Le Portrait De Petite Cossette

What is the nature of art? Of beauty? Of the soul? Of love?

This is a good anime. Although it initially rubbed me as a cliche horror flick with far too many artsy, symbolic, and pretentious elements, I’ve come to accept that Le Portrait De Petite Cossette deals with some serious issues, and does a good job given its constraints. Portrait is, as mentioned, partly a horror flick – expect to see the walls bleed at least once in this OVA.

Eiri works in an antique shop in Tokyo, selling items that his uncle ships from his travels in Europe. In an old drinking glass, he sees a girl, Cossette, who just so happens to be a ghost. Through a weird acid trip of a turn of events, we learn that he must atone for the Cossette’s murder over 200 years ago by being tortured and ripped asunder by her vengeful possessions. All things considered, he takes it pretty well.