The first anime adaptation of "Ijiwaru Baasan" was produced by Yomiuri TV (ytv), the same network that produced the first live-action drama series, and aired from October 3, 1970, to August 18, 1971. It consisted of 40 episodes. The broadcast time (JST) was initially Saturday from 7:30 PM to 8:00 PM, but from April 1971 onward, it changed to Wednesday from 7:30 PM to 7:56 PM. While the production station was ytv, there are no other instances of a ytv-produced program airing in the Saturday 7:30 PM slot on the Nippon TV network. Regarding the Wednesday 7:30 PM slot, the only other ytv production was "SUPER SURPRISE," which aired 39 years later from January to March 2010, from 7:00 PM to 7:56 PM on Wednesdays. This was the first television anime produced by Nack. Shigeo Takamatsu, who played the third-generation Hatano Tatsu in the 1967 ytv-produced live-action drama, starred as "Harano Tatsu." A unique technique, rarely seen in other anime, was employed for the subtitle credit section of each episode: instead of announcing the subtitle, Tatsu would discuss topics related to that episode's story. A dog named "Peke," serving as the old woman's partner and equivalent to Lassie in the original work, appears as a character.