Cossette no Shouzou (Le Portrait de Petit Cossette)

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: Le Portrait de Petite Cossette

Japanese: コゼットの肖像

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Information

Type: OVA

Episodes: 3

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Apr 11, 2004 to Dec 22, 2004

Producers: Aniplex, Studio Hibari

Licensors: Sentai Filmworks, Geneon Entertainment USA

Studios: Daume

Source: Original

Genres: Drama, Horror, Romance, Supernatural

Themes: Gore, Psychological, Visual Arts

Duration: 36 min. per ep.

Rating: R - 17+ (violence & profanity)

Statistics

Score: 6.79¹ (scored by 29,076 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #5359²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #2527

Members: 72,799

Favorites: 415

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Synopsis

Eiri Kurahashi is a Japanese art student who works in an antique shop. His friends begin to notice a dramatic, and rather concerning, change in Eiri, as he becomes more absent-minded and his behavior completely changes. They quickly decide to blame their friend's troubles on a girl.

They may be right, however, as Eiri has begun seeing a beautiful, doll-like girl trapped within an antique Venetian glass that his uncle bought in France. She seems to be living in a strange other world, contained entirely inside this glass, but her image refuses to leave Eiri's mind. His sketchbook becomes filled with her likeness, and he realizes he has become completely infatuated with this strange little girl. When he recognizes her in a portrait by the mysterious Italian artist, Marchello Orlando, he learns her name is Cossette d’Auvergne, and that she was tragically murdered along with the rest of her family.

One night, as he closes up the shop, he hears a voice asking him not to leave. Finally making contact with the object of his obsession, he makes a deal that he doesn't fully understand.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:

Cossette no Shouzou

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Characters & Voice Actors

d'Auvergne, Cossette

Main

Inoue, Marina
Japanese

Kurahashi, Eiri

Main

Saiga, Mitsuki
Japanese

Mataki, Shouko

Main

Toyoguchi, Megumi
Japanese

Orlando, Marcello

Supporting

Ebara, Masashi
Japanese

Saiga, Yuu

Supporting

Noto, Mamiko
Japanese

Nishimoto, Kaori

Supporting

Tamura, Yukari
Japanese

Enokido, Yutaka

Supporting

Morita, Junpei
Japanese

Zenshinni of Shakado

Supporting

Igarashi, Rei
Japanese

Mataki, Hatsumi

Supporting

Hyo-sei
Japanese

Yajiri, Michiru

Supporting

Hayama, Ikumi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Shinbou, Akiyuki

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Kameyama, Toshiki

Sound Director

Kajiura, Yuki

Theme Song Composition, Theme Song Arrangement, Theme Song Lyrics, Music

Inoue, Marina

Theme Song Performance

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Opening Theme

"Main Theme" by Yuki Kajiura

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Ending Theme

"Houseki" by Marina Inoue

Reviews

Feb 28, 2024

AniNexus_Reviews

Recommended

This is not a conventional review, but a strong, spoiler-free recommendation, stamped with conviction. My reason for doing treating the "review" process this way, in the case of Le Portrait de Petit Cossette (or "Cossette no Shouzou,") is because of how this anime was referred to me for viewership... Through the internet, via a small community of dedicated fans, whose voices eventually reached me over the sounds of an overwhelmingly mediocre public reception. You may have also heard these whispers on the wind.

"Cossette is a masterpiece."
"Cossette is the only anime to have ever changed my life."

Such musings may have been what led you to consider ... this anime, and by proxy this recommendation. Whether that may be the case or not, such earnest, impassioned proclamations of greatness are very rare to hear about anime these days, in the age of indifference. When they are made, even less often should they be taken seriously.

Yet, time after time, I would continue to hear these whispers. Always, they were consistent in their tone and treatment of this anime. They guided me along my path of consideration, ever tempting me to defy my usual skepticism of anything directed by Akiyuki Shinbo. They cried out, with a genuine enthusiasm and love for anime, that more people should give this short OVA a try. Try as I might to rid myself of them, they were like a bad case of schizophrenia. I acknowledged those voices for years.

I ultimately listened to those voices, and then I became one of them. In an abstract sort of way, that very experience-- of being whispered to, and then sublimated into an increasing belief-- defines "Cossette" in under one sentence.

To speak further on the matter of my impression without going into details of the subject matter at hand: I went into this OVA preparing to be disappointed, only to have my expectations blown away within minutes. You know that an anime is truly great when it torpedoes everything below the level of Perfect Blue (to which, I think "Cossette" can be meaningfully compared.) As a matter of fact, I think there is a legitimate debate to be had about whether or not "Cossette" is superior to Perfect Blue. I feel that it definitively is, and I recognize that is an extremely bold claim to make, but I digress. Speaking as to Shinbo's own catalogue, "Cossette" obliterates everything else the man has ever made. I will make it clear, again, that Shinbo is not one of my favorite directors. I find his works to be largely overrated, and extremely pretentious. If he is not your favorite director either, I agree with you. Even so, it is my strong opinion that "Cossette" actually delivers in both style and substance, and is therefore worth your time in spite of the man behind the myth.

