, also known as ''Smart-san'' or ''Mademoiselle Anne'', is a Japanese shōjo manga series by

Waki Yamato is a Japanese manga artist. She debuted in 1966 with the short story ''Dorobō Tenshi''.｢あさきゆめみし PerfectBook｣ p.181 Special Interview Since her debut, Yamato steadily created and published a variety of works in the genre of s ...

. It was serialized by Kodansha in the magazine ''

Shōjo Friend was a shōjo manga magazine formerly published by Kodansha, beginning in 1962. Kodansha used the knowledge gained from publishing magazines aimed at young girls, including ''Nakayoshi'' and '' Shōjo Club'', as well as the experience from publi ...

'' from 1975 to 1977. The title can be literally translated into English as ''Here Comes Miss Modern'', ''Here Comes Miss High-Collar'' ("haikara" being the

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

version of "high collar"), or ''Fashionable Girl Passing By''. In 1977, it was awarded the 1st Kodansha Manga Award for shojo. The series was later adapted as a 42-episode

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series produced by

Nippon Animation is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City. Nippon Animation is known for producing numerous anime series based on works of ...

, which aired in Japan on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as (also known as EX and and stylized as TV asahi), is a television station that is owned and operated by the subsidiary of certified broadcasting holding company , itself controlled by The Asahi Shimbun Comp ...

in Tokyo and other local stations across the country from June 3, 1978, to March 31, 1979. The anime was later rebroadcast across Japan on the anime

satellite television Satellite television is a service that delivers television programming to viewers by relaying it from a communications satellite orbiting the Earth directly to the viewer's location. The signals are received via an outdoor parabolic antenna comm ...

network

Animax , stylized as ANIMAX, is a Japanese animation satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. The channel also dubbed other cartoons in Japanese language. A subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan, it is headq ...

and on

NHK , also known as NHK, is a Japanese public broadcaster. NHK, which has always been known by this romanized initialism in Japanese, is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee. NHK operates two terrestr ...

satellite channel BS2. The manga was also adapted into three television drama specials and theatrical film. Two new anime films have been released, with the first film on 2017, and the second film in 2018. In 2017, the story was also adapted for the musical theatre of the

Takarazuka Revue The is a Japanese all-female musical theatre troupe based in Takarazuka, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan. Women play all roles in lavish, Broadway-style productions of Western-style musicals and stories adapted from films, novels, manga, and Japa ...

Plot

One day, Benio has a series of embarrassing encounters with the handsome army lieutenant Shinobu Ijuin (voiced by:

Katsuji Mori is a Japanese actor, voice actor and narrator from Tokyo. He is most known for the roles of Go Mifune (''Mach GoGoGo''), Joe Shimamura/009 (''Cyborg 009'' 960s, Ken the Eagle ('' Science Ninja Team Gatchaman''), Jouji Minami ('' Tekkaman: The Sp ...

). Benio encounters Shinobu again when she arrives home that day, and promptly attacks him with her kendo stick, only to receive a shock when her father (voiced by: Ichiro Nagai) tells her that Shinobu is to be her husband, due to a pact made between the Hanamura and Ijuin families before Benio's birth. Since Benio's friend Tamaki is in love with Shinobu, Benio also wants out of the engagement to avoid hurting Tamaki. Moved by this unexpected show of kindness, Benio decides to forget Shinobu and accept Tosei's proposal of marriage. Lalissa is fatally injured in the quake trying to save Shinobu, and as she lies dying, she tells Shinobu to marry Benio and be happy. Tosei tries to save Benio, but Benio refuses, preferring to die alongside her beloved rather than face life without him; thus, Tosei rescues both Benio and Shinobu. In the end, Tosei comes to terms with his feelings about his mother and rededicates himself to his business; Onijima returns to Manchuria, and Tamaki decides to obey her heart and follow him; and Benio and Shinobu are wed at last.

Distribution

The manga was serialized in Kodansha's ''Shōjo Friend'' magazine in Japan from 1975 to 1977. It remains a popular nostalgia item in Japan to this day, considered a classic work from the same 1970s ''shōjo manga'' boom that gave birth to such popular titles as ''Candy Candy'', and copies are still in print. The anime adaptation of the story, which aired across Japan on the terrestrial TV Asahi network from June 1978 to March 1979, spanned 42 episodes, was directed by Kazuyoshi Yokota (''Spaceship Sagittarius'', ''Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics'', ''My Daddy-Long-Legs''), and featured character designs by future ''Ranma 1/2'' director Tsutomu Shibayama. Due to disappointing ratings, Nippon Animation was forced to end the series early and craft an ending to the anime that was different from that of the manga, cutting the story off after the arrival of Shinobu and Lalissa in Japan. In the final episode, Benio is told that the mysterious Russian count is ''not'' Shinobu (Lalissa has a photograph of their wedding day to prove it). However, an epilogue narration reveals that Lalissa found Shinobu in Siberia. He was severely hurt, and was the spitting image of her late husband. The final episode concludes with Benio finally being reunited with Shinobu. Up until this point, the anime had been a very faithful adaptation of the manga, even incorporating redrawn stills from Yamato's original work (although the anime portrayed Benio with reddish-brown hair, and Yamato's colorized drawings often showed her as blonde). The anime has been discovered by new audiences in the years since thanks to the enduring popularity of the original manga (as well as a live-action movie version of the story released in Japan in 1987). In 2005, ''Haikara-san ga Tooru'' was listed at #95 in a TV Asahi poll of the top 100 animation series of all time, based on a nationwide survey of Japanese of all age groups. The anime has also been aired across Japan by the anime

