Trapp Family Story

Trapp Family Story (トラップ一家物語, Torappu Ikka Monogatari) is a 1991 Japanese animated series by Nippon Animation, based on the story of the real-life Austrian singing family the Trapp Family. It is a part of the World Masterpiece Theatre franchise, which adapted classic works of literature into animated TV shows. 40 episodes aired on Fuji TV.

It was based on the 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers by Maria von Trapp.

The original work is The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, the 1949 autobiography of Maria von Trapp, first published in Japan in 1967 by Chuō Publishing, translated by Taneaki Kotabe under the title Uta-u Trapp Ikka (“The Singing Trapp Family”). Within the World Masterpiece Theater series, it was the first story based on a true account since Rascal the Raccoon, and it also stood out as an unusual entry in the series for featuring an adult woman as the protagonist. Moreover, unlike most entries, the work from which it is adapted is not considered specifically a children’s novel, as it is an autobiography with a historical and religious background. The original story had already been successfully adapted four times: in the 1956 film The Trapp Family and its 1958 sequel The Trapp Family in America, and in the 1959 stage musical The Sound of Music and its 1965 film adaptation.

The early part of the series depicts the relationship between Maria, the nun serving as governess, and the children of the Trapp family. From the middle onward, following the romantic themes of the previous year’s My Daddy Long Legs, the story develops around romance, focusing on the family’s internal conflicts over the remarriage of Georg, the father of the Trapp family. Toward the end, the narrative portrays the Trapp family’s financial crisis and the Nazi invasion brought on by the Anschluss (Germany’s annexation of Austria). The episodes weave in many references to the Nazis, vividly depicting the anguish and complex emotions of some Austrians facing the Nazi threat at that time. The family’s eventual escape from Austria is portrayed in a particularly thrilling way.

After the final broadcast, on December 28, 1991, the first ever compilation special in the history of World Masterpiece Theater aired in a two-hour slot (Saturday 10:00–12:00).

Among works in the series based on true stories, one notable feature of this series was that, at the time of its broadcast, some of the real-life individuals portrayed were still alive.

Maria Kutschera lost both her parents at a young age and had to face many hardships. At eighteen years old, returning from her graduation trip from teacher training school, she suddenly decides to become a nun. She goes to Salzburg and visits Nonnberg Abbey, known as the strictest convent, where she applies and is accepted as a novice. However, Maria’s cheerful and energetic personality and her indifference toward customs and discipline gradually leads her to be seen as a problematic presence in the convent, since the nuns expect discipline and proper manners above all. Maria tries to change her way of being, but she does not like it; she prefers to honor her Lord through joy and gratitude for life and everything in it.

One day, the Mother Superior sends Maria at Baron Georg von Trapp’s house, an Austrian hero and aristocrat, for nine months as governess to his second daughter, a frail child also named Maria. The Baron is a widower, and none of the twenty-five governesses he had previously hired had been accepted by his seven children. At first, the children are withdrawn and rebellious, but they gradually open up to Maria’s innocent and honest nature. After some time, through joy, song, and poetry, Maria wins the children’s hearts and respect, filling them all with happiness. Maria also gains the Baron’s affection.