The Scrumptious Anime Blog » Emily of New Moon

Countdown to Christmas #9: The Underrated Gem of 2007, Emily of New Moon

usagijen — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:23:12 +0000

Emily, a girl filled with hopes and dreams~ never mind the forehead, ok?

Emily of New Moon~ probably the most underrated series of 2007. Many people (including subbers of course) gave it a thumbs-down, probably due to its classical and non-mainstream nature? The ones I know who faithfully kept up with this series are psgels and hashihime, both of whom give such a high regard for this series. Impz also praised this series when it aired.

Episode 10 brought me goosebumps and giggles

Objectively speaking, moe-, GAR-, bishie- factor (or other such factors) aside, this anime is one of the best of 2007, if not THE best this year. And yes, I can say that even though I’m only halfway through the series (in watching / blogging). The glaring gripe one would commonly have for this series is Emily’s big forehead, but once you get past that, you’ll find a well-rounded series whose story, characters, and production values are simply amazing. If you’re into classics, or this kind of show is your cup-of-tea, I assure you that every time you spend on this series is time well-spent

I recall when I watched the first episode, I had goosebumps of excitement, that I somehow got infected by Emily’s poetic-ness and came up with this post (pardon the grammar errors, ok?) In most of the episodes I watched, I remember being infected with the mood and positive vibes given off by the show, inspiring me to actually reach for my own dreams. Forgive the cheesiness~ I am a sentimental person, which makes me love the series even more because of how it brings me tears of joy, more than anything.

Thanks to Digital Panic, 13 episodes of the series have been subbed so far, and of course, more to come~ =D Hopefully with the remaining days of the vacation I have, I’ll get back into watching/writing about Emily of New Moon again, and spread the word about this wonderful series! Similar Posts:

Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) Episode 12

usagijen — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 17:32:25 +0000

Emily of New Moon Episode 12

Emily feels the bliss of the coming wintertime as she finds the chance for her work to be published on the newspaper featuring a literary column once every month. She was filled with excitement the moment she heard about this from Jimmy, and decides on sending her latest work about the tree’s semblance with a new bride.

Emily never felt any doubt in her heart that her work will be published, and even brags about this news to her classmates. The awaited day arrives and much to Jimmy’s surprise, things didn’t turn out as Emily expected. He decides to keep the news from her and even bought most of the copies of the newspapers, knowing how disappointed she will be the moment she finds out about this.

Emily however discovers the pile of newspapers Jimmy bought and became really upset that Jimmy lied to her, and thought that he bought all those copies just to hide her shame. She runs away and finds solace in Teddy who tells her about Jimmy’s sadness earlier, and finally realizes how Jimmy cares for her so much to do things to such an extent. She apologizes to Jimmy, who preserves the poem she made as he engraves in a wooden block by the tree. Emily recalls her love for writing and remembers her oath to not give up despite the possibility that her work won’t be published.

Thoughts

The moment I saw how hopeful and confident Emily was about her work being published, I immediately thought that things are not going to turn out the way she expected it, considering that newspapers most likely get tons of the same letter in the hopes of their work becoming published as well. As such, there’s a need for a rigid screening and choose the one which they deem best among the other ‘contenders’. This is a pretty intense competition considering that only one poem will be featured each month.

I can fairly understand Emily’s sentiments and [over]confidence in herself since she’s but a naïve little girl filled with hopes and dreams, and wasn’t able to see the possibility of her failing. This confidence was probably built-up within her as she hears all these wonderful praises from people regarding her talent. Jimmy is one of these people who admire Emily and her love for writing. Though, I was somewhat disappointed that an adult like him wasn’t able to see the possibility for failure, and prevent Emily from having false hopes.

But nevertheless, things turned out great in the end as she was able to experience this kind of ‘failure’ and be able to recover from this. This further allowed her to gain more passion for writing, despite the failures that await her. (and hopefully, make her humble and learn not to ‘count the chicks before they hatch’)
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Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) - 11

usagijen — Tue, 03 Jul 2007 08:17:58 +0000

Summary

One time, Emily lends Perry a book about Abraham Lincoln, much to his delight since it’s his dream to become a president as well. Perry brings this book home, where he lives with Aunt Tom, and continues to read it until nighttime falls. Aunt Tom scolds him for thinking about studying, believing that education is only meant for affluent people, and tells him that poor people like them should rather concentrate on working instead.

Perry however remains fervent in his desire to study and continues reading the book despite his aunt’s disapproval. Abraham Lincoln then served as Perry’s inspiration as he learns about how he continued studying despite not being privileged to study in a formal school, and eventually became the president of the United States.

Emily’s class is having a speech contest in their school where they are to share about their dreams, and decides to convince Perry to take part in it after seeing the potential he has, especially with his great ambition. Perry however refuses to join the contest since his Aunt Tom will never approve it, making both Ilse and Emily do the convincing in his behalf.

Aunt Tom isn’t an easy person to convince, especially with her doubt that an irresponsible person like Perry can both work and have time to spare for making his speech. Perry couldn’t bear the thought of how her aunt looks down on his capabilities, and then declares that he will join the contest despite her disapproval and see to it that he can win.

Perry is determined to live up to what he said about becoming the winner, and makes time for his speech despite his work. The day before the contest however, a storm approaches New Moon, making Perry work until late that night in order to fix the repairs in the Murray’s house. Aunt Tom is already getting worried about Perry who still hasn’t come home, and decides to find him amidst the stormy weather. By the time Perry arrives, he finds his aunt already ill because of what she did earlier, and decides to take care of her instead of attending the speech contest.

The contest ends with Emily as the winner, but believes that the rightful person for this title is no one else but Perry. Aunt Tom was touched by Perry’s sacrifice and sees just how much he matured throughout the years, and finally allows him to study.

Thoughts

It’s great to have finally seen Perry’s family background, and I certainly didn’t expect him to have grown up with a peculiar old woman in the person of Aunt Tom. The first time I saw her, I thought she was the witch from some fairy tale story (like the witch in Snow White) ^^:; Glad to see that she turned out a much better person than I first thought. This just goes to show how we should never judge a book by its own cover…

Perry was trained to be independent because he was like the breadwinner of their family. Aunt Tom was merely being practical in believing that studying is useless for them, but was keen to realize that Perry has long wanted to study. I believe she was just trying to prove Perry’s resolve by saying those words, and finally sees how he has matured now that he’s able to stand on his own feet and decide for himself, to the point of even going against her.

When Perry first mentioned about wanting to become a president, I first thought it was a farfetched dream, considering the barrier of illiteracy he has to surpass despite his diplomatic character (first impression). But with what he has shown throughout the series especially in this episode, we can see just how determined he is to pursue this dream of his, and he’s been making a lot of progress in terms of becoming an overall well-educated person. I’ve come to admire Perry as I’ve seen this determination and conviction he has, while not losing sight on the things he should be focus on at the same time. He studies on his own almost everyday, yet he still does his work to the best he can, not allowing to leave any unfinished work.

