History Anime / AiNoWakakusaMonogatari

* SadistTeacher: Mr. Davis. Aside from the infamous scene where he whip's Amy's hands, another poor girl is only late by less than a minute, and Mr. Davis goes off on her, blaming her for the class not having perfect attendance anymore, and calls Amy, who ''wasn't'' late, "Miss Tardy" because she was ''almost'' late. He's also quite fond of showing off his whip to the class as a way of discipline. In another episode he expects Amy, who is 7, to have learned multiplication of large numbers, and yells at her in front of the whole class for getting both problems wrong. Naturally, he is not very well liked by his students, with Amy's friends insulting him regularly outside of school.

** Occasionally Jim (named John in the original Japanese version) is called John in the English dub.

* LonelyDollGirl: Beth is completely heartbroken when she loses nearly all her dolls during the Battle of Gettysburg, and clings onto the one doll that survived, a doll Jo gave her she named Jimmy. Her self-imposed isolation after moving to Newcord cements her as this until her friendship with [[LonelyRichKid Laurie]] and [[HiddenHeartOfGold Mr. Lawrence]].

* SadistTeacher: Mr. Davis. Aside from the infamous scene where he whip's Amy's hands, another poor girl is only late by less than a minute, and Mr. Davis goes off on her, blaming her for the class not having perfect attendance anymore, and calls Amy, who ''wasn't'' late, "Miss Tardy" because she was ''almost'' late. He's also quite fond of showing off his whip to the class as a way of discipline. It's all the more shocking than the original novel, since Amy (and by extension the rest of her friends) have been [[AgeLift aged down to around 7]], meaning they would have been barely starting school with him barking at them constantly, as well as the fact Mr. Davis wasn't that sadistic to begin with. Naturally, he is not very well liked by his students, with Amy's friends insulting him regularly outside of school.

* IdenticalStranger: Beth is a dead ringer for [[spoiler: Mr. Laurence's daughter Catherine, though we only see a portrait of Catherine since she died at some point in the past.]]

** Episodes 3 and 4 deal with their hometown being taken over by Confederate soldiers, and the March family is hiding Jim, a runaway slave. When Confederate soldiers come to their house and Hannah heads for the kitchen, the commander orders his men after her and search the kitchen, with Marmee pleading them to leave her alone. Keep in mind, African-Americans in the northern states, even if they had been free their whole lives, had the threat of being sold into slavery.

* TheBusCameBack: Jim Marty. He rides on top of the train the March family takes to Newcord, but disappears shortly after. When Jo starts working for the newspaper, he is revealed to have gotten hired by Henry Murdoch and now works as a printer.

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: Father March's backstory is different than in the book. [[spoiler: He was raised by Aunt March, who wanted him to run for public office. He dropped out of law school and became a civil engineer.]]

* AlphaBitch: Jenny Snow, Amy's classmate. Jenny rubs it in Amy's face that her father isn't home to give her money for sweets. Then, when Amy, who doesn't have enough limes for the whole class, says Jenny may not ''get'' a lime, tells Mr. Davis, [[{{Hypocrite}} despite having brought sweets to school in the past

* Hypocrite: Jenny Snow, Amy's AlphaBitch classmate. She told on Amy for bringing pickled limes to school, but she herself brought treats.

* SadistTeacher: Mr. Davis. Aside from the infamous scene where he whip's Amy's hands, he scolds Amy for being ''almost'' late on her first day of school (with him calling her "Miss Tardy" for the rest of the day) and openly insults another girl for getting one math problem wrong. It's all the more shocking than the original novel, since Amy (and by extension the rest of her friends) have been [[AgeLift aged down to around 7]], meaning they would have been barely starting school with him barking at them constantly. Naturally, he is not very well liked by his students, with Amy's friends insulting him regularly outside of school.

* TheUnfavorite: Aunt March prefers her nephew Fredric over her other nephew David, and that's saying something when [[spoiler: Fredric hasn't tried to contact her in YEARS, compared to David, who hassles her constantly about money. And she finally cuts David off at the end of the series.]]

* IllGirl: Mrs. Hummel, a young woman with four children. She can't do much for her cold hungry children due to being so weak after the birth of her newest child and her husband being away at war.

