Hello friends, and welcome back to Wrong Every Time. Today I am sorry to report that we are returning to Green Gables in a moment of absolute crisis, with no clear path forward for our poor Anne. Having already sworn off schooling on account of the contemptible Gilbert, Anne has since found herself isolated from her one and only bosom companion Diana, on account of an ill-fortuned bottle of currant wine. The hills and valleys that once seemed alive with youthful promise have turned ominous and alien; in fact, it seems more than likely that Anne shall never again enjoy a moment of peace upon this earth.
Well, at least that’s how she’d likely phrase it. In truth, I’m guessing the Currant Wine Catastrophe will be just the kick in the pants Anne needs to return to her schooling, and it’s about time too. In the meantime, I’ll be happy just to bask in the character-rich dialogue and gorgeous scenery accompanying each episode of this delightful show, certain that Lucy Maud Montgomery and Isao Takahata have us in the safest of hands. Let’s get to it!
Episode 17
This time through, my fresh appreciation of the OP comes in the form of its synergy of visual and sound design. As the singer asks you to listen closely for the sound of hooves, the appearance of Anne’s horse-drawn carriage is accompanied by light wood block taps in the background, creating a musical imitation of hooves in the distance. And then of course, there’s the more ostentatious synchronization of Anne’s emergence from the woods and into the sky, which the violins accompany with a rush of arpeggios leading into a slower jaunting melody, sonically imitating a sense of tearing through foliage to arrive at an open horizon
The song’s three crescendos are in fact all accompanied by torrents of wild visual commotion, with a storm of blossoms for the second and a hail of falling leaves for the third. The OP thereby situates the audience in Anne’s headspace, echoing her delight at the change of the seasons through the rising energy of the music. The best OPs emotionally prime their audiences for the drama to come, and this is a perfect example
And of course, we end on a reprise of the opening melody, fostering a melodic sense of “returning home” that also suits the opening’s dramatic purposes
“Anne Returns to School.” Anne was a brave warrior, but losing her bosom companion was a blow too painful to weather alone
We begin with an unusually high-angle opening shot, capturing not just Green Gables, but the adjacent estates as well. The intent is clear: this shot mimics Anne’s own preoccupations, how her gaze is perpetually cast towards the home of the friend she will never see again. It is hard to appreciate the beauty of your home when you have lost your only friend
We then cut in to Anne herself, who is of course staring longingly out the window rather than paying attention to her studies
A full body shot of Anne leaning against the porch awning makes me wonder if the show is already drawing her a touch differently – she looks a little bit taller and less childishly rounded than she did at the start. It would be perfectly in keeping with this production’s other priorities to pay such careful attention to the rapid physical growth of adolescence
Anne’s despair is articulated as you might expect – a whole lot of heavy sighs and staring into the distance interrupting her various other activities. Truly no one has felt a woe as heavy as Anne’s
But there, in the distance! Diana calls to her!
“I had ever such a time coaxing her to let me come say goodbye. She said I had ten minutes, and she’s timing me with the clock.” Man, Diana’s mother is genuinely a fairy tale tyrant. Of all the aspects of fantasy their lives might truly include, it would have to be the wicked stepmother
Lovely foley work for this scene. As they silently wonder at what is to be done, the trees murmur a chorus of rustling leaves above them. You can really feel the October winds accompanying this scene
Anne at least has time to extract a vow of eternal yearning from her soon-to-be ex-friend
“Why, Diana, I didn’t think anybody could love me.” Always oddly endearing when Anne talks about what a wretched creature she is
“It’s a ray of light that will forever shine on the darkness of a path severed from thee.” You don’t have to go to Anne’s extremes, but I would greatly appreciate it if more anime bothered with character voice in general, going beyond the basic matching of social confidence to loquaciousness
Diana offers her a lock of her jet-black hair to treasure forever, as you do
Oh my god, they’ve even got an insert “goodbye to Diana” song to ornament the moment. This show has such a dry sense of humor, and I love it so much
Man, it’s gonna be real awkward when Anne pops back up at school after all this
The falling leaves make for a natural complement to the moment; aging involves discovering new things, but it also necessitates letting go of the old
“I shall never have another friend.” It is a tough time to be Anne
