Oh, how I love the World Masterpiece Theatre. They never have a clear distinction between good and evil; just people who live their lives. Johanna… you can’t call her on the good side, but neither can she be labelled as a villain. This episode again was much lighter compared to before the move to Marysville, but again it was a really heart-warming one.
The episode starts as Anne drops by on Eggman again, and she brings him the book by Robert Browing that she got a few episodes back. Apparently, a bit of time has passed since the previous episode, because Anne already knows how to read a few more words words, and Robert shows her where they are in the book. They talk a bit about the book, and what the feelings of the author Robert Browning could have been. Eggman then says how he likes winter, as it covers the things he doesn’t want to see with snow.
Anne then notices a bunch of paintings that Eggman made. They are all unfinished, but that was Eggman’s intentions: when something is finished, it’s done, and over, and he doesn’t like that. Anne then notices a picture of presumably Eggman’s daughter, and he quickly turns it away and changes the subject to his own name: Robert Johnson.
Obviously, Anne returns very late and she gets scolded by Johanna for being so. Because Anne ruined the brush, she has to clean the potatoes by hand,, which is rather nasty with the cold water. The next day Johanna takes Anne out to town so that she can watch the carriage while she goes shopping. While she waits, Anne notices a shop full of new brushes, though she quickly gives up on these hopes because they cost money.
Her attention then falls on a man and a woman who are bickering with each other. The woman turns out to be a new teacher and quite the feminist, while the man doesn’t want to believe that women can be studying. The woman meanwhile passionately tries to convince him how women can contribute to society, and she starts quoting her favourite author: Robert Browning. Obviously, Anne also joins in at that point, but she quickly gets taken away by an angry Johanna. The teacher however tries to call her back, though by calling her red-haired she gets a very angry look from Anne.
The teacher however says that her hair looks really good. And then she asks whether she heard that line at school, but Anne answers that Eggman told her it, and how he’s been teaching her all kinds of words. As Johanna is standing right next to her, she finally realizes why Anne has been staying so long with this Eggman. The teacher then realizes that Anne isn’t going to school, and offers her to join the class that she’s about to teach. Johanna however then quickly pulls her out of it, saying that Anne is needed to do the housework. Who is going to do all her chores if Anne’s going to school every day? Johanna then quickly takes Anne away. Especially since she ruined that brush, there is no way that Anne is going to school.
That evening though, school still is on Anne’s mind, and she imagines how wonderful it must be. Bert meanwhile quietly says that Johanna perhaps could let Anne go to school, but Johanna says that since they’re a poor family, but you can see that she’s not entirely sure about her decision. The next day Anne again heads off to Eggman, and she talks about how perhaps when she gets her aunt a new brush, she’ll get to study at school. Eggman then proposes that Anne should give Johanna a brush as a present, though Anne says that she needs money for that. Eggman however offers to let her work for the money needed to buy the brush.
the next couple of days Anne works hard until she receives enough money. She hasn’t told Johanna about it, though Johanna overhears her talking to Rokimba once (still unsure of how to spell that name…). When she has enough money, Eggman offers to drive her to the shop that sells brushes. So Anne goes to the shop and buys the brush, and she’s very proud of it since it’s the first thing she bought with money that she earned herself. The teacher from before then shows up, and Anne (obviously elated) tells her about how she earned her first bits of money. Eggman then shows an entirely different side of himself, and suddenly gets very reserved and leaves pretty quickly, enforcing the rumours about how he is a bit of a strange guy.
When Anne gets back, Johanna yells at her for being back so late, but Anne then shows her the brush. Johanna however says that she isn’t going to let Anne go to school… in the winter. In the winter, there is just too much that Anne needs to help out with, though when spring comes, Johanna offered to let Anne go to school. The episode closes off as a very happy Anne runs outside and starts uttering some random lines again.
This episode really shows the start of what’s going to become Anne’s quest for knowledge, and this episode also showed that even though women were starting to take up studying, there were still enough people who didn’t see the use in that and just laughed off the idea of a female teacher, though it’s interesting how at the Green Gables farm, there hardly was any mention of it, but that’s probably because that takes place among some richer families, rather than the poorer environments in which Anne grew up in her first ten years.
One thing I didn’t like that much in this episode was the lack of subtlety in which Eggman’s character is handled. He’s really doing wonders for Anne, but it really is a bit too obvious that he lost his daughter to some reason and is a social outcast. The teacher of Kaze no Shoujo Emily was much better.
Rating: * (Good)
Heart-warming episode about Anne’s wishes to go to school
