Little Women (Nissay Family Special)

わかくさものがたり にっせいふぁみりーすぺしゃる

Aired: 1980

A standalone television anime produced by Toei Doga (now Toei Animation) for Fuji TV's Nissay Family Special slot, sponsored exclusively by Nippon Life Insurance. Adapting Louisa May Alcott's enduring American novel 'Little Women,' the special follows the four March sisters as they hold their household together while their father is away serving in the American Civil War: the conscientious eldest Meg, the irrepressible aspiring writer Jo, the gentle musical-hearted Beth and the artistically minded youngest Amy. Within their modest household the four girls share small joys and quiet sorrows, deepen their friendship with the neighbour boy Laurie, and quietly discover their separate futures, all rendered in soft Toei Doga line work and Showa-era pastoral colour design. The film stands apart from the later 1981 television series 'Wakakusa no Yon-shimai' and the 1987 'Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari.'