The Trapp Family Story

Part of the World Masterpiece Theater, Trapp Ikka Monogatari is a classical story that is not based on any person’s misfortune or fighting fates for a better tomorrow. There are no evildoers; it is just a mellow and sweet series with day-to-day events of the Von Trapp family with Maria holding the most important role. The story itself is really simple and holds no real twists for the most part; Maria Kutschera, a nun in training, is sent to be the teacher of one of the girls who is too weakened to attend school. One thing leads to another and slowly, but unofficially, she takes careof everyone and helps them grow as a person. That is the main gist of it and while there is progress, the series stays the same pattern-wise and although that would normally mean it would get repetitive and possibly boring, it manages to keep a warm feeling throughout with almost every “adventure” of theirs, such as preparing a gift for the housekeeper or fight against a possible new stepmother. The pacing is quite good for a show like this and thankfully, the series does not spend too much time on one thing and thus, keeps the interest high enough and only towards the end it seemed to be a bit more abrupt. The characters have variety as there are 7 children and the story gives enough time for any of them to show their personality and gain some development (some more than others, since a couple of them are really too young to be able to portray complicated thoughts), through their own personal problems. The father is not as strict as he is awkward; an awkward father who has to work a lot out of his house, but the family values he has shine through. Each family member complements each other and one can really see how much they mean to each other and this makes the series a great family story. Maria is the one true change they all needed to move on and is probably the only person with the least development. She stays true to the main girl cliché that wants her positive and bright and helping anyone, but there is no change in herself. We do get to know more about her past and her personality is very likable, either way, but all in all, she will always be that happy girl only. Art/Music-wise, the show offers nothing much, especially since it is an older show. For anyone familiar with the movie “The Sound of Music”, this series is not a musical. There are songs throughout, though mostly they are only a couple of songs put on repeat, however the characters do not break in song at random times. The songs seem to be children’s songs, but they are nice and some are very easy to sing along too. The art is simple, not detailed and the animation is saving frames whenever possible, but it has bright colors and it is very easy on the eye. The characters are distinct and despite the fact that the characters wear the same outfits almost in every episode, they are easy on the eye too. As a family story, it did a good job generally. There were times it felt a bit more dragged on or not as interesting, but it is a very easy watch when in mood for some slice of life with no deep drama in every other episode, but enough to spice things up.