Yes! The first contact has been made! In the second half of this episode, Marius and Cosette finally managed to meet again, and they actually talked to each other! Let the romance finally begin!

*ahem* Now that that’s out, I obviously liked this episode because of that scene. Eponine has now officially lost, and I can’t wait for her reaction when she finds out. The rest of the episode spent its time building up; both for this, and the general plot as well. Les Amis return again, helping Marius overcome his worries, and they propose to write a love letter to Cosette.

Another pair that returns is Shushu and Gavroche. Cosette actualy sees Shushu at one point, though fails to recognize it. At least she did get a déja-vu feeling. Jean, meanwhile, digs up the last bits of his money, with the intention of using it to pay for Cosette’s university, so that she can keep learning. He’s also scared by a random chimney, mistaking it for Javert’s head. ^^;

Eponine, meanwhile, is getting worse. That idiot of a Montparnasse keeps bugging her into helping him, and now he’s starting to offer bread, a tempting option to someone who’ll probably never find a job again. Especially since her only other alternative would be Cosette. Things are promising to become even worse for her, seeing as the end of the episode features one of Thenardier’s henchmen escaping from prison. She’ll be in really deep troubles if she’s still seeing Montparnasse when Thenardier himself escapes, because he can, and something tells me that he will force her to become involved in his shady businesses!

Yes! An Eponine-episode! This episode was mainly meant to develop the love-triangle between her, Marius and Cosette. And god, Marius is such an idiot. Eponine finally runs into him, she’s really happy to finally see him, she’s clearly in love with the guy, and what does he do? He asks where his Ursulle is! *headdesks*

Still, this episode was pure win, as it’s because of this that Eponine finally learns the identity of Ursulle: Cosette. Eponine decides to find out her identity, in an attempt to make Marius happy, even though that will totally ruin her chances with him. She then reaches their house, and spots the infamous doll, that Jean gave to Cosette when he came to get her. And even though she knows that, she still decides to tell Marius!

Still, Jean has yet to find out about this. He still believes that Marius works for Javert, and something tells me he’s going to freak out unless Marius approaches him in the correct way. Let’s hope that Eponine can make her move after that.

About the other characters: Jean has finally managed to find a job, answering a question I’ve been wondering about for about twenty episodes. Thenardier and his companions have indeed been imprisoned, though they’re very busy with thinking up an escape-plan. No sign yet of Thenardiere or Azelma, though. Javert meanwhile, is on fire after he finally received a new clue about Jean’s whereabouts. He’ll probably get closer and closer to him in the next couple of episodes.

I also had to laugh when Thenardier’s former house-owner lashed out at the policeman, blaming him for taking away her source of income, and of course at the rather cheesy scene of Eponine, watering the flowers. ^^;

This is just a hunch, but could it be that this episode started off the fourth arc of the book? Signs do point to yes, since the previous episode had a major climax, and it affected lots of different characters. This episode was also mostly quiet, aside from one nightmare, and it basically spends its time moving pieces on the chess-board around.

I’ve got two issues with this episode; though that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as I just know that the creators are going to use them in future episodes. The first is that we didn’t get any clue as to what happened with the people who were arrested. Do they go free? How long do they have to be locked up? Me wants to know!!!

The second is Cosete. I just hate her at the moment, as she’s currently the only character who isn’t suffering because of something. The Thenardiers are in jail now and they already had huge money-problems due to Jean. Jean came down with a fever this episode due to burning hinself and falling out of a window, and he’s clearly still being haunted by his fears of going to prison. Eponine is currently homeless! Marius has his family, Ursulle and money problems as well. Javert is probably still after Jean. And what about Cosette? She lives in a comfy home, gets protected by Jean, has a guy who can’t stop thinking about her, wears pretty clothes, doesn’t need to work, can take it easy, has time to look at flowers and worry about others. It’s so not fair when considering the other characters!

I LOVE where Eponine is going, though. Now that the Thenardiers have been arrested, she lost her home, and we see her wandering the streets of Paris, stalked by the only companion of Thenardier who managed to escape as well. It doesn’t look like she’ll be returning to her parents, even when they get released. I’m dying to know what’s going to happen to her!!!

A lot of the episode was about Marius, as he moves out as well, and starts living with Courfrac (spelling?). His aunt still tries to convince him to go back to his uncle, but fails.

This episode can be summarized with one word: AWESOMEness.

I’d like to go in a bit more detail, though. It’s strange, but after watching, it does feel that the most logical course of events had taken place, and yet it still surprised me. Especially Thenardier, who again showed that he does have brains, despite his looks, and the fact that Marius screwed up after all his worries.

Basically, Marius was ordered to give Javert a sign when things got out of hand inside. And then he suddenly finds out Thenardier’s name, the one who “saved” his father. Obviously, he’d not want that guy to prison, but at the same time, he doesn’t want to harm his “Ursulle”. I can imagine how hard it must be to think clearly at such a moment. The solution he finds is to warn Thenardier that the police is coming. This plan, however, backfires because Thenardier and his henchmen were just way too loud when they tried to escape, resulting in everyone but Jean and Eponine getting arrested! Even Azelma gets caught!

