Isao Takahata's "Anne of Green Gables" gets re-edited and ready for Japanese theatres

by Chris MaGee

We've reported a few times here on the Pow-Wow about Japan's love affair with Canadian author Lucy Maude Montgomery's children's classic "Anne of Green Gables" (read some of our stories here). From animated features to Takako Miyahira's award-winning film "Looking for Anne" the Japanese (or at least some Japanese) can't get enough of the ginger-haired girl from Prince Edward Island. Case in point, anime master Isao Takahata's1979 animated series based on Montgomery's novel titled "Akage no Anne". The series, which was produced before Takahata teamed up with Hayao Miyazaki to create Studio Ghibli is going to be introduced to a whole new generation of Japanese children this summer when a feature length animated film edited together from the old series will be released in Japanese theatres. According to Anime News Network the official release date is July 17th.

Now before you say, "Aw, I'm really not that interested in 'Anne of Green Gables'," check out this bit of trivia from the Anime News Network article. Apparently none other than Hayao Miyazaki worked on the first 15 episodes of the series for Takahata, the director of "Grave of the Fireflies", before going off to work on his own feature films. Now your interest is piqued, right? To check out a bit of what the original series, and now film, look like head over to its official site here.