Contact Admin. It was directed by Isao Takahata and features contributions by numerous other anime luminaries, including Yoichi Kotabe character design, animation director , Toyoo Ashida co-character design, animation director , Yoshiyuki Tomino storyboard, screenplay , and Hayao Miyazaki scene design, layout, screenplay.
Heidi is one of several World Masterpiece Theater titles produced around the "classical children's literature period" β , based on classic tales from the Western world. The feature-length movie edit of the TV series, released in March , was engineered completely by Zuiyo, with no additional involvement from Nippon Animation, Takahata or Miyazaki.
Heidi short for Adelheid is five years old when her aunt Dette, who has raised Heidi since her parents' death four years earlier, takes Heidi to live with her formidable grandfather on the Swiss Alps. Dette has found a promising job in Frankfurt , but cannot leave while still Heidi's guardian.
The only relative left is Heidi's grandfather, and in Dette's opinion, he should take some responsibility. Now he lives a solitary life with his dog Josef in a cabin halfway up the mountain. However, Heidi quickly wins her way into his heart with her enthusiasm and intelligence, firmly establishing herself in his life. She spends her summer days on the mountain top with the goatherd Peter, whose responsibility it is to take the villagers' goats to the high mountains for pasture, and her winters occasionally visiting Peter's grandmother, a blind old woman whose dream is to one day hear her cherished book of psalms read to her.
Alm-Onji's misanthropy prevents Heidi from going to school, of which she has no experience anyway. Heidi continues to live happily in the mountains until Aunt Dette returns from the city, excited about a good opportunity for Heidi. A wealthy German businessman, Mr. Sesemann, is searching for a companion for his crippled daughter Clara. Thwarted by Alm-Onji, Dette tricks Heidi into accompanying her, ostensibly to get a present for Peter and her grandfather. Promised that she can return at any time, Heidi is taken to Frankfurt.