Jean, meanwhile, decided to play for dumb. He tries to use his huge strength to escape when Thenardier attempts to hit him, though he’s against too many and gets overpowered. By this, Thenardier figures out that Jean himself is on the wrong terms with the police, since he never cried for help at all, in the hope that neighbours would call the police. Since Jean didn’t really bring a large amount of money with him, Thenardier decides to use Cosette. I didn’t fully catch his plan, but it was probably to make Jean send a letter to Cosette, luring her towards Thenardier, so she could get kidnapped. Afterwards, if Jean made any wrong moves afterwards, or Thenardier would end up in jail, he’d order his henchmen to kill Cosette.

He didn’t take into account, however, that Jean would never tell him where Cosette lived. ^^; The nice gentleman-look indeed hides the fact that he used to lead a horrible life before he became major, and that he’s at the point where he cares more about Cosette’s life than his own. He afterwards manages to escape in the confusion, created by Marius, after Thenardier threatened him with a knife.

The question now remains: will the Thenardiers go to jail, and if yes: for how long. I’m not really familiar with the French system of law and order around that age, but I think they’ll get off relatively light due to lack of evidence. It will become awesome if they indeed do have to serve jail for a few years, though. The fact also remains that we’re nowhere near the end of this anime, and something tells me that this already awesome mini-arc was just the beginning.

Haha! So people did recognize each other after the previous episode! The result was the extremely dark, fast-paced, serious and awesome episode that we got to see now! I really expected Thenardier to milk Jean out with the same technique that killed Fantine, but here he comes and he directly attacks him.

To make matters even better, Marius heard ALL of this, and went to the police. Because of this, none other than JAVERT is now waiting to arrest Thenardier, as soon as he mutilates JEAN! Seriously, I never expected things to go so incredibly fast, and we’re only at episode 29! I’m starting to understand now why people call the novel epic.

I can hardly even begin to predict the next episode, as there are so many possible scenarios. Jean and Thenardier will obviously escape, but how the heck will they do it? I suspect they will make use of the confusion of Javert when he finds out about Jean. I also keep thinking that this is a regular anime, and people will just retreat after things are done, but things will definitely change after this, and the Thenardiers will need to find new lodgings, while Jean will need to watch out where he goes. I’m now really beginning to see the power of the World Masterpiece Theatre.

What a surprise! After the previous episode, I expected that the light-hearted mood would stay for a few more episodes. Boy, was I wrong when Thenardier threw his tantrum right in the middle of it! I’m really excited to see this series turn dark again, and I’m even more excited about the fact that finally the Thenardiers were the major focus of the episode!

Eponine and Azelma were so sad in this episode. We already knew that they weren’t in such a good position, but they’re actually being abused by their father. Azelma even ended up with a bleeding hand at one point. It’s sad to see how she turned out, by the way. It seems that both her and Eponine stopped going to school, soon after Cosette left. Because of this, especially Azelma had no real chances to make any friends, with the result that she now clings to Eponine, the only one who treated her normally (I suspect that Thenardiére also stopped being nice to her when their money ran out).

And Yes! Eponine finally talked to Marius! The two of them were so cute, even though nothing major happened. Still, it seems that Marius will be able to hear everything that happens in Thenardier’s room, due to a crack in the wall (this Episode showed this, when Thenardier started yelling), so something tells me that he’ll start feeling sorry for her very soon. Cosette had better be fast with making her move.

And speaking of her I could almost strangle her at the end of the episode! She didn’t even recognize Thenardier, who has hardly changed a bit for the past years! And he was right under her nose! There’d better be some kind of recognition in the next episode!

Okay, so this was a filler. At least it had a few hidden meanings, when compared to the fillers we see in shounen-fillers. This episode was really meant to symbolize the relationship between Cosette and her mother, when les amis, Cosette and Jean reunite a young girl with her mother, and AGAIN barely missing each other.

Still, I do wonder why this filler was included. After all, there is no danger at all that this series will catch up with its source material, so there has to be some other reason. If I had to guess, then I’d say that it’s to fill up a bit of time, and to make sure that the second half of the series, which has now officially started, doesn’t move too slow.

The third arc has really been building up so far. Basically, all it’s been doing is move the pieces on a chess-board, and developing them. And after all, especially Marius needs to catch up in terms of fleshing out.

Still, there were moments that were important for the storyline as well. I was quite surprised when Gavroche suddenly ran into his father! Luckily, the guy is too drunk to really take advantage of him, but I wonder what will happen once they run into each other again. Marius also reveals that he’s still interested in his “Yulle Shulle” (I really wonder how you spell that one in French). Also, the episode had one really good point: I really liked les amis after watching it.

