Japan Synopsis
アルプスの少女ハイジ
Heidi (1974) Japanese anime series by Zuiyo Eizo (now Nippon Animation) based on the Swiss novel Heidi's Years of Wandering and Learning by Johanna Spyri (1880). It was directed by Isao Takahata A feature-length film Heidi in the Mountains, aka The Story of Heidi, was edited from the series by Zuiyo (which by then was a separate entity from Nippon Animation, which employed many of the TV series' animation staff) distributed in 1979. All cast were replaced excluding Heidi and the grandfather. This movie is also the only incarnation of the Heidi anime to have been released commercially in the United States in English (on home video in the 1980s). Isao Takahata remarked "Neither Hayao Miyazaki nor I are completely related to any shortening version" on this work.
Other Titles From Nippon Animation
Animation + Family in Japan
177 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Animation and Family genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Heidi in the Mountains itself).
The 1973–1975 Japan Window
Heidi in the Mountains holds position #28 of 71 Japan films in the 1973–1975 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1970s Japan Landscape
1974 was the decade’s peak output year for Japan — 27 titles released, including Heidi in the Mountains. Bars below show how the 1970s stacked up year by year (197 total).
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 26 other Japan films in 1974.
The 408th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
12 audience reviews — more than 16% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 11th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Heidi in the Mountains, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- alps mountains · 1
- swiss alps · 1
- heidi · 1
- based on children's book · 8
- child protagonist · 7
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #2,670 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (42nd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Among Japan Animation productions specifically: #1,760 of 2,532 (top 70%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Nippon Animation, Zuiyo |
| Runtime | 1h 47m |
| Release Date | January 6, 1974 |
| IMDb | tt6649276 |