Edith Nesbit, who also wrote under the name E. Nesbit, is the original creator credited for the anime series Onegai! Samia Don. She was not an anime or manga creator herself but a seminal English children's author whose literary work from the early twentieth century served as the source material for this Japanese television production.

Born in London, England, on August 15, 1858, Nesbit was a prolific writer and poet who published over sixty books for children. She was also a political activist and a founding member of the Fabian Society. Her personal life was unconventional for her era, marked by a complex marriage to Hubert Bland, with whom she had several children, and she also raised the children her husband had with another woman. She continued writing throughout her life and died on May 4, 1924, in Kent, England.

Nesbit is widely regarded as a pioneering figure in children's literature, credited by some critics as being the first modern writer for children. She broke from the tradition of purely fantastical secondary worlds, instead creating a new genre that placed realistic, contemporary children in everyday settings where magical objects and adventures would intrude. This blend of the mundane and the magical was highly innovative. Among her most famous and enduring works are The Story of the Treasure Seekers from 1898, The Railway Children from 1906, and the Psammead series. This series begins with the 1902 novel Five Children and It, which features a magical and often irritable sand fairy called the Psammead.

The enduring appeal of Nesbit's stories has led to numerous adaptations across various media. The most direct link to anime is the 1985 Japanese television series Onegai! Samia Don, also known in French as Sablotin. Produced by Tokyo Movie Shinsha and directed by Osamu Kobayashi, the 39-episode series is an adaptation of Five Children and It. This anime updated the setting of Nesbit's original Edwardian story to the 1980s, following three children whose wishes are granted by a small, clumsy djinn named Samiad. The series was broadcast on NHK and later aired in several other countries, including France, Spain, Italy, and South Korea.

Beyond this anime, Nesbit's work has been adapted many times. Five Children and It has been turned into multiple live-action television series and films, including a notable 1991 BBC serial and a 2004 feature film. The Railway Children has also seen several film and television adaptations, with the 1970 film version being particularly famous.

Nesbit's artistic identity is defined by her groundbreaking fusion of realistic family life with whimsical fantasy. Her stories often feature middle-class children in relatable circumstances who encounter magic, which then leads to humorous and thought-provoking adventures. This style has had a profound influence on subsequent generations of writers, including C.S. Lewis, who acknowledged her influence on his Chronicles of Narnia, as well as P.L. Travers, Edward Eager, Diana Wynne Jones, and J.K. Rowling.

In the context of anime and manga, Edith Nesbit's significance is not as a direct creator but as the original literary source. Her novel Five Children and It provided the foundational story and characters for Onegai! Samia Don, demonstrating how classic European children's literature can be reimagined and introduced to new audiences through Japanese animation.