Les Misérables: Shoujo Cosette

Story - 8
What can I say? Shoujo Cosette is an adaptation of my favorite book of all time, Les Miserables, and it's overall surprisingly faithful to the original text. Especially when you consider that SC is geared toward children, and the original is...well, definitely not.

That said, SC gets an 8 and not a perfect 10 from me because in their effort to keep the anime kid-friendly, Nippon Animation committed some pretty grievous crimes against the original canon. I'll keep it vague here, but I'll settle for saying that some characters who ought to have died survive for the dumbest reasons. Overall, though, their attention to ... canon is commendable indeed.

Art - 4
This, I think, is where SC suffers most. Nippon's animation budget clearly isn't high, and I suppose they do the best with what they're given, but aside from the occasional lovely background, the animation here is sorely lacking and, at times, looks like it might've been passable a decade ago at best. Character designs are decent - Valjean is especially well done - but also somewhat bland. Overall, this is the weakest point of the anime.

Sound - 6
The sound in SC is decent enough, but nothing special. The fact that the same OP and ED are kept throughout the entire anime rather detracts from it as well, especially after Cosette herself has long grown up and tons of new characters have been introduced. Only one or two tracks stand out in my mind at all - good, but nothing memorable.

Character - 8
SC does an overall good job of keeping true to the original characters. Javert could stand to be wittier, and Enjolras could stand to be less - well, nice, but all in all most characters keep true to their original. Characters in the anime who weren't in the book are surprisingly few and far between, and all serve their purpose fairly well - especially Alain.

Again, Character is an 8 and not a 10 because of one unforgivable change to one character in particular.

Enjoyment - 8
As a die-hard Mizzie who was initially very dubious indeed about anything remotely resembling an anime adaptation for children, I was surprised how I kept coming back to watch SC every week, despite my own limited Japanese and the decided lack of subs. Only once did I even consider dropping it, and that hesitation was fairly short-lived. Nippon Animation manages to transcend its clearly limited animation budget and make SC something actually worth watching.

Overall - 7
Overall, SC is an admirable effort by Nippon to adapt a classic work of literature into a television show, several minor pitfalls notwithstanding. It's an enjoyable anime for even those unacquainted with Victor Hugo's masterpiece, and the vocabulary is simple enough that even someone who doesn't know the language can probably follow along (though I do wish someone would hurry up and sub it). The only real downsides are a few instances of bowdlerization and the aforementioned poor animation.

I recently read Les Misérables in class and completely fell in love with it. I googled "Les Misérables anime", not expecting to find much, and was very pleased to discover such a lengthy and faithful adaptation. There were a few changes here and there, but most I didn't mind, and some I liked. For example, a large portion of this series is from Cosette's point of view, which I actually found nice because in the novel, the reader hardly knows her and she is written very passively. In the anime she shows strength and personality that we never saw in the book.
Most of my ... qualms with the series stem from the fact that it is aimed at children. There are many works of fiction that target a young audience but can be enjoyed by adults without seeming too childish. This anime succeeded partially in that, but at times I was taken out of the drama by little things that made me think "Oh yeah, this is for kids." The original story makes you think a lot, and allows you to make inferences on your own based on what you read. This show however leaves nothing to the imagination as it has a tendency to try to drill something into your head and make absolutely sure that you understand. Some of it was overkill, even for children. (WE GET IT. PEOPLE CAN CHANGE.)
There were also some changes to the plot that I found a bit unnecessary, especially toward the end. I always had an open mind to changes from the novel, as the show in general was already way more faithful than I ever expected it to be, but some changes to make it "happier" seemed a bit cheesy. I won't spoil anything, but I was disappointed when silly reasons caused certain characters not to die.
That being said, for the vast majority of the series I was able to ignore those things. In fact, there were parts where I felt like they probably got as dark as they possibly could with a G rating. Sometimes I would think, "This is rated G, so I wonder if /that/ is going to happen? Oh look, it did. Cool."

