Heidi, Girl of the Alps
Encyclopedia
is a 1974 anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....

 series by Zuiyo Enterprises based on the Swiss novel "Heidi
Heidi
Heidi is a Swiss work of fiction, published in two parts as Heidi's years of learning and travel and Heidi makes use of what she has learned.It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps...

's Years of Wandering and Learning" by Johanna Spyri
Johanna Spyri
Johanna Spyri was an author of children's stories, and is best known for her book Heidi. Born Johanna Louise Heusser in the rural area of Hirzel, Switzerland, as a child she spent several summers in the area around Chur in Graubünden, the setting she later would use in her novels.-Biography:In...

 (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata
Isao Takahata
is a Japanese anime filmmaker that have earned critical international acclaim for his work as a director. Takahata is co-founder of Studio Ghibli with long-time collaborative partner Hayao Miyazaki. He has directed films such as the war-themed Grave of the Fireflies, the romantic-drama Only...

 and features Yoichi Kotabe
Yoichi Kotabe
, is a Japanese manga artist and animator who has worked with Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. He is a lecturer at Tokyo Designer Academy in their cartoon film course....

 (character design and animation director), Hayao Miyazaki
Hayao Miyazaki
is a Japanese manga artist and prominent film director and animator of many popular anime feature films. Through a career that has spanned nearly fifty years, Miyazaki has attained international acclaim as a maker of animated feature films and, along with Isao Takahata, co-founded Studio Ghibli,...

 (scene design and layout).

Heidi is one of several World Masterpiece Theater
World Masterpiece Theater
is a Japanese TV anime staple that showcased an animated version of a different classical book or story each year on 7:30p.m. on Sunday. It originally aired from 1969 to 1997 then resumed in 2007....

 titles produced around the "classical children's literature
Children's literature
Children's literature is for readers and listeners up to about age twelve; it is often defined in four different ways: books written by children, books written for children, books chosen by children, or books chosen for children. It is often illustrated. The term is used in senses which sometimes...

 period" (1974–1997), based on classic tales from around the world.

Plot

Heidi is five years old when her aunt Dette, who has raised Heidi since her parents' death four years earlier, takes Heidi to live with her formidable grandfather on the Swiss Alps
Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....

. Dette has found a promising job in Frankfurt
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...

, but cannot leave while still Heidi's guardian. The only relative left is Heidi's grandfather, and in Dette's opinion, he should take some responsibility. Alm-Onji (Alps-Uncle), as Heidi's grandfather is commonly known, has a fearsome reputation with the villagers of Dörfli, as rumors claim that in his youth he killed a man. Now he lives a solitary life with his dog Josef in a cabin halfway up the mountain. However, Heidi quickly wins her way into his heart with her enthusiasm and intelligence, firmly establishing herself in his life. She spends her summer days on the mountain top with the goatherd Peter, whose responsibility it is to take the villagers' goats to the high mountains for pasture, and her winters occasionally visiting Peter's grandmother, a blind old woman whose dream is to one day hear her cherished book of psalms read to her. Alm-Onji's misanthropy prevents Heidi from going to school, of which she has no experience anyway.

Heidi continues to live happily in the mountains until Aunt Dette returns from the city, excited about a good opportunity for Heidi. A wealthy businessman, Mr. Sesemann, is searching for a companion for his crippled daughter. Thwarted by Alm-Onji, Dette tricks Heidi into accompanying her, ostensibly to get a present for Peter and her grandfather. Promised that she can return at any time, Heidi is taken to Frankfurt. There, Dette abandons her to the care of Mrs. Rottenmeier, the housekeeper in charge of Clara's welfare. Heidi and Clara quickly become friends, and Heidi quickly turns the household topsy-turvy with her escapades and well-meaning faux pas. Clara is enchanted by Heidi's stories of the Alps, which paint a picture of a life completely different than the sheltered and lonely one she is accustomed to. Her father is mostly away on business, and Clara's only constant companions until now are the servants and her canary.

Heidi's longing to return home and occasional attempts to escape are punctuated by the occasional distractions of new friends. She smuggles a small kitten into the house, and Clara and she care for it until Mrs. Rottenmeier discovers it and has it thrown out. Clara's doctor befriends her, and occasionally keeps a benevolent eye on her, but it is Clara's grandmother that has the most impact. On one of her rare visits to Frankfurt, she and Heidi become fast friends. Under her kindly tutelage, Heidi finally learns how to read, to the astonishment of the tutor who has struggled for months to do the same. However, the old woman's departure home again proves a turning point for Heidi. Forbidden by Mrs. Rottenmeier to ever mention or even think of the Alps again, Heidi rapidly goes into a decline, eventually becoming a sleep-walker whose ghostly passage through the hallways terrorizes the household.

