Maple Town Monogatari- The anime from your childhood that is vaguely remembered Everyone has a childhood cartoon/show that they'll always remember making them feel like a kid again (Thomas & Friends, Barney, etc.) but there are some cartoons that some may only remember from an episode they watch in a vhs from their past. Maple Town Monogatari is one of those anime that you rediscover years later only to find that it isn't talked about as much as it was before (it even had a cheesy english dub that only goes to the first 26 episodes and that's that) Being made by Toei Animations (the same companyresponsible for the adaptations of Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon and coincidentally enough, One Piece) it has the same quality animation from the 1980's that really holds up to this day. Compared to what release beforehand, this anime stands out like the black sheep of their catalog. Not in a bad sort of way, but more like standing out from the rest considering it's more a Slice-Of-Life anime compared to Toei's more action-based entries (like the anime mentioned earlier)

This is also one of those anime that's just hard to find in general, like the 4 part dvd set released in 2012 (2 for Monogatari and 2 for Palm Town) that can go for $100 for each part on Amazon. So your best bet to watching this anime is on the Internet Archive, but be warned there will be pop-ups (most episodes avoid this, but episode 6, 8 and 21 have this issue with 1-3 popups during the episode) it's not the fault of the anime itself, but more-or-so the person who recorded it. There is also the Muzukun vhs uploads that avoid this issue, but it's incomplete as far as I know.

Despite those issues with finding it, If you can have a moment to just relax from the action-pack series that Toei has made and just go with the vibe of Maple Town (with the beautiful animation), I recommend it, it's a good time from the start til the end.

Now the question is, will Toei do something for the 40th anniversary of this anime (when that arrives in 2026)?

8/10- Beautiful animation and charming characters, but hard to find and no subtitles tho