Heidi, Girl of the Alps English Fansub Translation

Heidi, Girl of the Alps is the landmark 1974 anime television series created by Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yoichi Kotabe. It was a tremendous success in Japan and helped to spawn an entire genre of literary-based cartoon dramas, sparking the World Masterpiece Theater to prominence for years and inspiring generations. Outside of Japan, Heidi also became a beloved childhood favorite, as the series was exported to nearly every corner of the globe.

That is, of course, every place on the globe except the United States. For reasons that remain unknown, Heidi was never brought to our shores, meaning that we missed out on what all the other kids were enjoying these past 45 years.

Thankfully, after many years of dedication and hard work, an English fan translation, or "fansub", was completed by Silver Zero Subs. Using the Japanese Blu-Ray box set as a video source, Heidi has never looked or sounded better, offering crisp picture displays that burst with color and detail. And finally being able to enjoy this series in English is a genuine thrill.

You can find a copy of the Heidi English fansub at the Silver Zero Subs download page. This series has also been posted onto YouTube, but we should probably expect the copyright robots to take those videos down, sooner or later.

As always, I would be thrilled to see Heidi given a commercial release here in the States. GKIDS would be my best choice, and their biggest challenge would be to find a television or streaming network to broadcast all 52 episodes. As we are now entering the next stage of the "streaming wars," perhaps this is the opportunity to strike. Oh, well, it likely won't ever happen, but it's good to dream.

In any case, download Heidi while you can and enjoy this all-time classic.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps - Silver Zero Subs English Fansub

Heidi: Todos Los Episodios (en Espanol)

In the United States, Isao Takahata is best remembered for his Studio Ghibli movies, including Grave of the Fireflies and The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. In Europe and Latin America, however, he is remembered for Heidi, the landmark 1974 animated series that became a household name to children all around the world. The series has been shown in over thirty countries and translated into twenty different languages.

Here is the Spanish-language version of Heidi, all 52 episodes complete and uncut. Since half of our household is Colombian, these videos will be most welcome.

I really like the rich color saturation in these video transfers. It looks like it was translated directly from 35mm film, which is how the series was originally shot. Yes, there is a lot of color bleed and fuzzy NTSC resolution, but this only adds to the warmth and nostalgia. The Spanish-language dub is also quite excellent, much better than I expected. I might have to stop watching episodes of my fan-translated copy (using video sourced from the Japanese Blu-Ray) and start watching this instead.

Enjoy Heidi todos los episodios en Espanol! Yay!

A Great Cartoon Scene in Heidi Episode 1

Last night, I played the first episode of Heidi, Girl of the Alps. It was the first time I had watched for a couple years, and this is one of my all-time favorite Isao Takahata classics. Like many of you, I am far too upset and heartbroken to even think about watching something like Grave of the Fireflies or The Tale of the Princess Kaguya. Let's just play in Heidi's happy world for now.

Episode 1 is absolutely fantastic and packed with boundless energy and an amazing assortment of compositions, layouts, and art designs. And there are more than a few genuine comic moments. Here is one such example. It's a brief shot where Heidi sees Peter the shepherd boy sprinting down the mountain, and she wants to charge after him. Notice her wind-up pose, which is a wonderfully funny cartoon pose. Heidi begins to dart forward, arms outstretched. The aunt suddenly sees this, and with a very subtle movement, grabs Heidi by the back of her shirt, pulling her back. Heidi's reaction poses are terrific, as she is literally yanked back into place with a baffled look on her face.

Note how Heidi gets all the action in this cut. She gets the dynamic poses and the classic cartoon movements that are only very slightly exaggerated. The aunt, meanwhile, is animated in a "realist" manner, with little movement, a tilt from left to right. Note, also, how Heidi darts into the picture frame at an angle. This episode is packed full of these three-dimensional compositions, as characters move at varying diagonal angles, many times brushing right up against the "camera." This was a technique that Takahata obsessed about in Horus, Prince of the Sun, and now he takes that to the next level.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps is grounded very firmly in realism, with a strong emphasis on documentary details of daily life and complex character melodrama. These elements are also balanced by classic cartoon gags and poses. It's much more restrained than, say, Lupin the 3rd, which can veer from James Bond to Road Runner at the drop of a hat. Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yoichi Kotabe succeed in finding just the right balance for Heidi.

