Okay, I don’t care about the cheesy parts. This episode was absolutely magnificent! Just when I thought that this series had passed its best part, it comes and delivers such an incredibly awesome episode. Obviously, spoilers are going to follow.
If this was a regular anime, this would be about the time where the adults step back and let the youngsters take over. In this episode, it’s the ENTIRE OPPOSITE, as it features the final epic conflict between Jean and Javert, and the younger members of the cast take a step back and only get a few small minutes of airtime. At the end of the previous episode, Jean had a badly wounded Marius with him, and indeed, Jean finally stops running away and agrees to go with Javert if he brings Marius to a hospital.
We then switch to Javert’s carriage, where I absolutely loved the conversation Jean and Javert had, and to make things even better, Jean explains what exactly made him change so much. It turns out that the words of the bishop brought him in a huge confusion, and he lived a miserable life of a drifter at that point. Then he got accidentally mistaken for a thief, and scared a child away because of it, and that’s what made him see the light.
Javert finally has this moment when he realizes that Jean still has Fantine’s last wishes in his mind, after all these nine years. Marius is dropped off at the hospital, and Javert leaves Jean behind when the latter wants to say his final goodbye to Cosette! Later, when Javert realizes what exactly he had done, he really sees the light. Literally and figuratively, and I adored the amount of depth that he got with his little monologue.
Immediate changes in personality are often hard to do, and they often feel forced, but for me, this episode was awesome, both for Jean and Javert and more than half of the scenes had me crying at the screen. I’m not sure whether it was done this way in the book, but one way or the other, this episode was outstanding.
And right now, I’m wondering what the creators have been planning for the final six episodes. Will it be one long aftermath, or will Thenardier return one final time? The latter would be awesome.]]>
Les Miserables – Shoujo Cosette – 46
Wait . . . exactly HOW did this episode end?
The episode ended with Javert, letting Jean go and telling his colleagues that Jean died.
…no.
NO. NO, NO, NO, NO. JUST. NO.
I…
…and here I thought that letting Gavroche survive was the worst thing they could’ve done. I…just…
angedemystere, if you value your sanity and your grasp of canon, for heaven’s sake don’t watch this episode. It will only end in tears. I don’t know who that man was who “saw the light” at the end of this episode, but he wasn’t Javert.
I…I’ll write more when I’m more coherent. Right now I’m going to go console myself with Philip Quast.
Singing “Javert’s Suicide.”
Repeatedly.
…aaaaaaaaaargh.
Yep, I predicted this was going to happen. Oh well.
I stand corrected, R.
*crawls into a corner and rocks back and forth, whimpering*
I somehow suspected that with this episode, the creators would divert from the novel somehow. Ironically, the moment where Javert saw “the light” was the only part that really felt out of place, now that I’m thinking back. It’s a shame, if there was anything that would have made this episode even better it would have been the suicide of Javert.
But then again, this remains a children’s anime, unfortunately. I can understand how a suicide can be a bit too much for the younger viewers, compared to a regular murder.
This is why I was pretty dubious when I first heard about Shoujo Cosette. Les Mis isn’t children’s material. It’s gritty and realistic and not at all fluffy (unless you count the bits with Marius and Cosette in), and to cut any of that out would be to do the original work a grave injustice.
It isn’t in Javert’s nature to “see the light” and simply walk away – and that’s the understatement of the year. Mizzies have slightly different views on why, exactly, Javert commits suicide, but I think all of us agree that the last thing he’d do is survive that confrontation with himself.
You mean . . . he just walked away, and THAT’S IT?!
WHAT THE HELL?!?!
If they just leave it at that without some kind of explanatory follow-up, I’m going to scream. Oh, dear Lord . . .
What irritates me most is that he spent half his bloody monologue staring meaningfully at the Seine, as if to get our hopes up that he’d actually jump. That’s sadistic, that is.
