Anne of Green Gables Anime Doll by Takara Tomy

On July 31, 2016, Takara Tomy Toys is releasing a limited and exclusive Anne of Green Gables doll based on the 1979 anime series by Nippon Animation. The beautiful anime, also known as Akage no An, was directed by Isao Takahata as part of the World Masterpiece Theater series. The Anne of Green Gables doll was designed to celebrate 40 years of Nippon Animation. Read more about the Takara Tomy Toy release here.

The sweet Anne Shirley doll is part of the "Rikaraizu" series, which faithfully represents anime characters. The Anne of Green Gables doll is approximately 23 cm tall and has two outfits (shown below):


Anne's first outfit is the brown wincey dress she arrived at Green Gables wearing. The second outfit is the beautiful dress with puffed sleeves that Matthew Cuthbert gives Anne for Christmas. The doll can be posed on its own stand, and it comes with a hat, bag, shoes, and other accessories.

Created July 31, 2016. Re-posted online March 7, 2023. Last updated January 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

100th Anniversary Anne of Green Gables Stamps

On June 20, 2008, Canada Post and Japan Post jointly released special Anne of Green Gables stamps on the 100th anniversary of the publication of L.M. Montgomery's novel. The dreamy portrait of Anne Shirley is by Ben Stahl, and the painting of the iconic Green Gables house is by Christopher Kovacs. The sweet animated drawings of Anne Shirley, Matthew Cuthbert, Diana Barry, Gilbert Blythe, and Marilla Cuthbert are from the anime series Anne of Green Gables (1979) aka Akage no An by Nippon Animation, which was part of the World Masterpiece Theater series.

Canada Post also issued a souvenir sheet with a set of two 52¢ Anne of Green Gables stamps to commemorate the occasion with artwork by Ben Stahl and Christopher Kovacs.



The following wonderful article was published by Canada Post upon the release of the stamps with biographical information on L.M. Montgomery, a description of her beloved Prince Edward Island, and details on the artwork, digital illustration, and stamp design:

Issued: June 20, 2008

Article published in

Canada's Stamp Details (Vol. XVII No 2; April to June 2008)

It's hard to believe that the irrepressible Anne Shirley might have lain hidden in a hat box forever. When Lucy Maud Montgomery completed her first novel in 1905, she received several rejections from publishers, so she put the story away. But Anne, with characteristic persistence, must have tugged at her imagination. A few years later, Montgomery retrieved the novel and sent it out again. Anne of Green Gables was finally published in Boston in 1908, to immediate success.

One hundred years later, Anne and her story are featured on a pair of domestic rate (52¢) stamps issued by Canada Post to celebrate the novel's centennial. The stamp images are based on original artwork officially authorized by The heirs of Lucy Maud Montgomery and the Anne of Green Gables Licensing Authority Inc. The painting of Anne was created by Ben Stahl, and that of her beloved Green Gables house by Christopher Kovacs.

"Anne is such a unique character, so full of life and so inspired by nature," says designer Dennis Page. "These paintings represent her story well-the images are surrounded by nature, and Anne appears lost in her thoughts."

Anne's name, he notes, is printed on the stamps in a typeface as personal and expressive as she is. Page also worked with digital illustrator Mike Little on a unique frame for the two images, which serves as a subtle reminder that Anne's famous story is actually a work of fiction. "The stamp frames are meant to resemble the pages of a book printed in 1908, with deckle edges and an original look and feel."

Even Montgomery said she never felt quite truthful admitting that this vibrant red-headed girl was indeed a fictional character. Although Anne of Green Gables was her first novel, Montgomery had been writing poems and stories since childhood, inspired by her life on Prince Edward Island. Born in 1874, she was not even two when her mother died of tuberculosis and she was sent to live with her grandparents in Cavendish, a town later made famous as Avonlea. She grew up immersed in nature and Anne's scenic descriptions of Avonlea are drawn from Montgomery's own experiences of living in Cavendish where she was enchanted by the orchards, woods and beaches. Montgomery once wrote, "Everything was invested with a kind of fairy grace and charm, emanating from my own fancy, the trees that whispered nightly around the old house where I slept, the woodsy nooks I explored, the homestead fields, each individualized by some oddity or fence or shape, the sea whose murmur was never out of my ears - all were radiant with 'the glory and the dream'...amid all the commonplaces of life, I was very near to a kingdom of ideal beauty."¹ Montgomery continued writing while training and working briefly as a teacher, and was earning a comfortable income from her published work even before the success of Anne of Green Gables. Eventually she married and moved to Ontario, but her heart and imagination stayed on the Island.

The house known as Green Gables is now a national historic site, with an operational period-style post office. Montgomery never actually lived there, but it was home to relatives, and she often explored the surrounding property. The setting clearly inspired her-the landscape near Cavendish is as vivid a character in her books as any other. To recognize this special place as uniquely Canadian, the souvenir sheet bears a maple leaf die perforation between the two stamps.

The Cavendish connection is featured on a souvenir sheet official first day cover (OFDC), and on two additional OFDCs, each bearing double cancels-one real (Cavendish PE) and one fictional (Avonlea PE).

Anne has captured the imaginations of girls around the world and her story has a special history for many Japanese. Anne first arrived in Japan in the 1930s with Canadian missionary Loretta Shaw. When Shaw left the country at the start of the Second World War, she gave a copy of the novel to her friend Hanako Muraoka, who translated it as Akage no An, literally "Anne of the Red Hair". After the war ended, Japanese education officials were eager to introduce children to Western texts, and Muraoka suggested the novel. In 1952, it was included in the school curriculum, and it has been well loved by generations of students ever since. Today, thousands of Japanese travel to Cavendish each year to visit Anne's fictional home.