But I digress. It may seem like I didn't like this series very much, but in actuality there were a lot more things that I liked than didn't like. I definitely enjoyed it, and sped through it in 4 days. (I'm on break with a lot of free time.) It kind of made me wish that there was a really dark anime adaptation with really good animation, but I'll take what I can get. This was a good series that I would suggest to any fan of Les Miz, and still a good watch even if you're completely new to it. I'm really glad I found this.

This is my first ever review! I actually never really thought I'd ever write one! Please be nice!

I rarely see any anime adaptations of famous novels and I often wondered how it would be like. My first guess was that it may steer away from the novel's original story but after reading how it was faithful to the original novel, I decided to try it. (Plus, seeing little Cosette was really what attracted me, she's so adorable!)

Do note, I have not read the original novels so I cannot help but be biased about it. but despite that, I will try to keep it as unbiased ... as possible. I also tried my best not to spoil anything!

Story;

I did a bit of research and found out that the anime adapted from the second half of the first volume to the last one with hints of flashbacks for the first half of the first volume.

According to many, the anime adaptation of Les Misérables was very faithful which I had mentioned above which is a plus for me. I like well adapted animes that follow their source work as much as it could. And in my opinion, the story was amazing to me! It was gripping, emotional, and had a lot of hidden valuable messages about life.

There's no plot holes, or none that I could find that would deduct any marks. The only thing that I could think of that didn't feel right was the pacing. As much as I know that most of it was alright, some parts felt really...Slow...And repetitive even. But even though it was slow at some parts, the story was excellent nonetheless.

And thus I give the story a 9/10.

Art;

The art was simple and nice. I didn't mind it so much and plus, some of the character designs were really nice in my opinion. Especially little Cosette, she was just so adorable!

The animation was average at best though, but I guess it wasn't so bad during its time. But from the looks of it, Nippon Animation seemed to have a really limited budget when it came to making the adaptation. I might be wrong though.

The use of coloring and shading for different scenes were done nicely. When there's a happy and uplifting scene or a sad and depressing one, the coloring and shading will adjust according to it!

So with all that, I gave the Art an 8/10.

Sound/Music;

There aren't many soundtracks that stood out for me in this show but despite that, the music would fit with the events that would happen in the show.

Those that caught my ears were the ending theme and the lullaby that was sung by Cosette.

I really like the voice acting for this show(Japanese) as they acted out their characters very well. I have not tried any other dubs yet though so I can't compare to any other dubs.

With that, I gave the Sound and Music a 7/10

Character;

There's a decent amount of characters in this show and there were definitely a few that stood out the most.

First would be one of the main characters of the story, Jean Valjean. Through out the series he had shown nothing but kindness and selflessness. If I had more room in my favorites list, he would be in there! He's such a good person!

Secondly, there's the eldest daughter of the innkeeper Eponine. She was a selfish little brat at first but by some point in the show, I saw her in a new light and I could sympathize with her some times...

Cosette was adorable at first but despite more development in her character throughout the series, I still can't help but find her a bit plain. But she was a good character nonetheless!

There were also characters that I find tiring. One such character was the innkeeper himself. He was your typical bad guy really. There wasn't much development from him and throughout the series, he continues to try and ruin our main characters' lives.

But overall, all the characters were well portrayed and so I gave the Characters a 9/10.

Enjoyment;

I love this show as soon as I started it! There were plenty of sad scenes which could pull my heartstrings and even make me cry and there were plenty of times where I feel happy for the characters.

There was very little that I could say I did not enjoy and thus I give it a 10/10 for Enjoyment.