You have to be kidding me… I’ve waiting the whole series for the ‘off the rails’ moment, and now…! *goes off on a Quast rant*
I don’t speak any Japanese so don’t know what was said in this episode, but do you think it’s maybe possible that after going to the police post the story will continue as normal? Maybe?! *hopes die*
I don’t like the way this serie keeps on . Actually I HATE it !!! First, everything showed isn’t written in the book , I thought since Mabeuf and Eponine had died ( a huge sacrifice! ), that’s because japoneese anime always follow historical facts so they just can’t do otherwise. Like Versailles no bara of Riyoko Ikeda for exemple, have you seen this one? Well, nearly everyone dies in this one and Mary-Antoinnette and the king don’t survive due to a miracle! It a great anime! A manga – anime isn’t especially for children , everyone knows it . Actually they’re more for adults or teenagers. Because some are even forbidden till 18 like Elfen Lied. So it can’t be an excuse to ruin everything, there has to be something else, I HOPE SO!!! And besides ,les miserables isn’t a children’s novel and I’m sure they know it. So it’s not supposed to be a chidren’s show because they wouldn’t understand anything. Well, let’s get down to the serie, the fact Gavroche and even Javert survive, THAT’S JUST UNFORGIVABLE!!! It really is!!! I could have forgiven them if Eponine had survived as well! She’s the only one whom I really wanted to see alive at the end and find happiness even if I knew that’s not in the novel. But I wanted that so much !!!But why did she have to die while almost all the others who are also supposed to die will live happily ever after. It not a disney movie, come on! But it really looks like all the characters are going to form a big family. It looks like Gavroche is going to live with Cosette like if she were his mother or something! Valjean is going to look after them! Now I’m sure no one else would die and the serie would keep on making mistake after mistake for children’s sake. Well,then why do they have to show all this blood in the 41st episode. Till then it was extraordinary work but the end is just a big disappointment! They almost wasted everything. How could they do that? I keep telling myself that something happened between the 41st and the 42nd episode. Maybe a change in the team. But I still cannot understand!
However,I’ll watch it till the very end, I have no more hopes but it will be so funny to see how they’ll manage to conclude because there’re only six episodes left! They should hurry!
Tania: the thing is that most anime (including Elfen Lied) air after midnight, when all of the children are already asleep. Les Miserables airs at 7:30, where most children are able to see it, just before they head to bed. I’m not sure if you’ve seen other World-Masterpiece Theatre-series, but I can imagine how they’d deal with the same mature themes, put into a children’s context. Indeed, they won’t understand everything, but it’s series like these that will make an impression on them.
Also, from the perspective of someone who hasn’t read the book, I don’t really things that the changes that have been made ruined it. You can read above how much I enjoyed this episode, and at most it felt a bit cheesy when Javert “saw the light”. I’m not sure about the others, but I’m not going to let these small details ruin such a magnificent anime.
Well, you have a point. If I hadn’t read the book , I would certainly liked this one . And yes , it’s true that some things are well done . But it’s hard for me to accept that a character that I loved more than all others has passed away. Try to understand my point! Well despite that thing, I find it’s a good episode , really. But don’t you think that if Gavroche and Javert survived it would be even better if Mabeuf and Eponine survived as well, don’t you think ? Well, I know that sometimes I really get attached to some characters so I can’t have an objective point of you. But you’re right! The way Javert has finally seen the light is remarkable! After all these years of searching Jean. And I liked the way he managed to understand Jean somehow and to give up. When Jean comes back to the carriage, Javert is gone. That was a good point. And I liked the way Cosette sang the song to Gavroche, the one she sang when they were children. I’m glad they managed to see one another and they’re finally together now. Well when I try to pull the book aside and to forget the way Eponine died , I think it is a good episode. So I actually agree with you on that point.
Well, I can see your point, yeah. It would have been great if both Maboef and Eponine had a bit more airtime as well, instead of getting killed off so early, because their characters were just too awesome at times. But yet, I think that their deaths would have been more necessary to show than the one of Gavroche and Javert (do note that I’m saying this without knowing how both the book and anime will end).
