, also spelled as ''Princess Sarah'' for

disambiguation Word-sense disambiguation is the process of identifying which sense of a word is meant in a sentence or other segment of context. In human language processing and cognition, it is usually subconscious. Given that natural language requires ref ...

purposes, is a Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series that was based on the 1905 children's novel '' A Little Princess'' by

Frances Hodgson Burnett Frances Eliza Hodgson Burnett (24 November 1849 – 29 October 1924) was a British-American novelist and playwright. She is best known for the three children's novels ''Little Lord Fauntleroy'' (1886), ''A Little Princess'' (1905), a ...

. It aired from January to December 1985, as part of

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 ''

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 ...

''. The series follows Sara Crewe, a young student of an all-girls

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

who later becomes

orphan An orphan is a child whose parents have died, are unknown, or have permanently abandoned them. It can also refer to a child who has lost only one parent, as the Hebrew language, Hebrew translation, for example, is "fatherless". In some languages ...

ed and is forced to work as a

servant A domestic worker is a person who works within a residence and performs a variety of household services for an individual, from providing cleaning and household maintenance, or cooking, laundry and ironing, or care for children and elderly ...

. The anime series was remade into a Filipino live-action film adaptation, released in 1995. A Filipino television drama adaptation aired in 2007. It was also dubbed in other languages including

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

under the title, ''Sally'' (سالي) and was a huge success in the

Arab World The Arab world ( '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, comprises a large group of countries, mainly located in West Asia and North Africa. While the majority of people in ...

and widely popular, spanning reruns in the 1990s and early 2000s and was subsequently added to Netflix Middle East in November 2020.

Plot

In 1885, Captain Ralph Crewe, a wealthy English widower living in British-ruled India, enrolls his eight-year-old daughter Sara at the Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She excels in her studies and is loved deeply by her classmates and friends, but earns the hatred of class representative Lavinia Herbert and the grudge of the headmistress Miss Minchin. On her ninth birthday, Sara learns of her father's death and bankruptcy from an infuriated Miss Minchin, who decides to hire the orphaned girl as an unpaid

maid A maid, housemaid, or maidservant is a female domestic worker. In the Victorian era, domestic service was the second-largest category of employment in England and Wales, after agricultural work. In developed Western nations, full-time maids a ...

in the school. Miss Minchin and Lavinia attempt to make Sara's life miserable and break her spirit, but with the help of her friends, Sara tries to endure all the hardships with her kindness and imagination.

Characters

*; : :The main

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...

of the series and a student of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, who is the daughter of Ralph Crewe, Sara is a kind-hearted, beautiful, compassionate, brave, optimistic, imaginative, and intelligent girl. *; : :Sara's loving and devoted father, he died from his place India, leaving Sara to be poor and maiden by Miss Minchin. *; : :The strict, cruel headmistress of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, and Amelia's older sister. *; : :Miss Minchin's kind but meek younger sister, who is a school teacher in Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies. *; : :The oldest student of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Sara's (former) rival, who is bitterly jealous of her wealth and popularity. Lavinia is prideful, sadistic, cynical, and manipulative. In the series finale, she has reformed and becomes a friend of Sara. *; : :A scullery maid in Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Sara's closest best friend, who lives in the attic of the school. Becky is an optimistic, clumsy, and hardworking girl who comes from the town of Ashfield. *; : :A street-smart boy and Sara's loyal best friend, who greatly admires her. Cheerful and hardworking, Peter is good at driving a carriage and is also seen working at a market. He is also considered as a love interest to Sara. *; : :A student of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Sara's schoolmate and best friend, Ermengarde is a plump girl who is slow at learning. She is also a victim of Lavinia's bullying. *; : :The youngest student of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Sara's schoolmate and daughter-figure, Lottie is a four-year-old girl who is prone to tantrums. *; and : :Two students of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies who are Lavinia's closest schoolmates. *; : :A resident maid of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and James' wife. *; : :A resident

cook Cook or The Cook may refer to: Food preparation * Cooking, the preparation of food * Cook (domestic worker), a household staff member who prepares food * Cook (profession), an individual who prepares food for consumption in the food industry * C ...

of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Molly's husband. *; : :A maid in Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies who is serving for Sara. *; : :A French teacher at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies. *; : :A kind old man who lives in another house next to Miss Minchin's seminary, Mr. Carrisford is Ralph Crewe's best friend. *; : :An Indian

lascar A lascar was a sailor or militiaman from the Indian subcontinent, Southeast Asia, the Arab world, British Somaliland or other lands east of the Cape of Good Hope who was employed on European ships from the 16th century until the mid-20th centur ...

serving for Mr. Carrisford. Ram Dass has a pet monkey called . He is the only Indian who speaks English, unlike his two partners. *; : :Mr. Carrisford's solicitor and confidant. *; : :Mr. Carmichael's polite, generous son. *; : :Mr. Carmichael's daughter and Donald's sister. *; :Mother of Janet and Donald.