Overall, I rate this show a 9/10 and it could definitely end up in my favorites if I had room on my list! It is rated G for everyone but some parts of the show makes me doubt if it's actually suitable for all ages...

but even so, I would definitely recommend this to anyone who enjoys adaptations of famous historical novels(If there's any) and those who like western-themed animes!

i've never been this angry while watching an anime
i really wanted to punch the monitor, this is one of the worst adaptations i've ever seen
this is supposed to be an extremely tragic story, Cosette is supposed to be a symbol of an innocent girl who when through hell

i don't think you guys have seen the previous anime adaptation, the character design was EXTREMELY bad in the older anime adaptation, but in that adaptation the direction was really good, Cosette was truly miserable, there was no fucking Chu chu! (the fucking dog), there was no little brother to secretly help her, there was no happy moment, ... it was hell every second, but here she is happy!! she barely is shown to be scared, she barely is shown to be miserable
because there is always some fucking emotional support from chu chu!
she doesn't get kicked in a way we can see, the physical abuse isn't show, you just see the bruises later on her leg, AWFUL adaptation

did you know the mother sells her teeth? yet we never see this in the anime
did you know the sister (nun) after lying cries her eyes out? yet she just moves on without a single tear in this anime


the music is probably the only good thing about this anime
the animation is too lazy for a story as great as this one

i don't think most of you would read the book or watch the older anime so i suppose watching this garbage is better than nothing, it's just so sad how this anime didn't deliver the true tragedy that characters actually went through

(4/24/2023: I decided to completely rewrite my old review, as it's not up to par with my current reviews and is embarrassingly overly fangirly. For some reason MAL wouldn't let me just replace the old one with new content, so I had to delete my old review)

The year was 2007. It was around that time that I was really starting to dip my toes deeper into the anime fandom beyond just Pokemon, Digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh, or whatever was airing on TV. I was browsing some anime websites, and a promo picture for a new anime called Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette caught my eye. It looked interesting ... and I wanted to watch it...but at the time, little to no fansubs for it existed, and the few people that saw the anime hated it, dismissing it as a watered down version of the original novel right out of the gate. Back then, I wasn't familiar with the original Victor Hugo novel Les Miserables, but I watched the few episodes that received subs and I liked it a lot. But Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette wouldn't receive completed fansubs until 2011 (Thanks, Licca Fansubs!!), around the time I started college. During that time, I learned that Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette was actually made as an attempt to revive the World Masterpiece Theater franchise, which was notable for adapting Western children's novels into Japanese animation, from the early 70s up to 1997, then from 2007-2009. Unfortunately, the attempt to revive WMT failed, and since Konnichiwa Anne ended, no new WMT anime have been made. Which is a damn shame in my opinion, because as of this writing, I've seen a good majority of the WMT, this anime included. While I do consider Dog of Flanders to be better, I'm thankful that I got to watch Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette, because it introduced me to the WMT as a whole and was one of the anime that helped refine my personal tastes. And because, honestly? Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette is pretty damn amazing. I did review this when the fansubs finished, but looking back, my old review for it is pretty overly fangirly and not up to standard with how my reviews are now, so I'm writing a new one.

While the marketing does place quite a bit of focus on Cosette, and a majority of the series is told from her point of view, the anime does follow the same story beats as the book. Set in nineteenth century-era France, the series begins with Cosette, a three-year-old girl, traveling with her mother Fantine, who is trying to find a job and a place to live, but have always been shunned away due to few employers hiring single mothers. When her mother is promised with the prosperity of working in the big city, Cosette is separated from her in the hopes a caretaker named Thénardier will watch over her while her mother earns some money. Unfortunately, this was a trick and the caretaker is a corrupt man who makes Cosette his slave, and she is subject to their abuse every day. The city Fantine works at is famous for its kindly mayor, Monsieur Madeleine, but what nobody knows is that his real name is Jean Valjean, a former convict who served 19 years in prison, only changing his ways after a bishop is kind to him. When circumstances put Fantine in dire straits, Jean Valjean promises to save Cosette from the Thenardiers so she can have a life. But Valjean is being pursued by the stoic, determined Inspector Javert, a member of the Paris police force who steadfastly holds the "once a criminal, always a criminal" mindset and wants to throw Valjean back into prison by any means necessary.

