Lately, I’ve been binge-watching a Japanese TV show–not the 2024 samurai flick set in 17th century Japan that has won a bucketful of Emmys, but a 50-year-old children’s anime set in the Swiss Alps.
Heidi, Girl of the Alps is a children’s show. So why am I, a full-grown adult, eagerly watching it? I don’t know. Maybe it’s because I like mountains and the outdoors, or maybe because I missed the time when my daughters were small children, or maybe even because I just like great storytelling.
I know the story of Heidi, of course, although I’m not exactly sure how. I vaguely remember reading a Japanese children’s book years ago; it might still be in the house, although with all the books we have, I would have a hard time looking for it. Besides, we got rid of many books when the children got past elementary school.
I also know Heidi, the anime, although, again I not sure whether I used to watch it while growing up in the Philippines, or whether I’ve only seen snippets of it here and there. It’s one of those anime that is so famous almost everybody have seen or heard about it.
So anyway, some time ago I stumbled on its opening song in Youtube by chance. I then decided to watch the first few episodes and I was hooked. Not even Shogun made me want to see the next episode straight away as much as this children’s show.
Heidi is not a Ghibli production, and I didn’t even know that Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki had a hand on its creation but the handiwork of the future founders of Studio Ghibli animation house is unmistakable.
In Heidi, I can easily see glimpses of Tonari no Totoro, Grave of the Fireflies, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, Kiki’s Delivery Service, Howl’s Moving Castle, even Takahata’s last work The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
Heidi, Girl of the Alps is a gem in 52 parts–Miyazaki himself described it as Takahata’s “masterpiece.” It’s a timeless work of anime that is as captivating now as it was the day it was first shown on Fuji TV fifty years ago.