Anna Dai Capelli Rossi

Anne of Green Gables Is an anime produced by Nippon Animation in 50 episodes in 1979 and broadcast on Fuji TV starting in January 1979.

It is the adaptation of the eponymous children's novel by Canadian writer Lucy Maud Montgomery, who drew heavily from her childhood memories to write the book. It is part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater project.

Nippon Animation on the occasion of the thirtieth anniversary of the anime, has produced a prequel entitled Sorridi, little Anna broadcast in Japan by Fuji TV starting from April 2009 and in Italy from October 2010.

## Plot

"Wherever I go, I'll always be little Anna from Marilla, Matthew and the" Green Roof ""

(Anna Shirley, ep. 41)

## Background

We are in the second half of the 19th century. Anna Shirley, a "thin and all eyes" child, [1] was born in Bolinghroke in Nova Scotia to Walter and Bertha Shirley in 1886, high school teachers. [2] Unfortunately, after three months both parents die of an infectious disease, and Anna, having no other relatives, is entrusted to Mrs. Thomas, a poor neighbor with her alcoholic husband. The girl lives with the Thomas family until the age of 8, looking after the children of the lady, until her husband dies when he is hit by a train after falling asleep drunk on the tracks. [3] At this point, Anna no longer has room in the family and is therefore entrusted to Mrs. Hammond, who lives with her husband and her 8 children (including three pairs of twins) in a poor shack by the river. The little girl, an expert on small children, also looks after Mrs. Hammond's children, until, with the death of her husband two years later, she is entrusted to the Hopetown orphanage, where she remains for five months ...

### The first year (ep. 1-20)

One evening in June, a little girl sitting on mail bags under the bus shelter of Bright River station, is waiting for someone to pick her up and take her to her new home ...

Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert are two elderly brothers. They have never married, so they live together on a farm called "Green Roof" [4] in Avonlea, a rural town on Prince Edward Island in Canada. Matthew is getting old and has a bad heart, and since he has never had children, he decides to adopt a boy to help him with the strenuous work in the fields.

Due to a mistake, Anna arrives from the orphanage instead of the boy, beside herself with the joy of having finally found a home and a family. Matthew, a taciturn and misogynist man, but with a sensitive soul, is immediately conquered by this strange little girl, who during the ride in the carriage from the train station to home, overwhelms him with words, giving evocative and romantic names to the places they crossed (an avenue of apple trees in bloom becomes the "Bianco Viale delle Delizie", a pond becomes "Lake of Shining Waters"). Marilla, on the other hand, much more pragmatic and haughty, considering that a little girl is absolutely useless for what they had set for themselves, decides to send Anna back to the orphanage.

The child then spends a terrible night at the house with the "Green Roof" knowing that the next day she will be sent back. The next day, Anna tells her sad story, slowly conquering the heart of the cold Marilla, who in the end, incredibly, decides to keep the baby. The woman, however, speaks clearly to her brother: it will be she and she alone who will take care of Anna's education. Matthew, who would do anything to get the child to stay with them, willingly accepts this agreement.

Anna is an eleven-year-old girl, thin, with many freckles and with "very ugly red hair" [5] that make her suffer so much. Marilla, pragmatic and always with her feet on the ground, in her new role as educator initially finds it hard to understand Anna, who has always been used to defending herself from the sadness of her life by deforming reality with her great imagination and dreams. Matthew apparently has a character opposite to Anna's: he is closed and taciturn (he expresses himself almost in monosyllables), she is expansive, exuberant and chatty, but a great affinity will immediately arise between the two.

In any case, Anna slowly enters the placid life of Avonlea and will soon make the acquaintance of Diana Barry, a girl of her own age who will be her closest friend for the rest of her life.

In autumn, school begins and Anna, semi-illiterate despite her 11 years, is only admitted to the fourth grade. Here he meets Gilbert Blythe, the most admired boy in the school. The latter, to get noticed by the girl who immediately hit him very much, has the bad idea of ​​making fun of her red hair by nicknamed her "Pel di Carota". And here is revealed another aspect of Anna's character, resolute and inexorable in her pride. For that stupid but innocent joke, Anna will no longer speak to Gilbert for almost five years (despite the boy's repeated apology), and this enmity, which will soon turn into heated rivalry in studies and in life, will mark the years to come of Anna's existence, accompanying her maturation.