* Episodes 3 and 4 deal with their hometown being taken over by Confederate soldiers, and the March family is hiding Jim, a runaway slave. When Confederate soldiers come to their house and Hannah heads for the kitchen, the commander orders his men after her and search the kitchen. Keep in mind, African-Americans in the northern states, even if they had been free their whole lives, had the threat of sold into slavery.
* In Episodes 5 and 6, the Battle of Gettysburg destroys their hometown, [[ImpoverishedPatrician leaving the family without much left]].
* When Aunt March scolds David again and suggests he join the army to be useful, David says he doesn't want to get killed. This is the first time Jo realizes her father could be killed and as a bit of a HeroicBSOD. At Aunt March's insistence, David apologizes in a seemingly genuine PetTheDog moment.

* AdultFear: When Aunt March scolds David again and suggests he join the army to be useful, David says he doesn't want to get killed. This is the first time Jo realizes her father could be killed and as a bit of a HeroicBSOD. At Aunt March's insistence, David apologizes in a seemingly genuine PetTheDog moment.

* FrameUp: The Moffat's oldest son is chums with [[{{Jerkass}} David]], and he stole money to gamble at pool, which he lost. Meg is assumed to have stolen it, not helped by David's testimony and the fact Aunt March bought her and Jo new ball gowns around the same time, until the daughter Annie, who was bullied into secrecy, tells her parents what happened, [[KarmaHoudini but not before her brother joins the army]] and Meg almost loses the opportunity to attend the Moffat's ball. [[OlderThanTheyThink This subplot actually originates from the novel, but it's only briefly mentioned in passing]], as well as Meg never being suspected in the first place.

** Aunt March most likely was, since her nephew does remember her fondly

* IdenticalStranger: Beth is a dead ringer for [[spoiler: Mr. Laurence's daughter Catherene, though we only see a portrait of Catherene since she died at some point in the past.]]

* LimitedWardrobe: Aside from a few instances, the girls wear the same set of clothes a season. Possibly justified since it wasn't uncommon for even the wealthy to own only a few sets of clothes. They at least wear outfits appropriate for the weather.

* OnlyAFleshWound: Everyone is shocked when Father March comes home with his right arm in a sling and are concerned he is in pain. He assures them that he only caught some shrapnel from a bullet while saving another officer. He still can't use said arm without some awkwardness, though, due to it being his dominant hand (ie, when they are on a picnic together, he attempts to cut a pie and butchers it).

* SadistTeacher: Mr. Davis. Aside from the infamous scene where he whip's Amy's hands, he yells at Amy for being ''almost'' late on her first day of school (with him calling her "Miss Tardy" for the rest of the day) and openly insults another girl for getting one math problem wrong. It's all the more shocking than the original novel, since Amy (and by extension the rest of her friends) have been [[AgeLift aged down to around 7]], meaning they would have been barely starting school with him barking at them constantly. Naturally, he is not very well liked by his students, with Amy's friends insulting him regularly outside of school.

** In the Arabic dub, Beth is called "Betty," though her full name is still Elizabeth
* FrameUp: The Moffat's oldest son is chums with [[{{Jerkass}} David]], and he stole money to gamble at pool, which he lost. Meg is assumed to have stolen it, not helped by David's testimony and the fact Aunt March bought her and Jo new ball gowns around the same time, until the daughter Annie, who was bullied into secrecy, tells her parents what happened, [[KarmaHoudini but not before her brother joins the army]] and Meg almost loses the opportunity to attend the Moffat's ball. [[NewerThanTheyThink This subplot actually originates from the novel, but it's only briefly mentioned in passing]] (as well as Meg never being suspected in the first place).

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: Mild example. In earlier episodes, since [[CuteKitten Milky-Ann]] was never properly trained before (she appears to be only a few days old when Beth finds her in the rain), she wets the carpet, Beth's bed, and [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Amy's dress]]. This leads to Jo and Beth getting a box full of dirt as a makeshift litter-box to train her. Surprisingly, this all was kept in the English dub.
** Also, wine is used and drank a lot in this series, which again, was kept in the English dub.

* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: Amy is quite a bit more energetic and playful in this version, though still tries to be ladylike.

* IllGirl: Mrs. Hummel, a young woman with four children. She can't do much for her cold hungry children do to being so weak after the birth of her newest child and her husband being away at war.

* KickTheDog: David seems to enjoy this as a hobby, from nearly ruining Meg and Jo's chance to attend the Moffat's family ball to rubbing it in Jo's face how much money he gets compared to the time Aunt March gave the girls $1 for Christmas.