Compare Heidi episode 1 to any American cartoon show from the same era. The difference in visual technique is absolutely staggering. Hanna-Barbara and Filmmation are great, but they're stuck very firmly in a 2D world. Paku-san is obsessed with moving in a fully 3D world, mimicking the look of classic cinema as much as humanly possible. Today, this sort of thinking is commonplace and nobody bats an eye. But in 1974, just as in 1968, this was radical and revolutionary. Nothing like this had ever been seen before.

What a magnificent series. I feel like I could write a book just about this one episode. Heck, maybe I ought to try? Any takers on that? Anybody interested? Bueller?

Heidi, Girl of the Alps (1974, 52 Episodes, English Subtitles)

Whenever I am asked what is Isao Takahata's greatest works, I always say, simply, "Heidi Marco Anne." Those three television series are his crowning masterpieces, and the epic novels to Studio Ghibli's short stories. This series became a blockbuster smash success in Japan, and was soon exported to nearly every nation on the globe. Everywhere except the USA, that is. D'oh!

This week, in many parts of the world, Isao Takahata will be remembered as the director of Heidi, that beloved animated series that became the soundtrack to so many childhoods. Meanwhile, many of us who have never seen this program can discover it and be amazed, dazzled and overwhelmed.

This is a fantastic series. Of the "Heidi Marco Anne" trilogy, my personal favorite is Marco, but there's no denying the brilliance and boundless charms of Heidi. This masterwork, more than any other, is the defining paradigm of the Studio Ghibli movies. This is where Miyazaki found his best inspirations. And I think there's at least one "Ghibli Riff" in all 52 episodes.

This series is really a team effort between Takahata (director), Miyazaki (layout and design) and Yoichi Kotabe (animation director, character design), and they should all share credit. But it's Paku-san's genius and vision that made this work a reality. It was he who wanted to create a cartoon melodrama that celebrated daily life in almost documentary detail. It was he who wanted to push the emotional boundaries of the medium. It was he who wanted to shatter the "kiddie cartoon" archetype and create true literature. Heidi may not be as dark or moody as Horus, Prince of the Sun, Takahata's revolutionary 1968 feature film, but it's just as important a milestone in the evolution of anime.

This is a fantastic series. I wish GKIDS would just pay the ransom money and release the series in the US. These fan translations are terrific, but I'm really hungry for a proper Blu-Ray box set.

Here is the entire Heidi series, all 52 episodes, with English subtitles. Enjoy!

Riffs: Heidi, Girl of the Alps, Omohide Poro Poro

Of all the great works in the Hayao Miyazaki-Isao Takahata canon, it is Heidi that stands tallest. At least where the riffs stand. Nearly every one of the 52 episodes from the groundbreaking anime series has been quoted in the directors' later works. For those of you playing the "Ghibli Riff Game", you will never truly become a champion until you've spotted all those Heidi moments.

Here is but one terrific example. This shot from Omohide Poro Poro (Only Yesterday) of children running down the aisle of a train passenger car is directly quoting a shot from a later episode of Heidi, one in which the title character, her "Alm-Uncle" and her friends spend a vacation at the ruins of a great castle. Notice how characters wink back at the camera as they skirt on by. That's a very sly shot.

One extra riff tidbit: the Heidi episodes set at the castle (a completely original plot line that was never in the original Johanna Spyri novel) were later riffed in Lupin the 3rd: The Castle of Cagliostro, when Lupin and Jigen encounter the ruins of the Cagliostro family castle. And the elderly groundskeeper who speaks to them? He is voiced by the same Japanese actor who voiced the Grandfather in Heidi.

Better learn your Ghibli Riffs, kids.

P.S. I've been holding onto that Heidi screenshot on my computers since 2005, when I bought a Taiwan DVD Heidi box set and watched the whole series. No, there were no English subtitles, which was unfortunate, but I was able to follow pretty easily in my crummy toddler-level Japanese grammar skills. I'm still not any better.

