Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette (2024)

Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette (1)

Les Misérables: Shoujo Cosette (レ・ミゼラブル 少女コゼット) is a 2007 anime series produced by Nippon Animation under the World Masterpiece Theater banner. It is an adaptation of the 1862 novel Les Misérables by Victor Hugo.

The anime was directed by Hiroaki Sakurai. It ran for 52 episodes, airing weekly from January 7 to December 30, 2007 in Japan. The anime deviates significantly from the novel, introducing many original characters, rewriting Cosette to be the protagonist (with a closer friendship to Valjean) and putting more focus on the story's melodrama. It also gives the characters happier endings.

Set in the 19th Century in France, in the Île-de-France region, the story begins with a woman named Fantine and her daughter, Cosette, who arrive to the village of Montfermeil. Fantine hopes to find work, but can't because she has a child. Soon, she encounters the Thernadiers, a family of inkeepers. They show kindness to Fantine, so she entrusts them with Cosette's care, while promising to pay them for raising her. She then moves to another village to find employment. The Thernadiers soon show their true colours as they soon mentally and physically abuse Cosette, who was three when her mother left her, and raise her to be indentured servant.

Meanwhile, Fantine has now found work at a factory. However, word of her having a child spreads and she is fired. Crushed by poverty, she is unable to keep up with the Thernadier's financial demands, and about to be arrested until the Mayor of Montfermeil, Madeleine, intervenes and protects her. He apologizes to Fantine and promises to reunite with her Cosette, while ensuring both have a comfortable home and are properly taken care of.

Unfortunately, it turns out that she's not the only one with a dark past, as secrets of Madeleine's own past begin to unravel and colour his journey towards retrieving Cosette. Waters are muddied further when Inspector Javert of the police force starts suspecting Madeleine, swearing to bring him down no matter what...

This anime provides (in addition to those shared with the novel) examples of:

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Tropes A-F

  • Adaptational Attractiveness: Grantaire is described as extremely ugly, and Bossuet/Lesgle as bald and older than most of the Friends of the ABC. Here, Grantaire is only slightly homely-looking by comparison to the Cast Full of Pretty Boys and Lesgle looks younger, but sports a full head of hair and beard.
  • Adaptational Badass: A minor case with Grantaire. In the novel, Grantaire spends most of the fighting passed out from drinking and only wakes up just as Enjolras is about to be executed so he can die together with him. In the anime, he wakes up just in time to knock out a National Guardsman who was about to shoot Enjolras.
  • Adaptation Expansion: The series expands on certain aspects of the original novel.
    • The novel expands on Cosette's life under the Thernadiers, particularly her relationship with Gavroche and Eponine.
    • We also see Marius's struggles coping with a life of poverty after he's disowned by his grandfather, as well as his growing friendship with the members of the Friends of the ABC.
    • Cosette also travels to Montrieul-sur-Mer to learn more about Fantine's life in the town, which is where she discovers how much her mother sacrificed for her well-being.
  • Adaptational Heroism: Gillenormand, Marius' grandfather, is a complete Jerkass who fails to show Marius his affection in the book, even if he does secretly care a great deal for him, and while the two eventually reconcile after Marius barely escapes the barricade with his life, he never really changes. Here, he starts that way, but has a Heel Realization that leaves him acting much more kind and friendly after Marius's brush with death.
  • Adaptational Villainy: Revealed retrospectively with Javert's mother. In the book, Javert's mother was a prostitute and only his father was a criminal, but here, both parents were criminals.
  • Adapted Out: Brujon is one of only two noteworthy characters to play this straight, and even then he's not particularly important. The other, Felix Tholomyes, Cosette's biological father, is a good deal more important to the backstory, and he doesn't receive so much as a passing allusion in the anime, in which it's stated he's dead.
  • Anyone Can Die: It's still Les Misérables. Being a Lighter and Softer Adaptation doesn't mean that the series shies away from killing off important characters.
  • Ascended Extra:
    • Toussaint has a much bigger role than in the novel, even seeming to be almost a mother to Cosette at times.
    • Pressoir and Jurges (No Name Given in the source material), the two youngest, unknown-to-Gavroche Thenardier sons, stick around in the story much longer.
  • "All Grown Up" Remark: Gavroche's former boss comments how beautiful Cosette is now as an adult.
  • The Atoner: Jean Valjean is trying to atone for the bread incident.
  • Babies Ever After: Cosette and Marius have a little girl at the end of the series.
  • Badass Crew: The Friends of the ABC, come time for the June Rebellion. Doesn't save any of them besides Marius, of course.
  • Big Friendly Dog: Chou Chou, a big white fluffy dog who adores Gavroche and shields him from guns during the war.
  • Bookends: The series begins with little Cosette and Fantine walking down a road. The series ends with Cosette and Marius walking down the same road with their own little girl.
  • Brick Joke: Marius getting Cosette's name wrong is brought up one last time at the barricade.
  • The Bus Came Back: Alain, Sister Simplice and Gavroche's former boss reappear in a chapter in which Cosette and a friend visit Montfermeil and Montrieul-Sur-Mer.
  • Canon Foreigner: A few, but Alain and Chou-Chou are the most blatant.
  • Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Becomes one as soon as the Friends of the ABC take the stage, true to form. They are led by Cosette's Love Interest Marius, who's an In-Universe Chick Magnet.
  • Central Theme: People can change. And if they can change, so can the world (which includes the Crapsaccharine World the main characters live in).
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Chou Chou is mostly a mere companion, but at the end it saves Gavroche.
  • Cinderella Plot: Cosette's backstory involves being adopted by a horrid step-family with two mean step-sisters (one of which is particularly nasty to her because she's jealous of her), until she is adopted by Valjean and it ends with her marrying the man of her dreams.
  • Compressed Adaptation: Even with 52 episodes to tell the story, this is still a children's adaptation and some parts are omitted because they're not appropriate - Fantine is never explicitly shown to be a prostitute, for example. This version is the one which focuses the less on Bishop Myriel.
  • Cool Old Guy: Valjean, Mabeuf, Bishop Myriel, and Fauchelevent. After Character Development, Gillenormand, Marius' estranged grandfather, becomes one as well.
  • Cool Old Lady: Toussaint is far from young as well, and serves as something of a surrogate mother to Cosette.
  • Crapsaccharine World: France of the 19th Century is a beautiful country. Too bad it's marred by the corruption of the elites who crush the poorer populace under their boots, driving them to lose everything, from their wealth to their honour, to survive. For many people, partaking in illicit activities and exploitative practices are the only way to hang on above the poverty line.
  • Demoted to Extra: Bishop Myriel gets even less screentime than most other adaptations, only showing up in a couple of flashbacks, thoughts of Jean Valjean and the opening.
  • Doomed Moral Victor: Les Amis, of course. Gavroche and Marius are the only ones to survive: Gavroche because he was saved by Chou Chou before his wound could kill him, Marius because Valjean saved him during the Last Stand.
  • Dramatic Irony:
    • Fantine has no idea that Cosette is being abused and often says that the Thenardiers are taking very good care of her.
    • In one episode, Marius's friends meet Cosette, who helps them reunite a lost child with her ill mother. Hoping to break Marius out of his funk, they offer to hook Marius up with her. But still enamored with Cosette and mistakenly believing that her name was Ursulle, Marius declines their offer, unaware that the girl in question was the very same one he's been obsessed over.
  • Dudley Do-Right Stops to Help: Valjean, as per tradition.
  • Earn Your Happy Ending: Pretty much like the book.
  • Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: The Patron Minette are befuddled as to why the Friends of the ABC choose to throw their lives away fighting for the poor, especially since most of them spent much of their lives in privilege. Montparnesse even invokes the trope, commenting that the students' ideals are beyond the comprehension of criminals like themselves, so it is best not to think about it.
  • Foreshadowing: When Gavroche and Cosette, as children, are running over a hill together, Gavroche falls and lies facedown for a moment. Cosette, concerned, turns around and says his name. When she finds him after he was shot at the barricade, he is lying facedown on the pavement. She gasps and says his name over and over, nearly in tears.

