Alps no Shoujo Heidi

Beautiful, a serie that everyone most see, with an amazing story that will capture your full attention.
Certainly is a classic anime with a few years old, but I must say that's not so important as you may think, I'm pretty sure that there are lots of new series who want to have an audience of as many generation (children and adults) as this has.
Absolutely recommended for people of every age.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps (Alps no Shoujo Heidi) is an absolutely lovely anime adaptation of the 1880 Swiss novel written by Johanna Spyri. The novel has gotten other numerous adaptations beside the anime series, which should indicate how much the original novel has touched the hearts of its readers. Some adaptations surely have been much more grim and gut-wrenching than the rest with its happy moments but none might ever be held as high as this particular adaptation that for many is a taste of nostalgia from their their childhood. Many who have seen it might still imagine the people of Switzerland herding their ... goats while happily dancing on the high mountains of the Alps just like the character representing Japan in another series called Hetalia. In fact a lot of people from Japan wanted to visit Switzerland when the series had started airing, indicating even more of its impact on the viewers.

Back when I was young the only place I ever heard or saw of Heidi's story was from my grandmother, who I watched the live action adaptation(s) with, although I remember them having more sadness and melancholy than in the anime version, which I don't actually have a lot of memories of. Only when I was much older did I finally watch a bit of the anime adaptation as I recognized the familiar name from my childhood and skipped almost or, well basically everything as I was still a bit impatient a few years back. And finally this week I finally started watching it and finished all 52 episodes while knowing very well how the story would be.

The story of Heidi, Girl of the Alps is quite simple without big plot twists or any real big changes to the setting, which the characters reside in as the show wants you to feel like you're truly living in the beauty of the mountains along with Heidi. The beauty of the setting is also enhanced by the background art, which makes it feel like mimicking the real beauty that is the country of Switzerland from the towns, the lakes, the trees to the mountains. The characters are not as detailed or as clean as the background but they sure do stand out from it and the animators were able to put more detail into the movements when needed accompanied beautifully by the sound design, which sadly does sometimes use the same happy tracks that are very noticeable but you'll get pretty used to it as it doesn't really spoil a scene. There are also quiet moments when it's supposed to be serious or eerie in the scene.

The biggest factor to enjoying Heidi, the Girl of the Alps is its characters, which the story, art and sound are there for. All of it exists to enhance how the characters feel. Normally this is all expressed in the novel as text, so those who can't get themselves to imagine the scenes from text get to see it in art with the sound of the fir trees greeting Heidi as her face lights up with joy accompanied by her laughing as she turns around to chase the goats back into the top of the mountain where the sun smiles and turns the cliffs into a blanket of yellow and red. A scene so beautiful that you can truly feel what is going on in Heidi's head as she runs back into the hut to enjoy a piece of bread and cheese with the grandfather that smiles so kindly upon seeing the young girl enjoying her dinner after a long day on the top of the mountain. This is what makes the show so great, understanding the characters, their feelings, sorrows, happiness, everything.

And despite this show being old enough to be re-adapted by anyone many many times, I think no other adaptation could ever redo what this version did for so many people. There doesn't really even have to be an adaptation or even a continuation to expand the their world as much as I would want there to be. The story of a girl that lives on the Alps is something that was there and can't be really redone. It's a gem with small cracks but one of a kind that cannot be replicated or replaced despite its small imperfections. A gem that can be enjoyed by anyone despite their culture or origins.

Alps no Shoujo Heidi is more then a story. It's a journey. You will both laugh and cry while watching this series. You will cry both tears of sadness and tears of joy. You will fall in love with Heidi (but in a weird way - she is a little girl), and you will fall in love with the Swiss Alps. This anime may be old, and it may be targeted towards children. However, that doesn't change the fact that it is a perfect series, and one of the most beautiful series ever told. Also, I ship Heidi and Peter. They'd make a cute couple. ... Although, I don't think either of them are old enough to think of boys/girls romantically yet. Then again, if my math checks out, at the end of the series Heidi is at least ten and Peter at least sixteen. (They were five and eleven at the beginning.)

One more thing. Heidi is the original moe character. Some otaku might say that moe began in the late nineties or early two thousands. To which I say, "No, moe began in the seventies maybe earlier."

Heidi is the first anime and cartoon I've ever watched.

