my humble opinion on 'Emma' manga ~ Victorian romance again

though I expressed my anger with 'Ashita no Nadja' and poured a lot of bad words on it, I wasn't that frustrated all this time. I've been reading 'Emily Fox-Seton' by Frances Burnett. I can't say I loved the book very much, but reading it was such a comforting thing. every little detail was so nicely described...

and suddenly I understood how 'Emma' had the very same aura about it. I came to understand that from the historical point of view 'Emma' was perfectly neat, if I can use the word here

at first I had no intention to read the manga as I thought the story didn't touch me that much... but there appeared two facts that made me change my mind. first, the story was very good in comparison with some other stories I've seen/read, even though I cannot say that the characters in 'Emma' were of my favourite type. and the second thing - the properly created atmosphere redeems for all possible sins. 'Emma' is able to make you see those times, feel the epoch, almost LIVE in it

10 volumes is considerable amount, certainly not a short at least, but I swallowed all in 3 evenings. what's also important - the weather is still good, still warm though already the first sings of Autumn can be noticed, so I can still continue my 'Victorian Summer' - only for a while. I turned on the anime OSTs and they almost made me cry

plot and characters

from the beginning the plot and characters look pretty the same as in the anime, but this time I was... well, not disappointed, but the manga seems to tell the story in a more rushing way... I felt like... deprived of something. several important episodes were not described as fully as in the anime, and they were the case when the anime version wins. such was Mrs Stowner's death, first of all, but also the other things about her. her character and attitude to Emma were the same, but the anime version was... warmer? deeper? how shall I call it... touching, probably. there were a lot of other cases like that, for example the manga version of parting of Emma and William without them meeting in front of his house and at the station. those meetings made the story more dramatic of course. or the two scenes I particularly liked most in the anime were when Emma took down the little guy's pet from the tree - that was much more dangerous than when in the manga she had only to climb on a chair and take the squirrel down from the baldachin, and the episode with Nanette. also, the part when William told Emma about him visiting the Crystal Palace with his mother, and then Mrs Trollope tells the same story so that the spectators are able to guess something... or when Tasha explains that lily-of-the-valley stands for 'hope will come again' in a flower language, or... all those small and nice delights were 'lost'...

however, if I forget about the anime, I cannot blame the manga too much. probably 'tis partly my fault that I read the beginning in a hurry because I've already seen the story, and also because I wanted to read more and more... instead of scenes shown in the anime, manga managed to convey another things. I can say, it managed to portray the society of those days - the dinner at the house of Eleanor's parents showed the higher classes typical meeting, the picnic and riding in boats showed the types of girls there existed, worried about their future husbands being both handsome and rich, constantly chatting, frivolous and light-headed (did I get it right that they were introduced not in the least for the readers to see how Emma and a few other heroines were standing out?), or Viscount Campbell having an affair with 'a woman who's gone astray'
there were also a lot of moments never used in the anime, such as William actually coming officially to the Molders, or relationship between Emma and Hans, and of course, the fact that the story takes an unexpected turn after that, but more that anything - a lot of secrets revealed in 'Bangaihen' and first of all in the last 2 chapters of it

they say when a person loses one of his senses, the other ones become more acute. a blind person can often hear well, and becomes good and feeling the objects with his fingers. this is not a good comparison, but in comparison with anime (in general), manga is 'bereaved' of sound and smooth movements. this is no offence to manga, but 'tis incontestable truth that there are no such things. and since there are no, manga has to convey the story in a different way, this is only obvious. the static pictures have to convey movements, the small frames have to express all the huge picture that mangaka has in his/her mind. this is, I suppose, why manga gives so much stress to details. while still telling a story, it underlines moments rather than general flow of events, or events that take only a short time, rather than global, long ones. what's really noticeable and commendable here are the many beautiful moments captured when not a single word was pronounced. the characters were only assumed to talk or to think of something, but depicted was only the environment

surely the mangaka managed to convey the feelings of Emma so that not to flinch at the sight of the cold dark lonely night was impossible - at least for me
I also loved how allegories were used - if only I got them right. can two creatures who belong to different species be together?