“Somehow, little dream girls are not satisfying after a real friend.” That’s how it goes for most things, for better or for worse. It’s one of the big reasons I find so many anime romances unsatisfying – they are operating from a position of assuming what romance is like with no actual experience, rather than reflecting on genuine lived experience, and they resultantly parse as unrelated to believable human behavior. You have to draw from a rich array of sources that include reality in order to say anything of weight or meaning regarding “how people are,” and as someone who prioritizes that above basically everything else in the fiction I consume, inexperienced writers drawing only from other inexperienced writers offer little I’m interested in hearing
“I used the most pathetic language I could think of and used ‘thee’ and ‘thou.’” Yes Anne, you did very well for yourself
“Diana gave me a lock of her hair. Please see that it is buried with me.” Oh my god Anne
“Perhaps when she sees me lying cold and dead before her, Mrs. Barry will feel remorse for what she has done.” An extremely true-to-life childish instinct, the immediate resorting to “well, you’ll feel bad about forcing me to eat my broccoli when I’m dead”
“I think it helps her overcome her difficulties to talk like that.” Marilla demonstrates her own growth, having learned that Anne’s flights of fancy are actually just her way of working through her many immense feelings. Yes, what Anne is saying might be ridiculous, but Marilla can accept it as her daughter’s quirky coping mechanism
Anne announces she’s returning to school. “That is all that is left for me in life, after my best friend has been ruthlessly torn from me.” I have to admit that Anne In Despair is one of her best modes
“Mr. Phillips says Millie Andrews is a model student, and there isn’t a spark of imagination or life in her.” Ahaha, what a savage assessment by Anne. She certainly has no difficulties speaking her mind
Even the episode title “Anne Returns To School” offers a humorously blunt counterpoint to its drama – all of this pomp and circumstance regarding Anne’s despair and fatalism, and the accounting of the episode might as well have been written by Marilla
Anne’s long absence allows her to personally feel the weight of time’s passage, through the change from summer to fall scenery. Time passes more slowly for children for a variety of reasons, with one being that the rigid routines of childhood allow few opportunities for noticing the gradual changes of the world around us. Having been divorced from those routines, Anne can look out across this scenery as a stranger returning home after a long absence
Anne is largely accepted back, but the Mean Girls have now started muttering about her propensity for distributing liquor!
She demonstrates her determination to become a model student by requesting a seat next to the detestable Millie Andrews
Fortunately, an array of gifts from her other friends help to keep her spirits light in spite of the grave misfortune of her existence
Another demonstration of Marilla’s increasing investment in Anne’s emotional life, as she takes the initiative in enquiring after Diana’s behavior
The fall of night offers a pointed reprise of the episode’s first composition, as we once again stare out across the hills of Green Gables towards Diana’s home in the distance
Checking in with her, it appears Diana is writing a note for Anne, as she hides her paper the moment her mother walks in
Diana’s room is lovely, adorned with plentiful markers of her appreciation for beauty and inquisitive nature. You can tell a lot about a character by their choice of home decor
Match cuts frame the two as alike in their despair, culminating in a beautiful landscape shot framing their homes as opposites divided by a barren tree in the foreground
Gilbert offers Anne a delicious-looking apple, but Anne is determined not to enjoy it. My god is she ever stubborn
She graciously accepts a slate pencil from Charlie Sloane, though. Perhaps old Charlie ain’t so bad after all
And at last, a note from Diana arrives to appease her aching heart. Their loyalty is reaffirmed with a very fashionable bookmark, and Anne returns a note confessing that Millie Andrews is actually “a very nice girl, although she has no imagination.” Perhaps Millie can be forgiven for such a failing, Anne
And Done
Oh, how courageous our long-suffering Anne must be! In spite of the abominable dictate offered by Mrs. Barry, Anne has rallied with spirit and grace, even forsaking her vow to abandon school that she might be reunited with her dear departed Diana. I am grateful she has committed to surviving in spite of all the injustices of outrageous fortune, and delighted to see the production bringing such earnest aesthetic ornamentation to Anne’s melodramatic escapades. Anne in despair is one of Green Gables’ guiltiest yet most endearing pleasures, all the more so now that Marilla knows her well enough to play along with the joke. Onward bravely into the future, Anne!
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