Perrine Monogatari

I love Japan's kids shows. Why? Because they have BALLS. What do I mean? To put it simply, the majority of their children's shows aren't just silly entertainment for kids or gigantic marketing commercials to sell toys. Just like with the majority of their adult and teenager aimed anime, their children's shows are refined and mature. They explore and discuss issues that most American children's shows don't even acknowledge! Not all of them are overly happy pieces of fluff meant to tell kids that all their dreams will come true. When things get serious in their kids shows, BY GOD DO THEY GET SERIOUS! Japan's ... kids shows take their audience seriously, don't treat them like morons, have much more refined and lavish animation than other kids shows from other countries, they're not afraid to show the dark sides of life like death or hardships, and they're not afraid to test their audience's patience. Ever since I realized what anime was, I always wondered: are fantasy shows and super hero shows full of action and fighting all American children really need to enjoy something? Who says children can't enjoy drama or slice of life shows where not much happens? Unfortunately, we Americans are under the stupid concept that the only shows American children will watch MUST have action, fighting, monsters, and overly preachy morals about friendship and making dreams come true. The people who make or advise the production of most American kids shows are afraid that if their show has death, hardships, and other dark themes, parents will go mad and say "we need to protect our children!!!" Personally, I think Japan has the right idea about saying, "Screw it!" to what kids shows SHOULD be and just do their own thing no matter how many kids they traumatize! So what if they're darker and more compelling than usual? I think shows like these are what American kids need! Kids will undergo some kind of hardship in their life anyway, so why bother trying to hide it from them? Perrine Monogatari is just one of Japan's many children's shows that I really like for its willingness to push boundaries and not fall to common children's show cliches.

Perrine and her mother start off on a journey, leaving India to go to a city in France called Maraucourt, which is actually the place where her father grew up. Unfortunately, Perrine's father, Edmond, died on the journey due to pneumonia, leaving his daughter and her mother alone to travel together. But things get worse, as Perrine's mother gets sick as soon as they arrive in France, and later dies herself. But not before telling Perrine about Edmond's family: his father, Vulfran, is vehemently opposed to their marriage and as a result, Edmond ran away, furthering his father's rage against them. She tells her to continue on her way to Maraucourt, but her grandfather may not welcome her, so she has to make him love her before he realizes who she is. Perrine manages to get there and get a job in her grandfather's factory. But Vulfran is blind, old, and known to be a cold and solemn man who may still be angry at his son for what he did, so she isn't sure if she can do it.

The show's animation is very dated, but it's still very impressive for a 53 episoded anime of its time. It looks significantly better than shows like Heidi or Dog of Flanders, probably because they managed to get the budget they needed. Not only that, the producers really went all out in making this show incredibly detailed and realistic. Everything, from uplifting events to tragic ones, come off as really realistic, in both the dialogue, the scenario, and the way the characters are animated, and the show itself is ridiculously and meticulously detailed. Even simple things like working and buying food are given plenty of time to signify their importance. None of the drama comes across as artificial, like most anime do nowadays. Plus, there's a butt-ton of effort into building up into the actual story. From what I've heard, everything up to episode 20 is anime original, yet, like Popolocrois Monogatari, all of these episodes are entirely character focused, detailing their journey from Bosnia to France and probably giving more background to Perrine and her family before the main events, and even when they get to the main story, the producers still take their time to further build upon the events leading up to them and make the journey as realistic and believable as possible during the time period the show takes place in. Kudos to you, Perrine! I especially liked the part of one episode where a character hurts herself when working in a factory and the managers say, "Oh, you brought it on yourself! It's your own fault for not paying attention! It's not that bad!" I learned a lot about factory workers in the 1880s back when I was young, and one thing I always remembered was that if someone was injured, the injury wasn't taken too seriously and they were told to just go back to work. If something like this happened in modern times, people would sue the factory like crazy! That really proved that these animators really did their research.

However, much like many anime of the seventies, the music is unfortunately very dated and has seventies written all over it. However, it is significantly better than other soundtracks I've heard, like the 1975 Dog of Flanders anime and the 1977 Nobody's Boy Remi anime. The pieces do try to set the mood and create an atmosphere well and at times they really hit hard, while other times they tend to miss and come across as a little overdramatic, though not as bad as Dog of Flanders or Remi, mind you. It still hasn't aged very well, though.

