The Man Never Takes a Break

Now that Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea is complete and awaiting its release next month, what is Hayao Miyazaki's next move? Another series of short films for the Ghibli Museum. Hah! The man seriously never takes a break.

Just to give you an example of the legendary Miyazaki Work Ethic, during the production of Ponyo, he also found the time to design and build a children's nursery, a giant city clock, and restore a vintage Japanese inn. Now it's off to the next two or three short films. Is it possible for Miyazaki to be working harder in his 60s?

This never ceases to amaze me. It's too bad that, as an American, I'll never see any of Miyazaki's Ghibli Museum short films during his lifetime (I predict these movies will see global distribution after his passing), but it is endlessly inspiring to see these things happen. Japanese children are so lucky....

Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea - Plot & Casting

It's long overdue for some news on Ponyo, so here's something nice to keep us happy for a while. This comes courtesy of GhibliWorld, which has always been the go-to place for the latest news from Japan. Look at that! New images!

The voice cast for Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea includes two newcomers in the lead roles, 8-year-olds Doi Hiroki and Nara Yuria. This is in keeping with Ghibli's long tradition, gleamed from the Italian Neo-Realists, of casting non-actors in key roles. This always adds a sheen of authenticity to the movies, especially for child actors. A quick glance at the Disney Channel (which is just about all you can stand before your brain hurts) shows you just how cheesy and hoary child over-acting can become.

The first cast member announced for the production is the jazz/pop singer Yano Akiko. She's a particular favorite of mine, and likely yours as well. What's that? Not familiar with the name? Yano Akiko created the music for Takahata's My Neighbors the Yamadas. Ahh! Now you recall! Her bouncy songs are one of the great joys of Yamadas.

The release date for Ponyo is closing fast, and by the end of next month Japanese audiences will be lined around the block once again for Miyazaki. But what about the US release? When will that be? Toshio Suzuki paid a visit to the States last month for discussions about the Disney/Pixar version. Frank Marshall and Kathleen Kennedy were selected as the producers. No word yet on cast or release date, but I would seriously expect next summer.

Will Disney actually bother to show Ponyo on more than 200 screens this time? Who knows? Best to round up everyone to see Wall-E enough times for Pixar to earn more clout among the stiffs. No doubt if Lasseter and crew had their way, every Ghibli movie would be playing on every multiplex in North America.

Finally, Studio Ghibli has released a short synopsis of Ponyo's plot. Thankfully, very little is revealed (the first movie trailer was also deliberately mysterious), but the second trailer set for mid-July will provide more details. Enjoy:

"One day, Ponyo gets on jellyfish and runs away from home. Ponyo meets Sosuke, and they become good friends. But, Ponyo is taken back in the sea by her father who was a human being once but became a resident of the sea. But, Ponyo who wishes to meet Sosuke again causes a storm using the magic of father and goes to meet Sosuke with a massive tsunami..."

Grave of the Fireflies DVD Reissue

Isao Takahata's best known movie to the Western world, Grave of the Fireflies, will finally be released in Japan under Studio Ghibli's Ghibli Ga Ippai label. In Japan, Hotaru no Haka was released only on Warner Home Video, for reasons I've never understood. Now, Takahata's antiwar masterpiece will return home where it belongs.

Grave of the Fireflies is scheduled for release on August 6. Yes, that's correct, August 6. A briliant move, I'd say, to tie in one of Japan's most important reqiems about World War II with the anniversary of Hiroshima. And just like in America, that generation is passing away into history, and it becomes more and more important that future generations never forget.

It is no small coincidence that as Japan's WWII generation fades away, the younger population is champing more and more for a re-constituted army and a military buildup. This is becoming a major issue in Japan, and I think we're all aware of the destabalizing effects upon the region if Japan were to rebuild its military.

Hmm...perhaps the notoriously anti-war Miyazaki and Takahata are taking this opportunity to remind their people, young and old, of the horrors of war and the terrible cost of Japan's militarism. This was, after all, one of the over-arching themes Miyazaki brought to his Howl's Moving Castle. Japan's pacifism is a model to the world. I would argue that it was this choice, to beat their swords into plowshares, that enabled the country to ascend so quickly as a modern industrialized nation. Every dollar spent on bombs, guns and tanks, is one dollar less for the people, for the economy, for science and research and technology. One only need look at Bush-Cheney America in 2008 for proof. Enjoy your five-dollar gas, folks.

