bunch of people are trying to start a revolution. He’d be quite helpful for them, after all.]]>