Anne of Green Gables (1979 TV series)


Anne of Green Gables is an animated television series, part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. It was adapted from the 1908 novel, Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Produced by Nippon Animation in 1979, it was first broadcast on Fuji TV from January 7, 1979, to December 30, 1979. Fifty episodes were produced in total. The first six episodes were later edited into a compilation film released in 2010.
The series has been exported to neighbouring Asian countries and also to Europe and French Canada. An English dub produced by Leephy Studios aired on SABC and Japan Entertainment Television, which has been legally available on YouTube since 2016.
As with the novels, the animated version of Anne is beloved in Japan to this day. The "DVD Memorial BOX set" for Region 2 was released on August 22, 2008, and a Blu-Ray of the series was released in Japan on March 26, 2014. An anime series that serves as a prequel to the series, , premiered on April 5, 2009, in Japan.

Story

Anne Shirley is a girl raised in an orphanage. Anne is accidentally sent to Miss Marilla Cuthbert and Mr. Matt Cuthbert, who had originally requested a boy. Miss Marilla is surprised at first. After learning of Anne's sad past, she gradually becomes an irreplaceable member of the Cuthbert family.

Summary

The anime was directed by Isao Takahata. He chose to hold this version very true to the original source material, although his two previous works had been adapted and altered.
Hayao Miyazaki did the scene setting and layout. Previously, he had worked on 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, although he left the production and Nippon Animation after the first 15 episodes. Miyazaki noticed a difference in Takahata's philosophy of animation; Takahata stuck to controlled, realistic acting at the time, similar to his former work. Miyazaki had not intended to do other work with Takahata, but he had also not planned on becoming independent in this season of his work.
Yoshifumi Kondō was selected for character design and animation director over Yoichi Kotabe, who had stopped work with Takahata after 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother of the previous work. Kondo went on to work with Takahata on the films Grave of the Fireflies and Only Yesterday. The voice of Anne was provided by Eiko Yamada, who would become a staple of World Masterpiece Theatre anime, going on to play Lavinia in Princess Sarah and Jo March in Little Women.
The first six episodes were edited together by Takahata into a 100-minute theatrical movie in 1989. The film went unreleased until July 17, 2010, when it was screened at the Ghibli Museum as Anne of Green Gables: Road to Green Gables. Both the theatrical release and the entire original series are available on Blu-ray.

Characters

Music

The show was well received upon its Japanese debut, helping lift the profile of the source material. It has subsequently appeared on best-anime lists conducted by TV Asahi's audience polls and those produced by outlets like Animage.
Shigeto Mori has received two posthumous JASRAC International Awards for his work on the series, first in 2003 and then in 2010.