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ACE O NERAE (=Aim for the Ace!/Jenny Jenny (1988-90), 26 eps.
A
classic shoujo tennis anime, in which Oka Hiromi (Jenny), initially a
poor player, succeeds though determination and the hard work of coach Munkata.
The opening & closing credit artwork is astonishing, with character
designs that bear a close resemblance to those of Onisama E (=Dear
Brother), and the remainder has the rather stylised action sequences typical
of sports anime. The Italian series is adapted from a set of Japanese OVAs
which were made as a sequel to the Japanese TV series (1973). After the
death of a close friend, "Jenny" takes up tennis again, briefly visits
America in pursuit of a lover, and competes in a tournament. The tennis
sequences are more than usually stylised, with the emphasis purely on determination
and power play.
Like Onisama E, it seems intended for more mature viewers; all the
principal characters appear adult. Polsat showed the Italian edition with
a Polish overdub. I've watched many of the Italian episodes; it's hard
to follow, but the art is great (also beautiful women in tennis dresses...)Jenny
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES (=Anna dai Capelli Rossi= Akage no An
= Anne mit den Röten Haar)
Adaptation of the famous book by Lucy Maud Montgomery. This is another
WMT anime (see below for explanation), and looks well
animated, with, of course, a good story and intelligent script. It's a
fairly faithful adaptation, but there are a few WMT
inserts which viewers may be able to spot. For the benefit of those who
are not familiar with the book, Anne is an 11 year old orphan, an intelligent
, imaginative and sensitive child, who is adopted by a childless brother
and sister. Her boundless energy gets her into lots of minor scrapes. I
confess to some bias, as after some two dozen episodes I found I was very
fond of Anne - a reaction moreover not provoked by reading the original
book. Anne's character design changes subtly as she grows.
Italian edition: My Italian is negligible, but I managed to
follow a few of the scenes. However, Italian sounds like the wrong language
for this series (set in Canada) and some of the other WMT
are more interestingly animated. The opening credit song is great. The
opening credit sequence refers to a scene in the first chapter of the book.
German edition: This apparently uses more of the Japanese opening
credits, though the opening song is much inferior to the Italian one. In
general, the German edition follows the book so closely that the latter
can be used as a script. Recommended.
BUSHBABIES (kusabara no chiisana tenshi busshu beibii
/ Bush Baby, Little Angel of the Grasslands. (Series Length: 40 Eps.)
This
is based on a novel, The bushbabies (1965), by a Canadian
author, William Stevenson. The novel was also adapted as a live action
movie,The Bushbaby (1970), USA/UK.
The story begins in 1964, in the area of Killimanjaro, Kenya when young
Jackie begins to travel the savannah. Her father is a game warden, who
has a loyal African assistant, Tenbo.
The area is troubled by poachers, whom the wardens are unable to catch.
After some time, Jackie's father loses his job because of Kenyan-isation,
and Jackie's family prepares to return to England. At Mombasa, Jackie realised
she has lost the papers for her pet bush-baby, and leaves the ship, which
sails without her. She luckily meets Tembo, who has been over-zealous in
spying on the poachers' export warehouse.
At first I thought that this series, though it looked well- researched,
was going to be one of those rather boring "lets be nice to animals" things,
and I didn't much like the principal character's design. However the episodes
after Jackie misses her ship are altogether superior, with a richly detailed
background of the real Africa, and with a silently worried Tembo dodging
the poachers, and also the police, who he entirely distrusts, while looking
after a lively blonde, blue-eyed girl who perhaps does not grasp as well
as the viewer what a mess she and Tenbo are in.Jackie in bush
This is one of the most contemporary of the WMT
series and, at its best, contains a realism and subtlety light years away
from trashy American cartoons. Tembo's comments on the police, while unflattering,
ring as true as a broadsheet newspaper headline. Well worth checking out.
CAT'S EYE (= Ein Supertrio)
Cat's Eye chronicles the lives and exploits of a three-woman
team of art thieves. Many years ago, the famous painter Heinz owned
a large art collection. His partner, Cranoff, stole the entire collection,
sold off the pieces, and disappeared. Heinz's daughters, Rui, Hitomi and
Ai Kisugi, devote their lives to reassembling their father's collection.
Each recovered piece provides a new clue to their missing father's whereabouts.
Unfortunately the three sisters need to steal the pieces back from the
museums and unscrupulous criminals who own them.