Summoned home to deal with the haunting, Mr. Sesemann, with the aid of the doctor, catch Heidi in the middle of the night. The doctor diagnoses Heidi's condition and persuades Mr. Sesemann to send the girl back to her Alps before she dies of homesickness. Clara is only reconciled by the promise that she will be allowed to visit Heidi in her mountains. Under the care of Sebastian, the butler, Heidi embarks on the long trip home, finally returning to the arms of her overjoyed grandfather, Peter and his family.

Heidi's return and her enjoyment of reading prompt Alm-Onji to partially restore a ruined house down in the village, where they retire the following winter so that Heidi can start going to school. Over the course of the season, Heidi and Alm-Onji become friendly with the villagers, and Peter builds his own sled and wins a local race. The subsequent spring, they return to the mountain in the Alps, bidding farewell to their new friends. In Frankfurt, Clara, who has been longing to see her friend again, reminds her father of his promise to her, but he reminds her that the conditions in the Swiss Alps may be too harsh for her to handle. The doctor is sent to the Alps in her place, to determine whether it is an appropriate environment for a crippled, sick young girl. Heidi, Peter, Alm-Onji, and the limitations of the terrain convince the doctor that this may be just the place for Clara to try her legs again.

In due course, Clara comes to the Alps with Mrs. Rottenmeier, whose disapproval of the rustic conditions and fear of animals is patent. However, Clara's grandmother soon arrives, and after seeing first-hand the vast improvement in Clara's condition, sends Mrs. Rottenmeier home, commending Clara to the Alm-Onji's care before departing herself. After having established that Clara's legs are capable of functioning, the children and Alm-Onji begin to work on Clara's physical therapy. Eventually, Clara is able to walk without assistance and returns home with her father and grandmother, promising that she will return next summer to be with her friends again.

Cast

  • Kazuko Sugiyama
    Kazuko Sugiyama
    , born is a voice actress who was born in Nagoya and works for Aoni Production.In February 2010, she received a "Merit Awards" from the 4th Seiyū Awards....

    as
  • Kohei Miyauchi
    Kohei Miyauchi
    ' was a veteran Japanese seiyū born in Kagoshima Prefecture. His real name was Takayuki Miyauchi and his nickname was "Miya-chan". On June 2, 1995, Miyauchi died on his hospital bed at the Nihon University Itabashi Hospital from abdominal varices...

    as
  • Noriko Ohara
    Noriko Ohara
    is a Japanese voice actress. She is currently represented by Production Baobab. Her son is Sunrise animator .She is most well known for the roles of Nobita Nobi , Doronjo , Conan , Peter , and Oyuki and Claudia LaSalle from Super Dimension Fortress Macross...

    as
  • Hiroko Maruyama as
  • Rihoko Yoshida
    Rihoko Yoshida
    is a Japanese voice actress. Among her most noteworthy roles are Megu-chan in Majokko Megu-chan, Monsley in Future Boy Conan, Maria Grace Fleed in UFO Robo Grendizer, Michiru in Getter Robo, Klara in Heidi, Girl of the Alps, Rosalie Lamorliere in The Rose of Versailles, Miwa Uzuki in Steel Jeeg, ...

    as
  • Keiko Han
    Keiko Han
    is a Japanese voice actress. She attended Tōyō Eiwa Jogakuin, going on to study theatre arts at Nihon University. She gained experience in theater while attending school by obtaining work through Aoni Production, singing the theme songs in productions such as Story of the Alps: My Annette and...

    as
  • Miyoko Asō
    Miyoko Aso
    is a Japanese voice actress. She is best known for the role of Fune Isono in the longest-running Japanese anime series Sazae-san that began in 1969 and recently celebrated its 40 year anniversary. Her recent works include Dr. Pinako Rockbell in the 2009-2010 anime series Fullmetal Alchemist:...

