We’re now really getting down to the characters. This episode had a lot less cultural differences, but instead it spent a lot of attention on giving its characters some depth. And it looks like that this wasn’t even the background episode (that’s for next week).
The talk between Claude and Camille started off okay, but it all was rather predictable. As it went on though, that air of predictability vanished. There seems to be something interesting behind their break-up, though when this episode really got going was when Camille started talking with Yune. Comparing the way both think of him was an excellent touch. In fact, this episode really shined because of how it underlined the differences and similarities between the different characters. I talked down on Alice when we first saw her, but she really turned out much better than expected.
Overall, Sato Junichi is going to be one of the most interesting creators of the second half of 2011, due to his involvement in three different series. Two of which original. Ikoku Meiro no Croisee will probably have more drama than Tamayura, but I’m still really interested in how it’s going to treat its story: we will have one of the first actual slice of life original stories since ages (not dramas like Anohana or Hana-Saku Iroha, but actual slice of life). It’s a genre I tend to dislike because of repetition and no incentive for the characters to really show their characters off, but if anyone can do the genre justice, it’s him. And then there’s going to be Phi Brain, in which we finally get to see him outside of this genre again, where he’s even better.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I am hoping against hope that Claude and Yune will not fall for each other. Camille’s ominous line, “I do not consider you as my sister,” to Yune suggests, imho, that the former thinks that the latter is a rival of Claude’s affection.
What an excellent episode. Whereas Camille had previously been perfect, but a bit sad, this episode showed glimpses of another side — a darker side, in which she seemed jealous of Yune. And whereas previous episodes treated Alice as a lightweight villain and a comedic foil, this episode spun that all around: she was shown to be strong and imaginative … she could be a lead character. I loved the fact that she painted!
Camille kind of stares me a bit now,19th century french women can be pretty ruthless when it comes to love so I hope she doesn’t do anything bad to Yune.
PS:Still think you should give sketchbook full color’s (Sato Junichi supervised it,Mari Okada wrote it) a second chance.I’ll never give up lol