A happy family
| Anime television series | |
|---|---|
| title | A happy family |
| Original title | 愛 の 若 草 物語 |
| transcription | Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari |
| Country of production |
 Japan
|
| original language | Japanese |
| year | 1987 |
| Studio | Nippon animation |
| length | 24 minutes |
| Episodes | 48 |
| idea | Louisa May Alcott |
| production | Junzō Nakajima |
| music | Kazuo Otani |
| First broadcast | January 11 - December 27, 1987 on Fuji Television (Japan) |
| German-language first broadcast |
May 2, 1994 on RTL II |
A Happy Family ( Japanese 愛 の 若 草 物語 Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari , literally: The Story of the Young Grass of Love ) is an anime series that first aired in Japan in 1987. Part of the World Masterpiece Theater series, the series is based on the 1868 book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott .
action
The Marchs are a happy and big family. The daughters, the mature Meg, the intrepid Jo, the shy Beth and the cheeky baby boy Amy are just as respected as the March couple themselves. Family happiness is destroyed by the civil war . Since the family lives right near Gettysburg and the father is drafted for the north , the war is getting closer and closer. When General Robert Edward Lee visits one evening , the girls and their mother are forewarned. As the war drums approach, the women, accompanied by their housekeeper Hannah, flee into the forest and have to watch their house being destroyed.
The mother travels with her daughters and housekeeper far north to her only living relative, Aunt Martha, who takes in the now completely impoverished family. The women there find it difficult to endure. They decide to move into their own house, but because of the low budget it is only enough for one that is less beautiful compared to their old home. The girls not only lend a hand in the household, but also earn money. Meg becomes a governess, the spirited Jo earns her bread by publishing newspaper novels and the youngest two help out at home. They are driven by the hope that they will soon hear a message from their father.
Origin and publications
The animation studio Nippon Animation produced the series. Directed by Fumio Kurokawa and Nobushiki Yamazaki , Akira Miyazaki wrote the screenplay based on the novel. The actual plot of the novel does not begin until the eighteenth episode, before the characters and their situation are introduced. The television station Fuji TV aired the 48 episodes of the series from January 11, 1987 to December 27, 1987. In the first 14 episodes, the opening credits Wakakusa no Shōtaijō ( 若 草 の 招待 状 , German "invitation letter from the young grass") and the final credits Yūhi to Kaze to Melody ( 夕 日 と 風 の メ ロ デ ィ , Yūhi to Kaze to Merodi , dt. The evening light and the melody of the wind ”) sung by Eri Nitta . From episode 15 the opening credits Itsuka kitto! ( い つ か き っ と! , Dt. "Definitely sometime!") By Keiko Han , Eiko Yamada , Mayumi Shō and Rei Sakuma , the synchronized voices ( seiyū ) of Meg, Jo, Beth and Amy, and the credits Otō-sama e no Lullaby ( お 父 さ ま へ の ラ ラ バ イ , Otō-sama e no Rarabai , German "Lullaby for Father") sung by Satoko Shimonari .
In 1988, A Happy Family was broadcast in Italy. The melody of the Italian theme song was also used for the German and French versions. The series first ran on German television on RTL II in 1994 . Later broadcasts on tm3 , Tele 5 and the Austrian ORF 1 (Confetti Tivi) followed. The series also appeared on US, Mexican and Spanish television.
In 2008, the German distributor NEW KSM acquired the licenses for some classic anime series, including A Happy Family . The complete series was published in two DVD boxes in 2009, followed by a new edition in one box in 2011. In 2015 a Blu-ray followed with all 48 episodes.
In 1993 a 40-episode sequel to A Happy Family was released under the title Missis Jo and Her Happy Family . This is based on Alcott's novel Little Men , which focuses on Jo as an adult woman.
synchronization
| role | Japanese speaker ( seiyū ) | German speaker |
|---|---|---|
| Margaret 'Meg' March | Keiko Han | Katrin Schell |
| Josephine 'Jo' March | Eiko Yamada | Gundula Koester |
| Elizabeth 'Beth' March | Mayumi Shô | Manja Doering |
| Amy March | Rei Sakuma | Luise Helm |
| Mary March | Taeko Nakanishi | Astrid Bless |
| Frederic March | Osamu Saka | Joachim Siebenschuh |
| Hanna | Hisako Ôkata | |
| Aunt Martha Forret | Ranko Mizuki | Anne Wollner |
| David Forret | Kôzô Shioya | Michael Walke |
| James Laurence | Kôhei Miyauchi | Walter Niklaus |
| Theodore "Laurie" Laurence | Nobuo Tobita | Asad Black |
| Anthony Boone | Kazuyuki Sogabe | Jens-Uwe Bogadtke |
| Carl Brooke | Toshihiko Kojima | Rainer Doering |
| Sally Gardiner | Maria Kawamura | Silvia Missbach |
| Mr. Davis | Kôichi Kitamura | Kaspar Eichel |
Individual evidence
Web links
- A cheerful family in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Episode list