Other characters

; : :A solicitor who is invested into Ralph Crewe's business. ; : :Lavinia's father. Unlike his family members, he is angry with his daughter, and is the reason of the cruelty of his daughter against Sarah. ; : :Lavinia's mother. ; : :An orphaned street child who meets Sara outside the bakery. ; : :Becky's younger brother. ; : :Becky's younger sister. ; : :Peter's friend. ; : :An alcoholic doctor. ; : :A kind-hearted priest in a church in the city. ; :A soldier from London who helps Sara pick up the potatoes during a rainy day. ; :* :The owner of a bakery in the city. When she saw Sara giving bread to Anne, she described Anne as an "angelic child". Later, she took Anne to her bakery. ; :* :An acquaintance of Peter, he runs a stall flower shop in the market. She remembers Sarah when she was a young lady and cares about her. ; :* :The original owner of the doll "Emily" at a clothes store in the city. Emily, which is the signboard of the store that is not for sale, is handed over to Sarah, and at the same time she receives an order for Sarah's clothes (measurement at this time will be a hint later). He has also saved a fallen Sarah. ; :Ram Dass's two partners who don't speak English unlike Ram Dass. ; :He is a vegetable merchant and he helps Sarah because of stealing money. ; :He is handicapped with his crutch. ; :She is contagious and weak. ; :She is responsible for the match factory.

Animals

; :* :A domestic cat of Miss Minchin's seminary. ; :* :A parrot that Sara brought from India at the time of admission. At the beginning, Sarah's father Crewe brought Bonaparte from India to Miss Minchin's seminary in London as a companion for Sarah. When Sarah faces the death of her father, it was taken away by Mr. Barrow as a mortgage of Crewe's "debt", until Sarah returned to her original life, and returned to Sarah's side with the help of Peter and Mr. Carmichael. ; :A horse which has a white diamond-shaped spots on the forehead that Ralph kept in Minchin. At the beginning, when Sarah was a rich daughter, Captain Ralph bought it as an exclusive carriage for Sarah. When Sarah faces the death of her father, it was taken away by Mr. Barrow as a mortgage of Crewe's "debt", until Sarah returned to her original life, and returned to Sarah's side with the help of Peter and Mr. Carmichael. ; :Ram Dass' mischievous monkey. ; :Tom Carrisford's breed resembles a large long-haired Afghan hound, which in the original work is actually the dog raised by the Carmichael family.

Media

Anime

''Princess Sara'', directed by

Fumio Kurokawa was a Japanese storyboard artist and animated film director. He directed a number of animated television series produced by Nippon Animation during the 1970s and 1980s. Kurokawa was the series director of ''Animated Classics of Japanese Literatur ...

and produced by

, being the eleventh entry in the ''

'', premiered in Japan on January 6, 1985, and concluded on December 29, 1985, after 46 episodes on

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as or , is a Japanese television station that serves the Kantō region as the flagship (broadcasting), flagship station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network System (FNS). The station is owned-and- ...

. Shunji Saida is the character designer for the anime series. The musical score is composed by Yasuo Higuchi. The series features two pieces of theme music, both performed by Satoko Shimonari: the opening theme is , and the ending theme is . The Filipino dub of the series aired in the

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

ABS-CBN ABS-CBN is a leading Philippine media and content company. It serves as the flagship media brand of ABS-CBN Corporation, a subsidiary of Lopez Holdings Corporation. Once the country's largest free-to-air television network, ABS-CBN has since ...

in 1988. It was also aired on

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX in all caps, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. Launched on July 1, 1998, Animax is the first 24-hour network in the world dedicated to anime.The Anime Biz' - ...

, who later broadcast the series across its respective networks worldwide, including its English language networks in

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

and

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

, dubbing and translating the series into English under the title ''Princess Sarah''. Animax's version was the series' only English translation, and the series has yet to be commercially released in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. The series has been also selected as one of the best 100 Japanese anime series of all time by the viewers of

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

Film

The success and popularity of the anime series in the Philippines inspired a live-action film adaptation. '' Sarah... Ang Munting Prinsesa'' (lit. "Sarah, The Little Princess"), produced by Star Cinema and directed by Romy Suzara, was released on June 7, 1995. The film stars Camille Prats as Sarah Crewe. In the mid-2010s, the film was digitally restored and remastered by the ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project, which to date are restoring old damaged classic Filipino movies to a high-definition format.

Television drama

A Filipino television drama adaptation of the series, produced by

, aired from November 12 to December 21, 2007 on the Primetime Bida block. The series stars Sharlene San Pedro as Sarah Crewe. The story is loosely based on the anime series and took further creative liberties from the original source material, with fantasy elements being introduced in the story.

International titles

* 小公女セーラ (Japanese) * Sarah: Ang Munting Princesa (Filipino) * Die kleine Prinzessin Sara (German) * Princesa Sara (Spanish) * Little Princess (English) * Sara Lovely Sara (Italian) * Mała księżniczka Sara (Polish) * Princess Sara (English) * Princesse Sarah (French) * Sali سالي (Arabic and Sorani) * Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa (Tagalog) * Küçük Prenses (Turkish) * سارا کرو ( Persian) * 莎拉公主 (Chinese) * 소공녀 세라 Sogongnyeo Serra (Korean)

References

External links

Nippon Animation's official website for ''Princess Sara''
* *
Animax's official website for ''Princess Sara''

The Princess Sara museum
(in Japanese) {{A Little Princess Television series based on A Little Princess 1985 anime television series debuts 1985 Japanese television series endings World Masterpiece Theater series Adaptations of works by Frances Hodgson Burnett Animated television series about orphans Animated television series about princesses Anime and manga based on novels Anime and manga set in India Anime and manga set in schools Anime and manga set in the United Kingdom Cultural depictions of Marie Antoinette Drama anime and manga Fiction set in 1885 Historical anime and manga Orphan characters in anime and manga Television series about bullying Animated television series set in the 19th century Television series set in the 1880s Television shows based on American novels Television shows based on British novels Television shows set in England Television shows set in London Works about school bullying