Ie Naki Ko Remy

In the late eighties, the World Masterpiece Theater was starting to fall into a bind that it couldn't get itself out of. Apparently for some unknown reason, they were at war with Fuji TV regarding broadcasting their shows. Soon, their budgets fell and the episodes their series had shrunk more and more. They started trying new things to try and get an audience, like adapting a fantasy novel (Peter Pan), sequels to earlier installments (Little Women), an anime set in Africa (Bush Baby), a rehash of Dog of Flanders (Famous Dog Lassie), and something action packed (Romeo's Blue Skies). This adaptation, Homeless Girl Remy (I know it's commonly known as Nobody's Girl Remy but I'm referring to it as the former because that's how Takara Fansubs translated it to differentiate it from the boy version). With this final installment, however, WMT really started going crazy with trying to get their audience back. Their adaptations are usually very faithful to the source material. Trust me, I've seen plenty of WMT to know that they sure do adapt everything faithfully, even down to the dialogue. This one, however...is anything but faithful. Because of only being given 26 episodes, the producers knew that they couldn't fit a 50 episode plot into it unlike Dezaki's version, so to differentiate it and at least try to make it into its own entity...they changed Remi into a girl (and spelled her name as Remy), deleted a bunch of stuff from the book, and took one small part of the book (Remi staying with Garofoli, who in this version is named Gaspard) and completely made it into the central focus, as all the other stuff wouldn't be able to fit into a 26 episode anime. Unfortunately, Japan didn't take this too well. Ratings were low, the show got bad reviews, and the final episodes didn't get broadcast, and because of all that, WMT went on an official hiatus for 10 whole years until they tried to get back on their feet with Les Miserables, Porphy's Long Journey, and Konnichiwa Anne, but after that, they went back into hiding and it's unlikely they'll ever come back. Thankfully, I have not seen a lot of backlash against this show, and I think I'm better off for it. Now, we Americans tend to hate any adaptation of any of someone's original product, especially if it doesn't have anything that we like about said source material. The Last Airbender got scathing reviews simply because it was nothing like the original show. But these are mostly just movies. What about TV shows? Now, I ask this: just because something isn't entirely faithful to the original source material, does it really mean that it's absolutely horrible? Does that automatically mean that something has absolutely no redeeming qualities and is nothing but trash meant to be erased into oblivion? For this show: that answer is an absolute big fat NO. Okay, yes, the 1977 version made by Dezaki is universally considered by fans to be better than this version, the 1997 version. However! That certainly doesn't mean that the 1997 version doesn't have anything that's good about it or that it isn't a good show in its own right. In fact, I happen to like them both on the same level, but for very different reasons. I really love Homeless Girl Remy for what it is as its own entity, and I think other people should too, if they just look past the source material and the back story behind this production. Everybody knows the story by now, so I'll talk about the other stuff. For one thing, the animation for this version may be considered low budget compared to the 1977 version, and yeah, low budget is right as some of the later episodes start to look just a BIT funny-looking. But the rest of the show, while it does have the whole nineties look about it, still looks great. The characters look a bit plain and simple, but everything else is great. The backgrounds are rich and detailed, little things are animated nicely, there are some still frames present but they don't hurt the final product, and the characters' movements are down to earth and fluid. Plus, because the colors are a bit muted and soft, it's very easy on the eyes. I seem to like old school cel drawn animation better than digital animation, as it's easier on my eyes, though a lot of my favorite shows are colored digitally, so I could probably be biased here. I'm not a discriminatory animation lover, though! Check my top 3 to see how varied my animation preferences are! Taking all of this into account, when compared to other shows of its time, the animation is still relatively nice and well done, so I wouldn't consider it bad or entirely low budget. The creators needed to make do with what they got, and they definitely did, in my opinion. Now, time to talk about what I feel is the BEST part of the show: the soundtrack. Now, if you've read my review of the 1977 version, you'll have read that I considered that version's music to be very passe and outdated. Yes, I still hold this opinion to be true, especially now that I've finally gotten to finish this version. And wow, the soundtrack for this version is about a thousand times better than the first one! For one thing, the opening and ending themes are absolutely wonderful! They're both very soft, melodic tunes sung by soft voiced singers, with great lyrics pertaining to love and being yourself and enduring hardship, and they both fit the show to a T. While I did like the opening of the 1977 version, I felt the song was a bit too upbeat, and the ending was even more so, but to a worse and extremely jarring degree. Homeless Girl Remy's themes are great, soft, warm, fitting, and they match the tone of the show while striking a good balance between dark and upbeat. I love soft songs with singers that have soft voices, so I could be biased here. The background music is another thing that needs to be praised, because unlike other shows where they tend to put the wrong kinds of music in the wrong places, killing tension or ruining poignant scenes (Nurse Angel Ririka SOS, anyone?), Remy's soundtrack also fits the entire show to a T. I remember the soundtrack for the 1977 version being VERY seventies and I don't remember liking some of the music that much. However, the 1997 version is full of nice, classical pieces that know when to be subtle and when to be full of suspense and tension, really bringing out the atmosphere and emotions of their assigned scenes. It's meant to tug at your heart strings, and it definitely tugged at mine when those moments came, making what I feel are great moments in not just this show, but in anime in general. If a soundtrack isn't used to its full potential and in context, then it could very well feel cheesy and out of place, ruining the show. Thankfully, Remy's soundtrack didn't fall into this pitfall. The characters are the subject to quite a bit of debate in the WMT fandom, as they were subjected to the most drastic changes. Whether it's for better or worse varies with each character and with someone's opinion, and WMT anime are known for having very strong, nuanced, three-dimensional, and well developed characters in every single one of their anime, even during times when kids anime were expected to have simple characters who only have one trait and don't do much other than to entertain kids and preach a bunch of morals, especially in America, which is happily changing in this day and age (especially moreso with My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic), albeit slowly. However, while I do adore the characters in this version, I do feel that compared to all the other WMT adaptations, these characters are a little bit weak and underdeveloped. One of the worst offenders is Gaspard, the villain in the second half of the show. He's really not much more than a walking villain cliche. He's gruff, he's mean, he's pathetic, he's cruel to everyone he meets, especially the kids he enslaves, all he wants is money money money, and he'll go to whatever means necessary to get it and use it for his own purposes. …

