Anime Review: Anne Shirley

Anne of Green Gables was a part of my life for a significant chunk of my childhood without having read the book. The Anne of Green Gables TV series and its sequel, Avonlea, was ever present when I was growing up. So, when we got a new anime adaptation of some of the early novels, titled Anne Shirley, I had a real “Why not?” moment, and added the series to my watchlist.

Anne Shirley covers the first book all the way through the end of the novel Anne of the Island. If you’re familiar with the books, then that’s going to give you a pretty good idea of what material this will cover. If not, this covers Anne Shirley coming to the town of Avonlea on Prince Edward Island, being adopted by siblings Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, growing up and going through adolescence (including becoming close friends with Diana Barry and having a complicated relationship with Gilbert Blythe), leaving for college, dealing with her friends getting into romantic entanglements and getting married (or, in one case, dying), and ultimately realizing what – and who she wants in a romantic relationship, and the two people confessing their feelings for each other.

That’s a lot of life to pack into 24 episodes, so some stuff has to be cut, but approaching this as someone who hasn’t read the books yet, the narrative flows very well. At no point does there seem to be an unexplained or unprecedented change in character that comes out of nowhere. There are changes in character that happen off camera, but they happen most dramatically when Anne is off the island at college. It makes sense for those things to be off camera, because as far as Anne’s life is concerned, they are off camera. Yes, she’s almost certainly writing (and receiving) letters, but sometimes stuff gets left out.

The animation also looks gorgeous. The advantage of telling this story in animation is Anne has a vivid imagination which she projects on the world around her. Consequently, using animation can make the colors more vibrant, and the world seem bigger in a way that reflects Anne’s perception of the world, rather than reality. You can have the Lake of Shining Waters shine the way Anne sees it, rather than hoping the weather is right for it to look the way she sees it in a live action version.

Honestly, the series left me wanting more. I wanted this to end with an announcement for a second series covering the later novels. Certainly they’re beloved enough in Japan for them to have the viewership for another season. However, as yet no second series is forthcoming. Hopefully the not-too-distant future will prove me wrong and will get us a second series.

Otherwise, this feels like the perfect anime series to get picked up by PBS for national distribution (and, due to the Trump Administration’s cuts to Public Broadcasting, that’s unlikely to happen in the near future). As it is, this is an excellent gateway series for anime – one that any fan of the books, and those coming in new to the series, will enjoy.