Now, if you're thinking Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette is a dumbed down, heavily sanitized, kiddyfied version of the novel akin to G3 My Little Pony, you'd best throw that expectation out the window, because other than removing the heavier stuff such as Fantine going into prostitution and Javert's suicide (Which I'm pretty sure is because Japan considers it taboo to depict suicide in children's programming), the anime is actually pretty faithful to the book. Probably more so than other adaptations I know of, such as the 1935 and 1998 movies. Several important characters do die in the later half of the anime, and very few get spared. It pulls no punches in its depiction of the June Rebellion arc or the abuse various characters are made to endure. Plus, several characters who don't get a lot of development in the book or whose fates were left ambiguous are not only more fleshed out here, but even receive happier outcomes. To be honest, I'm kind of glad the anime decided to try and be both fairly light and dark, because leaning too much into the darker elements of the book might have made it come across as too edgy. Plus, just because the anime adds a lot more happier moments, including making the ending more hopeful than the book was, that doesn't necessarily mean none of them were poorly written or felt unearned, because in my opinion, I think they work wonderfully within the context of the anime as a whole.

From a technical standpoint, the animation is really good. Not just in terms of its overall presentation, but because of just how different it looks compared to WMT's previous output. Because it was made in the middle of the digital era, Nippon Animation was able to do more with the character designs, backgrounds, and settings that it couldn't back when they were still active. Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette has a much glossier, more refined look about it compared to previous shows' more rustic, rougher outputs, though that's not to say their older shows weren't good. The designs of female characters such as Cosette, Fantine, Eponine, and so on do look a bit more reminiscent of modern anime girls, with big eyes and glossy hair, but like with all of WMT shows before it, there's zero cartoony exaggeration. No chibi faces, no veins popping outside their heads, etc, which is a rule the WMT has always followed for all their shows. The male characters also manage to toe the line between being cartoony and realistic, with more emphasis on the latter without clashing with the show's tone. The actual character motion ranges from being slow to fluid depending on the scene, and it's always remained consistent throughout. The backgrounds are detailed and nicely rendered, and Nippon's depiction of France in the early 19th century is pretty spot-on from what I can see. Admittedly, I don't have as much to say about the soundtrack, as again, it's been years since I've seen the Les Mis anime, but I remember liking it, and both theme songs by Yuki Saitou are beautifully sung and fit the feel of the show perfectly.

If there's one thing the WMT is really good at across most, if not all their series, it's fleshing out their characters and making them as interesting and three-dimensional as humanly possible, and Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette is no different. The reason this is so is because the WMT series in general puts a lot of emphasis on build-up, which since most WMT series have 40-50 episodes, they're actually allowed to do more than what 13-26 episode series allow them to do, and actually having it pay off. A lot of said build-up in here consists of the creators fleshing out the characters, bringing the best out of them, and moving the story forward. Every single character, from Cosette, Jean Valjean, Marius, Eponine, Gavroche, and even all the men in the Les Amis, is well developed, interesting, and three-dimensional, each with their own roles to play in the grand epic that is Les Miserables. For anybody who felt that Eponine didn't have much in the way of screen time in the book or in the various other adaptations, don't worry, she gets a lot to do here, both as a kid and as an adult. Basically, Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette has an awesome cast of characters that are portrayed extremely well here, differences from the book notwithstanding, and even with the anime's lighter, more kid-friendly tone, they still retain the depth and nuances they had from the book.

I personally didn't have much in the way of complaints about the anime myself, though this is because I haven't read the book yet. I know a lot of people will take issue with the anime removing the heavier elements of the book, like Fantine going into prostitution and Javert's suicide, which is valid, and there are no shortage of adaptations that retain those two things. But I don't think those are reason enough to completely dismiss the anime as a whole. Plus, the first 13 or so episodes can be a bit of a climb, as they focus a lot on Cosette living with the Thenardiers, and it's fairly slow paced, even though I think both are done really well considering how long the anime actually is (52 episodes). If you can get past the slow pacing and the removal of the heavier, darker parts, Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette is an excellently written series from beginning to end, and now that the series has complete English fansubs, it's a lot easier to watch and access! There are also two manga adaptations of Les Miserables, both of which are more faithful to the book's tone and keep the parts that the anime removed: The 2011 manga by Takahiro Arai, which Seven Seas is releasing in the US right now, and the 2015 manga by Udon Entertainment, and while the latter is shorter than the former, I think both manga are awesome recreations of the epic that is Les Miserables, even if Arai's version has the benefit of being much longer, and therefore able to cover the entire story. Say what you will about Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette being happier and lighter than the source material, IMHO it's a way better adaptation than the 2012 musical movie ever was, mainly for the fact that it DOESN'T have useless, unnecessarily gross scenes like Thenardier urinating in a guy's beer cup and a random inn patron having sex with Santa Claus that were clearly thrown in there just for pointless shock humor! Seriously, whoever decided filming those scenes for the 2012 movie should never work in the film industry ever again!!

