'Yumeiro Patissiere' ~ so long, my love...

'so long, my love' is from Sakura Wars. no, it has nothing to do with 'Yumeiro', it just came to my mind. 'so long' refers to the length of the anime - 50 episodes first and then 13 episodes in the season 2, plus OVA. 'my love' refers to me 'searching for some romance'. however, 'Yumeiro' is just full of problems

plot and characters

problem #1
'Yumeiro' is just an typical shoujo. yes, 'tis. we have a typical shoujo main heroine whose sole virtue consists in the ability of 'making other people smile'. she is clumsy 

but motivated

and though she changes her mind pretty quickly

she is overcoming everything with her positive attitude. overcoming everything, including all other qualities and features of other people - not only arrogance or wile tricks, but even knowledge, hard work and several years practice. the spectator is only left to wonder how she caught up with the rest of her class, caught with three top students among the class, caught up with strong groups among the middle school division, then caught up with strong groups from the high school, and finally surpassed even the most praised students in the world

in general there is nothing to disagree with in the belief that hard work can work miracles. moreover, this idea is one of my favourite themes in art. however, there is a limit to what a person can do in an amount of time. 'tis ok when a young passionate hero(ine) wins over an older wiser character, but 'tis not ok when the main heroine wins time after time. this is already beyond the level of credibility
this 'not-giving-up-in-any-situation' is also expressed with the example of Mari. her story may be understood as an accomplishment of her dream and finding a new 'raison d'etre', but the inevitable truth is that she was forced to give up her ideals and sacrifice her original dream. however wrong she might have been, if this kind of 'not-giving-up' is considered to be

problem #2
the plot development was so simple and predictable I could not help trolling it all the time while chatting with my friend. of course, new recipes are created when needed, and of course necessary ingredients are always at hand, and of course Ichigo can use Koshiro's helicopter to fly from France to Japan in order to look at her granny's strawberry, and of course the Sweets Spirits can create whatever clothes, furniture or exterior needed with their magic

one must already have understood that I dislike this kind of main heroines and this kind of stories. however, 'Yumeiro' does not consist only of that. and this is what makes me worried. I do not have the basis of this anime -  the kindness and ability to understand and appreciate other people's feelings impersonated by the main heroine. I cannot hate her behavour at times when someone needs support and moral relief
another point saving 'Yumeiro' is the unexpected exercise of funny moments. sometimes I chuckled, sometimes I almost laughed out loud -  like it was in case of Hanabusa with his roses

and this truly causes a cognitive dissonance in me. the story and main heroine design are in a huge conflict with the other aspects I mentioned

problem #3
the second aspect I was waiting for is a bit disappointing. after a lot of hints and touching moments between the main couple we suddenly see a scene in the last episode - which is, by the way, a scene happening already 2 years after the previous events. in other words, all the important things appear to be skipped. season 2 had bolder hints on the relationships but never really reached the awaited point. well, I do think that such hints only are not enough. 'tis not that I wanted to watch 63 episodes to get just another hint in the last minutes of the last episodes

problem #6
one of the reasons for me to watch 'Yumeiro' is that I thought I might find an anime suitable for my 12-year old cute little student. and this is where I got discouraged. 'Yumeiro' is only suitable for very, very young girls. even though the characters are around 13-14 years old (and then get older), I find the story too childish for children of the same age. it might be ok for those less critical and selective in regard to what they watch. every little thing is so thoroughly explained that I even got bored. on one hand, I am not claiming to know everything and the info was new and helpful to me, too. on the other hand... well this is tiresome

problem #6
in the beginning I said that 'Yumeiro' is a typical shoujo. however, one unusual point can be found. and 'tis the constant atmosphere of competition which is worrying me. in general the idea is ok, but repeating it again and again is doubtful. the points about 'rivals', 'leaders' and the stuff really looked strange to me. as if it were not a Japanese anime, but an American video-tutorial 'how to start your career as a patissiere'

graphics

problem #4
the outline itself and the colours were ok, but whose idea it was, I wonder, to erase fringes and bangs or spectacles sides where they intersect with eyes???

