User blog comment:Eikakou/Anne (2017) episode 3 - But What Is So Headstrong as Youth? review/@comment-4934571-20170404224013/@comment-4934571-20170405084149

I am glad we agree on these issues (and I also like discussions here in the comments). Diana was always portrayed as a sidekick in the previous adaptations. She got her own story and personality in Green Gables Fables, but in Project Green Gables is again rather sidekick-y. Honestly, I am not really sure about the books, I'd have to reread the series, but I believe she wasn't her own person in there as well. One of her own actions (the Rollings powder competition) is even viewed negatively because she did something which contradicted Anne's beliefs and she failed in her years-long effort to be a supportive and non-questioning kindred spirit. I am happy we finally see her as an independent girl with her own friends and attitude. She is well-mannered, but also talkative and easy-going, supportive and confident when she shows Anne the environment she knows.

The slate scene was always overdramatic. Anne used Gilbert's slate (not her own which woud be more natural) and as I said, she always had some time to think about it. She always had time to think about her next step, she could've stopped, it wasn't a natural and spontaneous reaction like in this episode. This was a sudden outburst of anger and energy, but not because of a one silly nickname like in the previous versions. It was something slowly escalating – it is not just the nickname, but mainly the fact that Anne is forbidden to talk to him. She probably wants to (he saved her in the woods, after all), but she also feels she mustn't let her new friends down after what happened the prevous day. She knows she messed things up, that't why she wants to do the right thing to earn their trust on the second day. Even if the right thing is ignoring Gilbert...

The touching hands was indeed intimate, but it is not very likely that there was anything sexual going on between the two of them. Avonlea is still rather safe environment and I think Mr. Phillips is well-mannered (even though he seems to be a comical character). Touching hands and chaste kisses are okay, but he wouldn't dare to try anything more. It is believed that even the other couples (Diana and Fred, Anne and Gilbert) were not sexually involved before their wedding night. Poor Anne is the main victim in this episode, just because she doesn't understand what exactly she's been through. She has an incomplete idea of intimate relations in her head and it is not her fault.