Wordbender: Je Promets, This is the Last Akage no Anne Post!

Fifty episodes, four days, and one tired, wistful, and very satisfied Aida. We have come to the end, mes amis. Akage no Anne, much like its source material and title character, is a timeless treasure. I have included a link on my Facebook, but in case you'd rather not go digging through your news feed to find it, here it is. You're welcome!

My final list of impressions is below:

I took my notes in chronological order, but I want to say first and foremost that Matthew's death made me cry so much. I sniffled a little in the book and while watching the Sullivan miniseries, but considering both of those were in English, I think Akage no Anne deserves higher praise. It touched me deeply despite being in Japanese, fan-subbed, and anime, a medium I dislike (although I love animation in general, so don't accuse me of being trapped in the Animation Age Ghetto). Short story: This is really good, guys.
Okay, chronological notes, starting from Anne going to Queen's.
The Charlottetown/Charlottesville typo persisted in all but two or three episodes, which of course made me even more of an emotional mess. A paraphrased line of Anne's struck me in particular: "I am going to Charlottesville to seek my future." Why do you do this to me, show?!
Anne's studying puts me to shame. When she stays up until one in the morning doing her homework, she's not spending half of her time on Facebook and Tumblr (or whatever the nineteenth-century equivalent would be), that's for sure.
Moody Spurgeon MacPherson cracks me up.
The novel describes Anne's eyes as "green in some lights and grey in others." The anime does this really, really well.
Akage no Anne uses a lot of flashbacks. Sometimes they're overdone. Other times I feel just as the characters do. Anne's character design went through a lot of subtle changes that really pay off in flashback comparisons, I will say that. I didn't notice how much she had changed from even eleven through twelve until Marilla thinks back to her arrival, and man oh man was I surprised.
When Anne learns of the Avery scholarship, she has a vision of herself in a cap and gown (and her usual braids!) accepting a diploma while a proud Matthew looks on. My first thought was how ridiculous it was that she should graduate in braids, but my second was just sadness. Anne does eventually go to Redmond, but Matthew won't be there to celebrate with her. :(
After Anne leaves for Queen's, Marilla is shown crying in bed and looking longingly at the empty chair at the dining room table. Once again, why do you insist on breaking my heart, show?
One aspect of Akage no Anne I did not enjoy so much was the music. That is one advantage the Sullivan production does have. Akage no Anne has this weird track with bagpipes they like to use over and over again. It was funny the first time it played (during Mr. Phillips's farewell speech), but after that it was just overkill. There's another track with gongs that was used less often, but happened to be equally weird. Sullivan probably had a better budget.
Another Sullivan advantage: the wonderful use of English-language poetry. In the live-action mini, Anne is fond of reciting "The Lady of Shalott" and chooses "The Highwayman" for her White Sands performance. I know "The Lady of Shalott" was not in the book, and I don't think "The Highwayman" was, either, but they were both great additions. In Akage no Anne, the recitals are pretty random, and I have no idea what Anne is talking about in any of them.
Anne has a conversation with Jane and Diana about richness in which Jane says that diamonds would be a pretty good consolation for loneliness and sorrow. Considering Jane marries a millionaire who showers her with diamonds in Anne of the Island, I was more than a little amused.
Whenever a lecture hall scene comes up, the girls seem to be sitting on one side of the room and the boys on the other. It might be another Japanese thing, but it struck me as odd.
I kept getting strange sidebar ads as I went through the episodes. One that I found particularly funny featured two Twilightesque cartoons locked in a close embrace, telling me that one click would help me "Find [my] Bella." As a straight female watching an Anne of Green Gables anime this was amusing enough, but the thought that anyone would be looking for someone as aggravating and selfish as Bella Swan was what really cracked me up!
Okay, so Josie starts the rumor that Emily Clay is a shoo-in for the Avery just to spite Anne. Later, Anne mentions that she's sure the won't get it because everyone is talking about Emily. Anne gets the Avery, of course, but I can't help feeling a little sorry for Emily Clay. Imagine being talked of as the surefire winner of a coveted school prize for weeks on end, only to lose to someone else. Maybe Emily got the Avery when Anne gave it up?
I've said it before. I don't care, it bears repeating: Matthew's death is so darn sad!
The scene where Anne is finally able to cry over Matthew with Marilla was heartbreaking and beautiful ("you're like my own flesh and blood!"), but there was one thing that bothered me. In the Sullivan film, and I'm pretty sure in the book, Marilla hears Anne crying and goes to comfort her with her hair down. It's a little thing, but it's symbolically important. Marilla, who always wears her hair so severely, is able to open herself to Anne emotionally fully and completely in a vulnerable state, in her nightwear with her hair down. In Akage no Anne, she's sitting with some visitors who have come to console her when she hears Anne and goes upstairs to see her. She's in her black day dress and her hair is in its usual bun. Like I said, it doesn't really matter that much, but it irked me just slightly.
Gilbert came to Matthew's funeral. Aww.
Matthew's name is written on his gravestone as "Thomas Cuthbert." Was his name actually Thomas Matthew Cuthbert in the novel, and I'm just misremembering? If not, that's really an inexcusable error.
Another error: His gravestone said he died in November. This is certainly wrong. Anne had just come home from Queen's for the summer, so it had to be May or June, July at the very latest. Bad form, background artists!
I really liked the metaphor of life being like a road, and Anne's decision to give up her scholarship and stay with Marilla as a bend in it. It was accompanied by some lovely visuals, and the whole thing just came across well. Good job!
"Good morning" is "Ohayo" in Japanese. Whenever the characters said it, though, it sounded like they were yelling "Ohio!" at one another, haha. Unintentional humor for the win!
Aww, Anne and Gilbert are so cute. I know this was made over thirty years ago and it was the only novel they adapted, but I really want to see a good adaptation of Anne of the Island someday. Also Anne's House of Dreams and Anne of Ingleside, but especially Anne of the Island. As someone who is in college now, I'd love to see Anne's college years on screen.

In closing, I really, really loved Akage no Anne and thoroughly recommend it to anyone who thinks of Anne as a kindred spirit. It's so, so great.

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