As a cover, the sisters run the "Cat's Eye" coffee shop, which serves
as base of operations, home, livelihood and cover. The coffee shop is situated
across from Police Headquarters. The title also alludes to the sisters'
love affairs, "Eye" being a homonym for "ai" , the Japanese word
for love. Toshio Utsume, a police detective, is Hitomi's sweetheart, and
also assigned to track down the Cat's Eye gang!
Characters: Hitomi: most athletic sister, Rui: oldest
sister, Ai: youngest sister & inventor, Gosuke: Cat's
Eye's mysterious informant and supplier. Police: Toshio: Hitomi's
sweetheart, rather dim, Mitsuko Asatane: Toshio's partner (female),
suspects the sisters are Cat's Eye, Captain: apoplectic head of
the police Cat's Eye Special Unit.
This series seemed aimed at an older audience than much of the other
TV anime. The character designs are quite good, and relatively lifelike
(no huge eyes), but the settings are too often stock huge buildings, casinos
etc and rather unrealistic, as are the episode stories. It's also very
"talky" and in the German version at least, there seems very little to
engage the viewer's interest.
CANDY CANDY
A classic
shoujo anime, set in the USA, following the story of Candy White, a tomboy-waif
from Michigan. Visually, it is somewhat reminiscent of "Lady Georgie",
another period romantic drama. In a later episode, Candy works as a nurse at
a railroad construction project. I've only seen two episodes, and detail
on the series can be hard to come by, but check out the Shoujo
ML Archive. Highly rated by some fans.
DIE CHAMPIONS
I know very
little about this; it's another football anime, set in Japan, about three
footballers, Toshi, Kazuhiro, and Kenji, and their childhood friend Kazumi.
The three, successful footballers in junior high school, get into the senior
high school team. Kazumi, now grown into an attractive young woman, remains
their friend, fan and cheerleader.
There's a great deal of footie, which may get tedious if you are not
a footie fan. However as Kazumi innocently leaps about, viewers are treated
to the same glimpses of her charms that get the lads in such a fluster
of hopeless passion. Initially at least, Kazumi seems oblivious of the
effect she is having on her maturing friends... This is one of those series
in which it is very easy to imagine the characters as real people. Certainly
Kasumi, when she appears, evokes a real girl of flesh and blood more vividly
than any other character in anime.Kazumi in newspaper
Later on in the series, Kazumi goes her own way to begin a career as
a singer. The final episodes were distinguished by the quality of animation,
which is modern and very filmic in character, and the relatively mature
tone of the drama. Well worth checking out an episode just to see what
it looks like.
Whether you continue watching will depend on whether you like acres
of football anime.
DIE KINDER VON BERGHOF (=Story of the Alps:
My Annette/ arupusu monogatari watashi no annetto )
Yet
another WMT anime adapted from a childrens' novel.
Like the other WMT stuff, it is well designed and
animated and has a decent script. Annette and Lucien are 7 years old as
the story opens, but age to 12 after a few episodes. They live in a Swiss
Alpine village (in the French-speaking part, I'd guess), attending the
village school, and in the first two episodes they have an argument, take
part in a toboggan race, and Lucien's family is threatened with eviction.
Later, much excitement is caused by the building of a new railway. Some
episodes later, the two principal characters have a serious falling out,
after Annette's little brother breaks his leg and Lucien gets the blame.
Looks good on details of everyday life, and has a rather laid-back
sense of humour. (While I wouldn't class this as a comedy, it does have
more amusing incident in it than some of the other WMT
series). The character's faces are not so well designed, but on the other
hand their expressions can be very amusing on occasion. Any humour which
appears is refreshingly understated and sometimes purely visual, as in
the scene where Annette and her little brother, having been carried off
on the train, are chased around Montreux station by an ever-lengthening
line of ticket inspectors and male passengers.
DAS MÄDCHEN VON DER FARM (=Makiba no Shoujo Katri
= 'Katri, Girl of the Meadows').
This is a low-key but well detailed story of a young girl, Katolie
(Katri) living on remote farms in Finland, and later in town, during the
First World War. Katri is an intelligent child, who has taught herself
to read. The backgrounds are very nicely done, and though it's not always
dramatic (in various episodes, she gets chased by boy bullies, a farm burns
down, a wolf is seen, and a cow gores a bear) it's quite watchable, and
bears repeated viewings. The War and Russian revolution rumble faintly
in the background and are responsible for the absense or disappearance
of various adult characters (a recurrent theme in Katri's life). Eventually
Katri goes to school in a town, still hoping to be reuinted with her mother.
