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If you ever wonder why we, the people who grew up in Arabic speaking countries, are so broken, here& #39;s a thread on some of the cartoons we grew up watching. Warning: these are no SpongeBob SquarePants or Adventure Time. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKox9_pGK8">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
1. My Brother and I: a 1996 anime series that tells the story of a boy in fifth grade whose mother had died in a tragic car accident, leaving him in charge of taking care of his two-year-old brother. They experience tremendous grief while trying to move on with their lives.
... The elder brother has to keep up with school and household duties, while having to take care of his younger brother. He sees how the lives of his friends are much easier, and the accumulation of all the stress and grief leads him to breakdown that he ultimately recovers from.
... If the story isn& #39;t heartbreaking enough, there& #39;s the theme song, performed by @RashaRizk_TW: "A longing pushes me to desire seeing her, my mother is a memory I will never forget, a phantom that is purer, and more lasting than the foam of days. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8eNdudFu5Rs">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
2. The Pledge of Friends: based on the 1940 novel, Die Schwarzen Brüder, it tells the story of Romeo, an 11-year-old boy who lives near the Swiss-Italian border. A man comes to the village one day looking for children he can buy and sell to work as chimney sweepers in Milan.
... Romeo& #39;s family, much as the other residents of the village, had been struggling with drought and poverty. Romeo& #39;s father refuses to sell his child to the vicious man, but the latter burns what remains of the family& #39;s cornfields, leaving them with nothing. Romeo sells himself.
... He goes to Milan and works as a chimney sweeper, he stays with a family that treats him miserably at first, except for their sick daughter Angelita (who later tragically dies!). Romeo becomes best friends with Alfredo, another chimney sweeper of noble origins.
... At the end of the show, Alfredo regains his title and wealth from a usurping evil relative, only to die afterwards leaving Romeo, utterly heart-broken! I can still close my eyes and see the sobbing Romeo say: "Alfredo, don& #39;t leave me alone, talk to me, let me hear your voice"
3. Based on Hector Malot& #39;s 1878 novel Sans Famille, with major changes including the gender of the protagonist, Remi& #39;s Roads tells the story of a young girl whose noble family lost as an infant, and was brought up by a poor family. The patriarch of that family almost sells Remi.
... Luckily, a great man who runs a roving circus called Vitalis, rescues Remi, and recognises her vocal talents. Remi accompanies him on his journeys and sings, and becomes friends with the monkey, Joli-Coeur, and the dogs Capi, Dolce, and Zerbino.
... Guess what! Vitalis dies, and two of the dogs get killed by wolves. Remi later gets kidnapped for ransom when her origins are discovered before ultimately being happily reunited with her family. The series also features heartbreaking songs https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDRY7WZaxKM">https://www.youtube.com/watch...
4. Based on the 1905 novel A Little Princess, the 1985 series tells the story of Sally Crawe (Sara in the book), who was studying at a prestigious boarding school in England when her rich father dies and the family announces bankruptcy.
... The headmistress of the school and some of the students take advantage of Sally. They turn her into a maid and humiliate her daily. Every episode, we had to live through her painful misery and anguish with her. She ultimately is rescued by an old family friend.
Most of the shows were eighties and nineties Japanese anime shows, dubbed in Classical Arabic. They are most remembered today because of the legendary theme songs, the majority of them composed by @TarekTourgane and sung by @RashaRizk_TW. They were aired on Spacetoon.