That scene with Perry sacrificing the contest for the sake of taking care of his sick aunt really touched me… Aunt Tom even cried at how mature Perry handled the situation, else if he was a brat he could’ve just left her aunt and prioritize the speech contest. But no, he cares deeply for his aunt despite being against her idea of education being useless for them. He was faced with the decision to choose between being one step closer to his dream, or look back and repay the kindness of the one who took care of him all this time, and of course he chose the latter option, which is but right in my opinion. Similar Posts:

Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) - 10

usagijen — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 15:17:42 +0000

Emily of New Moon Episode 10 - People Who Weave Dreams

The new teacher of Blair Water School by the name of Francis Carpenter arrives, who quickly gains the hearts of the students with his unconventional yet fun way of teaching, except Emily, who feels mortified by the remark he gave about her works, thinking that he made a mockery of it without having read them even. Emily felt as though her dreams were crushed with what Carpenter told her, while Teddy feels the same sentiment as her mother still hasn’t completely approved of him drawing. Will both these young artists still aspire and pursue their dreams despite all this, and what role will Carpenter play in making this possible?

Summary

This episode introduces yet another character in the person of Francis Carpenter, the new teacher in Blair Water School whose way of teaching is unconventional yet makes all the students learn things naturally, as they’re given the freedom to express themselves and aspire in their dreams. The first activity this teacher gives them is to spend time outside the classroom, believing that it’s best that they don’t simply confine themselves within its boundaries to reach great heights. All the students including Ilse and Teddy get awed by how great a teacher Carpenter and came to like him except Emily, who was furious at how he ridiculed her works and called it useless without even having read them, despite the fact that she was a little moved by his words “Your dream extends like a white road right in front of your eyes”.

Carpenter is impressed by Teddy’s skill in drawing, seeing how his work is able to convey to his ‘audience’ the very message he wants to convey, just like the caricature he made of him. With this, he went to Teddy’s house one rainy night to give the book ‘Rembrandt’ containing works of famous artists which he believes will be useful for Teddy, and tells his mother how Teddy could go as far as study in Toronto, Montreal and even Paris with his skills. Teddy’s mother however vehemently refuses against this idea since having Teddy draw is already much for her to bear, more so to have him leave her side for this.

Emily shares with Elizabeth about Francis Carpenter, who she finds out to be an acquaintance of her aunt. Elizabeth says that there’s no one in their town who doesn’t know about him since he was known to be a genius kid who went out of their town to pursue his studies and his dream, and stops the conversation about Francis Carpenter with that, leaving Emily unsatisfied as her aunt already sparked much of her curiosity but didn’t finish the ‘entire story’.

The next day, the students once again spend time outside for their class, as they perform this play about Napoleon, with Teddy playing the part of Napoleon while Ilse plays as Wellington. Perry sees them doing this activity on his way to finish some errands and gets drawn to it, then immediately runs towards them to volunteer himself for the part of the General. Perry who just jumped out of nowhere surprised all the students and even Carpenter himself, but seeing how enthusiastic he is, Carpenter agreed to make him play the role.

With this play, the students were able to have a good grasp of the history of Napoleon and the Battle of Waterloo, where Carpenter says that what’s more important is that they’re able to understand the feelings of these people of history. He also tells them that this story of Napoleon isn’t just about history, it’s a matter of having courage and strength to open the doors to their future, where spring probably awaits them at the other side of it. These words of Carpenter reminds Emily of what her father said that springtime will come no matter where she goes. After that, Carpenter asks Emily to show him her works, but she refuses to show this to someone like him who makes a mockery of her work. Carpenter however tells her that she can’t simply choose her audience if she intends to become a professional writer, and that with not wanting him to read her works, it’s as though she even wants him to look down on her and doesn’t do something to prove him wrong.

Emily hands her notebook to Carpenter but immediately runs away crying, mortified by how he treats Ilse, Teddy and even Perry with warmth except her, as she thinks of how harsh he is towards her. Emily reaches an abandoned house which Teddy knows to be “The House of Broken Dreams” where a young married couple filled with hope for a new life they’re going to have intended to live in, but eventually went someplace without living in this house, hence it was called as such, and Emily says that it’s just like she is now. Teddy then talks about how Carpenter went to their house the other night with the book Rembrandt but his mother just threw it away, making him realize that her mother still doesn’t completely approve of him drawing. But Teddy isn’t giving up, believing that the time when he’ll be able to live the town to pursue his studies will certainly come, knowing well that drawing makes up a portion of his heart, as what Emily also told him.

Teddy gives Emily the drawing she made of her just as he promised but asks Emily to keep it from Ilse first since he hasn’t drawn Ilse’s portrait yet, then asks her if she’s going to give up writing even before opening up the door to her dreams. That night, Emily thinks about Teddy’s words and gains the resolve to open this door to her dreams, no matter what lock holds it. The next day, Carpenter returns Emily’s notebook to her, giving his remark that only ten out of about four hundred sentences that she wrote are good, the rest are nonsense. Emily gets teary eyed as she feels once again insulted by his words, but retorts that she’s never going to give up writing because she loves it. Carpenter then tells her to open the door to her dreams, no matter how hard or impossible it might seem to be, and Emily finds it strange that he’ll be saying these things when he just ridiculed her works to be nonsense. Emily was too focused on the negative remark Carpenter gave that she wasn’t able to hear that he actually praised him for the “ten good sentences / lines” she wrote, with which she’ll be able to write about a hundred good lines by the time she reaches the age of 20. “The road you chose it steep, Emily”, says Carpenter, as he motivates Emily to study well and do her best to reach her dreams, and asks if she still intends to write despite the possibility that her works won’t be published, to which Emily nods in agreement.

Emily was filled with joy as she finally understood what Carpenter’s words meant, realizing that he thought about her welfare after all. She runs off to tell Teddy about this, and decides to enter the “House of Broken Dreams” as both she and Teddy reiterates what Carpenter told them, “I will continue to pursue my dream no matter what difficulty comes my way. I won’t lose to anything I face. I’ll open the door [to my dream] no matter how impossible it might be, knowing that spring awaits me at the other end”. Emily and Teddy becomes in awe by how wonderful the place is, and settles on making this the place where they’re going to work. Words start flowing out of both Emily and Teddy as they compose this poem about allowing the springtime to come into the house as they open its windows for all eternity, making both of them feel the gust of wind from Mrs. Wind, and decides to fill the house with dreams again, as they fulfill their dreams and happiness with each time they spend in this house.

