Japanese anime master Isao Takahata has passed away at a Tokyo hospital after battling lung cancer. He was best known for his works "Grave of the Fireflies" and "Heidi, Girl of the Alps."
Renowned Japanese anime director Isao Takahata died on Friday at the age of 82, said Studio Ghibli in a statement.
Takahata co-founded the renowned Studio Ghibli with long-term collaborator Hayao Miyazaki in 1985. Best known for his film "Grave of the Fireflies," Takahata employed hand-drawn techniques in his works in the face of growing digitalization of the anime industry.
The Oscar-nominated director was born in Japan's Mie prefecture in 1935. During an interview with The Japan Times, Takahata described how he fled his hometown with his sister barefoot and still wearing pajamas after US forces bombed it.
A firestorm consumed most of his town after the bombing. "We were lucky to make it out alive," he said. "Many TV shows and movies that feature incendiary bombs are not accurate. They include no sparks or explosions. I was there and I experienced it, so I know what it was like."
Heidi: 'Ideal image' of a child
In Europe, Takahata is likely best-known for directing the animated series "Heidi, Girl of the Alps." It was translated into German, Italian and Spanish, and was considered a major success, most notably in Italy.
"Heidi's carefree nature stems from my ideal image of what a child should be like — something I couldn't be," Takahata said. "I've since realized that adults shouldn't try to determine a child's personality and so I now ensure my characters are more realistic."
9 different versions of Heidi
The "Heidi" novels written by Johanna Spyri are among the most successful children's books ever. Her adventures has inspired many different adaptations, among them, a new film.
Image: Zuiyo Production/Studio 100 Media
Sweet Heidi, better than chocolate
"Heidi is better than Swiss chocolate, and more famous than our banks," once said the actor Bruno Ganz. He'll be starring in the new "Heidi" film as the grandfather, along with Anuk Steffen in her debut role as Heidi. Just like in the first Swiss film adaptation of 1952, filmmaker Alain Gsponer decided to remain faithful to the books written by Johanna Spyri in 1880 and 1881.
Image: Studiocanal
Heidi goes Hollywood
In 1937, the musical drama "Heidi" starred the young Shirley Temple. This version was only remotely based on the novel, as the story rather focused on the typical Hollywood scheme opposing good against evil. In the US, the film immediately became a family classic.
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Postwar home idyll
The first German-language film version of "Heidi" was produced in Switzerland. Director Luigi Comencini took risks with amateur actress Elsbeth Sigmund in the lead role, but it paid off: his movie became very successful not only in the German-speaking countries, but also in the US, where a clumsily dubbed version was released - which many viewers still consider the very best "Heidi" version.
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Heidi ruins a football game
This American-German co-production was directed by Blake Edwards, who cast his daughter Jennifer Edwards in the lead role. It also starred Oscar winner Maximilian Schell. The 1968 film is famous to this day in the US, as its first broadcast controversially cut off the last 50 seconds of a very tight football game to start precisely at 7 p.m. It became known as the "Heidi Game."
The best-known adaptation of "Heidi" is a Japanese animation series of 1974. Directors Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki traveled around Switzerland for a whole month in order to portray the nature of the Alps as faithfully as possible. To this day, the series is very successful all over the world and has shaped Heidi's image for generations of young viewers.
Image: Zuiyo Production/Studio 100 Media
True to the original
This series in 26 episodes was a 1978 Swiss-German-Australian production. It was praised for its historical correctness and for offering a faithful adaptation of the original novels, allowing the viewers to discover the Heidi universe created by Johanna Spyri better than in any other version.
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Heidi in the 21st century
In his "Heidi" version of 2001, director Markus Imboden transferred the story of the girl from the Alps into present day: Aunt Dete is a fashion designer, her daughter Clara a Berlin brat thrown out of her boarding school. The goatherd Peter raises money for Heidi's return to her beloved grandfather through crowdfunding. And toward the end of the film, the two of them open up a motel.
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Heidi as a musical
Heidi has been successful not only through films, series or comic books, but also as various musical versions. Here Anna Silvia Lilienfeld is dancing as Heidi, next to Marco Fahrland as goatherd Peter during a rehearsal of the musical comedy at the Leipzig Opera. The premiere of the musical based on the Heidi novels took place on October 22, 2004.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/P. Endig
The original
In 1880, Swiss author Johanna Spyri published "Heidi's years of learning and travel." The story of the good-hearted orphan girl became an immediate success. The second volume, "Heidi makes use of what she has learned," came out the following year. The books have been translated into more than 50 languages and continue to shape the image of Switzerland as an idyll in the Alps.
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Anti-war views
His seminal work "Grave of the Fireflies" is about two orphans during World War II and is believed to have drawn from some of the director's experiences.
Although he has refused to describe the work as an anti-war film, others have done so, with famed film critic Roger Ebert saying in 2000 that it "belong on any list of the greatest war films ever made."
"You cannot keep the peace by picking up a weapon," Takahata told The Japan Times. "It must be achieved through diplomacy, which had in fact been Japan's position until recently. Now, however, Abe wants to turn Japan into a country that can go to war."
'An end in death'
Takahata won several awards and honors for his work, including an Oscar nomination for his last film, "The Tale of the Princess Kaguya." He also received awards from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and Lorcano International Film Festival.
Even at the age of 82, Takahata had wanted to continue his work in animation. "There was so much more he wanted to do, it must be heartbreaking, said Studio Ghibli producer Toshio Suzuki.
Prior to his death, he had described his films as carrying a message urging people to live life to the fullest and not be dragged down by the pursuit of prestige or money.
"This earth is a good place, not because there is eternity," Takahata said. "All must come to an end in death. But in a cycle, repeated over and over, there will always be those who come after us."
His film "Only Yesterday" dealt with themes such as adulthood and nostalgiaImage: Imago/EntertainmentPictures