So yeah, I love Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette. I have a strong attachment to this anime, and it's one of my favorite series of all time. It has great characters, a realistic yet exciting storyline that never goes over-the-top, and it is an utter shame that the WMT revival never got off the ground, because we need more anime like this that actually care about telling interesting stories and characters you can relate to. This anime also helped me discover a blog that to this day I still visit, and said blog introduced me to a lot more anime I would come to love later in love, so I owe Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette that much. So don't be put off by the anime's lighter tone, because if you want to watch something that's not only full of passion, full of evolving characters and a story that has a lot of care put into it, give Les Miserables Shoujo Cosette a shot. I did and I don't regret it.

This review may contain spoilers. You have been warned.

Well, I have not read the book, so I will review the anime on its own, although I know how the narrative is.

The storyline is very consistent and catchy, but the pace is somewhat tedious. I have a complaint in the final chapters, because they are too happy, when the nature of the show had a good mix of happiness and sadness. That exaggerated happiness weakened the atmosphere, except remembering Fantine's suffering and Jean Valjean's death, but both moments were so brief to outweight the loss of atmosphere. Otherwise, the atmosphere was good in the another episodes. ... The drama is well done. The moral of the story (people can change) felt a bit anvilicious, because in the final chapters, that's said uncountable times.

The art is OK. The design of characters is pretty, but not specially good, except with Jean Valjean and Javert. The animation was sound. The scenery is very well done. The forests, the houses and the geography are heavily and carefully detailed.

The music is pretty good, especially the opening song (the opening animation is also good, but that's another story).

The characters were likeable and memorable, but are not really special. The canon foreigners, Alain and Chou Chou are nice adds to the storyline. however, Cosette is not very special because she is a flat character.

Although a "disneyfied" adaptation of a serious media, it managed to bring good drama to the story, because the sufferings were clearly watched. Sure, prostitution and suicide were omitted in this version, but there is still too many sadness and seriousness. It adapted the story into a child show without removing the essence.

This is a perfect series. I have no doubts to put it on the top of the best I've seen. Everything fits well together, I've never seen/read the original Les Miserables but the Anime is very good maybe better than the original?
I was surprised the simplicity of the character drawing, yet it never fails to accomplish their characterization.
The plot is there, the art is there, the feelings are there, the ending is perfect, everything is perfect! A truly masterpiece!
The best long series of all time?

I decided to watch this anime after a friend of mine recommended it to me. Before watching it, I searched it up and found that it was adapted from Victor Hugo's novel "Les Miserables." Reading the description, I really liked it and so I watched it.
Even now I love this anime so much. I have no idea how many times I cried and how many tissues I have used XDD Because of this anime, I'm deciding to also read the original novel.

In all fairness I admit I have not actually read the original LM novel….however, before watching this anime take on LM I had already seen the 1998 movie adaptation which starred Liam Neeson (Taken) & Claire Danes (Romeo + Juliet) and it gives a general idea of the story.

AFTER watching this anime series I watched the 25th anniversary London play which has been confirmed to be 90% faithful to the original novel…so writing this review now I feel I have a good grasp on the material

I did really love that 1998 movie version to death from seeing it YEARS ago and it was actually ... the movie that got me into period-pieces.

Anyway, naturally being the anime lovin guy that I am I was more than excited to hear there was a 50+ episode anime adaption of Les Miserables.

