Anne Shirley

Episodes 1-2

Ever since it was first published in 1908, L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables has been a staple of children's literature. It's a series that readers can grow with, following Anne Shirley from age eleven up through her late adulthood, with nine books total. And given the speed at which this adaptation is proceeding, I wouldn't be surprised if the plan wasn't to cover at least two, if not four or five, of the original works. Given the leisurely pace of the original anime version of the story, the quick pacing of this one may not sit well with everyone, but I think we also have to consider what's being cut. Mostly at this point it's the religious bits – chapters about Anne attending church and Sunday School are abbreviated, and Marilla's attempts to get Anne to pray “properly” have also been excised. While those were important to include in 1908 and still fine to put in in earlier adaptations, in 2025, they might not resonate with the audience. It's a risk to cut them, yes, but the thinking behind it makes sense.

The characters are the most impressive piece of Anne Shirley so far. Anne, whose dialogue can run to four entire pages of her just talking, retains all of her verve and imagination, in no small part due to Honoka Inoue's amazing energy. But even the moments chosen to animate are perfect: yes, these two episodes may breeze through thirteen chapters of the original novel and change a few locations, such as where Anne confronts Rachel Lynde, but the details are just right – Anne's angry foot stomping and her blissful flower-gathering are right out of the novel, and the quiet moments like Matthew sneaking in to convince Anne to apologize to Rachel and Anne slipping her hand into Marilla's are beautiful. The only notable change that took me out of the moment was when Anne threw herself onto her bed after yelling at Mrs. Lynde – in the book, it's clearly stated that she had her muddy boots on the bed, something conspicuously absent in the scene in episode two.

As you can probably guess, I love Anne of Green Gables. Here's a picture of the copy of the book I've had since I was eight years old, given to me by my grandma Ann:

It's falling to pieces, but I still re-read this specific copy every year. That's because there's something about Anne that resonates. You don't have to have been a red-headed orphan in 19th century Canada to relate to her; you just need to have been an imaginative child, or possibly a neurodivergent one; there are academic papers on Anne and ADHD and emotional dysregulation. Anne's not like other heroines of early children's fiction; when Mark Twain called her “the most moving and delightful child of fiction since the immortal Alice,” he was talking about her humanity. Prior to, and, if we're being honest, after both Anne and Alice, children in fiction were either too good or too bad to be true. Anne herself is written as a refutation of the so-called “formula Ann” or “orphan Ann” tropes of the 19th century, a specific type of narrative about good little orphan girls spun off from melodrama and sentimental novels. (For a good example, pick up almost any book by Mrs. L.T. Meade.) While Anne herself reads as an emotional rollercoaster to us, something these two episodes do an excellent job with, she's really aping popular fiction of her time period. Marilla finds her tiresome at times because she has no patience for that sort of fiction, but Anne's overblown apology to Rachel Lynde is straight out of something like Susan Warner's bestseller The Wide, Wide World. It's like an eleven-year-old today mimicking an influencer, something I daresay Marilla wouldn't have much patience for, either.

Or at least, Marilla doesn't want to have patience for it. While her brother Matthew is captivated by Anne from the start, Marilla is much more practical – she's the embodiment of every staid spinster on the Northeast Coast. But Anne is irresistible, even as she tries to remain stern. The brief moment where she convulses in near-silent laughter after Anne's outburst shows her humanity slipping through, and the scene at the end of episode two where Matthew's wordless “I told you so” annoys her is our first real glimpse of them as siblings – he doesn't even have to say anything to needle her. These episodes do a very nice job of showing us how Anne and Marilla are helping each other to find what they lacked in life, just as much as finding a bosom friend in Diana is integral to Anne's perfect dream life.

I'll be interested to see if the pacing slows down a bit now that the introductory elements are out of the way. Next week brings the infamous slate-breaking scene and the introduction of a few more important characters. But fast or slow, Anne Shirley is capturing the beauty of Montgomery's text, and Honoka Inoue is rapidly becoming as much Anne to me as Megan Follows from the old TV miniseries. And even if you decide this pacing isn't working for you, I hope you'll pick up the book. Not every story from 1908 holds up, but this one truly does.

Rating:

Anne Shirley is currently streaming on Crunchyroll on Saturdays.