Romeo recovers from an injury.

Historical Notes and Background

Although the music, scenery, and animation in ROMEO is beautiful, many events that occur in the story are not. Since the setting is 19th Century Milan, an industrialized European city, Romeo and company encounter many very real hardships.
One of the results of the Industrial Revolution was the almost insatiable demand for cheap unskilled labor; one solution was to use children, as there were no labor standards at the time. Selling children to others to work was not unknown during that period, and just as in ROMEO, the targets of the child brokers were often poor peasant farmers in more remote areas. Part of this was of course due to the fact that their need for money was in many cases more severe. Another reason was that if the children were taken away from their hometown and family, they would be easier to control and less likely to run away, since they would be unable to return home.
Parents who sold their children were told that it was only for a "fixed period," just as Romeo is told that he will be allowed to return home in the spring. However, this was in many instances nothing more than false hope. Due to the lack of child labor laws, employers were free to exploit these children in any fashion they saw fit. Romeo's job as a chimney sweep was certainly unglamorous and somewhat dangerous, but it would have been far more dangerous for him if he had been sent to work in a coal mine or in a factory, since safety standards were practically nonexistent. At least as a chimney sweep, Romeo was able to see the proverbial light at the end of the tunnel.
Selling children into work was not confined to Europe's Industrial Revolution. When Japan began its rapid industrialization during the Meiji Era, many peasant girls were sold to work in factories, especially textile factories. Life was hard — they slept in dorms on the factory premises, often worked 18 hour days, and were in constant danger of being mauled by the heavy machinery. Those that survived their stay were free to go home, but having no money, they usually traveled on foot back to their home towns. Many of them did not make it.

Angelita's faltering health grows worse.

Romeo's life as a chimney sweep posed a very real danger as well. Those who often came into contact with coal or soot were particularly likely to contract the black lung disease, tuberculosis. The disease was also known as consumption, because that is essentially what it did to its victims — it consumed them. Once contracted, there was no hope for a cure in the 19th century; many chimney sweeps, coal miners, and factory workers died at a very early age due to this disease. And whenever one of the chimney sweeps in ROMEO coughs, the viewer finds himself wondering if it is simply a cold or a portent of something far more sinister.
With such dangers lurking in the historical background, it is somewhat amazing that ROMEO can be as beautiful as it is. Perhaps done as a reflection of true Romantic style, ROMEO NO AOISORA finds beauty in an ugly world and recognizes it for what it is — something to be treasured.
The target audience for the World Masterpiece Theater is children. But sometimes the show seems much too intense for a very young audience (the first three episodes alone are tearjerkers in the most absolute sense of the word). This show has violence and tragedy. People are hurt in accidents, they sicken, they are injured, and in some cases, they die. And yet, the main characters continue their struggle, secure in their belief that things will get better.

More on the World Masterpiece Theater

The length of WMT television series has been dropping steadily over the last several years. Before ROMEO, the average run was 50 episodes; ROMEO ran for 33. LASSIE, ROMEO's successor, came to an early end when it was canceled. And the latest show, REMI THE HOMELESS GIRL, which started immediately after LASSIE ended in September is due to end early (it too was canceled and the last episode airs at the end of March).
It has also been announced that after 22 years, the World Masterpiece Theater series is being put out to pasture and that no new television series will be made.
This, however, does not mean the end of Nippon Animation or its gifted storytellers. Nippon Animation is turning its attention to feature films; they are reanimating selected series from the WMT television series. The first, FURANDAASU NO INU (DOG OF FLANDERS) is based on the first WMT series of the same name.
DOG OF FLANDERS was released in theaters in Japan on 15 March 1997. Future projects depend on the success of this film.