The back DVD cover puts it thusly: "Who loves me so much that he would forsake his own dear life... Is it you?"
Eiri, a talented art student, works part-time in an antique shop in a quiet part of town. One afternoon, he uncovers a delicate Venetian glass holding a startling secret within. When Eiri peers into the glass, he can see a young blond girl, her life playing out like a movie solely for him to see. Curious, he stares into the glass, hoping to learn more about the enchanting girl inside.
This is Cossette, a mysterious beauty haunting the glass, waiting 250 years for someone to finally see her, and set her free. Eiri is soon obsessed with Cossette, determined to do anything he can to help her. Will Eiri see past all the illusions and discover the tragic truth about Cossette, or will he be consumed by anguish and obsession?"

In recent years, the trend to releasing an original OVA (original video animation) has waned considerably in favor of shorter series or one shot movies. The exception has been older offerings finally making it to DVD or the occasional release designed to keep a particular franchise alive but in both cases, the end result has been decidedly mixed at best. So what was it that attracted me to this title in the first place? Well, the creative team, led by director Akiyuki Shinbo, has made some of my favorite titles in recent years and I didn't want to pass it up without checking it out. I knew nothing of the story and to be fair, I never thought Geneon would offer up a DVD that seemed so perverted on the surface. Thankfully, I got a chance to watch it without the usual hype and stuck with it to the end as it offered some seriously twisted thrills.

Here's a look at the characters as provided by the official Geneon website:
Eiri: A young college student and the lead of the show: "Eiri, a talented budding artist, works in his family's quaint antique shop. His young world is transformed after he stumbles upon a delicate Venetian glass harboring an enchanting saga. The glass is but a portal into the tragic world of a young girl named Cossette. He falls in love with this illusion that is as beautiful as she is cursed. Before ever laying eyes on such a beauty, Eiri was content to let women pass him by. His life was filled with his love of painting and drawing. But as he gets more involved with the beautiful Cossette, he is no longer able to differentiate where his life ends and where her life begins. As the lines between reality and illusion are further blurred, Eiri struggles to manage his obsession with Cossette before the heartbreak and betrayal of her past utterly consume his young life."

Cossette d'Auvergne: The spirit of a long dead girl murdered by her fiancé hundreds of years ago, trapped inside a wine glass, who makes contact with Eiri: "Cossette is a beautiful young girl who spirit haunts a delicate Venetian glass. With delicate eyes, long blond hair and a lithe frame, her beauty is both haunting and enchanting. Her soul has been trapped in the glass for 250 years desperately waiting for someone to able to hear her story, see her spirit and help set her free. Cossete's innocence is deceptive; she's able to lure Eiri in with her child-like naivete afforded to her as a child of the 18th century aristocratic d'Auvergne family. But beneath her innocent veneer is a callous and cold-hearted young woman who is obsessed with vengeance. Her past is mired by a tragic love affair with an artist named Marcelo Orlando. Freedom will come to Cossette when someone consents to the pact of blood and atones for all of the sins of her former lover. Is Eiri the man she has been waiting for the 250 years?"

Shoko: A friend of Eiri that first notices changes in him, changes leading down a path of destruction: "Shoko is a close friend and confidant of Eiri. Although an extremely sharp young lady, her insecurity is coupled with a neurotic nature that is endearing. She appears to harbor some romantic feeling for Eiri but when rumors abound that Eiri has found love, she is perplexed and obsessed."

Hatsumi: Eiri's relative and doctor: "The local physician and Shoko's aunt, Hatsumi is utterly confounded by Eiri's psychosomatic afflictions. Although she has no medical evidence, she suspects that something is terribly wrong. She, like most of the women in Eiri's life, is worried about him."

Michiru: A gal pal of Eiri with some talent to predict the future: "Michiru works as the local tarot card reader and shares with Eiri an emotional bond that weaves her into the saga of Cossette's vengeance and emotional restlessness that seeks to lure Eiri to the brink of insanity."

