هايدي (Arabic, 1984)

This is one of the first Arabic dubbings produced in the in the early 1980s. It was a collaborative dub, made in Kuwait and the United States. Two casts of actors shared the roles in this one: a cast of Lebanese and Jordanian actors, who worked in a studio in Kuwait; and another cast of actors, mostly Egyptian and Jordanian also, living in the United States, who worked from a dubbing studio located in Hollywood. It also had the participation of the Jordanian singer Sameera Nimri, in the opening and credits.

The series premiered in Saudi Arabia in 1984 on the KSA 1 channel (today called ), adding to the list of anime series released in the Islamic country, which are considered the first foreign productions to was shown since the establishment of Saudi television in 1965. Later, it would be broadcast in Kuwait, in November 1986, and in many Arab countries, where it was a huge success.

The series is currently rebroadcast in Saudi Arabia started in 2020, on the new Thikrayat TV Channel, along with several other classic animated series. Also, it has recently been broadcast in Kuwait by KTV1, and in Oman, the series is available on OTT platform AYN, of the Sultanate of Oman.

Cast

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Production

 * Heidi was one of the first dubs produced in the Arabic language, specifically in the Persian Gulf area. Arabic dub had two important pioneers: the countries of the, and the countries of the Persian Gulf. Lebanon would be the pioneer in Japanese animation dubbing, with many of the first series to arrive in the region being dubbed in that country. On the other hand, in the Persian Gulf countries, the pioneer country was Kuwait, which also produced several of the first Arabic dubs. Subsequently, Arabic dub would definitely move to the Levant area, with Egypt, and the neighboring countries of Syria, Lebanon and Jordan being the countries that have traditionally produced dubbing to this day.
 * Further Heidi, the first Persian Gulf Arabic dubs were made to other Japanese anime series produced in the in the early 1980s, being some:  , and .

Adaptation

 * The original opening theme, Oshiete, was replaced by a traditional Arabic-style song simply titled 'Heidi', which was written by Egyptian Adel Asfour, and performed by Jordanian Sameera Nimri. Asfour also composed a number of theme songs for the Arabic dub, which were all also performed by Sameera Nimri, including an ending theme song.
 * However, an alternate instrumental version of Oshiete, produced by Arabic dub, with other instruments, can be heard in some scenes.
 * In the rest of the series, in this dub, the vast majority of BGMs without lyrics from the Japanese version tend to be kept. However, all the Japanese songs with lyrics are not dubbed, and are replaced by their own soundtrack, also with an Arabic style in line with the opening.
 * Despite all the changes already mentioned, the Arabic translation is very faithful to the script of the Japanese version.
 * In the early years of Arabic anime dubbing, there was virtually no censorship, and everything was shown without any cuts. There is evidence that in those early years scenes of female characters with little clothing, or almost naked, were shown; and Christian religious symbols, such as crosses, were readily displayed in all Arab countries. For many years, these animations were shown without many viewers knowing that they came from Japan (this despite the fact that the studios and their producers were always credited), which meant that this prejudice to the foreign and strange didn't occur, how yes it was in English-speaking countries. Although Heidi isn't an anime series that shows elements that could be censored, it does show some religious elements at times (Spyri's original book did indeed have a Christian background, which Takahata and Miyazaki removed from their adaptation, but left symbols and references to the Catholic religion, which was predominant in Switzerland). The most obvious case of this occurs in episode 17, when the priest of Dorfli visits Heidi's Grandpa, which is shown without any problem in Arabic dub, and even its lines are dubbed very faithfully, maintaining references to Christianity and God. (although naming him Allah, which is the common name of God for Christians, Muslims, and Jews). At present, it is likely that his scene would have been omitted. Although it is evident that in Saudi Arabia these scenes were shown without problems, it is known that in more recent broadcasts, Saudi channels such as Thikrayat TV (which broadcasts classic cartoons) have censored anime that previously aired without problems.
 * All the credits of the series, both initial and final, are made by hand, something that was common at that time.