Anna is extremely eager to learn. In a short time, spurred also by the desire not to be inferior to her companion-rival Gilbert, she recovers the distance that separated her from her classmates (she will always continue to have some problems in geometry, however) and in the middle of the school year she is admitted to the fifth grade. At the end of the school year it is now clear that Anna is the smartest in her class.

Little Anna is 12 years old and a year has passed since the day she arrived in Avonlea. For some time now the girl has been considered as a daughter by the two elderly brothers who have had their life pleasantly turned upside down since her arrival. On the day of the first anniversary, Matthew will take Anna to the places they had crossed in a carriage a year earlier on the way from the station to home, the "White Avenue of Delights", the "Lake of Shining Waters" ...

### The end of childhood (ep. 21-36)

The new school year starts badly for Anna. Due to a stupid game, he falls off the roof of Diana's kitchen, fracturing his ankle. Marilla loves the little girl very much, but it is only at this point that, seeing her fainted in the arms of Diana's father, she suddenly realizes that Anna has gradually become the most important person in the world for her. Due to her stunt, Anna is bedridden for a long time, she will start school almost a month later and therefore will be slow to meet the new teacher, Muriel Stacy who will influence her future so much.

For Christmas the teacher organizes a play. Marilla, always austere, initially does not see willingly that the boys "waste time with this nonsense", but on the night of the play, seeing her Anna on stage with the new dress given to her by Matthew, she is struck by her acting skills and of the fact that she is now becoming a girl. The two elders are proud of their child, and that same evening, when Anna has already gone to sleep, they talk for the first time about her future and what they can offer her.

Meanwhile, the rivalry in the study with Gilbert Blythe is becoming increasingly heated and this leads the two boys to excel in school. Anna founded with some classmates the "Club del Racconto", an exclusive club (children are not allowed, much to the regret of Ruby Gillis, a great friend of hers) which has as its purpose the writing of stories, which will then be read and commented by all the associates.

This school year also ends. During the summer Anna gets into another bad trouble: during a game with her friends (she was impersonating Elaine in the drama "La Dama del Giglio" [6]), she finds herself trapped alone on a boat that slowly begins to sink in the waters of the "Lake of Shining Waters". She is saved by the timely arrival of Gilbert, who takes the opportunity to apologize for the umpteenth time. For some time now Anna has no longer been angry with Gilbert, on the contrary the resentment has turned into something that she believes to be rivalry, but which is perhaps something else ... Unfortunately, this time too Anna's pride prevails and she refuses for the last time Gilbert's offer of peace, who goes away angry and offended. Anna immediately regrets her gesture, but it is too late now.

The new school year begins and Anna, together with the other most deserving 13-year-old students, receives the proposal of the teacher Muriel Stacy to attend an intensive course of preparation for the entrance exams at Queen's Academy, the high school of the town of Charlottetown, where the teachers of the elementary schools graduate. Anna has finally found a purpose in life: she wants to become like her beloved teacher Stacy and from that moment she will work even harder in her studies to make her dream come true. And here he will have a great disappointment: his inseparable friend Diana, not too gifted for studies, will not participate in the intensive course. At this point Anna knows that sooner or later their lives will have to separate.

Anna is now 14 years old and is dedicating herself body and soul to her studies, worrying more and more Marilla who fears that the extra hours of school and the additional subjects that the girl has to study will damage her health. The school year ends and Anna can finally rest. Locked the books in the attic, he is preparing to spend a long and wonderful carefree summer, the last of his childhood, which is quickly ending. Nowadays children's games no longer find any interest in her and her friends (who are much more interested in talking about children and the future) and when one autumn day even the "Story Club" will be dissolved, Anna will suddenly discover of having grown up.

### Adolescence (ep. 37-50)

A little girl sitting under the bus shelter of Bright River station, is waiting for her father to pick her up and take her home. The stationmaster sees the scene and goes back to what happened many years before.

The story resumes about five months after the last events, we are in spring and Anna turns 15. Marilla deeply loves the tall girl, with big intelligent eyes and a little thoughtfulness that Anna has transformed into, but she asks herself more and more often, pining with melancholy, where that exuberant child has gone, chiacchierona and precocious who many years ago had pleasantly burst into her life and that of her brother Matthew.

Meanwhile, Anna continues with her frenzied study: now her nights are filled with nightmares, where she fails to pass the entrance exam to the Academy, and what is worse, her rival Gilbert is ranked first. He is also afraid of disappointing Matthew, who places blind faith in his abilities. Finally the day of the exam arrives and after a few weeks the results are displayed: Anna will be first among the students of the whole island of Prince Edward, on a par with Gilbert Blythe. In addition, the entire group of students prepared by Muriel Stacy passed the exam and was admitted to Queen's Academy.

