The first reason is because there is a huge amount of content skipped (the entire book called “Good Wives”) making this anime feels like it shares almost nothing in common with the first anime and doesn’t even include a summary to help you know what happened to the four March sisters.
The only recurring character is Jo who had a 180° change of character, from a tomboyish girl who didn’t believe in love and wanted to be an independent woman, writing books for a living, she turns into a tender and caring mother figure taking care of problem children’s in Plumfield, making her feel like she’s just not Jo. There are some brief moments there and there where her former personality comes back to the surface but these scenes occur way too rarely to really matter which is a shame because they prove to be quite enjoyable.
*Meg and John also make a brief appearance in the series but have so little influence on the plot they’re not really worth mentioning
The second reason would be its linearity and lack of progression. While essentially it can seem that it isn’t a big problem as a lot of WMT shows have plenty of stand-alone episodes that weren’t useful and didn’t contribute to the grand narrative, I can’t help but feel it was a waste being this way in this anime.
The premise of the show I find is actually quite promising as it is good opportunity to build a coming of age story, the plot being actually similar to GTO with Jo acting as a special teacher for children and helping them overcome their problems. And this is where I was heavily disappointed, it spends so much time on random slice of life episodes that their development feels scarce and they get stuck in their basic archetype introduced at the beginning. When the end finally comes, it feels mostly undeserved as their aspirations and plan for the future are crammed into the last few episodes of the show instead of being gradual, the only exception being Dan.
It feels even more of a waste by the fact that Little Women actually had all that, each of the four sisters personality felt complementary and the plot moved in a satisfying way, prioritizing their developments and reactions to the different events surrounding them.
Had they kept the same approach and direction to the story, it certainly would’ve been much more satisfying to follow.
This review probably sounds more negative than I want it to be, I think it stands perfectly average in the realm of World Masterpiece Theater anime so you can definitely have fun with it.
Just try to keep in mind that if you want to get a better enjoyment of it, either consider it as a standalone or maybe read the missing part of the novel.
