Ikoku Meiro no Croisée The Animation MAL Review

 I see a kimono, I click. 

Animax's description said "Japanese culture gains popularity in the West", which was grossly inaccurate of what actually transpired. So let me break it down for you real quick:

8 year old* Japanese child moves to Paris in hopes of 'studying abroad' all things French. Instead, she becomes an au pair (domestic helper who is typically unpaid) to a working-class family on the verge of bankruptcy. Every episode is filled with culture shock, subtle racial discrimination, and abuse from her host family.

Whether you choose to watch this series is totally up to you, and there are many parts that are enjoyable - but I feel all viewers should be aware of the above, instead of being completely deceived like I was. Honestly, the initial description led me to expect affection and admiration of Japanese culture. And Japanese products to be in high-demand by all of society. Which already happens today in certain niche social groups as we know - and may even be a part of. But like, I thought it would be fun (if not fascinating) to see it happen in 18th - 19th century, and more importantly, the kind of art and goods being exchanged through foreign trade. 

So, on that front, if you were expecting similar things, you're gonna be in for a huge disappointment. Avoid watching this at all costs. This anime is for Francophiles and fans of Les Miserables. It's hardly about Japan.

The rest of my review will contain SPOILERS, so stop reading here if you don't want to know the rest. 

Things I enjoyed:

1) Alice. 

My favourite character by far, and a girl after my own heart. We both collect very expensive Japanese furniture, accessories, and other traditional art (though I don't think chiyogami paper was available to France back then). It was like watching myself on screen, except Alice is much prettier. 

Even if she made several cultural faux pas, you gotta give the girl A+ for effort! There's not many people who are that hardworking at understanding a foreign culture. It provided a lot of hilarious moments that are just cute, rather than feeling like any kind of cultural appropriation - especially because Alice corrects herself once she realizes she's in the wrong. Alice grows. She learns. She changes and begins treating a lot of people better as the anime goes on, and has an excellent character arc. 

2) The art style

The anime's art style is undeniably good, and the color palette is slightly more muted (2011 timing, perhaps) to give it a softer, vintage look in many scenes. I would even describe the art as 'faded,' color tones. Though I was expecting a lot more designs on the clothing front (especially for yukatas and kimonos), there were still sufficient designs to keep my gaze satisfied.

3) Alan (side character)

The most underrated supporting character. He has so few lines throughout the series, but the ones he does have are simply priceless.

4) Camille

I wasn't sure how to feel about her in that one episode... but after we learned more about her. Wow, I'm in love. While she could've been better at communicating her external restrictions/rules to Claude, I still think she's awesome and deserves the very best. A lot better than Claude, but, despite that, I ship them hard and still hope they'll be together because I want Camille to be happy.

5) The thief/homeless child

I liked that they showed that. Up until that episode, I had been wondering 'Wow, I guess they're just gonna gloss over the high crime rate and awful people in Paris,' because it's pretty common for people to romanticize Paris. This incident was refreshing, even if still unrealistic with everyone being one skin color... that one's probably a historic anime problem we know about though. 

6) Yune explaining the 'customer first' mentality

I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of her explanations on the culture of putting others first, consideration for the public or community good, and being helpful, even to strangers. A lot of her community-driven values can definitely be seen in other cultures across the world. So it was nice to watch her debate with Claude, whose words reflected typically Western concepts such as individualism, freedom, and a self-centric mentality. 

Things I did not enjoy:

I loved this anime starting out. I'm a naturally sensitive person, but it shocked even me to cry during the first episode of an anime. I thought this series must be something special, and I couldn't wait to watch more of the heartfelt, warm, feelings that come from Yune trying her best against adversity. I was ready to give this anime a 10/10.

But, solely because of Claude, I'm lowering it to a 7. 

At first, his hardworking attitude makes grandpa look bad, but as the episodes go on, it's clear who is the real villian at work here. I don't know what I would do with someone so rude, brutish, insecure, abusive, egotistical, and bitter in real life. Not to mention he's an emotionally disturbed pedophile. And no, I'm not saying that because of the la bise. Everything else. 

I would struggle between calling the therapist or the cops, lol. 

He behaves like an ultra-possesive boyfriend towards Yune, and then abuses her daily. Her developing Stockholm syndrom doesn't help either. It gets tiring - and loathsome - to watch. His complete cynicism towards the world may be a survival habit, but everything else? His obstinate ignorance and intolerance towards anyone not like him...? Even if he has good moments, it's just difficult to like him when his cons outweigh the pros. 

And the worst part is that, unlike Alice or even Camille, he does not change throughout the series. His character development is weak at best, changing from racist intolerance to indifference, if you can call that progress. It's a pity that the anime chooses to portray him as the hero, when really, he's more of a selfish predator who projects all his fears and aggression towards everyone around him. God help him, he won't accept help from anyone.

*I only discovered while writing the review, that Yune is actually 13 years old. Which isn't mentioned in the anime, and with her apperance and overall plot points (ABC book, anyone?), it's not very believable to me. Mentally and physically, I think she is 8 - 10 years old, definitely not past 11. Even if she were older, the dynamic between her and Claude is still extremely disturbing. Not a fan.

The original review on MAL: View here