Despite its distinctly Canadian setting, Anne of Green Gables belongs to the world. The story has captured the imaginations of readers in many languages and countries. "In Japan, readers have formed a fan club called the 'Buttercups,' named for Anne's favourite flower," says Joy Parks, Research Officer, Stamp Services, at Canada Post. Buttercups appear on the floral envelope seals included with the stamp booklet, part of a collection of flowers reproduced from the paintings depicted on the stamps. Like the wildflowers that return to bloom each spring, Anne lives on in the imagination of her readers, as real today as when she was first published.

Additional information is available on the following websites:
www.gov.pe.ca/lmm
www.lmmontgomery.ca

¹ Stan Sauerwein, Lucy Maud Montgomery: The Incredible Life of the Creator of Anne of Green Gables (Canmore, Alberta: Altitude Publishing Canada Ltd.) 2004, p. 22-23.

Created June 30, 2008. Re-posted online November 18, 2022. Last Updated January 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables Miniature Diorama

My boyfriend gave me a blind box, which he spotted while traveling in Seattle. It's from the "Little Anime Series World Masterpiece Theater" collection. Each box contains a miniature diorama from one of five World Masterpiece Theater anime series produced by Nippon Animation. One of the anime series included is Anne of Green Gables (Akage no An). Knowing that I love Anne of Green Gables, my boyfriend bought a box for me and hoped for the best. Lucky for me, my box contained the Anne of Green Gables scene.

This blind box collection was manufactured by MegaHouse in 2003. The five World Masterpiece Theater series included in the collection are: Anne of Green Gables (1979), 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (1976), Rascal the Raccoon (1977), A Dog of Flanders (1975), and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (1980). The scenes for the five series are depicted on the sides of the blind box and on the insert inside the box (pictured below):





Inside the red box was a pink case that looked like a tiny book:



A brown plastic box, designed to look like wood, slides out of the pink case:



Opening the box reveals the eight items shown below: the Green Gables kitchen, Matthew's couch and shoes, the Green Gables kitchen table, a bowl, a pair of birds, and three characters: Matthew Cuthbert, Marilla Cuthbert, and Anne Shirley:



Here's a closer view of Matthew Cuthbert (who's asleep), Marilla Cuthbert, and Anne Shirley (carrying a layered cake):



Here are a few views of the Anne of Green Gables diorama with Matthew asleep on his couch, Marilla bustling about the kitchen, and Anne carrying a lovely layered cake (that hopefully is flavored with vanilla instead of liniment):





Here's a close-up view of the Green Gables diorama:



Created June 27, 2005. Re-posted online with new photos and content January 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com

Anne of Green Gables (1979) aka Akage No An

Anne of Green Gables aka Akage no An (translated to English as "Red-Haired Anne") is a beautifully animated television series that was based on L.M. Montgomery's novel Anne of Green Gables. The plotline closely follows that of the novel and begins when Anne meets Matthew at the train station in Prince Edward Island. The anime series was produced by Nippon Animation in Japan in 1979 as part of the World Masterpiece Theater series (1). The series is 50 episodes long, and it first aired on Fuji Television from January 7, 1979 to December 30, 1979.

Anne of Green Gables was written and directed by the acclaimed screenwriter and director Isao Takahata, who is known for directing Grave of the Fireflies (1988), Only Yesterday (1991), and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013). In 1985, Takahata founded the treasured Studio Ghibli together with Hayao Miyazaki and Toshio Suzuki. Studio Ghibli is admired for its artistry, creativity, and beauty in storytelling. Hayao Miyazaki created the settings and layouts for episodes 1 to 15 of the Anne of Green Gables anime. Miyazaki is the beloved anime director of Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind (1984), My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Princess Mononoke (1997), Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), and Spirited Away (2001). In 1990, Takahata edited the first six episodes of Anne of Green Gables into a film for theatrical release (1).

Yoshifumi Kondo was the character designer for the vibrant Anne Shirley. Anne’s voice was portrayed by the Japanese actress Eiko Yamada. She provided the voices of several other characters in the World Masterpiece Theater series, including Jo in Tales of Little Women and Little Women II: Jo's Boys. The opening and closing theme songs (“Kikoeru kashira” and “Samenai yume”) were composed by Akira Miyoshi and sung by Ritsuko Ohwada.

Anne of Green Gables aired in several countries throughout the world. It was broadcast in Canada in the mid-1990s under the title Anne...La maison aux pignons verts by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and dubbed in French (1, 2). In addition, the anime aired as Anna dai capelli rossi in Italy, Ana de las Tejas Verdes in Spain, Ana dos Cabelos Ruivos in Portugal, and Anne mit den roten Haaren in Germany. The series was also dubbed in English and broadcast by the South African Broadcasting Corporation and by Japan Entertainment Television in Taiwan.

In 2009, an anime prequel to Anne of Green Gables (1979) premiered called Konnichiwa Anne: Before Green Gables (translated to English as “Hello Anne: Before Green Gables”).


Image credit:
Drawing of Anne Shirley from Anne of Green Gables (1979) aka Akage No An. © Nippon Animation

References:
1. Helen McCarthy. Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation. Berkeley: Stone Bridge Press. 1999. 223.
2. Team Ghiblink. Nausicaa.Net http://www.nausicaa.net/miyazaki/wmt/index.html (2001).

Purchase and watch Anne of Green Gables (1979) aka Akage No An (Note: Most official Akage no An Blu-Ray/DVD sets are available for Region 2 (Japan), and they are not officially available in all region formats yet):



Created March 1, 2002. Re-posted online March 4, 2023. Last updated January 20, 2024.
© worldofanneshirley.com