though, much effort was put into the backgrounds

seiyuus

this is, finally, the aspect I have no reprimands for. all the seiyuus were good and fitting their respective characters. I was especially pleased to hear Okamoto in a role which I find more suitable for him than an 'average Japanese schoolboy', and whom I would especially mark out is Caramel's seiyuu Iino Mayu, who turned out to be a small girl, which makes her a promising seiyuu for me, because she certainly created her own style of voicing with her own intonations and pronunciation. it was pleasant to hear a lot of seiyuus I had already heard before, but...

problem #5
'Yumeiro' presents, of course, nothing really outstanding

music
problem #6
boring, boring and boring. boring 'cute' opening, boring 'cute' ending... backgrounds are OK for a cute shoujo, but of course I am not even going to download them
season 2 was obviously made look 'older'. therefore, OPED themes are more edible, done in a techno-pop manner. not that I like those songs, to be honest, but at least they are more interesting...
only I cannot understand Gojou Mayumi-san. she was really good in 'Justice of Light' but her songs in 'Yumeiro' are so-so...

conclusion
the more I watched, the more I got bored and tired. the more I got bored and tired - the more I skipped. yes, I literally skipped some scenes and even some episodes. some things pissed me off - such as Henri-sensei's treatment of Mari, some things tired me - such as indecisiveness of the main couple. 'tis especially disgusting after I looked through the original manga and found there are only 38 chapters and more than half of the anime is made of thin air. after finishing 'Yumeiro' I have only 1 thing to say - 'few... finally'

p. s.
if someone near me utters 'gambaru ze!' or 'let us do our best!' in the nearest future - I swear I shall kill that person

my humble opinion on 'Gosick' ~ really sick

I have seen anime with poor storyline and poor graphics, such as 'Noir' (well yes, despite the common admiration I consider it as such). I have seen anime with poor or at least strange graphics but great plot that made me pay no attention to the visual side, such as 'Final Fantasy Unlimited'. and of course I have seen masterpieces, needless to say the recently discovered by me 'Ikoku Meiro' is one of them. have I ever seen an anime with great graphics and poor story?
after an opening in an 'anime-Art-Nouveau' style

one would expect a really outstanding show but...

plot and characters

this is an anime that fails to capture your attention from the very beginning. after watching the opening I already knew some of the characters, their types and future behaviour. they were so plain and unoriginal I was disappointed by the very first episode. I admit that all the characters in the world belong to some type and those of one type may have something in common, but every_one of them, each of them MUST go beyond the cliche frames and present something new, while being perfectly credible. I am trying to say, nobody among the main characters made me cling to him/her and follow his/her story, and nothing among the developments made me say 'wooow'. in other words, nothing surprised me

I cannot avoid speaking of 'Dantalian' here, because everyone compares 'Gosick' with 'Dantalian' and Victorique with Dalian. from the beginning I could not understand why they could seem alike. the more I watched, the more I understood there were certain points, and I have to admit in general their images were pretty close. they both are clever, know a lot of things and consider this as something natural, and mostly this knowledge comes out of books, as both of them live in a library - though a very different one. they love tasty and sweet things. and oh, they are often throw pretty harsh words at their 'companions'. well, if I speak of Victorique, she is much closer to the general description of a tsundere than Dalian. Victorique was... restrained? adult-like? this is actually hard to compare. Victorique looks younger than she is. Dalian looks younger than Victorique looks, but is actually much older than Victorique is. that's a bit too complicated. maybe there are any words on the Earth I could use to explain the difference between these two, but I cannot find anything except 'cold' and 'warm'. I was perfectly sure that a tsundere is a classmate girl who pretends to be indifferent to the Ordinary Japanese Schoolboy main character, but actually is afraid of her developing feelings towards him. now I see the term has gained a (completely?) different meaning recently. in the end, are we observing a process of the words coined long ago transforming into something new following the trends of the time?

the other side of Victorique was supposed to present the drama aspect of the story. a child with a 'childhood trauma' and tragic past... well, that wasn't actually too touching for me, but after examining this aspect I could draw one conclusion - much more relevant comparison to Victorique should be Mina Tepes, I daresay. the same behaviour, lines, attitude, and seiyuu as well. ok, this is due to be written in the next paragraph

