Ranked #1535

Akage no Anne

The "World Masterpiece Theater" version of "Anne of Green Gables" turns the book into a comprehensive fifty-episode series, absolutely the best adaptation ever made. Anne Shirley is a red-headed orphan girl who talks too much, has a big imagination, and gets herself into all sorts of trouble. When a mistake places her in the care of elderly siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert at Green Gables in the the town of Avonlea, she inspires a lot of headaches, but also becomes a vital piece of their family.

Directed by Isao Takahata in his pre-Ghibli days, and staffed by plenty of other familiar names (Miyazaki boarded the first fifteen episodes, Kondo designed the characters), the production is incredibly lavish. I've never seen this amount of well-researched historical detail in any other anime series - the crew actually went to Prince Edward Island to study the architecture and natural scenery - and the resulting visuals are breathtaking. Though it has its bumps, dull stretches, and odd quirks, this is a classic in every sense of the word.

A long series like this is the best format for literary classics, because they're often slow paced and episodic. In the case of "Anne," this means there's plenty of room for all of her adventures, not just the famous ones. Anne still walks a ridgepole, renames half the town's landmarks, and mistakenly dyes her hair green, but we also get to watch her grow up from a scatterbrained eleven-year-old to a formidable young woman, who has to face some very tough decisions. The creators were absolutely faithful to the book, to the point of using chapter titles for many episodes, and even fleshed out the ending a bit more than the original. Best of all, despite its age, "Anne" is easily as watchable and wonderful as it was a generation ago.
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