Template:Other uses Template:Short description Template:Multiple issues Template:Infobox animanga/Header Template:Infobox animanga/Video Template:Infobox animanga/Footer Template:Nihongo, also spelled as Princess Sarah for disambiguation purposes, is a Japanese anime television series based on the 1905 children's novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It aired from January to December 1985, as part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. The series follows Sara Crewe, a young student of an all-girls boarding school who later becomes orphaned and is forced to work as a servant.
The anime series was remade into a Filipino live-action film adaptation, released in 1995. A Filipino television drama adaptation aired in 2007. It was also dubbed in other languages including Arabic[1] under the title, Sally (سالي) and was a huge success in the Arab World and widely popular, spanning reruns in the 1990s and early 2000s and was subsequently added to Netflix Middle East in November 2020.[2]
Plot
In 1885, Captain Ralph Crewe, a wealthy English widower living in British-ruled India, enrolls his eight-year-old daughter Sara at the Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies in London. She excels in her studies and is loved deeply by her classmates and friends, but earns the hatred of class representative Lavinia Herbert and the grudge of the headmistress Miss Minchin. On her ninth birthday, Sara learns of her father's death and bankruptcy from an infuriated Miss Minchin, who decides to hire the orphaned girl as an unpaid maid in the school. Miss Minchin and Lavinia attempt to make Sara's life miserable and break her spirit, but with the help of her friends, Sara tries to endure all the hardships with her kindness and imagination.
Characters
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- The main protagonist of the series and a student of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, who is the daughter of Ralph Crewe, Sara is a kind-hearted, beautiful, compassionate, brave, optimistic, imaginative, and intelligent girl.
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- Sara's loving and devoted father, he died from his place India, leaving Sara to be poor and maiden by Miss Minchin.
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- The strict, cruel headmistress of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies, and Amelia's older sister.
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- Miss Minchin's kind but meek younger sister, who is a school teacher in Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies.
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- The oldest student of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Sara's (former) rival, who is bitterly jealous of her wealth and popularity. Lavinia is prideful, sadistic, cynical, and manipulative. In the series finale, she has reformed and becomes a friend of Sara.
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- A scullery maid in Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Sara's closest best friend, who lives in the attic of the school. Becky is an optimistic, clumsy, and hardworking girl who comes from the town of Ashfield.
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- A street-smart boy and Sara's loyal best friend, who greatly admires her. Cheerful and hardworking, Peter is good at driving a carriage and is also seen working at a market. He is also considered as a love interest to Sara.
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- A student of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Sara's schoolmate and best friend, Ermengarde is a plump girl who is slow at learning. She is also a victim of Lavinia's bullying.
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- The youngest student of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Sara's schoolmate and daughter-figure, Lottie is a four-year-old girl who is prone to tantrums.
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- Two students of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies who are Lavinia's closest schoolmates.
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- A resident maid of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and James' wife.
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- A resident cook of Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies and Molly's husband.
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- A maid in Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies who is serving for Sara.
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- A French teacher at Miss Minchin's Select Seminary for Young Ladies.
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- A kind old man who lives in another house next to Miss Minchin's seminary, Mr. Carrisford is Ralph Crewe's best friend.
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- An Indian lascar serving for Mr. Carrisford. Ram Dass has a pet monkey called Template:Nihongo. He is the only Indian who speaks English, unlike his two partners.
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- Mr. Carrisford's solicitor and confidant.
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- Mr. Carmichael's polite, generous son.
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- Mr. Carmichael's daughter and Donald's sister.
- Mother of Janet and Donald.
Other characters
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- A solicitor who is invested into Ralph Crewe's business.
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- Lavinia's father. Unlike his family members, he is angry with his daughter, and is the reason of the cruelty of his daughter against Sarah.
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- Lavinia's mother.
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- An orphaned street child who meets Sara outside the bakery.
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- Becky's younger brother.
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- Becky's younger sister.
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- Peter's friend.
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- An alcoholic doctor.
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- A kind-hearted priest in a church in the city.
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- A soldier from London who helps Sara pick up the potatoes during a rainy day.
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- The owner of a bakery in the city. When she saw Sara giving bread to Anne, she described Anne as an "angelic child". Later, she took Anne to her bakery.
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- An acquaintance of Peter, he runs a stall flower shop in the market. She remembers Sarah when she was a young lady and cares about her.