    as
  • Hisako Kyouda as
  • Taimei Suzuki as

Main Characters

Heidi, christened Adelheid, is 5 years old and an orphan at the time the story begins. The story eventually ends some three years later. Heidi's curiosity, enthusiasm, and intelligence charm most people and animals into friendship, with one notable exception being Ms. Rottenmeier, the housekeeper for the Sesemann family. Her only relatives are her Aunt Dette, from her mother's side, and her paternal grandfather, the Alm-Onji.
The Alm-Onji, or Onji (Alm-Öhi in Swiss German), is never identified by any proper name. He is an old man, but still physically formidable, with a deep well of wisdom and mountain knowledge that he uses to survive the harsh conditions of the Swiss Alps. He is rumored to have killed a man in his youth, and has a popular reputation as being godless, bad-tempered and hard. He is a skilled woodworker, and creates bowls and assorted utensils out of wood, and keeps two goats which provide milk he turns into cheese for trade with the villagers.
Peter is an 11-year-old goatherd, who is responsible for caring for the village goats during the summer. He lives with his mother and his blind grandmother in a shack some distance from the village. His father was a goatherd as well, until he died. Peter's family is not wealthy, and he was used to going hungry until he befriended Heidi. He is an indifferent student, and is somewhat notorious for his greed and academic stupidity; however, towards the end of the animated series he demonstrates a natural skill in carpentry
Carpentry
A carpenter is a skilled craftsperson who works with timber to construct, install and maintain buildings, furniture, and other objects. The work, known as carpentry, may involve manual labor and work outdoors....

.

International broadcast

The Heidi, Girl of the Alps anime has been dubbed in many languages. The TV series was able to reach major stardom in Europe, Asia, and Latin America where the anime was dubbed in multiple languages. These dubbed versions of the series were broadcasted in the following countries:
JRT
JRT
JRT is an implementation of the Pascal programming language. It was available in the early 1980s on the CP/M operating system....

 (Serbo-Croatian dub) Chutti TV
Chutti TV
Chutti TV is a 24-hour Tamil language television channel owned by the Sun Network. The target audience are children aged between 3 and 14. It was launched in 2007, making it Sun TV Network's first ever television channel for kids....

 via Astro
Astro (Malaysian satellite television)
Astro is the brand name of the Malaysian direct broadcast satellite pay television service. It transmits digital satellite television and radio to households in Malaysia & Brunei...

 Malaysia (Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 dub) Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (India)
Cartoon Network is a cable and satellite television channel created by Turner Broadcasting, a unit of Time Warner which primarily shows animated programming.-History:...

 India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 (English dub) Chutti TV
Chutti TV
Chutti TV is a 24-hour Tamil language television channel owned by the Sun Network. The target audience are children aged between 3 and 14. It was launched in 2007, making it Sun TV Network's first ever television channel for kids....

 India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 (Tamil
Tamil language
Tamil is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by Tamil people of the Indian subcontinent. It has official status in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu and in the Indian union territory of Pondicherry. Tamil is also an official language of Sri Lanka and Singapore...

 dub) Chintu TV
Chintu TV
Chintu TV is a Kannada Kids channel launched on April 12th 2009 in Bengaluru. This is the first and only Kannada Cartoon channel but not yet provided by any of the cable operators all over Karnataka, available only in Sun Direct DTH....

 India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 (Kannada dub) Kushi TV
Kushi TV
Kushi Tv is a Kids television Channel in Telugu from Sun Television Network. It was launched in 2009 and broadcasts cartoons and kids programmes in Telugu. Most of the content is similar to the content of its sister channel in Tamil chutti TV.-Website:**...

 India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 (Telugu
Telugu language
Telugu is a Central Dravidian language primarily spoken in the state of Andhra Pradesh, India, where it is an official language. It is also spoken in the neighbouring states of Chattisgarh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Orissa and Tamil Nadu...

 dub) Kochu TV India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 (Malayalam dub) Telemetro Canal 13, (Latin American Spanish dub) TVE-1
Televisión Española
Televisión Española is the national state-owned public-service television broadcaster in Spain. TVE's activities were previously financed by a combination of advertising revenue and subsidies from the national government, but since it's been supported by subsidies only.TVE belongs to the RTVE...

, Antena 3
Antena 3 (Spain)
Antena 3 is a Spanish terrestrial television channel owned by Antena 3 de Televisión. Some of the more popular programmes broadcast by Antena 3 include Aquí no hay quien viva, El Barco, Los Protegidos, Los Simpson and El Internado....

