The Wonderful Adventures of Nils

にるすのふしぎなたび

Aired: 1980 - 1981

A television anime produced by Studio Pierrot and broadcast on NHK General Television. Based on the Nobel Prize-winning author Selma Lagerlof's classic children's novel 'The Wonderful Adventures of Nils,' originally written to teach Swedish schoolchildren the geography of their country, the series follows the mischievous, animal-tormenting boy Nils Holgersson after he is shrunk to thumb-size by a forest tomte. Riding on the back of the family goose Martin, he journeys across the breadth of Sweden with a flock of wild geese, befriending the fox Smirre and encountering the dramatic landscapes of Lapland and beyond. Through these adventures Nils learns reverence for nature, the value of every life and the meaning of responsibility, growing from a heedless boy into a thoughtful young protagonist. Combining NHK's educational sensibility with the youthful creative ambition of early Studio Pierrot, the show is regarded as a landmark of literary adaptation in 1980s Japanese animation.