Well, if this isn’t building up, then I don’t know anymore. Seriously, this episode gives a new meaning to the phrase “nothing happens”. Through the course of the episode, the characters keep getting chances to meet each other, and they keep missing these chances. The Thenardiers have buggered off for the episode, and even Eponine has only two seconds of airtime! Basically, the entire episode was about Cosette, nearly missing a reunion with Marius, and Gavroche actually seeing Jean and Cosette pass out bread to the hungry children, but not RECOGNIZING them.

Les Miserables is probably the only anime nowadays to come with such an episode. The events mentioned above may not have been the most exciting, but something tells me that they’re building up for something amazing. I actually expected the series to come with some kind of major climax in episode 26, but apparently the creators have different ideas.

Still, luckily there were more events going on than just that, which made this episode worthwhile. We get introduced to a huge wooden elephant, which has been discarded since Napoleon buggered off. Gavroche decides to make it his home-base, and the amis also seem to have plans with it. Gavroche really shows that he’s a son of the Tnenardiers, by the way. He may have been raised by Cosette, but the past few episodes have shown that he is very good in getting things without any money. But because he spent a lot of time with Cosette, he learned to care for his companions, or the other street-children.

Jean and Cosette also had each an important scene. Cosette, for the first time, starts to doubt Jean, because he refuses to go back to the park. This makes her think back of the time when he had to flee for Javert, and she also starts to wonder whether the reason for Fauche-les-Vent to change his name (Fauche-les-Vent apparently was fake) was because he was some kind of criminal. She forgets this immediately, but it’s quite an important event for the future, if I had to guess. Meanwhile, Jean, while outside with Cosette, sees a parade of policemen, transporting a carriage of some miserable-looking prisoners. They make him think back at the time he spent in prison, and he reckons that if he gets caught again, he’ll probably die in prison.

Like I said, if this isn’t building up, then I don’t know anymore.

Just like Toward the Terra, Les Miserables is in dire need of a new OP and ED. It feels weird to see the characters still in their child-forms. ^^; Still, I suspect that either with episode 26 or 27, we’ll get a new one. Speaking of which, I wonder what the creators have in store for us to close off the first half of this series. Now that I think of it, I have reason to believe that the current episode was slowly paced on purpose, in order to save a big event for episode 26. After all, it seems that Eponine will be breaking into the house in the next episode, and something tells me that something’s going to happen to her.

This episode, meanwhile, slowly spends its time developing the relationships between Jean, Cosette, Marius and Eponine, yet again we see how the events of seven years ago still haunt Cosette and Jean. I didn’t realize it, but Jean continuously stayed with Cosette up to this episode. This episode, we see him go out and buy a present for her, and she immediately begins to feel lonely again. Jean, meanwhile, learns a bit more about Cosette’s feelings, as it seems he’s been quite oblivious to them. Javert also still is heavily on his mind, since he actually moved out when he suspected Marius to be a spy of the police!

I’m also curious at the amount of money that Jean possesses. Obviously, it’s a lot, but it’ll have to run out someday. Especially when they’re living in such an expensive building with an expensive dinner every night, I really wonder how much money he still has left. I’m looking forward to the next half of the series, and I can’t wait to see for the fourth arc to arrive. Right now, the anime is still building up, but based on the things I’ve heard about the second half, I can’t wait to see how Cosette and Jean will turn out.

Ah, the first steps have been made towards Cosette and Marius’s relationship: in this episode, the two see each other for the first time, and it’s as if cupid himself interfered, as they both start to notice each other at that point. I suspect that in the next episode, they’ll be able to talk to each other, because due to Marius’s shyness, all they did for the entire episode was stare at each other. Now all that’s left is to wait and see how their relationship turns out.

In anime, love relationships can either strengthen an anime, or completely ruin it, depending on the amount of development put in both the characters and their relationship. That’s why I’ve got a lot of faith in this one, as there is no other anime, aired in 2007 that has better character-development than Les Miserables.

Another major part of the episode focused on the poverty in Paris, and I suspect that it’s a sign of things to come. Jean may have a lot of money, but it doesn’t seem that he has some sort of job, and the money will run out someday. In this episode, we see Jean and Cosette pass out a bunch of breads to a group of children, and only then it becomes apparent how much they’re suffering, and how much they’re longing for a loaf of bread. It seems that Cosette has adopted the need to save others from the years she spent with Jean. It’s also interesting to note that Gavroche also ended up with these children, but he actually tries to do something about this situation, like stealing a bunch of vegetables from merchants. It’ll be interesting to see how he’ll end up if he goes on like this.

Still, my favourite character remains Eponine. She really reminds me of Atori from Noein, who first started out as a nasty person as well, but then suddenly made a huge personality-shift. She’s also going to get it tough in the next episode, when it seems that Thenardier plans to use her and Azelma to scout for a dirty job that he’s got in mind. Something tells me that that isn’t going to end in her favour.