I shouldn't overlook the fact that the general story was a good attempt and the authors obviously wanted to convey something to their audience, but the actual implementation of their ideas is... well... lame. the 'cases', starting with the ghost ship, were more or less neat, but the very beginning with Victorique solving the mystery with Roxanne's death was designed only to fascinate the audience, show how cool Victorique is, and what an incapable poseur her brother is. therefore, her reasoning seemed to be quick, far-fetched and contrived

some of the minor characters impressed me much better. Ambrose, for example, or the Luigi as a pauper boy in the streets of the capital, brilliantly portrayed. I guess this is due to the fact they had only a few minutes of presence on the screens, therefore only a few features of character were enough to create a general image of them, such as Ambrose's interest for the outer world or his unwillingness to kill Harminia, and the ability of the boy to notice and understand everything at an instant. among the main characters, the only one interesting for me was Victorique's brother, for he was adding at least a bit of humour to the story. and of course I became fond of the Glaviel-Jacqueline line, as Jaqueline combined 'good intentions with complete ignorance', and Glaviel was of the type I like - a womanizer who is actually in love with only one person. however, with time I lost my interest in him, after seeing his strange behaviour in the last arc. this is not his fault, this is simply poor character design and directing
however, the anime was also full of cliche characters

I am already tired of those active positive girls interested in the main male character and constantly getting mad at him shouting out loud '...no bakaaaaaaa'

I can't understand why the main villain must be drinking red wine - that was a popular way to show how cool he is long long ago, maybe still popular until the mid 00s, but we are already far from that. what is the meaning of this bottle in his hand apart from what I mentioned? only annoys me 

finally, attempts to make the serious episodes just a bit funnier - a teacher bursting out of a suitcase and shouting at her student - without getting up and leaving the suitcase. the student, who bothered to slightly bend his knees to lower himself to the level of his teacher, but never offered a hand to help her stand up, to say nothing of giving her his coat, as we see 'tis winter with a lot of snow. and the soldiers who are watching the scene, surprised, but never interfere seeing a woman in such circumstances. erm... this was supposed to be funny? I expected this to be just a bit more realistic in this aspect. I mean, I was unprepared for that level of fanservice

the general flow of the plot was not bad in the first half of the series. there were enough risky adventures and different places interesting to see especially when you understand that this is an artificial world and an imaginary country. however, the level of detail was often not very deep. several times I knew what was going to happen, considering some minor events that influenced the story. and at the same time, there were parts where the plot was dragging slowly - probably supposed to make the spectators interested. and in the end, when the most important intrigue comes - the second half of -teenth episodes - everything turns upside down and there is no proper explanation for anything. watching and watching - and the only reaction is 'who are these people?', 'what does he want?', 'why did she do that?', 'why is this character even necessary for the story?', 'what was that for?' and so on. and where did Victorique's great logic go now? constant dragging Victorique away, Kujou chasing and rescuing her - aren't they bored themselves with the repeating scheme? and everything goes so smoothly - they let them escape easily when necessary, introduce new enemies when necessary, deal with them, with a speed of light so that I cannot even recall whom I saw and what happened

seiyuus

moreover, Victorique's seiyuu contributed greatly to my disappointment. if I knew nothing of 'Vampire's Bund' I would probably be less biased, but when Victorique speaks in the same voice, with the same intonations and uses almost the same language as Mina, the personality of Victorique becomes even more boring. 'tis not the question of who was earlier - Victorique or Mina, 'tis the problem of the seiyuu that her intonation sound too boring. after I heard her in 'Ikoku' I am aware of the fact that she can do something different. this time 'twas a failure
of course I recognized Ueda Yuuji-san, but somehow I consider him the opposite - his unchanging intonations and manner of speaking doesn't make the characters boring, it only adds charm to them and makes them memorable. erm... am I biased? oh no, of course I am. let me put this question differently - am I so biased that it doesn't let me judge the seiyuus fairly? well I don't think so. in the end, if I ever hear Aoi-san in another role I may change my mind
and of course, hearing Sawashiro-san's low voice was a good experience, though I actually wish she never agreed to take part in this work

the others were good. I think

music

OP theme. horrible - as a song. so-so - as an OP theme. I mean, perhaps this song is not too bad together with the visual side, but the song is really cheap-sounding and plain J-rock-pops

the 1st ED theme was the first reason for me to pay attention to this anime. Komine-san's voice is great, and the song itself is not less great, combining both touching lyrics and deep composition. the 2nd one is not one of my favourites but I can at least respect it and I do see it makes a very good ending

