Perrine with caravan and dog Baron
This is getting a mention here as it was the only title of the 23 or so World Masterpiece Theater animes that I hadn’t seen. I just got hold of a copy of episode 1.
In the original children’s book by Hector Malot , Perrine’s father was a photographer who dies when the family is travelling in Bosnia. In the anime, Perrine and her mother travel to France, where they hope to meet Perrine’s rich grandfather. On the journey through Europe, they work as photographers to make ends meet. Perrine’s mother dies, but Perrine travels on alone with her dog, Baron, and finds her grandfather. She realises that he is a cruel man, and instead of identifying herself, takea job in his string factory.
The novel starts with the death of Perrine’s mother, all scenes preceeding being created by the scriptwriter Akira Miyazaki. On the evidence of the first episode, this is a rather unexceptional anime, and the scene shown is typical of the design.
On the contrary, “The Story of Perrine”, known to me as “Sin familia” as it was entitled in Spain, is one of the most intriguing, heartbreaking and rejoicing stories to ever come from the World Masterpiece Theater, and each of their outputs has been strong competition. With Perrine I laughed, but mostly I cried and I felt for the characters, all so beautifully crafted. The story is one that you never forget. Oh, and no, Perrine’s grandfather is not a cruel man, he’s very kind and considerate, but he is not at all what Perrine had expected. He’s a wealthy, blind man and Perrine feels awfully intimidated by him. Perrine also realizes that her grandfather hated her mother, because he believes she took his son away from him, which makes the situation worse for Perrine, also, she doesn’t have the heart to tell the old man that his son had died. It really is a very touching story.