Archive for June, 2005

Emma Episode 4

Published by
kimagure
at June 27, 2005 in Emma. Closed

Episode 4: Mudie’s

A little less Emma this episode, but some good Hakim and the harem girls. They sure are interesting. Hakim and William head into town and go to Mudie’s because Hakim finds it interesting. They search around and find some Victorian era pr0n (Oh my god…an ankle….woo!). William finds Emma later and the two take a walk in the park.

The historical notes at the end of the episode basically tell you that the writers took artistic license with including the saucy magazines at Mudie’s. For something so detailed and exact (at least it feels that way) I wonder why they had to do that. With a show so devoid of fanservice you wonder why they needed to do so. At least Hakim found it boring, since as William put it, “The women already run around half-naked over there.” I’m paraphrasing, but it was well said.

Emma Episode 3

Published by
kimagure
at June 17, 2005 in Emma. Closed

Episode 3: Confession

William’s friend Hakim comes to town. Hakim is a member of the Indian royalty, and comes complete with elephants and harem girls. Hakim meets Emma and immediately is smitten with her. He confesses that he wants to protect her, which I assume means to take her away from the life of servitude that she’s in. Not that being part of Hakim’s harem would be that different. I think it’s more like he wants to release her from the class lines that London is in for this period. There’s an interesting cultural thing going on; Hakim is royalty but doesn’t act like British Royalty (read: stuffy). He’s more like the lower class, carefree and honest. Which is a huge departure from William’s father, who is very blunt, but never says exactly what he means. Instead he likes to talk in circles. It’s like he likes to hear himself come up with complex meanings to things so he can sound more intelligent. Hakim is an interesting character that we get to see more of.

Oh, by the way, Emma turns him down…I wonder why?

Emma Episode 2

Published by
kimagure
at June 16, 2005 in Emma. Closed

Episode 2: Two Worlds

William proceeds with his little courtship with Emma. The episode is again full of lavish little details that make this quite a joy to watch. We also meet William’s father and get to see his understanding of the world, or rather the two worlds of London at the time. Since the Gentry are just below the nobility, William’s father has some aspirations for his son. Namely marrying him off to someone in the nobility to elevate the family name. William, at least for now, is oblivious to the whole thing. We get to meet Eleanor, who is instantly smitten with William. It also helps that she is part of the nobility. None of this matters to William, of course, he just wants to be with Emma. But like the title of the episode implies, they are two worlds apart, and that makes things difficult for William and Emma. It is really cute though how William waits for Emma when she goes on her daily grocery run. The owners of the store where he waits think it’s cute as well, but also seem more clued into what’s going on than William thinks.

Emma Episode 1

Published by
kimagure
at June 11, 2005 in Emma. Closed

Victorian Romance Emma

Episode 1: The Present

We meet Emma. Emma is a maid for Kelly Stoner, a retired private tutor (I’m guessing here). One fateful morning William Jones shows up and pretty much falls in love with Emma. Jones is a member of the Gentry and Emma is a maid. Set in 19th century London, this puts William and Emma in a bit of a pickle, since their class lines really separate them. Ah…but you can’t stop love. And so the story begins.

Rarely does a story begin like this one. Maybe I’m a sucker for this kind of thing, but it’s done so well. The tension and expressions of the characters as they go through their daily lives is excellently portrayed in this anime. The character art is simple and pleasant, while the background and detail is simply amazing. There are times when you want to forget that these characters are speaking Japanese. Truly a great way to begin the series.