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Ie Naki Ko is based on Hector Malot's novel Sans Famille (the English version is called Nobody's Boy). I saw part of the Japanese version and part of the French one (the latter on DVD - the French Canadian release). I am not familiar with the out-of-print U.S. version, so I cannot speak to its quality.

The story is great, and really heart-wrenching. Remi and his friends go through hardship after hardship, and at times the future looks very bleak for them. The adaptation is usually but not always faithful to the novel. I personally prefer the novel's ending to that of the show, but otherwise ... I loved the story.

The art is great for the time. That is to say that the colors are not as clear as modern digital releases, even in the DVD version, but the level of detail is pretty good, the faces are expressive, and the scenery is sweeping. Many scenes are dreamlike, reflecting Remi's emotional state. There are some scenes with static images on moving backgrounds, and other shortcuts, but only as much as is common in anime. The colors are realistic - no pink-haired people in this show - and the thin lines and detailed linework is unusual, especially for the time.

There is a good deal of music, especially once the characters start performing for money. I enjoyed it as a rule, with the exception of the theme song in the French version, which was annoying and stuck in my head. The original theme music was better. The voicing was quite good in both versions and the music added to the mood of many scenes, meshing nicely with the art. Of course you're not going to get amazing surround sound on a show like this, and there wasn't a song that really stuck out to me as a favorite, but the music definitely added to the experience.

The major characters - from Remi to Capi, the leader of the dogs, to Vitalis, are endearing. I have to say it's unusual to see animals portrayed this well in anime. Some other characters are thoroughly detestable, but I found that even in the most emotional parts of the show, I kept watching for Remi's sake.

I had a few issues with the show in terms of historical accuracy. I can recall at least one instance of random English - "Coffee" on a sign in a tiny town in the middle of nineteenth century France? I also found the Japanese labels on the map of France distracting, especially once I switched to the French version.

I really liked this show and would recommend it to anyone who likes tearjerkers and older anime.

A couple notes on the Quebec release - it's called Remi Sans Famille (or just Remi) and I suspect the video is taken from the US version, because there are credits in English at the end of each episode. Also, the episode summaries reflect the plot of the book more closely than that of the show. This release is French-only, which is sad, because the French audio really is top-notch, as well as being the only version in print in the North America.

Note: At the time of writing this, I have yet to see the anime movie or any of the other media (it started with a novel and there have been a number of adaptations).

Story:
At first, the story is very disjointed - and not because of the time leaps! The beginning covers a series of minor, unconnected incidents in the main character's life, which gives you a sense of the type of person she is, but can be hard to follow.

Maybe because I'm such a science fiction and fantasy fan, I didn't expect the story to go as it does - to basically be a romance/slice ... of life. It's sort of a coming of age story. Nonetheless, it is well-handled, and becomes increasingly gripping as it goes on and things become more difficult for the main character.

Art:
The art is nice. In the black-and-white sections, it's clean and dynamic, showing movement well, while the color pages (which are few) use a coloring style that's unusual in manga, and it turned out quite well.

Characters:
The main character starts out pretty immature, but thankfully she grows over the course of the story. The other characters, though not numerous (it is after all quite a short manga) are realistically portrayed and easy to relate to.

Overall:
This manga is fun from the start, and gets better. I wouldn't say it's a must-read, but it does make me want to check out the earlier versions as well as the movie - there are several references to the other story (this is a sequel of sorts) which I enjoyed, even though I haven't seen what they're referencing! It's also a fast and easy read, even in the original Japanese.

Story:
Kannazuki no Miko starts off as a silly and mostly lighthearted romp with giant robots, mysticism, girls in love (with each other) and pretty art. Even having heard (but forgotten) certain spoilers about the direction the story ends up taking, I thought I was going to like it a lot.

Unfortunately for me, the story takes a dark turn which I most decidedly did not enjoy. In particular it was the way in which the offending character continued to be self-righteous and another character rationalized the first one's actions which bothered me. Keep in mind though that I'm a feminist and I have a tendency to ... identify strongly with certain characters, so if you can maintain a greater emotional distance it might bother you less.

That said, the rest of the story deals with themes of destiny, true love, and star-crossed lovers, so it isn't particularly original. It is kind of fun though.

Art:
The art is good in general, particularly the character and costume designs - crazy hair, lots of detail in the miko clothes and some of the bad guys' outfits, and attention to eyes. The faces are pretty expressive and the giant robots are cool. There is a lot of screen tone and a few random flowers and so forth. You can tell that they're really working to appeal toward yuri/shoujo ai fans, because those scenes are pretty detailed, though not completely explicit.

That said, there are a few panels where I have trouble telling what's going on, and I don't think that Kannazuki no Miko brings anything new as far as art goes either.

Characters:
There was one character who, for reasons stated above, I came to despise. The others didn't really make an impression for the most part, and a few were flat, not changing throughout the course of the story.

Enjoyment:
I really liked the most of the first volume, because it was so ridiculous. After the darker turn, I still wanted to keep reading, but I spent most of the rest of the time being angry or shaking my head at what the characters were doing. I would have given this manga a seven or an eight in this category if I had enjoyed it all as much as the beginning.

Overall:
Not bad. It's enjoyable in parts and it's pretty, but other parts might make you angry and the characters can be a little flat at times. Its attempts at darker themes are sometimes undermined by the over-the-top villains and silly giant robots. It's the sort of show you might like if you like yuri and giant robots and don't mind the dark themes.