, Telecinco
Telecinco
Telecinco is a Spanish commercial television channel operated by Mediaset España. Launched in 1990 as Tele 5, it was the fifth of the national terrestrial television channels. In 1997, Tele 5 was rebranded as Telecinco, dropping the flower logo seen in other Mediaset channel...

, CMT
Castilla-La Mancha TV
Castilla-La Mancha Televisión is the public regional channel of the autonomous region of Castile-La Mancha .- Creation :CMT was created on May 26, 2000...

, La Otra
LaOtra
laOtra is the second television channel from Telemadrid in Spain. Launched in 2001, the channel broadcast a range of cultural programming including music and art. After a restructuring in 2006, it now also broadcasts children's programming, news and information from Madrid, history documentaries,...

 (Castillian Spanish dub) Teletica Canal 7
Teletica Canal 7
Canal 7 is a private Costa Rican television channel, owned and operated by Teletica's founders, the Picado family.Canal 7 has the largest audience in Costa Rica. Repretel currently holds the second spot....

 (Latin American Spanish dub) Canal 5
Canal 5 (Televisa Network)
Canal 5 is a television network owned by Televisa, broadcasting from Mexico City and originating from its flagship station, XHGC-TV. Most programming on this station is intended for children and young people, while at night usually features foreign drama and action series, as well a movies...

 (Latin American Spanish dub) Canal 7 Argentina
Canal 7 Argentina
Canal Siete, TV Pública or TV Pública Digital is an Argentine television network founded on October 17, 1951. Between 1979 and 1999, the network was known as Argentina Televisora Color . During the 1978 World Cup, it was known as A78TV.Owned, financed and operated by the Argentine State, Canal 7 is...

 (Latin American Spanish dub) Rede Tupi
Rede Tupi
Rede Tupi or TV Tupi was the first television network in South America...

, Rede Record
Rede Record
Rede Record de Televisão is a Brazilian television network, founded in 1953 by Paulo Machado de Carvalho, also founder of Rádio Record. Currently it is owned by businessman Edir Macedo, founder and bishop of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God. Since 2007 it is Brazil's second largest...

, SBT (Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese
Brazilian Portuguese is a group of Portuguese dialects written and spoken by most of the 190 million inhabitants of Brazil and by a few million Brazilian emigrants, mainly in the United States, United Kingdom, Portugal, Canada, Japan and Paraguay....

 dub) Panamericana Televisión
Panamericana Televisión
Panamericana Televisión, Panamericana Television or Pantel is a Peruvian television network founded in 1959 when television first arrived in Peru. It initially broadcast on Channel 13, but later moved to Channel 5 in metropolitan Lima. This network was followed by a second private television...

 (Latin American Spanish dub) TVN Chile, La Red (Latin American Spanish dub) Antena Latina (Latin American Spanish dub) TF1
TF1
TF1 is a national French TV channel, controlled by TF1 Group, whose major share-holder is Bouygues. TF1's average market share of 24% makes it the most popular domestic network...

, Télétoon (French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...

 dub) Boing, Italia1, Rai Uno
Rai Uno
Rai 1 is the primary television station of RAI, the national public service broadcaster, and the most watched television channel in Italy. It was born as Rai Tv from 1954 to 1961, called Programma Nazionale from 1961 to 1979, after called Rete 1 from 1979 to 1982, then called Rai Uno from 1982 to...

, Rai Due
Rai Due
Rai 2 is one of the three main television channels broadcast by Italian public television company RAI alongside with Rai 1 and Rai 3. Rai 2 first started transmissions on November 4, 1961...

 (Italian
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...

 dub) Kinderkanal, ZDF
ZDF
Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen , ZDF, is a public-service German television broadcaster based in Mainz . It is run as an independent non-profit institution, which was founded by the German federal states . The ZDF is financed by television licence fees called GEZ and advertising revenues...

 (German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

 dub) Kindernet
Kindernet
Kindernet was the first commercial television station in The Netherlands. It started on 1 March 1988. It broadcast programmes, most of them were cartoons. Their final broadcasting was on 31 December 2004...

, Net5 (Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 dub) Nickelodeon kindernet, TMF
The Music Factory
The Music Factory is a pop music television channel that operates in Belgium .TMF previously operated channels in the Netherlands , the UK with TMF UK and Australia with . The brand is owned by MTV Networks International...

