Twelve Months (1980)
"Sekai meisaku dôwa: Mori wa ikiteiru" (original title)

A young girl meets the Spirits of the Twelve Months when she is sent out during a winter snowstorm to collect galanthus, a flower that blooms in April.

Director:

Kimio Yabuki

Writers:

Samuil Marshak (story), Yasuko Miyazaki,

Stars:

Earl Hammond, Shinobu Ohtake, Ai Kanzaki

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Earl Hammond	...	Capt. Rustov (voice)
Shinobu Ohtake	...	Anja (voice)
Ai Kanzaki	...	Queen (voice)
Joan Shepard	...	(voice)
Ray Owens	...	(voice)
Tokuko Sugiyama	...	Stepmother (voice)
Pierre Cache	...	(voice)
Mariko Mukai	...	Stepmother's Daughter (voice)
Ichirô Nagai	...	Professor (voice)
Jenn Thompson	...	(voice) (as Jen Thompson)
Masaji Amamori	...	Prime Minister (voice)
Paula Parker	...	(voice)
John Bellucci	...	(voice)
Daisuke Ryû	...	Officer (voice)
Kiyoshi Kobayashi	...	January (voice)

Storyline

Anya, an orphaned girl, lives with a cruel old woman and her daughter in their small house by the woods. On New Year's Eve, the queen announces that she wants galanthus brought to her on New Year's Day; she will reward him or her who can bring her the flowers with a basketful of gold coins. The old woman and her daughter hear these news and send Anya during a terrible snowstorm into the woods to collect the flowers. Anya has no option but to obey and is sure that she will die in her attempt to find the flowers, a mission that seems impossible; it's the 31st of December and there are no flowers of any kind in the woods during this season. In the woods, Anya meets the Spirits of the Twelve Months and in reward for her kindness and good nature, the Spirit of April proposes helping the girl by presenting her with one hour of spring during which she can pick the flowers and return home safely. When this is done, the Spirit of January makes the girl promise that she will never tell anyone ...

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Plot Keywords:

magic ring | stepmother | forest | foreign language adaptation | keeping secret | 

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Genres:

Animation | Family

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Details

Country:

Japan

Release Date:

15 March 1980 (Japan)

Also Known As:

The Forest Is Alive

Company Credits

Production Co:

Toei Animation Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

65 min 65 min (VHS)

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Quotes

Wise Man: Well, it seems impossible but...
The queen: Yes or no?
Wise Man: I think they are, in my doubting opinion.

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Connections

Version of The Twelve Months (1956)

User Reviews

A cheesy appeal neatly overcome by a touching story

This is one of those Eastern productions which teach, like noone in West, perseverance, altruism, goodwill lessons. As long as there's no plot of the cartoon in this page, I'll make a brief introduction of it: It's a story about an orphan girl that, due to a reward offered by the country's princess, is forced by his stepmother to look, all by herself, a flower that blossoms only, of course, in spring, the galantus. If I tell more, I'd spoil the whole role. This motion picture is a rare combination of an old anime-style cartoon telling a russian tale (Nothing with absurdly big eyes, don't worry about that). Besides story development makes me jump to this conclusion, there's also the way characters were developed. Only the main character seems to have a name; the others are like generalized brands of people from a time; these don't even get a name. At the beginning of the picture, an image of, apparently, the tale's writer is shown, but I can't be sure of that as long as I don't speak russian. Overall, at a first glance, it's a production with appeal for kids only, but a more accurate look could make you change your mind.