Anne Shirley

A literary classic that couldn't be found in anime format. Anne Shirley is a classic from the 1900s. It's an extremely emotional story about the entire life of a red-haired girl. It's a coming-of-age story. Initially, this anime had everything it needed to shine. An extremely charismatic protagonist, capable of holding the viewer's attention. Honoka Inoue did a spectacular job with her performance; she carries most of the series. She knew how to adapt to the character's eloquence and was able to connect with her. The animation, while not fluid and beautiful, did have its own essence and charisma. They opted to use static backgrounds sothat the characters would stand out. The backgrounds were in a very beautiful oil painting style. The story, while lacking a fixed direction, was entertaining enough to watch a pair of siblings raise a girl they adopted due to a mistake made by the orphanage administrator. Up until the first three episodes, everything looked like it would be an anime full of beauty and learning. The problem arose when they started making abrupt time jumps. Suddenly, a school year passed in 10 minutes, or in two episodes, Anne went from 10 to 14 years old. Due to the lack of continuity, you couldn't connect with the secondary characters because you couldn't appreciate the impact they had on the protagonist's life. You can understand everything about the protagonist because she's the only one who matters to the story. When it comes to secondary characters, even if they're important, like the Cuthberth siblings, it's very difficult to empathize with them because we don't interact with them much. Anne Shirley isn't an anime designed to tell a linear story. It's very noticeable when they focus on episodic stories. When you watch episodic stories, you understand that Anne's life wasn't meant to be told in a linear fashion. They should have always told a story in each chapter and captured 24 key moments in Anne's life to reflect them in 24 episodes. Feelings like romantic love or filial love are handled very superficially. They want you to understand such a complex feeling in one or two chapters. These kinds of stories need more careful handling to reach the audience. It's not a bad anime, it's not a bad story. It's just that many times you won't be able to connect with it.

I've seen people give this anime a 10/10 rating, and it's not hard to see why. The characters are simple but endearing, the story is relatively gripping, and the anime conveys a truly pleasant positivity that makes you feel good. My concern is the pace. From the beginning to the end of the series, I felt like the anime was rushing to fit the entire story into its 24 episodes, even if it meant never letting the situations and characters breathe, which poses two major concerns in my opinion. First of all, it lessens the impact of situations. Whether it's a trivial problem at school orthe death of a loved one, the series glosses over it so quickly (often in half an episode) that it's hard to feel the gravity and importance of the event on Anne and/or the other characters, so it seems less important to us, which leads to the second problem: we feel less connected to the characters, in the sense that we don't feel what they are going through as much as they do, and so we are less affected by what happens to them, which is quite ironic for a series that relies on this. I know that this pacing issue didn't bother everyone, but even without having seen the original (which I recently started watching and which is much better in this regard), I felt that it was moving too fast, causing me to become increasingly detached from the story and its characters. But don't get me wrong, the series is very good and has some excellent episodes, such as the last one, which sums up the appeal of the series quite well. In short, it's a very enjoyable series, but it lacks the pace to make it to the next level.

If this series doesn't warm your heart, have someone close the lid, and chuck you in the ground already. The artwork is beautiful and lush for the most part. Characters are portrayed quite lovingly. The background work is formidable. The animation in the first cour is wonderful. I'll be nice and call the second cour a bit choppy. Too many instances of panning still frames, and the slide show of Diana's wedding was very disappointing. Still, overall the animation is better than most SoL titles. This series is all about the great characters and their development. If I mentioned them all it would read likean encyclopedia. It never felt too hard to keep track of them, though. Anne's portryal is masterful. It's almost impossible not to love her, freckles and all. Diana is the bestest best friend ever. Anne's adoptive parents are so believable. It's wonderful to see how Anne's presence transforms Marilla. As Anne grows and becomes an amazing adult young lady of brilliance and talent, her circle expands, and more great characters are added. They are all lovable but I particularly fell for Phillipa. She is the perfect foil and mirror to Anne. The narrative kind of scared me at first. Anime has tried adapting Western literature, and usually fails miserably, when they try to shoehorn it into Japanese culture. This tale is fairly simple and straight forward, and at it's very essence, totally human. It follows Anne's life, starting as an orphan being mistakenly adopted by the Cuthbert siblings, through her becoming a college graduate, and finding her own true love had been right under her nose all the time. The story is funny and courageous, but there is pathos and angst. Anne has much to overcome in life, but she's so irrepressible. You just know she's going to come out right from the tough and painful parts. The VA work is stupendous. Even the most minor characters are done with aplomb. Anne's actress deserves an award. One of the main reasons I like Phillpa so much was her VA was brilliant as well. Credit the directors for providing a fine lead. I know the animation shortcomings may have been a function of finances, since the early work was so fine, so all can be forgiven. The soundtrack throughout the season was excellent. I especially loved the OP, and never skipped a one. I was chair dancing with Anne every episode! So cheery and upbeat. Anne Shirley might not be the best anime of all times, but it certainly is a masterpiece, and an example of what anime can be at its best. If I were the school marm, I'd be cracking open my gradebook, and marking this one down as a 97/100. A full blown A and a well deserved one, at that. This is a redhead you got to get into your life.

Anne Shirley as an anime is at its most compelling when it interrogates adult authority- not as wisdom, but as contradiction. Through Anne, the series quietly but persistently exposes the hypocrisy of the adults around her, especially those who claim moral superiority through Christianity and “proper” child-rearing. Again and again, Anne is punished not for wrongdoing, but for failing to conform. She is pressured into a false confession over the missing brooch. She is made to apologize when no apology is warranted. She is chastised for defending herself, while cruelty toward her is excused as discipline. Even her interests are policed: she is told that thethings she enjoys or the way she behaves are “boyish,” improper, or unbecoming. The punishments feel futile because they are disconnected from justice - they exist to enforce obedience, not understanding. What makes Anne such an effective lens for this critique is her tabula rasa. Having not been raised within conventional family or religious structures, she arrives in Avonlea without the ingrained reflex to submit. She doesn’t instinctively accept that adults are right simply because they are adults. This makes her a canvas onto which the community projects its values- and, in doing so, reveals their flaws. The anime suggests that rearing children strictly according to Christian values often prioritizes appearances, guilt, and compliance over empathy or truth. Anne’s uniqueness functions as a foil for the entire community. She feels no inherent need to conform and is unapologetically herself, which in turn exposes the quirks, vanities, and unspoken cruelties of those around her. Even vanity itself is handled thoughtfully: Anne cares deeply about her appearance, but the series makes a point that one of her earliest interactions with others is to have her looks evaluated and mocked. Her fixation on beauty feels less like shallow self-absorption and more like a response to being taught - immediately - that her worth will be measured externally. Despite her love of books and learning, Anne also fails to fit neatly into traditional school structures, further highlighting how rigid systems struggle with children who don’t learn or behave “correctly.” The tragedy, and the critique, is that Anne’s imagination and sincerity are treated as flaws rather than gifts. In the end, Anne Shirley isn’t just a coming-of-age story. It’s a quiet indictment of moral systems that value conformity over compassion - and a reminder that a child who refuses to bend can reveal more truth than a whole town that never questions itself.

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