Le Portrait de Petit Cossette
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| Le Portrait de Petit Cossette | |
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| コゼットの肖像 (Portrait de Cosette) |
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| Genre | Drama, Horror, Psychological, Romance, Seinen |
| Manga | |
| Authored by | Asuka Katsura |
| Publisher | |
| Serialized in | Magazine Z |
| Original run | – |
| No. of volumes | 2 |
| OVA | |
| Directed by | Akiyuki Shinbo |
| Studio | Doumu (Animation) |
| No. of episodes | 3 |
| Released | 2004-04-11 (Ep 1 Broadcast) |
Le Portrait de Petit Cossette (コゼットの肖像 Kozetto no Shōzō?) is a manga and anime series created by Asuka Katsura. The original 2 volume manga was published in 2004. The English manga is published by TOKYOPOP. The original 3 episode OVA series ran in 2004 and was produced by Aniplex. The anime was licensed for North American distribution by Geneon and released as "Le Portrait de Petite Cossette", correcting the grammatical error in the French title, but leaving the typo and syntax mistakes, since the correct French is actually "Le portrait de la petite Cosette".
Contents |
[edit] Tagline
"Who will love me enough to sacrifice his very life?"
[edit] Manga
In the manga, art student and antique shop worker Eiri Kurahashi starts to have dreams and visions about a young girl. He begins to obsess over her, eventually stumbling upon an unfinished painting of her in the back of his shop. The sees a small word on the top "Cossette," assuming it is the strange girl's name. When he learns that the portrait was sold, and about the legend behind it that anyone who owns it dies a strange death, he sees the apparition of the girl, Cossette. He finds the portrait, and stops its current owner from committing suicide. Cossette is trapped within eternity, unable to pass on into nothingness or the afterlife, and has been suffering for over two hundred years. Eiri begins to fall in love with her, and wants the help her find peace at last. In order to do so, he must gather her old belongings back together, all of which bear some sort of curse or dark legend about them.
The first item is her mirror, which was bought from the same antique shop her portrait was found at. It is placed near a window by the subway, and when the light catches it and shines on a person (when the sun is at the 5:00PM position), the person leaps into the train's path, committing suicide. Eiri is almost pulled in by its light, but is saved by Cossette. The two retrieve the mirror, and the suicide pattern ends. The second item is an old grand piano. The girl who plays it has much talent, but hates playing the piano, but is forced to play by her parents because of her talent. She plays until her fingers start to bleed, but Eiri pulls her away. Cossette begins to play, having to finish the song to purge the dark feelings from the girl.
The third item is an old clock, which Cossette calls "Marcello." When Eiri goes after it, a possessed policeman attacks him, and causes him to turn the winding on the spring clock. It sends him back in time, witnessing Cossette's murder through the eyes of her killer, a psychotic painter named Marcello. He wants to make the perfect portrait of her, but is unable to find a bright enough color. He finds the color in blood, but realizes as it dries and curdles that no beauty will last forever. He tells Cossette that she will lose her beauty as she ages, and he "stops time" for her by stabbing her. Her possessions bore such hatred for Marcello at his murder that they kept Cossette's spirit in the material world. Cossette reveals to Eiri as he wakes up that he has the same soul as Marcello, and he is the only one that can set her free.
They set out to find another one of her possessions, a doll she used to play with. It is currently owned by a neurotic old woman, who's entire house is filled with dolls. Cossette has a discussion with a possessed doll, and the dolls in the large room where Eiri is looking for Cossette's doll start to reveal to him that to save her he must travel into nothingness with her, killing himself in the process. After destroying the doll she was talking with, who thought ten years seemed like eternity (telling him "Don't talk of eternity unless you know it"), she stops the dolls from attacking Eiri and finds her own doll, and the two leave.
The last possession was easy to find, an antique wine glass (this glass plays a much larger roll in the anime). It, like the portrait and mirror, are owned by the antique shop Eiri works at. When he hesitates to begin the ritual, Cossette stops appearing before him. Even as she stops appearing, Eiri becomes more and more obsessed with her, locking himself in his room and drawing dozens of portraits of her. He is also starting to disappear from the outside world, his friends and boss starting to forget who he is, only his best friend (who had latent romantic feelings for him) remembers him at all. One day Cossette reappears before him, and he tells her is willing to perform the ritual at the next full moon.
