News

Before Green Gables to Debut in Canadian Embassy in Japan

The Embassy of Canada in Japan and Nippon Animation are hosting a premiere event for Before Green Gables, the prequel anime to L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables children's novel classic, on March 16. The anime adapts Budge Wilson's Before Green Gables prequel book to Montgomery's Anne novels. The story describes the early life of the Canadian orphan girl Anne, before she meets her adoptive family Matthew and Marilla in Anne of Green Gables. It will be the 26th title in Nippon Animation's acclaimed World Animation Theater lineup when it starts airing on Japanese television on April 5.

In addition to showing the first episode of the 39-episode series, the event will host a discussion with the director Katsuyoshi Yatabe (Brave Exkaiser, Dinosaur King, Mukamuka Paradise), the voice cast, and theme song singer Azumi Inoue (Laputa - Castle in the Sky, My Neighbor Totoro). The embassy is distributing 25 free pairs of tickets to the Japanese-language event to people who email the embassy by March 9.

The original Anne of Green Gables novel celebrated its 100th anniversary last year. The story is best known in Japan through the official novel translations and a classic 1979 Nippon Animation television series directed by future Studio Ghibli founder Isao Takahata (Grave of the Fireflies, Only Yesterday, Pom Poko). (In Japan, the Before Green Gables and Anne of Green Gables novels have been translated as Konnichiwa Anne and Akage no Anne, respectively.) There is also an Anne of Green Gables manga by Yumiko Igarashi (Candy Candy). An earlier Canadian animated feature prequel named Anne: Journey to Green Gables was released in 2004, and a live-action Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning television feature ran in 2008.

Thank you to dormcat for the news tip.

Image © Budge Wilson, David Macdonald, trustee, and Ruth Macdonald 2008
© Nippon Animation Co., Ltd. 2009