Manga Review #1- Emma

Series: Emma
Manga-ka: Kaoru Mori



Emma is the story of a young woman named Emma during the Industrial Revolution. Once a homeless girl who had to rely on selling flowers to get by, she was picked up by the kindly yet strict Kelly Stowner and became her maid. One afternoon, she opens the front door, hitting a young man right in the face. He is William Jones, the eldest son of a wealthy merchant family. Kelly was his governess when he was a child, and he had come to visit his old teacher... without any notice. He immediately falls in love with Emma.

I like to separate the story into three parts.

1. The courtship, I guess you could call it. This is William and Emma coming to terms with their feelings for each other.
2. The separation. After the death of Kelly, Emma moves out to the countryside and works for a German family without telling William.
3. The reunion. William and Emma are reunited and must face their biggest challenges in order to be together.

The story is filled with a myriad of characters, friends and foes alike. There's the easygoing and pampered Hakim, a prince of India and William's good friend, who provides a sort of comic relief throughout. Even more so is his small harem. xD

Then there is Eleanor, a shy and polite daughter of a nobleman who is instantly smitten with William. She is the romantic rival, as she is so obviously in love with him. Everyone around them (except for Hakim, of course) believes that the feelings are reciprocated. So William is in constant pressure to propose. At one point, Eleanor misunderstands William and believes that he is promising to marry her, but he really wasn't. When he is confronted, he proposes without thinking. So it is yet another challenge as no one will allow William to call it off.

William's father poses as the main villain. He is against William cavorting with a maid, and along with Eleanor's parents, will do anything to separate the couple so Eleanor and William can be together.



I've always been curious about this series, and the reviews I've read have been very good. So I started reading it. By the end of the first chapter, I was hooked.

The artwork is beautiful. The characters are very life-like. The plot, with all of its twists and turns, is very believable. You are praying with all of your heart that the two can be together, and you can't help but get angry every time someone gets in their way. It has quickly become one of my favorite manga series ever.

I couldn't stop reading! It took me about two days to read the whole seven volume series. And one of those days included my sleepover with Leah. (Sorry Leah! I didn't mean to read through the whole sleepover!)

I couldn't put it down. If I tried to, I found myself dying to find out what happened next, and so I'd just end up going back to it. xD

It's a fantastic series. I'll be starting the anime soon. I hope that it does the manga justice.


I recommend that anyone who likes a good love story or books with a good amount of drama tries Emma. It does not disappoint.