Julie, the Wild Rose

Julie, the Wild Rose Is a 13-episode animated miniseries made in 1979 by the Japanese animation studio Dax International. The anime was broadcast in Italy on Rete 4 in 1983.

## Plot

The series is set in Austria at the end of the First World War. Julie Braun, a 12-year-old Tyrolean farmer daughter, was orphaned after her parents were accidentally killed in an Italian air raid shortly before the end of the war. Once the conflict is over, Julie is forced to leave her beloved Tyrol and go to live with her uncle Carl Klemen who works in a glass factory in Vienna with his family.

Julie is a country girl who must fit into Viennese society, but for her good character she does not struggle to be welcomed as a daughter by the Klemen and to make new friends especially among schoolmates, in particular with Alan, the most admired student of the school, between the two arises a sympathy that will go beyond simple friendship, arousing the envy of Carolina, a rich and very snobbish companion. In the family circle, Julie will find a great complicity with Tania, her cousin.

In the background is the difficult economic situation in Austria, with Uncle Carl being fired from the glass factory where he works so that the whole family will be forced to face serious economic problems. Julie fears she has become a burden to the Klemen but everyone will make her understand that she is not a guest but a full-fledged member of the family.

Over time Julie turns out to be an excellent singer, she begins to cheer everyone up with songs from the classical tradition and her land. The rivalry between Julie and Carolina is accentuated when Julie becomes solo voice in the choir of the Cathedral of St. Charles, the largest and most important church in Vienna, at the expense of the other. Despite the attempts of Carolina and her father to boycott her and Julie's nostalgia for Tyrol that Julie begins to feel, the girl will succeed in her intent to sing on the first night and the concert will be a triumph.

Julie has now grown up and is no longer the country girl of the beginning of the story, but she has become a confident and determined citizen of Vienna.

## Themes

The series that appears to be a low-budget production (there are numerous inserts of live films and fixed drawings, animated only with lateral movements or with the zoom) has didactic purposes, presenting a roundup of architectural, naturalistic and cultural wonders of Austria. The anime also deals with the difficult socio-economic context of the post-war Viennese society, with the Austro-Hungarian Empire in disintegration, between economic crisis and unemployment, but with the desire for rebirth thanks also to music and the values ​​of friendship and Austrian traditions.

## Characters

### The Braun family

Julie - The protagonist of the anime, an 11-year-old girl who after the death of her parents goes to live in the city. Sweet and kind-hearted even if a little naive, she is appreciated by her new family and manages to fit into the life of the capital. A witness of the culture and traditions of her Tyrol, Julie discovers she has the skills of a singer as the events unfold.

Mother and father - They are two Tyrolean peasants whose names are not revealed; we witness their death from an air raid in the prologue of the series.

### The Klemen family

Carl - Julie's uncle and master glassmaker who also employs his son Johann, is not appreciated for his great artistic qualities, in an era of economic crisis, where it is necessary to think about the quantity of pieces produced rather than quality. When he is fired, he will still find a job as the director of a new glass art factory.

Clara - Julie's aunt, welcomes the girl as a daughter. When the family is in financial straits, she will work as a seamstress helped by her daughter Tania.

Johann - Eldest son of the Klemen, he works with his father in the glass factory. He is initially a bit opposed to Julie coming to live with the family, seeing in her an extra mouth to feed in a time of crisis, but then realizes that he has found a new sister in Julie. During his father's illness and his subsequent dismissal, he begins to work overtime to contribute to the family budget, in this scolded by his father who does not want him to work at the expense of quality. He will follow his father, towards whom he has great respect, in his adventure as director of a new artistic glass factory.

Tania - A girl of the same age as Julie, she is also his classmate and immediately becomes his great friend. She dreams of a career as a singer, but despite being particularly gifted she cannot overcome stage anxiety. In the end, however, he will join the choir of the Cathedral of S. Carlo.

Henrich - He is the smallest member of the family. At first a bit spiteful towards Julie, he immediately considers her as his older sister, nicknamed her "Boss".

### Other characters

Pepe - He is a chipmunk that Julie brings from Tyrol and which is initially her only friend. Eventually the girl realizes that she has no right to keep a wild animal prisoner and frees it in the Vienna Woods.

Miss Theresia - Julie's teacher, she is sour and shrewish at first. He has a love behind him which he had to give up in order not to force the man he loved to give up his dream of becoming a painter. His character will become sweeter when by chance he meets again Thomas, the man of his life.

Mr. Harvey - He is Julie's teacher and he will be the one who will propose her as a soloist in the choir of St. Charles Cathedral. He is in love with Kitty, but she will reject his marriage proposal.

Kitty - Klemen's neighbor is a war widow with a small girl and works in a nearby tavern.

Oskar - He is an old luthier friend of Julie. Passionate about his work, and a lover of things well done, he embodies, like his uncle Carl, the value of Austrian high craftsmanship, to be preserved and handed down despite the terrible socio-economic crisis.