Tales of Little Women: Shout for Joy

I know they're genteelly poor, but why do they
wear the same outfits in every single episode?

Tales of Little Women: Shout for Joy
Fuji TV
November 15, 1987
Anime, Historical Drama
VHS
B-

I don't have the previous episode, where they send a telegram to Marmee about Beth's condition, but this series is slow-moving enough that it's easy to follow this episode.  Plus, yeah, it's somewhat faithful to the book.  The original title for the episode translates as the more desperate "God, Please Save Beth!"  There were six more episodes after this one, but this is all I own.

Tales of Little Women: Scarlet Fever

A different episode, but it gives you
a sense of the size differences.

Tales of Little Women: Scarlet Fever
Fuji TV
November 1, 1987
Anime, Historical Drama
VHS
B-

Unlike the previous episode, this one is more canonical.  (The Japanese title translates to "Beth Caught the Scarlet Fever!")  This is a good time to note that, while Alcott based the character of Jo on herself, this series features narration by youngest sister Amy.  Furthermore, instead of the year or two between each sister in the book, it seems like three or more here, even allowing for the exaggerations of animation.  So instead of the girls being 16, 15, 13, and 12, it's like 18, 15, 12, and 9 (or younger).  I'm guessing Amy was chosen to allow for more identification by preteen and younger girls than if Jo narrated.  It feels odd on this episode, considering so many of the events by definition have to happen when Amy is absent.

Tales of Little Women: Letters from Home

Tales of Little Women: Letters from Home
Fuji TV
October 25, 1987
Anime, Historical Drama
VHS
C+

Fumio Kurokawa directed this series, while Akira Miyazaki wrote it, based somewhat loosely on the Alcott classic.  How loosely?  Well, it's not till the 18th episode that material from the book appears.  This is the 39th episode, and the air-date is for the Japanese version, although I got it dubbed from Nickelodeon.  But since this is a case where the visuals are more interesting than the sound, I'm fine with going with the original broadcast dates.  (In contrast, Noozles is even campier with the American dub.)

The American voice cast:

• Mona Marshall as Jo March
• Melanie McQueen as Beth March
• Mike Reynolds as James Laurence
• Joshua Seth as Theodore "Laurie" Laurence
• Stephanie Sheh as Meg March
• Reba West as Amy March

The three most notable things about the look of the series:

• Hannah's dark skin
• Meg's waffle-hair
• The exaggerated perspective where characters loom as they approach and shrink as they depart

Note that almost without exception, the translations of the Japanese episode titles are much more interesting than those for the American broadcast, my favorite being "The Friendship Pin," formerly known as "The Town Burns Down!"  This one was called "Letters, Letters, Letters We All Wrote."