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Heidi, Girl of the Alps
	; Cover of Japanese DVD 1
	アルプスの少女ハイジ; (Arupusu no Shōjo Haiji)
Genre	Drama
TV anime
Director	Isao Takahata
Studio	Zuiyo Eizo
Network	Fuji TV
Other networks:
	ZDF, Kinderkanal; Antena 3; Canal 5; TVN Chile; Antena Latina; Boing, Italia1, Rai Uno, Rai Due; ORF1; AVRO; SAUK, KykNet; Saudi Arabian TV; Cartoon Network; ABS-CBN, Q
Original run	January 6, 1974 – December 29, 1974
Episodes	52
	Anime and Manga Portal

Heidi, Girl of the Alps (アルプスの少女ハイジ, Arupusu no Shōjo Haiji^?) is a 1974 anime series by Zuiyo Enterprises based on the Swiss novel "Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning" by Johanna Spyri (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata and features Yoichi Kotabe (character design and animation director), Hayao Miyazaki (scene design and layout)^[1].

Heidi is one of several World Masterpiece Theater titles produced around the "classical children's literature period" (1974-1997), based on classic tales from around the world.

[edit] Cast

Kazuko Sugiyama as Heidi (ハイジ, Haiji^?)
Kohei Miyauchi as Alm-Onji (アルムおんじ, Arumu onji^?)
Noriko Ohara as Peter (ペーター, Pētā^?)
Hiroko Maruyama as Peter (film version) (ペーター, Pētā^?)
Rihoko Yoshida as Clara Sesemann (クララ・ゼーゼマン, Kurara Zēzeman^?)
Keiko Han as Clara Sesemann (film version) (クララ, Kurara^?)
Miyoko Asō as Rottenmeier (ロッテンマイヤー, Rottenmaiyā^?)
Hisako Kyouda as Rottenmeier (film version) (ロッテンマイヤー, Rottenmaiyā^?)
Taimei Suzuki as Mr. Sesemann (ゼーゼマン, Zēzeman^?)

[edit] International broadcast

Cover of the Japanese DVD.

The Heidi, Girl of the Alps anime has been dubbed in several languages. The TV series was able to reach major stardom in Europe, Asia, and South America where the anime was dubbed in multiple languages. These dubbed versions of the series were broadcasted in the following countries:

Cartoon Network India (English dub)
Telemetro Canal 13, (Latin American Spanish dub)
TVE-1, Antena 3 (European Spanish dub)
Teletica Canal 7 (Latin American Spanish dub)
Canal 5 (Latin American Spanish dub)
Canal 7 Argentina (Latin American Spanish dub)
Rede Tupi, Rede Record, SBT (Brazilian Portuguese dub)
TVN Chile, La Red (Latin American Spanish dub)
Antena Latina (Latin American Spanish dub)
TF1, Télétoon (French dub)
Boing, Italia1, Rai Uno, Rai Due (Italian dub)
Kinderkanal, ZDF (German dub)
ΕΡΤ (Greek dub)
ORF1 (German dub)
AVRO (Dutch dub)
SABC (Afrikaans dub)
Saudi Arabian TV (Arabic dub, Translated in USA studios)
Radio-Canada Canada (French dub)
TVB Jade (Cantonese dub)
CCTV (Chinese dub)
Taiwan Television (Mandarin dub)
TRT, CNBC-e, ATV Turkey, Kanal 1 (Turkish dub)
RTP, (Portuguese dub)
ABS-CBN (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 (German dub)
Sjónvarpið (Icelandic dub)

The only incarnation of the Heidi series to reach the United States was an English dubbed version of the 1979 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 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.^[2]

The show is alluded to in Volume 15 of the Gin Tama manga. And there's a cover of theme song from Animetal.

[edit] Afrikaans Version

Dubbed for the SABC by Leephy Studios, the show was incredibly popular in South Africa during the 1980's, 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.

[edit] 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, and again in 2001 for broadcast in India 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.

[edit] 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 1979 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 as Heidi, Billy Whitaker as Peter, Michelle Laurita as Clara, Vic Perrin as Alm-Ohi, and legendary voice talent Janet Waldo as Aunt Dete.^[3]

[edit] Movie

A feature length film was edited from the series in 1979 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.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Trivia

Peter, Clara, Heidi, and her Dog Joseph

The opening credit roll was animated by Hayao Miyazaki, except for two scenes by experienced animator Yasuji Mori. Assigned to animate a ring dance of Heidi and Peter, Mori wanted to analyze a movement of two real people, so Miyazaki and animation director Yôichi Kotabe did a ring dance in a parking lot next to their studio, and Mori shot them with an 8 mm camera for reference.^{[citation needed]}

The dog Joseph was renamed in several foreign versions of the anime. In the european and american Spanish, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese versions, the dog was renamed with the word for "fog" in their respective languages - respectively, "Niebla," "Nebbia," and "Névoa". In the English dub of the movie released in the U.S., the dog is called "Bernard" - likely due to the fact that he is a St. Bernard.

In the Spanish version, many scenes were deleted with no justification.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] References

^ "Arupusu no shôjo Haiji" (1974) The Internet Movie Database (Retrieved 3 October 2009)
^ Kirby, Emma Jane (25 September, 2001). "BBC News: Heidi draws pilgrims from Japan". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1562770.stm. Retrieved 2009-04-01.
^ "The Story of Heidi". kiddiematinee.com. http://www.kiddiematinee.com/s-storyheidi.html. Retrieved 2009-04-01.

[edit] See also

Heidi, the children's book on which this anime series was based.

[edit] External links

Official site (Japanese)
Heidi, Girl of the Alps (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
Heidi Art Exhibition in 2005 at the Ghibli Museum (English)
The Story of Heidi (American English dub) at Kiddie Matinee

[0] "Arupusu no shôjo Haiji" (1974) The Internet Movie Database (Retrieved 3 October 2009)

[1] Kirby, Emma Jane (25 September, 2001). "BBC News: Heidi draws pilgrims from Japan". BBC. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1562770.stm. Retrieved 2009-04-01.

[2] "The Story of Heidi". kiddiematinee.com. http://www.kiddiematinee.com/s-storyheidi.html. Retrieved 2009-04-01.

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