YMMV / Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari

• Adorkable: Whenever John Brooke gets flustered around Meg, it's completely adorable.
• Alternate Character Interpretation: When the family moves to Newcord, the narration mentions that Amy goes to school, while Beth is too shy, implying that she went to school previously, though not often. The first episode narration never does say Beth is shy, only stating she is "sweet and kind" and the only reason she didn't go to school too much previously was due to illness. Her shyness seems to appear after the battle that destroyed their hometown and house, thus implying that Beth is traumatized by the battle in some way. Not helped by the fact that Jo says Beth is suffering nightmares while they are staying with Aunt March.
• Americans Hate Tingle: Mr. Davis is hated in countries where corporal punishment is illegal, especially since unlike the original novels where Marmee pulls Amy out of school for a while once learning of this, no similar scene exists here and he is a Karma Houdini.
  • Amy can be this as well, depending on your opinion of her.
• Awesome Music:
  • The first Japanese opening theme as well as the English version. (And by extension the Spanish version, which is adapted from the English theme.)
  • "Itsuka Kitto!" (Someday, for Sure) was actually sung by the March sisters' voice actresses, Eiko Yamada (Jo), Keiko Han (Meg), Mayumi Sho (Beth), and Rei Sakuma (Amy), and, after being featured as an Insert Song in early episodes, was apparently so popular with viewers that it was upgraded to OP theme starting with episode 15. In the lyrics, each sister sings about her dreams for the future: Meg wants to be the belle of the ball, Jo wants to write a great novel, Beth wants a piano that works, and Amy wants to be a proper lady with a properly shaped nose. There are two TV-size versions of the song, one featuring Meg's and Jo's verses and the other featuring Beth's and Amy's; the series alternated between the two depending on who the episode focused on.
    • While none of the voice actresses is particularly known for her singing ability (save Rei Sakuma with her role as Shampoo in the Ranma ½ spinoff group DoCo), they each prove themselves as fairly capable vocally.
  • The rock version of first Japanese opening.
• Character Rerailment: Annie Moffat and Sallie Gardener. While not bad people in the original novel, are often portrayed in various adaptations as rich snobs. Here, they are both very sweet girls, though fairly naive. In fact, Annie is the one who got Meg her governess job in the first place.
• Fridge Horror: As described under Alternate Character Interpretation, Beth may have undiagnosed PTSD.
  • Also Mr. Sutton, Amy's previous teacher, quit teaching school to fight for the Union, is never seen again after the first episode, despite his romantic interest in Meg. More likely than not, he died in battle.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Despite the show being considered as So Okay, It's Average in Japan, it is well-liked and has a cult following in United States and Italy.
• Girl-Show Ghetto: Mostly since it's a story about little girls growing up into little women; the handsome character designs for the male leads (Laurie, Anthony, and Mr. Brooke) are icing on the cake. The anime is also a Tear Jerker.
• Harsher in Hindsight: Later in the series, Beth gets very ill from scarlet fever and everyone fears she would die. While she does survive afterwards, those who read the books would know she would soon die much later. The sequel anime, Jo's Boys, released several years later, confirms she indeed died.
  • Also the fact David seems to only visit Aunt March for her money, considering so many elderly people have been scammed out of money by people claiming to be relatives in real life is kind of painful.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Some people watch it because of the gorgeous character designs which were made by Yoshifumi Kondo. And his is not the only name in the credits of this series that may be familiar to Studio Ghibli enthusiasts.
• Moe: Beth. She's younger than in the novel and is more vulnerable and sweet, on top of having some prime Woobie moments.
  • Well Amy also counts as well, since she is pretty cute too. Unless you consider her constant narration in the English dub annoying.
  • Tom Brooke, John Brooke's precocious younger brother.
• Narm: Laurie's delivery in the English dub is... a little flat for his first few episodes. It gets better.
  • Also, whenever characters laugh or cry in the English dub, it can sound forced.
• Narm Charm: The first Japanese opening theme could be seen as this. The slow rock may look jarring in a show set in the 19th century but it's also awesome at the same time.
• Nightmare Fuel: Amy's dream in Episode 34. It's pretty scary stuff for children and it was edited out in US reruns.
• Shipping: In-Universe. Amy ships Jo and Laurie together, at least in the English narration. It's cute, but a little odd considering what she is most infamous for...
  • Another In-Universe example; Jo seems to ship Meg with any man that shows interest in her (With Mr. Sutton, Laurie and finally John Brooke as the main targets).
• Shown Their Work: Arguably, Saban Entertainment did a fair amount of research into dubbing the series (or at the very least, seemed to read the book).
• TearJerker: Some of the emotional scenes in this anime can get quite intense.
  • Jo's self-loathing regarding her ill-treatment of Amy after the novel-burning incident. She realizes she would have been responsible if Amy had drowned after falling through the ice, and she's so angry at herself that she pounds angrily on her desk, injuring her hand in the process, before asking Marmee for help.
  • The scene where Beth runs home in tears after the Hummels' baby dies, especially given that the tears are preceded by a few seconds of more or less dead silence as Beth makes her way home until she's apparently hit by the enormity of what has just happened. Naturally, the English version blunts the emotional impact by adding narration from Amy.
• Values Dissonance: More of a cultural dissonance than anything, but when Amy is whipped at school for bringing forbidden pickled limes into class, she 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, unlike the original novel where she does tell her family and Marmee keeps her home for a while. This part was most likely changed to fit Japanese sensibilities more than American sensibilities.
• The Woobie: Good lord, the amount of trauma poor Beth is put through...
  • Aunt March is a bit more of a Jerkass Woobie, since while a cranky, stuffy old woman, she is bitter that her favored nephew she raised from childhood hasn't contacted her in years ( the first time he does is when he asks if she can take his family is due to the war), her only other relative is a money-hounding lazy Jerkass that gambles or spends away any money he gets. She does get nicer over time, though.
  • Mrs. Hummel, a poverty-stricken sickly young woman whose husband is in the war and can't provide for her children (or pay for medicine, for that matter).
• Woolseyism: As mentioned under the main page, in episode 33, during the sisters' outing, they the second Japanese OP song, "Itsuka Kitto!" (roughly translating as "One Day, for Certain"). The English dub has the girls sing Stephen Foster's "The Old Folks at Home."