During the summer Anna participates in a charity play, to which she is invited as a representative of Avonlea, thanks to the brilliant result achieved in the exams. What was supposed to be a simple recitation of a poem turns into a triumph, with countless encore requests. Gilbert is in the audience: he has always been in love with Anna, although she carefully avoids him, and does not hide his admiration.

But now a new existence is about to begin for Anna. His carefree life in Avonlea is over forever and he has to move to Charlottetown to a boarding house, leaving Marilla and Matthew, his "parents", and the "Green Roof", his home.

Then a new school year begins, this time in high school. Anna and Gilbert decide to attend the intensive course, two years in one, to obtain the diploma in just one year. Anna soon discovers that a university scholarship will be up for grabs that year, offered to the most brilliant student in English literature. Suddenly the girl's life purpose changes: the desire to become a teacher like Miss Stacy is transformed into the iron will to continue her studies, to go to university and to graduate. And here he consciously uses the ancient rivalry with Gilbert to be able to withstand the terrible pace of study that is self-imposed, both to avoid being beaten by him and to be able to win the scholarship. Every weekend Anna returns home, and now Marilla and Matthew live only for those fleeting appearances of hers, but soon winter arrives with its inclement weather and above all the final exams are approaching: at a certain point Anna is forced to interrupt the travels to the "Green Roof" and stays in Charlottetown, more and more immersed in the study.

We are in February and Matthew has yet another heart attack. The two brothers have always kept Matthew's precarious health conditions carefully hidden from Anna, but this time the girl discovers the fact and rushes home desperately to check on her Matthew's health conditions. Marilla knows that her brother is seriously ill, but she doesn't want to distract the girl from her studies, which are becoming harder and harder. He will then work to reassure Anna, who will eventually return to school relieved.

It is time for the final exams. Anna has spent every moment of the last year on books and Matthew, who as always has a blind faith in the girl's abilities, knows that she will win the scholarship: Anna on the other hand is no longer hoping for it even though she knows she has done all the possible. In the end it is Matthew who is right in believing in Anna, who will graduate with a very high score and will be the most brilliant student in English literature, winning the coveted scholarship to the university. Gilbert will be the best student of the course and will win the gold medal.

And here Anna will have another disappointment, perhaps greater than when her best friend Diana had given up attending high school: in fact Gilbert, who cannot afford the huge expense of the university, renounces to continue his studies by opting for 'teaching at the school of Avonlea. Anna is displaced: until then she had used the antagonism with Gilbert to be able to excel in the study, how could she have continued without her companion-rival ever?

Summer begins and one evening, the last night, Anna asks Matthew something she has always been thinking about. After all this time, would he have preferred that the orphanage hadn't been wrong and that the boy he wanted had arrived at the "Green Roof" and could have helped him with his work? Matthew reveals to Anna that not even a dozen boys could replace his Anna, his daughter, of whom he is so proud.

The next morning Matthew will die of a heart attack while he is reading the newspaper, due to the news of the bankruptcy of the Bank of Avonlea where his life savings were deposited.

At this point Anna must make what is perhaps the most important decision of her life. He understands that he must redefine his wishes and ambitions, since he cannot leave Marilla, who is also very ill, alone to go away to study. He therefore renounces the scholarship to stay next to the one who has long since become his mother in all respects. Gilbert, as soon as he discovered this, renounced the post of teacher in Avonlea to sell it to Anna, opting for a much more uncomfortable and distant job.

Marilla reveals to Anna that in her youth she was in love with Gilbert's father, and that she had assumed the same attitude towards him as Anna when she was a child towards Gilbert, and that because of her proud character she had left him, but had realized that he had made a big mistake and had had so many remorse.

Finally Anna, in thanking Gilbert for that kind gesture, manages to talk to him and clarify what she had never been able to tell him in five years because of her pride. The bond of friendship, which had been severed many years ago, is finally being re-established and perhaps will lead to something more important as well.

Anna's horizons have narrowed since the day she returned home happy after exams, but even if the path she will have to walk is narrower, she is at peace with herself because she knows that there she will find quiet happiness. The last shot is on a small street in Avonlea, a narrow path of the characteristic red earth of those places, red like Anna Shirley's braids.