my humble opinion on 'Ikoku Meiro no Croisee' manga

please beware of spoilers
raws from rawscans.com

plot and characters

reading manga after watching an anime seems the right thing to me. anime has more instruments to capture your attention and create the necessary atmosphere, is it not so? moreover, the anime version was pretty close to the original in terms of general impression

on the other hand, reading a manga like 'Ikoku' is never boring, even if you know the plot already. some events are different, some are more detailed, some have other order than that in the anime. now that I read up to the 7th chapter of the manga I can say for sure that the anime was truly well balanced, and the anime ending is perfect for the anime, though the manga chapters differ significantly. however, this is the case when there is nothing bad in the fact that there is a difference between the original source and the adaptation. quite opposite, the anime highlighted the important moments of the manga and became a real set of everyday stories, exactly what is necessary for such a work. manga, in its turn, has its own pace, pretty different but not less fascinating

the anime series show the events happening in the manga in chapters 1-7 (to say nothing of the episodes created purely for the anime), so the last one, partie 8, was completely unknown to me. 'tis only for the better, as the last peaceful elements of the storyline vanish here. methinks, they wouldn't fit into the slow and calming flow of the anime even if somebody had any intention to put them there. the last episode was tense enough and its ending was a perfect ending for the story, but manga ends even more tensely. to say I was shocked and impressed greatly and moved and stared with my eyes wide open on every page would be no exaggeration
I might be wrong but this particular last chapter seems to me an example of a perfect emotional work. 'tis on the verge of being protracted (can I apply this word here?) but manages to escape the fate of those 'epically failed' works where the repetitions of the characters' thoughts are are really unnecessary and the plot seems to freeze. what both Claude and Yune felt, what they were thinking of never made me feel boring, never made me think 'I am tired of this', and moreover - wasn't far-fetched. what I especially liked is that there was no great catastrophe, or war between the colonies in the space, or coup d'etat, or anything. in fact, everything ended without the developments that Claude dreaded. this is the reality - what the main character is terribly afraid of doesn't happen only because he is afraid of it. things can go otherwise regardless of what he/she thinks of it. what the mangaka brilliantly portrayed is what was going on inside their hearts and inside their heads. having a feeling close to primal fear, recalling and revaluing events from the past, changing your attitude towards people and things, events and consequences. mangaka paid attention to smallest details and slightest feelings and remnants of them in memory, and vice versa - those which grew to something greater, both good and bad, both shining moments of happiness and heavy moments of emptiness inside
and doubts

and determination

and fear mixed with disbelief that this is really happening now

and fear of something that cannot be undone once it happens

and missing someone

and feeling lonely and lost

and despair turning into rage

and in the end, having the courage to set free, and having the courage to ask to stay

in my mind, this work is reach in true feelings made so acute that 'tis almost physically painful to read the manga. and the feelings are so deep that there is not even a slightest shadow of doubt whether such people could exist in the real world, or whether what they felt was sincere
after the light entertaining stories in the beginning come the last several chapters with hard mood, but this is not the case that leaves you in despair with no will to live further, but makes you feel really light. at least I did, because I see characters able to have a deep profound feeling, I see them struggle and survive in the battle with themselves, I see them learning how to live in this world, and I feel envious because they have each other. and in the end, I see a mangaka who created them. this world is not hopeless yet, is it?

graphics
flawless. cute and nice and detailed and without rookie awkwardness or any proportion mistakes. incredibly enjoyable. seems my vocabulary of words of praise reached its limits...

conclusion
I cried, oh how I cried. I cried my eyes out with both sad and happy moments of the characters. I cried every chapter, only a bit here and a lot there
after I read manga like this I feel almost ashamed of the fact that I could ever read a manga only to find a romance there

link. 'Ikoku Meiro' cannot leave no aftertaste, eh?

after seeing this
one is sure to want to see this and this
am I wrong?
just like Venice after watching 'Aria' ^^`

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?