Yu: Another gal with supernatural, if unpredictable, powers to see something deeper going on with Eiri: "Yu is a young girl with undeveloped psychic abilities who works at the local deli. She is sweet and extremely cute. Although she doesn't know exactly what is going on with Eiri, her abilities allow her some insight into the paranormal roots of Eiri's obsession. She is concerned and genuinely cares about Eiri."

Shakado: Yet another gifted gal with powers beyond those that can be explained: "As the local priestess and psychic, Shakado's talents reveal frightening energies hovering over Eiri like the shadow of death. Her worry and love for Eiri motivates her to understand the pull that this forsaken love has on Eiri's psyche."

Taking this cast of characters and putting them together for a full length feature (in the form of a three part OVA), the story weaves a complex tale of truth and consequences as Eiri follows his heart for the young ghost that haunts his dreams. He buys into what she's selling and she seems more interested in using him than loving him in return. Like most Gothic tales of woe, the innocent victim doesn't see what's coming until it's too late but Eiri has a whole bunch of psychic acquaintances (likely due to his running his uncle's antique shop and being a fair merchant in the process) and folks that care about him so he's never truly alone in his quest, at least not once they figure out what's going on.

The strength of the story then is how Eiri finds Cossette, the trials and tribulations he goes through to be with her, and how he seeks redemption from his plight, even if it costs him everything he has. Fans of Gothic horror will find a lot to like about this one as it has many moments of purely dark subject matter, as well as a lot of religious symbolism indicative of the genre. I'm not going to suggest I understood it all (I watched it twice and spot checked the other vocal track) but it had some interesting moments. As such, and because of some solid extras usually not found in an OVA, I'm going to rate it as Recommended although fans of horror will likely see it as far more worthy of a higher rating that that.

Picture: Le Portrait de Petite Cossette was presented in the same 1.78:1 anamorphic widescreen color it was made in by director Akiyuki Shinbo. If you enjoy moody looking anime, I can't think of anything even approaching it in terms of style for this kind of darkness. I'm certain that you'd get the idea of the story based on the visuals alone given how complex and richly detailed they were but they were very saturated in terms of the usual anime style most fans have come across so view it in a dark room at night to get the best effect. I saw nothing on the screen that made me think anything I saw was a flaw but the limited animation used to tell the story, while very much in tune with the story, wasn't exactly earth shattering.

Sound: The audio was another area where a lot of care went into the production and really helped elevate it ahead of the pack. For me, the best track was the 5.1 DTS track in the original Japanese. In terms of special effects and music, it was superior to the offerings of the usual 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround, in both English and Japanese, but the vocals weren't that much different. The separation between the channels, particularly during the action parts of the show, was very well handled and the dynamic range appeared to be substantially better in the DTS track. Thankfully, those of you without the equipment to process such a track will find the Dolby Digital tracks very well made too. Between those two, I actually favored the English language dub slightly but the flow of the original worked nicely too. In terms of the subtitles, they were similar but not identical to the dub and conveyed the elements of the story properly.

Extras: The best extra and something you really shouldn't watch until after you've seen the movie a few times would be the Behind the Scenes feature. It lasted almost exactly 20 minutes and had the cast and crew discussing various aspects of the OVA. There were substantial spoilers in it but it also managed to provide some insight as to what was happening during a few points in the movie where the imagery took over from the plot (and confused the heck out of me). There was also a cool music video by pop star Maria Inoue, some trailers and television commercials, as well as a double sided DVD cover.

Final Thoughts: Le Portrait de Petite Cossette will not be everyone's pick of the week due to the very mature subject matter, the horror aspects, and the theme of love between a guy too old for the girl of the title (though less so than the thematic originals). The director went to great lengths to point out various concerns he had in the BTS feature and I could see why he was so focused on them but in the end, fans of Gothic styled horror will be appreciative of the multiple layers of material showcased here. If you've ever seen Somewhere In Time, consider this a far darker version with as much going on as you're likely to see (particularly in an anime release) but remember that this one isn't made for kids (unless you want them sleeping with you for a few months and wetting the bed).

If you enjoy anime, take a look at some of the recommendations by DVDTalk's twisted cast of reviewers in their Best Of Anime 2003 and Best Of Anime 2004 article or regular column Anime Talk