YMMV / Jeanie With The Light Brown Hair

• Awesome Moments: Jeanie standing up for Bill after he's a victim of racism. Though it ends with the MacDowells and Bill's family cutting ties, they retain their friendship.
• Awesome Music: The Italian Alternative Foreign Theme Song by Cristina D'Avena. No joke, it is actually regarded as one of the greatest Italian anime theme songs of all time, and a large amaount of the anime's following in Italy is because of it.
• Ensemble Dark Horse:
  • Diana. She may be at odds with Jeanie, but she's still a caring stepmum to Jeanie, and shows up for her in her own way.
  • Julia too. She's sweet, friendly and doesn't bear any ill will towards Jeanie for having Stephen's affections, even if she likes him too.
• Friendly Fandoms: For obvious reasons, fans of this anime are also huge fans of the works of World Masterpiece Theater.
• Germans Love David Hasselhoff:
  • Fiocchi di cotone per Jeanie is beloved in Italy for being part of many '80s kids' childhoods. It even got a DVD release.
  • It was also popular in the Arab World too.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Many Italians checked out this anime because the OP is considered Awesome Music.
• Moral Event Horizon: Miss Garland cemented her status as a Hate Sink when she had her fellow teacher Ms. Annamarie fired.
• Superlative Dubbing: The Arabic dub changed the character's names to fit in with Middle Eastern naming conventions and removed all Christian references.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Jeanie's teacher Miss Garland. She's needlessly strict, punishes a girl over hair bows and is generally unlikable and mean. Eventually the entire school rebels against her and embarasses her in front of the board, but despite this, Jeanie forgives her even though she was the most recurring victim of her bullying.
• Watched It for the Representation: The fact that this anime focuses on a black perspective in post-Civil War America caused a lot of interest to gather.
• The Woobie: Bill faces a lot of trauma over his race. Even in the town he grew up in, where he thought most people were accepting, he was a victim of racism from Jeanie's tutor, and it doesn't get any better in the outside world. He becomes even sadder when he's separated from Jeanie and Stephen, and considers giving up on his dreams.