1972 saw some of the more significant anime works that impacted the Japanese toy industry, fan culture, and children’s education, particularly from a foreign perspective. Around this time, Channel 8’s (Fuji Television Network) was starting to screen the "Calpis Animation Theatre" slot that introduced anime shows based on foreign children’s’ literature. The Calpis Animation Theater was renamed several times depending on its sponsors, such as the "Kids’ Animation Theatre", and the "House Animation Theater", but generally the shows of the series are known as the "Theater for World Literature", in which Isao Takahata and Hayao Miyazaki participated with Heidi, Girl of the Alps and Marco.
During the same time period that Mokku of the Oak Tree (Kashi no Ki Mokku), a retelling of the piece of children's literature, Pinocchio, was aired from January to December, Moomin (ムーミン) was broadcast in the Calpis Animation Theatre block. (The 1972 series was actually called "New Moomin", as the original ran in 1969 and 1970. - Ed.) This story was based on author Tove Jansson’s children’s literature of the same name, in which the vivid lives of the fairy tribe called Moomin in the Moomin Valley were depicted. The protagonist, Moomin, was played by Kyôko Kishida, a famous actress with considerably unique voice, but the cute looking characterizations of Moomin and his friends with huge round eyes were so far from the original illustrations that Jansson expressed her strong discomfort to this work. However, this distinguished work immediately gained much popularity among Japanese children.
