If only Sara were here, she would have written an awesome review for the series. She would have probably written it in French as well. It's not that writing anime reviews is a part of Miss Minchin's seminary curriculum, it's just about me, a barely literate otaku boy, even a hundred years later, still having little chance to do it better.
`Princess Sara' is based on a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, `A Little Princess' (1905), with quite a history of rewrites and adaptations, and this particular anime belongs to a bigger project known as `World Masterpiece Theater', which gathers adaptations of classical western books and
...
stories. I am yet to see other adaptations or other titles of the project (though you might have accidentally seen some already), and i feel as if there is a good reason for me to doubt that other adaptations of Princess Sara would be any better, for what i have just seen actually is, one way or another, a masterpiece.
The original book is actually quite short. You can easily find it and read it along with watching. The anime, on the contrary, was made dramatic and grand. It wasn't simply stretched to fill a year of airing. I must admit these guys had really felt it through and transformed it into something bigger, unfolding the story step by step to be sure each and every thought and feeling reaches you.
That said, i cannot say i instantly fell in love with these series; i only decided to put the top mark for it after around episode 36. By that time the story is mostly over, but it is the way they presented it that fascinates.
Would an story like that appeal to a modern viewer? Sure it will. I'm actually quite sure that most of us will one day meet a person like Miss Minchin as their superior, and would have to choose if they would behave like Lavinia or like Lottie. Or maybe even like Becky. And i can only hope you won't ever have to behave like Sara :) People haven't changed a bit. Maybe just scales are different, society pushes in a bit different direction, maybe the story exaggerates a little bit, but people making the world go around are still the same.
Note how this is one of those works where relatively little is said in words. No, it's not your typical `tenshi no tamago', of course, but they still often avoid speaking for like five minutes in the beginning of an episode, depicting a quiet morning when you don't really want to involve yourself in making noise yet. A lot is being said by directly showing it, in such a way that a thousand words won't really show it all. And that is where art and sound get a chance to really show themselves.
First, you have *these eyes*. Whether our characters look out of the window, stare at each other, or simply do whatever they need to do, their eyes say a lot. And Sara's look has a special role. As Lavinia, the one most affected by it, accidentally grasps the essence and mentions what was probably intended to be the author's lines, which happens to her from time to time, "Sara has been decreased to that little, yet she still behaves as if she's noble". Just looking at her eyes, you see that Sara never really looses her face through out the story. She effectively completes her "shoujo quest" of "never letting anybody know how you feel, even if you're about to die" (cf. Fruits Basket, for example), and her eyes always expose her attitude as cleanly as possible. I'm not really crazy about megapixels in anime artwork, but these eyes pretty much outweigh the shortcomings of old school graphics for me.
Then there's seiyuu work. Shimamoto Sumi, whom you might remember starring in Nausicaa a year before, is really doing epic great here, from the simple "ah~" sound opening the talk in most episodes, and "ma~, Becky ..." whenever something funny (or not really, at all, funny) happens, to the ultra-polite and forever-genki cheerful optimistic "please watch the next episode" annoncement, it leaves an aftersound straight in your brain, and suits her character ... perfectly. Opening and ending themes are also very noble; though possibly background music could have been made a bit gentler.
Time to wrap up, so let me put it straight: This is not your typical anime. There's nothing wrong if you don't watch it, or drop in the middle, or something like that. But it is also great if, alongside with being a naruto fanboy or a precure fangirl, or vice versa, or whatever, you also enjoy *that* sort of stuff together with me, as i'm enjoying modern stuff most of the time as well. It may also appeal directly to those who enjoy shoujo stories in general, or looking for pain and suffering like urobuchi's, or even those magical doll lovers everywhere. And there's still much more in it.
Last but not least, not sure if this anime is translated to your native language, but full English subs are there waiting for you to watch. I can't help saying thanks to the guys who kept these around till today. Miss Minchin would probably not approve them. She'll ask something like "How can they do such an outrageous thing?", seeing these guys helping out each other, if you know what i mean :)
Alternative Titles
Synonyms: Sekai Meisaku Gekijou, Princess Sara, Little Princess Sarah, Shoukoujo Sara
Japanese: 小公女[プリンセス]セーラ
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
46
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Jan 6, 1985 to Dec 29, 1985
Premiered:
Winter 1985
Broadcast:
Sundays at 19:30 (JST)
Producers:
None found, add some
Licensors:
None found, add some
Studios:
Nippon Animation
Source:
Novel
Genre:
Drama
Theme:
Historical
Duration:
25 min. per ep.
Rating:
G - All Ages
Statistics
Ranked:
#12482
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#4750
Members:
21,261
Favorites:
135
Resources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 11 / 12
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Your Feelings Categories Jan 4, 2014
If only Sara were here, she would have written an awesome review for the series. She would have probably written it in French as well. It's not that writing anime reviews is a part of Miss Minchin's seminary curriculum, it's just about me, a barely literate otaku boy, even a hundred years later, still having little chance to do it better.
