Tales of Little Women

Tales of Little Women (愛の若草物語, Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari, "Love's Tale of Young Grass"), also simply known as Little Women, is a 1987 Japanese animated television series adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, produced by Nippon Animation.

A sequel series, Little Women II: Jo's Boys, premiered in 1993.

Plot

The animated series is loosely derived from the book and introduces new material and characters. The series begins with the introduction of the March family happily living near Gettysburg (the nearby town of York in the English version), until one day during a picnic, Mr. March notices Confederate scouts at a riverbank. As an officer of the Union Army on leave with a broken arm, Mr. March hesitantly leaves his family to inform his superiors and to prepare for the upcoming battle. Meanwhile, his family endures the Confederate occupation and even helps an escaped slave named John from being forcibly recruited to fight for the Confederacy.

Eventually, Union forces arrive and in the ensuing battle the March family home is destroyed and their investment (which had also been their savings) stolen. With no other options, the family leaves Gettysburg to Newcord, where they hope to be taken by an estranged aunt of father. Upon arriving in Newcord, they are coldly received by the old woman and even less so by David, an egotistical nephew who constantly asks for loans and antagonizes the family. Despite the reception, Aunt March allows the family to stay at home until they can get back on their feet.

Determined to have a sense of normalcy and persevere their hardship, Meg finds work as a Governess while Jo alternates between being a companion to Aunt March and Author. During a sales pitch to sell a short story to a local newspaper, her work and her character are presumptuously criticized by Anthony, a local reporter. Upset and resolute, Jo throws herself into her writing ultimately earning the respect of Anthony and forms an amicable relationship.

In time, the March family moves into a new home and the events that follow begin to reference the plot of the original novel: The 18th episode is based on Chapter 3 and follows the first part of the book. The storyline from Chapter 1 (Christmas 1863) begins in episode 21.

Characters

For more information on the main characters, including the March sisters, Laurie, and Marmee, see Little Women.

• Eiko Yamada as Josephine "Jo" March
• Keiko Han as Margaret "Meg" March
• Mayumi Shou as Elizabeth "Beth" March
• Rei Sakuma as Amy March
• Nobuo Tobita as Theodore "Laurie" Lawrence
• Taeko Nakanishi as Mary "Marmee" March
• Osamu Saka as Frederic March
• Hisako Okata as Hannah, the March family's servant
• Kazuyuki Sogabe as Anthony Boone
• Ranko Mizuki as Martha (Aunt) March
• Kohei Miyauchi as James Lawrence
• Toshihiko Kojima as John Brooke (Carl Brooke in Japanese)
• Kozo Shioya as David
• Ryuji Saikachi as Henry Murdoch
• Miyoko Aoba as Annie Moffatt
• Maria Kawamura as Sallie Gardiner
• Toshihiko Seki as John, the runaway slave
• Rumiko Ukai as Esther, Aunt March's maid
• Asami Mukaidono as Dorothy, Aunt March's cook
• Masashi Hirose as Ben, Aunt March's coachman
• Fushigi Yamada as Polly, Aunt March's pet bird (credited as Kyoko Yamada)

Writer Akira Miyazaki introduced several new supporting characters not in the original novel:

• Anthony Boone is a Newcord reporter and friend of Jo's. He and Jo get off to a bad start when he criticizes her writing, but eventually become close friends, and Anthony helps her family find a new house in Newcord. He also encourages Jo to keep writing and improve. He leaves for New York in the second-to-last episode, and inspires Jo to do the same.
• Henry Murdoch (possibly named after Rupert Murdoch) is the owner and publisher of The Newcord Times, and Anthony's boss. He has a high opinion of Jo's talents and reassures her whenever she is discouraged by Anthony's criticisms.
• David is Aunt March's nephew, a money-grubbing gambler and ne'er-do-well who appears only to care for his aunt because she loans him money. He antagonizes the March family, and Jo in particular, out of fear that he will lose his place as her sole heir.
• John is a runaway slave. In an early episode, the March family hide him in their house from Confederate soldiers. In a later episode, he returns and gets a job at the Newcord newspaper.
• Milky Ann is the March family's pet kitten. She first appears in episode two, when Beth discovers the abandoned kitten half-drowned and nearly frozen to death in the rain. Beth and her sisters nurse the kitten back to health, and Milky Ann becomes a treasured member of the family.
• Aunt March had several additional servants introduced in this anime in addition to Esther the maid, including Ben the coachman and Dorothy the cook (who appeared in only one episode). Also, in addition to her bird, Polly, Aunt March has a dog, a poodle named Harry.

Name and character changes

In addition to the town of Concord itself being renamed "Newcord" for the anime version (which carried over into the English dub), several characters also underwent name changes in this series. For example, the March parents, named Margaret and Robert in the original novel, are Mary and Frederic in this series, and Mr. Brooke is renamed from John to Carl in Japanese and some of the European dub versions (although the English dubbers changed his name back to John). Also, the March family's live-in help, Hannah, is African-American in this version instead of Irish and Caucasian, perhaps to draw more attention with Japanese viewers to the plight of black Americans in the 19th century.