Video: Heidi Meets Super Mario Kart

This Heidi-meets-Super-Mario-Kart video never gets old. It always leaves me with a big, silly grin. Why can't somebody make a real video game like this? I'd pay good money to play. Wouldn't you? Of course, you would.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps #01 (English Subtitles)

It took four decades, but we finally have the Heidi series with English subtitles. Much thanks to the dedication and hard work of the fansub community, who worked across many years and several different parties to provide us with the final, and most significant, masterwork of Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki, and Yoichi Kotabe. This landmark series spearheaded Japan's anime boom in the 1970s, and became an international success around the world. Heidi may be the first truly "global" anime series.

I've raved about this classic series enough times, so I don't feel the need to add to the hype. I've long argued that the three World Masterpiece Theater series of the 1970s - 1974's Heidi, Girl of the Alps; 1976's 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (Marco); 1979's Anne of Green Gables - are the true masterpieces of the Takahata/Miyazaki canon. The Studio Ghibli movies owe everything to these three, like short novellas derived from the great epics. And everything comes back to Heidi.

To all of the Ghibli Freaks out there who are weeping over the retirement of Hayao Miyazaki and the fading away of Studio Ghibli, have we got a surprise for you. You thought you've seen everything? You've only scratched the surface.  Here's the first episode of Heidi, with 51 more episodes to follow. After that, 52 episodes of Marco, 50 episodes of Anne...oh, and 26 episodes of Future Boy Conan. Why the heck don't Western Miyazaki fans know about Future Boy Conan? Isn't that the weirdest thing?

Ah, well. Here is episode one of Heidi, presented with English subtitles. Isao Takahata was the director, Hayao Miyazaki the scene designer and "idea man," and Yoichi Kotabe the animation director and "character designer" (the first time this term was used in an anime production, coined by Takahata).

Overnight Thread ("The Story of Heidi")

One of the great cruelties for animation lovers is how Heidi, Girl of the Alps - the landmark anime series created by Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yoichi Kotabe - became an international success everywhere in in the world, except for the United States. For reasons that remain unknown, this classic cartoon series was never broadcast on our shores.

However, there was this one exception: a "greatest hits" movie compilation of Heidi which appeared on VHS. I don't yet know who was responsible for publishing the title, or who produced the English language dub. The videocassette is long out-of-print and a rare find on Ebay. If you find a copy, expect to pay a hundred dollars or more.

Here is "The Story of Heidi" in its entirety. It skims over the 1974 TV series fairly well, thanks to the concise structure of the original children's novel, and Takahata's expert pacing. I do believe he was also responsible for the "movie" versions of Heidi, Marco and Anne, although he was never very happy with the idea of truncating his masterworks. But business is business.

Let's see how busy I am tomorrow, and if we can't get a few posts published Monday. Enjoy the Heidi video!

Heidi Kart - Mt. Uncle

Reader Vinicius Pires passed along this terrific and funny mash-up of Mario Kart 8 and an episode of Heidi, Girl of the Alps. The bananas are an especially nice touch.

Now can we please discuss when someone intends to release Heidi in the USA? The Blu-Ray box set has been available in Japan for a couple years now, fully restored from the original 35mm camera negatives. Every other country in the world grew up with this anime masterpiece. Everyone except the Americans. An English language dub exists for broadcast in India, and a fan translation was released last year. This is not an impossible problem to solve. It only requires willpower.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps - DVD vs Blu-Ray

Completing this trilogy of Heidi-themed posts, I'd like to show some DVD and Blu-Ray comparison photos.  I wish there were more shots available, but this is a good start.  You can see how sharp and colorful the new box set looks.  Details, textures and colors are far more vivid than ever before, and Heidi appears almost timeless.  This series could have been created today., and I'm amazed at the sheer scale of work that was required to bring it all together.  Is this the definitive Takahata-Miyazaki anime?  Add in 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother and Anne of Green Gables, and I'll proudly say, yes.

Studio Ghibli's movies are like wonderfully condensed short stories.  Heidi, Marco, Anne...these are the epic novels.