However, after completion I’ve found this series didn’t turn out as perfectly as I imagined it could have and to be honest I put this down mostly to it’s actual toned-down implementation of the story.

Yes, sadly it is the softer approach to this somewhat grim story is what keeps me from holding this series in much higher regard than I actually do right now but anyhow…..on with the review for details


Animation

There are good things and bad things about the animation to be frank so let’s start with the positives.

The animation is very clean, clear, bright and colourful. Characters are drawn quite well and everything looks beautiful overall. Scenery is very clear and beautiful which is obviously in line with the scenery that beautiful France – tres bien.

Now the negatives. Well first off, although all the characters are animated well for the most part they look too cute-ish for the drama that is LES MISRABLES. A particular gripe for me in this series is Cosette and her mother Fantine being albeit* the ONLY blonde hair blue eyed characters IN THE ENTIRE SERIES!!! ….for real…come one now

This really bugged me because this was intentionally pointing out these two characters stand out more than anyone else in the series and I found this change (only in the anime I might add) very patronising. It really was like watching two characters with halos over their heads all the time and it just overstated the obvious point that these two characters are the “good people” and everyone else are the supposed bad people.

I understand very well that Japanese anime characters use hair colour and facial features to emphasize certain character types I just wish they avoided that trait with these two characters in this classic story.

Apart from that the character designs in general were very soft looking and gave a kind of Disney-esque feel to what is overall a very dark and depressing story.

So in a nutshell good aesthetically looking animation that did not quite fit the dark tone of the storyline itself in my humble opinion

Sound

Well there is no English dub for this (which is extremely surprising given it’s an adaptation of something so wildly popular) however the Japanese dub sounds very good. All character voice acting were good to my ears and the background themes were excellent.

It was quite disappointing to have the same Op & Ed for the entire 50+ episode run however, the ending theme song was an exceptionally beautiful track dedicated to Cosette’s mother


Characters

Again there are positives and Negatives. The positives are in this anime adaptation you get more or less the full cast of characters from the novel and they intertwine well with each other, which is actually not the case for the 1998 movie where some characters were left out of the story.

The negatives are some characters in this anime come off more one dimensional then they actually are in the Novel / Play and the biggest victim of this is the main character Cosette herself. In the beginning when she is young it makes sense she is mousey and quiet but after a while you expect her to expand even if it’s just a little bit more as she becomes an adult and she really does not. All through the series she is extremely timid and passive even when she eventually falls in love which is a very different experience for me since I have seen the movie and play which shows her character to have more of a caged bird waiting to be freed syndrome in comparison to the completely submissive yes daddy, whatever you say daddy persona she has in this series. She came off just too one dimensional and unrealistic to me which was a surprising disappointment in comparison to her character portrayal in other adaptations.

Then lastly there is Marius….my god this character is pretty unbearable in this adaptation. I’ won’t go into too much detail but again unlike the other adaptations I have seen, Marius in this series is such a wishy washy, love struck, indecisive…..TOOL I just could not bear to see his scenes in this series. Easily the worst character in this adaptation…I mean seriously for a good part of the series he can’t even get Cosette’s name right….he was a true eyesore throughout the entire series for me.

ALL the other characters in this series are actually very well written and I don’t have anything at all negative to say about them or their characterization in this series so to be fair the good certainly out-weighs the bad in this series regarding the characters

Storyline

The big difference with this anime adaptation of LM in comparison to all the other incarnations of LM is Jean Valjean is actually the secondary character not the primary one in this story, which is why this series is called a girl named Cosette.

We get to see the story of LM begin and end from mostly Cosette’s perspective and this is an interesting new look at the story which adds a new dimension not fully explored before.

My major problem with this storyline on a whole is it is more noticeably toned down in terms of the more serious elements that occur in the original story (Fantine’s prostitution for example) and this combined with the cutesy animation style as noted before takes away some of the intensity LM is well known for.

The extremities’ and dark elements is what LM is known for so it surprised me when I saw those elements were either diluted or taken out completely when they are actually what has made the original story so compelling over all these years.

