On Anne Shirley

The first time I saw Anne Shirley was when I was on holiday in Japan, as such there were no subtitles so I could only catch a few words. From what I could tell it would be a nice cozy story about a young woman in a small village; it turns out I had seen episode 18.

I am unfamiliar with the original work by Lucy Maud Montgomery but I am aware that it is extremely well regarded. As such I will not comment on the broader story but focus on the execution.

I watched some of the series with my Mum so I will start with that. She usually doesn’t enjoy watching anime (even though I keep trying to get her to watch) but she thoroughly enjoyed seeing a series she loved in a new way. She did question the colour of Gilbert’s hair - it is far too similar to Anne’s and makes it seem like he could be ginger too.

A huge positive for me is the opening and ending songs. They really fit the vibe of the show and have really nice visuals. I also love the songs. Similarly, the title cards have a wonderful watercolour painting style that suits the show perfectly.

At less than half the length of the 1979 anime it does move extremely quickly, I have seen people talk about this as a negative but I found that it kept me engaged - I tend to find slice of life and slower paced anime a little boring but I loved watching Anne’s adventures. I think that the fast pace still left enough time to get to know and love the characters, I found myself quite attached to the main cast which made the emotional moments very hard hitting. Maybe a longer runtime would have allowed for more development of the side characters but there’s a chance that it could take away from the main story.

I am a huge fan of the animation and think that they were able to create a world that felt alive without needing anything flashy, especially the forest scenes. The world is incredibly charming and the vibrant colours really pop.

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In the world of modern anime such as Solo Levelling and Demon Slayer it feels like we are moving away from top tier stories in favour of flashy fights and crazy animation. It feels like Anne Shirley is a return to more plot focused stories and it feels very refreshing.

The story sends very important messages about what it means to be yourself, make mistakes, and just enjoy life in general. It shows how mistakes can be life changing in ways you never thought possible, and how they can just be silly stories that you can look back on and laugh as well as everything in between and beyond.

Overall I absolutely loved the show and would recommend it to anyone looking for a moving but uplifting story. I’m sure I will continue to ask myself “What would Anne do?”.