network,

, and the

satellite channel BS2. Both the manga and anime have also enjoyed considerable success in the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

an market. The manga was released in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in the late 1990s under the title ''Una ragazza alla moda'' (''A Fashionable Girl''). The anime was successful on Italian TV in 1986 under the title ''Mademoiselle Anne,'' and a French dub of the series, ''Marc et Marie,'' aired on French TV in 1995. The anime has also been dubbed into

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walter ...

, under the title ''Pino'' (the Arabic name for Benio). Nippon Animation's official

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

title for the anime is ''Smart-san''. Two-part anime film adaptations have been announced with the first film being released in Japan on November 11, 2017, while the second film on October 19, 2018 by covering latter story of the original manga series, which was not told in the 42-episode anime television series in 1978–1979.

Eleven Arts Eleven Arts is a film production and distribution company based in Los Angeles, California. The company has Japanese executives and has "a largely Japanese lineup". It specializes in importing anime from Japan to the United States. Company hist ...

has released the first film in theaters in the U.S. and Canada and on Blu-ray in partnership with

Right Stuf Right Stuf Inc. (formerly known as The Right Stuf International Inc.) is an American video publisher and distributor of video programming that specializes in Asian entertainment (anime and live action films). The company since 2022 is owned by ...

. The second film has also licensed by Eleven Arts.

1978–1979 anime television series

* Director: Kazuyoshi Yokota * Script: Nizo Takahashi * Storyboards: Hiroshi Yoshida, Teppei Matsuura * Music: Masuhiro Yamaguchi * Original Story: Waki Yamato * Character Design: Tsutomu Shibayama * Animation Directors: Eiji Kawakita, Eiji Tanaka, Takashi Saijo, Tatsuhiro Nagaki, Yoshiyuki Kishi * Background Art: Kazu Setouchi, Takafumi Kase * Executive Producer: Koichi Motohashi * Theme Songs: OP - ''Haikara-san ga Tōru'', ED - ''Gokigen Ikaga? Benio desu'', performed by Shosuke Sekita The theme song for the late 1980s movie was performed by

Yoko Minamino , also known as Nanno (ナンノ), is a Japanese actress and singer. She graduated from Horikoshi High School. She played Saki Asamiya in the second season of the live action ''Sukeban Deka'' TV series replacing fellow idol star Yuki Saitō. She ...

; it is a different song from that used in the anime series.

2017–2018 anime films

Staff

* Director:

Kazuhiro Furuhashi is a Japanese anime director and supervisor. He is amongst anime's most foremost directors, having directed and helmed the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' series (including the original television series, and its subsequent much-lauded OVA iterations), '' Z ...

(first film), Seimei Kidokoro (second film) * Script: Kazuhiro Furuhashi * Original Story: Waki Yamato * Character Designer: Terumi Nishii * Background Designer, Art Director: Kentaro Akiyama *Color Designer: Kunio Tsujita *Photography: Takeo Ogiwara (Graphinica) *Sound Director: Kazuhiro Wakabayashi *Music:

Michiru Oshima Michiru (満, みちる, ミチル) is a Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, 1970s J-Pop artist *, Japanese composer *, Japanese pop singer and songwriter *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese anime scriptwriter *, Japane ...

*Animation Production:

Cast

Saori Hayami performed the theme song .

Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Regarded as an influential figure in the city pop genre, she is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan, having sold over 16 million records, and has received several accolades. Her husband is Tatsu ...

composed the theme song and also wrote the lyrics, with arrangement by Takeshi Masuda. Hayami also performed the theme song for the second film, , also composed by Takeuchi.

Takarazuka Revue

Naoko Koyanagi adapted the story for musical theatre for the all-female

. She directed the Flower Troupe in performances in October 2017 and July to November 2020. In both performances, Rei Yuzuka was cast as Shinobu Ijuin and Yuuki Hana was cast as the title role, Benio Hanamura. The 2020 performance was Rei Yuzuka's Grand Theater debut as top star of the Flower Troupe; while it was originally scheduled for March 2020, it was delayed and rescheduled due to government COVID-19 restrictions.

References

External links

Animax's official site for ''Haikara-san ga Tōru''

Anime film official site

with a section for ''Smart-san (Haikara-san ga Tōru)'' * {{DEFAULTSORT:Haikara-San Ga Toru 1975 manga 1978 anime television series debuts 1987 films Anime series based on manga Historical anime and manga Japanese animated films Japanese television dramas based on manga 1980s Japanese-language films Kodansha manga Live-action films based on manga Manga adapted into films Marriage in anime and manga Nippon Animation Romantic comedy anime and manga Shōjo manga Taishō period in fiction TV Asahi original programming Winner of Kodansha Manga Award (Shōjo)