Heidi - Kindheit in den Bergen

This TV series was one of the first anime hits in Argentina that crossed all barriers of age and gender. Extremely sweet and gentle, Heidi has a charm that both girls, parents and even boys love (but they'll never admit to it, of course). Heidi is such a pure girl that is impossible to ignore its charm. This TV series marks one of the earliest collaborations of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata. By now, you can already see the genius of both. Looking back at these 52 episodes after their successful carreers, it is interesting to see many of their themes and leit motifs appearing in Heidi that would later also surface in later works (young heroines, love for country life, lazy and silent dogs, etc). Sadly, the TV series does not seem to have been published for later generations so the only way to watch it is likely thru some old fan subs. Technically, Heidi is also very impressive to see even today. The traditional use of shadowing in anime is instead replaced by a more flat look but a bigger emphasis put in animation. Looking at it today, animation buffs will be amazed at how good the animation of Heidi was for its time, the traditionally tight budgets of TV production and the length of the series.

This japan animated TV-series was an incredible social phenomenon in Spain.All the people in my country cried with the adventures of this charming girl in the 70's.It success was so strong that it caused that the television network that emitted it repeated a chapter by popular demand

It is really not possible to limit a work of such purity by a rating, but for all practical purposes "Heidi" deserves at least a 10 on IMDb's scale, in my opinion.

The animation is so realistically done that we not only feel for all the characters, human and otherwise, but also live, grow, smile and cry with them. And the storytelling is at once engaging, visceral, harrowing, redeeming and deeply poignant. Every frame has some subliminal emotional content that draws us deeper into the narrative.

On a personal note, "Heidi" was by a far margin the best show I enjoyed in my childhood, not just because of the fantasies it weaved but also how intensely they were interweaved with all the harshness of reality. While that may not be necessarily the ideal content for children, the feeling of emancipation at the end of it all still rings true with me.

Johanna Spyri probably could not have asked for a better visual translation of her story.

I watched this series when I was a kid and I really liked it. I used to see it along with robotech/macross and other anime series, but this one still makes me feel happy just to remember those old days. I used to like Heidi because I used to spend a lot time(most of my free time) on the mountains when I was a kid. The dubbing they did on the version of heidi I watched was very good and if you think that subtitles are the only way to see any manga, you're wrong. I have seen too many mistakes on subtitles from big budget movies to indi movies. At least a good dubbing like the ones they do for Latin American countries have fewer errors and sound great.

PS. I'm buying this series for my daughter and I'm sure it will be better than any American cartoon now running.

There is nostalgia in everything this show represents. The nostalgia of being a kid with not a worry in the world, of living in the countryside among the animals and breathing the fresh mountain air, of riding the proverbial rollercoaster of emotions with every small joy or sadness that life brings. I loved this show when I was 8 years old, and I love it even more now I am 26. What has changed is my understanding and appreciation of the motives of the full cast of very realistic characters. In India growing up, this was a cartoon I would wait to watch with my two brothers (we weren't pushed into watching it by a girl, as some might assume) every day. Growing up, I was glad to come by this show which was very different from the usual stories with pre-conceived good-vs-evil moral commentary. As an adult I realize that every child (boy or girl) must watch this show because it teaches lessons in kindness and enjoying the simple pleasures in life that one wouldn't necessarily learn in school or from their parents. In that way, it is more complex than the cartoons kids are usually exposed to. Although I watched the English dub when I was a kid, I'm watching the original Japanese version now and I've learnt enough Japanese to comfortably understand it even without subtitles :D As others have said of this show, it has brought me to tears on a number of occasions. I don't know if it's because of said nostalgia of my childhood, when I was living with my grandparents who I miss to this day. It could be because everything this show does is perfect -- the stories, the characters, the music. I recently watched Heidi with my mother (she is going on 56 years old now) and she couldn't help but cry on several occasions, despite having never watched the show before. A true reflection of the ability of this show to cross boundaries. 10/10