3000 Leagues in Search of Mother

3000 Leagues in Search of Mother (母をたずねて三千里, Haha o Tazunete Sanzenri) is a Japanese animated television series directed by Isao Takahata that aired in 1976. It is loosely based on a small part of the Italian novel Heart (Cuore) created by Edmondo De Amicis, i.e., a monthly tale (racconto mensile) From the Apennines to the Andes (Dagli Appennini alle Ande), widely expanded into a 52-episode epic. The series was broadcast on World Masterpiece Theater (known at the time as Calpis Children's Theater), an animation staple that showcased each year an animated version of a different classic book or story. It was originally titled From the Apennines to the Andes. Nippon Animation, producers of World Masterpiece Theater, adapted Cuore into a second anime television series in 1981, Ai no Gakko Cuore Monogatari, although this second series was not part of the WMT.

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