Photos - Heidi, Girl of the Alps (Japan Blu-Ray)

Some screenshots of the new Heidi, Girl of the Alps Blu-Ray box set.  It really looks fantastic, thanks to a newly-struck 35mm master (expanded from the original 16mm film negative).  Perhaps, if we're lucky enough, some publishers will pick up the series for release around the world.  That shouldn't be too difficult, since Heidi was exported to nearly every corner of the globe in the 1970s.

The picture quality is nothing short of amazing.  The older DVD version looks terrible, awful, washed-out.  This new version smashes it with a hammer.  I loved the paintery look of classic anime, the brushstrokes of the background artwork, the rich color tones.  Something significant was lost when animators put down their paintbrushes and pencils, and embraced the computer.  I would be thrilled to see what today's generation of animators could achieve if they were challenged to create a series like Heidi.

Heidi, Girl of the Alps Arrives on Blu-Ray

Last month, Japan was handed the coolest Christmas present in the History of Ever - Heidi, Girl of the Alps on Blu-Ray disc.  This massive box set is horrifyingly expensive (the Amazon.jp page literally shows an arm and a leg), but the package is extremely impressive.  The 52-episode series is remastered from a newly-struck 35mm film print (converted from 16mm), pressed onto nine discs.  Also included are three booklets containing interviews with all the major players of the series - director Isao Takahata, layout maestro Hayao Miyazaki, character designer Yoichi Kotabe, and others.

The picture quality is fantastic.  I can confidently say that Heidi has never looked better, even on television in 1974.  The DVD version is embarrassing by comparison; faded colors, scratches and smudges everywhere, an over-reliance on heavy contrast and edge enhancement.  I suspect this is a key reason why anime fans are so reluctant to touch the classic series from the 1970s.  Everything looks so terrible!  Thank God for Bandai Visual for their BD release.

Sadly, tragically, and all-too predictably, there are no English subtitles.  Heidi remains the sole anime in the Takahata-Miyazaki canon to not be translated into English.  And it just happens to be their most important work in their career.  D'oh!  Let's hope the fan-translators can deliver the goods this year.

I cannot overstate the importance of Heidi to Japanese anime.  Is there a greater anime milestone than Heidi?  Maybe Horus, maybe Lupin III, maybe Akira.  My two great wishes for this year: the Heidi Fansub finally emerges, and the Heidi Blu-Ray box set is brought to the West.

More photos of the Heidi Blu-Ray box set are just after the jump, including photos of the Takahata/Miyazaki interviews:

Future Boy Conan and Heidi Coming to Blu-Ray

Excellent news for Miyazaki and Takahata fans in Japan!  Heidi, Girl of the Alps and Future Boy Conan are coming to Blu-Ray disc this holiday season.  Both series have been expected to make the leap to the high definition format, and there were reports that new 35mm prints have been struck for the BD box sets.  I have no doubt that people are going to be stunned at the picture quality.

The Heidi and Conan BD box sets are outrageously expensive - 36,000 Yen ($451.86) for Heidi, 32,000 Yen ($401.66) for Conan - and there are no English subtitles.  This is purely for the Japanese market.  That said, I would hope that other parties emerge to release these series for release in the West.  Heidi became an international sensation, after all, so there definitely is a global market.

Future Boy Conan will be released on November 25, 2011, and Heidi, Girl of the Alps will be released on December 22, 2011.  Yeah, I know, two weeks from now, the economy will have collapsed and we'll all be eating rats by tire fire under a bridge, but it's still nice to dream about the future.

Much thanks to reader Joel Gutheil, who send me an email about the Conan box set.

Heidi 2011 Fansub Project is Here!

Yes, at long last, a new Heidi fansub project is underway!

Heidi, Girl of the Alps is arguably the crowning achievements in the careers of Isao Takahata, Hayao Miyazaki and Yoichi Kotabe.  It's certainly the archetype for the Studio Ghibli films, and it did as much to bring Japanese anime to the outside world as anything.  Indeed, Americans are only now catching up to what the rest of the world has known about for the last 35 years.  Every major region of the world has broadcast Heidi on television...every region except the United States.