OSTs were very good. calm when necessary and with a lot of tension when necessary, perfectly matching the scenes they accompanied, and pretty noticeable, though maybe just a little too frequently used - some of them. oh, and several times I noticed there was no music in the background where there might be (and better be)

graphics
finally - something I can praise in this work. wonderful scenery and architecture - thanks to the designers and artists

and interior, too

and I really loved how the aura of the epoch was captured, including watercolour pictures in the book with children in clothes of the time

and a few Art Nouveau items in the plot as well - though this is 1924

and some buildings again

everything looks pretty realistic and captures the eye. of course there were a lot more moments worthy of clicking on 'pause' and looking closely

conclusion
during the last several episodes I was absolutely indifferent to the story. I wasn't touched by anything, I wasn't moved, 'no-reaction'. I didn't care who dies and who lives on, I didn't care how the story ends for any of the characters. I wanted everything to end quickly and I was looking forward to that 'Fin' on a black screen

p. s. in the end, the most surprising thing was Victorique's laugh in the first episodes when she said something like 'I thought this was a joke'

my humble opinion on 'Ikoku Meiro no Croisee' ~ deja vu

why deja vu? it reminded me of 'Aria' greatly, that's why. I don't want to say they're alike, the plot is different, and the general idea is different, too. what's alike is the feeling I have - no boredom, but calmness and peace, not emotionless, but not too stirring/confusing/frustrating. a perfect balance. a thing to enjoy

plot and characters

like in Aria, there were moments when I was really moved by what the characters do or say, but this feeling caused no darkness of despair, nor they made me laugh out loud. those were the 'simple truth' turned into words, an ordinary and frequently used idea which was presented so nicely that I could not help but skip a beat

such was the moment when Yune doubted whether to stay with Alice because the latter promised her to give the kimono back for free, as Yune wanted all the best for Claude, while Claude didn't take her back from Alice because he wished the best for Yune. both were wrong - Yune in thinking Claude was not eager to earn money to buy the kimono, and Claude in thinking that Yune would be happier in the rich house, but the final decision was my biggest delight. instead of sacrificing herself in an egoistic manner Yune chose to come back to Claude's. my reaction - ^__^

the 7th episode was almost unbearably filled with touching moments. even if I wanted I could not say the concept was very new and original, or sophisticated, but the setting, the direction of the episode was so... so... T____T I just can't

and you probably understand that one moment like this

or like this

weigh much more that a thousand of 'squeezing the girl to the wall' - a phrase I read in some comment on 'hakushaku' to describe their 'romantic' relationship

apart from the main characters, pay attention to all the others. how realistic and alive they are. Claude's neighbours, farmers from the market. Alan, who only tried to help Yune once, but turned out to be a nice and kind person

every character is memorable. pay attention to Alice's elder sister - Camille - who is loving, caring elder sister who says that she enjoys herself as long as her Alice enjoys herself, and believes in Alice, but also shows her own stance - though she didn't say anything when Alice gave Yune a very bad choice, her glance betrayed her disapproving of what Alice did. note her look when she's told that everyone has high expectation about her, how she reacts when Yune says that a crinoline looks like a bird cage. 'tis not that 'twas unexpected of her, but I was impressed how the authors created such a character. well, on the other hand I was rather irritated with this hinted feeling of Camille for Claude. this has nothing to do with the quality of the plot, just I was really annoyed with it, yep ^^`
and of course, Oscar. a very typical old man for Japanese animes, caring and understanding, but at the same moment - never old in terms of how he feels or behaves. loves tricks and entertainment, tells stories, makes a shadow theatre, and more importantly - helps both Claude and Yune in their hard moments. and - did I say he loves tricks? can creep to Claude from behind and scare him as well, just to have fun. can go for a date with a young mademoiselle. can give 'the water of life' to Yune. nice and funny guy, yep

