Stop me if you've heard this one before: a boy and a girl from different social classes fall in love, but find the path to happiness will not be easy. OK, not the most original premise, but combine Mori-sensei's lovely artwork, a good sense of atmosphere, a thorough lack of pretentiousness, and general lack of melodrama and we just might have an anime thats worth a watch.
'Emma' is licensed by Nozomi Entertainment and can be watched for free on their YouTube channel. Nozomi also produced a 2-part US DVD release.
-Story-
It's 1890's Victorian Britain. Class divisions are so rigid that the various levels of the social order are practically different worlds. So when the son of a prosperous merchant falls in love with a maid the road is bound to be rocky. The story is full well-known tropes, it's hardly a genre-buster. But these tropes are played so earnestly straight that it's hard to hate them, even if the next event isn't exactly unpredictable. It's simple, it's sweet, and it doesn't pretend to be anything more than that. ( The series even lampshades its well-worn formula during one scene in a bookshop when a couple of background characters talk about a book telling the story of a maid and a noble who fall in love- as if to subtly acknowledge how long the basic plot has been around ). Most importantly, the central conflict of the series is very believable, rooted in the main characters' personalities and the world they inhabit- that's not always a given in this genre.
-Art-
Karou Mori excels at drawing two things: 1) Beautiful women 2) Historically accurate and highly detailed costumes. You'll see plenty of both here. Emma's design is particularly pleasing (although I must confess a preference for meganekkos, so my bias is likely at work). The aesthetic is pleasant to look at, using lots of lighter pastel colors to create a relaxing atmosphere. The animation quality is good, but nothing particularly special. This isn't an action series, so it doesn't have to be.
-Sound-
Little to say here. The soundtrack is relaxing, never overbearing, using lots of flutes. It goes for a period-appropriate sound and sets the mood, but none of the tracks made me want to look it up on YouTube. The show is English sub only, and the Japanese voice actors do their jobs fine without standing out. Emma's voice was above average, as her actress managed to convey her shy, quiet personality. Sound does its job with no significant problems.
-Characters-
Again, the show sticks pretty close to formula here. Shy female lead, shy male lead, male lead has an outgoing best friend, etc. What most impressed me were the antagonist characters, nearly all of them behaved in a believable way and had reasonable motivations to inhibit the romance given what they knew (and they knew as much as they could reasonably be expected to know- no convenient ignorance just for the sake of drama). There is one antagonist who isn't exactly subtle, but he shows up fairly rarely and never goes to full-scale 'Rose of Versailles' melodrama, so it's bearable.
-Enjoyment-
An anime to watch if you want something sweet that isn't saccharine, while also being pleasant and relaxing. Each episode is fairly light without feeling empty and pointless, meaning you're probably going to want to watch several episodes in a row. What else can I say? It's enjoyable.
-Overall-
This anime knew it was a straight-forward old-fashioned romance and didn't pretend to be anything else. It came, it did what it meant to do, did it well, and it left before the audience got tired. There's no shame in that, especially in a genre with no shortage of shows that sink into melodrama and pretentiousness in a failed attempt to do too much.
