Katri, Girl of the Meadows
Katri, Girl of the Meadows (牧場の少女カトリ, Makiba no Shōjo Katori) is an anime series based on the Finnish novel Paimen, piika ja emäntä (The Shepherd, the Servant Girl, and the Hostess) by Auni Nuolivaara. The series was broadcast originally in Japan in 1984 as part of the children's anthology series World Masterpiece Theater, also known simply as "Meisaku" from Nippon Animation. The anthology had before and after produced a great variety of animated series based on different children's novels from around the world; among them were My Annette: Story of the Alps (1983) and Little Princess Sara (1985). In Europe, where World Masterpiece Theater series have found huge success, Katri, Girl of the Meadows made its way to different countries, including Spain, Italy, France, and Germany. Despite the series taking place in Finland, it has never been published or broadcast there, and most Finns have never heard of it.
| Katri, Girl of the Meadows | |
 DVD cover | |
| 牧場の少女カトリ (Makiba no Shōjo Katori) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Drama |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Hiroshi Saitō |
| Produced by | Takaji Matsudo (Nippon Animation) |
| Written by | Akira Miyazaki |
| Music by | Tōru Fuyuki |
| Studio | Nippon Animation |
| Original network | Fuji TV Longman Video (1984) The Video Collection (1980s) |
| Original run | January 8, 1984 – December 23, 1984 |
| Episodes | 49 |
The first and last episodes were broadcast English dubbed in the UK on Channel 4 as Little Girl on the Farm and Little Girl goes to School as part of 1987's Japanese Autumn season.[1][2]
Plot
It has been three years since little Katri's mother left for Germany leaving her daughter behind in Finland, where she now lives with her grandparents. With Finland still under Russian domination, the inhabitants of these lands have had little or no news from the outside and no one knows if little Katri will again see her mother. To make matters worse, things in the Katri's grandparents' farm are not going well, the harvest had been a small one, their only cow had been killed by a bear and the family confronts great monetary problems. Katri wants to help and finds work in a neighboring farm; for a girl of hardly nine years of age the work of a farm is hard and tiring even with all of her enthusiasm and good moods, which is what keeps her standing.
Cast
- Hitomi Oikawa as Katri Ukonniemi
- Toru Furuya as Martti
- Yuko Tsuga as Mari (Martti's sister)
- Yuko Kobayashi as Helena (Martti's cousin)
- Yoshiko Matsuo as Miina (Helena's mother)
- Mahito Tsujimura as Väinö Harma
- Asami Mukaidono as Milole (Harma's maid)
- Kumiko Takizawa as Lotta Kuusela
- Hisashi Katsuta as Elias Lilack (Lotta's father)
Anime
The opening theme is "Love With You" and the ending theme is "Kaze no Komoriuta", both by Chie Kobayashi.
| No. | Title | Original airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | "Goodbyes" Transcription: "Wakare" (Japanese: 別れ) | 8 January 1984 | |
| 02 | "Friends" Transcription: "Furenzu" (Japanese: フレンズ) | 15 January 1984 | |
| 03 | "Spring Storm" Transcription: "Haru no arashi" (Japanese: 春の嵐) | 22 January 1984 | |
| 04 | "Decision" Transcription: "Kettei" (Japanese: 決定) | 29 January 1984 | |
| 05 | "Time of Separation" Transcription: "Bunri no jikan" (Japanese: 分離の時間) | 5 February 1984 | |
| 06 | "The Master" Transcription: "Masutā" (Japanese: マスター) | 12 February 1984 | |
| 07 | "The Madam" Transcription: "Madamu" (Japanese: マダム) | 19 February 1984 | |
| 08 | "The Accident" Transcription: "Jiko" (Japanese: 事故) | 26 February 1984 | |
| 09 | "Affection" Transcription: "Aijō" (Japanese: 愛情) | 4 March 1984 | |
| 10 | "The Promise" Transcription: "Puromisu" (Japanese: プロミス) | 11 March 1984 | |
| 11 | "The Fight" Transcription: "Faito" (Japanese: ファイト) | 18 March 1984 | |
| 12 | "The Letter" Transcription: "Tegami" (Japanese: 手紙) | 25 March 1984 | |
| 13 | "A Wonderful Present" Transcription: "Wandafuru Purezento" (Japanese: ワンダフルプレゼント) | 1 April 1984 | |
| 14 | "My First Invitation" Transcription: "Watashi no saisho no shōtai" (Japanese: 私の最初の招待) | 8 April 1984 | |
| 15 | "An Unexpected Payment" Transcription: "Yoki shinai shiharai" (Japanese: 予期しない支払い) | 15 April 1984 | |
| 16 | "The Little Lost Lamb" Transcription: "Ritoru Ramu o wasuremashita" (Japanese: リトルラムを忘れました) | 22 April 1984 | |
| 17 | "Day of the extermination of wolves" | 29 April 1984 | |
| 18 | "Two Fires" | 6 May 1984 | |
| 19 | "Room Mate" | 13 May 1984 | |
| 20 | "Incoming person, outgoing person" | 20 May 1984 | |
| 21 | "Abel targetted" | 27 May 1984 | |
| 22 | "While waiting for spring" | 3 June 1984 | |
| 23 | "The bear and the cattle, which one is stronger" | 17 June 1984 | |
| 24 | "A meeting and a parting" | 24 June 1984 | |
| 25 | "Event at the Island" | 1 July 1984 | |
| 26 | "The person who saved us" | 8 July 1984 | |
| 27 | "Growing City" | 15 July 1984 | |
| 28 | "New Life" | 21 July 1984 | |
| 29 | "Seeing dreams" | 28 July 1984 | |
| 30 | "Like a majestic swan" | 12 August 1984 | |
| 31 | "Book delivered by mail" | 19 August 1984 | |
| 32 | "Magical book and the devil" | 26 August 1984 | |
| 33 | "Joy and sadness" | 2 September 1984 | |
| 34 | "Going to Helsinki" | 9 September 1984 | |
| 35 | "Father and Daughter" | 16 September 1984 | |
| 36 | "The big decision" | 23 September 1984 | |
| 37 | "Abel ashtray" | 30 September 1984 | |
| 38 | "Every Road" | 7 October 1984 | |
| 39 | "Party at Harma's mansion" | 14 October 1984 | |
| 40 | "On the road" | 21 October 1984 | |
| 41 | "Citizens of Turku" | 28 October 1984 | |
| 42 | "Picture book without pictures" | 4 November 1984 | |
| 43 | "Road a car!" | 11 November 1984 | |
| 44 | "Obnoxious Girl" | 18 November 1984 | |
| 45 | "Tiresome day" | 25 November 1984 | |
| 46 | "Beautiful thing" | 2 December 1984 | |
| 47 | "Souvenir bag" | 9 December 1984 | |
| 48 | "Ah! School Entrance" | 16 December 1984 | |
| 49 | "Mother's return" | 23 December 1984 [3] | |
| This series tells the story of 9 year-old Katri, a girl who lives on a farm in Finland with her grandparents. Katri's mother has been away in Germany for three years. The farm is not doing well, so to help support her family, she goes to work on a neighboring farm. Katri faces many struggles and challenges. | |||
References
External links
- Makiba no Shōjo Katori Nippon Animation (in Japanese)
- Katri, Girl of the Meadows (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