* SheCleansUpNicely: While pretty enough already, Meg is utterly ''stunning'' in the fancy ballgown she is given by the Moffats. Like in the novel, [[{{Subversion}} Laurie is unimpressed]], but he admits he was wrong after Sallie Gardener explains what happened (Meg wanted to where her own simpler ballgown but the girls convinced her to wear one of theirs).
* SickEpisode: Beth's scarlet fever arch, and before then [[spoiler: Father March getting sick on the battlefield.]]

** To a lesser extent, the Moffat's younger children that Meg tutors, though they do have occasional moments of brattiness since they are ''very'' young children too young for school.

** Beth: Grayish-Purple

* HairDecorations: Amy wears a blue bow most of the time, and Meg wears a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snood_(headgear) snood]].

* TheBusCameBack: Jim Marty. He rides on top of the train the March family takes to Newcord, but disappears shortly after. A few episodes later, when Jo starts working for the newspaper, he is revealed to have gotten hired by Henry Murdoch and now works as a printer.

* JesusTaboo: Subverted. While Jesus himself isn't mentioned much in favor of general Christian themes, David mentioned him in a Christmas episode to attempt to appeal to Aunt March so she'll give him more money.

* LaserGuidedKarma: A humorous example: when [[FriendToAllLivingThings Beth]] brings home [[CuteKitten Milky-Ann]], naturally the kitten is all muddy from being in the rain, and Amy says that the kitten is just a dirty little thing not worth the time to clean her. When Jo and Beth are able to clean and warm her up, Amy then wants to hold the kitten... who almost immediately wets Amy's dress as she is held

* JesusTaboo: Subverted. While Jesus himself isn't mentioned much, David mentioned him in a Christmas episode to attempy to appeal to Aunt March so she'll give him more money.

* RaceLift: Hannah, the family maid, is African-American in this version, while in most adaptations, she is Irish.

* JesusTaboo: Subverted. Since Christianity was a major theme in the book, it makes sense the writers would keep it in this series, which was kept in the dub (and naturally fit on TBN's Smile channel).

** Father March's first name is changed from Robert to Fredrich.

** When [[spoiler: Father comes home (the second time after his illness), he says at one point, he stopped ''breathing''. Understandably, the girls are utterly terrified that he still wants to go back to war after the six months he is allotted to stay home. Fortunatly, the war ends by the end of the series.]]

* CoolTeacher: Mr. Sutton, Amy's teacher back in Gettysburg/York. He is a kind, well-liked man that goes to fight for the Union. When Amy draws him on her slate, he takes it in stride and likes the portrait, but it could be because he is also romantically interested in Meg (which [[ShippingGoggles Jo playfully teases her for]]), but that goes nowhere since we [[FridgeHorror don't see him after the first episode.]]

* FrameUp: The Moffat's oldest son is chums with [[{{Jerkass}} David]], and he stole money to gamble at pool, which he lost. Meg is assumed to have stolen it, not helped by David's testimony and the fact Aunt March bought her and Jo new ball gowns around the same time, until Annie, who was bullied into secrecy, tells her parents what happened, [[KarmaHoudini but not before her brother joins the army]] and Meg almost loses the opportunity to attend the Moffat's ball. [[NewerThanTheyThink This subplot actually originates from the novel, but it's only briefly mentioned in passing]] (as well as Meg never being suspected in the first place).

* HappilyMarried: The March parents don't seem to have any marital problems and are fairly affectionate when they're together, the worst that is shown is that Mary is shown to miss him while he's away at war

* OnlyAFleshWound: Everyone is shocked when Father March comes home with his arm in a sling and are concerned he is in pain. He assures them that he only caught some shrapnel from a bullet while saving another officer. He still can't use said arm without some pain, though.

* RaisedByGrandparents: Apparently, Aunt March raised Fredrich since his parents died when he was young. [[spoiler: She is bitter he hasn't made any contact with her for so long, which Marmee is sympathetic to.]]

* TheUnfavorite: Aunt March prefers her nephew Fredrich over her other nephew David, and that's saying something when [[spoiler: Fredrich hasn't tried to contact her in YEARS, compared to David, who hassles her constantly about money. And she finally cuts David off at the end of the series.]]

* WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes: Hannah is ''terrified'' of cats, but does grow fond of Milky-Ann

''Little Women'', also known as Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari (愛の若草物語?, "Love's Tale of Young Grass") is a 1987 Japanese animated television series adaptation of Creator/LouisaMayAlcott's Literature/LittleWomen, produced by Creator/NipponAnimation and Creator/FujiTelevision as part of the World Masterpiece Theatre and directed by Fumio Kurokawa (''Anime/PrincessSarah''). While it's the third anime adaptation of the source material (following a 1980 TV special by Creator/ToeiAnimation and 1981 TV series by Movie International), it's also probably the best known, and gained some fans in Alcott's home country of the United States through its 1989 broadcast on Creator/{{HBO}}, renamed ''Tales of Little Women''. The English dub has also been re-aired on Smile (formerly Smile of a Child), a Trinity Broadcasting Network-owned broadcast and digital-tier cable channel specializing in Christian and family-friendly children's programming, but is no longer being aired on Smile as of June 2018, but has since been release on Amazon's AmazonPrime streaming service.

** Meg's nightmare after [[spoiler: learning of her father's illness]] is both depressing and terrifying

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Aunt March. While initially antagonistic towards the family, she does warm up to them, and does treat them much nicer than she does David, helped by the fact they don't constantly ask for money. Hell, she buys them all a new wardrobe each as a housewarming present, and unlike her novel counterpart, supports Meg's engagement to John Brooke from the beginning.

* AlternativeForeignThemeSong: The U.S. version has an original theme song and opening sequence. In the original dub broadcast version on HBO, the ending consisted of a still screen and credit roll; in the current dub broadcast version as aired on Smile, the same shortened version of the theme song is used but the animation is taken from the original Japanese ED. The Italian dub also has its own theme song and an opening that intersperses scenes from the series with the original OP animation (among the scenes cut is that of Amy being spanked by her father). The French theme song has the same melody as the Italian.

** The runaway slave character, John (Jim in English), supposedly fears that he will be captured and forced to fight for the Confederacy. The Confederacy did not employ African-Americans as soldiers until near the very end of the war (due to tremendous resistance from white Southerners over the idea of slaves becoming soldiers), and in fact, African-Americans in the Confederate Army never saw combat. However, African-Americans in Pennsylvania ''did'' face the very real threat of being captured by Confederate forces and sold into slavery, even if they were free (and black Union soldiers, if taken captive, faced a similar fate if they weren't murdered by their captors first).
** Then there's the episode in which Amy is punished at school for bringing forbidden pickled limes into class. In the novel, Amy runs home immediately to tell her family, and her mother decides to keep her home from school for a while. In this series, Amy runs into Laurie upon leaving class, and Laurie advises her not to tell her family what happened but to humble herself and return to school. The storyline was most likely altered to fit Japanese sensibilities.

* CrushBlush: Episode 24, "Meg Falls in Love," in which Meg and John are seated next to each other while listening to Beth play the piano. They inadvertently touch and quickly get flustered and look away from each other while blushing, much to the delight of an amused Laurie, who is secretly watching from the doorway.

** In the original novel, Beth looks like Mr. Lawerence's granddaughter, but in this series, this is minorly edited so Beth looks like Mr. Lawerence's ''daughter'' Catherene.

* TheBusCameBack: Jim Marty. He rides on top of the train the March family takes to Newcord, but disappears shortly after. A few episodes later, when Jo starts working for the newspaper, he is revealed to have gotten hired by Henry Murdoch.
* CanonForeigner: Several major characters who didn't exist in the original book, such as David Fowlet (the girl's {{Jerkass}} relative), Anthony Boone (Jo's rival/possible love interest), Tom Brooke (John Brooke's younger brother brother around Amy's age) and Jim (John in Japanese - see DubNameChange) Marty (a runaway slave that the March family helps to get up north, later having been hired by Jo's boss).

* GirlyGirlWithATomboyStreak: Amy is quite a bit more energetic and playful in this version, though still trying to maintain a ladylike attitude.

* HappilyMarried: The March parents don't seem to have any marital problems and are fairly affectionate when they're together, the worst that is shown is that Mary is shown to miss him while he is away at war

* IdenticalStranger: Beth is a dead rinnger for Mr. Laurence's daughter Catherene, though we only see a portrait of Catherene.

* LimitedWardrobe: Aside from a few instances, the girls (an a majority of characters) wear the same set of clothes (though the girls dresses change design before halfway through the series.) Possibly justified since it wasn't uncommon for even the wealthy to own only a few sets of clothes. They at least wear outfits appropriate for the weather.

* TheUnfavorite: Aunt March prefers her nephew Fredrich over her other nephew David, and that's saying something when [[spoiler: Fredrich hasn't tried to contact her in YEARS, compared to David, who hassles her constantly about money. And finally cuts David off at the end of the series.]]

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: Newcord can't be found, but it's actually a renaming of Concord CT.