Japan Synopsis
世界名作童話 森は生きている
A young queen requests a bouquet of snowdrop flowers for New Year's Day in exchange for a reward. One greedy woman sends her stepdaughter, whom she does not like, to look for the flowers in a cold forest, knowing the task will be impossible for her. The girl almost freezes to death in the forest, but she is rescued by the spirits of the Twelve Months, who create spring around her. The girl is able to deliver the bouquet to the queen, but others want a share of the reward.
Other Titles From Toei Animation
Fantasy + Animation in Japan
1095 Japan titles in our catalog blend the Fantasy and Animation genres. Below: the top-rated of them (excluding Twelve Months itself).
The 1979–1981 Japan Window
Twelve Months holds position #32 of 65 Japan films in the 1979–1981 window, below highlighted by audience rating.
The 1980s Japan Landscape
Twelve Months premiered in 1980 — a quieter year for Japan cinema with only 17 titles in our catalog. The 1980s overall landed 280 films and series across 10 years of activity.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 16 other Japan films in 1980.
The 527th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Audience Engagement
15 audience reviews — more than 25% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 14th percentile among Japan films.
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Twelve Months, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- stepmother · 4
- magical object · 2
- blizzard · 2
- orphan · 27
- forest · 23
- fire · 15
- fairy tale · 13
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #2,642 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (42nd percentile by TMDB audience score).
Among Japan Fantasy productions specifically: #906 of 1,274 (top 71%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | Toei Animation |
| Runtime | 1h 5m |
| Release Date | March 15, 1980 |
| IMDb | tt0400900 |