Wakakusa no Yon Shimai (Little Women)

わかくさのよんしまい

Aired: 1981

A television anime produced by Kokusai Eiga-sha (with production cooperation from Toei Doga), based on Louisa May Alcott's beloved novel 'Little Women.' Broadcast on Tokyo 12 Channel (now TV Tokyo) over 26 episodes, the series is set in Concord, Massachusetts during the American Civil War, where the four March sisters live with their mother while their father serves as a chaplain at the front. Each sister anchors the story with her distinctive personality-maternal eldest Meg, bookish and tomboyish Jo, shy and frail Beth, and pampered youngest Amy-as they navigate everyday joys and sorrows, friendship with their neighbor boy Laurie, and the lessons of love and self-sacrifice that come with growing up. Distinct from Nippon Animation's later 'Tales of Little Women' produced for the World Masterpiece Theater, this 1981 adaptation features an elegant score by Takeo Watanabe.