Mori Kaoru - Emma, vol. 01-02 (Eng. trans.)

[oyceter]

This is a supremely quiet Victorian manga about Emma, a maid, and William, son of a prosperous merchant family, and how they fall in love. Unlike Yuki Kaori, Mori seems to have not only meticulously researched the era, but has also tried to represent it faithfully, as opposed to whatever catches the fancy of her id (I am not criticizing Yuki here, as I adore the contents of her id, but their series are very different). Like many people have already said, Emma is quiet and unobtrusive. The panels are actually very rectangular and laid out fairly simply, unlike most impressionistic shoujo layouts. The art is fairly simple for the characters; rounded faces and eyes, a stunning lack of sparklies and flowing hair and random flowers in the distance. From what I can tell, the clothes and buildings all seem to be fairly accurate. The backgrounds feel very detailed.

I read book 2 yesterday and was surprised at how little dialogue there is. Mori is very good at conveying emotion through series of dialogue-less panels; you see Emma carefully putting things away or holding her glasses. Everything is understated.

Also, Mori actually addresses some of the class issues of Victorian England, which is highly welcome.

There's also William's Indian friend Hakim, who seems to be a little random right now and an element from a slightly more cracktastic shoujo series, but I trust what Mori's doing.

I'm really looking forward to reading the rest of this series.

Links:

coffeeandink's review
kate_nepveu's review (with links to examples of the art) and art analysis
rilina's review (scroll down)

Comments

[kate_nepveu]

Mely's plans for world domination continue apace, I see!

[oyceter]

Very much so!