History Anime / PrincessSarah

* AllLovingHero: Sarah.

It's actually the second anime adaptation of the novel, as the novel was originally covered in 1978 in eleven installments as part of the [[Creator/TokyoBroadcastingSystem TBS]] anime ''Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi'' ("Manga Fairy Tales of the World" - not to be confused with the Nippon Animation/Fuji TV ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater'', of which ''Princess Sarah'' is part) - but is better known and with higher production values, due to the participation of various [[GhibliHills names which may be familiar to Studio Ghibli enthusiasts]] in production.

It's actually the second anime adaptation of the novel, as the novel was originally covered in 1978 in eleven installments as part of the [[Creator/TokyoBroadcastingSystem TBS]] anime ''Manga Sekai Mukashi Banashi'' ("Manga Fairy Tales of the World" - not to be confused with the Nippon Animation/Fuji TV ''Anime/WorldMasterpieceTheater'', of which ''Princess Sarah'' is part) - but is better known and with higher production values, due to the participation of various [[GhibliHills Studio Ghibli names which may be familiar to Studio Ghibli enthusiasts]] in production.

* ThoseTwoGirls: Jessie and Gertrude, Lavinia's GirlPosse.

* GettingCrapPastTheRadar: When Sarah is sent to fetch the alcoholic Dr. Wilde to treat Amelia Minchin, she has to enter a seedy area where she passes several [[spoiler:"women of easy virtue"]], almost has the [[spoiler:contents of a chamber pot dropped on her head]], and finally finds him in a bar, where he is completely inebriated and leers at her. (In the French dub, he addresses her as ''"belle enfant"'', which borders on a pick-up line.) Not to forget that, in his drunkenness, he literally [[{{Squick}} sleeps on her shoulder]] during the coach ride to the Seminary. Pretty heavy stuff, considering the major target audience for this series.

* AdaptationalVillainy: Lavinia's friend Jessie goes from a sympathetic MinionWithAnFInEvil in the novel to an opportunistic, genuinely mean BetaBitch in this anime.

''Princess Sarah'', directed by Fumio Kurokawa, is an {{anime}} adaptation of Frances Hodgson Burnett's classic children's novel, ''Literature/ALittlePrincess''. Though remarkably faithful to the original text, this series is an excellent example of AdaptationExpansion, expanding the novel to 46 episodes of 22 minutes each, and adding new characters and situations.

However, on her eleventh birthday, Sarah receives [[ParentalAbandonment news that changes everything...]]: the diamond mines turned out to be worthless, and Captain Crewe has died penniless of "jungle fever". Left a pauper, Sarah is made to work as a servant, forbidden from associating with her former classmates, and ill-treated almost beyond endurance by Miss Minchin and Lavinia. She tries her best to remain strong and stay hopeful, even in the face of enormous hardships, but she's [[HeroicBSOD only]] [[BreakTheCutie human,]] [[DespairEventHorizon after all..]].

* AdaptationalVillainy: Lavinia's friend Jessie goes from a MinionWithAnFInEvil in the novel to an opportunistic, genuinely mean BetaBitch in this anime.

* AlphaBitch: Lavinia

* AdaptationalNationality: Lavinia is American in this version. There is no mention of Lavinia's nationality in the novel, so it is implied that she is English.
* AdaptationExpansion: The series adds period color, fleshes out several key characters (Miss Minchin, Ermengarde, Lavinia), expands on some who were only mentioned in passing in the novel (Monsieur Dufarge, Aunt Eliza, Molly the cook). It also adds an important character, Sarah's carriage driver [[PluckyComicRelief Peter]], who quite understandably has a [[PuppyLove crush]] on her, played mostly for laughs.

* AdaptationalHeroism: ZigZaggingTrope. Due to the AdaptationExpansion in the anime's many episodes, Miss Minchin and Lavinia have more KickTheDog moments than their novel counterparts. But unlike the novel, the anime ends with both of them on good terms with Sarah and the story even gives Miss Minchin a FreudianExcuse.

%%** TheBigBad: Miss Minchin, who has it in for Sarah from episode 2, and who openly encourages the other members of the band to attack their victim.

* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Becky and Sarah.