Now saying all that, I will admit there are plenty of miserable elements still left in place which still stay faithful to the original story I just wish they kept the entire tone on the darker side of things in place instead of making it softer and cuter.

I would usually put story censoring / changes like this down to wanting to expand this story out to a larger demographic but then I have to ask myself is LM really a story for a younger audience.

Me thinks no.

So anyway back on the positives. The story of LM in this anime adaptation is actually weaved together really really well, with some major plot changes that actually make MORE sense that the original novel….yes folks I actually agreed with almost all the written changes in this adaptation and commend these alterations for making the series a bit more streamlined and somewhat tighter.

So yeah even given my few disappointments, this series OVERALL is a commendable and solid adaption of a fantastic and well written novel. In particular I found the ending to be really well done.

Enjoyment

It’s an enjoyable series. It does have a few hiccups and even some minor filler episodes (4 or 5) but overall I enjoyed the series. First timers may want to catch the live action 1998 movie for better enjoyment before watching this and possibly even the 25th anniversary London play on DVD.

Value

I think it’s a solid anime series. I do wish it was shorter..maybe 30 episodes instead of 50+ and that the tone actually matched that of the original novel but all in all they definitely got more things right than wrong with this series and for that I commend the creators and welcome more anime adaptations of classic literature

Planet Tyro Rating: Solid B

Visual Version: http://bit.ly/10lPSF1

planettyro.com

I was looking forward to this anime cuz i remeberd that i watched it dubbed in arabic in my country when i was little on tv
and i loved it
so i was really hyped for the original work cuz here they remove some parts from the anime to make it kid freindly and such
and i after i finished it
i can only say that it's a masterpeice of a work
Story :
i don't know what i was expecting from something from a writier like victor hugo as i have never read for him
but after this anime i went and bought all his books to read
he is Brilliant
and the ... anime adapts it perfectly too without ruining the work of art
so it's about 10/10 for me in story
Art/Animation :
it was good. it fits the mood perfectly the animation is smooth and clean for it's time and calm not too fancy to fit the work and it's setting
so for art/animation i will give it a 9/10
Sound :
Perfection.From music that just gets stuck in your ear of how it fits perfectly in the scene
to voice acting that can perfeclty send to you shivers down your spine and show you how the charcter is feeling exactly
and the opening and ending were great!
so about 10/10 for sound
Charchters :
all the charchters are what they are. they are like real people
the charchters are a classic clash between good and bad....but good is losing
good is too weak (Cosette) to stand for the bad (her situation) and fight the bad
it's perfect
so for charchters i give it 10/10
Enjoyment :
who can't enjoy this beautiful peice of art?
i don't think there is any body
so 10/10
Overalll :
it's a beautiful masterpiece of work from a masterpiece of a writer from a masterpiece of a studio
it's everything i want in a anime
so
in the end
i give it
10/10

To begin with, the anime starts as a very trustful adaptation of the original book, regardless some mostly filler chapters of Cosette, similar to a slice of life, just to enfasise how hard her life was at that time, introducing some minor changes to the original novel. Ok, I take it.

Once Jean Valjean picks up Cosette, the story continues to be really similar to the original one but everything starts to decay once the revolution begins.

From that point until the end, the story feels like some cheesy fan fiction of some reader who didn't want the characters to die. But the problem itself is ... not that the anime is different from the book; is that everything in the novel was meant to mean something bigger than the plot itself, because it has a really poweful message about social injustice, discrimination, flaws in the society of that time, etc, so when they start to change some crucial points of the plot, they lose the real meaning of the story.

I think the main problem of this anime, is that starts really dark but later on, some really important and powerfull moments are complety chopped or modified in ridiculous ways, so that provoke inconsistency in the plot.

All things considered I have to say that is not a bad anime itself but I wound't recommend it to someone who hasn't yet approche to the story. I think the musical is thousands times better and summarizes the message of the book greatly in 2 hours unlike this anime that can't complety bring it up in 52 episodes.

