Panorama no Haiji

In the course of analyzing several scenes from Miyazaki films I have recently decided to catch up on those Takahata works (mostly pre-Ghibli) which I have never seen before. Of course, Arupusu no shôjo Haiji [Heidi, Girl of the Alps] (1974) was on the top of the list (even though I hated the mere sight of it when it was ubiquitously broadcast on television).

Now that the first snow has fallen around here, I can't resist posting some Swiss mountain pans - as seen through the eyes of unknown Japanese background painters (based on Miyazaki's layouts).

After heavy snowfall.

I hope you enjoy these reconstructed pans as much as I do (click on the images to see larger versions). Considering the time pressure of creating a 52 episode TV series within one year, these backgrounds are simply amazing.

If you have any information on who painted these backgrounds, please share it in the comments! 

[Update Dec 2023: Thanks to reader Luca Giubertoni, I now know that one of the background painters of these panoramas is Masahiro Ioka!]

Mood - especially weather and lighting - is of paramount importance to the success of Heidi:

Dörfli in summer - credits sequence.

Dörfli in the evening.

A virtual 360° pan, incredibly wide.

The same environment at golden hour.

Springtime.

Autumn.

Bottom-up pan - credits sequence.

Bottom-up pan, connects Dörfli with mountains.

Bottom-up pan, Heidi dreaming of Switzerland (homesick in Frankfurt).

The three firs before dusk...

...and at noon (top-down pan).