The twelve months (anime 1980)

Original title: Sekai Meisaku Douwa - Mori wa Ikiteiruu
Regia: Yugo Serikawa Kimio Yabuki Tetsuo Imazawa
Production: Toei Animation Soyuzmultfilm
Country: Japan

Year: March 1980
Gender: Tale
Duration: 65 minutes
Recommended age: Children from 6 to 12 years old

A spoiled young queen asks the impossible during a cold winter and requests a bouquet of Galanthus, a spring flower, for the New Year, in exchange for a gold reward.

A greedy woman wishes to collect the prize and instead of sending her own daughter, she promptly sends her young stepdaughter, Anja, to look for the blossoming flowers in the dense forest, at night during a violent snowstorm, knowing that the task it will be impossible. Despite the refusal, Anja is thrown into the blizzard by her stepmother and into the barren forest, she falls unconscious from the freezing cold.

Later, she is awakened and attracted by a distant light to a mysterious bonfire, surrounded by spirits that reveal themselves as the Twelve Months. Learning of her task, the twelve spirits have pity on Anja. They use their powers to temporarily bring spring to allow the flowers to grow and be harvested, but Anja won't have to reveal to anyone how and where she got the Galanthus. Felice Anja returns home with the requested flowers and the bouquet is presented to the queen by her stepmother and half-sister. However, the dissatisfied queen wishes to see where the flowers grow for herself to always have them for herself.

The twelve months (anime 1980)