My weekly dosage of Yunesin, a made up drug that should be real.
Poor Yune, everything is so backwards and dirty in late 19th century smelly Paris. She ends up learning some difficult lessons about trusting foreigners after getting taken for a ride by a filthy street scamp. It’s as if she’s getting defiled right before our eyes.
See you in a while Crocodile.
Two of the main trio get a little restless this week. Again Yune (with her tireless work ethic) feels a little down when Claude tells her to chill out and relax. Personally I would love a boss like Claude. Also Oscar, with his old restless rickety bones yearning for some international spice, hits the proverbial road.
The little blonde kid who had been scoping out the sign shop, finally makes his move as he takes advantage of Yune’s kindness and steals a candlestick thing. This after Claude tried to lecture Yune on some of the more subtle aspects of trust in late 19th century Paris. I obviously enjoy saying “late 19th century Paris,” and sometimes I’ll substitute “France” for “Paris” just for diversity’s sake.
Somber rainy day in late 19th century Paris.
After the kid robs the shop, Yune chases him, for what seems like several hundred yards, through the maze of the Galerie. Not only can she not catch him (although she runs remarkably fast in her wooden shoes) she ends up getting lost!
Now with some serious trust issues and lost in the labyrinth, Yune has a hard time dealing with all the people she comes across. Eventually Claude tracks her down and they share some nice moments. Claude tells her that it wasn’t the theft, but her safety that was the most important thing. I’ve had bosses who would prefer I lose a limb or two to prevent some shrinkage. (That’s retail lingo for theft.)
"I'm the most precious thing on earth, pleased to meet you."
This episode ends with Oscar coming back after not really leaving. We also see the tiny yellow-haired thief later selling the thing he stole and then feeding a stray cat. That’s it.
Oscar, at some point, most likely in South America or Florida, actually found the fountain of youth. I’ve mentioned it before, but the guy looks to be the same age and actually healthier than the “younger” Claude. Surely he suffers from much less stress.
In the preview for next week’s show, we see that Alice returns and it would seem she dresses up Yune in extravagant Parisian fashion. Alice’s sister is obviously an opium addict. Did anyone else catch that or was it just me? I’m wondering if that could come into play, like some sort of tea for opium thing.
Overall this was another charming episode, though to me it felt like a bit of a letdown after the whirlwind that was Alice in the previous week. I guess I like the show enough that I’ll still enjoy it, if all it manages to do is have little moral lessons taught to an overly-cute Japanese girl by an overly-smelly French guy. As the season comes near the mid-way point, continuing to watch Yune is a no-brainer for me.
By the way, was anyone else freaked out by the clown guy? The extra scenes with the little blond scamp were nice and it would seem as if he’ll be in future episodes. Maybe the series will end with Yune curing all the poverty problems in late 19th century France.
From Paris with Moe, or Moe in Paris -whatever you call it, Ikoku is starting to get bland.