Princess Sara
Princess Sara, also spelled as Princess Sarah for disambiguation purposes, is a Japanese anime television series that was based on the 1905 children's novel A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It aired on Fuji TV 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.
Plot
In 1885, Captain Ralph Crewe, a wealthy English widower living in British-ruled India, enrolls his eight-year-old beautiful 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
- ;Sara Crewe
- ;Captain Ralph Crewe
- ;Miss Maria Minchin
- ;Miss Amelia Minchin
- ;Lavinia Herbert
- ;Becky
- ;Peter
- ;Ermengarde St. John
- ;Lottie Legh
- ;Jessie and Gertrude
- ;Molly
- ;James
- ;Mariette
- ;Monsieur Dufarge
- ;Mr. Tom Carrisford
- ;Ram Dass
- ;Mr. Carmichael
- ;Donald Carmichael
- ;Janet Carmichael
- ;Mrs. Carmichael
Other characters
;Lavinia's father
;Lavinia's mother
;Anne
;Teddy
;Martha
;Jim
;Dr. Wild
;Old Priest
;Soldier
;Baker's wife
;Florist owner
;Clothes shop owner
;The other two Indian servants
;Peter's Uncle
;Peter's Father
;Peter's Mother
;Maggie
Animals
;Ceaser;Bonaparte
;Jump
;Surya
;Boris
Production
Princess Sara, directed by Fumio Kurokawa and produced by Nippon Animation, being the eleventh entry in the World Masterpiece Theater, aired in Japan between January 6 and December 29, 1985, after 46 episodes on Fuji TV. Shunji Saida is the character designer for the anime series. Similar to other series in the franchise such as Heidi, Dog of Flanders, and 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, the writers adapted the original novel by adding new characters and adventures to reach a total of 46 episodes, while still remaining faithful to the original storyline without drastically altering it.The novel does not go much into detail about Sara's daily life at the school, focusing instead on her inner thoughts and how she finds resilience through her imagination. In contrast, the series takes a more realistic approach reminiscent of a Dickensian tale, depicting the hardships and mistreatments Sara endures every day after becoming poor. Both Becky and Lavinia are given more important roles, and an original character — the street boy Peter — is added among Sara's friends. Lavinia's role, in particular, emphasizes bullying. A backstory is also provided for Miss Minchin, who, having worked hard to succeed after a poor upbringing, despises Sara for having always had everything easily. Additionally, while Sara's character in the novel can be outspoken at times, in the series she becomes more obedient and submissive, never openly rebelling, in line with Japanese values that regard politeness and discretion as important virtues. Another difference is the time span of the story: about seven years in the novel, starting when Sara enters boarding school at age 7, whereas in the series it spans about one year, starting when Sara enters at age 10. The age differences between the characters are also different: in the book, the age gap between Sara and Lavinia is 6 years, compared to 3 years in the series, while the age difference between Sara and Becky is 5 years, whereas in the series they are the same age; in the novel, both Lavinia and Becky are older than Sara.
A Little Princess was already enormously popular in Japan at the time the series was produced, having been first introduced to Japanese readers in 1910. It had also previously been adapted into anime in 1978, as 11 episodes in the anthology series Manga Fairy Tales of the World. Some of the additions made to the plot of the series are reminiscent of those of the 1978 version: the emphasis on bullying and mistreatments, the introduction of a street boy as one of Sara's friends, Sara's serious illness cured by her friends, Sara's expulsion from the boarding school, her forgiveness of Lavinia, and her return to the school after making a large donation.
Music
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 "Hana no Sasayaki", and the ending theme is "Himawari".International broadcast
Italian version
In Italy, the series was broadcast on Italia 1 under the title Lovely Sara, starting on February 18, 1986, shortly after its original Japanese airing ended. The anime was highly successful in Italy, where it was re-run many times on Italia 1 and other channels. The Italian dubbing was produced by Studio P.V. in Milan and featured several name changes, such as Sara Crewe becoming Sara Morris, Maria Minchin becoming Gertrude Minci, Ermengarde becoming Margherita, Lottie becoming Lalla, Emily becoming Priscilla, and Gertrude becoming Barbara. The Italian opening and ending theme was sung by Cristina D'Avena. The HD remastered version was released for streaming by Yamato Video on Amazon Prime Video in 2022.French version
The French dub was broadcast on La Cinq under the title Princesse Sarah, starting on March 1, 1987, and was based on the Italian version. This version also includes some name changes, such as Miss Minchin becoming Mademoiselle Mangin and Ermengarde becoming Marguerite, while other original names were restored. Cristina D'Avena also sang the French version of the Italian opening theme. The French version was also well received, with multiple reruns over the years, and has since been made available for streaming.Filipino version
The Filipino dub of the series aired in the Philippines on ABS-CBN in the early 90s and became very popular. It was also aired on TV5 in 2025.German version
The series was dubbed in German on RTL2 on March 8, 1993, then ORF1 on August 19, 1998 and tm3 on November 22, 1998.English version
The series 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.Arabic version
The series was dubbed in Arabic under the title Sally 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 MENA in November 2020.Polish version
The Polish dub was broadcast on TVP 2 and then reruns on TVP Polonia and TVP Regionalna.Related media
Film
The success and popularity of the anime series in the Philippines inspired a live-action film adaptation. Sarah... Ang Munting Prinsesa, 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 films to a high-definition format.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.Reception
Princess Sara has been selected as one of the best 100 Japanese anime series of all time by the viewers of TV Asahi.International titles
- 小公女セーラ
- Sarah: Ang Munting Princesa
- Die kleine Prinzessin Sara
- Princesa Sara
- Little Princess
- Lovely Sara
- Mała księżniczka Sara
- Princess Sara
- Princesse Sarah
- Sali سالي
- Sarah, Ang Munting Prinsesa
- Küçük Prenses
- سارا کرو
- 莎拉公主
- 소공녀 세라 Sogongnyeo Serra