Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette

Lore & Background

Set in nineteenth century-era France, the series begins with Cosette, a three-year-old girl, traveling with her mother Fantine, who is trying to find a job and a place to live. They have always been shunned away due to few employers hiring single mothers. When her mother is promised the prosperity of working in the big city, Cosette is separated from her in the hopes a caretaker named Thénardier will watch over her while her mother earns some money, but this was a trick and the caretaker is a corrupt man who makes Cosette his indentured servant, or more precisely his slave. Then, the kind mayor—formerly a convict named Jean Valjean—of the town that Cosette makes her new home in, sees how winds of change are so detrimental for children and families, and decides to do something about it, but forces Cosette to go on the run to escape his returning, difficult past.

Reader's Guide

Les Misérables: Shōjo Cosette holds significance as a revival of the World Masterpiece Theater series after a decade-long hiatus, bringing Victor Hugo's classic novel to a new generation through anime. Its 52-episode structure allowed for a detailed adaptation of the original story, focusing on Cosette's childhood and her bond with Jean Valjean. The series was dubbed and broadcast in multiple regions, including the Arab World, Italy, Hong Kong, Iran, South Korea, and the Philippines, where it aired under the title Ang Pangarap ni Cosette but was discontinued due to Typhoon Ondoy. Its legacy lies in being one of several anime adaptations of Les Misérables, contributing to the global reach of Hugo's work through Japanese animation.

Did You Know?

• It is the fourth anime adaptation of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables.
• The series contains twenty-six episodes each season, for a total of fifty-two episodes.