Rating:  

One of the finest anime made in recent years, Emma: A Victorian Romance is also a testament to the care RightStuf/Nozomi Entertainment takes with their releases. While season one is available only as a box set, it doesn’t much matter. I’m pretty sure no one can watch Emma without wanting to follow this powerful love story to its conclusion.

The series opens in a middle-class household in Victorian London. Emma is a maid for Mrs. Stowner, a retired governess. The pair have been together many years- Mrs. Stowner hired Emma when she was just a child, and has educated her to a level most lower classes of that time could never hope to attain. Mrs. Stowner’s care has created a model young lady: intelligent and observant, unfailingly polite and quiet, and sharply conscious of her place in society.

And then William Jones shows up.

William is a member of the noveau riche, the eldest son of a merchant who made good. He’s recently returned from a business trip to India, and looks up his old governess. When William sees Emma, it’s love at first sight, at least for him. But his attentions are so earnest that he reaches Emma’s heart, and a shy, secret courtship begins. William can’t tell his snobbish family he’s in love with a mere maid, after all.

Things become more complicated when Prince Hakim comes to town. William’s friend from his days in India, Hakim is the third son of a rajah, with no chance at the throne and nothing much to do except visit William with his entourage, which includes elephants and a bevy of half-dressed servant girls. Hakim shocks and delights high society with his constant flouting of Victorian mores, and it may be that even Emma is not entirely immune to his charms…

Another heart is thrown in the mix when William’s father chooses the perfect fiancée for him: Eleanor Campbell, the sweet, innocent daughter of an old family. The Campbells are in financial difficulties, and the Joneses desperately want to be accepted by the nobility. The marriage of title and money seems a perfect match, except for the fact that Williams feels nothing for Eleanor.

The story moves along at a slow pace, but is so fraught with tension that it never gets boring: Williams fends off his meddling family and friends; a revelation about Emma’s sad past makes him love her even more. When a fresh tragedy interrupts their already uncertain relationship, William finally screws up the courage to tell his family, and everything explodes. The first season ends on a cliffhanger that will leave more sensitive viewers (like me) in tears.

Class is the obsession of almost every character in Emma. Emma fights her feelings for William in an effort to keep her place. The Jones family wants desperately to be accepted by the upper classes, and the Campbells are trying to keep their slot among the gentry. Even William’s younger siblings exhibit a painful snobbery. Only William and Hakim seem immune to the Victorian obsession with class (rather ironic Hakim’s case, considering India’s extremely repressive caste system). Class-consciousness permeates the series’ every exchange, until the viewer is as sick of it as William is.

The anime is an exact replica of Kaoru Mori’s exhaustively researched historical manga. Here, London is as much as character as any of the people. Equal parts squalor and splendor, the old city is brought to vivid life on screen in all its Dickensian glory, from Covent Garden to the Crystal Palace. You can almost smell the city, thanks to excellent animation by Studio Pierrot.

The human characters don’t disappoint, either. In less skillful hands William and Emma might have been stereotypes- the hapless, unbearably good lovers, and thus have been boring. But each is imbued with a depth of personality that makes them sympathetic while retaining their very human natures. It’s the same with the other characters; even William’s draconian father is not a typical bad guy, but a man with his own flaws and virtues. It would be easy to play Hakim for laughs, and he often is- by terrorizing Londoners with a motorcar or tempting William to look at the Victorian equivalent of porn in a library- but his own feelings for Emma illuminate a nobler side of his personality.

Rightstuf/Nozomi Entertainment has done an amazing job with the release of season one. Emma quite possibly has the coolest packaging and extras I’ve ever seen. The box set is attractive, with slim DVD cases tucked into a slipcase. The best part, however, is the insert: a small book in the style of a Victorian gazette, complete with articles, ads and society pages. This is a creative way to clear up many of the more puzzling historical details, from the intricacies of proper dress to cleaning techniques used by Emma in the series (did you know damp tea leaves can be used to brush dust out of rugs? I’m tempted to try it).

There is no dub track for the show; it is only available in Japanese. Some might have a problem with this, but if you shun the series for this reason, then you’re missing out. I personally prefer the Japanese to hearing Americans try to dub in British accents.

Emma: A Victorian Romance is a show for anyone who wants more out of their anime than just entertainment. It’s a series chock-full of emotion, despite its restrained atmosphere. And season two comes out later this month, so you won’t have to despair at the cliffhanger ending.

Details

Publisher: Rightstuf/Nozomi Entertainment
Director: Tsuneo Kobayashi
Stars: 5
Running Time: 500 minutes
MPAA Rating: PG
MSRP: $49.99
Release Date:6/24/08
Buy: Buy it!