The 5-year old me loved everything about it. I loved the relationship between Heidi and her Grandpa. I loved Heidi and her friends the most. Thinking back, I feel like I used to ship Peter with Heidi lol. It can be sad at times but the overall atmosphere is actually cheery. The Swiss Alps really did serve the beautiful background which leads your younger self dream to places beyond. Unlike a lot of anime or even cartoons I've watched as a child, I'd say neither did me or my parents ever found anything inappropriate and ... I think you could still recommend to kids even now. Those character designs are still so great that I can recall even now and hence why I am here.

Heidi came out in 1974 created by an all-star staff: Directed by Takahata Isao (Tales of Princess Kaguya), Layout by Miyazaki (Spirited Away), Storyboard by Tomino (MSG), Music Watanabe (Cowboy Bebop, and Background Art Mukuo Takamura (Gauch the Cellist). Basically, this was high on my list, if only to give a glimpse at.

Based on the 1880 book "Heidi," the story is "for children and those who love children." It focuses on a little girl named Heidi growing up with her Grossvater Ohi in the Alm Mountains for three years before her selfish Tante Dete takes her to live with a rich family in Frankfurt, Germany. ... The characters are fairly one-dimensional as well as the story itself, which is alright for what the anime is. Watching the first episode in Japanese with English subtitles, I felt I wasn't getting the essence of the show. From there I found a German dubbed version, and the show got so much better.
The art is your typical "Studio Ghibli" style, not coming to much surprise. Meanwhile, the Japanese music is great coming from Watanabe, but the German version took it out of the park. For a story taking place around 1880 with old German style folk music, perfect.

Heidi begins in the mountains at 5 as a free-spirit learning the mountain life, and then is forced to move to the big city at 8 into a "cage-like" environment to live/befriend the daughter (Klara) of a rich family learning "civil" life. As one could imagine, once getting used to a country lifestyle and then moving to the "civilized" life of the big city isn't for everyone. That is pretty much the story with some life lessons along the way.

At 52 episodes and what seems to have a lot of filler in between the show's main plot points, you could probably watch only about 12 episodes to fully understand the story while skipping the other content. I recommend to watch episodes 1-5, 16,18,20,26, and 52 in German preferably. This is a nice children's story and does a fine job being just that.

Heidi of the Alps was one of the landmark anime tv series in the early 1970s that stood the test of time with its story, animation, art design & their lovely characters.
unite three of the most influenced minds in anime history: Takahata, Tomino & Miyazaki, & inside studio Nippon one of the most major studios in that time this masterpiece classic will not only one of the most beautiful anime series of that era but one of the turning point in anime history in the years to come.
& what have missed becoming a classic ?the adaptation was close to the original materials the storyboard ... is great the animation looks cool the backgrounds were fantastic & the characters design was beautiful & not forget the directing which was superior to other shows in that time.

****WATCH OUT FOR SPOILERS!****

This is the first anime I've ever watched.

Back then, I didn't even know anime existed.
But I know one thing for sure - I loved this series.

Its atmosphere was so lovely... so where the characters and the story was not always just funny, but serious at the right moments.

Heidi, the protagonist girl, a pure and nice girl from the city is moving due to her mothers work (or so I remember). She's moving into the alps to her 'uncle' Öhi. First, they're pretty split up, but they begin to grow friends who can't be seperated. Her new friend Peter is in ... charge of watching over a horde of goats. They always climb to the top of the alps and are having a stunning view from up there.

But things are not staying that way...

It's been a long time since I last watched it, so I'm probably going to check this out once again so I can write a more detailed review for this.

Right now, with all the things I can remember, I give this a 8/10.

There are many works which are said the masterpiece of Japanese anime. However, if asked, ' what is the masterpiece?' by those who have just started to watch anime, I will recommend them this 1973 work, "Alps no shoujo Heidi (or, just 'Heidi')."

It is based on a fiction 'Heidi' by Johanna Spyri, but the staffs of "Alps no shoujo Heidi" made some changes. They focused more on the way Heidi lived in Alps and in Germany, and on the relationships between characters, that is, the staff depicted the daily-lives of characters.
This TV series was directed by Isao Takahata, famous for "Panda Kopanda," "Hotaru ... no haka" and so on, with Hayao Miyazaki, also famous for academy-award-winner "Spirited Away." It is not a well-known fact that Takahata and Miyazaki in their younger days made this work. The fact implies that "Alps no shoujo Heidi" is not only reputed as a well-made work, but it has a historical value. If you are interested especially in the history of Japanese anime, this title is must.

