Lena is a character from the 1980 anime remake, Twelve Months. She is Anja's stepsister. She and her mother seek to get the reward of goin coins from the queen after learning that's offered in exchange for finding a kind of flowers called galanthus for her. She was voiced by Mariko Mukai in the Japanese dub and Jenn Thompson in the English dub.
About Lena[]
Lena and her mom approach Anja, who is feeding some forest animals. Anja's stepmom tells her that she and Lena are going to go into town to shop and wants her to chop the firewood while they're gone. Lena throws a snowball at the animals, scaring them off, and she warns them not to come back. Anja's stepmom calls her name firmly to get her attention and Anja says she'll do what she says. When Lena, her mom, and the rest of a crowd hear an announcement from the royal reader about the queen offering the reward of gold coins as compensation to anyone who can get some galanthus for her, Lena and her mom are very interested in this.
Back at home, Lena and her mom get the idea of having Anja go outside in the middle of a blizzard one night to get the flowers instead of them doing that themselves. Lena gives Anja a newer, bigger basket that was purchased in which to put the galanthus, but her mom prefers that she use an older but smaller basket instead. Anja is unwilling to go outside in this weather and there's some arguing that includes Lena feigning her upset when she talks about freezing to death, among other things, and having to go out herself. Despite Anja's protests, they still force her outside anyway. Even though Lena's mom feels bad for a moment about what they just did and Lena says she shouldn't had put on such an act, she insists that it was the only way to get Anja to do what they wanted. But they're so sure that their plan will work out well.
After Anja returns from meeting the Twelve Months, Lena and her mom are surprised to find that Anja actually managed to achieve getting the flowers in the basket they find on a table. They wonder how she accomplished this so easily and successfully, but that didn't matter all that much to them since now they can give them to the queen and receive their reward. Lena then goes upstairs to look for Anja to have her do more work and finds her sleeping. She also notices the cerulean, octagonal ring, which was given as a gift by one of the Twelve Months, April, on Anja's finger. Lena slips it off her finger, puts it in her pocket, steals it, and creeps away.
On New Day's Day, Lena and her mom arrive at the palace to give the galanthus to the queen who comes downstairs to meet them. But before she gives them their gold coins, she requests they tell her just how they obtained them. Lena and her mom weren't anticipating this, prompting them to fabricate a story about that. Luckily, their explanation and description of the place where the flowers came from is fairly accurate, regardless of never having been there themselves. The queen isn't fooled that easily as she finds their story oddly suspicious. Lena and her mom fess up about not being the ones who found the spring wildflowers. The queen threatens to sentence them to a lifetime of crushing rocks and after begging for mercy, they tell her they know a girl, Anja, who really found them. This interests the queen very much.
When Lena and her mom get back home where Anja still is, they are in desperate need of her help to explain just where she found the galanthus. But due to the promise of not breaking the promise she made to the Twelve Months, who are unknown to them but not Anja, of not mentioning where they're from, she says she can't do that. They then hatch a plan for Anja to return to the place where she found them. After Anja leaves again, Lena has an idea and tells her mom that she'll secretly follow her to find out where more of the flowers are and she'll tie a rag to a branch of each tree to use them as marks so she can find her way back. Lena's mom loves the sound of that and they laugh fiendishly.
While Lena follows Anja but still keeps her distance at the same time, some snow from a high tree branch falls and lands on Lena's head, causing her to fall down on her back. Anja turns around and notices her, saying she knew she'd be followed. But Lena claims that she was just keeping an eye on her to ensure her safety. Anja tells Lena she must go back and if she doesn't, Anja will. Lena tells her it's too late, since she tied a rag to a branch of each tree, indicating and leading the way to the place where the galanthus were found, and the way back. Anja is upset by the deception and cries while Lena is amused by this.
When Lena returns to Anja, she tells her that she found a lake with the spring wildflowers surrounding it. When the queen as well as Lena's mom, Capt. Rustaff, the wiseman, the prime minister, and the other soldiers come to where Anja and Lena are, Anja and the queen meet each other. The queen offers the gold coins to her since she was the real one who found the flowers, but Anja isn't interested in those as she'd rather have her ring back. Presuming that one of her own rings was stolen, the queen demands to know where it is and threatens to punish Lena and her mom again if it's not brought back. Lena takes the ring out of her skirt pocket. Anja demands to have it back, but the queen wants to check it out for herself. After the queen sees that it doesn't look familiar to her, she asks Anja to tell her where she got it, but she remains tightlipped. When Anja still refuses to say after the queen offers to give her a couple more chances, the queen throws the ring as Anja goes to grab it. As the queen tries to stop her, Anja says the incantation and the seasons, and weather, change. Lena, her mom, and the others witness this surprising phenomenon. They feel the differences in the climate, like it being too hot when it's summer and colder when it's autumn. The heavy, autumnal wind blows Lena's babushka off her head and away. She goes to retrieve it, but her mom stops her and says to forget it. When it's winter again, everybody wants to wear their coats again, but most of them were blown away by the autumnal wind. However, there's one left on the high branch of a tree. Lena and her mom go to get it as they both want to wear it and quarrel with each other over it. Everybody is appalled by their by their behavior. As they keep fighting with each other, Lena and her mom suddenly turn into dogs, much to the others' shock.
Later, Lena and her mom as dogs approach Anja, who rides in a horse-drawn sleigh and wears a faux fur hat, and coat. One of the Twelve Months, January, tells Anja that those dogs are really her stepmom and stepsister, much to her surprise. The queen asks just how she can be so kind to such wretch animals. Capt. Rustaff explains that Anja's kindness is what earns Anja her rewards. Anja asks January if her stepmom and stepsister will be dogs forever. He tells her they'll be like this for three years and return to their normal selves if they learn their lesson by then. He instructs her to return to the meadow where the flowers were found in three New Year's Eves so they can turn back to normal.
Physical Appearance[]
Lena is a svelte, Caucasian/Russian teen girl. She has fair skin, dirty blonde hair worn in braided pigtails with short bangs, and black eyes. She wears a dark hot pink babushka; royal purple jacket; lavender gray mittens; a shin-length, teal blue, pleated skirt with a chartreuse wavy pattern above the hem; and black boots.
Personality[]
Lena is mean, selfish, greedy, manipulative, and conniving. She always comes up with ideas the serve her, and her mom's own ends. She is also somewhat sadistic as she takes pleasure in Anja's emotional pain, for example, and when she tries attacking the forest animals with a snowball. She can be jealous also, as shown when she and her mom fight over the coat that was left behind.
Trivia[]
- Lena is one of the only characters in this whose name is mentioned. The others are Anja and Capt. Rustaff. In the original, Japanese dub, she is simply referred to as "Stepmother's daughter," so she might not even be named in the original dub.