Emma, Volume 3

by Kaoru Mori

Book Overview

No Synopsis Available.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1401211348
• ISBN13: 9781401211349
• Release Date: March 2007
• Publisher: CMX
• Length: 187 Pages
• Weight: 0.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 7.5"

Customer Reviews

Emma and William get on with separate lives

The Emma series is one of the best anime series I have read in a while, and worth reading through. It is a romance set in 1850s England. The story is driven by recurring and well-developed characters. Illustrations are well done and capture the settings well, as Emma moves between poor and wealthy houses and in-between. I don't like romances, but I liked this series. This book begins with Emma riding the train away from London en route to her childhood home where she was miserably poor as a child 10 years ago. On the train she meets a maid who works in the country, and ends up being hired by a German family with a large wait-staff. Gradually, she learns the new job and begins to fit in with the staff and family. Meanwhile, William shapes up, does what his father tells him, and prepares to assume the family business. Both he and his family get along with Eleanor Campbell, who comes from an aristocratic family, is just what his father wants in a future wife for his son, and is cute and kind. Overall, this series was a good quick read. It's a mindless romantic comedy. There isn't much that's serious, including the ominous class differences which are not at all developed and just sort of there. Characters reemerge through the series and are fleshed out over the course of 7 books. Even minor characters are likely to reemerge and become more developed at some point in the future. The series does a good job of building personalities, and a self-contained world.

A change of scenery, a fresh start

Volume #3 finds Emma beginning life anew in the English countryside working in a large mansion (with dozens of staff) tending to a German family. The shakeup in setting and surrounding characters is a welcome one, giving the story a fresher and slightly tension filled sense of mood. As always, the story is relatively predictable melodrama but the intricate art and earnest characters makes this series a worthwhile read.

Engaging series

This series by Kaoru Mori is well-drawn, with appealing characters and a hard-to-resist forbidden romance. Set in Victorian England, it features Emma,a bright, compassionate, composed maid, and William, a reluctantly dutiful young gentleman. They fall heavily in love, but William's family, unsurprisingly, will not tolerate the relationship. Emma and William try to pursue separate lives, but fate has other things in mind.

Oh, the difference that a trainride can make...

After her momentous decision last volume, Emma leaves London behind hoping to start anew elsewhere. With only the vaguest intentions of returning to her birthplace, our fair heroine lucks out by finding a progressive trader family to serve. Not only does she surprise the "downstairs" folk, but also the "upstairs" as well, making a favorable impression on just about everyone, from the lowliest chambermaid to the master and mistress of the house themselves. Meanwhile, with Emma beyond his reach, the Young Master Jones is doing his best to play the dutiful son; working harder, attending social dates, even doing charity work. This, of course, confuses his sister, Grace, and you can feel the tension and mild cognitive dissonance in her whenever she's in panel... that is, when she's not flustered by a trio of hens clucking away in admiration of her. Then there's Eleanor... pining away. The story progresses as both Emma and William do their best to live apart in their newly assumed roles, but fate has something else in mind as Emma meets someone in the countryside with an immutable connection to the Jones household. The art, as always, is beautiful and detailed with tons of work put into the historical setting (this rings true for the story aspects as well... I think it would take a scholar to spot any non-dialogue related inaccuracies). Mori-sensei went to a lot of effort to make each character, setting, etc., unique and distinctive and succeeded brilliantly. Pace and flow feel fairly natural save for a few off-panel incidents whose build up and results happen in-panel, but these are mainly comedic moments such as the soiled sheets and bump on the head incidents and actually add a humanizing touch. As always, I most heartily recommend a buy (hell, buy two or three and give some to friends)... and apologies for the late review.