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Little Women
愛の若草物語 (Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari)
Genre	Historical drama
TV anime
Director	Yoshio Kuroda
Studio	Nippon Animation
Network	Fuji TV, Animax
English network	HBO
Other networks: Animax CTS Antena 3 RTL II, tm3, Tele 5 ORF 1
Original run	January 1, 1987 – December 27, 1987
Episodes	48
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Little Women, also known as Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari (愛の若草物語 ^?, "Love's Tale of Young Grass") 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

Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy are four loving March sisters living with their mother in the USA during the Civil War. Their father is a military doctor fighting in the Union Army. After a terrible battle in a neighbour town, the Confederates pass through their town and burn it. Over the ruins of their house the March family also learn that the factory in which their father invested all his money has been burnt too. Homeless and penniless, the family heads towards Newcord (Concord in the original novel), where the father's aunt lives, hoping for the old lady to help them. The girls try to adjust to their new life, face many hardships, meet new friends and wish to the war to be over at last.

Characters

• 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

Broadcast

Little Women aired on Fuji Television from 1 January 1987 to 27 December 1987 as part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. 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. Currently the series airs in the United States on Smile of a Child.

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. Return Someday (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)

Comparison with the source material

The television series is based on the first book of Alcott's novel, playing loosely with the characters and setting to tell a new story. The first direct comes in episode 18, based on Chapter 3 of the original novel.

Additional characters are introduced, such as: Jim, a slave hidden by the Marchs from the soldiers; David, another nephew of Aunt March and Anthony, a reporter from the Newcord press.

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

• Little Women (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Little Women at the Internet Movie Database