Maga Animation Studio on the world behind Mr. Men Little Miss Mini Adventures

Few franchises in children’s media were as formative to many of us as the characters from the world of Misterland. Mr Happy, Little Miss Fickle, and the very first character, Mr Tickle, have enjoyed longevity as beloved companions for young readers. From Roger Hargreaves’ original illustrations from 1971 to a worldwide phenomenon with almost 100 characters, the franchise has recently taken on a new life in the form of a charming animated short-form series. 

From Sanrio and Maga Animation Studio comes Mr. Men Little Miss Mini Adventures, and it’s got all the humour, emotion and wit of the original books. Launched this past June on the official Mr. Men Little Miss YouTube channel, the first season delivers twelve bite-sized episodes. The series is good-natured, visually bold, and built both for kids discovering these stories for the first time as well as adults revisiting the characters.

Toon Boom Animation had the opportunity to interview two creative leads on the show. Italy’s Maga Animation Studio provided Massimo Carrier Ragazzi (CEO and creative director on the series) and Francesca Pietrobelli (director and animation supervisor) to discuss their team’s work on the series. From storyboarding, to choosing colour palettes, and setting up theatre-style transitions between scenes, they provide an overview behind all the elements that went into Mr. Men Little Miss Mini Adventures.

Please share an introduction to the Mr. Men Little Miss universe, and the mini adventures series, for our readers.

Francesca: Mr. Men Little Miss is a fun and iconic world that started in the 1970s, thanks to British author Roger Hargreaves. The first character, Mr. Tickle, was born when Roger's son asked him at the breakfast table "what does a tickle look like?" From that day on, many more characters were born, each one with their unique personality and characteristics. Like Mr. Grumpy, Little Miss Naughty and Mr. Funny. 

After Roger passed away, his son Adam picked up the torch, adding new characters and keeping the universe alive for new generations. Today, there are nearly 100 characters and over 200 million books sold.

Mr. Men Little Miss Mini Adventures is a new animated series by Sanrio, produced by us at Maga Animation Studio. It launched in June 2025 on the official Mr. Men Little Miss YouTube channel. The first season has twelve episodes, each about two and a half minutes long. 

Every episode focuses on one character and their unique personality, with messages about empathy, diversity, and just being yourself. It’s colourful, light-hearted, and made to connect with today’s kids — and grown-ups too!

What is it about Mr. Men Little Miss do you think has such staying power, from the original books to the Mini Adventures series?

Francesca: The strength of Mr. Men Little Miss, for me, lies in the fact that it talks about emotions. Everyone can relate to them, and it also helps parents explain emotions to children, and children themselves identify with them. Emotions can be scary when they are not understood, so it’s important to know them in order to accept them. The trick is to understand and recognize them so that we can face them, because all emotions are important, both positive and negative.

That’s why I think these stories are so beloved by people even into adulthood: they’re part of their growth. In fact, we paid close attention to maintaining this aspect in the Mini Adventures series, giving great importance to the emotions behind each character and each story.

If a Mr. Men Little Miss character was made after yourselves, what would their names be, and why?

Francesca: A couple of characters immediately came to mind that already seem to tell something about me, without needing to create a new one. The beauty of the Mr. Men Little Miss world is that it’s so rich in characters that it’s easy to find one that represents us. For example, I really identify with Little Miss Fickle because she’s indecision personified.

I’m like that: eternally indecisive about everything, from important things to the most trivial. My friends know that if I have to choose something, they should forget about me, and they also know never to accept my invitation to come shopping with me if they want to survive!

I also recognized myself in Little Miss Princess, not because she’s a princess, but because she’s very “clumsy” and “awkward.” Everyone has always done things for her, so she never learned to do things on her own and struggles when she wants to do something for her friends. This is very similar to my childhood and the difficulties I had facing adulthood.

How did you keep the show's animation style consistent with the original Mr. Men illustrations?

Francesca: To understand how the characters should move, I let myself be guided by the book illustrations, which clearly suggest their possible movement styles.

The very shape of the characters, their design, suggests a synthetic, fun, and ironic type of animation, rather than something too organic or realistic. The animation had to resemble animated books, as if the illustrated books came to life. That’s why, in each episode, we included theatrical sets changing as the character performs and theatre-style transitions, which are meant to resemble an illustrated book coming to life.

