Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
ese
animated
Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...
television series
A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming plat ...
adaptation of
Louisa May Alcott
Louisa May Alcott (; November 29, 1832March 6, 1888) was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet best known for writing the novel ''Little Women'' (1868) and its sequels ''Good Wives'' (1869), ''Little Men'' (1871), and ''Jo's Boys'' ...
's 1868-69 two-volume novel ''
Little Women
''Little Women'' is a coming-of-age novel written by American novelist Louisa May Alcott, originally published in two volumes, in 1868 and 1869. The story follows the lives of the four March sisters— Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy—and details th ...
''. The series is directed by Kazuya Miyazaki (a veteran Toei director whose credits included ''
Cutie Honey
is a Japanese Shōnen manga, shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. First appearing in ''Weekly Shōnen Champion''s 41st issue of 1973, the series ran until April 1974. It follows an android girl named Honey Kisara ...
Toei Animation
is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including '' Sally the Witch'', '' GeGeGe no Kitarō'', '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...
for the
Kokusai Eiga-sha
, is a dormant Japanese animation studio headquartered in Nemuro, Hokkaido, Japan. It is famous for its mecha anime throughout the 70s and 80s.
Due to the losses incurred in Super High Speed Galvion and the bankruptcy of its sponsor, Kokusa ...
(Movie International) company.
The series was produced as a follow-up to a TV special based on Alcott's novel the previous year by the same animation studio. The TV series character designs differ slightly of those of the TV special; Jo, for example, while she is blonde in both versions, has curled hair rather than straight hair in the TV series.
This series is sometimes confused with
Nippon Animation
is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with its headquarters in their Tama, Tokyo, Tama City studio and an administrative office in the Ginza district of Chūō, Tokyo, Chūō.
Nippon Animation is known for prod ...
's 1987
World Masterpiece Theater
is a Japanese TV animated series that showcased an animated version of a different classical book or story each year from 19:30 to 20:00 on Sunday on Fuji TV. It aired from 1969 to 1997 and from 2007 to 2009. It is commonly abbreviated to ...
TV series ''
Tales of Little Women
, also simply known as ''Little Women'', is a Japanese animated television series adaptation itself of Louisa May Alcott's 1868-69 two-volume novel ''Little Women'', produced by Nippon Animation. It was first aired in 1987 (January–December) ...
'', as both series were dubbed in English and broadcast on U.S. cable TV in the 1980s (the 1981 series on
CBN
CBN, or cbn, may refer to:
Broadcasting organizations
* Radio stations in St. John's, Newfoundland:
** CBN (AM), CBC Radio One
** CBN-FM, CBC Music
* Chronicle Broadcasting Network, the predecessor of ABS-CBN
* CBN (Australian TV station), a TV ...
, and the 1987 series on
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American pay television service, which is the flagship property of namesake parent-subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is based a ...
). In addition, both TV series share a voice actress:
Keiko Han
is a Japanese actress and voice actress. She sang the theme songs in productions, such as '' Story of the Alps: My Annette'' and '' The Swiss Family Robinson: Flone of the Mysterious Island''. She is a fortune teller of western horoscopes. She ...
, who plays Beth in this TV series, and Meg in the 1987 series.
* Openings
#
#* April 7, 1981 - September 29, 1981
#* Lyricist: Jun Takita / Composer:
Takeo Watanabe
Takeo Watanabe' Animeland Retrieved November 11, 2009. was a Japanese musician and composer. In addition to composing the well known theme song for ''Cutie Honey'' he has also composed music for multiple anime television series and films includin ...
/ Arranger: Yushi Matsuyama / Singers: Mitsue Kondo
#* Episodes: 1-26
* Endings
#
#* April 7, 1981 - September 29, 1981
#* Lyricist: Juzo Tsubota, Jun Takita / Composer:
Takeo Watanabe
Takeo Watanabe' Animeland Retrieved November 11, 2009. was a Japanese musician and composer. In addition to composing the well known theme song for ''Cutie Honey'' he has also composed music for multiple anime television series and films includin ...
Tokyo Channel 12
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.''Little Women'' (1987 TV series), Nippon Animation's adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's novel.