%%* FiveBadBand: Their objective is to humiliate Sarah rather than take over the world, but they're evil all the same -- though many of them undergo precipitous [[HeelFaceTurn changes of heart]] near the end.
%%** TheBigBad: Miss Minchin, who has it in for Sarah from episode 2, and who openly encourages the other members of the band to attack their victim.
%%** TheDragon: Molly the cook, whose hobby is being vicious to Sarah and Becky.
%%** TheEvilGenius: Lavinia. Good Lord, ''Lavinia''. Only the fact that she's a girl of twelve or thirteen, in a Victorian boarding school, limits the kinds of schemes she can dream up.
%%** TheBrute: James, Molly's husband, who is short-tempered, and physically abusive to Becky.
%%** TheDarkChick: Jessie. She's good at mocking people and reducing them to tears, and she's the second-in-command of Lavinia's GirlPosse.
%%** ''..also featuring..''
%%** TheSixthRanger: Gertrude, who is not so much evil as just a follower and admirer of Lavinia's. Notably, she's portrayed more comically than Jessie -- she's overweight (and gets mocked for the same) and is often slow to catch on to what's happening.

* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Miss Minchin receives a ''memorable'' one from her sister Amelia in the next-to-last episode. This also counts as a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

** Sarah herself, when Miss Minchin unfairly accuses her of laziness and informs her that her duties as a remedial tutor for Ermengarde and the younger children will no longer be required.

* BetaBitch: Jessie and Gertrude. Despite being Lavinia's friends, initially they're as in awe of Sarah as the rest of their classmates (excluding Lavinia of course). But after Sarah's fall, they're more than willing to join with Lavinia in tormenting Sarah, and even initiate some of it themselves.

* AfterSchoolCleaningDuty: One of Becky and Sarah's many duties as scullery maids.

* CatsAreMean: Miss Minchin's cat, whose favorite pastime seems to be standing at the stairs and scaring the girls. Naturally, he likes Sarah, which leads to trouble in episode 34.

* BreakTheCutie: Done over a shorter time span than in the original novel, but at much higher intensity -- Miss Minchin and Lavinia seem to consider humbling and breaking Sarah their ''raison d'être''.

* CatsAreMean: Miss Minchin's cat, whose favorite pastime seems to be standing at the stairs and scaring the girls.

* HonorBeforeReason: In the anime, unlike in the novel, Sarah seems to fit this trope quite well, believing that -- despite all her trials -- she must not run away, but must remain at the Seminary and face life there. She even makes it explicit in episode 39 when she turns down Peter's offer to run away from the Seminary and stay with his family. This becomes especially poignant three episodes later, where Sarah [[spoiler:is kicked out of the Seminary anyway by an irate Miss Minchin, who falsely accuses her of setting fire to the stable.]]

* MakeWayForThePrincess: Lavinia eats, drinks, and breathes this trope. With a vengeance.

* BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch: When Sarah was still rich, [[GirlPosse Jessie and Gertrude]] try to do this to Lavinia on more than one occasion. And [[spoiler:at the end, once Sarah's fortune is restored, they wholeheartedly accept Sarah as a friend immediately, while Lavinia looks on in resentful silence.]]

* BackstabbingTheAlphaBitch: When Sarah was still rich, [[GirlPosse Jessie and Gertrude]] try to do this to Lavinia on more than one occasion.

** Also, after the Magic is discovered and Sarah is exiled to the stable to sleep. She remains cheerful (or at least resilient) on the outside as she talks to Emily, but internally, as tears spill down her face, she admits she doesn't know how much more she can take and is on the verge of giving up.

* HalloweenEpisode: Near the end of the series, the Seminary stages a Halloween party, which Sarah is [[ThrowTheDogABone allowed to attend]] thanks to Amelia Minchin's intercession. She even gets to take part in the party games with the other girls, and helps Lottie carve her pumpkin. However, this being ''Shokojo Sera'', things go horribly wrong: [[spoiler:Lavinia and her friends terrorize Lottie by dressing up as ghosts, causing her to drop her lantern and accidentally set the stable on fire, unknown to her. Sarah ends up taking the fall for this, and is thrown out of the Seminary as a result.]]