is a Japanese historical romance manga by Kaoru Mori. It was published by Enterbrain in the magazine Comic Beam and collected in ten volumes. The series has been adapted as an anime television series, entitled . The manga is licensed in English in North America by Yen Press and the anime is licensed in English by Nozomi Entertainment.
Set in Victorian London at the end of the 19th century, Emma is the story of a housemaid who falls in love with a member of the gentry. However, the man's father and young siblings disapprove of him associating with people of the lower classes.
Overview
Both the manga and anime versions of Emma are unique for being set in a setting seldom visited by either medium without some fantasy or speculative element. The author and illustrator of the manga, Kaoru Mori, is a self-professed Anglophile, and attempted to recreate 1895 London with meticulous detail. The manga has a cult following in Japan, even going as far as opening an Emma-inspired and themed maid café in Shinjuku. Its popularity has sparked an interest in English maid cosplay, even going as far as having the official Emma anime website selling Emma's "costume" for ¥45,000.
Characters
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:She falls in love with William Jones from the first time they meet. Originally from a poor seaside Yorkshire village, she was kidnapped as a young girl to be sold to a London brothel. She managed to escape but became lost in London. She managed to work odd jobs for food, until she was taken under the wing of Kelly Stownar, as her housemaid. Under Mrs. Stownar, Emma was taught to read, write, and a variety of other subjects. In later chapters of the manga, it is revealed that Emma can also read a bit of French.
:After the death of Mrs. Stownar, Emma leaves London, intending to go back to her village, but she ended up meeting with a maid who worked for the Mölders (Meredith in the English translation of the manga) family, German immigrants who live in a mansion in York, and Emma is hired as a servant in the Mölders' household. There, she becomes a favorite because of her fluency in English, and for this her mistress always brings Emma on distant trips, e.g. the trip to Mrs. Trollope's (Aurelia Jones') house and also the trip to London alongside a few menservants who could also speak English. She was also a well-liked maid among the staff due to her honesty and diligence in her work, as well as the children who often played with her.
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:He is the eldest son of the "House of Jones", a very wealthy merchant middle class family that is attempting to rise into the gentry. As his father's heir, he is under tremendous stress to not only take over the family business but also marry a girl from another wealthy family, preferably into the peerage. He develops feelings for Emma after their first meeting. He often intercepts her coming from Covent Garden on Regent Street. In the manga, William had told his father about Emma but his father had never seen Emma (different with the anime).
:After Emma's departure, William changed drastically. He began to work very hard, attending social meetings and took care of his family's business. In his own perspectives, he never stopped regretting losing Emma, but he would live his life in the 'upper class side' as his father expected him to be. His change affected everyone around him, including Hakim. However, during the engagement party (the one with Eleanor Campbell), he unexpectedly meets Emma again, who is Dorothea Molders' companion at the time. Infused with this new hope, he gets conflicted with his engagement to Eleanor. But, that conflict helps strengthen his resolve to carry his family's business and his love for Emma.
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:Emma's employer and William Jones' former governess. She married at the age of 18, but lost her husband two years into the marriage, and did not have any children. Young and educated, Mrs. Stownar decided to become a governess, and tutored William and his siblings with an iron fist. Right before retiring, she met Emma, and took her in as her maid.
:Kelly was the one who taught Emma to do the household chores, to read, and to write. It was also Kelly who acted as a 'bridge' between Emma and William, although she realized that the relationship between Emma and William would never work out smoothly.
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:William Jones' best friend, who is a prince from India, and acts as a foil for William. He and William both attended Eton College. Somewhat of a womanizer, Hakim's straightforwardness and being outgoing is a clear departure from William's reservedness and dislike for social events. Hakim usually has his servant harem accompanying him and travels with a full complement of servants and elephants. Like William, Hakim was captivated with Emma the first time he saw her.
:His stay in England was prolonged simply because he wanted to see how the relationship between Emma and William progressed. Once he found out that Emma was in love with William, he tried to encourage their relationship into something further, but he let go Emma when she said that she would go back to her hometown, and made no efforts to prevent her from leaving. When William finally proposed to Eleanor, Hakim finally said that he would go back home. To him, there was no more excitement seeing William surrender to the pressure of the society.
: According to Mori, Hakim was originally intended to be a pure rival to William, but his role in the story changed as it progressed.
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:The young daughter of a viscount who falls in love with William. Her feelings for William are often reinforced by misunderstandings from William's courtesy and accommodation. Though her family is of the peerage, her family's financial situation is deteriorating. Due to this, her father very much wants Eleanor to marry into the wealthier, but lower class, Jones family.
:Eleanor is a very shy girl, yet at the same time she always tries to catch William's attention, for example by inviting him into a tea-party in her mansion, and visiting to William's mansion for 'seeing the rose blooming'. She is very shy whenever William is around, yet finally she is able to tell him her feelings when they are watching opera. She is (almost) always accompanied by her faithful servant Annie, who takes care of her since she was a child (in the 4th volume of the manga, it was shown that since Eleanor was still a child Annie has been serving her.)
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: Housemaid of the Mölders household. Emma first met Tasha at King's Cross railway station where she was leaving for Haworth along with her mistress Dorothea Mölders. Tasha later shared the same carriage as Emma, after learning that Emma was a maid, she suggested to her to apply for employment at Mölders household in Haworth, which was short of staff. After Emma is hired there, she and Tasha shared a servant's quarter and they became close friends.
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: Eleanor's older sister, who feels very protective of her. She doesn't like William and thinks he is not good enough for her sister.
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: Eleanor's father, a member of the nobility with strong classist views who secretly despises all non-nobles and resents the fact that lack of money forces him to accept a commoner as husband for Eleanor. This is shown drastically when, after shaking hands with Richard Jones, he throws away the glove he was wearing.
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:Richard is William's father.
;Grace Jones
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:Grace is the oldest of William's two sisters.
;Vivian Jones
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