Anime: Flanders no Inu

Flanders no Inu is the first anime from the "World Masterpiece Theater" framework produced by the highly acclaimed Nippon Animation studio.

The anime is simple, and quite calm. In every episode we see the daily life of Nello and his grandfather, Jehan. They both live a humble (not to say probre) but happy life.
Nello and his grandfather go out every morning to deliver milk in the city, it's a long walk. The anime itself is very slow, and the events are more detailed because of this.
Well, as everyone knows, Nello rescues a dog that was mistreated by its owner who forced him to work and did not even give him water. But before that, the anime better introduces us to Nello's daily life. His daily life is delivering milk with his grandfather and then playing with Alois.
In episode 4 we are introduced to the characters George and Paulo, who are simply fantastic. I will talk about them later.

As mentioned, Patrasche was mistreated by his owner. Nello one day saw the dog being mistreated and decided to at least give him some water, but the pot seller (the dog's owner) saw him doing this and would not let him. You may stop to think that they push the pot salesman too hard by mistreating the dog, but have you ever thought that this happens in real life? In fact, have you ever stopped to think about all the atrocities that human beings do to animals just for the sake of satisfying themselves? That being said, there is nothing to complain about if it sounds "forced" when the dog is mistreated by its owner, who is garbage as a person.

The anime is pretty slow, as I mentioned before. Well, Nello rescues the dog that was almost dying only in episode 6. Before that they develop and introduce characters.
After Patrasche's rescue, the anime continues with the same "episodic" narrative, but with a new character, Patrasche.
Patrasche has his development very well done. Unlike the movie where after being rescued he is already pushing the cart with Nello and his Grandfather, in the series Nello and his Grandfather refuse to let him work again. Nello and his Grandfather treats Patrasche so well that Patrasche gets to the point of insisting on pushing the wheelbarrow. Well, there comes a time when Nello and his grandfather let him. This shows how valuable it is to treat an animal well, because you will be repaid.

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I confess that it is difficult to do an extremely detailed review of this anime. But I will do my best because this anime deserves it.
Having said this, I will talk more about the characters, because this is the main point of Flanders no Inu.

I'm going to start with Alois, and then move on to other characters.
She is simply amazing! She is one of my favorite characters and my favorite in the anime.
Alois and Nello have a very strong bond of friendship since forever. As I mentioned before, Nello's everyday life is to go deliver milk in town and play with Alois.
Alois is extremely charismatic and sweet. She is always with Nello, she always defends him when they try to blame him for something he did not do. In fact, Nello is a kind boy who would never hurt anyone.

Already amending what I said about blaming Nello for what he didn't do, comes one of the most garbage characters as a human being, Hans.
I simply hate him. He is jealous and jealous of Nello for the simple fact that Nello is very close to Alois. This character is snobbish and doesn't think about others (not until the last episode). He only knows how to humiliate and ask for the rent for Nello's grandfather. He humiliates him for being poor and never getting the right amount for rent. He just doesn't feel any empathy for his fellow man.
When Nello and his Grandfather rescue Patrasche, he goes to collect the rent and says: "That dog is big, huh? It's going to cost a lot of money to feed him.". He simply says this on purpose to demean Nello's Grandfather for his financial status.
He acts like a tough guy to others, but he is always bullied by Mr. Cogez and looks like an idiot not knowing what to say.

Following on from characters who are scum, we have Alois' father, Mr. Cogez.
Unlike in the movie, in the series he is not so bothered by the fact that Alois plays with Nello every day, but as the anime goes on he starts to hate Nello and despise him because of all the lies Hans tells about him.
Mr. Cogez is the typical adult who refuses to understand others, especially children. Many things happen that Alois explains why he is wrong about Nello, but he refuses to think and understand his daughter.
There comes a time when even though he knows that Nello works every day with his grandfather, he begins to despise him and calls him lazy just for drawing. He despises Nello so much that he doesn't even want his daughter around him, even though she explains things to him. A prime example of how ignorant he is is in an episode where Alois decides to experience Nello's work at first hand, she simply comes home from school alone, and the school is in the town where Nello delivers milk every day. She explains this to her father, and says that she has tasted what he goes through, and yet he refuses to understand his daughter and Nello.
He even doesn't know that the last time the mill was fixed, it was Nello who just cut down a huge tree ALONE. An extremely heavy job for a child.

Continuing on with other characters, I will now talk a little about some who are good people.
Clearly we have to talk about Jehan, Nello's grandfather. Jehan is an extremely kind and humble person. He literally does everything for the good of Nello.
Since Nello lost his mother and we don't even know about his father, Jehan has always taken care of him. I really like how the anime makes clear Jehan's look of concern about his financial circumstances and how he regrets not being able to give Nello a better life. Well, Nello doesn't really care that they are poor, but he always says that he is content to live with his grandfather.
Jehan and Nello are not just a grandfather and grandson, they are true inseparable friends. They face difficulties together, but most of the time happily.
Jehan is super honest and keeps his word. He makes a deal with the pot seller to keep Patrasche, even though he pays a lot of money (more than he gets in a month). Still he makes sure to pay, however there comes a time when the story forgets about the pot seller, I believe he didn't care anymore after Jehan didn't pay her in a month (he didn't pay because he couldn't find him in town).