Speaking of its historical worth, I cannot overlook the work of Miyazaki. He helped Takahata well and drew all the layouts of this 52-episode anime series. This is a surprising fact.
(NOTE: in Japanese, 'layout' means 'the very important drawing in the cut, included background'; in anime animators do not depict backgrounds but layouts include background. Usually 30-minute long anime is composed of 300 cuts, so there are 300 layouts in one episode.)
Miyazaki's work is also found in many parts of this anime. He was also involved with direction. Therefore you can easily understand how great Miyazaki was, and still he is, by watching "Heidi."
There are more historical achievements in this anime, but I cannot write down all of them, so if you got interested, please check them.

Thanks to Miyazaki's effort, and other talented staffs including Yoshiyuki Tomino and Yoichi Kotabe, "Alps no shoujo Heidi" made a big success.
As for storyboard, it is still one of good models of anime today. "Heidi" could express Heidi's innocence, Peter's cheerfulness, Clara's agony, and Uncle's conversion. With precise backgrounds (thanks to a location hunting, which is the first one in Japan's TV anime history,) you can feel as if Heidi and other characters really smiled and cried.
As I said, the plot mainly traced the original, so I won't mention it in detail. Takahata and Miyazaki's success is that they succeeded to describe tiny changes of emotions with delicate directions, animations and the story. This success influenced (and, still influences) the later works, I mean, Japanese animators became to depict daily-lives of characters, not a Hollywood-like spectacle. In this sense, "Heidi" is the most important work of all.

Of course, you sometimes find its old-fashioned aspects, such as the designs of characters, recordings, and other technical constraints. However, this work for certain contains the essence of anime. You will soon notice that only a few titles can perfectly imitate "Heidi," and there are an amount of anime which aimed to "Heidi."
After 25 years, it is still a key work in Japan's unique anime world. It is when you notice the excellence of "Heidi" that the time you became interested in anime anew comes.

I am probably biased,
but this show may be the best kids anime out there. They reran this on the national german child program channel almost every year from probably the 80's or 90's up to they mid 2010's
There journeys the characters go through seems so much real than anything from other programs. From Heidi emotional goodbye when going to the big city to her cheerful comeback all felt so sincere and real. I remember the "last" visit at the grandmother's house making me cry as a kid several times.
I don't think that if you watch this as an adult you will get out the same ... experience as I did, but maybe try showing it your kids (espacially if you speak german)

Very innocent, fun, and at times moving anime.
It portrays life in the Alps in a beautiful way.
Watching the BD, the art style was very clean and colorful.
They often give you landscape scenes worthy of being a painting to be hung to a wall.

I love all of the characters and grew very attached to them (with the exception of a certain governess).

Heidi, the main character, is a cheerful girl full of life and she constantly goes to adventure with her young goatherd friend Peter, a kind kid who is very knowledgeable about the mountains.
Heidi's caretaker, her grandfather, is a bit of a hermit is ... not seen well by most of the mountain's people, but he's a great and wise man.
They will go through important character development, together with others who will join the story later on.

I give it a 9 instead of a 10 because the last few episodes felt too rushed.
It especially disappointed me because it's one of those series that I wish would've gone forever.

I can confirm, this is what Switzerland is like.

In all seriousness, this is the first anime I ever saw, before I even knew what anime was. The anime certainly lives up to being "a story for children, and those who love children". Heidi was the series of my childhood, and despite the somewhat dated visuals and sound, it still holds up very well today.

What impresses me even after all these years is how well it translated the nostaglia for Swiss pastoralism from Johanna Spyri's novel. The beautiful alpine scenery and simple, down-to-earth story around the lives of the characters manages to make me homesick - ... even while I'm still in the country.

Like many Afrikaner kids, I grew up watching this in the Afrikaans dub (making this my first anime!).

In my late teens, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this is in fact an anime. I rewatched the series in Japanese, and enjoyed it just as much as I had as a child...if not more.

This series is truly a masterpiece that withstood the test of time.

Be warned though, this story isn't for everyone. It's rather slow paced and heavily character driven (a given seeing as it's a coming of age, slice of life story about a little girl living in the Swiss Alps).