Learn the German for "cow" etc.
Taro Rehrl writes:
I'm now looking at your reviews: The first two
(MADCHEN, & SARA) are members of Nippon Animation's so-called World
Masterpiece Theater line, which are anime series based on classic children's
novels. There are quite many shoujo titles, for example Anne of Green Gables
(directed by Isao Takahata). And yes, these are connected to Studio Ghibli
in some way. ^_^ Visit Ben Ettinger's page for more information about the
WMT
line:
http://ccwf.cc.utexas.edu/~ben/sekai.html
DAS MAEDCHEN VON DER FARM (You've translated
it correctly) The original title is 'Makiba no Shoujo Katri' which translates
to 'Katri, Girl of the Meadows'. Yes, her name is Katri, not Katoli but
the Japanese have the usual troubles with the pronounciation of such names.
The German dubbers heard the original but didn't know that it's supposed
to be 'Katri' so they also used 'Katoli'. The novel was written around
1940.
DIE KLEINE PRINZESSIN SARA (=Shoukoujo Sara = Little Princess
Sara.)
Sara is an orphan working as a servant girl in a big town house used
as a school for rich girls, and run by the Headmistress from Hell and her
mostly unpleasant servants. I thought it was Japanese as (1) who else could
make something this good, and (2) Sara's friend Becky looks at one point
extremely like a little girl from "Porco Rosso". Again, it's a period
London setting, and not a comedy. It's not entirely clear yet whether Sara's
formerly wealthy parents are dead or just missing. There's a mysterious
Indian (from India) who keeps hopping across the rooftops to help Sara.
The story plays the Ill-Treated Orphan card rather a lot, but isolated
episodes play beautifully in an atmosphere of magical realism. Well worth
checking out.
Taro Rehrl writes:
DIE KLEINE PRINZESSIN SARA (translates to 'Little
Princess Sara') This is my favourite anime! Original title 'Shoukoujo Sara'
The original novel is the well known 'A Little Princess' by Frances Hodgson
Burnett written in 1905. Sara should be one of the first if not *the* first
ill-treated orphan around. I would also recommend the book greatly. Visit
my home page (it's vast): http://www.informatik.tu-muenchen.de/~rehrl/Sara.html
to answer your questions. I've also included
some information about the Nippon Animation / Studio Ghibli relationship
and the WMT line.
Taro Rehrl's Sara page: Little
Princess Sara.
DIE SCHATZINSEL (Treasure Island)
Yes it is indeed another adaptation of the famous RL Stevenson novel,
with fine painted artwork. Though more suitable for kids, it's quite well
done and seems to stick fairly faithfully to the original book; as much
as you could expect anyway. The characterisation is good, with the good
guys sometimes appearing a bit wet, and Silver not being wholly villainous.
In fact he makes a fascinating anti-hero. Infinitely better than American
cartoons.
DIE TOLLEN FUSSBALSTARS (= Captain Tsubasa)
This is the legendary sports anime series, the one that was often the
subject of naughty yaoi dojinshi written by Japanese girl fans.
Also very popular in Hong Kong. The episode I saw was from near the beginning
of the run, and all the characters look too young for that sort of thing.
It's quite well animated, but may be of more interest if you like football
or have the time to get into the story.
EIN FROHLISCE FAMILIE (=Little Women)
Most
fanboys would probably rather die than be seen watching a show with this
title. Too bad for them. It's an irresistibly charming adaptation of the
famous American novel. The character designs have something in common with
those for WHISPER OF THE HEART, and the characters of Jo and Amy are so
well brought to life that one rapidly gains a vivid impression of them.
A few minutes and I was hooked. Recommended as a cure for depression!
My mother says that in the book the March household was poverty-stricken;
they don't look so poor in this anime. Except that in the bits I've seen
they always wear the same clothes. This is evidently another of those WMT
anime.
The first fifteen or so episodes are a prequel originated (I assume)
by the Japanese, and insert some dramatic American Civil War material which
is conspicuously absent from the original. You can download the original
novel. (having done so, it seems that while various scenes are faithfully
adapted, the structure of the series departs widely from the first book.
The book starts about ep#17 of the TV, and the TV ends at the end of Part
1 of the book (ch.23)). The un-adapted Part 2 of the novel, significantly,
depicts the sisters as adults.
