Version française
Version française
The Saint Petersburg where this story takes place hasn't much to do with the Russian Metropolis, nor with the port in Tampa bay. In the edge of the Mississippi, slightly in the North of Saint-Louis, this village more resembles to these tiny towns where the passage of an itinerant comedian troupe is an unforgettable event... At the border of the village, in a little wood house like the ones we used to build in the middle of the 19th century, lives Thomas Sawyer. Since his parents were dead, he has been living with his brother Syd at his Aunt Polly's, who brings them up as if they were her own children. But it's hard for the poor women to teach anything to this tearaway of Tom, who spends much more time fishing or playing the pirates than going to the Mass or to school. It's the little adventures and the great dreams of this child hungry for liberty that tales "Tom Sawyer".
Maybe in your mind, WMT means Marco or Little Princess Sara? In this case Tom Sawyer will probably strike you... there is no plot here, but only independent anecdotes telling with humour the adventures of the young hero: his "love stories" with pretty Becky, his fishing hours while he should be at school, his terror to have a teeth pull out or his hair cut (hem...). The series actually contains some paroxysms (people think that Tom and his friends are dead while they had 'simply' came away for a few days to plays the pirates, a murder is committed one night at the village cemetery...), but not enough to speak about a plot. The characters moreover come down to very few features: Tom is intrepid and disobedient, Becky naiv and coquette, the deepest being finally (which is legitimate) vagrant Huck; the voice of reason... No really, at the first glance, "Tom Sawyer" isn't more than a light hearted unassuming series...
This simplicity and this lightness are paradoxically IMO the great strength of "Tom Sawyer". Let's come back 130 years earlier , at the time when Marc Twaïn was writing at the preface of his novel: "Although my book is intended mainly for the entertainment of boys and girls, I hope it will not be shunned by men and women on that account, for part of my plan has been to try to pleasantly remind adults of what they once were themselves, and of how they felt and thought and talked, and what queer enterprises they sometimes engaged in". All the story is based on an idealised vision of childhood. What does it show? Carefree little boys and girls far from our adult problems, a hero who only thinks about playing and remains indifferent to all the sermons of his old Aunt, a child who believes that a treasure is hidden in the wood near the village and that one day he will become a pirate and travel all over the ocean on his sailboat. Because nothing is impossible when you are 10 year old. These dreams of adventure were ours not so long ago: "Tom Sawyer" reminds that with a simplicity that makes us remember this golden age with a deep nostalgia. This is the great strength of this work.
Don't misunderstand me, though: in spite of this nostalgia feeling, "Tom Sawyer" still remains a comic series and the theme of childhood is dealt with with a great deal of humour. It can be the contrast between Tom who does exactly as he pleases and his poor Aunt who despairs to make anything out of him, or the endearing vapidity of little Becky or the naiv remarks of big Ben. Tom plays the role of narrator and the impertinence of his thoughts still insists on this childish state of mind... How understand why he is reproached with saying that Mr Frasor's dying would give a nice burial and people would be less bored? He didn't want to hurt anyone and everybody agree to say that summers are long at Saint Petersburg. The whole keeps the provocative style of the original novel, and the series even ends with one of the most surprising outcome of animation History: the public spanking given to Tom by his new teacher. Misunderstandings, burlesque or picturesque situations, (the naïveté of people believing that someone who flies on a balloon can only be sent by the Devil) everything is done to try to make us laugh.
The facial expressions and the exaggerated animation (if not cartoon like) are the last comic elements of the series. These caricatures can be surprising again for a WMT, and could be taken as weaknesses if some other sequences weren't surprisingly smoothly animated for a 1980 series. The coquette posture of Becky, the nonchalant behaviour of Tom, always the hands in his pockets, give a greater personality to the movements of all the characters like very few series of that period. The design is finally one of the best works of Seki, who managed to give some personality to the faces as in few of his following series. And let's not forget the BGM, which gives an American local colour to this Meisaku: some mouth organ or saxophone here, two or three syncopations there, and we are dived into the country of Jazz. A special mention for the murder sequence (the only true paroxysm of the series) and the nightmares which follow for poor Tom: light and shadow tricks beautifully convey their mysterious and oppressive atmosphere!
Without being one of the greatest Nippon Animation masterpieces, and in spite of the prejudices you can have when you see its style, "Tom Sawyer" remains a damn nice series. It's one of the most popular WMT France, and many young adults still think about it with a great feeling of nostalgia.
"Tom Sawyer" was shown for the first time at the vevy begining of the 80's and was then re-aired many times on Antenne 2 (France 2) and FR3 (France 3) until 1990. The TV broadcasts then became quite rare; but the complete story was released on 12 tapes in 1999 - 2000. Tom sawyer is one of the rare animes to have two new credit songs: both are interpreted by Elfie and kept the original Japanese video clip.
The series was aired on TMC, SUPER 3 (1997/98 and late 2000) and T9 (early 2000).
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Frédéric Goetzinger
(goetz@starnet.fr) Opening date: October 27, 2001 - Last update: September 23, 2001