also, note how every episode has a new image of Yune with a cat - in the middle where the episode is divided into two parts

considering the ending, I would not  wish for the better. they did not think of a random scenario of Yune going home ⇒ parting with everyone, and quite opposite, the ending leaves the light feeling of tender happiness - the same one I had after 'Aria' (well I already started comparing, so let me go on). the story of the last episode was pretty simple, but what feelings it conveyed I cannot put into words. 'twas not the same as in 7th episode, the main idea came only during the last minutes, but those feelings were overwhelming. several ideas perfectly fitting the plot, the time, the flow of the story in general and of the episode in particular. feeling useless because you doubt you are helpful to others, feeling frozen because you are unable to save someone, feeling worried that it might happen again, feeling hard because you have to admit all those feelings, and finally - feeling relieved because there are people who are happy with you as you are. and being accepted like this is the greatest happiness, isn't it?
well, in the end I read that Satou Junichi-san helped with the scenario. and he's a master of such works, isn't he?

seiyuus

as I said, there were a lot of moments when I literally forgot to breathe. half of the reason was the moment itself, of course, but seiyuus' work contributed greatly to it. in one of the episodes when Claude was worried about Yune Kondo-san's 'ttaku' made me almost choke with the usual feeling I have in special moments, when something grasps your breast for a second almost painfully
Yune-chan's and Alice's seiyuus were perfectly fitting their roles. in order to fully appreciate their work you can listen to the audio dramas, where you can a. hear their usual everyday voices and compare them with the anime ones and b. understand how much they put their heart into what they do. Aoi-san said, if I am not mistaken, 'when I took the audition, I was already thinking like 'as Alice I would like to do this, and say this, and this...' so when I was approved I was so happy!' isn't this one more proof that they are great seiyuus, apart from their splendid work in the series? also, the picture dramas are good if you want to understand the work of seiyuus better. when the video consists of almost motionless pictures the voices of seiyuus become much more distinctive and stressed. all of the seiyuus coped with the task. I especially laughed in the episode where Alice asks Yune-chan about different things in Japan and they use a lot of onomatopoetic words and the stuff like 'wasshoi'. that was LOL
as for other seiyuus, I didn't notice anything too outstanding, but I enjoyed every phrase I heard in the anime. this is the case where the seiyuus' voices are pleasant to hear and the intonations are all 100% right

music

I am not wrong for remembering 'Aria' all the way, you know!

first, the OPED songs were of the same style. light, cheerful but calm, positive melody and sonorous vocal of of Youmou-to-Ohana, tender melody and thin voice of Touyama-san perfectly matched the general style

also, if you look at those who are responsible for the OST - ko-ko-ya - myanimelist will tell you - 'Led by Shigeharu Sasago, the guitarist of Choro Club'. heeey, that's almost unfair!

graphics
somehow I watched nothing from Satellight. or almost nothing? well, I knew nothing about the studio - whether 'tis capable of a good picture or not... and I was pleasantly surprised. some shots were created to resemble coloured retro photos

exactly reproducing real places

some brilliantly portrayed objects reflecting the 'time and place' 

and some showed great love of the creators towards what they do. otherwise would they care about such tiny details?

conclusion
everybody says this work was 'overlooked' and 'underestimated'. why??? such a brilliant piece. can't find a single bad point in it. well, probably, people who don't care about different characters, their relationships and behaviour, their feelings and deeds, their views of the world, will not be happy with this series. as well as those intolerant to soft kawaii (I would name it 'true kawaii')... actually I would really pity such people

p. s. - what's with Yune-chan's age, in the end? she claims to be 15, but she obviously isn't, as she was drunk. however, she is angry when Claude tells her he thought she was 7 or 8. her anger was probably a real one, so she is a bit older. then, something like 10 to 12?