The story following this summary is of a coming-of-age involving Judy Abbott's growth as a teen into young adulthood as she progresses through school, makes new friends, gains new responsibilities and increases her worldview as a formerly sheltered orphan. It's a simple premise backed up by very simple strengths - Its setting and its characters. It comes down to personal preference but early 20th century is an intoxicating period of time to peer into for me. It has this distinct sense of wonder and romance in an era of uncertainty but assured optimism. A beginning of a new quality of life to be brought to a larger spread of the populace. It's before skyscrapers and other tall buildings tower over neighbourhoods and towns, where the mainstream availability of locomotives was still a new way of traveling.
This brings me to the visuals. From their humble beginnings of Heidi to Anne and eventually to the famous 1999 version of Hunter x Hunter, Nippon Animation are highly respected for consistency in their shows and a unique distinction from most other anime studios. If you've seen Anne of Green Gables this show will make you feel right at home with backgrounds that are breathtaking and with quality coming at a rate that's nigh unmatched for shows of similar length during its era. Not many anime have layout as considered and accurate to the era as World Masterpiece Theatre shows do and My Daddy Long Legs stands at the pinnacle of the year it came out in for TV anime. It seems like you can't watch an episode without pausing it at least once to just take in a shot. The colours and accuracy really go a long way to make the show have this romantic atmosphere representative of the promising new era these characters live in.
And that's not to say it lives and dies by the layout, the animation is quite consistent and even stellar at times. Because it's the kind of show that doesn't need a lot of movement there was time to make most character animation detailed and smooth. Judy being a very energetic character lends to some very expressive character animation and she gets that chance to shine on multiple occasions. Some scenes involving the girls playing basketball have animation that is so absurdly smooth it could pass for a movie of its era.
The character designs are a personal favourite of mine across the board. It has this distinctive slightly western influenced style blended in with traditional anime art of the late 80's. It feels wholly unique of its peers but anyone with a little knowledge of older anime could instantly pick up the country it was made in. It's a nice differentiation of the more Ghibli styled WMT shows like Anne and Heidi that indicated they weren't doomed to follow in the shadow of Takahata and Miyazaki's massive influence on Nippon Animation. Rather they were able to reiterate and build in other directions. My Daddy Long Legs is often considered quite similar to Anne but if you put the two next to each other they're significantly different shows only sharing familiar ideas and settings. Judy is less eccentric than Anne for instance and the drama is a lot more romantic. The central cast is older so it deals more closely with the prospect of growing up into young adulthood and acquiring the desire of seeking love. And while Judy is an orphan the setting is that of a suburban America rather than rural Canadian farmlands; as such locomotives, upper class parties, dances and the smell of industrialism is prevalent. Essentially what makes My Daddy Long Legs such an impressive work is that it can take a different source material that could not only stand alongside Anne but also be compared to it despite its obvious differences.
On the topic of character designs I'll touch upon the characters themselves. This is My Daddy Long Legs' greatest strength. Judy is an amazing main character who would initially remind one of Anne, but her more uncouth and wild nature shows you that she's someone who's a little more bombastic albeit a little more predictable. Her struggles and story are endearing, being a girl who wants to fit in with a class of students dissimiliar to her upbringing. The other two main characters Sally and Julia are perfect at complimenting Judy's character. Sally being a little more shy but considerate while Julia on the other hand is more outspoken and snobby who initially considers Judy an outsider. Watching their dynamic transform throughout the show is both entertaining and heartwarming as they slowly turn into close friends looking out for each other and sharing hard times together.
And in addition to the main cast is has a very strong side cast. Jervis, Jimmie, Bob, Mr and Mrs Semple and Miss Sloan just to name a few all offer something different while never feeling remotely out of place. And they maintain a lot of agency, they don't exist to make the story work at certain points. Mr and Mrs Semple are great at offering a setting that isn't represented much in this show as well as allowing Judy to find solace in a world that makes her feel alone sometimes. Jimme, Jervis and Bob are the designated good boys. You feel for them even though Bob isn't as important as the other two and even when they make human errors it's believable enough that it never turns into genuine frustration over their character or personalities. I even left out a character among those mentioned who offers possibly the best episode in the show who's voiced by none other than Hiromi Tsuru, the voice of Meryl Stryfe and Bulma. It's a cast that feels alive and makes you want to see more of them.
Seriously if there's one thing that has to be said about the fantastic work put into this show, it's that it was done with a staff of nobodies. The most significant person who worked on this anime Kei Wakakusa, most well known for the soundtracks of Hikaru no Go and Kemonozume. And while the Storyboardist and Scriptwriter have been regulars for WMT for years it's just very impressive that a director who up to this point had only directed a handful of Anne episodes and to this day has directed barely anything else was able to put the visuals and writing to screen in such a captivating way.
One piece of criticism I do want to give which I believe is more contentious is I didn't initially like the way the story shifted into a romance focus which heavily sidelined the simpler episodes of growing and experiencing new things. All the characters involved are great but I think the drama was a little too melodramatic that served to be pretty jarring compared to the earlier more endearing episodes. Once it shifts into gear going full throttle with the romance however that issue begins to wear off. Really what point needs to be made is that the earlier content where everyone's still growing up is absolutely fantastic. Up until around episode 27 I was very confident in giving it a 10/10 which I very rarely do and have never done for a TV anime. The scattered focus allowed for more ideas to come to the table and make more varied and fun episodes which was lost when the romance started being the meat and potatoes. I don't want to detract from the romance plot because it is well done, it just suddenly shifted away from the stuff I truly loved a lot rather than intermingling the romance with the everyday activities and struggles.
I want to avoid going into spoilers as this is a fairly obscure show so I'll leave it here. I just wanted to express my love for this show that I did not expect to love as much as I did. It's without a doubt a staple in WMT anime and a very interesting peek into a style that acts somewhat as a predecessor to modern slice of life anime. It's a true slice of life with a female main cast hidden in the guise of an adaptation of classical literature. And granted while it does have an overtly sentimental execution with its plot points it gets so much right that it's hard to take away from its fantastic strengths. It's a brilliant anime. One with wonderful characters, a beautiful setting, visuals that maintain a detailed accuracy to the time period and an endearing story of growing up, discovering love and your place in the world.
