An anime that doesn’t feel like anime

Is the Anne Shirley anime worth watching? At first glance, it seems like an odd choice among today’s anime lineup. In a world filled with battles, magical powers, and reincarnations into parallel realities, here comes a red-haired girl, eyes gleaming with life, and no sword in hand — just words, and a boundless imagination.

This anime adapts the literary classic Anne of Green Gables with rare sensitivity. No rush, no noise, no spectacle. Just the everyday, personal growth, and the beauty of small things.
A story where little happens on the surface, but everything stirs beneath.

The decision to adapt this story into an anime is deeply rooted in Japan’s post-war relationship with Western literature. Anne of Green Gables became one of the most beloved books among the Japanese public, especially after Hanako Muraoka’s 1952 translation. The impact was so strong that decades later, the story was chosen to open the 1979 season of the prestigious World Masterpiece Theater project.

Directed by Isao Takahata with layout designs by Hayao Miyazaki, Anne Shirley was, in a way, a rehearsal for everything that would later move the world in My Neighbor Totoro and Grave of the Fireflies.

But before all that, it was — and still is — a story about belonging. About someone who doesn’t fit in, but insists on transforming the place where she is. That message resonates deeply with those who feel they view the world through a different lens. Perhaps that’s why Japan embraced Anne so strongly — enough for her to become a beloved character across generations.

The power of imagination in hard times

Official promotional image of the anime Anne Shirley, released by Crunchyroll. Illustrative use.

Anne’s childhood was no fairy tale — but it was shaped by them. Orphaned, repeatedly rejected, and subjected to mistreatment, she refused to be erased. She built for herself an inner world so vivid she could turn bushes into enchanted forests and a simple brook into a stage for poetic dramas.
Imagination was Anne’s way of feeling the world — and by feeling it that way, she recreated it.

It’s moving to see how the anime explores this trait with depth. There is no glamour or exaggeration in the inner landscapes Anne shares. — there is beauty, but also pain. After all, each imagined story is an attempt to reorganize the chaos around her. To find meaning where there was no affection. In a time when we talk so much about mental health and the emotional scars of childhood neglect, this story takes on new relevance.

Watching Anne name things, give emotions to objects, and seek refuge in words may seem innocent at first. But in time, we see this is how she holds herself together. She’s not just dreaming — she’s rebuilding the world as she wishes it could be.

Moreover, the anime captures this with great delicacy. It doesn’t judge. It simply observes — and invites the viewer to do the same.

The rare sensitivity of an anime that feels like literature

Official promotional image of the anime Anne Shirley, released by Crunchyroll. Illustrative use.

Some anime make noise, others whisper — Anne Shirley breathes. It respects silences, averted gazes, and small gestures that say everything. Each episode unfolds like a slow-paced book chapter, the kind you savor with your fingertips holding the page.

The pace is deliberately slow. There is space between lines of dialogue. Time seems stretched, not for lack of content — but out of care. Care with the words, with the music, with the tones of the landscape. The rural setting of Prince Edward Island — where the story takes place in Canada — is drawn with such affection that you can almost feel its scent, wind, and warmth.

This aesthetic choice was no accident. The World Masterpiece Theater project aimed to adapt literary classics faithfully — but faithful to the emotional experience, not just the facts. That’s what makes Anne Shirley feel like literature in motion. The series doesn’t try to modernize Anne or make her story more palatable for today’s audience. It simply trusts in the timeless value of human sensitivity.

In an age of quick cuts and constant stimuli, the anime almost feels out of place. But perhaps that’s precisely what makes it so necessary.

Why the Anne Shirley anime is worth watching today

Watching Anne Shirley today feels like opening a window in a stuffy room. Not because it brings big twists or mysteries — but because it reminds us that gentleness can also move the world.

In a culture of fast consumption, where everything must be agile, efficient, and viral, this anime offers the opposite: time to feel. It doesn’t demand your full attention — it earns it gently. And before you know it, you’re immersed not in the plot, but in how it brings everyday life to life: with poetry, humanity, and tenderness.

If you’re looking for something beyond fleeting entertainment — something with a gentle rhythm that celebrates sensitivity — this series might be a small gift.

Anne Shirley is not an anime to binge. It is an anime to reflect on, experience, and feel.

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Available on Crunchyroll

If you want to watch, the anime is available on Crunchyroll.