Short Synopsis: The mood may have turned a bit lighter than the previous episode, the Thenardiers still continue to be complete bastards and Javert puts even more pressure on Jean.
Good: Many interesting events during the episode. I really want to strangle Thenardier now.
Bad: Isn’t the plot moving a bit too fast for the 52 episodes?
Overall Enjoyment Value: 8/10
Javert is about to condemn Fantine to 4 months of prison-service, until Jean arrives. It indeed seems that he wants as little people as possible end up the way he did, as he’s willing to help Fantine, even though he knows nothing about her. If it wasn’t for those damned Thenardiers Cosette would now already be with her mother! I do admit that Azele was cute this episode, but how longer do they have to keep tormenting Cosette and Fantine?
Though Javert was probably the most interesting character this episode. And the hardest to understand. He finally shows a different side of his when Fantine slaps Jean, and he finally is something else than his usual, serious self. Later the episode, we see him realizing that the facial expression on Jean’s face was the same as Madeleine, when they were trying to lift heavy objects. At the end of the episode, we see him confront Jean with this. I don’t know how far he went, though. It may have been an ultimatum, or he may have hinted that he knows, but the fact remains that Javert looked more concerned than stern and Jean felt he was in deep trouble afterwards.
This isn’t the series for which you can say that the next episode is going to be interesting, as it has a slower pacing than most other series. And even though Jean got in trouble at the end of the episode, you never know when his climax hits. That’s something the previous episodes showed. Same with Fantine. She may die in the next episode, but her death could also be five more episodes away. I’m still a bit worried about the pacing, though. I really hope that the creators have this series well planned-out, as this story is way too good to ruin.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 09
I think they will cover the story of the whole book, its just a matter of the pacing…
Its sad that fansubbers aren’t giving this Hugo masterpiece some love 🙁
Well, we can hope that the fansubbers need a bit of time to catch speed. I’ve seen a number of cases in which the first episodes were released very slowly, but then at a certain point, the fansubbers started to churn out new episodes at a high rate (Ghost Hunt, Simoun). But then again, this can also become like Gintama or Eureka7. -_-
I haven’t seen this episode but from what I recall from the book Javier said to Madeleine that he thinks he is a criminal named Valjean and that he send a letter to inform the headquarters about it.
Also it’s a good thing that this show is pacing faster because it has really been going to slowly especially when you know how long is the book. If you want an extimated lenght, there was a 8hours french movie who was really close to the book, this show will be more than twice as long so I think the pacing will be more than decent but it’s true that from now on their will be some events hard to understand without a very solid japanese level.
Aw, I’ve been fearing this. I liked how the dialogue in this series was more simple compared to others. Ah well, it’ll be a nice challenge.
I also keep forgetting how much events can go in a book, especially of such a large size. ^^;
I’ve read the book and seen several movie versions of the story, so I have a basic idea of what is going on when I watch the episodes without the subs.
At the end of this episode, Javert informs Madeleine of his believing him to be Jean Valjean, and of his writing a letter to Paris informing the prefecture of Valjean’s presence. It turns out, however, that another man has just been identified as Jean Valjean and is being put on trial. Javert finishes this up by requesting that Madeleine dismiss him for insubordination. Valjean, of course, does not do this, and attempts to be “reconciled” with Javert by shaking his hand. Javert claims (I’m paraphrasing here) that he does not deserve to shake the mayor’s hand (in the book, he says that the mayor should not shake hands with a spy, which is what he’s been, in his own mind), and then he leaves. This is one of those special moments when we see just how hard Javert is on himself.
I’m so hooked now! x3 And I didn’t think Fantine would go into prostitution either cuz of how the show has been so far. But it really touched me when it got so much worse for her, and how she turned out..but it’s really frustrating that good people keep getting reallllly duped. I wish for the couple taking care of Cosette to be exposed already.
I mean, I wish for the couple torturing Cosette to be exposed already. xD
I’m enjoying your discovery of Les Miserables, I haven’t read all your entries yet so I don’t know if it’s ever covered, but Javert is one of the most interesting characters ever written about.
If I remember right, Javert was born to a prostitute in a prison and has risen out of poverty by devoting himself to the law and earning a reputation of strict allegiance to the law without any favoritism or corruption (a common problem with police at the time). Not your typical antagonist.
You ought to check out some of his songs in the musical version. “Stars” is particularly famous for depicting his character, as is “Javert’s Suicide” for the way Jean Valjean completely destroys his self-image.