See also:LW
(german) and
LW
(english)
EL HAZARD (26 ep. TV series) (Turkish edition)
TV version of Pioneer's excellent and well-known OVA series. Makoto
and his friends are magically transported to another world where they try
to help Princess Rune Venus and the inhabitants of Roshtaria repel the
insect-like Bugrum, who unfortunately are being led by Makoto's crazed
schoolmate Jinnai. There's a series synopsis at: The
Wanderers. Comparisons with the OVA version are inevitable: the TV
series has a somewhat different and more episodic storyline, though the
same characters appear. The initial transport to El Hazard is here accomplished
by an apparatus that Makoto constructs and Jinnai interferes with. The
racier elements of the OVA series, ie the cross-dressing, incidental nudity
and Alielle's lesbian lusts have all been dropped. Much more time is devoted
to the three Great Priestesses, who are well characterised. The artwork
is very good, to the point where it's worth watching even if you don't
understand a word of dialogue. The Turkish edition audibly preserves the
Japanese names and honorifics of the characters.
GEORGIE (= Lady Georgie)
I'm fairly sure this is one of those made-for-export Japanese series,
for I remember reading about it somewhere. It has run several times on
TM3. Also has a few scenes that only the Japanese would dare include!!
Setting, 19th cent. Australia, near the sea.
Georgie, who is actually quite unrelated to the other characters, though
she doesn't know this, lives on a farm with her two 'brothers', Abel and
Arthur, and their mother. In the early episodes Mr Bateman is also present,
but later dies in an accident. In the middle episodes I've seen, Abel starts
behaving rather awkwardly towards Georgie, because he realises that he
is becoming attracted to her as a young woman and not as a sister. Unable
to handle his feelings, he resolves to go away as a sailor. Arthur also
resists inappropiate feelings towards his "sister". Meanwhile, a young
woman of the town, Jessica, sets her cap at Abel. Later the action moves
to London as Georgie goes there searching her lover, followed by her 'brothers'.
This is attractively animated and it's easy to become interested in
the characters. Definitely worth watching. In fact, if you like intense
romantic drama and can follow the dialogue, you'll probably love it.
Second look: I found the melodrama of the London episodes (later
in the series) rather a turn-off.
In the opening episodes of the series, much is made of Mrs Bateman's
anxiety that her sons will develop un-brotherly feelings towards Georgie,
and she has some negative feelings about the way her husband died after
finding Georgie. And Abel, prompted by jealousy, beats up another small
boy.
For more info see Vince Ho's Shoujo
Anime List.
FRAU PFEFFERTOPF
Sorry if I've mangled the spelling. The german TV anime page claims
this is Japanese, and having seen it, this seems quite likely. Euro-Anime
with rustic setting. Frau Pfeffertopf is a housewife whose husband is a
housepainter. She gets magically shrunk to thumb-size in each episode,
and has adventures with sundry animals. It's for children.
HALLO KURT (=Ohayo Spank!)
This has a most infectious theme tune, and it's about a silly looking
anthromorphic dog which wears a bow tie and goes about falling in love
with cats, or turning into Superhero-dog and leaping off tall buildings.
Kurt's young owner, Anna, is keen on handsome rich boy, Andreas, who has
a sailing boat. The schoolkids in the series wear what look like Japanese
school uniforms, and there are a few kanji and other clues to show
that this is Japanese animation. I laughed. It could grow on you.
Taro Rehrl writes:
HALLO KURT: Yes, this *is* Ohayou! Spank. ^_^
On some rare episodes, you can discover the letters 'SPANK' on a cup or
whatever for a short time. Most writing has been replaced by the German
corresponding text, however.
HEIDI (arupusu no shoujo haiji /Heidi, Girl of the Alps)
Heidi & Peter | From the novels by Johanna Spyri.
Heidi, a small girl, lives in the mountains with her old "Alm-uncle",
actually her grandfather,
a farmer, and then is sent to live in Stuttgart at a rather grand house
in the city as a companion for Clara, a disabled girl four years older
than Heidi. The house is run by a housekeeper who is terrified of animals,
however small. Heidi's untutored behaviour and homesickness provoke a fair
amount of chaos. Later, she returns to her beloved mountains.
This is one of the proto-WMT series, and was made in 1974. The character
design for Heidi in particular now looks very dated. However the series
is full of interesting detail recreated in the animation, and quite a lot
of humour. I've seen about half of the German edition, and I watched several
episodes of the Italian edition of which I understood very little. Do get
a copy of the first Heidi book, of which the TV series is an expanded
version, but it's fairly easy to follow even if you don't have the book.