Tropes G-N

  • Gold Digger: When Marius tries to extend an olive branch to his estranged grandfather so he can give his blessings for him to marry Cosette, they quickly fall out again when Gillennormand thinks Cosette is simply trying to mooch off his family fortune (as opposed to suggesting that Marius take her as a mistress in the novel). When Gillenormand reconciles with his grandson for good and meets Cosette in person, he's shocked by her kindness and ashamed of himself for his earlier judgments.
  • Good Shepherd: Bishop Myriel and a bishop who latter would be transferred to Paris.
  • Heroic Dog: Chou Chou certainly has his moments. Namely saving Gavroche from the barricade.
  • Hero of Another Story: Alain has been very busy keeping the town afloat according to what "Madeleine" would have done.
  • Hope Spot: When Jean Prouvaire was about to be executed by the police, Enjolras remembers that they have Javert as a prisoner and attempts to make an exchange. However, the police execute Prouvaire just as the Les Amis were about to bring Javert out from his cell.
  • Karma Houdini: The Patron-Minette gang plays this entirely straight, though Javert tells his superiors he will divert his efforts to taking them down rather than find any surviving revolutionaries.
  • Last Episode Theme Reprise: The remainder of the opening song is put at the last chapter among happy scenes, flashbacks and Javert subtly showing respect to Valjean's death.
  • Lighter and Softer: It has more people survive than other adaptations and quite a few added cutesy scenes, especially involving Chou Chou the dog, a character whom Cosette and Gavroche adopt as a puppy. Fantine also resorts to begging, not prostitution, at her lowest point. However, just because the anime looks like this doesn't mean that the anime itself is entirely light and cutesy. Indeed, one scene involves Cosette being beaten by Madame Thenardier with a broom while shielding Chou Chou with her body. This is accompanied by a voiceover by Fantine saying she's glad the Thenardiers are taking such good care of her daughter.
  • Missed Him by That Much: Cosette, Marius, and Gavroche all miss each other by seconds, on many occasions. Also occurs between Javert and Valjean, but it's entirely deliberate on the latter's part.
  • My Death Is Just the Beginning: When it becomes clear that the revolution is going poorly, Enjolras assures the remaining people in the barricade that, even if they fail, their spirit will carry on in people's memories.
  • Mythology Gag:
  • Named by the Adaptation: The two homeless boys Gavroche befriends are given the names Hugues/Jurges and Bressole/Pressoir.

Tropes O-Z

  • Obi-Wan Moment: Jean Prouvaire calmly gives a speech about how he's happy to have known his fellow revolutionaries and the world they live in mere moments before being gunned down in front of them.
  • Out of Focus: Out of the Friends of the ABC, Feuilly, Joly, and Bahorel get next to no focus or characterization, few lines, and their names are only passingly mentioned. Unlike most adaptations, however, the rest of the group averts this to varying extents.
  • Put on a Bus:
    • Toron, a classmate of Eponine, had moved away. It's unknown what happened to him after that.
    • After M. Madeleine is revealed as Jean Valjean, Alain and Sister Simplice disappear from the series until Cosette travels to Montreuil-sur-Mer to learn more about her mother.
  • Rescue Arc: A few episodes are devoted to Valjean's journey to the Waterloo Inn to rescue Cosette from the Thenardiers.
  • The Show of the Books: This is a series of 52 episodes which adapts a long book.
  • Soundtrack Dissonance: The barricade's last stand is set to perky, sparkly J-pop music. It works if you understand the lyrics though.
  • Spared by the Adaptation:
    • Cosette's doll, Katherine, also counts; although she didn't necessarily "die", Cosette lost her the first time Javert caught up to her and Valjean.
    • Claquesous of the Patron-Minette survives thanks to the gang abruptly disappearing.
    • The young artillery sergeant that Enjolras was forced to shoot in the novel instead gets spooked away by Valjean shooting off his shako.
  • The Matchmaker: Courfeyrac tries to be this to Marius, working together with his girlfriend in organizing a get-together in hopes of snapping Marius out of his lovesick funk. It ultimately fails because: 1) the get-together was interrupted by them having to reunite a lost child with her mother, 2) the girls were too enamored with Enjolras to pay any attention to Marius, and 3) Marius himself still remains devoted to Cosette.
  • Time Skip: Several, over the course of time.
  • Tiny Guy, Huge Girl: The Thenardiers. Mme Thenardier has lost a lot of weight by the time she's gotten out of prison.
  • Truer to the Text: Lighter and Softer aside, this is one of the most faithful adaptations of the book. It keeps characters that are often ommitted, like Azelma, and is close in storyline to the book.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Inverted with Alain. He was bitter as a child, but becomes a nice, hardworking lad who would substitute "Madeleine".
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • Alain's siblings aren't seen again, not even when Cosette, alongside Gavroche and Chou Chou, goes to Montrieul Sur Mer to mourn her mother.
    • Nothing is known about Toron since he moved away.
    • Patron-Minette is last seen at one of the barricades, but they are explicitly mentioned as still at large afterwards, meaning they survived, and... are never addressed again after said passing mention.
Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette (2024)

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