Now, at long last, I hope we can resolve this problem, at least among the faithful.  The perfect news would be Heidi on American TV, with an official release on Blu-Ray and DVD.  Unfortunately, that is most likely never going to happen.  It's just too expensive to import a 52 episode series, then translate and dub the scripts into English.  You would need the backing of a major Hollywood studio like Disney, and they're not about to invest money in an anime from 1974.  So, once again, we turn to the fansub community to bring one of the greatest anime masterpieces to a receptive audience.

As for specifics on the 2011 Heidi Fansub Project, I'm afraid I have little news to report.  I can tell you that all 52 episodes have been translated into English, and this was completed late last year.  The translator handed the scripts to a fansub group, which has made Heidi their top priority.  As to what this means for dates, and when we can expect the series to be finished, this is still a mystery.  I will investigate and follow up on this, and hopefully we will have more good news to report.

I've been spending much of my weekend trying to chop up and upload the first episode of Heidi to Youtube.  I have copies of episodes 1-4 from a 2007 fansub project.  That project has since stalled and it appears to have disappeared completely.  The same fate befell another fansub group who was working to translate 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (aka Marco); they quit after a half-dozen episodes.  I'm pointing this out as a reminder and a caution: this is very long and hard work.  And this is the work of dedicated volunteers.

I think 2011 will be different.  We have the English-language scripts, and this is always the biggest hurdle in any fansub project.  The rest is just coding.  Because of this, I am confident that we will finally see Heidi this year.  This will be the final major work from the Takahata/Miyazaki canon to be translated into English.  All of their directorial work dating back to Horus, Prince of the Sun (1968) to today will be available to an English-speaking audience.  That is an achievement!  I can't wait.

Nissan Japan Spoof - "Fuel Effecient Heidi"

This is definitely one of the goofier finds from my regular scouring of the Youtubes. In 2009, Nissan promoted their line of fuel-efficient cars by spoofing perennial Japanese anime favorite - Heidi, Girl of the Alps.

Nissan's Heidi spoof is rendered in chunky 3D graphics, almost something you'd expect to find on a Nintendo 64. The tv spots are pretty short, while the website features longer "episodes," where perky Heidi irritates the hell out of everyone by relentlessly barking out the same question, "What is fuel efficiency?"

Trust me on this - Heidi isn't nearly as annoying on the original show as she is in these ads. Maybe that's just the way she rubbed off to the hipsters in Japan. Considering that they grew up watching this series, to say nothing of its immense popularity and influence, it would make sense for the hipsters to give it the Family Guy treatment. Hmm....come to think of it, just when is Family Guy going to spoof Heidi? Do I have to send Seth MacFarlane my DVD box set? 'Cause I will.

You can visit Nissan Japan's website and watch all the Heidi material that's available.

Heidi and Marco Retail Links Updated

I finally updated the links to the Taiwan box sets for Heidi and Marco.  The Taiwan site, jsdvd.com, changed their web domains, and that's why the old links no longer worked.  No worries, both series, and many other World Masterpiece Theatre productions, are available for sale.

Once again, to remind everyone, 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother does include English subtitles.  Heidi, Girl of the Alps does not include subtitles.  The odds of any Western release, unfortunately, remain slim to none.  The costs involved with scoring an English-language soundtrack with a full cast would be too expensive.  Maybe we should mail a Marco DVD box set to John Lasseter?  Anyone have the mailing address? Heh heh...

Riffs - Heidi, Girl of the Alps

This shot from episode three of Heidi was riffed by Miyazaki in the stunning flashback scene in Nausicaa.  Both scenes are remarkable to watch, even though the emotional overtones are completely different.  Both share an almost dreamlike quality, presented in visual styles that dart in unique directions.  This willingness to shift gears is a trademark of the Studio Ghibli films.

Riffs - Heidi, Girl of the Alps

Heidi is the motherlode for Ghibli Freaks, especially once you've seen all of Takahata and Miyazaki's later films.  When I watched the entire series, I tried my best to take notes of all the riffs, and at some point I just lost track.  In nearly every episode of Heidi, at least one shot has been quoted in later work.  We'll see how many of these we can chronicle.

