Originally published in Nakayoshi magazine as a monthly serialization, this book contains all of the chapters of the story Maria by Naoko Takeuchi, creator of Sailor Moon.
The story is based on the book “Daddy Long Legs” by Jean Webber – a famous story from the early 20th century. Since the original book is no longer under copyright, you can download a copy of the story this book is based on by clicking here
This translation is dedicated to zephyrprince.
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Maria by Naoko Takeuchi is the story of a middle class girl who finds herself in a private academy, thanks to the generous funding by an anonymous patron who goes only by the alias “Daddy Longlegs”. As a requirement of Maria’s funding, she must write a letter each week to Daddy Longlegs, while never asking him personal questions or demanding to know his true identity. As the school year progresses, Maria finds herself developing a crush on a boy, whom she begins writing about in the letters.
Maria by Naoko Takeuchi is a adaptation of “Daddy Long Legs” by Jean Webber. Naoko Takeuchi was also involved in another adaptation of this same story in novel format as a joint project with famous manga author, Marie Koizumi. So, there are two versions of Maria by Naoko Takeuchi; one is in comic book format (which is this page), and the other is a novel exactly like Jean Webber’s “Daddy Long Legs”, but with a few pages of illustrations.
Are you going to add the 1994 novel version by Naoko Takeuchi and Marie Koizumi as well? It’s pretty much the same as their other collaborations. Marie wrote the novel, while Naoko added some beautiful drawings. And it is based on this manga.
It’s not well-known by the fans. The English Wikipedia doesn’t list that work at all (the Japanese one does) and I assume people believe that there is just one story called Maria, but there’s more. You can find it here http://www.7netshopping.jp/books/detail/-/accd/1101209417 and sometimes it pops up on ebay as “Maria novel”. I would be so happy if you could eventually add at least a raw version.
I knew that this existed, but never have seen it for sale before. I’ve just purchased it from the link you sent me – thank you!
I’ll have a RAW online probably within a week of this book arriving to my home.
I don’t know that I’ll translate the entire novel since it’s just a re-telling of Daddy Long Legs / the manga version of Maria, but the pictures will be awesome to share at least! :)
So, will there ever be a Maria novel raw? :)
Yep. Still getting caught up on processing scans for the site. As you can see from the recent addition of 7 portal pages in the last two weeks, it is coming; slowly but surely. :D
“Since the original book is no longer under copyright, you can download a copy of the story this book is based on by clicking here”
And again, this is not how copyright works. A derivative work based on a public domain work is not inherently public domain itself.
The original publication of Jean Webber’s Daddy Long Legs is over 100 years old, and copyrights for literature only last 70 years in the US after the author’s death. Perhaps you misunderstood me when I said that Daddy Long Legs is no longer under copyright protection…?
I’d appreciate it if you’d take the time to a) read what I write and b) do some quick googling to determine whether or not what I’m saying is accurate before you leave comments like this. Because in all three cases where you’ve written that “this isn’t how copyright works” on my pages, I’ve replied with cited information to the contrary. I can’t help but think that your comments aren’t really intended to be educational so much as argumentative for the sake of being inflammatory, which I hope is not the case.
I just bought a copy of this (its’s in Japanese of course) but out of all of Naoko’s early works I think this is my favorite visually. It’s really marvelous that I can have a copy and look at the translations here!!
Thank you so much for posting this! Daddy-Long-Legs is a longtime favorite of mine. You can find free or 99c copies for kindle and probably every other format too, including its sequel, Dear Enemy, and a load of other Jean Webster titles. Penguin also issued a nice paperback edition a few years back.
I own a nifty little Korean planner with watercolor illustrations (and for some reason, the publisher packed it with a set of coaster-size fridge magnets). Ask Mr EBay if he still has any laying around if your interest is piqued.
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