Anne Shirley is a classic from the 1900s. It's an extremely emotional story about the entire life of a red-haired girl. It's a coming-of-age story. Initially, this anime had everything it needed to shine. An extremely charismatic protagonist, capable of holding the viewer's attention. Honoka Inoue did a spectacular job with her performance; she carries most of the series. She knew how to adapt to the character's eloquence and was able to connect with her. The animation, while not fluid and beautiful, did have its own essence and charisma. They opted to use static backgrounds so that the characters would stand out. The backgrounds were in a very beautiful oil painting style. The story, while lacking a fixed direction, was entertaining enough to watch a pair of siblings raise a girl they adopted due to a mistake made by the orphanage administrator. Up until the first three episodes, everything looked like it would be an anime full of beauty and learning.
The problem arose when they started making abrupt time jumps. Suddenly, a school year passed in 10 minutes, or in two episodes, Anne went from 10 to 14 years old. Due to the lack of continuity, you couldn't connect with the secondary characters because you couldn't appreciate the impact they had on the protagonist's life. You can understand everything about the protagonist because she's the only one who matters to the story. When it comes to secondary characters, even if they're important, like the Cuthberth siblings, it's very difficult to empathize with them because we don't interact with them much. Anne Shirley isn't an anime designed to tell a linear story. It's very noticeable when they focus on episodic stories. When you watch episodic stories, you understand that Anne's life wasn't meant to be told in a linear fashion. They should have always told a story in each chapter and captured 24 key moments in Anne's life to reflect them in 24 episodes. Feelings like romantic love or filial love are handled very superficially. They want you to understand such a complex feeling in one or two chapters. These kinds of stories need more careful handling to reach the audience.
It's not a bad anime, it's not a bad story. It's just that many times you won't be able to connect with it.