Thoughts

Every episode of Emily never fails to move me, and this episode especially filled me with the very dreams it imparted to the characters in the show, with the help of Carpenter and the wonderful characters of Emily of New Moon. Just how Carpenter described how Teddy’s drawing conveys the message he wants to impart to his audience, I felt that this could also be the very description I can give to Emily of New Moon itself, where it successfully delivers all these emotions and message it wants to impart to us audience, about pursuing one’s dreams and being filled with hope with each new day.

With Carpenter, Ilse has been given the chance to express herself just as she is, and Perry was also given the chance to fulfill his desire of being able to study together with Emily and the other students. Emily was able to learn much from her encounter with Carpenter, especially seeing how she became narrow-minded after he gave those comments about her work and became disheartened because of it. Carpenter seems to be the first person who ridiculed Emily’s works and greatly affected her, and it was great to see how Emily was able to gain the resolve to not give up on her dream despite this ‘mockery’ she thought.

Teddy also became determined to fulfill his dreams with the help of both Emily and Carpenter, where he’s filled with hope that his mother will someday be able to understand his love for drawing and allow him to leave their town to pursue his studies. It’s going to be difficult for Teddy, seeing how close-minded his mother still is, but it’ll be great to see what events will lead to his mother changing.

Emily and Teddy became the highlight for this episode, where we see both these young and aspiring ‘artists’ filled with hope for the future, as they work hand in hand to inspire each other to fulfill their dreams. I still don’t know what path this show is going to take, but I can’t help but smell the scent of romance blooming between these two, especially with how they looked like a married couple in the last scene who are imagining how their house will look like. Seeing how they were able to compose poems together can’t help but make me feel a tingle of romance as I witness how they become a source of inspiration for each other.

I was a little intrigued by Elizabeth in this episode, specifically the way she was somewhat affected by the mention of Francis Carpenter. I’m thinking she’s keeping some ‘juicy stuff’ about what she knows about Carpenter, and it’s the reason why she refused to say anymore about it to Emily
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Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) - 09

usagijen — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 16:44:26 +0000

Emily of New Moon Episode 9 -The Legend of the Lost Diamond

Emily and Ilse embarks on a ‘diamond hunting’ adventure in this episode, leading to some disaster, yet results to something good nonetheless. Elizabeth finally smiles at Emily, showing how she really changed from the previous event, and Emily shows us another ‘purpose’ of her ‘creativity’.

Summary

Ilse’s father will be leaving for three days to attend to one of his patients, so Ilse will be left alone in their house. She has already gotten used to this way of life, but then Emily thought about making her stay in New Moon during these days instead, where she will be spending two nights in their house. Emily is still finding the right chance to ask her Aunt Elizabeth about this, but the immediately understood what Emily was about to ask her, and surprisingly agrees to let Ilse stay in their house. Laura sees Emily who couldn’t contain her happiness, and then tells Emily about making her wear some winter clothes that her mother used to wear, but forgets where it was kept, along with Elizabeth’s other dress.

Emily hurries to tell Ilse and ask her father’s permission regarding this, and jumped for joy when he agreed. With Ilse’s first night in New Moon, Emily first shows her to her mother’s room, making Ilse think about how her father doesn’t to say anything about her own mother. As they look at the window, Ilse comes to realize just why this room is known as the ‘viewing room’, the best room in their house. Emily also points her to the ’summerhouse’ in their place, which is now abandoned, then tells Ilse about some secret about this house later that night.

There was one time when Jimmy told Emily of a legend about this summer house, ‘the legend of the lost diamond’, relating to an event where MiriamMurray, the wife of Edward Murray (Emily’s grandpa’s younger brother), lost her ring on one occasion held at this house. The party ended and the house was searched, but no ring was found, making Ilse and Emily conclude that this ring is most likely still in that house.

The following day, Emily also shares with Perry and Teddy the legend of the diamond ring. The ring was actually obtained by Edward Murray through an auction, but Emily tells them that there’s a more dramatic story behind this, about the previous owner of the ring - a great violinist who fell ill because of the death of her beloved fiance to whom he will supposedly give the ring. Emily adds that a ghost haunts the place, looking for both the ring and the original owner. Perry says that he knows about the legend of the lost diamond, but doesn’t seem to remember this story about the previous owner being a violinist. After that, Perry thought it would be a great idea to go and search for this ring, telling them to meet up by twelve o’clock midnight Teddy was the only one uncertain if he’ll be able to come given the circumstance he’s in, but Emily just tells him to come if he can.

Nighttime comes and Emily and Ilse sneak out of the house while everyone was asleep. Elizabeth feels something strange and decided to check on Ilse and Emily. Ilse, Emily and Perry on the other hand are now embarking on their diamond hunting quest. Ilse does some deduction with regards to where the ring fell, and concludes that it must have fallen on the carpet for it to go unnoticed. They head upstairs where the carpeted rooms are, and Emily is scared out of her wits that she’ll be going alone to search one of the rooms. While they were searching, they suddenly heard some noise downstairs, making them think that perhaps Teddy came to join them, and Perry goes to check if it’s really him.

As Emily searches one of the rooms, she gets frightened by the sight of some glowing eyes under the bed in, which turned out to be no one else but Saucy Sal. She takes another look under the bed, and finally discovers the missing diamond. She had a hard time reaching this diamond, and decides to inform Ilse about it instead. Emily goes to the other room and finds Ilse caught up in the curtain, and mistakes her for a ghost. Ilse had to restrain her and hollers her to get hold of herself, before finally realizing that the ‘ghost’ she thought is actually Ilse. Emily was about to tell her about the ring when they hear Perry screaming. They head downstairs to check up on him, and also get frightened by the sight of the silhouette of a woman who they mistook for a ghost.

The woman is actually Elizabeth, who found out that Emily and Ilse sneaked out after noticing the strange quietness in their room. Elizabeth reprimands them for their actions, and before Emily can tell them about finding the diamond, the second floor of the house collapses. The next day, the quartet talks about their diamond hunt adventure, and Emily was regretful that the house became ruined before she was able to get hold of it. Nevertheless, something good came about this event, where the collapse of the house led them to discover the missing clothes of both Juliet and Elizabeth.

Emily also shares how she actually saw the diamond in the house, but Ilse and Perry doesn’t believe her anymore, knowing how she also made up the ‘dramatic story’ about the ring’s previous owner, as well as the ‘ghost’ in the place. Perry laughs at how Emily was actually the one most scared among them, despite her original plan to scare Ilse with her ‘ghost story’. Emily defends herself, telling them that the story becomes more romantic with this part she added about the previous owner. Ilse teases her about her fantasizing, calling her a fox who just blurts out all this gushing. Ilse, Perry and Teddy follow’s Ilse’s lead and teases her as well, and Emily runs after them to make them stop this teasing.