JEANNIE
Credit animation | In Town
You've
probably heard the song "I Dream of Jeannie with the Light Brown Hair".
Well, this series is inspired by it, and features the song in the opening
credits. It's set in 19th century southern America, in a small town, and
has a number of young characters including the eponymous Jeannie, who have
a set of adventures straight out of the standard script box. If the credits,
which have a bizarre flying sequence, don't clue you that this is fantasy,
the inter-racial harmony depicted in the series certainly ought to!
The animation is by Nippon Animation and is up to their usual standards.
KICKERS
Soccer anime, author Noriaki Nagai. One hardly needed the credits to
identify this as Japanese animation; it is strongly Japanese in style and
has an energy that radiates off the screen. It's about a junior school
football team and their supporters. Easily confused with "Captain Tsubasa".
Mainly for children.
KIMBA
Kimba An
Americanised version of Tezuka's Jungle Taetei. The Yanks credit
themselves in great detail but don't get around to mentioning who did the
animation! It looks very American too. It has aged rather badly and will
be mainly of interest to completists and anime journalists. Shown on Polsat
with Polish overdub.
LADY OSCAR (=Rose of Versailles)
The well-known shoujo anime series, about the life of a girl
in 18th-century Europe, born to a noble family and brought up as a boy.
She joins the army as an officer and obtains a position at the court of
Marie Antoinette in pre-revolutionary France.
The broadcast version is dubbed into German, with new opening &
closing songs. All the same, it looks much better on screen (with stereo
sound) than it did on a fan tape. The gender role theme is an interesting
one, and the art is often beautiful. There's romance, action and high adventure.
Great stuff, not to be missed. Some shoujo fans rate this as a must-see.
The second half of the series (which I've been watching) has a different
director, is much more dramatic than the first half, and the artwork is
superb.
Rose of Versailles Info.
LUCY OF THE SOUTHERN RAINBOWS (=Lucy May, minami no niji no
ruushii) Two girls| Girl & kangaroo
From
a little-known novel by Phyllis Piddington (?). Story Beginning Date: 1840:
The Poppel home moves to southern Australia. This is an attractively animated
series, and looks to be a fairly low-key adventure. There is a huge amount
of background detail: tents ships, animals, aboriginies, woods, etc. It's
not without humour, especially in the facial expressions. Lucy looks about
six or seven; her older sister has a better character design.
A typical scene: the two girls are sleeping in a barrel when a kangaroo
hops up and has a look at them. Cue baffled looking kangaroo and scared
little girl.
The Polish edition used the Japanese episodes, with the Japanese dialogue
partially overdubbed in Polish; but for some reason the Japanese text of
the credits has been removed, which is why the screen for the end credit
sequence is mostly blank!
MAGICAL GIRL SALLY
An oldish "magical girl" series, distinguished by the outrageous magical
events which occur. Sally is a young witch who comes from a magical kingdom
and is sent to live on Earth. She makes herself a house, which looks a
bit like a Disney magic house and makes the neighbours rub their eyes in
disbelief. In one episode, Sally's even younger companion magics all the
cute young animals, lion cubs etc out of their zoo cages and leads them
into town, to general dismay and consternation. Even at school, Sally magics
things about in a fairly blatant way. Sally has a bouffant hairdo of the
sort more usually seen on middle-aged ladies. It's not the greatest series
but it's funny, and whiles away a pleasant 25 minutes.
The Polish-dubbed version preserves all the original Japanese dialogue
and songs as well.
The MAGIC MIRROR (=Himitsu no Akko-Chan??) (=Lo Specchio
Magio)
An old "magical girl" series, seen in Italian with a Polish overdub.
I think this is Himitsu no Akko-Chan (Akko-Chan's Secret), listed
in Vince Ho's Shoujo
Anime List, as the little girl has a powder compact mirror, and a ship
appears in two of the episodes. Each episode is a self-contained story,
often involving the same child characters, and usually Akko(?) teleports
or transforms into a bird, using her mirror. In one episode a baby is shut
inside a scrapped refrigerator, in another an artist is tormented by a
malicious parrot, in a third a manga artist (rather good!) draws parodies
of the children who are then 'drawn' into a lurid fantasy adventure. There's
also a fairy that sometimes appears to help her.
