Belle and Sebastian (Japanese TV series)
A boy and his dog search for his mother.
Belle and Sebastian is an anime adaptation of the 1965 novel by Cécile Aubry. It originally aired on Japanese network NHK from 1981 to 1982, and later on Children's BBC in 1989 and 1990. The series was produced by MK Company, Visual 80 Productions and Toho Company, Ltd.
Quick Facts
- Genre
- Adventure, Historical
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The series follows a young boy named Sebastian and his Pyrenean mountain dog, Belle, in a small village in Southern France. Sebastian is bullied by other children for not having a mother. He befriends Belle, a gentle white dog falsely accused of attacking people. To save her from being put down, he leaves his adoptive family and flees to Spain with Belle and his puppy Poochie, eluding police while searching for his long-lost mother.
Characters
Sebastian is a 9-year-old boy from a French mountain village. He lives with his adoptive grandfather Cecil and Cecil's biological granddaughter Anne-Marie. The children in town tease him for not having a real mother. His deepest desires are to find his mother and to have a good friend. Belle is a large white Great Pyrenees who escaped into the countryside. She is gentle and warmhearted, but her attempts to help are misunderstood, leading to her being labeled 'The White Monster' and pursued by police. Poochie is a little puppy who rides in Sebastian's pocket, often yapping and getting into mischief, but remains a good friend. Cecil took Sebastian in as a baby and acts as his adoptive grandfather, teaching him about the mountains and wilderness. Anne-Marie has helped care for Sebastian since birth and fancies herself his mother despite being the age of an older sister; she is loving but overprotective and sometimes harsh. Paul is Anne-Marie's older brother, a soldier in the mountain army. Isabel is Sebastian's real mother, a traveling Romani who went against the gypsy code to marry an outsider. Her husband died before Sebastian was born, and she had him secretly in the mountains, promising to return when her people could understand.
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