Thoughts

This episode was a fun transition from the previous dramatic episode, showing us how Elizabeth has really changed now that she’s finally able to smile again. Laura finds this surprising as well, and Elizabeth still conceals the fact that she’s happy seeing what Emily does (except for her mischievousness of course). It was also great to see the quartet back in action again, after not having seen them in the past episodes.

Not much has been revealed about Ilse’s family yet, and it seems that Ilse is harboring feelings of sadness over the fact that her father isn’t telling her anything about her mom… Perhaps this issue will be delved on in the later episodes, so is the issue with Teddy’s mom. Now that I think about it, there’s no mention about Perry’s parents either… I wonder if it’ll be tackled as well…

Emily showed us a little of her mischievous side again as she makes up the story about the ring’s previous owner and made the people believe that it’s actually true. Ilse was perceptive enough to find out that Emily just made it all up, and certainly finds it fun to tease Emily who easily snaps at this kind of teasing. Emily certainly is using much of her ‘creativity’, and go to the extent of making up this story. In the end, it backfired as Ilse and Perry no longer believes what she said about finding the diamond. This reminds of the story of “The Boy Who Cried Wolf”, hehe. Even Teddy gets dragged into teasing Emily… it was refreshing to see this playful side of him ^^

From the preview of the next episode, there seems to be this new teacher who’ll be coming, and it seems that Emily has to do ’something’ to change the impression this teacher has of her. And, Teddy and Perry joins their class! o__o Saw them playing with the rest of the kids in school as well. Ilse looks as energetic as ever… and I wonder what havoc she’ll wreak in the next episode :p
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Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) - 08

usagijen — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 12:41:57 +0000

Emily of New Moon Episode 8 - Mother’s Room

Emily writes a letter to her father, describing how quiet the Autumn in New Moon is, especially when there’s no one else in their house. It’s in this time that she goes to look at her mother’s room, which has been locked up for ten years since her mother Juliet left New Moon. Emily has been longing for the day she’ll finally be able to enter this room, and she could simply see the room from afar, looking at its window from outside their house.

Emily shares about the dream she had of her mother that morning to Ilse and Teddy, and despite the fact that she can vaguely remember what her dream exactly was, she’s certain that it was about her mother. She also tells them about her mother’s room which has a beautiful view that she looked at the other day, and gets saddened by the fact that she can’t see how that view is like from that room’s window, since it’s been locked up by Elizabeth for years. Emily explains to Teddy that the reason why her mother’s room was kept locked was because of the fact that her mother left to marry her father despite Elizabeth’s disapproval, making her angry and locked the room so she won’t be able to go back again (or so that’s what they think). Teddy was surprised that Elizabeth would do this to her sister’s room, and Ilse explains that it’s because Elizabeth is hard-headed.

Emily wonders how she’ll be able to enter the room, and Ilse says the answer to that is easy, she just have to sneak and find the key to the room, which she thinks is hidden in the box where she keeps her hats. Emily refuses to do this because it’s a cowardly thing to do, and Teddy comments on how this decision is certainly expected of Emily. Just then, Teddy’s mother arrives to pick him up, concerned that he’s spending time outside when it’s really cold. Teddy tells her not to worry about this since spending time in summer running around with Emily and Ilse helped make his health better, but his mom can’t helped but get worried and takes him home, totally ignoring Emily.

It starts raining in this autumn season, and both Laura and Jimmy thinks about how nostalgic this is, remembering that “day of the rainbow” with Juliet twenty years ago. Jimmy turns to Elizabeth and says that perhaps it’s time to allow Emily to see her mother’s room, considering that she’s not even eleven years old yet, and is certainly yearning for her mother’s warmth. Elizabeth however doesn’t seem all happy with this reminiscing about Juliet, and decides to spend some time alone in that rainy autumn day.

Emily goes home and lies in her bed, thinking about what Ilse told her about searching for the key. She resists the urge to heed Ilse’s ‘advice’, but ends up giving in as she reaches for the box where she suspects the key is hidden. Instead of finding the key however, what she finds is an emerald jewelry, then finally rids herself of thoughts of finding the key.

Elizabeth on the other hand takes out a blanket from the drawer where the key to Juliet’s room is, together with a letter she sent that Elizabeth hasn’t opened yet. She remembers the time Juliet left New Moon because of her refusal to have her marry at a young age, and much more marry Douglas who their family can’t accept. It has been ten years since that happened, which also marks the time Juliet’s room has been kept locked.

Emily once again looks at her mother’s room, and takes a peek through the keyhole. Elizabeth sees Emily, who gets embarrassed and tries to find the words to explain what she’s doing. Emily tells her that she was just wondering what her mom used to do in raining days like this, if she’s weaving, reading books, or looking outside the window, and then remembers what her father used to tell her, that her mom loved looking at the rainbow through the window of her room. Elizabeth stops her from saying any more and leaves, when Emily pleads her to let her see her mother’s room, even for a little while. Elizabeth however refuses to do this, saying that there’s no need to remember things about the past because Juliet’s no longer around (or that she’s no longer in this world), and that opening the door of this room will simply bring back memories that shouldn’t be remembered anymore. Emily can’t help but cry at the cold words of her aunt, thinking that Elizabeth must hate her mother so much that she doesn’t even want to remember her anymore.

Emily spends some time in the barn to wallow in her sorrow, and Jimmy keeps her company. Elizabeth goes back to the living room (?), and sees Laura who was surprised that Elizabeth took out the blanket and the last letter from Juliet she kept throughout these years. Meanwhile, Jimmy tells Emily about her mother Juliet, how she loves the rainbow and believes that wishing upon this rainbow will allow one’s wish to come true. Juliet has already decided on what she wants to wish for, but decides to keep it a secret from them until the next rainbow comes. The entire Murray family loved Juliet, the youngest in their family, and her father especially gave the best room in the house to her because of her frail body.

There was a time when Juliet was struck with a serious cold because of the chilly weather that autumn, and she never woke up throughout the two days of rainfall that time. The entire family ceaselessly prayed for her to heal, but were already losing hope that she’ll still be able to open her eyes again. But a miracle happened, as she finally wakes up the day after that rainfall, right in time when the rainbow appeared. Juliet finally reveals her wish to her family, that she wants to grow up, and someday have a daughter. After sharing this story to Emily, the rainfall that day stops as well, bringing with it a rainbow just like that time with Juliet.

Emily runs off to tell Elizabeth about the rainbow, asking her to look at what she considers to be her ‘mother’s rainbow’, and for a moment when Emily entered the room, Elizabeth saw Juliet in her, who told her those very words about looking at the rainbow as well. Emily asks her aunt to remember about her mother, then Elizabeth finally decides to let Emily into her mother’s room, and both of them gaze at this rainbow from the window. Emily remarks how her mother must’ve looked at the rainbow like this too, and says that this rainbow is what she treasures most in this world. Elizabeth says that it’s not quite true, since what Juliet treasures most in this world is no one else but Emily, as stated in the last letter she gave Elizabeth. Right at that moment as Emily is reading the letter, the voice of her mother resounds in the room, asking for Elizabeth’s forgiveness and tells her how happy she is for having Emily in her life.

