muhammad.vonrueden - 2014-09-20 22:04:29

Story: The story takes place at the end of the 19th century, as Japanese culture gains popularity in the West. A young Japanese girl, Yune, accompanies a French traveller, Oscar Claudel, on his journey back to France, and offers to help at the family's ironwork shop in Paris. Oscar's grandson and shop owner Claude reluctantly accepts to take care of Yune, and we learn how those two, who have so little in common, get to understand each other and live together in the Paris of the 1800s.

To be honest, I actually really like the premise. A character from Japan goes to visit some place that's different from them sounds like a pretty decent concept, and it really shows here. The pacing is very fluid and nice and the stories that are told in here are good for the most part, some of them are pretty bland and dumb sadly like the last episode which just feels rushed and melodramatic. The other episodes aren't so bad though and are really nice.

Animation: Hands down this is the best part of the show. I think this show is trying to be a spiritual successor to Aria and with the art and animation it really shows. The art work shows the sites of Paris France and the architectures and outfits the characters have seem super accurate that it feels and looks like you're actually in the 19th century and in Paris. The animation is nice and flows smoothly, there are some instances where the characters look off but that rarely happens and you have to pay real close attention to ever notice them.

Sound: The voice work is superb. Everyone sounds perfectly fine and it fits them perfectly... well everyone that is except for Alice, she just sounds so obnoxious and whiny but then again, it kind of fits her character (we'll get to that momentarily though). The music on the other hand is... ok. The OP has nice lyrics but I think it would have been better if they had a different singer. I think they were going for what Non Non Biyori went but there the singer sang it with a bit of passion and this singer just sounded so bored and uninterested. The ED is nicely sung and the instrumentals are nice also, just that the lyrics are pretty generic and dull as heck.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e62HYyb2mMM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJNLDe7jmag

Characters: Well... there wasn't anyone I despised, but there are far from great. The main character Yune is a very kind girl who always listens to whatever you'd say to her and is hard working... and that's all there is to her. Sure she's adorable and sounds adorable, but her personality is lacking. She does have a backstory but it shows what it was like before her arrival to Paris and it shows more stuff about her older sister instead of her. Her personality is pretty bland and she doesn't get much development and even so its pretty minuscule. She also acts too unrealistically nice to everyone, at least Akari from Aria was nice to everyone cause she was in the main setting for a year prior to the story and only talked to people she knew but Yune has just showed up and... is so dang nice to everything and everyone. Even Alice, the rich bitch girl who loves Japanese stuff is more developed than her and she's pretty annoying!

Obviously there's no doubt that the best character in this is Claude, A worker at the Enseignes du Roy and Oscar's grandson. He is generally unfamiliar with Japanese customs and is often confused by some of Yune's mannerisms. The development he gets in the show is unbelievable, what he's like in the beginning and end is really something that must be seen to be believed.

All the others are ranged from alright to one dimensional to boring. The background characters don't even change or make the story any more interesting like in Aria to be honest. Not even the ending seemed to be complete, there isn't much else and I kind of wish it did and had a good conclusion.

Enjoyment: I liked it in some parts, and some parts I obviously didn't like. But I still find it to be a pretty enjoyable anime. It tries to be Aria and in some aspects it succeeded, but some parts it did not. You'll enjoy this if you like historical and slice of life anime~

Overall: This anime gets a four out of five c:

Pros: Gorgeous art and animation, interesting story, near flawless voice cast, Clause is a fantastic character.

Cons: All the other characters are boring/annoying, music is not that great, the ending leaves a lot to be desired.

Thanks for reading my 63rd review~

laurine42 - 2013-06-29 02:36:39

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée is a touching slice of life anime based in 19th century France. The theme is largely about understanding those different from you and learning to appreciate what makes each person unique.

The set up for the show is a young Japanese girl named Yune being sent to a shop in France to work as a "sign girl". Her primary goal is the upkeep of the store and to bring in customers.

Both Yune and Claude Claudel (best name ever) start out in complete contrast to each other. One of the huge problems with Yune is that she has no real aspirations or relateable goals to the viewer. A comparable show, like Aria, the main character had a clearly defined goal and noticeable growth. Yune lacks both of these.

Claude on the other hand has a lot of back story and development. The issue here is that not a lot of it gets resolved and you're basically left wondering how things are going to get resolved. He basically has some sort of ties to everything in the show. Every character adds to Claude's development in some way or the other.

It's worth noting that the primary supporting character, Alice, while not a bad character in any way (she actually has a more clearly defined drive than Yune), completely changes the feel of the show when she's introduced. It goes from a two guys being fatherly like figures to Yune to a type of rivalry between Alice (the rich) and Claude (the working man).

The show does have pacing issues. It seems to introduce one problem and move onto another before something really gets fully resolved. On an individual basis each episode is actually very enjoyable, but as a whole package you're left wanting more.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée turns out to be a pretty good show that could have used more time to flesh out the cast. While it has strong development and realistic characters, the execution is rather weak.