Because the characters we knew and loved through the series died so early, we get shown the cold and hard reality of the revolution, and Les Amis are basically engaging in something that can quite easily kill them. Compare this with a similar anime that refuses to kill off its characters: there’s no sense of tension because well, the characters won’t die anyway, so why should we bother to care for them? Of course, I say this without knowing what kinds of effects the deaths of Gavroche and Javert had in the book. Were there people who cared about them? Did their deaths influence the people around them in any way?
psgels : Yeah, I’ve come to realize that what you’ve said was true. So I’ll just try to enjoy watching it. I suppose I could. And yes despite everything, it is a magnificent anime! You’re absolutely right! And I’m sorry I haven’t put myself in your place before writting. Because I quite agree with everything you said. Even if I’d rather they followed the book. But it’s in this anime that I found the character that I loved the most. And it remains my favorite show even if I don’t agree with everything that occurs in the end due to my reading. So I wanted you to know that I’ve read your comment above and practically agreed with everything. It just that when you’ve read the book, it’s hard to accept the way the anime took.
psgels : Well I don’t remember just everything but I would say that Gavroche hadn’t much people who cared about him. He was a street boy who was quite rejected from his family, his mother hated boys and contrary to the anime , he hadn’t known Cosette because he was just a baby when she was with the Thénardier and they had never become friends and hadn’t Chouchou to support them. So it’s much more sad for them both. I don’t remember anyone who would cared that much about Gavroche and certainly not Cosette. But his death is important in the book and quite a symbol of Revolution and people protest against starvation and poverty. So he fought for what he thought was right. And Javert is a determined and obsessed by the law man who would never accept the fact people could change and that’s what important in his death. I don’t how to put it. But to accept that would ruin all the concepts he lived for. He would rather die than admit Valjean’s change. He’s a cold man who fallows the law without taking into account his feelings or his heart. I wondered if he even had one . So, this change in his personnality even if it’s interesting in the anime could never have been possible the book. Even if both characters haven’t had friends ( or at least I don’t remember them to have some ) , I would say their deaths are quite as important in the book and I would say even more important because they’re symbols especially Gavroche. But you’re totally right! Mabeuf and Eponine’s deaths may be more important than the other too. Because those two characters were exeptionnal and I don’t know for you but when Eponine died my heart broke apart. I kept telling ” please don’t die! I don’t want you to die ! I care for you so much!” Maybe it sounds stupid but her death seemed so real! I even invented something about her. She survives because Mont Parnasse saved her. And I just kept telling myself it’s a character and not someone real but it didn’t help . I don’t remember to ever have felt this way while I was watching an anime. And I cried when Mabeuf died . That must be it . I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have cried for Javert but even if I never liked Gavroche as much as I liked Eponine , I liked this character too so I would certainly be sad . It’s not like if I wanted him to die. But Gavroche’s death is important in the book, that’s for sure.
psgels : Well I don’t remember just everything but I would say that Gavroche hadn’t much people who cared about him. He was a street boy who was quite rejected from his family, his mother hated boys and contrary to the anime , he hadn’t known Cosette because he was just a baby when she was with the Thénardier and they had never become friends and hadn’t Chouchou to support them. So it’s much more sad for them both. I don’t remember anyone who would cared that much about Gavroche and certainly not Cosette. But his death is important in the book and quite a symbol of Revolution and people protest against starvation and poverty. So he fought for what he thought was right. And Javert is a determined and obsessed by the law man who would never accept the fact people could change and that’s what important in his death. I don’t how to put it. But to accept that would ruin all the concepts he lived for. He would rather die than admit Valjean’s change. He’s a cold man who fallows the law without taking into account his feelings or his heart. I wondered if he even had one . So, this change in his personnality even if it’s interesting in the anime could never have been possible the book. Even if both characters haven’t had friends ( or at least I don’t remember them to have some ) , I would say their deaths are quite as important in the book and I would say even more important because they’re symbols especially Gavroche. But you’re totally right! Mabeuf and Eponine’s deaths may be more important than the other too. Because those two characters were exeptionnal and I don’t know for you but when Eponine died my heart broke apart. I kept telling ” please don’t die! I don’t want you to die ! I care for you so much!” Maybe it sounds stupid but her death seemed so real! I even invented something about her. She survives because Mont Parnasse saved her. And I just kept telling myself it’s a character and not someone real but it didn’t help . I don’t remember to ever have felt this way while I was watching an anime. And I cried when Mabeuf died . That must be it . I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have cried for Javert but even if I never liked Gavroche as much as I liked Eponine , I liked this character too so I would certainly be sad . It’s not like if I wanted him to die. But Gavroche’s death is important in the book, that’s for sure.