I think I'll start at the beginning and work my way up from there, at least until my old supply of photos is spent.

Episode #1 of Heidi was endlessly mined for riffs.  We've seen some examples here, here, here and here.  And let's not forget where Peter originated from.  Whew!

Here's the next trio of riffs from the pilot episode.  This first one is one of the many brilliant nature shots in the series, a Takahata staple.  The shot of the bees polinating flowers is seen again in episode three of Anne of Green Gables, during that wonderful musical interlude of Anne's wandering imagination across her landscape.

These momentary reflections is one of Heidi's greatest strengths, and allows us to fully enter this world, not merely as escapist fantasy, but as a means of depicting everyday life.  Many of the daily events appear to unfold in real time, and it's that naturalist style that stays with me.  Takahata's documentary realism is the perfect antidote to the endless visual assaults of today's Hollywood movies.  It's enough to make you want to visit the Swiss Alps and run through the hills.

The second riff is probably the highlight of the first episode.  Heidi, who was made to wear her entire wardrobe for the journey to her grandfather's, finally sheds everything and starts running up the mountain with Peter and the goats.  The theme music swells, everyone is laughing, the goats are jumping and hopping about....it's the moment where Takahata, Kotabe, and Miyazaki are most triumphant.

This shot is quoted at the very end of Pom Poko, and it's a similar moment of liberation and celebration.  The tone in Pom Poko is far more tragic, of course (being the story of a native people who are swallowed by the invading culture), but this moment is a happy one.

Our third and final riff also hails from this moment in Heidi.  This is probably the most debatable one, but the shot from Nausicaa, of clothes scattered about the ground, had the same compositional feel as the shot from Heidi.  The spirit and mood are very different between the two, however, so it's a point worth arguing.  I think it's close enough to qualify for the drinking game, so it gets a thumbs-up from me.

The Heidi Fansub Project Needs Your Help!

Excellent news, everybody!  Heidi is being translated by the Minor Ja Nai fansub group.  Progress has been extremely slow, but the first four episodes have been completed.  And, as you can see by the first screenshot, they are in desperate need of translators.  Contact them on irc (#minor_ja_nai@irc.irchighway.net).

There are so many anime clubs and websites across America, that translating Heidi should be an easy task.  This remains the one major work from Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki's career that is still not available in English.  And this is the motherlode, the crowning masterpiece, the landmark series that gave birth to the anime boom in Japan and throughout the world..

I have argued my case for Heidi (and Marco) fansubs, so everybody knows where I stand.  And many of you have offered to help.  Now I can direct you to the right people.  Don't forget that you can download the "raw" Heidi episodes, so you can get to work on the translations.  Do whatever you can to help.

We Need Fansubs For Heidi and Marco!

This is a little shout-out to the fansubbers out there. We have a website that hosts the raw files for many classic anime series, including two masterpieces from the Isao Takahata-Hayao Miyazaki canon - Heidi, Girl of the Alps and 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (Marco).

The Live-Evil fansub group that has been slowwwly working on translating Marco, and they are currently up to episode 12. Unfortunately, this project has been moving at a snail's pace, and 3000 Leagues remains a low priority. They need some help.

Heidi needs help most of all. Currently, no effort has been made to translate and fansub Heidi. Supposedly, there was one attempt made many years ago, but only the first episode was tackled. That translated episode has since been lost.

This site contains the downloadable raw files for Heidi and Marco. I would ask anyone who is willing to pitch in and help. Do get in contact with the Live-Evil crew if you can. If they were provided with translations, that would help immensely. Or perhaps more fansub groups would like to join in?

No English subtitles for Heidi exist anywhere in the world. The Taiwanese DVD box set for 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother is the only version to include English subtitles, so I would strongly suggest buying that DVD set and revise those subs.

I think this is a very doable project, if we work steadily to chip down these behemoths. There should be enough global demand, and these two series are landmarks in television anime. We should make it a priority to get it done this year. So what do we say?