The characters are where this anime really shines. Instead of being portrayed as cardboard cut outs, they're portrayed as actual people with quirks, charms, and flaws alike, and it's not limited to the main characters either. Not only that, the character development here helps with exploring its themes about the importance of hard work, honesty, and how being good to others will influence them to be good to you. I honestly felt Perrine was a great main character with her strong will, her wits, the way she copes with the hardships she faces, and her being able to do what she needs to survive by any means possible in a very believable way, and this was before anime began to be swamped with idiot heroes, spineless harem kings, bumbling perverts, tsunderes, and ditzy females. More anime characters need to follow her example! However, I can see some people accusing her of being a Mary Sue, mostly because of how mature she acts for her age and a lot of talents like sewing and cooking, though this was the 19th century, so they probably don't know that a lot of kids were expected to act differently then than they do now, and girls at that time were expected to learn how to cook and do needlework in any situation, so I don't see any problem with it unless it involved forcing her to be submissive to a husband and squash her own dreams forever, which thankfully doesn't happen here. The only other flaws I can find are that some coincidences are a bit too convenient for the sake of moving the plot forward, and the language barrier gets ignored in the first half, only because the rest of the series is so down to earth in its presentation.

If you're looking for a great, down to earth, moving slice of life anime about traveling, then Perrine is definitely the anime for you! But you'll need patience though, as it's very slow paced and tranquil. It's not an anime for those looking for action and mecha battles.

I've watched a lot of the series in the World Masterpiece Theater.
And this is by far my favorite.
It starts out slow at first, however, once she arrives at her Grandfather's location, it becomes much more eventful and exciting. This became one of the most satisfying anime I've ever watched. It has a good balance of sad moments and moments that make you want to high five your invisible buddy.

The voice acting was pinpoint in my opinion.

The key thing to this anime is those eventful moments that make you feel good inside or when things are revealed, the anime really knows how to capture that moment. ... Some really memorable scenes that made me rewatch them many times over.

English is not my language.
This review I took some main points, it's not a detailed analysis of the work. It contains some spoilers.

Perrine Monogatari is another classic anime from the "World Masterpiece Theater" framework, produced by the highly acclaimed Nippon Animation studio.

After the death of her father, Perrine and her mother go on a journey to France. They go with a donkey named Palikare and her dog named Baron.
Honestly, I thought this anime was going to be an extremely dramatic journey, just like Ie Naki Ko. Well, the anime doesn't have the overdramatic journey that Ie Naki Ko has, and this is one of the ... most positive points in Perrine Monogatari.

I don't know why MyAnimeList put one of the biggest spoilers on the synopsis. Well, I did not read the synopsis from MyAnimeList until a certain event that I will mention later. So, it had unexpected things for me, as I did not read one of the major spoilers of the work.
The journey of Perrine and her mother, as much as it has its difficulties, has many joyful moments. And this is a real journey, with its happy and sad moments (right, Ie Naki Ko? Haha).


Perrine's mother works as a photographer after the death of her husband, and Perrine helps her. She has some great moments on their journey to France.
On this journey, after many things, they meet a boy named Marcel, who at first I didn't like very much, but as the episodes went by he turned out to be a good boy, and the best, a good character.
Marcel has run away from his aunt's house because he would rather work with his parents in the circus than study. Perrine and his mother decide to help him find the circus while he is on his journey, and here Perrine and Marcel's friendship is born. It is all very natural how they become friends, and I like it.
The biggest drama begins when Perrine's mother starts to get sick, and they don't have much money.
I honestly thought that the journey to meet Perrine's grandfather, she would go with her mother, but as her mother didn't get better, she passed away and Perrine had to continue traveling with only her dog.
I didn't expect her mother to pass away. As I said before, I have not read the synopsis here on MyAnimeList. This was a very sad episode. As I became attached to the characters, it was very dramatically charged.

Obviously the anime revolves around Perrine, so let me tell you a little about her.
It is impossible not to like Perrine, especially after her mother dies and she has to fend for herself.
She is a very nice girl, too nice in some cases. Besides this, she gets by on her own with the little she has; for example, making her own clothes and getting by on what to eat.
As I said, it is impossible not to like her. Perrine easily wins people's friendship because of her manner, but her personality also causes her to be deceived and robbed by others from time to time.
Towards the end, you can't help but admire Perrine. She is simply one of the best characters I have ever seen.

The anime has some unexpected things.
One of those things was the revelation that Perrine's grandfather is blind. Also, Perrine's grandfather is not as bad as I thought he would be. As the episodes go on this becomes clearer.
He holds a grudge against Perrine's mother because he thought she was holding her son back from going back to France, being that it is revealed that they were going to France and Perrine's father died while they were traveling.
Bilfran, as much as he is a good character, he hurt Perrine without being his intention, as he did not know that she was his granddaughter. He is a good character, even more so when you start to understand him more.
The ending of the anime is just fantastic.
Perrine manages to win the love of her grandfather as naturally as possible. Perrine is wonderful!
It is amazing how she was able to change her grandfather's perspective on many things just with her way of being.


The technical parts of the anime are okay. It's nothing too much.
The character design is good, it does its job well.
The animation is ok.
The OST I almost don't pay attention, it's a song or another that I really paid attention to.


For those who want an adventure anime with a long journey, great characters and a very good story, you can trust that Perrine Monogatari will deliver something very good. The anime gets a bit long after Perrine arrives in the village where her grandfather's factory is located, but it is worth it.