Having made it this far into my recommendation, I'm sure that you've also noticed by now that this anime rates very low on MyAnimeList, relative to the high praises that it only occasionally merits from hardcore otaku. As of my writing this review, "Cossette" is communally rated with a score of 6.78. That is a horrible score on this website, especially when one considers how highly the public at-large rates the usual dross. Therefore, you probably want to remark on this, and likely possess some legitimate questions as to whether I am blowing smoke up your ass or not. I am not here to decide that for you. I will, however, disclose the following:

Prior to watching this anime, I had never before been forced to consider if it was even possible that any anime media (including TV. series, OVAs, movies, etc...) could rise up to or surpass the level of Evangelion & EoE. I finally decided that the two were not immediately comparable, due primarily to a stark difference in run time. That being said, the fact that I would only raise this question one time in my entire life, despite having seen, and documented my completion of nearly 350 anime media titles, should lend itself as an additional force towards convincing you that it is worth two hours of your time.

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Mar 25, 2024

Naz1994

Mixed Feelings

Another anime I rewatched after many years. Its one who's content I had forgotten about but it always remained in the back of my head. So I decided to rewatch it ..

This anime is a feast for the senses. The visuals are stunning, the accompanying music is magical and almost haunting. I could say with confidence that the opening is one of my fav in anime. The enigma of Cosette herself is captivating. It really felt like watching a painting come to life at times.

Now I would say that the anime isn't amazing, plus I think there were too many side characters that felt ...

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Mar 16, 2024

SgtSalamander

Not Recommended

Le Portrait de Petite Cossette is an ambitious attempt at high-minded horror which falls flat on its face. It is a bland, overwrought mess, and even at 3 episodes is a genuine waste of time. Beginning with the story, there is little to say in its favor, as it's broadly bad. Though, at the very least the concept upon which it is built is interesting. There's nothing wrong with the idea of haunted antiques attached to an 18th century murder, but the real problems come with how the show chooses to execute that idea. The 'twists', if you can call them that, can be seen ... from a mile away, and the main story upon which the plot relies is so barren and anemic that all the various fever dream sequences that this show subjects you to serve no other purpose than to pad for time. This lazy approach to storytelling is a major factor in what makes Le Portrait de Petite Cossette disorienting, pretentious drivel. The other major accomplice in this regard is the art. Beginning with the good, the backgrounds are detailed and colorful, same with the wild 'fight' sequences, though it would be more apt to describe them as torture sequences. Moving on to the bad, there are a multitude of sins to cover. A great deal of shots, including the aforementioned torture sequences, are frequently and shamelessly reused. Every character, with little exception, is ugly as sin, especially the 'protagonist', if he even deserves that title. Also, they all suffer from the 'dreaded mask', where emotion is not properly displayed or animated on character faces when it absolutely should be, resulting in a jarring, mask-like emotionlessness. Disorienting animation choices are also ubiquitous, with flashing colors, static, and often nauseating shot composition coming together in the hopes of distracting the viewer from how mediocre this show is. The sound is, oddly enough, this show's strongest point by a mile. The voice acting and sounds of life are perfectly serviceable, but it is the music that truly stands out as a lone credit in this garbage heap. It manages to range from mysterious and foreboding to sweet and saccharine and even all the way to epic and soaring choral compositions in a way that seems effortless and, while not the best score in anime, is regardless a commendable effort. Though, this is not nearly enough to save Le Portrait de Petite Cossette. Ultimately, all the effort the music goes through to save this show is buried by the characters which feature in it. Every one of them feel like strange marionettes, strung along by necessity from one scene to the next, making decisions which make no sense and coming to conclusions nobody would ever come to. Overall, Le portrait de Petite Cossette is not worth your time, and while it's definitely not the worst anime out there, it's still pretty bad. Do not watch, even for the OST, as it would be a better use of your time to listen to it on YouTube instead of subjecting yourself to the garbage anime it is attached to.

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Poll: Le Portrait de Petit Cossette Episode 3 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Dunther - May 15, 2008	83 replies	by GrayZStars »» Mar 20, 4:23 PM
Poll: Le Portrait de Petit Cossette Episode 2 Discussion kittygoesmad - Dec 19, 2009	28 replies	by lasodamos »» Feb 26, 2:26 PM
Poll: Le Portrait de Petit Cossette Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) lostty - Dec 27, 2008	53 replies	by Archean-Return »» Nov 6, 2023 3:44 PM
Le Portrait de Petit Cossette 02 dybuk - Nov 22, 2009	0 replies	by dybuk »» Nov 22, 2009 3:45 AM

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