Le Portrait de Petite Cosette

Genre: Dark, Goth, Romance
Score: OK
Rating: 15 for violence

Eiri is an antiques seller, who find himself in thrall of a ghostly girl. It seems her spirit is trapped in the objects that were around her when she died, including a portrait – and that Eiri is a reincarnation of her lover and murderer (and the portrait’s artist). The only way for her spirit to be freed is for Eiri to accept the suffering due to him from the sin of his previous life.

I thought I was going to like this a lot more than I did – the concept sounded intriguing, the visuals really are pretty in places, and it has nice music. But the anime itself was just very confusing. It’s like a half-dozen different directors tried to tell the same approximate story, then the pieces all got squished together like a game of consequences.

It’s also seriously violent and gory, so keep it away from kiddies. And no, the name has nothing to do with a character from Les Miserables.