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- The original owner of the doll "Emily" at a clothes store in the city. Emily, which is the signboard of the store that is not for sale, is handed over to Sarah, and at the same time she receives an order for Sarah's clothes (measurement at this time will be a hint later). He has also saved a fallen Sarah.
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- Ram Dass's two partners who don't speak English unlike Ram Dass.
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- He is a vegetable merchant and he helps Sarah because of stealing money.
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- He is handicapped with his crutch.
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- She is contagious and weak.
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- She is responsible for the match factory.
Animals
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- A domestic cat of Miss Minchin's seminary.
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- A parrot that Sara brought from India at the time of admission. At the beginning, Sarah's father Crewe brought Bonaparte from India to Miss Minchin's seminary in London as a companion for Sarah. When Sarah faces the death of her father, it was taken away by Mr. Barrow as a mortgage of Crewe's "debt", until Sarah returned to her original life, and returned to Sarah's side with the help of Peter and Mr. Carmichael.
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- A horse which has a white diamond-shaped spots on the forehead that Ralph kept in Minchin. At the beginning, when Sarah was a rich daughter, Captain Ralph bought it as an exclusive carriage for Sarah. When Sarah faces the death of her father, it was taken away by Mr. Barrow as a mortgage of Crewe's "debt", until Sarah returned to her original life, and returned to Sarah's side with the help of Peter and Mr. Carmichael.
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- Ram Dass' mischievous monkey.
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- Tom Carrisford's breed resembles a large long-haired Afghan hound, which in the original work is actually the dog raised by the Carmichael family.
Media
Anime
Template:See also Princess Sara, directed by Fumio Kurokawa and produced by Nippon Animation, being the eleventh entry in the World Masterpiece Theater, premiered in Japan on January 6, 1985, and concluded on December 29, 1985, after 46 episodes on Fuji TV. Shunji Saida is the character designer for the anime series. The musical score is composed by Yasuo Higuchi. The series features two pieces of theme music, both performed by Satoko Shimonari: the opening theme is Template:Nihongo, and the ending theme is Template:Nihongo. The Filipino dub of the series aired in the Philippines on ABS-CBN in 1988.[3]
It was also aired on Animax, who later broadcast the series across its respective networks worldwide, including its English language networks in South Asia and Southeast Asia, dubbing and translating the series into English under the title Princess Sarah. Animax's version was the series' only English translation, and the series has yet to be commercially released in the United States.[4]
The series has been also selected as one of the best 100 Japanese anime series of all time by the viewers of TV Asahi.[5]
Film
The success and popularity of the anime series in the Philippines inspired a live-action film adaptation. Sarah... Ang Munting Prinsesa (lit. "Sarah, The Little Princess"), produced by Star Cinema and directed by Romy Suzara, was released on June 7, 1995. The film stars Camille Prats as Sarah Crewe. In the mid-2010s, the film was digitally restored and remastered by the ABS-CBN Film Restoration Project, which to date are restoring old damaged classic Filipino movies to a high-definition format.[6]
Television drama
A Filipino television drama adaptation of the series, produced by ABS-CBN, aired from November 12 to December 21, 2007 on the Primetime Bida block. The series stars Sharlene San Pedro as Sarah Crewe. The story is loosely based on the anime series and took further creative liberties from the original source material, with fantasy elements being introduced in the story.
International titles
- 小公女セーラ (Japanese)
- Sarah: Ang Munting Princesa (Filipino)
- Die kleine Prinzessin Sara (German)
- Princesa Sara (Spanish)
- Little Princess (English)
- Sara Lovely Sara (Italian)
- Mała księżniczka Sara (Polish)
- Princess Sara (English)
- Princesse Sarah (French)
- Sali سالي (Arabic and Sorani)
- Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa (Tagalog)
- Küçük Prenses (Turkish)
- سارا کرو (Farsi)
- 莎拉公主 (Chinese)
- 소공녀 세라 Sogongnyeo Serra (Korean)
References
Further reading
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- Template:Cite book See page 30.
- Template:Cite book See pp. 475–476, 932.
- Template:Cite journal See page 201.
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See also
External links
- Nippon Animation's official website for Princess Sara Template:In lang
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- Animax's official website for Princess Sara Template:In lang
- Princess Sara English page
- The Princess Sara museum (in Japanese)
Template:Nippon Animation Template:World Masterpiece Theater Template:A Little Princess