Where did Toon Boom Harmony and Storyboard Pro fit into the project, and what made them the right tools for this series?

Francesca: Storyboard Pro was perfect for creating the storyboards because it’s very useful for speeding up the work compared to paper. It allows you to draw directly within the software with many increasingly advanced tools and to immediately edit the scenes to check if the timing works.

Toon Boom Harmony, on the other hand, was the perfect tool for the type of animation we wanted. Harmony allows you to build a rig (so you can animate the characters without having to redraw them each time) in a pose-to-pose style but with very articulated and fluid animation, thanks to its increasingly advanced tools (like deformers). 

It also allows for traditional animation interventions to make the animation smoother when the action requires it. We also used this software to manage compositing and the theatre-style transitions between scenes. Both offer increasingly advanced tools that speed up the work and allow us to dedicate more care to the animation.

How did you create the characters’ performances, given that they’re based on the books’ older static illustrations?

Francesca: The characters in the books are already very well defined. We studied the Mr. Men Little Miss books extensively to make sure we didn’t miss any nuance or trait and tried to recreate them in each episode. 

Character development starts as early as the script phase and continues into the storyboard, where I and the other director, Eleonora Di Nardo, paid close attention to ensuring each character was portrayed with all their essential traits and stayed true to the books.

The emotion at the core of each character already gives a clear indication of how they should move, so we designed their performances so that every action, every line and every expression reflects the emotion they represent.

What techniques in the writing or animation did you use to create drama and emotion in such short-form episodes?

Francesca: Since emotions are the heart of Mr. Men Little Miss, Eleonora and I did extensive psychological research, analyzing different emotions. We studied them and tried to understand how to explain them to children in a simple yet ironic way. Telling and explaining something as complex as an emotion in just two minutes was a real challenge.

We tried to distill these complex concepts through visual metaphors and added gags to deliver this important message in a fun way. The episodes offer two levels of interpretation: one simpler and more ironic that immediately reaches children, and another more introspective that they might grasp as they grow older.

In order to tell as much as possible about the characters in such a short time, we divided each episode into two acts. The first act introduces the protagonist and their main traits, and the second act tells a mini story. In these mini stories, a co-protagonist helps the main character better understand themselves and the emotion that defines them.

Were there any moments during production when Harmony or Storyboard Pro helped you solve a problem you hadn’t anticipated?

Francesca: Being a vector-based software, Toon Boom Harmony was incredibly useful for adjusting the line thickness of the characters during production or even after the animation was completed, allowing us to standardise the linework across the episode and modify the thickness for entire characters.

It was also very helpful to be able to change colours using the palette without having to recolour everything manually. This allowed us to update props and backgrounds even during production to achieve the best possible result.

We also used the effects layers in the Node Library to apply compositing directly within Harmony, adding effects to layers or entire characters. Overall, both Harmony and Storyboard Pro proved extremely useful for making real-time changes when we decided to alter elements during production. 

Both offer increasingly advanced tools that speed up the workflow and allow us to dedicate more care to the animation.

What advice do you have for animators interested in taking a beloved illustrators' work into the world of animation?

Francesca: I would suggest trying to understand the essence of the illustrated book: what it wants to convey, its message, and the reason it was created. For example, whether the book is meant purely to entertain or also to deliver a message, and what that message is, or whether it aims to provoke thought.
It’s very important not to distort the essence of the book, but rather to ensure that animation becomes an additional tool to continue the story’s message. The animation style should also be chosen based on the book itself, its message and its visual style. For this series, the support of the Sanrio team was incredibly helpful and essential. They worked with us to find the right direction and the best design for the series.

Is there anything you can share that is coming up from Maga Animation in the future?

Massimo: We’re currently working on several projects using Toon Boom tools integrated with our CG pipeline. While we’re not ready to reveal specifics just yet, we’re really excited about what’s coming. Some titles are set to launch later this year, others in the next.

It’s a challenging time for the industry, but we’re fortunate to be moving ahead with a wide range of productions, not only in 2D but across different formats and markets, from traditional TV or digital entertainment platforms to the video game industry. We look forward to sharing more concrete updates towards the end of the year or early next. 

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• Mr. Men Little Miss Mini Adventures is available to watch on the Mr. Men Little Miss Official YouTube Channel. See more of Maga Animation Studios work on their website.
• Interested in planning your next animated production? Artists can download a 14-day trial of Storyboard Pro.