Heidi is one of the most defining shows in the world masterpiece theater catalog. Before Heidi the other shows consisted mostly of collections of stories that became Anderson Stories, Rocky Chuck, and Moomin, and they also did an Adaptation of the manga Dororo. Heidi however is just based on a single novel and becomes the precedent for most other shows in the programming catalog afterwards. Nevertheless the show by itself is a delight to watch and has aged very little since it’s release in the 70’s

Everything about the show Heidi is simplistic and small. With only about a dozen notable characters and only two dramatically ... different settings, the show does a decent amount in it’s fifty episodes without being really boring. Each episode is a new adventure for the young girl from going on escapades in the alps with the young goat herder peter, or her means of trying to entertain herself and Clara in the restrictive mansion in Frankfurt. Each episode is as calming and satisfying as the last, and despite being a children’s novel the show doesn’t come off as patronizing towards it’s viewers. The characters of the show are also a delight to watch as well. The main character Heidi is a bundle of joy who uses everything she learns to her own advantage, especially when going off to a new setting. Her grandfather is also a very interesting character. Coming off as a rugged gruff isolated man who also has a much more sympathetic side and with Heidi, he becomes more open towards other people.

It goes without saying that many of the people who made this show went on to become big names in the anime industry. With Takahata and Miyazaki who went off to make studio Ghibli, and Tomino who made the popular Gundam franchise. It really shows with how good the character designs for many of the characters are. The wonderful use of setting that makes them come alive due to their color and detail. The animation is consistent and resourceful throughout the show lending to the vibrancy of the characters and setting. Not to mention it’s soundtrack that adds to many moments of the show as well as characterization.

The show still has some discrepancies however, with many interesting plot threads(?) just never coming up again. Heidi’s Aunt Dete being more of a plot device who’s never seen again. The highly optimistic tone that maybe too much more some people, and so on and so forth.

Overall though this is a show that i think is pretty good and has stood the test of time. It’s a show that I can't help but recommend to others. Because if you are willing, the show will wrap you up in it’s charming ways from start to finish the same way Heidi does towards other people.

Alps no Shoujou Heidi is one of those stories that anyone can enjoy for its simplicity in depth and characters. An orphan girl who suddenly comes to live with her hermit grandfather at the swiss alps while she develops her understandings with fun little adventures. The show is quite faithful to the original source having some filler episodes that don't bother very much with the experience. While being peaceful and entertaining I could not hold a grip for much long that some episodes and everytime I returned to watch the show and the fact that it has more than 50 episodes made me retreat ... for a while, it is much easier and faster to read the book than to watch the series. Even said that I fully appreciate the animation and sound made by now today legends, the characters are very expressive and the music is so soothing and happy.

I find myself in a dilemma with the younger me because I liked it much more when I was a child. The series is not mediocre but neither is very good. If you have a child, you can show him/her this and sure he/she will enjoy it

Heidi is a show with a lot of problems but also a lot of charm. A lot of it's problem actually are part of it's charm even, it really feels like a kind of anime that you COULDN'T make anymore in these days or at the very least would not be produced by any large studios.

For 2/3rds of the series basically nothing fucking happens OR it doesn't really matter much in the long run and could have been easily skipped.

The animation quality switches drastically from episode to episode. Sometimes you'll get an absolute insanely good shot (for TV cel animation in the 1970s) and ... other times the cels were covered in so much dust/hairs that it was distracting, especially during scenes where the characters would just be sitting down and talking with little to no movement body wise.

Personality wise each character is incredibly simple, even one note at times. I won't mention who, but there is a very prominent character that is introduced midway through the series who I expected to gain some character development and stop being such a fucking BITCH all the time but...She just stays basically the exact same for the next 30 episodes??? Although I suppose her behavior becomes more comedic, and I can't deny that I laughed at her outbursts.

On top of everything there are some issues due to the culture of the time, it's nothing too large but there is blatant child slavery so, uh, y'know. There's also some minor sexism (though, for it's time it's pretty progressive overall)

I still enjoyed it, but I have to admit that my taste is a tad difficult. I wouldn't reccomend it exactly...but calling it bad doesn't seem right either. I'd say give the first few* episodes a watch at least, as they are pretty comfy and just pure slice of life (up until Heidi leaving to Frankfurt specifically) After that I reccomend watching the movies instead as they are much more compact story wise.

..........................................................................................................................................................This is a story ,which is more enjoyable for kids which i dont recommend this to any teenager or anyone older. Its a lovely story and the art is good ,but its not a must watch u can watch it when u bored just for the old times and the nostalgy ,i would recommend this for ppl to show it to their kids which would love it.The story is kid friendly and funny at times so it would be a good choice for a parent to show it to their kids.If u havent watched it while u were younger dont waste your time ... on it

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