The Wonderful Adventures of Nils (anime)

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils
DVD cover of Nils no Fushigi na Tabi, from Studio Pierrot
ニルスのふしぎな旅
Genre	Fantasy
Anime television series
Directed by	Hisayuki Toriumi
Studio	Studio Pierrot
Original network	NHK
Original run	January 8, 1980 – March 17, 1981
Episodes	52

The Wonderful Adventures of Nils(ニルスのふしぎな旅, Nirusu no Fushigi na Tabi^?) is an anime adaptation of the novel The Wonderful Adventures of Nils by the Swedish author Selma Lagerlöf. The 52 episode series ran on the Japanese network NHK from January 1980 to March 1981. The series was the very first production by Studio Pierrot. The anime was mostly fairly true to the original, apart from the appearance of Nils' pet hamster, and the greater role allowed to the fox Smirre. The music was written by Czech composer Karel Svoboda.

The anime was also broadcast in Canada (in French), France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Iceland (as "Nilli Hólmgeirsson"), The Netherlands, Belgium, Greece (as "Το θαυμαστό ταξίδι του Νίλς Χόλγκερσον" - "The wondrous journey of Nils Holgersson"), Bulgaria (as "Чудното пътуване на Нилс Холгерсон с дивите гъски" ("The wondrous journey of Nils Holgersson with the Wild Geese")), Poland (as "Nils and the wild geese"), Portugal, Romania, in the Arab World (as "مغامرات نيلز" Nils' Adventures), Spain, Slovenia (as "Nils Holgerson" with one s), Slovakia (again as "Nils Holgerson" with one s), Hungary (as "Nils Holgersson csodálatos utazása a vadludakkal"), Israel (as "נילס הולגרסון" - "Nils Holgersson"), Turkey (as "Uçan Kaz" ("The Flying Goose")), Italy, Hong Kong (dubbed into Cantonese), Mainland China, South Africa (Translated to Afrikaans as "Die wonderlike avonture van Niels Holgerson"), and Albania, but in some countries it was cut to allow for commercials. In Germany, the animated series episodes were also combined into one full feature animated movie (~ 1h 22min in length) in 1981; the same release has also been dubbed and released in Estonia on DVD and VHS.