Les Miserables shoujo cosette is not a series, it's an expirience. The review is sorted to 5 segments:story, characters, animation, impact and a verdict.
1. Story: this is a story of a broken man who escaped the law, got another chance in Life, made a promise to a women and faced his past, but it is secondary, main story is about french revolution, being one big family known as a nation and overcome evil together forever.
2.Characters are amazingly great, main ones, child Cosette a Little girl that ... wants love, young atractive boy Marius, who wants the revolution and Valjean Jean and Javert to not spoil anything their dynamic is as one of batman and joker they are opposites and rivals forever, one can't exist without the other, one hunted the other for 8 years, and the other was so close to the first that he wasn't noticed
3. Animation: its from 2007,so it feels old while you watch, but from standards of Nippon studio, it looks very good, you have to remember that it has 52 episodes, which effects the animation.
4. Impact: look how much movie adaptations of les Miserables exists,
than you will understand the impact of this timeless story telled through generstions
5. Verdict: If you re french you had to watch it, it's you're wet dream. If you are not french: WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH YOUR LIFE!!! Watch it except the animation its perferct. I am calling it THE HOLY GRAIL OF ANIME!!!

I started watching this on YouTube. And then it was pulled before I could finish the series. This wouldn't be a big deal if I could find and continue it anywhere else online--legitimately.

But this is a big deal because this is a great adaptation of a most beloved literary masterpiece. It may not be perfectly canon to the original work but that's OK. It delivers sufficient material and character to communicate the Hugo's central themes of suffering and redemption. The artwork draws the reader/viewer into the story and characters with a delicate touch--it is just right to convince you that this could be ... a children's story. But this is a mature story, needless to say. If you ask me, the moderation of the novel's more violent moments is just right to draw in the general audience.

The bottom line here... If you want the impact of the novel without diving in that hefty tome, this will do the trick. The most recent cinematic interpretations though well done, simply leave out too much material. I would encourage parents of teenage anime fans to make this anime required viewing. It will not only offset the (more predominantly) violent popular works but more importantly, provide formation in what it really means to be human and not just a consumer.

But as I started saying, it is unfortunate that this work is not in the popular domain. I pray one day I'll find a sub version and complete this series. I saw enough to convince me that it'd be worth every penny should I ever find it available for purchase. Good luck locating it, my anime aficionados! 🤞

Story: 8/10
Despite the fact that the story is attractive and outstanding, it does not stop falling into the predictable and simple, however these factors do not prevent the enjoyment of the plot.

Art: 6/10
As for the general animation, it can be seen at a glance that it does not intend to stand out in this way, however it is not entirely bad, since the quality is not reduced throughout the series, in addition to the fact that the style used fits perfectly with the period, on the other hand, aspects such as the characters, are characterized by having a fairly successful design in terms of how ... their personality fits.

Sound: 9/10
To begin with, the seiyuus are very well thought out to adapt to their respective characters, on the other hand each BGM and OST manages to convey very well the environment they are presenting.

Character: 8/10
The characters in principle are quite simple because the background is unknown, which as the series progresses slowly is revealed to a certain point, on the other hand, the character development that is given to each one is remarkable giving reasons to the "antagonist" to be as it is.

Enjoyment: 9/10
Les misérables is an anime that can be enjoyed, good plot, develops its characters well, which also has beautiful scenes, sad moments, which make one appreciate the series.

now my judgment might be biased and i haven't read the novel yet but I am reading the french version this year so yea
my opinion might chANGE next time I rewatch it
now I love this anime because of nostalgic it is to me and I did quite cry a lot

the sounds track is amazing its just a shame that the opening and ending are the same there still really its just a shame they had such a small bugjet

the animation is very wack to say the least it is very beautiful at the time but something it just feels flat ... the watercolor background are always a good point

now I know the main story of less miserable focuses on Fantine rather than Cosette and it a lot darker than the anime but tbh it has quite a lot of drama for a kids show

still a very good show and was very enjoyable tho it is not for everybody
i just made an account to say this scinse i have been trying to find people who talk about it