''Little Women'', also known as or , is a 1981 Japanese

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed be ...

adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's 1868-69 two-volume novel '' Little Women''. The series is directed by Kazuya Miyazaki (a veteran Toei director whose credits included ''

Cutie Honey is a Japanese shōnen manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. First appearing in ''Weekly Shōnen Champions 41st issue of 1973, the series ran until April 1974. It follows an android girl named Honey Kisaragi, who trans ...

'' and ''

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'' among others) and produced by

Toei Animation () is a Japanese animation studio primarily controlled by its namesake Toei Company. It has produced numerous series, including ''Sally the Witch,'' '' GeGeGe no Kitarō,'' '' Mazinger Z'', '' Galaxy Express 999'', '' Cutie Honey'', '' Dr. Slu ...

for the

Kokusai Eiga-sha , also known as Movie International Company Ltd. (MIC), was a former Japanese animation production company known for the '' J9 Series''. It was originally established in 1974 by Tsubota as Shigezu Ukuda founded as a video distribution company. It ...

(Movie International) company. The series was produced as a follow-up to a TV special based on Alcott's novel the previous year by the same animation studio. The TV series character designs differ slightly from those of the TV special; Jo, for example, while she is blonde in both versions, has curled hair rather than straight hair in the TV series. This series is sometimes confused with

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 ...

's 1987

World Masterpiece Theater was a Japanese TV anime staple that showcased an animated version of a different classical book or story each year from 19:30 to 20:00 on Sunday on Fuji TV. It originally aired from 1969 to 1997 and from 2007 to 2009. Commonly abbreviated to ...

TV series ''

Tales of Little Women , also simply known as ''Little Women'', is a Japanese animated television series adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's 1868-69 two-volume novel ''Little Women'', produced by Nippon Animation. It was first aired in 1987 (January–December) by the ...

'', as both series were dubbed in English and broadcast on U.S. cable TV in the 1980s (the 1981 series on CBN, and the 1987 series on HBO). In addition, both TV series share a voice actress:

Keiko Han is a Japanese actress, voice actress and western astrologer. She sang the theme songs in productions such as '' Story of the Alps: My Annette'' and '' Kazoku Robinson Hyōryūki Fushigi na Shima no Furōne''. Han is a fortune teller of western ...

, who plays Beth in this TV series, and Meg in the 1987 series.

Characters

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Production

Staff

* Series director: Kazuya Miyazaki * Script: Eiichi Imado * Character designs: Joji Kikuchi * Animation directors: Joji Kikuchi, Takeshi Shirado * Backgrounds: Tadami Shimokawa

Music

*Openings # #*April 7, 1981 - September 29, 1981 #*Lyricist: Jun Takita / Composer:

Takeo Watanabe Takeo Watanabe' Animeland Retrieved November 11, 2009. was a Japanese musician and composer. In addition to composing the well known theme song for ''Cutie Honey'' he has also composed music for multiple anime television series and films includ ...

/ Arranger: Yushi Matsuyama / Singers: Mitsue Kondo #*Episodes: 1-26 *Endings # #*April 7, 1981 - September 29, 1981 #*Lyricist: Juzo Tsubota, Jun Takita / Composer:

/ Arranger: Yushi Matsuyama / Singers: Mitsue Kondo #*Episodes: 1-26

Broadcast

This TV series aired on

Tokyo Channel 12 JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified ...

from April 7, 1981 to September 29, 1981, totaling 26 episodes. It aired from 18:00 to 18:30 on Tuesdays. While this series has been released on VHS, it has not been released on DVD in Japan due to the original film negatives being damaged.

External links