'Bangaihen' part was not used in the anime, so reading it was a lot of fun. Mori-sensei payed attention to smallest details and portrayed an adorable picture of Victorian England. all the stories had a very sweet touch to them and made me understand why I love this period so much. those times were already far from the Middle Ages - dull grey they seem to me - but far from the modern period as well. life became more convenient and filled with lots of new things in comparison with the past, but at the same time the choice was not as great as 'tis now. probably because of this people were able to spot tinier things than we do now, and were able to cherish them more, because they were not that easy reachable. no one says the life of the working class or the poor was easy, but the utmost happiness of one could consist in only buying a few yards of handmade lace or...

all the stories of 'Bangaihen' were inexpressibly lovely. the first chapters about young Mrs Stownar and her husband almost made me cry
the other touching story was the one about Theo of course - I didn't know Mori-sensei is able to draw even animals in such a cute way

inanimate objects can also have their history and... a soul probably. the author is not trying to simply tell us the story of two lovers who got across some obstacles, Mori-sensei is portraying the epoch. one can easily see how she loves the epoch and every single item that existed. note how she gently introduces several images of how different were the ways of using the newspaper dedicating the whole chapter to The Times

graphics
there are no words I could use to describe how I loved this side of manga. the anime graphics was made apparently to resemble the manga one, but this principle is not always working. in case of 'Emma' what was looking a bit awkward in the anime at first, stroke me with its beauty in the manga. the level of details is highly laudable, but also faces and general silhouettes were simply astonishing. facial expressions were beyond the reach of many average mangakas, starting with the fact that all the faces were actually different, not just the same shape with a special hairstyle for each person to make him/her recognisable, and finishing with absolutely realistic postures and 'angles of viewing'
sometimes I wasn't sure whether I see a manga page or a true 19th century illustration for a book

conclusion

I could say that the anime ending seems a bit more logical and 'finished' to me. William's family accept his decision, William's father even says he's proud of his son, Emma is living in peace with her husband and 4 children and pronounces words of gratitude to her former mistress, even the other characters weren't forgotten and are shown to have at least a hope for a brighter future
the manga ending is not going as far, but its ending leaves a perfect sense of satisfaction for me. the balance that I always long for was properly established. I couldn't ask for more
no, I even got more than I expected. note the perfect sense of humor of Mori-sensei, very subtle and clever
Tasha in her usual manner

 the strange Molders family

 and my favourite characters, the Indian girls, and drunk Arthur

no 'happily-ever-after' is presented to our eyes in 'Emma'. and though I tend to dislike stories that end in 'and what will the next day bring to him/her/them?', 'Emma' is different. perhaps the developments will be the same as in the anime, this is only what's likely to happen, we are simply not shown how it happens. this however doesn't bereave us of the opportunity to look into William's face together with Emma and find the same hopeful look in it. William is certain, though he said nothing, so must be we
there are people on this Earth who are able to create beautiful worlds, decorate them with beautiful pictures and add soft sounds to make them even more perfect. Mori Kaoru-san managed to do this, and studio Pierrot can do beautiful things once in a while, too. call it escaping from reality or whatever, I love this world named 'Emma', even though this is the same studio which did 'Naruto', 'Bleach', or 'Fushigi Yuugi' and 'Ayashi no Ceres'
now that I read 'Emma' I feel as if once more I adjusted my taste of what real art is. I wonder if I can call 'Emma' a manga that no one can dislike. I mean, people either are fascinated with it, or never have the intention to read it
recommended for those who are tired of cheap artworks full of fanservice, with no serious basis

p. s. if one ever needs any advice on what books to pick up to know more about the period, Mori-sensei recommends some in the end of 'Victorian Guide' book. well, not only that, but also lots of other things are explained there