Les Miserables - Shoujo Cosette - 43
Oh my god… I knew what was going to happen. The writers kept dropping hints for it. And yet, this episode turned out absolutely incredible. Now this is what I call a death with a perfect build-up, something which many writers can learn a lot from. I again ended up crying at what happened, Les Miserables is a true masterpiece.
The first half of the episode was mostly building-up. Anjoras tries to shoot a police-officer as he’s preparing for the next fight, though Jean beats him by shooting his helmet off. The thing also is that the officer was dangerously close to his own age, and could have been one of his comrades if he didn’t choose to enlist to the military. He then gets replaced by an officer who’s much older, and the attack is launched. Jean again manages to save Les Amis by using his strength to close off the barricade, which currently has a hole in it, buying them some time to regroup.
Gavroche is still as motivated as others, and for the first time he seems to mention Cosette again, in an attempt to convince Marius to take him seriously. Javert meanwhile gets pissed because Jean is right in front of his nose and can’t do anything about it. Cosette meanwhile makes things even better when she goes out to find Jean and Marius on her own!
She first moves to the church, where basically every family member of the ones who are fighting is praying for their safety (I loved this detail, by the way. It just shows even more how the people who are fighting are just ordinary humans. Something that only very few other anime do as well). Jean obviously isn’t there, but Cosette does get information about the only two barricades left.
Back at the barricade, the police started their attack again, and Gavroche still can’t get himself a gun. Les Amis are on the frontlines, while everyone else provides them with fresh guns and bullets and Jean takes care of the injured. There is a problem, however: the bullets are running out. This gives Gavroche an idea to finally be helpful: in all the gun-smoke, nobody will be able to see him, so he goes to the bodies of the fallen policemen to collect the bullets they had left. It’s brave, but the guy just has way too much self-confidence.
Marius tries to call him back, but Gavroche is way too happy that he’s finally found himself something to do that can protect others. He again remembers Cosette, and starts singing the song Cosette taught him. The policemen then notice him, and start firing, though Gavroche manages to avoid the gunshots until he can throw the bag of bullets he collected to Marius. Then he lets his guard down, and gets shot in the heart! Shushu notices this, leaves the two brothers and tries to get Gavroche away from the battlefield. He succeeds, and then runs into Cosette, who finally sees Gavroche again in the final seconds of his life.
Seriously, that was absolutely amazing. I’m so hoping that the creators will continue with another World Masterpiece Series for next year, because the format works just so incredibly well.