Emma: A Victorian Romance: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		3.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Emma: A Victorian Romance: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie Review

A charming romantic anime with plenty of heart.

Emma: A Victorian Romance returns with the second season of the cult favorite anime series. From creator Kaoru Mori, Emma: A Victorian Romance is produced by Jin Kawamura (CANAAN, The Price of Smiles), Takashi Watanabe (Desert Punk, Gate Keepers 21), Wataru Ooba, Yoshihide Kondo (Saiyuki Reload: Burial, Dirty Pair: Project Eden), and Yoshiko Nakayama (Locodol, Pandora Hearts). Emma: A Victorian Romance features animation produced by Ajiado. Fans of classic Victorian novels will find the anime to be a total delight: a charming creation with romance and heart.

The second season of Emma: A Victorian Romance now takes place in Haworth. A quiet little village, Emma (Yumi Touma) is now living a better life while employed as a maid by the wealthy Molders family. An enchanting new world surrounds her: a new home and new acquaintances. William Jones (Tokuyoshi Kawashima) is back at home and trying to live up to the requests of his father yet Emma is never far from his heart and mind.

Will William and Emma be able to reunite and find true happiness as one (reaching beyond the societal structures pulling them apart)? Making matters even more complicated: Ms. Eleanor Campbell (Sanae Kobayashi) is a flirt with eyes for William. Will William's heart now go to another woman? The story twists and turns with unexpected rivalries. A Victorian romance, indeed.

The animation in Emma: A Victorian Romance is outstanding. The style of animation gives the production a proper Victorian era sensibility. Under the chief animation direction of Yoshiaki Yanagida (Pokemon: The First Movie, Fairy Tail the Movie: Phoenix Priestess), the character designs by Keiko Shimizu (Emma: A Victorian Romance – Season 1) and Yuko Kusumoto (Super GALS!) are given ample opportunity to shine bright. There is much to appreciate about the background artwork.

Romance is in the air...

The art direction of Mari Sasagawa (key animator on Bleach and Fairy Tail) also provides the series a satisfying sensibility that is apparent throughout. The cinematography by Atsuho Matsumoto (Naruto the Movie: Ninja Clash in the Land of Snow, Road to Ninja: Naruto the Movie) imbues the production with an elegance of classicism as well. These elements are brimming with life.

The music score composed by Kunihiko Ryo (The Twelve Kingdoms, Yona of the Dawn) also helps the production excel. The score has a serene quality which manages to imbue each episode of Emma: A Victorian Romance with a sense of wonderment. The charming music score is majestic in many ways: providing the production with a sense of pathos that carries throughout the anime series. Beautiful.

The screenplays penned by Mamiko Ikeda (Princess Tutu, Fruits Basket) are full of quiet charms. The series pays homage to the classic Victorian era romantic literature while crafting its own story at the same time. Emma: A Victorian Romance is all the better for it. Each episode provides viewers with something unique and compelling. The story pulls at the heartstrings.

Tsuneo Kobayashi (The Last: Naruto The Movie, Midori Days) capably handles directing duties and brings the series to life. Emma: A Victorian Romance is a delightful romantic anime which will find continued success with fans of classic literature. The series seems tailor-made for fans of Jane Austen and other contemporaries.

Emma: A Victorian Romance: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Arriving on Blu-ray from Nozomi Entertainment, Emma: A Victorian Romance – Season 2 is presented in 1080p MPEG-4 AVC encoded high definition in the original television broadcast aspect ratio of 1.78:1 widescreen. The presentation is average-at-best. The release features a standard-definition upscale which only provides a modest upgrade to the footage. Fans hoping to own the series in the absolute best quality achievable will still want to upgrade, but expectations should be kept modest.

Detail is never too impressive (as the inherent softness in the source-animation never makes a big impression). Colors are somewhat muted looking and never seem to shine. The biggest benefit to upgrading is the encode effort: the presentation doesn't struggle with compression artifacts that are far more common on DVD. A decent-enough presentation.

Emma: A Victorian Romance: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The release includes lossless options: English uncompressed PCM 5.1 surround sound, English uncompressed PCM 2.0 stereo, and Japanese uncompressed PCM 2.0 stereo (with English subtitles). Each lossless audio option is provided in 16 bit depth. The audio sounds crisp throughout and never struggles to convey the dialogue. Though the series may have benefited a bit from a more-robust 24 bit depth encoding, the 16 bit depth encoding is acceptable and never seems over-burdened. The music score is well integrated in to the surround staging on the English dub track.

Emma: A Victorian Romance: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Episode 0: Intermission (HD, 23:57) is a clip-show recap of the first season of Emma: A Victorian Romance.

Clean Opening (HD, 1:31)

Clean Closing (HD, 1:31)

Japanese Commercials (HD, 1:38)

Backer Thanks (HD, 2:44)

The release also includes trailers promoting other releases available from distributor Nozomi Entertainment: A Town Where You Live (HD, 1:30) and Martian Successor Nadesico (HD, 00:34).

Emma: A Victorian Romance: Season 2 Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Emma: A Victorian Romance is a charming romance with plenty of twists and turns in the story. The second season is a little less impressive than the first season but the conclusion wraps up the main storyline well. The production seems tailor-made for fans of Jane Austen and the like – providing viewers with a new story that is compelling to watch. The Blu-ray release from Nozomi has a SD upscale (which is a modest upgrade). The release is worthwhile for newcomers and dedicated fans. Recommended.