Le Portrait de Petit Cossette
Le Portrait de Petit Cossette is an original video animation produced by Aniplex. It spanned 3 episode OVA series and ran in 2004. It anime was licensed for North American distribution by Geneon and released as "Le Portrait de Petite Cossette", correcting the grammatical error in the French title, but leaving the typo and syntax mistakes, since the correct French is actually "Le portrait de la petite Cosette". Once translated to English from French however, the title reads "The Portrait of Small Cosette". Fuse TV has broadcast the anime as part of their Anime Explosion Weekend on December 15, 2007.The series was adapted into a manga series by Asuka Katsura. It spanned two volumes and was published in 2004. The English-language release is published by Tokyopop.
The series focuses on Eiri Kurahashi, an art student who works in an antique shop. One day, he sees the image of a girl in an antique glass. To his shock, she appears to be moving and living out her life before his eyes. He becomes infatuated with the girl, and one night at midnight, somehow makes contact with her. He learns her name is Cossette, and that she was an aristocrat's daughter during the 18th century.
She reveals to him that her spirit has been entrapped within the glass by her murder, which was perpetrated by her betrothed, the artist Marcelo Orlando. To set her free, she tells Eiri, a man must be willing to take upon himself punishment for the sins Marcelo committed.
As the series progresses, Eiri is tortured mentally and physically by Cossette, who demands that he prove his professed love for her. It is revealed that Eiri is the reincarnation of Marcelo, and that Cossette is becoming as infatuated with him as he is with her. Also depicted are the efforts of the women in Eiri's life - relatives, friends and mentors, and the obligatory girl-next-door love interest - to free him from what is becoming increasingly obvious to them as a self-destructive path.