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THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER (tomu sooyaa no bouken)
 I've only seen two or three episodes in monochrome, and one in colour, but my first impression is that it's rather undistinguished. The animation is not so different from the other earlier series, and the story looks lively. There is some fun, for instance,when Huck Finn tries to capture a wild pig. It may appeal if you like watching laddish adventures, but there is plenty of other anime that offers similar pleasures. Huck Finn | House | Tom & Huck Data from Ben Ettinger (with permission). |
THE ROBINSON FAMILY LOST AT SEA (kazoku robinson hyouryuuki fushigina shima no furoone)
I have only seen a few episodes in Dutch, a language I don't understand, and I have not read the book, so I have to rely heavily on James S Taylor's review of the American dub edition in Protoculture Addicts #32.
The character design for the small girl looks a little odd, but apart from that this looks like a solidly designed series, with lots of substantial and well-executed background detail, of ship, raft, encampment and the island itself. In the second episode there is a well-animated sequence where Robinson and his son build a raft. The little girl reacts just as a little girl might, wanting to go and play despite their plight.
As for the story (and here I am relying on Taylor), it doesn't shy away from real disaster, pain and death. All the crew and some passengers have died (the captain is seen dead on the beach), and the elder son has lost his girlfriend. It is evident that an entire ship-load of farm animals has gone down, trapped in the hold of the ship. In one scene the elder son actually shoots a cute, furry animal in a dim light. Every episode advances our knowledge of the island and of the personalities of the characters.
Seems like a series worth watching if you can get it in a language you understand, or if it turns out the novel can be used as a script.
Raft building |
Digging
Data from Ben Ettinger
LUCY OF THE SOUTHERN RAINBOWS (=Lucy May, minami no niji no
ruushii) 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!
Data from Ben Ettinger
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.
Data from Ben Ettinger
DAS MÄDCHEN VON DER FARM (=Makiba no Shoujo Katri
= 'Katri, Girl of the Meadows').
Grandfather | Katri reading
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.
Data from Ben Ettinger
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. ^_^
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 & Lavinia | Sara & Becky | Becky
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. Sara's formerly wealthy
parents are dead or 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.
Data from Ben Ettinger
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.
