4th July 2011, 11:26 PM
Ikoku Meiro no Croise 01 - Hmm, I'm not sure about this one. It's okay I guess. I'm not sure if I'll find it too interesting, but the first episode was okay at least.
This show is, of course, about a young mid 19th century Japanese girl who goes to Paris. She goes with an old man who had been in Japan and now likes all things Japanese, of course. His grandson runs a somewhat down on its luck metalworking shop. That grandson, however, is skeptical, or if I wanted to be stereotypically anime I'd say tsundere perhaps. At first he insults her (though he does think that she can't understand what he's saying because apparently he's speaking French and his grandfather says she barely knows any French, even though she actually knows a lot more than that), but of course by the end of the episode he's turned around and is being nice to her, even though she broke a piece of stained glass and metalwork his father had made that he says was important to him. He just remade it without much complaint. Huh.
Before he changes his mind and starts buying her things (a book, here) and apologizing for what he said, though, he says some not so nice things that aren't entirely wrong. For instance, he criticizes her repeated bowing. He also criticizes her repeated apologizing. She is like that, and passive too, but that's because that's how Japan believed women should be then; having her be like that isn't unrealistic, and nor is having a European criticize it. At that time they were quite sexist too, but did believe that they treated women much better than the Asians did. They probably did, too, though Victorian culture was in some ways a low point for women's rights. But anyway, getting back to the episode, he does go a bit too far, but of course then that 'heart of gold' (or dere, perhaps) element kicks in and he shows his nice side, such as after she gives him her nicest kimono as restitution for the broken stained glass thing I mentioned above and he sells it, when he learns (from the grandfather) that it actually was a memento of her mother he gets mad at her for giving him something so personally valuable without saying anything about it, promises to buy it back someday, and then buys her that book to show he cares. Not much consistency from this guy... :)
So yeah, it was pretty predictable. Japanese loli, Europeans who are sure to fall in love with Japan and become Japanophiles just like the grandfather is, down on its luck metalwork shop I imagine she'll help make successful through her ability to get people into stores through street advertising or whatever it was she's good at (I think that was it)... that's my guess for some of the things that are going to happen, anyway. Even if it was pretty predictable, though, the episode was decent. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful either. I like the art design, they put some work into getting things moderately right which I appreciate. There's some good art in this show.
... While watching the episode, I had this comment at the scene where the grandfather introduces the Japanese girl and tries to convince his very skeptical grandson that she should be allowed to stay, as opposed to just being sent back as soon as possible: 'hey grandson, want a real Japanese loli as a servant?' 'No! Send her back, they're too servile!'
It happens kind of like that, anyway! :)
This show is, of course, about a young mid 19th century Japanese girl who goes to Paris. She goes with an old man who had been in Japan and now likes all things Japanese, of course. His grandson runs a somewhat down on its luck metalworking shop. That grandson, however, is skeptical, or if I wanted to be stereotypically anime I'd say tsundere perhaps. At first he insults her (though he does think that she can't understand what he's saying because apparently he's speaking French and his grandfather says she barely knows any French, even though she actually knows a lot more than that), but of course by the end of the episode he's turned around and is being nice to her, even though she broke a piece of stained glass and metalwork his father had made that he says was important to him. He just remade it without much complaint. Huh.
Before he changes his mind and starts buying her things (a book, here) and apologizing for what he said, though, he says some not so nice things that aren't entirely wrong. For instance, he criticizes her repeated bowing. He also criticizes her repeated apologizing. She is like that, and passive too, but that's because that's how Japan believed women should be then; having her be like that isn't unrealistic, and nor is having a European criticize it. At that time they were quite sexist too, but did believe that they treated women much better than the Asians did. They probably did, too, though Victorian culture was in some ways a low point for women's rights. But anyway, getting back to the episode, he does go a bit too far, but of course then that 'heart of gold' (or dere, perhaps) element kicks in and he shows his nice side, such as after she gives him her nicest kimono as restitution for the broken stained glass thing I mentioned above and he sells it, when he learns (from the grandfather) that it actually was a memento of her mother he gets mad at her for giving him something so personally valuable without saying anything about it, promises to buy it back someday, and then buys her that book to show he cares. Not much consistency from this guy... :)
So yeah, it was pretty predictable. Japanese loli, Europeans who are sure to fall in love with Japan and become Japanophiles just like the grandfather is, down on its luck metalwork shop I imagine she'll help make successful through her ability to get people into stores through street advertising or whatever it was she's good at (I think that was it)... that's my guess for some of the things that are going to happen, anyway. Even if it was pretty predictable, though, the episode was decent. It wasn't great, but it wasn't awful either. I like the art design, they put some work into getting things moderately right which I appreciate. There's some good art in this show.
... While watching the episode, I had this comment at the scene where the grandfather introduces the Japanese girl and tries to convince his very skeptical grandson that she should be allowed to stay, as opposed to just being sent back as soon as possible: 'hey grandson, want a real Japanese loli as a servant?' 'No! Send her back, they're too servile!'
It happens kind of like that, anyway! :)
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