Thoughts

This episode certainly brought me to tears… seeing how Elizabeth was finally able to open up to Emily about the past, and openly embrace both the memories of Juliet (which proves to be very painful for Elizabeth, considering how much she loved her little sister), as well as Emily. It’s quite clear that the reason why Elizabeth showed this somewhat ‘cold’ attitude towards Emily is because of the connection she has with Juliet, and seeing Emily can’t help but make her remember Juliet who she didn’t want to remember anymore (or so she thought). I believe that Elizabeth locking up Juliet’s room shows how she ‘locked’ her heart (and became really strict) as well. Elizabeth was even reluctant to open the letter she gave (and Elizabeth most likely knows what this letter contains, and it’s the very reason why she didn’t open it), and having opened and read this letter, as well as open Juliet’s room, simply shows how Elizabeth has finally accepted the decision she made before.

Emily pretty much understood Elizabeth’s situation for not wanting to remember about Juliet, knowing how her aunt was really against the decision she made of marrying Douglas. Emily was mature enough to understand that it was painful for her, and it’s the reason why she didn’t complain much about Elizabeth locking Juliet’s room and preventing her from seeing it. But of course a child will certainly yearn for her mother, especially for Emily whose mother died when she was but a little child. She wanted to know about her mother, and was really hurt when Elizabeth told her those cold words about not wanting to remember any more about Juliet.

It’s great that Jimmy was there to keep Emily company, and actually share about her mother, who was loved by their entire family. She was able to understand Elizabeth’s situation and was so excited to even tell her about her mother’s rainbow. The rainbow seems to hold a deeper meaning in the lives of the Murrays… for Juliet, it’s a symbol of hope, that will be able to grant one’s wish. For Elizabeth, Laura and Jimmy, the rainbow also symbolizes how Juliet was brought back to their lives again after thinking she won’t be able to survive the serious cold she had. Just as the rainbow appears after the rain has fallen, it symbolizes the hope this ‘new day’ brings, after a time of sadness and grief (the ‘rain’), and together with this, comes the acceptance of Elizabeth of Juliet and Emily (also symbolized by the letter she opened - as though she ‘opened’ up her heart as well).

We saw a brief scene with Emily, Teddy and Ilse, and it seems that Teddy’s mother still doesn’t accept them as Teddy’s friends, seeing how she simply ignored Emily when she smiled at her. I think she still regards them as a bad influence for Teddy, and that’s why she doesn’t like seeing Teddy becoming close to him (because it will endander his health, and influence his personality perhaps). I’m thinking that the reason why she simply ignored Emily and not confront her about being a bad influence on Teddy, is because Teddy was right then and there. Perhaps given a situation where his mom will be able to have an encounter with them, and Teddy’s not around, she might frankly tell them how she feels about this. Looks like this is some problem that will have to be resolved later on, but not yet in the next episode, since it looks like we’ll see some of Emily and Ilse’s diamond-hunting adventure next week :pSimilar Posts:

Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) - 07

usagijen — Wed, 23 May 2007 15:50:49 +0000

Emily of New Moon Episode 7 – Beloved Forest

And so the alarming news that John is going to cut down the forest reaches the Murray household, shocking Elizabeth, Laura, Jimmy, and most especially Emily. Elizabeth, Laura and Jimmy were out of ideas on how to go about convincing John from doing this, knowing how stubborn he is. Emily couldn’t bear the thought of having this forest she love cut down, especially after having heard Jimmy’s words of how this will greatly affect New Moon. According to Jimmy, without this forest, their plants would most likely be unable to grow since it acts as their ‘shield’ against the strong winds coming from the sea.

Emily struggled for ideas on how to persuade John, and tried to put herself in his shoes (if she also became really angry to the point of wanting to cut down the forest herself). She thinks that if Elizabeth were to stop her from doing so, then she’d most likely turn a deaf ear to what she says and would rather make her give her more headaches than listen to her. Laura and Jimmy convincing her would also be ineffective because they would be too ‘soft’, and beg her to think about her actions. If the one who talks to her was to be her father however, she certainly would be convinced and stop what she’s planning to do, and Emily wonders if there is that certain person (like her father) who would be able to convince John as well.

The following day, Perry arrives and informs Emily about their local priest Father Cassidy, who he thinks could most likely be the person to convince John about the matter, and asks her to tell Aunt Elizabeth to talk to this priest (since he’s quite a strict and unfriendly person, much like Elizabeth perhaps). Emily thinks it would be impossible to convince her aunt to do that, and decides to talk to Father Cassidy all by herself. Unknown to Emily, John actually misses her and is anxiously waiting for her return.

Later that night, Jimmy arrives, wondering where Emily is, but Perry didn’t tell him exactly where she went. As Jimmy cleans the furnace(?), he sees the retained traces of Emily’s notebook and realizes that this was the reason behind Emily’s sadness the other day. Meanwhile, Emily reaches White Cross where Father Cassidy resides, who takes notice of Emily’s fairy-like ears. Emily says that she’s able to see Mrs. Wind, but has never before seen a fairy all her life, and shares with him a poem she recently made about Mrs. Wind and the forest in John’s place, much to Cassidy’s amazement. She tells him that the very reason she came to him is to ask his help and persuade John not to continue with his plans to cut it down. Cassidy understands this, and agrees to do what he can to convince him, then tells Emily to continue on writing, seeing the great potential that she has.

The next day, John finishes the ‘Emily doll’ he was making, and then senses the presence of someone in his place. John thought it was Emily, only to find that it was no other than Father Cassidy, who asks him if he really intends to cut down the beautiful forest. Emily’s class ends, and on her way home, she comes across John who is on a carriage. He invites Emily on a ride, and talks about what Father Cassidy told him. He also tells Emily that he didn’t really intend to cut down the forest, and that he thought that having Emily come and plead him would be enough to stop him from doing so. With this, he requests Emily to act as though she’s pleading to him, with which John gives his ‘condition’ on not cutting down the trees - that is, for their relationship to be as it was before, and that she’ll frequently visit and spend time at his house again.

As Emily arrives home, she informs everyone about the great news with all excitement, and Elizabeth actually thanks her for what she did (but mentions that she won’t be thanking her again the next time she does something like this). Laura, Jimmy, and Emily understands that Elizabeth is being ‘dishonest’ about what she said, knowing how she always puts out this ‘facade’ of pride. Later that day, Jimmy gives her a present as a ‘reward’ for what she did (the flowers’ way of showing their gratitude, he says), a new notebook she can use for writing letters to her father once again.

