Rediscovered Classics of Japanese Animation : The Adaptation of Children's Novels into the World Masterpiece Theater Series

animation also means decoding (and re-coding) socio-cultural patterns embedded in a narrative. "World Masterpiece Theater" stands as a unique example of this linguistic, medial, and cultural hybridisation. Popular children's classics such as "Little Women", "Peter Pan", and "Anne of Green Gables" became the starting point of a full-fledged negotiation process in which Japanese animators retold a whole range of narratives that have one basic formula in common: archetypal stories with an educational purpose. In particular, the series played a role in shaping the pop culture image of a young girl ("shôjo").Examining the series through the lens of animation studies as well as adaptation studies, Oltolini sheds new light on this long-neglected staple of Japanese animation history. [Publisher's Text]

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