This week it the OI where I watch something again for the first time. These are all titles I have watched to completion before but Narutaki either never watched or only saw a little of.
I have mentioned Emma: A Victorian Romance on the blog several times in the past. I have praised in several different panels and podcasts we have done as well. I even named it one of the best show of the 2000s. So I have little to add to plugging Emma on that front. What I can talk about is what I have noticed in my recent re-watch.
The first thing is a recent Answerman column that used Emma as an example of having lousy animation. While he praised the content of the show he pointed it out as a prime case of good story but rubbish animation. While I see what he is saying, because the animation is usually done on the cheap, I mainly never cared before and can’t start now. It is mostly a show about Victorian men and women sitting in chairs talking to each other while domestics clean in the background. You hardly need the animation form the bike scene from Akira to fully experience that. I just want to see the scenes from the manga in color. The setting of Emma is just so well researched and atmospheric who would not want to seem them animated even if minimally?
Other than that it was just nice to revisit this love story. Emma is wonderful, William is dense (like a neutron star) but loveable, Ms. Stowner is your stereotypical stern but kindly wise old lady, and William’s dad is just a jerk. I was am amused how quickly Narutaki realized that nothing but horrible things were going to happen to Eleanor Campbell despite the fact that she is undeniably nice.
I liked the new litebox version of Emma from Nozomi but I am glad I got the limited edition versions back in the day. The booklets that came with the original version were just filled with wonderful information. The Crystal Palace information alone was fantastic. I wish they had added that digitally to the new version but I understand why they did not.
This was a wonderful little series to come back to. I hope we can start the second season soon. The end to the first season is so melancholy. I really need the pick me up of the second season to balance that out. That and Tasha being Tasha.
I can’t believe my old roommate used to think that the series should have ended with the first season. Pshaw!
I finally watch Emma: A Victorian Romance, though just the first season so far. I don’t think there was really ever any doubt I would like this series. And having completed the third season of Downton Abby, I needed a little period drama to fill a void in my heart!
There aren’t really any schemers in Emma trying to ratchet up the drama; it is more of slow and fairly simple class-divided love story. But since William has the IQ-level of a rock, he only needs himself to cause every problem in the show. Sometimes I’d often wonder why I even want Emma to end up with this idiot. But I love Emma herself so much that I will respect her wishes in this. He is willfully ignorant of his station and doesn’t seem to really do his job at all so far, but there does feel like a turning point at the end which I can hope changes him greatly.
The Ongoing Investigations are little peeks into what we are watching and reading outside of our main posts on the blog. We each pick three things that we were interested in a week and talk a bit about them. There is often not much rhyme or reason to what we pick. They are just the most interesting things we saw since the last Ongoing Investigation.
Reverse Thieves 