Thoughts

I guess my presumption in the previous episode was wrong, seeing that John’s plan to cut down the forest was simply an ‘impulse’ decision that he wasn’t really intending to do. He just did this to piss Elizabeth more, but he would never want to hurt Emily’s feelings. Seeing how John was able to reflect on what he did, and realized what he did to Emily changed my thoughts about him in the earlier episode (especially because I thought he already cut down the forest >_<). In the end, it seems that her ‘hatred’ for Elizabeth isn’t that deeply rooted for him to lose sight of what he holds dear in his heart (Emily, the forest, his land… :) ).

It seems that Emily didn’t think of herself as the very ‘person’ who can convince John (which she also asked herself), and it’s most likely because she really thought she was the one who drove him into doing that (and that she was the cause of her anger). She ended up asking help from Father Cassidy, which is but great, seeing that he didn’t serve only to help with John’s problem but also uplifted her spirits as he advises her to continue writing. I see him becoming one of Emily’s pillar of support, aside from Jimmy, Perry, Ilse, and Teddy, especially when problems with Elizabeth still arise in the future.

Elizabeth seemed to be ‘opening up’ more to Emily in this episode (just slightly), as she comes to admire what Emily did to stop John’s plans to cut down the trees. She’s a pretty understanding aunt, considering that she seems to have forgiven Emily for what she did to her in the last episode. And as usual, Jimmy was quick to find out what was troubling Emily the other day, and knows just how to cheer her up once again. With the new notebook he gave, she could once again write to her father the same way she did before.

We didn’t see Ilse and Teddy in this episode… and just a teeny bit of Perry. The series is still focusing pretty much on Emily, and in the next episode, we’ll see a glimpse about the past of Emily’s mom (and some revelations about Elizabeth most likely). From what I can see in the preview, Elizabeth had this soft expression on her face when Emily hugged her in her sleep… it’ll be great to know about the even deeper side of Elizabeth’s personality.
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Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) - 06

usagijen — Fri, 18 May 2007 01:46:14 +0000

Emily of New Moon Episode 6 - The Case of the Poisonous Apple

Emily meets a farmer by the name of John, who lives in the land near the New Moon Farm. Emily and her friends have come to love the trees in this area, and frequently spends their time in John’s house. Elizabeth however forbids her not only from writing, but also from visiting John’s place because of the bad influence he has on Emily. With the way Elizabeth is preventing her from having any fun, she voices out her complaints in the form of a letter to his dad. Elizabeth however catches her in the act of writing, and Emily does something she’ll regret for the rest of her life. Her depression becomes even worse as she eats some poisonous apples. Thinking that her life is going to end, she starts writing her “last will and testament”…

Summary

Emily still continues to write despite her Aunt Elizabeth’s disapproval, and recently finishes a poem about the forest near the New Moon farm that she has come to love. This place used to belong to the Murrays, but was sold to the Sullivans, and is now being taken care of by John Sullivan. Elizabeth wanted to buy back this land, but John utterly refuses to sell it because of both his love for it, and his hatred for Elizabeth. Emily gets easily acquainted with John because of the similar sentiments they have about Elizabeth.

Elizabeth finds out that Emily frequently spends time in John’s house, and refrains her from doing so because of the bad influence that he might have on her. She keeps watch on Emily so that she won’t be able to write poems or stories, or even visit John’s place. The only time she finds to write a letter to her father again was then Elizabeth and Laura went out for an appointment. She tells her father about how Elizabeth is so strict on her, reprimanding each and every action she does. Emily thinks that Elizabeth doesn’t seem to have anything she enjoys, and thus wants her to act like her as well (and rid her of the things she enjoys). Elizabeth catches Emily on the act of this writing as she goes back to get something she forgot, and struggles to confiscate Emily’s notebook. Emily refuses to give her the notebook, and pushes away Elizabeth in the process of this struggle. Due to all this panic, Emily burns the notebook she treasures with all her life, causing her much regret as she thinks about the memories and thoughts she ‘burned’ together with it.

She runs out of the house to find solace in John’s place, and gets a bite on some apples there, which she finds out a little later to be ‘poisonous’ apples. Emily hurries off to go home, and makes her ‘last will and testament’, believing that her death is coming soon. Perry became very much affected when he found out about this from Emily, and quickly tells Laura and Elizabeth about this when they arrived. Elizabeth immediately finds out that this was simply a prank by John, and confronts him. Elizabeth scolds John for what he did, since Emily really took it seriously, and tells him that he’s a bad influence on Emily. John refuses to give her any apology and simply shouts back at her.

The following day, Emily finds out the truth about what John did, and felt somewhat betrayed because she really trusted him. Just then, a shocking news came to them – John is planning to cut down the forest in his place, the forest which Emily holds dear in her heart.

Thoughts

In this episode we’re introduced to a new character, John, though I felt as though the ‘introduction’ was a little bit awkward because it was narrated, and the next scenes we see is that of Emily already ‘close’ to him. This was probably done to cut down on some scenes for the anime to cover the critical parts of the book.

The autumn leaves of the trees near John’s place are just beautiful, so it’s not surprising how Emily would come to love this place. Emily of course, still can’t give up her love for writing because the beauty of everything she sees inspires her to do so. And of course with Elizabeth still not explaining exactly why she can’t write (in a way that Emily will truly understand), Emily can’t help but be ‘stubborn’ and not heed what she tells her.

Though, Emily’s stubbornness lead her to doing regretful things this time – pushing Elizabeth away in the course of the struggle for her notebook, and eventually burning it, desperate to find a means for Elizabeth not to read what she wrote. Emily’s actions either stemmed from ‘guilt’ over what she wrote about Elizabeth, or the fear she had if ever Elizabeth finds out about this. Emily doesn’t really hate Elizabeth, she just gets annoyed by how she ‘controls’ everything she does, especially writing.

Emily’s reaction to finding out that the apples were poisoned was somewhat exaggerated in my opinion, but that could probably be due to the lack in the sense of judgment she has considering her depressed state. Nevertheless, seeing how Emily dealt with the “last moments of her life”, made it quite a fun watch, seeing as to how she immediately thought about making her ‘last will and testament’. She even dragged Perry to believing that she’s really going to die, and Perry’s reaction was just priceless. Elizabeth is quite perceptive that she already knew this was simply a prank by John and confronts him immediately. I’d have to agree with Elizabeth that John isn’t really a good influence on Emily, especially with his lack of respect for Elizabeth.