I watched 3 episodes all the way through, aided by sharp ears and very
rudimentary Italian, and confess that the series has a certain innocent
charm.
MILA SUPERSTAR = "Attack no.1"
Though
old and animated in a dated style, this is one of the most interesting
series screened on sat. TV. It's a 'sports anime', and unlike most of the
other series, it's utterly Japanese asides from the dubbing, being set
in Japan and permeated with the Japanese ethos.
This is an old sports anime, made around 1970, and it's about high
school volleyball, and in particular one girl, 'Mila' who works her way
up through the sport to international level. Rather unusually for anime
shown in Europe, this is a thoroughly Japanese series, with a Japanese
setting, kanji on signs, and a very Japanese ethos of teamwork, "ganbatte"
etc. Typically, in the rather sadistic opening credit sequence, our heroine
is pelted with volleyballs till she falls to the ground.
It's a straight drama, not a comedy, and the characterisation and scripting
are exceptionally good, so that even if you know nothing about volleyball
and care less, you still want to know how each game ends.
I was quite astonished by the sophistication of the opening episode,
in which 'Mila' , at this point 12 years old, transfers to a high school
on the coast near Mt Fuji. In an early scene, the maths teacher is grumbling
that none of his pupils understand a geometry problem - are they stupid
or just asleep in class? At this point he spots Mila, who really IS asleep.
On waking up, rather slowly, she gives the correct answer to the maths.
problem, and wonders why the teacher is cross. He remarks sarcastically
that if she is ill or tired she should go to the sick room. Mila says that
she'll do that, and picking up a couple of brown leaves that have blown
in through the open window, remarks that she'll release them outside, and
breezes out. She releases the leaves from a terrace. Weird girl!
The teachers are taking an unusual interest in Mila, a bright child
whom they hoped might light a fire under their dozy pupils. Instead, she
turns down the overtures of the school volleyball team and on the strength
of the 'leaf' episode, takes up with the school 'rebels' who prefer dancing
to a transistor radio under the trees to joining school clubs.
Well! As a portrait of a potentially disruptive school pupil, this
could hardly be bettered!
[ RTL2 have about 101 episodes). BTW, there are several Attack No.1
movies (in Japanese).
In a later sequence of episodes, Mila, now 14 years old, and a budding
volleyball star, attends the same school where an obsessed coach with a
damaged right arm is grooming the girls to win a national championship.
There's the usual rivalry and accusations of being in love with Coach or
vice versa.
Permeated with the Japanese ganbatte! train-till-you-bleed spirit,
the series contains levels of violence that some viewers might find quite
disturbing. Since a girl gets pelted to the ground with volleyballs in
one opening credit sequence, Mila hit by ball you
can guess what the rest of it is going to be like. Fans of Japanese anime
and culture should check it out.
I watched this most mornings. Good script, rooted in real life, and
takes its subject totally seriously.
For more info see Vince Ho's Shoujo
Anime List.
MISSIS JO UND IHRE FROHLISHES FAMILIE (=Little
Men)
Nan |
Nan in Boston |
Nan
A sequel to the "Little Women" anime. Surprisingly, this is NOT "Little Women
part #2" but a much later book by Louisa M. Alcott, set in a residential
farm school run by Jo (from Little Women) and her husband. The main character
in the anime is Nan, a somewhat impetuous and tomboyish girl, who in the
first episode arrives at the school and after being booby-trapped with
a pail of water, chases and sorts out all the boys.
Later episodes have a variety of comedy, drama and sadness spotlighting
various of the younger characters, notably Dan. This is a delightful series;
it already seems as good as several of the other WMT
series, and there is every sign of a meaty script with a strong interest
in education. Jo's educational methods seem progressive even by 1997 standards.
In some scenes, Nan looks uncannily like Kiki in "Kiki's Delivery Service.
Jo does not look or act in the least like the "Little Women" anime character,
though it is, as later episodes reveal, the same person, and the twins
Demy and Daisy are the children of her sister Meg. It's worth making the
effort to watch the opening and closing minutes of the first and last episodes,
as they reveal that the whole thing is presented by an adult Nan.
I got a copy of "Little Men", which is still in print. As the original
title suggests, Nan has a minor role in the book, and does not appear till
halfway through, wheras in the anime she is the star. (My mother watched
several episodes with apparent enjoyment.)
