In 1976, Little Lulu was adapted by Nippon Animation into a 26-episode anime titled Little Lulu and Her Little Friends.
This anime contains examples of:
- Agitated Item Stomping: Tubby did this in Episode 10 out of anger when the flowers he was given by Lulu were discovered by Wilbur, Iggy, and Alvin.
- Art Shift: In this version, the main child characters were given slightly modified designs. The most particular example is Tubby, who had a mild color change of clothes as well as being slightly bigger than Lulu, in contrast with the original comics where he was the same height as her. Even the Westside Gang had character designs that differed greatly from how they appeared in the original comics.
- Babysitting Episode: Episode 2 focused on Lulu playing babysitter for Tubby while his parents are out for the day, much to Tubby's chagrin. To add insult to injury in Tubby's case, the situation is subsequently discovered by Iggy who finds it funny that Tubby is being babysat by Lulu, which angers Tubby so very much.
- Batman Gambit: This was how Lulu was able to end the snowball fight between Tubby's gang and the Westside Gang in Episode 13. She tricked both sides into throwing excess amounts of firewood into the fires that they had both built in an attempt to bribe Lulu about which side will win, which caused their respected snow forts to melt and collapse from the immense heat.
- Big Eater: As in the original comics and the tv series, Tubby has a fairly large appetite. In fact, a couple of episodes were actually based around this character trait.
- Chased Off into the Sunset: At the end of Episode 4 of the anime, after the Endurance Test is over and Tubby is awarded the medal for going the longest without any food, Tubby then figures out that someone else also walked the course besides himself, before pointing out that Lulu was the one who brought back the food that he hid the night before. Lulu then tells Tubby that she didn't want him to break the rules, which culminates in Tubby chasing after Lulu. Of course, earlier in the episode, when Tubby explains to Lulu about the food he hid all over the course the night before, Lulu was Obfuscating Stupidity to throw off Tubby's suspicions.
- Demoted to Extra: Both Willy and Eddy did not appear very often in the anime.
- Endurance Duel: Tubby was forced to endure the harshness of hunger while on an all-day hike with Lulu and the others in an episode.
- Faint in Shock: Tubby faints at the end of Episode 20, in response to his mother telling him that he'll be spending extra time on his violin lessons.
- Feud Episode: Episode 9 was based around this trope, with Tubby and Willy being the ones feuding against each other.
- Flat Scare: Lulu does this to Tubby in Episode 2, while pretending to be a monster, in an attempt to get back at him and scare him.
- Food and Animal Attraction: Used in Episode 12 to get rid of the mean butler that replaced Wilbur's butler. While the mean butler was drying off his clothes after sinking in the lake and trying to dry off while standing in nothing but his Goofy Print Underwear, Tubby snuck around from behind in the bushes and placed a few handfuls of dog food in the butler's coat pockets. Later, when Lulu and the others followed by the butler return to town, the smell of the dog food in his coat pockets have attracted a small band of dogs that immediately begin chasing him to get at the dog food that he had in his coat.
- Hand Behind Head: Since this version of Little Lulu was anime, the characters, mostly Tubby, did this very often whenever they were embarrassed, like most other anime characters.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: This happened to Tubby in Episode 14, when Lulu coaxed him into crawling into a rabbit's burrow, in an attempt to lure the rabbit out.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: In Episode 6, Tubby's attempt to make a fool out of Lulu by tricking her into thinking that the fire chief was sending his firemen to save Lulu from a tree while mimicking a cat backfired when a small crowd of people discovered Lulu meowing in the tree, leading to one man to call the fire department to get Lulu down. This led to Lulu finally getting her much-deserved ride on the fire truck, while Tubby and the other boys wound up with nothing.
- Hurt Foot Hop: In episode 3, Tubby is upset that Plan A in discouraging Lulu from her babysitting duties did not work and runs up to his room and kicks the dresser drawer in his room a little bit too hard, which causes him to hop around in pain while holding one foot.
- Leitmotif: Whenever the Westside Gang made their appearance in an episode, a piano-heavy tune is used.
- Produce Pelting: Lulu and the others did this in Episode 12, to a picture of Wilbur's butler that was doodled on the side of the clubhouse, with tomatoes, no less.
- Secondary Adaptation: The original medium is a comic strip in The Saturday Evening Post, written and illustrated by Majorie Henderson "Marge" Buell. During The '40s, Paramount created a series of theatrical Short Films. Inspired by the films, Nippon Animation created Little Lulu And Her Little Friends in The '70s.
- Sneaking Snacks: Tubby did this in Episode 4, with apples, bananas, sausages, crackers, and potato chips, which he hides in different areas of the woods.
- What the Hell, Hero?: In Episode 20, Wilbur, of all people, calls Tubby out for selfishly turning over his violin to Lulu.
