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「ものごとの明るいほうを考えましょう」 (Mono-goto no Akarui hō o Kangaemashou)
“Let Us Look on the Bright Side of Things”
Much as it (doesn’t) pain me to admit- this episode was a disappointment. There wasn’t anything really amusing about it, and they drifted away from the spirit of the books.
For starters, they lost the whole point of the ridge pole scene. Originally, this had to do with Gilbert (in Josie’s mind). Josie liked Gilbert and was jealous of how Anne caught Gilbert’s fancy. In the original scene, Gilbert was there, and Josie dared Anne to walk the ridgepole to humiliate her in front of Gilbert. That backfired on her big time. Anne, of course, was oblivious to the whole Gilbert thing and just didn’t like losing dares. But here, there is no Gilbert.
I never get tired of seeing Anne and Matthew’s relationship- they are such sweet comrades in arms. Matthew understands Anne’s heart far more than the insanely practical Marilla ever will. And one of those things close to Anne’s heart is fashion- in particular, puffed sleeves. Fashion really is a big deal- wearing the outfits that you feel best in really makes all the difference in confidence and adds an extra spark of joy to the day. As someone who loves fancy fashion, I totally sympathize with Anne over the agonies of plain clothing. Matthew sees that- you can see in his face that he observes how Anne doesn’t match up with the other girls in her clothing, in not a good way. Especially when the Cuthberts can afford to dress her a little more fashionably- it’s not like they’re poor from what we can see, just practical. The scene that follows with Matthew nervously ordering a dress from the general store but ends up ordering other unnecessary stuff in his anxiety was adorable. As was Anne’s reaction on seeing the dress.
As someone with a flair for dramatics, it’s only natural that Anne would be talented at recitations. She brings the house down with an otter piece at the Christmas charity concert to fund a schoolhouse flag. The Christmas benefit concert was actually a conflation with another event that comes in later books. In the original books/previous adaptations, the Christmas event was not a concert, but a ball. The benefit concert came in the second book, I believe, and Anne recited a different piece- not something about an otter. However, they were spot on with capturing Anne’s initial nervousness. I assume they combined those events in the interests of time. But it didn’t do much for the overall story. But I am biased, having read the books/seen the 1980’s movies, so I can’t help but compare. Perhaps it’s a different experience for people who haven’t read/seen previous adaptations.
The other big piece of news this week is the new teacher, Miss Stacy. She will become an influential figure. You can already see how she is bringing progressive education into the school compared to Mr. Philips, with her emphasis on physical education and learning through exploration.
Like any good guardian, Matthew and Marilla see Anne’s potential and are keen to give her all the opportunities they can to encourage that. In the course of their discussion, they mention sending her to Queen’s, a teacher’s college- that name will come up again in the future. I was surprised they brought Queen’s up so early in the story- yet another clear indicator of how much this adaptation is being rushed. Actually, it’s not even Matthew and Marilla who introduce the idea of Queen’s- originally, that idea never even occurred to them until Miss Stacy recommends they send Anne there.
It’s not a good sign that it’s 5 episodes in and the series stands on shaky ground. It looks like the next episode will feature another of my favorite scenes, however the timeline they follow in the anime is all over the place, yet another concerning factor for me.
Preview
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