MYSTERIOUS CITIES OF GOLD
A Japanese - French co-production that has been on TV in the UK. The
RTL7 edition has American dialogue over-dubbed in Polish, so it's very
easy to follow! It's a fantasy adventure in which a group of children and
adults, all Central Americans to judge by their names, are looking for
gold in competition with a weird lot of hidden civilizations. Replete with
hidden cities, Tolmecs, gold aircraft and whatnot. Rather American in some
ways. I'm not saying it's any good, (though older British anime fans quite
liked it) but if you check it out you can say you've seen it...It was fully
written up in one of the anime mags..Anime UK I think.
POLLYANNA
From the famous novel by Eleanor Porter. The eponymous heroine's name
has almost passed into the language as a synonym for looking on the bright
side of life! This is yet another WMT
anime, as beautifully animated as any of the others, except that the character
design for Pollyanna looks quite wrong for a girl of eleven. In the opening
episodes, young Pollyanna is sent to stay with her aunt, and manages to
react to a nasty attic room and a punishment bread-and-milk dinner with
characteristic enthusiasm.
It looks good, but I wasn't overly enthusiastic about the script so
far. and Pollyanna's German voicing is a bit shrill and annoying. Too much
of a morally improving fantasy for my taste. I think Amy March is a less
irritating child :-)
The Boston episodes, in which Pollyanna, recovering from a serious
leg injury, stays with rich but depressed Aunt Carol, are from the second
Pollyanna book.
ROCK'N'ROLL KIDS(= Ai Shite Night)
Written by Kawo Tada. Features a boy and his cat, and an older brother
who's a rock'n roll musician. This is a shoujo-style series, and though
the storyline is quite slight, the artwork is colourful and very pretty.
There are two sets of characters; the small boy and his cat, which occasionally
talks, and the teenagers, who include the youths in the band and a girl
(Jaco) who works in her father's snack bar and also minds the little boy.
There's plenty of love interest, and the relationship between Jaco and
her father is well portrayed. Cute.
For more info see Vince Ho's Shoujo
Anime List
Sailor Moon
Usagi |
Usagi & Luna |
Usagi & friend
This is too
well known for me to review it as a series, anyway if you followed this
link here you probably know more about the series than I do. If the past
year is anything to go by, if you are patient you will see repeats of the
whole of Sailor Moon TV, either in German, or in Japanese/Polish, or both
. The German opening song is NOTan improvement, but if you haven't seen
it before, you'll find that walking over to your ASTRA receiver and punching
a few buttons is far less hassle than ordering fan tapes! It's easy to
follow, and from what I hear, each episode of the first series has the
same plot anyway.
Then there's Sailor Stars
(that's what the fancy katakana says) on POLSAT. This is a later series,
with 8 sailor warriors. Astonishingly, this is the Japanese version with
a partial Polish overdub. Sounds wierd, but if the soundtrack doesn't drive
you to distraction, it's better than the first series, with super designs,
a more extended story scheme, and lots of lovely sailors talking Japanese.
The three Sailor Stars are a boy pop group, and also powerful magical allies
who wear a rather startling black bra-and-pants uniform! If you're a 14
year old girl, annoy your brother/father/boyfriend till they set up the
hardware for you. You won't regret it (nor will they once they see the
Sailor miniskirts).
JSTV was showing Sailor Moon R at 18.30pm on Fridays- maybe still is.
Naturally this is in Japanese, and the subscription is amazingly expensive.
If you are still wondering why this shoujo series is so popular,
I'd say it's because Usagi (Bunny) is such an ordinary girl, but still
gets to be a super-heroine (but a somewhat clueless one) and there are
lots of references to ordinary life. The character designs are very pretty,
and the Sailors are rather cute.
Having seen a few episodes from all the segments, I'd say that Sailor
Moon S and Sailor Moon Stars are definitely the best bits and
also the segments most likely to appeal to adult viewers. They
have better artwork, and also the adult senshi, Uranus, Neptune
and Pluto. They include on occasion images to die for (like the scene with
four Sailors bound to crystal crosses.) I still fast-forward through most
of the fighting bits, though.
Sailor Moon Movies
I'm not able to review the movies properly, as I've only seen two or
three all the way through and bits of others. They're not as well known
as their equivalent, the Urusei Yatsura movies, and having sampled them
I can see why. There are about five movies, one for each of the TV series
(R, S, etc). Each is about an hour long, and while the earlier ones are
adapted from pairs of TV episodes, the later ones are original. In style
and production values they don't differ that much from the TV episodes.
In short, they will be of interest to Sailor Moon fans who want to watch
some more material.