The ritual begins with Eiri stabbing his wrist, filling the glass with his own blood. The two begin walking down a pathway to nothing, a world of pure white. Cossette tells Eiri he must take hold of her hand, or they will never see each other again. As they continue down the path, Eiri begins to have doubts and fears, remembering the friends and people in his life, warping the pure white landscape into darkness, showing horrificly warped images of his friends, as well as of Cossette. Unable to stand it anymore, Eiri lets go of Cossette's hand and runs away from her, as she cries out in distress.
Eiri awakes a few days later in a hospital with his friend, wondering why he tried to commit suicide. He bears no memory of Cossette, but says he feels as if he's forgotten something important. On the way out he thinks he sees something in the sky, and is run over by a truck. He dies with a smile on his face, while Cossette hangs over his body, saying she must find the next "him" to perform the next ritual. The last panel shows an image of Cossette standing over a bloody and tattered arm in front of her, then that same image drawn by Eiri during his enclosure before the ritual. The manga ends with the tagline being whispered by Cossette; "Who will love me enough to sacrafice his very life?"
[edit] Anime
The anime is about art student Eiri Kurahashi, who works in an antique shop. One day, he sees the image of a girl in an antique glass. To his shock, she appears to be moving and living out her life before his eyes. He becomes infatuated with the girl, and one night at midnight, somehow makes contact with her. He learns her name is Cossette, and that she was an aristocrat's daughter during the 18th century.
She reveals to him that her spirit has been entrapped within the glass by her murder, which was perpetrated by her betrothed, the artist Marcelo Orlando. To set her free, she tells Eiri, a man must be willing to take upon himself punishment for the sins Marcelo committed.
As the series progresses, Eiri is tortured mentally and physically by Cossette, who demands that he prove his professed love for her. It is revealed that Eiri is the reincarnation of Marcelo, and that Cossette is becoming as infatuated with him as he is with her. Also depicted are the efforts of the women in Eiri's life - relatives, friends and mentors, and the obligatory girl-next-door love interest - to free him from what is becoming increasingly obvious to them as a self-destructive path.
[edit] Characters
Japanese names are given family names first.
Cosette d'Auvergne: Cossette is a beautiful young girl whose spirit haunts a delicate Venetian glass. With delicate eyes, long blond hair and a lithe frame, her beauty is both haunting and enchanting.
Voiced by: Marina Inoue (Japanese), Michelle Ruff (English)
Kurahashi Eiri: Eiri, a talented budding artist, works in his family's quaint antique shop. His young world is transformed after he stumbles upon a delicate Venetian glass harboring an enchanting saga. The glass is but a portal into the tragic world of a young girl named Cossette. He falls in love with this illusion that is as beautiful as she is cursed.
Voiced by: Mitsuki Saiga (Japanese), Johnny Yong Bosch (English)
Mataki Shoko: Shoko is a close friend and confidant of Eiri. Although an extremely sharp young lady, her insecurity is coupled with a neurotic nature that is endearing.
Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi (Japanese), Julie Ann Taylor (English)
Hataki Hatsumi: The local physician and Shoko's aunt, Hatsumi is utterly confounded by Eiri's psychosomatic afflictions.
Voiced by: Kumiko Yokote (Japanese), Wendee Lee (English)
Zenshinni of Shakado: As the local priestess and psychic, Shakado's talents reveal frightening energies hovering over Eiri like the shadow of death.
Voiced by: Rei Igarashi (Japanese), Mari Devon (English)
[edit] Music and theme songs
The original soundtrack (released in late 2004) is composed by Yuki Kajiura. The ending theme to the series, "Jewel" (宝石 Hōseki?), is sung by Marina Inoue.
[edit] External links
- Official site (Japanese)
- Official site from Geneon
- Petite Cossette at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