I had mixed feelings about John throughout the episode… At first I thought of him to be a comic relief, especially when he was imitating Elizabeth perfectly. I was thinking her grudge on Elizabeth wasn’t that serious, seeing as to how he can simply laugh at what Elizabeth does. But then it seems that he’s quite close-minded when it comes to other things, and his grudge on Elizabeth is far more serious than I first thought. When Elizabeth confronted her regarding the prank he did, she was just reprimanding his actions because he really went overboard. He simply laughed at what Elizabeth told her that Emily took his joke seriously, with not a single ounce of concern and guilt over what he did. Elizabeth surely gets on his nerves, probably because of her ‘pride’, which John sees to be ‘arrogance’. I became even more disappointed with what he was planning on doing to the trees in his place. It’s like his ‘love’ for it wasn’t genuine, and his hatred for Elizabeth was enough for him to do things to such an extent.

I can’t wait to see how things will develop in the next episode… John will most likely change, with the help of Emily perhaps. It’ll be great if Emily defends her aunt against John, then perhaps we could see Elizabeth open up to her more ^^Similar Posts:

Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) - 05

usagijen — Thu, 10 May 2007 00:26:36 +0000

Emily of New Moon Episode 5

Summary

The school will be having a charity event to raise funds for giving books to children, and the students will be organizing stage plays for the said event. Rhoda suggests to give Emily a chance to produce her own play, knowing how she likes to write stories and such. She did this in the hopes of putting Emily to shame, since she won’t be capable of making a successful play if she was by herself (or even with only her and Ilse). Emily accepts the challenge and was delighted that she finally had the chance to impart her story to many people.

Emily tells her family about this play they’re going to have, but Elizabeth is not at all delighted that she’s going to write the script for this performance. She agrees to make her participate, however, if she’s simply going to act in the said play. But of course with Emily’s great love for writing, she still continues to do so despite her aunt’s prohibition.

Emily draws inspiration from nature for her story, and words just naturally flow out of her mouth as she gazes at its beauty. She once again crosses paths with Mrs. Wind, and also tells Teddy about her, making him hope that he could someday meet her too. Teddy then thinks that making a story about Mrs. Wind would be great for their play, and Emily agrees. Emily will be portraying the role of a young girl (who’s much like herself), who gets to meet Mrs. Wind, to be portrayed by Ilse. As Teddy’s mother looks at him and Emily spending time together however, a frown shows from her face.

Emily shows Ilse the script she made, and Ilse can’t help but be amazed. This gives her the motivation to work hard and make their play a success, also to show Rhoda just what they can do. However, Ilse is having problems memorizing her lines, but quickly overcome this as they sought Perry’s help in memorizing their lines. Perry’s learning how to read, and is progressing quite well, much to their delight. They continue practicing, in the hopes that they’d be able to convince Aunt Elizabeth to allow Emily to do as she wishes, knowing that she’ll be watching their performance together with Laura and Jimmy.

As the day of their performance draws near, Aunt Elizabeth finds out that Emily’s been doing what she forbid her to do as she finds the script she wrote on Teddy’s sketch, and confronts her regarding this. Emily however, continues to be as headstrong as ever and fights for what she loves to do, especially because she doesn’t even know why her aunt is considering writing and reading book such a ‘shameful’ activity. Her aunt rips her ’script’ to pieces, but despite the shock and sadness she felt after what her aunt did, she tells her that’s not a problem because the ’script’ is already engraved in her mind. Before leaving the room, she tells her aunt that she still hopes she’ll go and watch them perform.

The day of the performance arrives, and Rhoda’s group performs first. Rhoda became overconfident and thought she already memorized her lines without the need to practice, but was put to shame as she forgot her lines and ended up making a blunder out of her own performance. Emily performed after, and captivated the audience despite the lack of characters (only her and Ilse) and backdrops in their play. Elizabeth attends the play, but quickly left after their performance, still not fully accepting Emily’s love for writing.

Thoughts

As expected, Rhoda still continues to bully Emily, and in the end, “sows what she reaped”. She thought that ‘challenging’ Emily to the play will put Emily to shame, but instead, Rhoda’s overconfidence in herself led to her own downfall, and all the audience were captivated by Emily instead. “Emily totally owned the stage” =P

We only saw a little of Teddy in this episode, and I’m not really sure if what Emily feels for him is simply an admiration, or something more (with her daydreams of him). Teddy was a little left out, and we saw much more of the trio (Emily, Ilse, and Perry) instead. It seems that Perry’s quickly overcoming the barrier of illiteracy as he’s quickly learning how to read (on his way to being a diplomat? :p).

I just noticed that when Emily was talking to Teddy in front of their house, his mom was looking at them with stern eyes (somewhat). It seems that she disapproves of Teddy being friends with Emily, perhaps thinking that she’s a bad influence to him… I can’t help but feel a little worried.

The conflict with Aunt Elizabeth hasn’t been fully resolved yet too. We see some development in terms of Elizabeth’s acceptance of Emily’s love for writing, but just a slight and vague sign. Though, as the narrator says, there’s still a long way to go before this happens. But I can’t help but wonder why Elizabeth still can’t accept Emily writing… Why does she consider writing as a shameful activity? Is it because of Emily’s father and his profession, or the fact that writing isn’t really a noteworthy job… Perhaps there’s still something deeper about it, related to some painful memories about Emily’s father taking Emily’s mom perhaps.Similar Posts:

Kaze no Shoujo Emily (Emily of New Moon) - 04

usagijen — Thu, 03 May 2007 03:03:40 +0000

Emily of New Moon Episode 4 – A Picture of Four People

As Teddy was introduced last episode, we find out about his family and the problems that he’s facing, particularly his mother disapproving of him drawing. Emily, who is greatly impressed with Teddy’s works, could not accept this and tells Teddy to stand up for what he wants, despite the fact that she herself faces the same problem with her Aunt Elizabeth. How will they get through this obstacle for the realization of their dreams? Will this “picture of four people” be filled with happiness, or sadness…?

Summary

Emily once again writes a letter to her father, as she shares her experiences with Ilse, and also Teddy, a gentle-looking boy skilled in drawing that she just met. She also talks about Teddy’s mother, whose beautiful face has been outshone by the scary expression she shows. “It’s as though she has even forgotten the fact that she’s beautiful,” Emily says, and tells her father that despite thinking that Teddy’s mother is strange, he likes Teddy (or is interested in him).

The following day, Ilse and Emily goes to visit Teddy, but his mother prevents him from going out with them and makes up a lie that Teddy’s sleeping. Thinking that it was strange, they decided to check on Teddy, only to find out that his mother lied to them, as he is wide-awake, gazing by the window. Emily climbs up the tree to reach his room, while Ilse stays watch below. As Emily reaches the window of his room and formally introduce themselves to each other, Emily expresses her wanting to become his friend, and also to see more of his drawings, to which Teddy smiles in agreement. They weren’t able to talk much anymore as Teddy’s mother goes to his room, as though sensing something unusual happening.

Emily goes home and tells Perry about Teddy and his breathtaking drawings (his drawings really come “alive”, according to her). “We decided to become friends!”, Emily said with much happiness. For some reason, Perry gets irritated about this and insults Terry of being a “dull” boy, because he’s engrossed in doing “boring” things like drawing, reading books and poetry. Emily gets infuriated with his criticism, since she herself is pretty much like Terry. She defends her love for poetry, reading books, and drawing, then leaves in disappointment.