THE SECRET GARDEN (Polish title=Tajemniczy
ogr#d)
A NHK adaptation of the classic children's story by Frances Hodgson
Burnett, who also wrote "A Little Princess". It's not
as good as the WMT adaptations, but still worth a
look. In fact it's mostly a bit more straight than you might fear after
encountering the bouncy opening credits. The end credits, which (for some
unfathomable reason) show Mary as a puppet, are plenty weird, and some
of the character design is good. In particular, Mary's expression varies
charmingly from wide-eyed innocence through to rage without ever being
excessively cute-ified. I also like the character design for Camilla, the
wise-woman.
The anime seems a more upbeat affair than the book, and it's not a
particularly faithful adaptation, having more material than the original
novel, at least one extra major character, Camilla the wise-woman (jap.
Kamira). Dickon's menagerie of tame animals all look sickeningly
"cute". Substantial extra material appears particularly in the latter part
of the series. In a way one would like to be reporting that these insertions
are inferior, but in fact they are a whole lot of fun. In one episode,
the villagers, upset by some infant mortality, and armed with pitchforks
etc., march on Camilla's cottage bent on burning her as a witch. In the
next, "Lord Richmond" and his wife appear at the mansion to hold a hunt
with foxhounds. The nasty-looking hounds chase after Dickon's cute animals,
but the hunt is hilariously subverted by childish mischief. At one point
Lord Richmond and wife burst into Camilla's cottage and [I swear] demand
"Is that your cat, madam?"
The original English text is available online,
or check your local bookshop.
Synopsis of book: Mary Lennox, a neglected and disagreeable
child, is suddenly orphaned by a cholera epidemic in India. Brought to
her uncle's Yorkshire mansion overlooking the moors, she is left much to
herself, and presently discovers a locked walled garden. She makes friends
slowly with the maid, Martha, who brings her meals, and later with Martha's
brother, Dickon. Later she discovers an invalid boy, her cousin Colin,
who is kept in a room of the mansion. The book is a morally improving tale
of how Mary becomes a better person and helps Colin recover his health.
Other Adaptations:
There's a recent live-action movie, available on video. There's also
a feature-length US/UK produced animated adaptation, voiced by British
& American actors. It takes even more liberties with the original than
the Japanese version, with songs and talking animals. The only plus point
is that the child characters are quite realistically drawn, wheras in the
Japanese adaptation they definitely aren't.
STORY OF THE TRAPP FAMILY SINGERS (=torappu
ikke monogatari) (=Rodzina Trapp#w) Family in mansion
The
version shown on Polsat 2 was dubbed in Italian & Polish, but had the
original opening & closing credits, including the songs. The opening
song is the do-re-mi song. The story is based on a book by Maria
Augusta Trapp, and the first few episodes are set in Austria, where the
family apparently lived in quite luxurious circumstances (one of the characters
is adressed as "Baron" and they all live in a matching stately home). In
1942 the family flees from the Nazis to New York.
This didn't impress me as being a particularly interesting anime, but
anime journalists and WMT
(World Masterpiece Theater) anime completists will probably want to check
it out.
TICO & NANAMI (=Ein Toller Freund)
This is the only WMT
(World Masterpiece Theater) anime series to be made with an original script.
Tico is a whale, and Nanami is a small girl who lives with her father on
a little old tugboat. Also in the series are the boat's engineer, an attractive
young woman, Cheryl, and other oddly assorted characters. Some of the early
episodes cover a story segment, set in South America, in which a photographer
photographs a massacre of seals, and some powerful and unscrupulous interests
try to have the information suppressed.
(I have a fair amount of information about this series, in an illustrated
booklet, but it's in Japanese).
To be frank, this is the WMT series I have liked
the least, and its lurid farrago of implausible sub-aquatic stunts, powerboat
chases, shootings, kidnappings, thugs with metal hands, fights, etc, grates
very badly when viewed alongside the gentler charms of the other series
with their wealth of realistic and everyday detail. It's a clash of two
utterly different cultures: what was formerly thought to be suitable reading
for the young, and what they are now served up on television. I'd much
rather have Katri the farm girl and her multiplication tables, than a lot
of identikit gunmen in expensive power boats.
All the images on this page were scanned with a Hauppauge Win TV card. This card, and its software, worked a great deal better than a similarly priced alternative. It also supports both PAL and NTSC and other formats! For more information, visit www.hauppauge.com
