Mori Kaoru's Emma, Vol.08-10 act as a fun and heartwarming set of short-story denouement to the main series plot. Acting as an ex post-facto story arc, many of the minor characters we come to know from the main series are given treated to one of the following: a much deserved and fleshed out ending (as in the case of Eleanor *swoon*), an exposition that leads up to where we met them in the main series (as in Aurelia), a side-story that follows immediately after we we left off with them but doesn't act as an ending (as in Tasha). Discordant? Perhaps but the non-linear disjointed accounts fit together nonlinearly in much the same way as an any good set of Monogatari.

Specific to Vol.08: The Great Expedition in all its glorious steampunk splendor *swoon*. A great deal of translator-created 19th Century London/Pikey/not-quite-English colloquialism. Every person in England can read. Yes, it is a fantasy but it's lovable and we forgive it. ( )

If you are looking for another story about the love between Emma and William then you may be disappointed by this volume of the Emma series. This installment fleshes out the stories of some of the minor characters from earlier in the Emma books, and Emma hardly appears at all.

The quality of the art in these books is still superb, and if you like looking at detailed drawings of life in Victorian England then you should still like it.

My favorite storyline in this book was that of a young Mrs. Stowner and her husband. Mrs. Stowner was Emma's employer from the first book. When Emma was her maid Mrs. Stowner lived alone, but when she was younger she was a vibrant young woman who was very much in love with her husband. Reading a bit of their love story was delightful.

Overall I wish that the author had chosen to focus on one story, giving more details and plot for the reader. Instead what we get is a few short and unrelated stories strung together. Volume 8 was still a fun read, but didn't satisfy me as much as the previous volumes.
( )

今までのペースに比べたらあまりにも急展開過ぎる第7巻。「え、こんなに早く見つけちゃうの！？」と思っていたら、最終章の文字が。「最終章って何？残り3巻はどうなっちゃうの！？え！？？」状態。物語の締め方としてはいいのかもしれないけれど、何か消化不良感が。あとがき見ると残り3巻は番外編になるようで。いろんな方向に話が広がるといいけどなあ。

とりあえず二人の道が決まったのはよかった。おそらく階級の壁、社交界の壁などいろいろと大変だと思うけど、素質と頭の良さで上手く乗り越えられるはず。奥方様二人の強力なバックアップも得られたわけだし、奥方様だちもそれを楽しんでいるようだし。

ここまでで一番成長したのはウィリアムズなのかな。最初はなんとなくなよなよした感じだったけど、エマと再開したころから顔つきが変わってきたような気がする。威厳と言えるのか分からないけれど、そいうったモノが感じられるようになった。頼もしい旦那さんになって欲しい。そしてクラスの壁を乗り越えて欲しい。そして何よりも二人に幸せになって欲しい。 ( )