Katri, Girl of the Meadows

Katri, Girl of the Meadows (牧場の少女カトリ) 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, Netherlands, Germany, and the Arabic-speaking world. Despite the series taking place in Finland, it has never been published or broadcast there, and most Finns have never heard of it.

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.

Plot
Set in Finland, the plot starts in 1911 when little Katri's mother leaves for Germany to work, leaving her daughter with her grandparents. At the beginning of First World War, With Finland still under Russian rule, the inhabitants of these lands have had little or no news from the outside, and no one knows if Katri will see her mother again, whose money meanwhile stops arriving to the family. To make matters worse, things on 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 faces great monetary problems.

Katri wants to help and, against her grandparents' will, she finds work in a neighboring farm; for a girl of hardly nine years of age farm work is hard and tiring even with all of her enthusiasm and good moods, which is what keeps her standing. While working on the farm, the little girl learns about Kalevala from old Gunilla and learns to read and write thanks to her.

Later, Katri works as a nanny for a wealthy child, whose mother will send her to school in Turku. Katri has great success in her studies, thanks to Gunilla's help. The child will also know how the Russian Revolution and the war will lead to independence of Finland from Russia. At the end of the war, Katri's mother comes back to find her daughter. Katri, once adult, will write childrens stories.

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.