I had said that George and Paulo are excellent characters, so let me tell you why I like them so much.
Just like Jehan, George and Paulo play an extremely important role in Nello's life. Their friendship goes beyond any barrier!
George and Paulo are by Nello's side in the best and worst situations. There comes a point when George gets Nello a job because they have reduced the milk delivery for him, and he couldn't even afford to feed himself. Then you ask yourself, "Is that it? He just got Nello a job?". Well, no! He helps Nello on the job, and when Nello comes to share the pay, he refuses to accept and gets angry. This is just one example of how great their friendship is. Another example is when they wake up early every day to put a white flag on the road to signify that both Nello and Alois passed by (this is when Alois went to study in town).
Paul is also a kind boy, he is George's brother. I find it very funny that he keeps repeating what George says at the end of sentences. I never get sick of it.
I won't go so deep into everything the characters do. The idea is just to show why they are great characters.

This anime not only has good human characters, it also has two animals: Patrasche, one of the most important characters in the story; and Kuro, a black duckling.
It may sound funny, but have you ever seen character development between two animals? I mean, not in anime where the animals talk and so on.
When Nello and his grandfather rescue Patrasche, there is the duckling that always picks on Patrasche, but this is extremely essential to a certain episode where they finally develop a friendly relationship. I don't remember which episode it is, but it is when the duckling gets lost and Patrasche finds and rescues him. This may be normal, but it happens a lot that the duckling picks on Patrasche until it leads to a beautiful friendship.
Well, the duckling is also a good friend of Nello's and protects him against Hans when the latter comes to pick on Nello.
Yes, a cunning duckling is as good a character as many characters in so many anime out there...

There is also Neollete, Nello's neighbor and the duckling's owner. She always helps Nello and his grandfather when they need her.
She is very kind and considerate. She helped Grandpa and Jehan when Nello's mother passed away and has been helping them whenever possible.

Well, the tragedies begin when Neollete becomes ill and goes to live with her daughter (she leaves the duckling in Nello's care).
Why does the tragedies begin when she leaves? Simple: Almost everyone close to Nello starts to move away, she was only the first. Several episodes after she leaves, Nello's Grandfather becomes very ill and eventually results in his death!
After Nello's Grandfather dies, the woodcutter Michel decides to take the boy in, but Nello tells him to wait until Christmas when the results of the art competition will come out.
Speaking of the art competition, I will never forget the scene where Nello's Grandfather buys a painting for Nello to participate in the competition. Yes, I cried in this episode, as in several others. Nello's Grandfather is an amazing character; as I mentioned before, he does everything for Nello, even working an extra job to support the boy.

I'll stop detailing so much and get right to the point, the final stretch of this anime.
As I said, everyone starts to move away from Nello. His grandfather dies; Neollete goes home to her daughter; George starts working in another town; Alois' father forbids her to see Nello, her best friend; Nello is accused of setting fire to the windmill, and the whole village turns against him...
Nello has Michel as a refuge, but after he loses the art contest, he simply falls into a deep depression. His personality won't let him just go to Michel for refuge.

Now the big finale of this anime begins.
Mr. Cogez loses his money, but Patrache finds it and returns it to Mrs. Cogez. He tells them to take care of Patrasche who is getting sick and says he is going home because it is Christmas and every Christmas he spends with his grandfather. Well, as he was suffering from a strong depression and didn't want to depend on Michel to take care of him, he runs away aimlessly in the middle of a very heavy snowfall...
Before I get to the grand finale, I can't forget that everyone who has been away from Nello has come back to spend Christmas with him, but he is no longer at home.
Mr. Cogez after having his money again, he realizes what a good boy Nello is and decides to take him in. But before that Mr. Noel learns about the rumor of Nello attacking fire in the windmill and goes to collect satisfaction and explain that Hans and Mr. Cogez are to blame for the fire.

The ending:
Nello ran away in the blizzard and Patrasche went after him as soon as they opened the door for Mr. Noel to enter. Nello finally arrives at the church and sees the large Rubens painting that he wanted so badly to see. Well, Patrasche went after him and found him in the church, they both saw the Rubens painting and after that they lay down on the ground and died because of how cold and weak they were.
"The dog, man's best friend!" Patrasche stayed with Nello until the end and died with him.
Well, now it was too late for everyone who had gathered to find Nello. Even more so for Mr. Cogez to ask his forgiveness for all he has done.

This anime is simply beautiful! The characters, the plots, their happy and sad moments are all executed in the most natural way possible.
Flanders no Inu is not just another anime out there. Flanders no Inu is a lesson in life! My biggest regret was seeing the movies before.
I laughed, I was angry, and I even cried watching this anime. Flanders no Inu gave me every kind of feeling possible, which not just any anime can do.

"What really is happiness?"
Well, that's a somewhat stupid question, but I needed to mention it.
Happiness can be in the simplest moments of life. Happiness can be even in death where we don't take even one regret.

Yes, I know I haven't mentioned much that happened in this anime, but I did my best in this review. And I am not going to talk about the technical parts of this anime, because it doesn't matter after I have described how amazing it is.

Flanders no Inu, an anime from 1975 that I will never forget! It was worth every second. This anime is simply amazing!
I am quite emotional after writing this review. Yes, sweat is pouring out of my eyes.