4.5 /10 2 Votes
6.4/10 Anime-Planet Final episode date 27 December 2009 Number of episodes 39 Networks TV Tokyo, Animax | 7.6/10 MyAnimeList First episode date 5 April 2009 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Original run April 5, 2009 – December 27, 2009 Similar Anne of Green Gables, World Masterpiece Theater, Porphy no Nagai Tabi, Trapp Family Story, Remi - Nobody's Girl | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Konnichiwa Anne: Before Green Gables (こんにちは アン 〜Before Green Gables, Konnichiwa An 〜Bifō Guriin Gēburusu, lit. "Hello Anne: Before Green Gables”), is the 26th series in Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater anime. The series is an adaptation of Canadian children's literature author Budge Wilson's prequel novel Before Green Gables, which was translated into Japanese as Konnichiwa Anne (こんにちは アン) by Akiko Usagawa. It chronicles the early years of main character Anne Shirley as she loses both her parents and is adopted by Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert.
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Production and development
Introduced in Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables, the series marks the 100th anniversary of the original novel's release and the 30th anniversary of its highly popular anime adaptation, Akage no Anne, also produced by Nippon Animation and one of the first pioneering World Masterpiece Theater series. The series is narrated by Eiko Yamada, who portrayed Anne in the original Akage no Anne.
While developing the series, Nippon Animation's staff undertook research by visiting a historical village in northeastern Canada which formed the inspiration for Avonlea in the novel, going to historical houses preserved from the era in which the novel is set and taking photographs, with core staff members and character designer and chief animation director Takayo Nishimura (previously chief animation director and character designer for 5 Centimeters Per Second), basing the characters, props and settings on them and also from historical books that he bought there. Nippon Animation's staff have followed this format of contextual research while producing other World Masterpiece Theater series.
The series premiered on April 5, 2009, and aired every Sunday from 19:30 to 20:00 JST on Fuji Television's broadcasting satellite network BS-Fuji. From May 2009, it was also aired on SKY PerfecTV!'s network Animax. Online streaming on Biglobe was announced, but was eventually suspended.