To start with putting you in perspective, I happened to come from the side of the world that grew up with this and many other WMT shows throughout their childhood, so first and foremost, I am biased with nostalgia. Ironically my mother also grew up with the 1977 version throughout her childhood, That aside, going into this show with no background info on the source material is perhaps the best way to do it, just like I did. The Story is simple, a child is searching for their mother and the hardships of reality. someone else has gone into details about what circumstance the show had to go through while under production, so I won't bother with commenting on that. I'll just say what I find most enjoyable. In short, it's a humbling experience for all children and humans alike. it depicts children in all sorts of real-world hardships, that fortunately I saw none of it, but would know a one or two irl that had something in common. WMT has a way of raising you to be mindful of everyone's hardships - even your parents. it's not an exaggeration that they shaped the human I am today. and I am ever thankful that I was fortunate enough to be raised by these lovely people. Remi is an easy watch, Once you set off on to the journey, it becomes episodic stories, easy to skip ahead or miss or watch background. Therefore the watch / and rewatch is never stressful, you can easily cherry-pick your episodes, and you won't lose much contexts - except for the occasional important ones. i myself have rewatched Gaspard arc over and over and over again. - okay maybe I'm a sucker for little Mattia, can you blame me? - The Music is otherworldly - and while your at it, the Arabic dub opening and Mother song are worth a listen even if you can't understand them- the Jap Op and ED are just the most beautiful things I've ever heard. The whole show's ost is just beautiful, I get the urge to just put the whole show in the background as I work just for its sounds. and One of the little blessings that I didn't notice how much it irked me until I saw how Remi did it well, is how the ending of an episode blends seamlessly into the ending, no jarring sudden shift in tones, no Sad moment only to end with a happy ending. and I always find it tasteful how they'd let the music start playing as part of the ost and then when the moment is right the lyrics pick up from whatever point the music is on... it's a little thing, and Remi isn't the only show that does it, but it's the accumulation of the little things that make things amazing. And that's my verdict; Remi, Nobody's Girl, is a masterpiece in the little things that it DOES well. Perhaps the story is repeated and the 1977 ver does it better, perhaps the art is average ( but still beautiful in my opinion), perhaps the characters have room of improvement in comparison ( and yes i agree the villains are understandably not given room to be better-written characters), But All in all, it's enjoyable enough for me to come back to it frequently even after 23 years to enjoy it. and that's what matters to me.

It's an interesting series. Many people criticize it for the alteration made to the original story, the gender change of the protagonist, etc. However, I think those details do not detract from the enjoyable things this series has. First of all, we must highlight its music, because the ost is really fantastic. It really transports you to the feelings that the series transmits, feelings of nostalgia, melancholy, etc. And I think the music reflects that very well. Visually, it's a nice series. The main character is kind and helpful. The main defect that we can find in this work is the plot at the end, since it is perceived that they had to invent a somewhat improvised and forced ending. Regarding the book and the other anime version, I have seen it and I have read the book as well. The other anime version also has errors that come out of the original plot, and some details of the end of the series have details that I personally did not like.Neither version is faithful to the book.