is a Japanese anime series produced by Nippon Animation, and the first installment in the World Masterpiece Theater series in ten years after Remi, Nobody's Girl. It is an adaptation of Victor Hugo's classic 1862 novel Les Misérables, and the fourth anime adaptation of said novel (following two adaptations from the Japanese television program Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi, and a 1979 TV film special produced by Toei Animation).
It premiered across Japan on January 7, 2007, on Fuji TV's BS Fuji broadcast satellite network, and contains twenty-six episodes each season, for a total of fifty-two episodes. It also aired in Japan on Animax beginning in April 2007.
Plot
Set in nineteenth century-era France, the series begins with Cosette, a three-year-old girl, traveling with her mother Fantine, who is trying to find a job and a place to live. They have always been shunned away due to few employers hiring single mothers. When her mother is promised with the prosperity of working in the big city, Cosette is separated from her in the hopes a caretaker named Thénardier will watch over her while her mother earns some money, but this was a trick and the caretaker is a corrupt man who makes Cosette his indentured servant, or more precisely his slave. Then, the kind mayorâÂÂformerly a convict named Jean ValjeanâÂÂof the town that Cosette makes her new home in, sees how winds of change are so detrimental for children and families, and decides to do something about it, but forces Cosette to go on the run to escape his returning, difficult past.
Characters and cast
Episodes
- Fantine and Cosette
- Jean Valjean's Secret
- A New Friend, Chou Chou
- Mother's Letter
- Javert's Suspicions
- Cosette's Birthday
- Lost Eponine
- Mother's Skirt
- Thenardier's Malice
- Madeleine is Perplexed
- Sister Simplice's Lie
- Lonely Cosette
- Jean Valjean and Cosette
- Their Journey
- Their Bond
- The Gorbeau House in Paris
- Javert Closes In
- A Forgotten Reunion
- Cosette is Taken
- Monastic Life
- Marius Pontmercy
- Their Respective Journeys
- Under The Parisian Sky
- An Encounter in the Luxembourg Garden
- Unreachable Feelings
- Chance Encounters in Paris
- The Girl Who Ran Away
- The Found Letter
- Thenardier's Trap
- The Coin That Was Left Behind
- The Quiet Rue Plumet
- Traces of That Day
- Giving Up On Reunion
- Children In The Elephant
- Patron Minette's Breakout
- The Ailing of Paris
- Marius's Miscalculation
- Cosette and Eponine
- June 5, 1832
- The Night of the Revolution
- Eponine's Love
- A Letter from Marius
- Gavroche's Wish
- To the Light of the Future
- The Sewers of Paris
- Javert's Justice
- The Bonds of the Hearts
- Cosette and Marius
- My Mother
- The Eternal Ring
- The Revealed Truth
- Silver Silver Candlesticks
Staff
- Original story: Les Misérables by Victor Hugo
- Producer: KÃ
Âichi Motohashi
- Planning: Kazuya Maeda (Fuji TV), KÃ
Âhei Sano, Kazuka Ishikawa
- Production manager: Ken'ichirÃ
 Hayafune
- Series composition: Tomoko Kanparu
- Character designs: Hajime Watanabe, Takahiro Yoshimatsu
- Chief animation director: Tadashi Shida
- Background artist: Kazue ItÃ
Â
- Art director: Mitsuki Nakamura
- Color design: Tomoko Komatsubara
- Photography director: Seichi Morishita
- Sound director: Hiroyuki Hayase
- Music: Hayato Matsuo
- Music producers: Hitoshi Yoshimura (Index Music), Daisuke Honji (Index Music)
- Producers: Yukihiro ItÃ
 (Fuji TV), KÃ
Âji Yamamoto (Fuji TV), Michio KatÃ
Â, Ken'ichi SatÃ
Â
- Director: Hiroaki Sakurai
- Production: Fuji TV, Nippon Animation
Theme songs
* Performance: Yuki SaitÃ
 (Index Music)
* Performance: Yuki SaitÃ
 (Index Music)
Reception
The anime was dubbed and broadcast in:
See also
References
External links