Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation 09: Beauty and the Blacksmith

The picture says a lot about Camille and her situation.

The "lady and the tramp" type scenarios are pretty common in movies and shows, and to be honest I kind of get tired of them, but at least Ikoku Meiro didn't have the usual romantic cliches that make them (sometimes) unbearable. I suppose Claude isn't exactly a "tramp", but he is pretty far down the ladder as opposed to Camille, if the "stray cat" references didn't make that obvious. The show did a nice job of wrapping up this chapter of the story without becoming redundant (another episode solely on the two would have been pushing it I think), and now I'm about ready to move on and see what else Ikoku Meiro has to offer.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation 08: Cornered Mouse

Guess which one is the mouse.

I was really looking forward to this episode and it didn't disappoint me at all. Just as I expected, if it wasn't obvious already, Claude and Camille have a history that goes back as far as their childhood when they were close friends. Oscar made it sound like they were also in a relationship at some point and based on Claude's indifference towards her something must have happened. What is was? Well, it seems like we'll have to wait until next episode's continuation to find out.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation 07: Kids and Colds

lulz, Alice.

Aw, everything about this episode was so adorable. These types of shows almost always have some sort of "sick/cold" episode, so I wasn't surprised about it, especially since it's been sort of building up over the past few weeks. The show did something special though by making it very realistic. We've seen Yune coughing and slowing down the last couple episodes so it wasn't like it just suddenly hit her, like it seems to do in most similarly themed episodes when a person runs out into the cold for a couple seconds and suddenly gets struck with a life threatening disease.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation 06: Birdcage

The Blanche girls are back!

Though it wasn't one of the better episodes, I felt 06 did an excellent job of setting up a nice plot between Camille and Claude, who we can now assume have some kind of connection or past relationship. Maybe it's because I prefer the interactions between the Claudel's and Yune compared to the Blanche's, but besides some of the more serious moments, I just couldn't get into this episode the way I have in the past. At least the humor kept things interesting.

Personally, I'm now on the side of the fanbase who doesn't like Alice. Though I realize she's a symbol of the wealthier side of France (accurate for the time period, I have no clue), at times she can be annoying in the worst of ways, the loud, screechy, airhead way. Camille on the other hand, is the total opposite.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation 05: Trust

I love these two.

Another fantastic episode of Ikoku Meiro has gone by and I'm still amazed at how every episode manages to blend a relaxing, yet enjoyable pace and a detailed, character-driven story without ever becoming "boring". Throughout every episode I'm left smiling at the show's charm and laughing at it's unusual wit. This week had more focus on the setting as Yune experienced first-hand the complete opposite societal ways of the French who. according to Claude, don't greet you with a smile unless you're friends or they have bad intentions.

Since the start I was used to the more friendly depiction of the main characters who had little interaction with anyone besides each other, maybe excluding Alice who was a little bit of a jerk. But we quickly learned that even the Galerie du Roy is not without it's bad sides. For me one of the more depressing parts of this episode was the number of stores boarded up in the background of almost every shot. It's pretty obvious now how big of an impact the department store is having on the smaller, specialized stores.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation 04: Believing in promises.

Oh dear, poor Yune.

I'm not sure which is cuter, Yune's dedicated friendship with the Claudel's or Rin and Daikichi from Usagi Drop. Both shows are so adorable and enjoyable in their own unique ways, but one thing they do share are extremely likable characters. Even Alice Blanche, who last week I was a little mean to, became a lot more likable this episode. Also this week I think we can get a slightly clearer picture of where this show is taking us.

I've noticed the differences between Japanese culture and French culture have become a major theme in every episode. In the beginning I thought it would move on from that after the first or second episode and focus on other things, but I'm glad it has remained an important part of developing Yune and Claude. What I'm most happy about though is that it never becomes boring. We're not listening to long speeches and lessons about trivial things, but instead we get to watch Yune and Claude interact with the differences and get better understandings of each other in the process.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation 03: The sound of Paris.

Claude's idea of Japan isn't exactly accurate ...

Ikoku Meiro is one of those shows where you can turn off the world around you for 23 minutes and enjoy a beautiful setting and captivating characters without the stress of the real world. The story is far from rushed and is so perfectly paced and simple that you can watch without missing important dialogue or having to stop the video to check information. It's the only show that I wait until after viewing once to take screencaps, just because I'm so interested in what's going on, and it uses every second of it's time to properly showcase all the materials it has, like it's outstanding soundtrack and gorgeous visuals, among other things.

Very few slice of life series can pull of slow pacing, either the show lacks interesting characters to stop itself from becoming boring or it falls into a predictable state, but Ikoku Meiro has managed to stay enjoyable since the first seconds of episode one. I have to applaud it for staying that way up until now and hopefully for the rest of the remaining episodes.

Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation 01 + 02: The girl behind the glass.

If these three don't make you smile, then I don't know what will.

Well, I caved. I was extremely reluctant to blog another series, but after watching the first two episodes of Ikoku Meiro no Croisée I couldn't help myself. Besides, I also realized all three series I'm blogging air on Thursday (and subs usually take until the next day), so covering a series on Sunday will keep things more lively during the week. At first Ikoku Meiro no Croisée may seem like just another moe, but what we have here is the most soothing and tranquil series of the season, and maybe of the year.

The setup is simple, a Japanese girl voluntarily thrown into the bustling world of a French gallery working as an assistant in a metal working shop. That may sound completely uninteresting to you, and at first I felt similarly, and the general reaction seems to be mixed (from what I've read online), but don't let that take you away from at least giving it a chance. What Ikoku Meiro lacks in exhilarating story, it makes up for with a stellar cast of down-to-earth characters, humor, and an unavoidable ability to make you smile. And if you're still not interested after that, then obviously this isn't the type of series for you.