Emma Vol. #01

By Sakura Eries     November 09, 2006
Release Date: September 20, 2006



Creative Talent
Writer/Artist:Kaoru Mori
Translated by:Sheldon Drzka
Adapted by:

What They Say
In Victorian-era England, a young girl is rescued from a life of destitution and raised to become a proper British maid. Emma meets William, the eldest son of a wealthy family, and immediately falls in love with him. William shares her feelings, but the strict rules of their society prevent their relationship from ever coming out in the open.

The Review
Packaging:
The cover has a wraparound design featuring Emma and William in front of their respective natural habitats. On the front cover is Emma in her maid's outfit before the high, narrow buildings of her densely-packed neighborhood. Above our heroine is the manga title in one-inch brown capital letters, and aligned to the bottom are the volume number and author's name in beige text.

The back cover features William in his work clothes, white shirt with a brown tie, waistcoat, and slacks, standing before his family's manse. At the very top in calligraphy script is the teaser, "An upstairs gentlemen and a downstairs servant share a secret love." (Yes, there is a typo.) The calligraphy header is followed by the story synopsis in smaller black font aligned to the left of the cover. To the lower left are publisher's and age icons, a genre designation, and ISBN number.

While the cover design is pleasant, the material used for the cover feels less than robust. It has a nice weave texture but doesn't feel like it has any sort of protective finish unlike more durable covers. It is the type of cover that won't withstand a lot of rough handling, and I would be careful about leaving it in a place where it might get wet. Even a few drops would probably be enough to cause staining (if not smearing).

Extras include table of contents, a three-page afterword manga, and a commentary on the manga from the CMX editor.

Artwork:
Mori's character designs (round faces with round, wide eyes) isn't especially noteworthy. However, all the other visual elements -- clothes, transportation, backdrops, food items and utensils, paperwork -- show an attention to detail that reflects the effort Mori put into researching this manga and really does sweep you into Victorian England. For those of you who have watched the Emma anime, the art style of the anime and manga are essentially identical.

Text/Translation:
As the setting for this story is England, our translators were saved the hassle of having to translate signs and documents as they were already in English. CMX does try to capture the flavor of the era in their dialogues. One of William's pals calls him "old chap," and a cabbie respectfully calls William "Guv'nor." However, the editing job is a little sloppy in that there are a number of typos in the text, including one on the back cover and a couple in the author's afterword. Also, Hakim signs his last name "Atawari" on his invoice for Emma's gift, but his last name is spelled "Atawally" in the dialogue bubbles. CMX does a decent job of removing and replacing the original Japanese sound effects with English ones though.

Content:
Any anglophiles out there? Well, Kaoru Mori has a treat for you! This mangaka, who has an unabashed mania for all things English, has funneled her passion into her first serialized manga, "Emma," a story about an English maid at the end of the 19th Century. Emma is a lovely young woman who lives a quiet life in London where she faithfully and lovingly serves her mistress, Kelly Stownar, a childless widow and retired governess. Then one day, one of Mrs. Stownar's former students, William Jones, comes to pay a visit, and he is instantly captivated by Emma.

However, romancing Emma is not an easy thing. For starters, William is not the only man interested in Emma. Because of her beauty and demure manner, the young maid is desired by many men, including William's close friend, Prince Hakim Atawally of the Atawally Royal Family of India. Also, while she enjoys William's company, Emma does not appear to be particularly interested in courtship. Last but not least, there is a huge class gap between William, who is a wealthy member of the gentry, and Emma, who was only able to attain her humble position because of Mrs. Stownar's kindness. The largest obstacle to a romance between William and Emma is William's father, who is pressuring him to marry a noblewoman to better the interests of their family. Such are the challenges before William, but he is unwilling to give up on her just because the world is telling him to.

Comments
Mori's tale technically does fall in the category of romance. However, I find it more of a slice-of-life-from-a-past-period with a touch of romance and more seinen than shoujo. One of the reasons for this opinion is that Emma and William's romance, if it can be called as such, moves so slowly. There are no overt overtures between the two, although there are such advances (towards Emma and towards William) from other characters. The other reason is the painstaking detail that goes into the varied settings where the story takes place, from the Jones family manor to Mudie's, a Victorian-era library. Usually, it's the characters and personalities that draw me into the environment in which they live. This time, oddly enough, it's the other way around.

I should mention that Emma, which recently concluded its run in early 2006, sparked interest in English maid cosplay in Japan and was the basis of a 12-episode anime series. As for the plotline, there are some changes to the storyline, but the major plot points in Volume 1, such as William and Emma's first encounter, Hakim's arrival and interest in Emma, and William's father's conversation with Mrs. Stownar, are all the same as the anime's.

Now to our characters. Emma's station is not particularly remarkable. She is a maid, and as such, performs household tasks and runs errands for her mistress. The only thing that might be unusual about her is that she more loyal to her benefactor/ mistress than most and performs her duties quietly, impeccably, and without complaint. Although Mori's character design doesn't quite reflect it (as Emma doesn't look much different from the other female characters her age), Emma is a beauty and has caught the eye of a great many men. Her would-be suitors range all the way from the postal carrier up to William and his friend Prince Hakim. However, Emma turns down all offers, and it's difficult to pin down the exact reason why. Unlike many manga where you can "read" the thoughts of the heroine, the reader is not privy to Emma's thoughts at all, and that makes it a bit more difficult to relate to her. We get to read some of Mrs. Stownar's thoughts, and William is so talkative, you know what's on his mind. But with Emma, even in her flashbacks, you're limited to expressions and the words that come out of her mouth, which don't add up to much at all.

As for William, he is the eldest son of a merchant family and a member of the "gentry" due to the Jones family's immense wealth. While his ambitious father is calculating in all aspects of life, William is the exact opposite. He doesn't aspire to anything nor does he care much for social status. This latter characteristic is reflected in both his love interest with Emma and friendship with Hakim, who is not a European and, in imperial British times, probably not regarded as quite an equal despite his lineage. When it comes to Emma, William is at once determined and wishy-washy. He's determined in the sense that he openly defies his father in regards to his future marriage. He's wishy-washy in the sense that he never explicitly expresses his intentions towards Emma. Ironically, the lack of backbone that I find so frustrating is probably the reason Emma tolerates having him around.

By the way, Hakim is the notable hyperbole in this true to life depiction of Victorian England. While it's probably not so unusual to have an Indian in Britain at this time, I doubt a visiting Indian would actually bring a herd of elephants along with him! This quirky character is the spice that livens up this otherwise prim and proper British tale. He's completely comfortable in all settings and is easily my favorite character.

CMX has rated this title "Teen Plus for suggestive situations." There's nothing particularly shocking or offensive in Volume 1, but word on the street has it that there is nudity in later volumes.