Ahem. I'm getting carried away. But that's what great art does. It sparks the needed discussions about the heavy issues. Grave of the Fireflies does this masterfully.

Now onto the new Ghibli DVD. Fireflies will be a two-disc set, like all the other films. The picture will be digitally remastered and should be notably improved from the old version. Six interviews, including Takahata and other staff members, will be audio only. Also included are location photos from the production, concept art, and newly-filmed e-konte (the finished storyboards, also a Ghibli DVD standard).

The first edition of the DVD will also include an audio CD recording of the original Hotaru no Haka novel, read by the actor Hashizume Isao. This will be the one to get for collectors, and this will become another treasured part of our Ghibli collections.

Will this movie be released on Blu-Ray? Not now. There are no plans announced, as Ghibli is still dipping their toes in the water, but the end of the format war does mean we should expect the Ghibli features to make their migration sooner or later. Still, I wouldn't expect to hear anything for at least another year or so. Once the Blu-Ray format reaches a critical mass, and standard DVD's begin to fade, then we'll see the jump.

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Two short thoughts about the new Grave of the Fireflies DVD. Since Ghibli Ga Ippai is handled by Disney as part of the global distribution deal, this does open the door for Disney to release the DVD in the West. Unfortunately, I wouldn't see that as very likely, considering their unwillingness to release Omohide Poro Poro or Umi Ga Kikoeru on our shores. It's a safe bet you won't be seeing Fireflies with a Disney label on the box at your nearest Wal-Mart.

Our hope, as always, lies in John Lasseter and Pixar, those great artists who have been pulling for Studio Ghibli in America for years. It all depends upon their leverage and how much influence they would have in the Disney corporate structure. Which means, kids...we've all got to march out to the theatres this summer for Wall-E. You know my mantra. Pixar needs a big summer hit. More clout, more power, more freedom and leeway. And every one of the studio's films since Finding Nemo has earned fewer dollars. This downward trend needs to stop now.

I've often wondered why Disney just didn't issue Ghibli's catalog on a seperate Ghibli Collection label. They'll get the money either way, and having at least one degree of seperation would make it easier - for this backwards fundamentalist nation of ours - to present the studio's wide-ranging library to the public. But that's just my take.

Second and final thought about Fireflies. In the US and Canada, we have the excellent Grave of the Fireflies DVD from Central Park Media. It's a terrific two-disc set that was given lush treatment, including a dialog by two historians - one American, one Japanese - on the firebombing campaigns in WWII, and a short commentary by critic Roger Ebert. Ebert, you may or may not know, was the first major critic in America to champion Studio Ghibli, long before anyone else bothered to pay attention. His thoughts are some of the best insights about Japanese animation I've ever heard, and should probably be required viewing for every person you're trying to convert into a full-blooded Ghibli Freak.

CPM also digitally remastered the picture quality on their disc, and included a short video describing it. They did an excellent job, and I'm curious to see if Ghibli's DVD will be any better. Everything looks and sounds brilliant, the menus are well designed, and it all rolls up into one excellent package. I've long regarded this as the finest anime DVD in the Americas. This is exactly how Studio Ghibli movies should be presented in the West.

So the question for you is, then, would you want to import the new DVD in August? It all depends on how hardcore your devotion is. If you don't have the CPM two-disc version - skip the cheap single-disc version - you'll probably be fine with that. As for me, I'll definitely be pulling out the plastic come August. I've gone a long time without any Ghibli DVD's, so I'm overdue big time. I can't put all my money into my turntable and records, right?

Ghibli Blog Update

A short and much-needed message for everyone who visits the Ghibli Blog. I've been without internet connection this past month. Again. Sigh. Fortunately, my money woes these past few months are past me now, so hopefully I'll be able to get that damned bill ($60/month) paid off.

Perhaps I should add a PayPal button to Conversations on Ghibli and ask for donations....hmm, maybe. We'll see. If every visitor to this site donated one lonely dollar, my internet connection would be paid in full.

As soon as I get back online, I'll get busy on uploading Anne of Green Gables episodes. I want to have the entire series available for viewing. And I really wish I could find that video splicing program I once had, so I could extract all the episodes of 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother...with the subtitles, of course. Talk to you soon!

Ponyo on the Festival Circuit?