I think you are very right, Tania, in that Javert and Gavroche’s deaths, although not the type to make you cry (well, okay, they’re two of my favorite characters, so I probably would), they are strongly symbolic of the themes that Hugo was conveying through his novel: innocence and grace. What is really ironic about Gavroche’s death is that when he dies, he’s laughing. I forget exactly what this signifies, something about how even when innocence is destroyed, it gets the last laugh on this world of pain and suffering. I don’t know. As for Javert, his suicide is essentially the antithesis of Valjean’s reaction to the bishop’s act of mercy. Rather than give in to the power of kindness and forgiveness, Javert rejects Valjean’s gift of grace; he doesn’t know how to handle it. Although I must say, I think Hugo had it in for Javert from the start. He really did not like the police force and was using Javert as his allegorical representitive for this collective body. However, due to his (and I am using someone else’s words, can’t exactly remember whose) “great talent for characterization,” he ended up making Javert an intriguing character and not quite the cold-hearted, one-sided villain we initially are led to believe. And I suppose Hugo didn’t want to make the police force seem purely evil, just very insensitive to the sufferings of the poor and disadvantaged.
All in all, though the concept of Javert not killing himself is extremely shocking, I am not quite ready to pass judgment on this series. The questions that are most important right now are: What is going to happen to Gavroche and Javert? Will we actually see Javert again, or is he gone for good? Will Gavroche stay with Marius and Cosette? Will he be reunited with his “boys”? Will he return to his former life as a street urchin? These are going to be crucial issues that I hope the creators will be able to resolve adequately. I’m keeping my fingers crossed . . .
And Javert is a determined and obsessed by the law man who would never accept the fact people could change and that’s what important in his death. I don’t how to put it. But to accept that would ruin all the concepts he lived for. He would rather die than admit Valjean’s change. He’s a cold man who fallows the law without taking into account his feelings or his heart. I wondered if he even had one.
I beg to differ on this matter. Javert doesn’t kill himself because he can’t accept that Valjean has changed. Hugo himself says that Javert understands this, though he doesn’t come to that decision without a struggle. Javert kills himself because he realizes that he couldn’t possibly turn Valjean in – not after he’s come to realize all that Valjean has done – but, on the other hand, his moral code won’t allow him to simply let an escaped convict go free. For the first time, he’s confronted with a situation where doing what is right by the law would, in fact, be morally wrong. Simply rejecting the law is no easy matter for Javert; after all, these are the rules by which he’s lived for fifty years. Like angedemystere said, he can’t handle that – so he decides to remove himself from the problem.
There’s another explanation for Javert’s suicide which I think is almost as valid – that he both accepts that Valjean has changed, and that the right thing to do is to let Valjean go. But, looking back on his past, he has to wonder how many other lives he’s ruined as a result of his misguided efforts to maintain order. Which isn’t to say that Javert’s an incompetent policeman in the slightest – quite the reverse, in fact, as intelligent, honest men are hard to come by in any profession – but he must have made a few mistakes of this caliber before. Fantine’s case, for example, comes to mind. We know from his behavior in M-sur-M that he’s as hard on himself as he is on everyone else – just look at his attempt to resign after he “mistakenly” suspects that Madeleine is Valjean – and, in his mind, that can’t go unpunished. But “How to resign from God?” he wonders, and he resigns from his post as inspector the only way he knows how.
Either way you look at it, Javert doesn’t kill himself because he’s cold and heartless. Javert isn’t even cold and heartless in the book. Like angedemystere said, I’m sure Hugo might’ve meant him to be, but Hugo was simply too good a writer for that, and his “great talent for characterization” (was it AmZ who said that? or Sythar? I can’t quite recall either xD) transformed Javert into the snarky, talented man we see in the book. There’s the Javert Hugo tells us about, and then there’s the one Hugo shows, and frankly the one Hugo shows – which I’m far more inclined to accept as the “real” Javert – is anything but cold.
Ah, a fanfiction colleague! Yeah, I kinda thought it was one of those two authors. Was it Synthar who called them Poignant!Javert and True!Javert? I’ll have to check. You have hit the nail on the head, Irene. It is true that he tries to leave emotion outside his role as policeman, but it’s not because he’s cold-hearted, it’s because he believes that’s the best way to carry out his duty. Now, I know this is a weird place to mention it, but there’s this story called “Vendredi Bizarre” on fanfiction.net where Valjean and Javert switch bodies. Total crack fic, but surprisingly useful in showing how compassion and forgiveness can be a problem in law enforcement. At one point, Valjean (in Javert’s body) tries to arrest the Patron-Minette and fails miserably. XD It’s like they say, “Truer things have been said in jest.”
