You wouldn't believe this was made in 1996.
Made as a collaboration between Tatsunoko and the Italian Group Mondo TV, Cinderella Monogatari is one of many classics made as part of a long time partnership between Japan and Europe.
I won't bore you with the plot as it's still the downtrodden Cinderella forced to live under a cruel stepmother, so let's see how it differs.
Paulette the suddenly named Fairy Godmother manipulates things in the background to make it better for Cinderella also giving her the ability to talk to animals.
The prince, comically named Charles plays a more central role as a rebellious rogue and does meet Cinderella multiple times long before the more traditional Royal Ball story.
And while the Step mother and sisters are there, we have an actual villain named Duke Zaral who tries to take over the Kingdom multiple times.
While the pacing is slow as anything, this is probably the most well characterised story of Cinderella, time is spent focussing on developing Charles and Cinderella's relationship as they play off each other, it helps the narrative that the Prince is usually in disguise, even when we do get to the more familiar story elements with the Royal Ball, Cinderella's reason for going was to say goodbye to Charles thinking she would never see him again, which is where Paulette steps in to fix everything.
If we really have to sit through a 26 episode story of Cinderella, then this is one of the only ways to do it.
Dubbing is fine, especially as English wasn't the first choice for dubbing to begin with.
Final Verdict: It's hardly an exciting watch but it's at least competent in it's characters and story telling.
So an interesting idea came into my head for this one, popular Masterpiece stories are known all over the world but they aren't as well used in anime as you might think, sure the themes are there but the actual stories themselves haven't been given the full anime treatment.
I will not include Japanese folk tales or Journey to the West as those tales are already well represented, also three other Masterpieces, Romeo and Juliet, Count of Monte Cristo and Swan Lake, already have good anime adaptions.
So let's begin.
10. The Little Mermaid as an Idol Show
You can argue that Mermaid Melody already did this but that was more in line with more traditional magical girl shows with idol theme. I can definitely see one of the major idol animes of the current era adapting the Little Mermaid plot to have the lead mermaid gain legs to sing on land.
9. Anastasia as a Coming of Age Drama
Even before the legend gained traction in the 90s with the popular animated feature, stories of young girls discovering their birth right were common place in 80s Shojo anime. Anastasia has the right setting to join those ranks.
8. Alice in Wonderland as a Studio Ghibli Film
Surprised that the Lewis Carroll tale isn't as well adapted as others despite having an aesthetic that would suit anime. Clamp took their version in an interesting direction with Miyuki Chan but where I think it would shine is through Studio Ghibli, the visuals alone would be breathtaking.
7. Nutcracker as a Mecha Series
One element often forgotten in the Nutcracker is the title character's war with the Mouse King, so a Gundam Style Mecha series with a unique heroine caught in the middle does endear itself to that genre.
6. Jack and the Beanstalk as a Shonen
The 70s Jack and the Beanstalk was well remembered as a surreal experience, but I want to see them sell a real fight between Jack and the giants almost on the same wavelength as Attack on Titan.
5. Pinocchio as a Horror Anime
The Japanese are experts at making some disturbing horror anime, so some of the more horrifying moments in Pinocchio can really set a high bar.
4. Snow White as a Reverse Harem
You can argue that Pretear already is this but it shares elements of Cinderella and is primarily a Magical Girl show.
It's not really that difficult to make this a reality and enough digging you'll probably find an adaptation or two.
3. Cinderella as a Magical Girl Show
Cinderella has been adapted as a Coming of Age Drama but where the magic lies is in the Magical Girl genre, Cinderella has enough motifs and enough elements to showcase an anime like Cutey Honey or Sailor Moon.
2. Beauty and the Beast as an Isekai
That time I got sent to another world to meet a beast who holds me captive but I stick around because he's socially awkward and needs love.
The script writes itself.
1. Wizard of Oz as a High Fantasy
Seems like a weird thing to suggest as Wizard of Oz is already quite high on the fantasy list and the type of adaption I'm looking for is already available from the Koreans.
That being said, I just want an adaptation where Dorothy becomes a witch to fight the other witches. I'd watch that in a heartbeat.
Now for some cultural lessons with Disney's Cinderella, and mainly because it's just had a live action makeover.
I shouldn't need to tell this story but for the uninformed, Cinderella is about a downtrodden girl who gets a chance to go to the ball with the help of her Fairy Godmother. In this Disney version, it maintains the setting depicted by Charles Perrault and includes it's own whimsical charm through the talking mice and the beautiful animation of the famous Dress Transformation scene, a personal favorite of Walt Disney himself.
And 65 years later, the live action version gives us more of the same but many feel that Cinderella is outdated due to the fact that it paints an unrealistic depiction of romance and doesn't speak with the same Quasi-Feminist views that Elsa of Frozen championed. Well lets stop this crap right now.
If the 1950s film did anything wrong, it was the lack of character development for the Prince, the screen time is taken up more by the mice than any other character including Cinderella herself and finally there could've been more story from all sides, there's enough interesting characters to pad the story a bit and actually give the Prince some actual background. A lot of criticism is still aimed at Cinderella and it plagues the 2015 live action version as well seeing as every female lead is expected to act like Elsa but it's not the end of the world if the lead female doesn't.
1. There's not really much you can change from Cinderella.
2. Attempting to make it like Frozen would seem like a forced decision and will likely ruin it.
As popular as Frozen is, girls are still very diverse in their interests, more so than boys, for every girl who likes Elsa, there's a girl who likes Cinderella but you maybe surprised by the reasons why.
For Elsa it's her ability to accept her faults as part of who she is and the importance of reconnecting to your family.
For Cinderella it's karma giving her a reward for tolerating the hardships that life throws at you with the kindest of hearts and trust me that's a more valuable life lesson, but there are mundane reasons as well such as good singing voices and having a pimping dress, so don't expect a revolution.
Despite the direction Hollywood thinks the female lead roles should go, there is still a place for the traditional heroine even if the film is 65 years old, it shows that a timeless story can still entertain a modern audience.