Here's the Ghibli-themed question on my mind these days: Will Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea be screened at this year's Venice Film Festival? And will it appear at any other prominent movie fests?

I'm asking this because, well, as dedicated Ghibli Freaks, we're never satisfied with waiting an extra year or two for the Disney-distributed, Pixar-produced US release. What Miyazaki fan will be able to resist the allure of the internet...and you know exactly what I am alluding to...and wait patiently for Ponyo to be swept under the rug on a small handful of screens, the same way Disney buried Howl's Moving Castle and Spirited Away? No bloody way in hell.

But for the West, it's a given that Miyazaki's latest opus will make its appearance at Venice. It's a Ghibli tradition by now. I'm wondering if this will happen this year, or in 2009. The movie will be released in Japan this July, so it will be very fresh and playing to sold-out shows by September.

It also helps that I have this blog, which makes me a standing member of the press. Just speaking personally, I'd really like to visit Venice. Ha ha.

Ollie Johnson Dies at 95

Word comes from Cartoon Brew on the passing of Ollie Johnson, that last surviving member of Walt Disney's famed "Nine Old Men." Truly the end of an era.

Anne Update

The reason I wanted to post as many Anne episodes as I could is that, sooner or later, we'd run out of episodes on YouTube. It seems after eight episodes we've hit that wall. There is a video for Anne #9, but the video is terribly compressed and not worth watching. So what I'll do is simply upload my copies of the episodes.

Ugh...the rest of the family is sitting through Robots right now. I really can't sit through another loud and dumb Dreamworks cartoon, especially one with Robin Williams. Remember when he was actually funny? Remember when animation didn't always follow the same stupid formula? I feel like I've seen the same cartoon over and over and over. No thanks. I'd rather listen to Miles or go play outside...or watch Anne.

So more episodes on the way, as soon as I can upload them.

Ponyo - Trailer April 19, Movie July 19

Very short update, folks. Studio Ghibli's theatrical trailer for Miyazaki's Ponyo on a Cliff by the Sea will be released on April 19. I have no doubts that it will appear online almost immediately after. I'll keep my eyes peeled for YouTube, DailyMotion, Veos, and the other usual suspects.

Ghibli has also set the film's release date at July 19, and they are scrambling away to meet that final deadline. All reports are that Miyazaki and crew will hand in their homework on time, and it will be glorious as always.

GhibliWorld, as always, has all the latest news on Ponyo, so I suggest heading over there. Don't worry, none of us are spoiling anything, so there's no concern about losing the surprise as so many Hollywood movie previews do. Augh! We Americans will have to wait until next summer for this? I'm sure the meetings at Pixar are already underway...

Quote of the Day

"Frankly, I would rather have people thinking Americans were “not that bright” than to have them thinking Americans are all as smug and obnoxious as a certain self-appointed ambassador of animation who will remain nameless.

Oh, what the hell: Daniel Thomas MacInnes."

-Steven Finch, Attorney at Law, as posted on Cartoon Brew

Ghiblies (1999) - The First One

Thanks to (edit: DailyMotion), here is the original 1999 Ghiblies short from Studio Ghibli. This little film, a loose collection of short segments based around a spoof of the famed studio. It was created for television as a creative outlet for the younger members of the studio, free from the shackles of working on a Miyazaki or Takahata feature film. It's very short - about 12 minutes long - but very enjoyable. Ghiblies Episode 2, naturally, completely blows it away, but that's to be expected.

I was surprised that the original Ghiblies (pronounced gee-bleez) was not included on the Ghibli Short Short DVD. The only official release remains a long out-of-print laserdisk. Strange, but maybe the studio just wanted to give the hardcore fans something to search for. Enjoy!

Ghiblies Episode 2

Back to business. Here's Studio Ghibli's 2002 short film, Ghiblies Episode 2. This appeared as the opening act of the double bill with Neko no Ongaeshi, aka The Cat Returns. Both films are included on the Japanese DVD, which will really roil those of you who bought the US Disney DVD. Why Ghiblies 1 wasn't included on the disc when it was perfectly available and ready to roll is a mystery.

Anyway, watch and enjoy. One of my favorites from Ghibli.

A Couple Lame Thoughts About John and James Whitney

As an artist and great lover of animation, I'm always digging around, trying to find whatever great new discoveries lay waiting. Through my stubbornness, I've uncovered Hayao Miyazaki, Isao Takahata, and the whole Studio Ghibli realm. I've also digged up the '70s era of psychedelic animation that somehow snuck onto Sesame Street when I was a kid. And now I've found two great pioneers in computer graphics animation.

When we think of computer animation, we'll either think of Pixar, or the early '80s era of Pac-Man and Max Hedroom. It's hard to remember there were computers before microprocessors, back when they were those large, bulky mainframes, filling up entire basements and secretly plotting to kill astronauts. And yet, even in those days, and in earlier days still, great artists like James and John Whitney.

Here, watch these abstract short films. I tried to post them in chronological order from the first post, from 1957 to 1975. Then somebody, please, explain to me how these computer graphics were created.

Animation World Magazine wrote an outstanding article on John Whitney, which you can read here. I'll be scanning through myself, and scanning through the Google realms for more answers. I don't feel quite like offering long commentary just yet. I really don't know more than you will after watching. Other than amazement and wonder, and a sense of "what the heck was that?! And what else you got?"

I am aware that John Whitney's work, as demonstrated on the demo reel Catalog from 1961 (!!), proved a great inspiration for Douglas Trumball's amazing slit-scan effects for 2001: A Space Odyssey (side note: you must see 2001 on a big screen or your life will be a failure). I've also discovered that Arabesque, from 1975, was created with Larry Cuba, who went on to create the computer animation sequence of the Death Star in the original Star Wars. Oooh....trippy.

Does anyone have any stories or wisdom to share? I'd love to hear them from the older animators who visit here. Let's start a Whitney Blog-a-Thon, people!

Until later, then...enjoy these films. They're magnificent.

Update on the Miyazaki Comics - More to Come

I wanted to post a short follow-up on the Miyazaki comics that were posted this weekend. For whatever reasons, most likely my lack of recent posts, I decided I would just dump everything that's sitting on my computer and share them with everyone. This is something I was probably planning to do more slowly, one at a a time, but these things always run away from you, and real life intervenes. So that's why we're seeing so much at once.

I should also say that I'm not finished. There are still several more comics to share with you, and it's only the stubbornness of Blogger that has kept me back. This is also, by the way, the reason I threw up Heidi...which then led to one of my rambling commentaries. Yadda yadda.

So, anyway, here's what's on deck for the Ghibli blog. I have some pages from the newspaper comics version of Toei's Puss in Boots and Animal Treasure Island. These comics, of course, were drawn by Miyazaki. These are the earliest Miyazaki comics I've yet discovered on the internet.

Next up is the 1969-70 adventure manga People of the Desert. I've mentioned it before once or twice here on the blog, just to point out one of the riffs (the hero's sidekick returns in '74 as Heidi's friend Peter). It's a fairly long saga, a little over two dozen pages...which are very, very wide. The web page that originally posted these (from many years ago) included a translation of the text, so I'll probably be best served by posting in installments.

Stuck on my draft file is another gem in Miyazaki's canon, a 15-page short story called The Return of Hans. It's watercolor and appears alike other comics like the Porco Rosso one and Air Meal. It tells the story of a young spectalced pig (of course) who tries to sneak his tank crew back home across enemy lines in WWII. He picks up a small family, including our beloved Heroine. They are mistakenly attacked by the Americans, they are chased by the Nazis, and they eventually wind up carrying an entire small town. It's great fun.

Finally, there's Miyazaki's most recent work, a watercolor comic that appeared in a recent reprint of Robert Westall's "Blackham's Wimpy." I've mentioned that one before on the blog, too, and I finally found a full translation, which I'm sure you'll enjoy. It's very multi-dimensional and rich and deep, and concludes with the master filmmaker speaking with the author he so admired. The two never met in life (Westall died a number of years ago), so this is an imagined meeting between the two. I think it's as touching and honest as Miyazaki's best work.

Let's see...there still is another one of his books, a minor work called Shuna's Journey. This full-color manga was written in the early '80s, around the time Nausicaa had begun, and works along a parallel theme. Many of its elements would be absorbed into the Nausicaa universe. Goro Miyazaki...sigh...well, let's just say he stole from this work in his lousy movie. I don't have the entire story, so I'll have to dig around and see if I can track that down before posting. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Oh, and somewhere along the line I'm supposed to keep posting videos. I really want to get through Lupin III in a timely fashion, then start seriously getting to work on one of the other shows. Maybe Conan, maybe Anne. But we'll make a serious effort at getting to the bottom of things.

TV Review: Heidi, Girl of the Alps, Episode 1 - Some Thoughts

Welcome, one and all, to one of the greatest truimphs in the careers of Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki. This is the first episode of 1974's Heidi, Girl of the Alps. I'm afraid that no English subtitles or dub exist for this show. We'll just have to soldier on as best we can.

Perhaps, even, this would be a great opportunity for all devoted fans to work on translating the script. The internet is perfect for something like this. working together, editing a collective work that otherwise would be lost. The fansub community does so much, but still there's much of anime's rich history that remains beyond their reach. So share and pass along, kids!

This series marked a triumph after many years of struggle and toil. The starting point, as always, was Horus, Prince of the Sun, in 1968. After the movie's failure at the box office, Takahata was ousted from the director's chair at Toei. He would not direct again until he and Miyazaki joined the rest of the gang at A Pro with Lupin III in 1971 and '72. Even then, the two served as the "directing team" - although you can pretty easily tell which of the Lupin episodes were Miyazaki's, and which were Takahata's.

Takahata wanted to bring anime into the realm of literature, of character drama, and away from the American Disney formula. Several projects aimed to move in this direction, and I suppose you could include the infamous Pipi Longstockings project, which fell through and brought back to live as Panda Kopanda. But they were really only steps to that final destination, movements towards the promised land that Horus (and Hilda especially) proclaimed.

With Heidi, Takahata finally had the means to achieve his goals. A rich literary work from Europe, known to all the world, and paced just perfectly for a 52-episode television series. Heidi is perfect for adaptation; the ideal test for the skilled filmmaker to draw upon its pages and pull out all those necessary details that bring it to life. Which is to say he or she must also interpret a work, for they must build upon it and stretch it out. I don't believe that a film or tv adaptation that follows a book to the letter, and nothing more, would be poor. But it would be missing...something. The animation medium aims to bring us into these worlds, deeper and more immersive than ever before.


With Heidi, Takahata Isao demonstrates his mastery of this form. It is no coincidence that nearly all of his works have been adaptations from outside. Only Pom Poko, Ghibli's 1994 film, was an original. Horus really got the ball rolling, but it's Heidi that earns the title "masterpiece." From here, it's only a matter of connecting the dots; from Heidi to Marco; from Marco to Anne; from Anne to Ghibli. I don't think it's possible, really, to get to the depth of Studio Ghibli without getting to depth with Heidi, Marco, and Anne. You're hearing the notes, but not the music.

A little bit about who did what. Heidi is often regarded as a Takahata-Miyazaki work alone, or sometimes credited solely to Miyazaki. This is just ignorance rearing its head, since the master filmmaker who gave us Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro is the most easily recognized. We're still piecing together their history in 2008.

Hayao Miyazaki's role in Heidi was a crucial one, and it shaped his own work immensely. He served on layout and continuity. Incredibly, he worked the layout on every episode of the entire series! This was unprecedented, and demonstrates to his single-minded obsessiveness towards his work. He would perform the same duties in 1976 with 3000 Leagues in Search of Mother, and the first 13 episodes of Anne of Green Gables, before leaving for Telecom, where Castle of Cagliostro awaits.

Layout is pretty simple. It means you create the landscapes and environments for each scene. You're the set designer, of sorts. This is necessary for creating a believable landscape; you need to believe that you're inside the home of Heidi's grandfather, and know where everything is placed. Likewise, you need to believe you really are in Frankfurt, as a three-dimensional place, and not simply a series of drawings.

Takahata's documentary neo-realism is totally dependent on successful layout. And Miyazaki provided that in droves. He created endless drawings, from every conceivable angle, and all in immense detail. We've seen Miyazaki's drawings for storyboards and e-konte at Ghibli. Now imagine that level of attention brought to a 52-episode series, not a 2-hour movie. Then add in the level of creative input this degree of creative control permits. The result is almost staggering. No single person has ever repeated the same feat. And remember, Miyazaki performed this not once...but twice.

Yasuji Mori, the "soul of Toei Doga," was originally part of the team, but illness forced him to withdraw. He did, however, make one notable contribution, and that's the shot of Heidi and Peter dancing at the opening. He filmed Miyazaki and Yoichi Kotabe and then animated from there. It's too bad that Mori couldn't continue, since he was such a towering giant at Toei. If he had stayed, the look and style of Heidi would be greatly different.


