Heidi

This is one of the first Japanese cartoon series that reached my country (Italy) in the late '70s and by far one of the best. It follows the original book quite faithfully and its graphics is of rather excellent level for just a TV series before the computer age. The characters are very well "builded", they are completely believable and lively: they became my friends and so was for all the children I knew. Indeed, this series was so well done that everyone, not just children, not just young girls, but just EVERYONE get crazy about it: boys and girls, teenagers, parents, grandparents... still I remember how much my grandpa liked it...

I will never forget watching this program as a child in Costa Rica in the late 70's. At the time we lived near the Pacific coast, in the jungle surrounding a banana plantation, and it was very difficult to get a TV signal. Only one channel came in, and only for a few hours a day. With my younger brother and sister, we would play the soundtrack LP of songs in Spanish over and over. For the last episode the signal that day was very poor, so my parents drove us to the beach, near Limon, and we watched on a tiny battery-powered black-and-white TV which at the time must have been the latest in technology, especially in such a place. Recently, after all these years I heard a clip of the opening music over the web and wept for hours... I will be the happiest guy the day I can get this show on DVD, especially the Spanish-dubbed version.

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.

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

As a kid i watched Heidi like everyone of my generation kid or not...i spent a lot of money to get the dvds that are available in Spain. I live in Argentina and our money was devalued...i don't regret for a moment though...My nice is so happy that she says she is Heidi. I keep the DVD for my children that are not born yet. Looking back it means my childhood and all the good memories of a more simple time. I strongly recommend to anyone to watch them. I don't know if it is known in the USA or if it was translated to English. I have the 52 episodes. I know there are three versions...that are resumes of the series and also a movie.