Jan 20 2012 03:47 PM Ikoku Meiro no Croisee a show that demonstrates the meaning of a true slice of life show in a historical setting. While it's certainly not the first of its kind with Emma: A Victorian Romance having already demonstrated this in 2005 and 2007, it's certainly refreshing to see another series of the sort several years later.
Croisee follows little Yune and her new life in France. Of course both sides experience a culture shock in a variety of ways and that's what this show attempts to portray through "daily life" events in 19th Century France. The biggest problem in this series is a lack of strong plot continuity. The ultimate goal is how Claude ends up accepting Yune who she is and where she's from, but it does so in a very roundabout manner by effectively making episode after episode feel like a one shot. Ironically, (boring) one-shots are effectively what daily life scenarios are. Another problem with this show is its shallowness making the potential story "overly simple." All in all, the "plot" isn't bad, but it isn't particularly entertaining, and ironically that's really what real life is like, it's not always entertaining.
Animation wise I'm a bit disappointed by Satelight. Often blurry and grainy scenes and I've seen in contrast to the beautiful works they've done in Fairy Tail and Macross Frontier, let alone Basquash! Art wise is okay but the character designs don't really match the backgrounds. They literally stick out like a sore thumb rather than blend in. The feeling of a 19th Century France is at least there though. The moe design of Yune is overdoing it though and made her feel too foreign, probably more so than she should be even if she's a child.
Music is okay not particularly memorable though. Voice cast wise is decent. At least the narrator could speak French...I guess.
Enjoyment? It's a good watch but I didn't get the same feeling from this show as I did when watching shows like Chevalier, Emma, Usagi Drop, Aria, or Tamayura all of which had a European setting/slice of life aspect. It felt really dull and didn't have much to really propel the show forward.
Overall, it's a good way to kill time as Kid-Wolf said and it's not something worth rewatching having seen it once. Again, in my personal opinion the moe factor of Yune hurt this show a bit as it just didn't sit right with me even when you do introduce a "foreigner" into the main cast. Heck, even Hanasakeru Seishounen at least got this right.
Preliminary Score: 7/10
Final Score: 7/10 