Anyway, the reason Javert is my favorite character is that even though he appears to be one-dimensional, he’s actually a very complex character. There’s so much we don’t know about him and what it was in his past that made him the way he is. He’s not a hypocrite, either, which is why I’m worried that the creators will ruin Javert’s character in this anime by having him let Valjean go and be totally okay with it. If he’s not going to kill himself, they should AT LEAST have him resign from the force.
I actually had the cute but incredibly unlikely and completely uncanon idea of Javert adopting Gavroche and his “boys,” making a sort of parallel with Valjean and Cosette. This would also resolve the problem of what will happen to these gamins once Gavroche recovers. Completely impossible, but so cute to think about.
angedemystere and Irene : Yes , I absolutely agree with you! By the way, when I mentioned concepts Javert lived for, what I meant was precisely his duty to the law and by ” cold ” I meant he blindly followed the law like you said for Fantine’s case ( for exemple ) without considering disadvantaged people. So by cold I didn’t meant bad. Actually, I don’t think we could ever say that one character is bad in the book. Life hasn’t been easy for all of them but they’re not bad themselves. Life made them what they are.
psgels , I wanted to thank you again for the blog you have created. It’s so great! Thanks to you I discovered anime I didn’t even heard of before , the best ones. So thanks again.
By the way, I watched this episode again and I started to think it’s a really good one.
psgels , I wanted to thank you again for the blog you have created. It’s so great! Thanks to you I discovered anime I didn’t even heard of before , the best ones. So thanks again.
By the way, I watched this episode again and I started to think it’s a really good one.
Confucius say: “I never said that.”
🙂
AH!! lol
Well, I did get to see the episode, and my cerebral cortex exploded. At the part where Javert “saw the light,” I had a sudden flashback to Jim Carrey’s “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” It was one of the most awkward things I have ever forced myself to watch. I tried to do it a second time, and I just couldn’t. The rest of the episode was fine, just not . . . that one little part. Oy. I think I would have enjoyed it more if I actually understood what was being said. Somebody has got to sub this episode!
You know… I was just about to say that it wasn’t me either when I went and checked. Blow me down, but both quotes can be laid firmly at my door. Fancy that. 😉
And we are eternally grateful for them. ^^
BTW, I am grieved by the fact that no one’s posting here anymore. This was a lot of fun.
WTF?
Javert MUST die!
Come on, people. In Japan, suicide is an accepted and admired thing… they are not f***in’ Catholics! Japanese kids hear the story of the 47 Ronins as an evening tale. So why the hell have they let Javert live?! This is just laughable.
Tt is possible that Javert commits his suicide “off stage”, right?
Unfortunately not: we see him at one of the later episodes.
And the last two episodes where he regains some of his badassness (in a good way). I still haven’t figured out why they took this route. Maybe because they really wanted Thenardier to be the ultimate villain and have Javert redeem himself like Valjean. BUT THAT’S NOT THE POINT OF HIS CHARACTER! As much as I love him.
Irene: [i]There’s another explanation for Javert’s suicide which I think is almost as valid – that he both accepts that Valjean has changed, and that the right thing to do is to let Valjean go. But, looking back on his past, he has to wonder how many other lives he’s ruined as a result of his misguided efforts to maintain order. Which isn’t to say that Javert’s an incompetent policeman in the slightest – quite the reverse, in fact, as intelligent, honest men are hard to come by in any profession – but he must have made a few mistakes of this caliber before. Fantine’s case, for example, comes to mind.[/i]
That seems to be the road the anime took with sorting out Javert’s motive for both wanting to commit suicide and for finally accepting mercy into his life. I don’t think he thinks of Fantine specifically during his mental maelstrom on the bridge in the book, but he does in the anime. He certainly acknowledges that Valjean is a good man now, which mainly causes his confusion. Someone had the English subbed episode on youtube at one point, but it has since been taken down. 🙁