500https://www.manganews.com/public/images/series/annemaisonpignonsvert1isan.png This review was originally written on June 30th 2011 before I found out that there are two other manga adaptations of Anne of Green Gables with one of those being the Udon Entertainment version. This was also written before I finished watching the 1979 series. Also I apologize if it comes across as a bit fangirly as this was written when I was just starting to get into reviewing though my feelings on the manga havent changed. Can you believe it? Not only is there an old 1979 anime of Lucy Maud Montgomerys famous book Anne of Green Gables but a manga too Anne of Green Gables is one of my favorite stories and World Masterpiece Theater anime though it still doesnt beat Ie Naki Ko Little Princess Les Miserables and especially Dog of Flanders mostly for its pleasant atmosphere charming characters sweet setting and nice messages. I only have the first three books ironically all of them are adapted into mangas and the prequel Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson but I love the book franchise and their anime adaptations. Strangely enough our favorite redhaired freckled incessantly talky and verbose girl Anne Shirley is quite famous in both Canada and Japan. Anyway onto the review The storys about two middleaged siblings Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert who live on Prince Edward Island near Nova Scotia a province of Canada off the eastern coast. Theyre getting up in years so they decide to adopt a boy from an orphanage. But some misinterprets their message thinking they wanted a girl so they end up being adopted parents to a red haired freckled girl named Anne Shirley whos well known for talking for hours and hours upon end and endlessly about anything she can think of. The poor girls had a hard life but shes full of imagination and this mistake might be good for both the Cuthberts and the little girl theyre stuck with. This manga was first published in 1997 so its rather old in terms of todays standards and this being sort of a shoujo in terms of anime/manga standards shows with detailed eyes and pretty looking girls and such. But what great artwork it is Its beautiful and really sets itself apart from other mangas because of how it makes the characters look and the things around them even if Igarashi uses a lot of trademark shoujo trappings like large doe eyes and having certain scenes sparkle depending on the characters POV. Even small things like the food on a table or the windows on a building are extremely detailed. I love how it makes everything look. In terms of the presentation and the adaptation...Im pleasantly surprised Mostly at how the mangaka managed to cram 30 something chapters of an entire book into three manga volumes while keeping the most important parts of it like Annes saving Dianas sister Anne with the amethyst pin Anne dying her hair green Anne giving Mrs. Allan cake with some kind of powder in it whose name escapes me etc.. Its surprisingly faithful to the original book It did take some liberties by cutting down Annes excessive dialogue but that didnt hurt it at all. Plus I love how she made the characters looks. Each character has their own distinct appearance so nowhere in this book will you find characters that are drawn the same but with different eye and hair colors unlike most shows nowadays. The anime does this as well but Ive only seen 6 episodes but plan to watch it in the future so I cant say whether thats true or not. Also this mangaka has CLEARLY done her research as she managed to capture the entire 19th century countryside feel extremely well It really feels like youre in a different time with the way the characters dress talk present things in school play games etc. I love stories like this so you can believe I was impressed Plus even though this is a sliceoflife manga I love how the artwork managed to make the intense moments look dramatic and add a little WHAM to it all especially with the scene where Anne strikes Gilbert over the head with a slate. AWESOME In terms of the scanlation...yeah the scanlators CLEARLY used lines from the book and put them on the manga but I didnt find that much of a problem. And the characters are pretty true to their characterization from the novel. I cant help but LOVE little Anne and her whimsical ramblings and her random thoughts on anything and everything around her. The way she overreacts to everything is LOL funny. Plus Ive got to admit I think she looks cute with short hair reference to her dying her hair green. The other characters are awesome too and I thought they were fine with the small bits of development they got. Nobodys impoverished or caught in some kind of big conspiracy or anything. Theyre perfectly normal little kids living normal lives in Victorian era Canada Yes I know Victoria ruled England but you get the idea. I also cant help but love the way Gilbert looked. Of course I didnt find many flaws so I love it either way but I do want to confess something: I am NOT a fan of Yumiko Igarashi the mangaka who drew this manga. Not because of her artwork. No Im glad she made a manga adaptation of Anne of Green Gables and Im grateful and so are a lot of people. Plus she did the artwork for Kyoko Mizukis popular shoujo manga Candy Candy which was inspired by Anne of Green Gables But I say Im not a fan of Igarashi mostly because of the fact that she tried to wrongfully claim ownership of various manga she illustrated from their original owners including Candy Candy for her own personal gain even going as far as to make a statement claiming so. I dont know why she would want to do this. While I do think Igarashis behavior is very unprofessional and uncalled for I am grateful that she made a manga for Anne of Green Gables and wouldnt ask for anything better. So yeah even though I sort of dislike the mangaka this manga adaptation of Anne of Green Gables is wonderful and beautiful and is one of my favorite manga of all time. I wish someone would publish it in English