Season aired: Spring 2025
Number of episodes: 24
Watched on: Crunchyroll
Translated by: ???
Genres: Slice-of-Life, Romance
Thoughts: The character of Anne Shirley has the world in a chokehold, not just for a mere year or decades, but for a century. Published in 1905, Anne of Green Gables is a novel series that is arguably one of the most recognizable “slice-of-life,” even to this day. Anne’s story has already inspired multiple adaptations, but most surprisingly, it has two anime adaptations. The first anime adaptation aired in 1979, almost fifty years ago, adapting not just the first book but the entire series, and it was largely considered to be perfect. Yet, with the announcement of the second anime adaptation, named Anne Shirley after the titular protagonist, fans were more than happy to jump on to watch another adaptation. As one of those fans, I personally have never had an issue with the way this story has enraptured humankind for so many years. In fact, I welcome future adaptations.
Anne Shirley is a slice-of-life story about a precocious, redheaded, young, orphan girl who is mistakenly adopted by the Cuthbert siblings. Instead of a girl, the siblings had requested to adopt a boy to help out on their farm, Green Gables. While initially intent on returning her, the Cuthberts quickly bonded with the unique girl bursting with energy and imagination. The story follows Anne’s life as she grows with her new loving family, makes new friends and enemies, and navigates a simple yet drama-filled life of love and dreams.
I can pinpoint my biggest issue with this anime adaptation on one specific thing: the first cour is far stronger than the second in every aspect. The first episode caused quite a stir in the anime community thanks to not only its perfect casting of Anne, plucky dialogue, gorgeous scenic shots of Prince Edward Island, but also its creative direction. When Anne first meets Matthew Cuthbert at the train station, the POV takes on a humorous view of a camera. Anne pops her face so close to the lens that she looks distorted with humongous eyes and a curved forehead, all the while chattering away about what she imagined on the train ride to Avonlea. This direction quickly establishes Anne’s quirky personality, outgoing attitude, and curious sensibilities, making the whole episode feel as exciting and new as Green Gables is to Anne. This kind of creative direction remains consistently present in the first cour. A couple of episodes later, Anne is daydreaming about ice skating over the beautiful snowy landscape with black hair instead of red, and the direction noticeably shifts to pencil-drawn black and white coloration, showcasing her imagination in contrast to the bright and colorful real life around her.
Unfortunately, the second cour loses that magical aspect, and it does such a disservice to what was a strong directional adaptation in the first cour. While I can see the argument that by the second cour, Anne has grown up and thus wouldn’t have those silly, sweeping, emotional outbursts coupled with creative direction to emphasize that part of her personality, I still think there could’ve been ways to make the presentation creative even with a more mature outlook. If anything, I think it’s important to have those creative presentations, especially as Anne matures, because a key point to her character is that no matter how she comes to learn more about the world for all its best and worst, she never loses her imagination and optimism.
The second cour also suffers from bigger pacing issues than the first. For anyone familiar with the series, Gilbert is one of the most meaningful and important people in Anne’s life. The first cour took more than enough time to flesh out their interactions, guiding the audience from her resentment of his teasing to eventually accepting his genuine apology and friendship. The second cour is when romance enters their lives, but unfortunately, the anime skips a lot of their interactions. Their ups and downs make their childhood friend love story one of the most iconic relationships in literary history. Yet, because those crucial moments are cut, the titular moment where the two proclaim their love feels a lot less impactful compared to all its previous iterations.
The first cour covers mostly the first book and a bit of the second, so the second cour had to cover more ground to reach the ending that all adaptations wanted to end on: Anne’s grand love story. It’s unlike how she imagined her entire life, but it’s just as passionate and sweet as she hoped. The ending scene was the only moment where impactful direction returned, so even with my critiques, the fluttering apple blossoms did invoke butterflies in my stomach. I just couldn’t help but wonder how much more I might have felt if the adaptation carried all its strengths from the first cour through to the second.
With that being said, if there’s one consistent thing I want to shower praises on, it’s the voice actor for Anne. This is my first time hearing Honoka Inoue, and it’s impressive how she manages to voice Anne growing up throughout the years, capturing the precocious, spunky girl she was at the beginning to the mature, empathetic, yet confident woman she became. This was a large cast with many other voice actors, some of them seasoned, but in the end, Honoka Inoue managed to outshine them all.
Anne Shirley enters the books as another adaptation of this iconic series. While it may not be perfect, I am still thankful for its existence. It truly is a testament to the story’s strengths and the characters’ relatability that a book written a hundred years ago still remains relevant to everyone watching today. Ultimately, this is a story about Anne loving life, and if its never-ending adaptation is not indicative of the life-loving Anne in return, then what is?
Rating
Plot: 7 (Multiplier 3)
Characters: 7.5 (Multiplier 3)
Art/Animation: 7 (Multiplier 2)
Voice acting: 7.5
Soundtrack: 8
FINAL SCORE: 73