Emily and Ilse once again visits Teddy the next day, who agrees to spend time with them with his mother not around. Teddy gets his drawings and shows them to Ilse and Emily, who were amazed with his skills. Emily wonders why he keeps his works inside the barn, and finds out that it’s because his mother doesn’t approve of him drawing (and gets sad if she finds out he’s doing it). Emily couldn’t accept the fact that his mother is not at all delighted with this, and advises Teddy to stand up for what he wants, to confront his mother that he loves to draw. As Emily gazes at Teddy’s drawings in admiration, words came flowing out of her mouth and inspires her to compose a poem right then and there, much to Ilse and Teddy’s admiration.

Meanwhile, Teddy’s mother is out in the city, and sells the clothing she has sown to a stingy store owner. The women in the city talks bad rumors about her escaping from somewhere, and she just glares at them. Perry on the other hand, is looking at Emily’s notebook, skimming through the pages until he reaches the end of it and sees what he thinks is Emily’s name. He starts practicing how to write ‘Emily’, but hides this from Emily as she and Jimmy walks pass him. Jimmy wonders if Emily and Perry had a fight, that’s why they’re ignoring each other, but Emily denies this and says that Jimmy hates someone like her who loves reading and looking at pictures / drawings. To help uplift her spirit, Jimmy shows her the collection of books they have, and thinks that it’ll be a great idea to lend some of these books with pictures to Teddy.

Perry continues to practice writing ‘Emily’, but was caught in surprise as Aunt Elizabeth goes to ask him about Emily. Aunt Elizabeth also notices that Perry has Emily’s notebook, and explains that he borrowed it on his own, so he’ll be the one to return it to Emily himself.

Emily is spending her time in bliss as she reads the books that Jimmy showed her. Elizabeth comes in and forbids her from reading books or writing poems, because it’s useless. She advises her to read books about history and proper manners instead, which is what she should be learning more about. In the end she wasn’t able to stand up for what she wants.

That night, Teddy wakes up as he hears her mother crying, who embraces him as she tells him “Being with you by my side is enough” Emily also spends some time pondering about what happened with her aunt earlier, and contemplates on the fact that she wasn’t able to practice what she herself advised Teddy to do. When her aunt “shut” the door to the bookshelf, she felt as though her very heart was being “shut” as well, and comes to realize the fact that books and drawings are able to touch the heart of people.

Emily and Ilse never cease to visit Teddy, and as his mother once again gives them excuses to not let Teddy go out of their house, Ilse runs out of patience and confronts her about the lie she made up before. Teddy hears them arguing, and as he was walking down the stairs, he hears Emily telling her mother about simply wanting to play with Teddy, look at his drawings, and hear about her poems, “Drawing or poetry is also a part of our very soul / being, so if you forbid us from doing that, you’re depriving us of the chance to become our true selves!” Teddy’s mother was shocked as she finds out about this.

On their way home, Ilse tells Emily that she was deeply moved by her words there, even though she doesn’t fully understand what exactly it is that she could also consider as a “part of her soul”. They see Perry who’s standing by the river, looking as though he has something to say to Emily.

Teddy’s mother confronts him as to why he has been continuously drawing without her knowledge, despite the fact that she already forbid him to do so. Teddy asks for her forgiveness, and his mother tells him that the reason why she told him not to draw was because she thinks it’s for his own good, for his happiness. Remembering what Emily said, Teddy gains the courage to tell her that he agrees with Emily, “I understand what she meant, because drawing is indeed also part of my very soul / being. Not being able to draw means not being able to be myself anymore. I want to find my own happiness [with my own strength], and also want to make mother happy.” Teddy’s mother cries as she was moved by his words…

Back to where Emily and Ilse is, Perry confesses that the reason why became irritated with Emily’s words before is because he can’t read nor write, and thus felt bitter about it. He also returns Emily’s notebook, and shows her that he’s able to write her name as he’s been practicing writing it. The truth is, he admires Emily, and swears that he’ll someday become a president. Ilse simply laughs at this absurd dream that he has, since there’s no “president” in Canada, which means that he can’t be someone who doesn’t even exist. Emily suggests that he become a Diet Member instead, and Perry thinks it’s a great idea. Ilse thinks about her dream… but being as simple minded as she is, tells them that she’s just going do as she wants. Emily makes up her mind to become a poet, and be able to share the stories she makes with other people. Just then, Teddy also comes and shares to them that he also plans on continuing drawing for as long as he lives. Emily and Ilse are glad to see that his mother finally approved of him drawing, and thanks them for their help. Teddy notices Perry with them, and gets to know each other. Terry shows Perry his drawings, which renders him speechless in amazement. Teddy tells them that he wants to draw a picture with them this time, and so the “picture of four people” becomes complete (with happiness).

Thoughts:

As expected from this lighthearted yet wonderful show, problems presented are not dragged on and delved in too deep to the point of making you feel emotionally wrought. It might just seem a little fast-paced, because Teddy’s problem with his mom was already resolved before the episode ended, but I think I like it that way. I was just hoping more explanation was given as to why his mom felt sad about seeing him draw… I’m thinking it has something to do with her husband’s memories, though I’m not quite sure.

And another thing… Teddy’s words “I want to draw as long as I live” got me thinking… because although it’s such a wonderful dream, I’m not sure if Teddy has thought about the possibility of not being able to draw one day (thinks of Hagu from H&C). Although I don’t think such kind of problem will arise throughout the series because of its lighthearted mood, I still can’t help but think of that “reality”.

Ilse is as carefree as ever, and I just love her guts to actually “fight” against Teddy’s mom ^^ Perry was adorable in this episode, as he apologizes for the things he told her and honestly tells Emily that he admires her ^^ I was really thinking Perry got jealous over Teddy, but it turns out the real reason why he became irritated was because he couldn’t read or write…. poor Perry. Given Perry’s personality, I can really see him fit to become a diplomat or politician… although, he needs to have some education or else this dream will be quite difficult.

Emily has made up her mind to become a poet, but I wonder what her Aunt Elizabeth will react to this decision of hers… She still haven’t faced her aunt yet (like Teddy did), so perhaps we’ll see that in the coming episodes. I wonder if there’s a deeper meaning behind her aunt’s dislike to see her enjoying poetry and reading short stories and novels… something to do with her mother’s past, or her father perhaps?

From the preview of the next episode, it looks like we’re going to see Emily’s poetry skills in action as she becomes in charge of the play that their class is going to have. I’m excited to see how their play is going to turn out, considering that Rhoda and her “bully classmates” haven’t quite forgiven her yet for what she did.Similar Posts: