Alps no shoujo Heidi (Heidi, Girl of the Alps)

Based on the story by Johanna Spyri, this excellent anime has been voted by some as the all-time best anime tv series. I remember watching it when I was a kid but never had the chance to catch it again till I ventured across it on Ch8, on Thursdays, at 6am. Made in 1974 with simple animation, no special FX, no Mecha, no violence, no nudity, no big-eyed japanese school girls or dirty jokes...many ppl might find it dull but take some time to watch thru a few episodes and you'll be hooked. Very few anime nowadays can make you "feel" for the characters...well, Alps no shoujo Heidi draws you into it's characters, especially the innocence of the Heidi, the heroine. It's an unexplainable feeling, you will be moved, you'll cry, you'll laugh...you'll feel all warm and woozy inside....

It all falls into place when I found out that it's directed by Isao Takahata, with backgrounds and character designs by Hayao Miyazaki...no wonder it's so good....

Quoting from the review on Anime Colony: "...only sincerity can move the human heart, and this anime has sincerity and a lot of it. That's probably why it's such a wonderful anime even decades after it was first broadcast, despite having no major planet-shattering conflicts..."

From another site"...Without going into detail on the specifics which lend this work as a masterpiece to me, let me recommend it to anyone who was moved by Grave of the Fireflies or Omohide Poroporo, because despite the immense differences, it's in Heidi that you will find the most prototypes for later Takahata works, not to mention the boisterous life which imbibes all of Miyazaki's works and the attention to human interaction and behavior which--to me--characterises and makes essential all of Takahata's works..."