Broadcast

Little Women aired on Fuji Television from 11 January 1987 to 27 December 1987 as part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. The series features contributions from several well-known Studio Ghibli staffers, including co-character designer Yoshifumi Kondo and animation director Atsuko Otani. The chief director was Nippon Animation/WMT veteran Fumio Kurokawa with storyboard duties handled by various other directors, and Akira Miyazaki is credited with scripting all 48 episodes. Kurokawa, Otani, and character designer and chief animation director Toshiki Yamazaki had all been involved in the previous WMT series Princess Sarah, as had Jo's voice actress, Eiko Yamada. The series was broadcast aired across Asia by the anime satellite television network, Animax.

Little Women was first dubbed into English by Saban Entertainment and was broadcast across the United States by HBO in 1988 under the title Tales of Little Women, making it one of only three WMT serials to have been broadcast on television in the United States. Since Fall 2009, Currently the series airs in the United States on Smile of a Child and in the Philippines on DZOZ-TV. Unusual for a Saban Entertainment dub of an anime series, the English dub version of Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari kept the original Japanese musical score by Kazuo Otani, although the theme songs were replaced with a new one by Haim Saban and Shuki Levy, who also composed some additional music for the series itself. The series has yet to be released on DVD in the English language, although a compilation of two episodes was released on VHS in the United States in 1992 as Little Women's Christmas Story. It has long since gone out of print.

The series has also achieved a high level of popularity in Europe and Latin America.

Voice Cast

Tales of Little Women English Cast

Voice actors

• Josephine "Jo" March Voiced by: Mona Marshall
• Margaret "Meg" March Voiced by: Stephanie Sheh
• Elizabeth "Beth" March Voiced by: Melanie McQueen
• Amy March Voiced by: Reba West
• Mary "Marmee" March Voiced by: Wendee Lee
• Frederic March Voiced by: Robert Axelrod
• Martha (Aunt) March Voiced by: Melanie McQueen
• Theodore "Laurie" Lawrence Voiced by: Joshua Seth
• James Lawrence Voiced by: Mike Reynolds
• David Forrest Voiced by: Tony Oliver
• John Brooke Voiced by: Crispin Freeman
• Mr. Davis Voiced by: Michael Forrest
• Esther Voiced by: Julie Ann Taylor
• Ed King Voiced by: Matthew Mercer
• Tom Brooke Voiced by: Brianne Brozey
• Mr. Sutton Voiced by: Richard Epcar

Staff

• Original work: Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• Executive producer: Koichi Motohashi
• Producer: Junzo Nakajima (Nippon Animation), Taihei Ishikawa (Fuji TV)
• Planning: Shoji Sato (Nippon Animation), Eiichi Kubota (Fuji TV)
• Director: Fumio Kurokawa
• Script: Akira Miyazaki
• Storyboards: Yoshio Kuroda, Fumio Kurokawa, Norio Yazawa, Shinichi Tsuji, Kozo Kuzuha, Hiromi Sugimura, Shinichi Matsumi, Takeshi Yamaguchi, Eiji Okabe, Shigeo Koshi, Takao Yotsuji, Shin Namioka, Fumio Ikeno
• Character Design: Yoshifumi Kondo, Toshiki Yamazaki
• Animation Director: Toshiki Yamazaki, Takumi Koyama, Atsuko Otani
• Art Director: Masamichi Takano
• Layout: Shohei Kawamoto
• Director of Photography: Toshiaki Morita
• Recording Director: Etsuji Yamada
• Music: Kazuo Otani
• Production: Nippon Animation, Fuji TV

Themes

Opening Themes

1. Invitation of the Young Grass (若草の招待状, Wakakusa no Shōtaijō) by Eri Nitta (eps 01-14)
2. Someday, for Sure (いつかきっと!, Itsuka Kitto!) by Keiko Han, Eiko Yamada, Mayumi Shō, Rei Sakuma (eps 15-48)

Ending Themes

1. Sunset and Wind and Melody (夕陽と風とメロディ, Sekiyō to Kaze to Merodi) by Eri Nitta (eps 01-14)
2. A Lullaby for Father (お父さまへのララバイ, Otōsama e no Rarabai) by Satoko Shimonari (eps 15-48)

Episode list

Toshiki Yamazaki is animation director for the first five episodes, for odd-numbered episodes 7 through 17, and for even-numbered episodes 20 through 48. Takumi Koyama is animation director for even-numbered episodes 6 through 16 and for odd-numbered episodes 19 through 47. Atsuko Otani is animation director for episode 18 only.

All episodes are written by Akira Miyazaki.

All episodes are directed by Fumio Kurokawa, who also drew storyboards for episodes 2, 3, and 48. Other storyboard artists included:

• Yoshio Kuroda (1, 28, co-storyboard duties on episode 31)
• Norio Yazawa (4, 7, 9)
• Shinichi Tsuji (5, 8, 12, 14, 18, 22, 26, 29, 32, 35, 38, 42, 44, 47)
• Kozo Kuzuha (6, 11, 15, 17, 20, 25)
• Hiromi Sugimura (13, 19, 30, 34, 37, and co-storyboarded episodes 10, 23, 31)
• Shinichi Matsumi (co-storyboarded episodes 10 and 16)
• Takeshi Yamaguchi (co-storyboarded episodes 16 and 23)
• Eiji Okabe (21, 24)
• Shigeo Koshi (27, 33, 40)
• Shin Namioka (39, 41)
• Takao Yotsuji (36)
• Fumio Ikeno (43, 45, 46)

See also

• Little Women (1981 TV series), Toei Animation's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel.

External links

• Little Women at Nippon Animation's English website through the Wayback Machine
• Little Women (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Little Women at the Internet Movie Database