`Princess Sara' is based on a novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett, `A Little Princess' (1905), with quite a history of rewrites and adaptations, and this particular anime belongs to a bigger project known as `World Masterpiece Theater', which gathers adaptations of classical western books and ... Jul 17, 2015
Shoukoujo Sara, or A Little Princess Sara, is based upon the world’s classic book, A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett and is part of the World Masterpiece Theater. As per usual when it comes to this collection, this work has the distinct traits of the main character(s) being played by the vicissitudes of fate and having to overcome multiple obstacles until finally a reward is at the end of their difficult journey.
The story revolves around Sara who was raised as a proper young lady by her father and later, being entrusted to a famous boarding school to obtain education of a higher level/quality. Soon, ... Nov 14, 2009
The art and animation isn't the best, as it was made in the 80s, but it is very quaint and fits in well with the story and adds to the feel of the show.
The music is pretty good from what I was able to hear. It is mostly classical music for the background and again fits in well. I'm not sure how well they have portrayed the characters from the book, having only seen a small amount. They seem to have made Sera more of an average girl and downplayed her intelligence. I was annoyed at this, as she makes a couple of speeches demonstrating her ... Jan 13, 2017
Absolutely awful. Let me start off first by saying that I've read the book several times and watched several of the other more popular versions. They are some of my favorites. There is so much wrong with this adaptation that I could go on and on but I'll keep it short. The characters are characterized as weak and stupid. Sara herself is basically purity sue. She is perfect and all the others either lover or hate her. Aside from that, she is an incredibly passive version of her book self. She spends much of the series crying,
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Jul 7, 2019
This is going to be my first ever review so it’ll probably be a bit confusing, but I’ll try my best.
Story 10/10 Well, this was obvious. This anime is one of the most saddest and heart-warning things I’ve ever watched! From when Sara’s father died to all the cruel things the people at the academy did to her, she was still strong and continued to be kind hearted. Even before losing everything she was still extremely kind. I love how this anime didn’t just jump straight into tragedy but actually let us see the rich but kind girl Sara is. Art 6/10 This one was a bit ... Sep 18, 2016
I love the novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett, so upon finding an anime for that story I had to watch it. For the most part I found it enjoyable and faithful to the original source material.
Story (8): The story follows Sara Crewe, the young daughter of a rich widower, who enrolls in an English boarding school. For the first fourth of the anime, Sara is praised by everyone both in the school and outside for her manners, kindness, and how pretty she looks in her fine clothes. By episode eleven she receives the news that her father has died bankrupt making her lose ... Apr 11, 2016
"Princess Sara" is, according to a list someone posted to Reddit, the least popular top 1000 rated anime on My Anime List. It is a 46-episode 1980s shoujo without any adventure themes, and much of the content concerns the depressing mistreatment of the protagonist, who falls from wealth and into the hands of a cruel boarding school headmistress. It's no accident that this anime isn't very popular with modern audiences, but its ranking is actually a bit lower than I think it deserves, and I think many modern viewers might enjoy this.
The biggest complaints from the reviews seem to be that the protagonist is too ... Jul 16, 2018
You can cut this anime series down to 30 episodes (mostly from the middle of the series) and STILL display enough of Sara's suffering to make a point - that it's a hard-knock life, for .... uh, ahem...that song does stick doesn't it?
It's dragged out way too long and I ended up skipping through part of several episodes just to get to the conclusion. It started out as something interesting, but became something rather painful and aggravating to watch. The balance is off. Extremely cold-hearted, evil people all congregated under one building and supportive characters that lacked voice and power to make much of a ... Jul 7, 2015
This anime is basically the slowest something could be in the first place, and the plot after the first 10 episodes of everyone jizzing over the mc is her being tortured after that. The plot is mostly the other workers telling them (the 2 poor tortured girls) to work hard as those other workers slack off and large amounts of time being spent for the other characters to say yes to working harder even though they were already working hard, or the headmistress making some unreasonably bitchy complaint accusing someone of doing something they did not do that the headmistress knows that other person did
...
Dec 3, 2019
[Spoiler free review]
I'm going to keep this review short, because there's not a lot to say about this show. It starts off pretty weak with more than 10 episodes of build up before the actual premise is reached and then it suddenly gets good. The thing about it though is you could always see where the plot was taking you well in advance, and it just turned into an observation of a constant cycle. It was a loop of witnessing the main character's unconditional kindness, followed by a harsh dose of cruelty and finally a few tears shed and determined vows are made before the ... Aug 15, 2021
This is a recorded conversation between an anonymous producer and screen writer.
Producer (Mr.P): So I want a story that moves people's heart. Can you somehow make that happen? Screen Writer guy (SW): But I don't understand human's psychology or emotion sir. I don't think I can grasp common sense. Mr.P: So how about this? We get rid of all that. SW: Brilliant sir, how about a story about a little angel got abused for almost all the runtime? ... |