Italian Disco Anime: When Robots Danced to the 4/4 Beat

The early Italian localizations of anime themes were all about disco and cosmic sounds.

In February 1978, a secluded cabin in the Alps became the ultimate aspiration for Italians with a TV set. Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki’s Heidi was debuting on national TV, and it also stood out for its opening theme. Unlike the Japanese original, which bears a striking similarity to Snow White’s “Whistle While You Work,” the Italian one, penned by Franco Migliacci (who also gave us “Nel Blu Dipinto di Blu” by Domenico Modugno) and performed by Elisabetta Viviani, is an Alpine Italo-Schlager daydream that immediately skyrocketed in the commercial release charts, selling more than 1 million copies. 

Heidi marks the first phase of Italian anime localizations in the late 1970s and ’80s. They were characterized by accessible experimentalism and a lack of childishness, which would define the bulk of the late 1980s and 1990s productions, creating Disney-lite themes–until the chav and Eurodance productions of Giorgio Vanni and Max Longhi took over.

As to why they were localized, the reason …