Instead, that role was fulfilled by Yoichi Kotabe, and his equally talented wife, Reiko Okuyama, by his side. Takahata gave Kotabe the title of Character Designer, the first for anime. It's safe to say that this remains his best-known work...unless you included Pikachu, I guess. Is there a more universal, iconic anime character than Heidi? One more immediately known around the world? Kotabe's style is fairly iconic, working with simple gestures, but it's extremely effective. It's also very diverse, as the series shows Heidi and everyone else in an endless array of poses and angles. This isn't the simple cartoon drawing style of, say, Hanna-Barbara. Westerners still tethered to the Walt Disney paradigm of animation will complain, but if you can get past that, and understand another paradigm, one that is more natural, one more resembling manga and comics, you'll come to appreciate this show.

I think Kotabe outdid himself on Marco, with an even larger and more diverse case, but it's hard to top Heidi, Peter, and Clara...and the Grandfather, and Joseph the dog, and...well, you get the idea.

The pilot episode is, as I've said, a triumph. It is nothing less than Isao Takahata's vindication, his final definitive victory over the Toei studio, those clueless suits who could never imagine anything beyond Disney. But Takahata saw beyond that, to the modern anime era, and with Heidi he exploded those boundaries further, ushering in an era of literary anime shows, emotionally complex character drama, and a documentary realism and attention to detail unsurpassed. Heidi unleashed the annual series World Masterpiece Theatre, a jewel of Japanese animation for 25 years.

For me, this pilot episode is a thrill to watch - as thrilling as the opening scene with the wolves in Horus. All of the elements of the series are on display, all the main characters are introduced, and we quickly find that these are people we like. We're going to like Heidi and Peter, and Heidi's Grandfather, for once, is not an ominous creature to be feared, but a strong, resilient man of few words. The dramatic scene between Grandfather and Heidi's aunt will be replayed again at the end of Act One, with all the expected emotions and tears.

And hardcore Ghibli freaks will have a field day spotting all the riffs. I counted around a half-dozen. Maybe you'll find more. There's Heidi running up the hill, which was later quoted in the openings for Future Boy Conan and Anne of Green Gables. There's a closeup of grinning goats that reappears in My Neighbor Totoro. There's Heidi throwing her clothes all around and running up the hill, which we see again in Pom Poko and Nausicaa. There are pillow shots of nature, including one of bees over flowers that I also saw in Anne.

And there's the best Heidi riff of them all: The Heidi Tree - that low-angle shot of the giant trees near the episode's end. From Heidi's view, she is greeted with a massive trunk and branches stretching to the sky. It's an iconic shot, which reappears numerous times over the course of the series. And it's quoted and riffed again and again and again. Where else can you find The Heidi Tree? Future Boy Conan. Anne of Green Gables. Gauche the Cellist. Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind. Laputa: Castle in the Sky. My Neighbor Totoro. Umi ga Kikoeru. There may be more. You'll just have to see for yourself.

Heidi Episodes to Come...I Think...

I've been trying my hand at DailyMotion, and I've found quite a number of Takahata and Miyazaki anime that isn't available on YouTube. Problem is, the site is far more difficult to manage; posting and embedding videos on the blog is a real pain. YouTube is so amazingly easy to use - why can't others learn from their success?

In any case, I'm working on getting some episodes of Heidi up and running. At least the first episode, which was a genuine milestone for Takahata and Miyazaki. Heidi is, in so many ways, the archetype for Studio Ghibli, and it's pretty much impossible to imagine one without the other. And since we Americans are literally the last ones on Earth to know about this, I think it's high time we caught up to the rest of the world.

It's interesting to note that the entire Heidi series is posted on YouTube, but this is a Spanish-language dub for Mexico. There are also some Heidi clips in other languages throughout Europe. But little to nothing in the original Japanese. Weird. I'll have to get to work on uploading episodes...now if I can only remember what programs I used to rip and edit from my DVDs...hmmm....

UPDATE: Okay, duh. I'm an idiot. There is an embed code directly on the DailyMotion pages, just like YouTube. This is great news, folks. This means we're going to be watching a whole lot more anime, including some really great surprises. I have to head out to the gym and cook my leg in the hot tub; after that, we'll get to work on Heidi.