Remi, Nobody's Girl

Remi, Nobody's Girl (家なき子レミ, Ie Naki Ko Remi, Homeless Child Remi) is a 26-episode Japanese animated television series by Nippon Animation, broadcast from 1996 to 1997 in Japan on the Fuji Television network as an installment to Nippon Animation's famed World Masterpiece Theater series. The show was directed by Kōzō Kusuba, with Michiru Shimada and Mayumi Koyama writing the scripts, Masaru Ōshima designing the characters and Katsuhisa Hattori composing the music.

The story is adapted from Sans Famille, an 1878 French novel, written by Hector Malot (adapted to anime in 1977 as Nobody's Boy: Remi); this version made major changes from the book, including changing the sex of the main character and the "Swan" chapter, along with many other main events.

The first broadcast was on September 1, 1996. The show was canceled by Fuji TV because of low ratings and it ended on March 23, 1997, with a low count of 23 episodes. The complete series of 26 episodes was later shown by the anime satellite television network, Animax, which translated and dubbed the series into English for broadcast across its English-language networks in Southeast Asia and South Asia under the title Remi, Nobody's Girl, as well as other languages including Arabic which was named دروب ريمي (Remi's road), and was dubbed in the Venus Center in 2001 and broadcast on the Spacetoon channel where it received success in the Middle East.[citation needed]

In the Philippines, it was shown in 1999 on ABS-CBN,[citation needed] sometime after airing the earlier TMS (boy) version.

Plot
Remi, Nobody's Girl tells the story of Remi, a cheerful and tender-hearted girl, who is an excellent singer and lives in the French country town of Chavanon with her mother. One day her father returns to the town after a long period working in a city. She discovers that she was a "foundling" or an abandoned child and was adopted by Mother Barberin. Her adoptive father Jerome leaves to work in Paris and expects Mother Barberin to send Remi to the workhouse. He returns 10 years later, finds that Remi is still there, and becomes furious and Remi is sold to an evil slave trader.

Vitalis, a strolling entertainer, tricks the slave trader and frees Remi. Vitalis discovers her talent for singing and takes her in with his troupe. Remi starts her journey with Vitalis and his troupe of animals such as the monkey Joli-Cœur and the dogs Capi, Dolce, and Zerbino. She meets a variety of different people and strives to help everyone she meets, such as saving a man from a fire, and rescuing her dog with the help of a sailor. Also on her journeys with Vitalis and his company she must endure and overcome many difficulties while looking for her real family, particularly at one point where Vitalis is falsely accused of arson, loses his cart in the fire and is imprisoned. At this point, Mrs Milligan takes pity on Remi and takes her to her house, where Remi meets Mrs Milligan's son Arthur.

After Vitalis is released, he is forced to sell his donkey as they are broke. He asks Mrs Milligan to take care of Remi and decided to leave her, however Remi, unable to bear the thought of leaving Mr. Vitalis alone, runs after him as she wants to provide him company. At this point it becomes clear that Vitalis is visibly unwell. After parting ways, Arthur explained about the amulet Remi has similarly to her mother's immediately realising Remi is her real daughter.

During a performance, Joli-Cœur is hit by a chariot and nearly dies. Unfortunately the village they were currently staying in lacked the presence of a doctor, let alone a veterinarian. With Remi pleading with Mr Vitalis, he agrees and decides to brave through the snow storm to take Joli-Cœur to another village for treatment. Along the way, the snowstorm intensifies and they are forced to take shelter. Sadly for their troupe, they become a target for wolves. They manage to chase the wolves away, but not before Dolce and Zerbino's die trying to protect them, with only Capi, Joli-Cœur and Vitalis left along with Remi. The wolves also injure Vitalis. Heartbroken, Remi begins to cry, but Vitalis urges her to keep moving forward, to ensure that Dolce and Zerbino's death does not go to vain. Along the way however, Vitalis' condition worsens and he is unable to proceed. He urges Remi to rush to the city of Paris to provide treatment for Joli-Cœur, and luckily he survives. But Vitalis' condition has worsened and he passes away, telling a heartbroken Remi to always be cheerful and to always keep moving forward.

After Vitalis' death, she tries to meet Gaspard in Paris, who is Vitalis' acquaintance. However, when she reaches Gaspard's house, she finds out that the person Mr. Vitalis was talking about was actually Gaspard's uncle, who had died due to flu. She also meets the homeless children that he treats like slaves. She became friends with all other homeless children, due to her compassionate and joyful nature, and she protects the other children from Gaspards corporate punishments. She stops Mattia from stealing money through pickpocketing and enjoys listening to him play violin. She helps improve the relationships between all the children in the house and is always the first one to take initiative while helping others, such as when one of the children fall ill. She also meets a travelling troupe who have a disobedient daughter called Cosette and manages to get her to warm up to her parents. Upon learning that Remi is the long-lost daughter of Milligan and Arthur's older sister, Gaspard's decides to kidnap her for ransom, and Mattia tries his best to protect her from him and his cohorts with the help of Capi and Joli-Cœur. After Gaspard is arrested and jailed, Remi reunites with her real family, and Milligan decides to adopt the homeless children. In the end, Remi decides to visit her adoptive mother in Chavanon after reuniting with her real family, while Mattia wants to study hard and become a famous violin player so that he can become a better man for Remi. The two are last seen watching the sunset, remembering Vitalis and his dogs.

Official
Nippon ANimation Official Website (Japanese)

Other Sources
ANN