Little Women (1987 TV series)

Tales of Little Women
The March sisters, clockwise from upper left: Jo, Meg (in chair), Amy, and Beth.
愛の若草物語 (Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari)
Genre	Historical drama
Anime television series
Directed by	Fumio Kurokawa
Produced by	Koichi Motohashi, Junzo Nakajima
Written by	Akira Miyazaki (all 48 episodes)
Music by	Kazuo Otani
Studio	Nippon Animation
Original network	Fuji TV, Animax
English network	US HBO, Smile of a Child
Original run	January 11, 1987 – December 27, 1987
Episodes	48

Tales of Little Women (愛の若草物語, Ai no Wakakusa Monogatari^?, "Love's Tale of Young Grass"), also simply known as Little Women, is a 1987 Japanese animated television series adaptation of Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, produced by Nippon Animation.

A sequel series, Little Women II: Jo's Boys, premiered in 1993.

The animated series is loosely derived from the book and introduces new material and characters. The series begins with the introduction of the March family happily living near Gettysburg (the nearby town of York in the English version), until one day during a picnic, Mr. March notices Confederate scouts at a riverbank. As an officer of the Union Army on leave with a broken arm, Mr. March hesitantly leaves his family to inform his superiors and to prepare for the upcoming battle. Meanwhile, his family endures the Confederate occupation and even helps an escaped slave named John from being forcibly recruited to fight for the Confederacy.

Eventually, Union forces arrive and in the ensuing battle the March family home is destroyed and their investment (which had also been their savings) stolen. With no other options, the family leaves Gettysburg to Newcord, where they hope to be taken by an estranged aunt of father. Upon arriving in Newcord, they are coldly received by the old woman and even less so by David, an egotistical nephew who constantly asks for loans and antagonizes the family. Despite the reception, Aunt March allows the family to stay at home until they can get back on their feet.