 (Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...

 dub) ERT
Elliniki Radiofonia Tileorasi
The Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation is the Greek state-owned public radio and television broadcasting corporation. It is a member of EBU.Since 70's ERT is part of the Eurovision Song Contest, organized by EBU...

 (Greek
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

 dub), ALTER ORF1
ORF1
ORF eins is an Austrian television channel. It was the first television channel in Austria, started in 1955.ORF eins is one of four public TV channels in Austria. ORF eins broadcasts TV series and featured films, whereas ORF2 focuses on cultural programming and information. ORF Sport Plus is the...

 (German dub) Kindernet
Kindernet
Kindernet was the first commercial television station in The Netherlands. It started on 1 March 1988. It broadcast programmes, most of them were cartoons. Their final broadcasting was on 31 December 2004...

 (Dutch dub) SABC (Afrikaans dub, New Opening Music & Lyrics) Saudi Arabian TV (Arabic dub, Translated in USA studios) Radio-Canada Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 (French dub) TVB Jade
TVB Jade
TVB Jade is a flagship TV channel in Hong Kong, established by Television Broadcasts Limited, and is one of the free-to-air Cantonese language television channels in Hong Kong, the other being its arch-rival ATV Home...

  (Cantonese dub) CCTV  (Mandarin dub) Taiwan Television
Taiwan Television
Taiwan Television Enterprise, Ltd. , commonly known as TTV is launched), is the first television broadcast station in Taiwan...

  (Chinese dub) TRT
Turkish Radio and Television Corporation
The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, also known as TRT , is the national public broadcaster of Turkey and was founded in 1964. Around 70% of TRT's funding comes from a tax levied on electricity bills and a sales tax on television and radio receivers...

, Show TV
Show TV
SHOW TV is a nation-wide television channel in Turkey owned by Çukurova Holding. The channel was established by the Turkish businessmen Erol Aksoy and Haldun Simavi on March 1, 1992. During the last years, Show TV extended its range of viewers by adding more channels like Show Plus, Show Max and...

, CNBC-e
CNBC-e
CNBC-e is a hybrid business/financial and entertainment channel operated in Turkey by CNBC Europe and the NTV Group.The channel shares its name with a co-owned magazine about CNBC-e....

, ATV Turkey
ATV Turkey
atv is a nationwide TV channel in Turkey, founded in 1993. atv is one of the most widely watched TV channels in Turkey. atv is an acronym of Actual Television.Since 2007 atv is owned by Çalık Holding.- Shows :News Programming* atv Ana Haber...

, Kanal 1
Kanal 1
Kanal 1 can refer to:*BNT Channel 1, a Bulgarian-language public television station*TV1/Kanal 1/SVT1, a television channel broadcast by Sveriges Television in Sweden*Kanal 1 , a Turkish-language public television station...

 (Turkish dub) RTP
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal
Rádio e Televisão de Portugal, S.A.,commonly known as RTP, is Portugal's public service broadcasting organization. It operates four terrestrial television channels and three national radio channels, as well as several satellite and cable offerings....

, (Portuguese dub) ABS-CBN
ABS-CBN
ABS–CBN Corporation is a Philippine-based media conglomerate. It is the Philippines' largest media and entertainment conglomerate. The corporation was the merger of Alto Broadcasting System which at that time owned by James Lindenberg and Antonio Quirino, and the Chronicle Broadcasting Network ...

  (Filipino dub but due to its popularity, a Cebuano dubbed version was made by the Regional Network Group of the network), Q  (Filipino dub) TVP 1
TVP 1
TVP1 is a television channel owned by TVP , Poland's national public broadcaster...

 (German dub) TVR
Romanian television
Romanian television may refer to:* Communications media in Romania* Televiziunea Română, TVR, the national television network* List of Romanian language television channels...

 (Romanian subtitles) Sjónvarpið
Sjónvarpið
RÚV is the television channel of RÚV, the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service, launched in 1966. The channel broadcasts primarily news, sports, cultural programs, children's material, American, British & Nordic films and entertainment programming...

 (Icelandic dub) Bang Bang
Bang Bang
Bang Bang is a 1998 album by American indie/roots rock band Dispatch. It is their second album, following Silent Steeples.-Track listing:#"Here We Go" #"Bats in the Belfry" #"The General"...

 (Albanian dub) Channel 1 (Iran)
Channel 1 (Iran)
Channel 1 is one of five nationally-broadcast television channels in Iran.Channel 1 was the first national television channel in Iran, and is now the oldest Iranian television channel having been established in 1966...

