Anne of Green Gables is an animated television series, part of Nippon Animation's World Masterpiece Theater. It was adapted from the novel, Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery. Produced by Nippon Animation in 1979, it was first broadcast on Fuji TV from January 7, 1979 to December 30, 1979. Fifty episodes were produced in total. It has been exported to neighbouring Asian countries and also to Europe and Canada. As with the novels, the animated version of Anne is much beloved in Japan to this day and "DVD memorial BOX set" was released on August 22, 2008 and a new anime series that serves as a prequel to the series, Kon'nichiwa Anne ? Before Green Gables, which premiered on April 5, 2009 in Japan.