Popular fiction dealing with Victorian England often concerns itself with telling the stories of either the most impoverished (Dickens) or the most fortunate (Bronte), with little attention paid to the relatively prosperous middle class of the time. In some ways, Emma fills this void, whereas the show's namesake, despite her position as housemaid, serves in a decidedly middle class household. In fact, it's easy to see her as less servant and more surrogate daughter for her elderly mistress.

So, despite the fact she catches the eye of the wealthy William, I suspect the story may transcend that of strife arising from romance across class boundaries. After all, William is far from successful as an individual (polished or not, he seems a bit clumsy socially), and Emma is clearly stunning in her own way. They could very well be a perfect match.

But, story aside, what of the show's technical merits? Simply put: amazing. The attention to detail, not only in the animation itself, but in the costume design and background work is something you don't see often. Many of the scenes in this first episode take place on the busy streets of London, of which Studio Pierrot bring to spectacular life. It's a far cry from the static background work found in the average anime series.

Emma has really taken me by surprise, and I'm inclined to name it my favorite show of the new season. It's definitely the "best new show no one is watching", so to speak. Emma is something special, really.

I was gonna check it out anyways, but since you said it's that good I'll have to watch it.

That other person (his name starts with an "o" and I don't want to get into specifics that your readers don't get) and I discussed who would be blogging Emma. That person brought up you as a definite. He was correct.

Emma surprised me too. After seeing the trailer, I brushed it aside as something different, but not my type of show. How wrong I was. The music (especially that ending), animation, the characters (the old woman and Emma go together very well), and everything else combine to make a very refreshing show.

I await more episodes and shall watch episode 2 tomorrow.

I’m glad you liked the show that much. I was hooked the moment I saw the trailer. This show really reminds me of the World Masterpiece Theatre (WMT) project which was produced by Nippon Animation in the period 1975 – 1996. All the anime shows in that project were based on western literature and the shows in the initial years of the project were planned by Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata (of Studio Ghibli fame). It brings back sweet memories.

I knew it was a matter of time before Emma would find her way here. It's just too perfect (so far) to pass up... a quiet period piece that is littered with the details of daily life. As someone who grew up watching PBS and later A&E, it's interesting to see a familiar genre from a new viewpoint.

... oh and Emma has that 'girl-with-glasses' thing going on :)

I was surprised to see Emma episode 1 here just because I could have sworn you already started blogging it. ^_^;

It's so pretty and calm. Subtle sense of humor, too. I love the rare historical anime out there ('historical' rather than just 'historical setting' which is half the crap out there, that is.)

Link - it's scary how well "O" knows my preferences, isn't it?

But, yeah, I'm a little late to the game with Emma. I actually passed over the show at first, but after looking closely at some screenshots and reading a couple of discussions about the first two episodes, I realized I was probably missing out on something that's right up my alley. And, sure enough, I was.

I watched the first and second episodes back-to-back, so look for another post later tonight. I wanted to give this post a little time to stand on its own at the top of the page.

I was actually wondering if you would be blogging Emma. I was really anticipating it, and when it paid off, I was hoping you wouldn't pass on it.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode, but the second episode solidified it as a favorite of mine. I can almost say it's my favorite of the new season. The only thing I need to see is another episode of Loveless. Then I'll be able to make it official.

Im watching it :D and i like too

just a sniggling comment . . . but i'm not sure your generalization about victorian literature is really correct. vanity fair, middlemarch, any of the books by anthony trollope or thomas hardy are all specifically concerned to a great degree with the middle class in england.

(and, as an aside, the novel itself was basically an invention of the british middle class.)

Well, by "popular fiction", I suppose I mean what's considered to be popular now, as opposed to what was popular at the time. Dickens receives more attention than Hardy, I think.

However, I'm far from an expert on the subject.

I just about woke up the household on account of laughing at two of those image captions, man... that's evil!

But seriously... I'm not expecting complex or entirely riveting storytelling, and that's okay. I think I like this for some of the same qualities one finds in MariMite, that kind of unhurried romantic joy. Good stuff, here.

Greetings from 4-ch! ( ・ω・)ノシ

It seems like some Japanese are very interested in what Western anime fans have tos ay bout Emma. Satoshi got some 2ch visitors (I can't believe they were wondering whether doors open to the outside... Is is that strange? I guess so.) and I even managed to catch the 2ch thread his blog was linked into before it became 1000 posts long...

And your last caption is evil, Jeff. Evil. I'm so glad anyway that people are watching Emma. It's good stuff. I was surprised Momotato would watch it too.

If you enjoy the anime you might want to check the manga scanlation (which obviously has even more time for the details), also done by iichan. They've released Shirley (which seems to be a one volume shot of the same mangaka Kaoru Mori) and are into volume 4 of Emma (with the same interesting historical asides as they do in the anime fansub).
http://cerealandmilk.net/iichan/