 (Persian dub) Venevisión
Venevisión
Venevisión is one of Venezuela's largest television networks and a Venezuelan cable and terrestrial television network, which is owned and presided over by Gustavo Cisneros...

 (Latin American dub) The only incarnation of the Heidi
Heidi
Heidi is a Swiss work of fiction, published in two parts as Heidi's years of learning and travel and Heidi makes use of what she has learned.It is a novel about the events in the life of a young girl in her grandfather's care, in the Swiss Alps...

 series to reach the United States was an English dubbed version of the 1975 feature-length movie adaptation of the TV series, released on video in 1985. Most fans of the series in North America saw it first in other countries. Although some United states citizens watch international programing and have become fans

Reception

Heidi, Girl of the Alps is still popular in Japan today: the love for Heidi has drawn thousands of Japanese tourists to the Swiss Alps
Swiss Alps
The Swiss Alps are the portion of the Alps mountain range that lies within Switzerland. Because of their central position within the entire Alpine range, they are also known as the Central Alps....

.
  • The show is alluded to in Volume 15 of the Gin Tama manga. And there's a cover of theme song from Animetal
    Animetal
    was a Japanese novelty heavy metal band who specialized in metal covers of theme songs from classic and modern Japanese anime and tokusatsu television series....

    .

Afrikaans Version

Dubbed for the SABC by Leephy Studios, the show was incredibly popular in South Africa during the 1980s, and had a number of re-runs. The opening and closing title music is unique to the Afrikaans version, in the form of the traditional song 'Heidi' sung in German with an orchestral accompaniment.

English Versions

Despite this series' international popularity, it is less well-known in the English language. The entire series has been re-dubbed into English on two separate occasions — first in the late 1970s, when the series was shown in the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

, and again in 2001 for broadcast in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

 on Cartoon Network. Although this dub was done by the animation studio for airing in India, they never included the English audio on subsequent DVD releases. Interestingly, none of the DVD releases around the world have English subtitles on them as well.

U.S. Release

However, the only version of the Heidi anime to have been commercially released in the United States is the feature-length movie version of the TV series, released in Japanese theaters in 1975 and directly to home video in the U.S. sometime in the 1980s by Pacific Arts under the title The Story of Heidi. The American version was produced by Claudio Guzman and Charles Ver Halen and featured a voice cast including Randi Kiger
Randi Kiger
Randi Kiger is an American actress. She played Celia MacKenzie on the TV series The MacKenzies of Paradise Cove, and was the voice of Darla Hood in The Little Rascals Christmas Special and of Heidi in The Story of Heidi .Randi's brother Robby has also been an actor since childhood; his credits...

 as Heidi, Billy Whitaker as Peter, Michelle Laurita as Clara, Vic Perrin
Vic Perrin
Vic Perrin was an American actor and voice artist. He is best remembered as the "Control Voice" in the original version of the TV series The Outer Limits ....

 as Alm-Ohi, Alan Reed
Alan Reed
Alan Reed was an American actor and voice actor, best known as the original voice of Fred Flintstone on The Flintstones and various spinoff series...

 as Sebastian, and legendary voice talent Janet Waldo
Janet Waldo
Janet Waldo is an American actress and voice artist with a career encompassing radio, television, animation and live-action films. She is best known in animation for voicing Judy Jetson, Penelope Pitstop and Josie McCoy in Josie and the Pussycats...

 as Aunt Dete.

Movie

A feature length film was edited from the series in 1975 by Zuiyo (which by then was a separate entity from Nippon Animation, which employed many of the TV series' animation staff). All cast were replaced excluding Heidi and the grandfather. This movie is also the only incarnation of the Heidi anime to have been released commercially in America in English (on home video in the 1980s). Isao Takahata remarked "Neither Hayao Miyazaki nor I are completely related to any shortening version" on this work.

External links

  • Official site
  • Heidi Art Exhibition in 2005 at the Ghibli Museum
    Ghibli Museum
    is a museum featuring the Japanese anime work of Studio Ghibli, and is located in Inokashira Park in Mitaka, a western suburb of Tokyo, Japan.The museum is a fine arts museum, but does not take the concept of a usual fine arts museum. With many features that are child-oriented and a sprawling and...

  • The Story of Heidi (American English dub) at Kiddie Matinee
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