is a Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

ese anime

Anime

is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series by Nippon Animation

Nippon Animation

is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City....

, as the latest installment to the famed World Masterpiece Theater

World Masterpiece Theater

is a Japanese TV anime staple that showcased an animated version of a different classical book or story each year on 7:30p.m. on Sunday. It originally aired from 1969 to 1997 then resumed in 2007....

 series. It is an adaptation of Paul-Jacques Bonzon

Paul-Jacques Bonzon

Paul-Jacques Bonzon was a French writer, best known for the series Les six compagnons . He was born in Sainte-Marie-du-Mont, Manche and educated in Saint-Lô. In 1935 he married a teacher in Drôme and moved to this department, where he worked as a school teacher and later principal for twenty-five...

's novel, "Les Orphelins de Simitra" ("The Orphans of Simitra").

It premiered across Japan from 6 January 2008 on Fuji TV's BS Fuji broadcast satellite

Satellite television

Satellite television is television programming delivered by the means of communications satellite and received by an outdoor antenna, usually a parabolic mirror generally referred to as a satellite dish, and as far as household usage is concerned, a satellite receiver either in the form of an...

 network, and also aired in Japan on Animax

Animax

is a Japanese anime satellite television network, dedicated to broadcasting anime programming. A subsidiary of Japanese media conglomerate Sony, it is headquartered in in Minato, Tokyo, Japan, with its co-founders and shareholders including Sony Pictures Entertainment and the noted anime studios...

. It spanned 52 episodes.

Plot

Focuses on features a Greek boy named Porphyras Patagos(more fondly known as Porphy) and his sister Mina, who have been orphaned after a devastating earthquake

Earthquake

An earthquake is the result of a sudden release of energy in the Earth's crust that creates seismic waves. The seismicity, seismism or seismic activity of an area refers to the frequency, type and size of earthquakes experienced over a period of time...

 which destroyed their home in Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

. The two decide to travel through Europe

Europe

Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

in search of a new home.